001e okay thank you everyone for coming I'm going to call the uh new Harford Board of Education special meeting March 11th at 6 PM actually call the order exactly at 6 PM um if you're able please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay today's agenda is uh actually a brief agenda it's a special meeting just to talk about our 2526 proposed budget um and the budget that we are going to send on to the board of Finance for their review um and their um and discussion at the board of Finance level and then um for future U adoption by the town of New
002Hartford uh through referendum um so today's meeting is is strictly related to the budget um again we have a lot of people that came out thank you for all for coming we don't have any public comment on today's agenda um again as it was only related to the budget um in action on the budget that we discussed at the last two meetings um so with that we will uh move right into the budget discussion and uh rece the letters yes yeah so again with one thing in communication to the board we have received two letters uh one letter was received on uh March 10th yesterday um to the entire board so everybody should have received this this came from um Marsha Jones and then prior to this meeting just a little while ago we received
003an a letter from the members of the board of or I'm sorry from the new Harford Education Association everybody has seen this and read this as well okay so those are the two uh Communications we've received since our last meeting all right um for today again we'll start by going through we gave our superintendent direction to provide us with um a look at the budget eliminations to be able to achieve a five and a half a five four and a half and 4% budget increase uh for the 25 26 school year uh we have all received those I believe that there's been comments from many of you or comments and questions from many of you to our superintendent that have been responded to um today's meeting is really we can talk through these or bring
004it wherever the board wants to go um again the and the the goal after today is to have a budget that we send to the board of Finance for discussion and proposal to them on Saturday and then again subsequent revisions as required by the board of finance and then to referendum for the Don newart you have something you want to add before we no just I'm ready to start um just really quickly I do want to acknowledge all of our staff and public that are here thank you so much for being here at our meeting today um it's very much appreciated just to Echo the sentiment from our board chair so we were tasked um last Tuesday night to come up with four different budget scenarios and the information was uh shared with the Board
005of Education and we are at the point where we're talking about potential U positions or things that need to be cut from the budget in order to achieve those typical those scenarios so as we look through the budget and looking to go um to next year again just as a reiteration the main budget drivers are outplacement costs which are approximately $300,000 uh followed up by um our Healthcare costs which are $153,000 approximately and then uh salaries well over $200,000 in increases so those are all contractual obligations which has led us to this point and looking at providing a fiscal responsibility of the Board of Education uh to pass on to the board of Finance I do want to reiterate that this is just one step in many um as we look to um close out
006our budget process in May officially with our referendum with the town uh voting on that so what the board has before them are um a case scenario where we are looking at a total cut of 30915 that brings us down to 5.7% my apologies I couldn't get down to 5.5 exactly um that would give us a proposed budget increase of $560,000 500 that would eliminate the following items uh from the maintenance line $115,000 and in order of least impactful to most impactful to our students so painting is one of those items that could be on pause independent evaluations and special ed services to our correct magnet schools that's really a gamble um to T to cut these off again all of these are operating next year on a Bare Bones um operating schedule and detrimental
007to all of the work that we do but independent valuations we would eliminate $10,000 from special education services to CRA magnet $10,000 that is a uh point that I want to stop and just discuss real brief briefly with the board and um to the community so our special ed services mean that we provide services to our students that are at a krek magnet school that are enrolled there when I begin um my superintendent um position here we had well over I think it was 15 or more children that were enrolled in our CK magnet schools since that point in time I promised the board I contacted every single parent we have probably two so that's a huge huge Point uh that I want to bring up and a a point of Pride that we offer
008a better education and I'll stand by that a 100 times out of a 100 times here at our new Hart for public schools rather than enrolling at a magnet school so with that students that do attend there if they do receive special education services we are um responsible for paying for those so that's what that line is there um So currently we have two students that are there and if we do receive anybody that is there that receive special education services we must pay for that so again these are gambles because we do our best with the central office team leadership team to develop a budget that is responsible and meets the needs of all of our students and all of our responsibilities technology uh you see that in the board packet that I've given
009out the updated copy it's not just Promethean boards it's really Tech refresh so anything that is needed relative to staff computers or student computers as well so that's at a cut of $10,000 arm security guard which the board has discussed in length um is another item that is listed here for $75,000 an instructional assistant is listed here uh for a cut of $29,000 and this position I'll pause here because currently that's one of the letters that we receiv received before us um this position is really instrumental in providing curriculum preparation of all materials as we implemented a new curriculum this year and last year El education this position has been instrumental in making sure that takes place that all materials are in teachers hands as the letter that you received in front of you States
010and um it really is impactful to not have that position also that position covers the offices so if one of our secretaries need to step out this position covers that if anybody needs any coverage of any sort this 20-hour position a week covers that the clerical Aid position um again I'll pause here um the clerical Aid position provides obviously support to to our lead secretary at Ann anolini um there are many many facets that I'm not going to go over today or elements of the position but a couple just to highlight is she provides additional security because we have oill that is um here at our school so they come in through the main office so there's additional responsibilities there um and if we're looking proportionately at the number of students at our schools um
011this position would be justified there um without that it does leave it leaves us as a fail safe we'd be in Jeopardy of not having both of these positions within our district to make sure that we have coverage for when someone is out or has a need or has to go to uh another need these positions would backfill that with that eliminated it would leave us in a state of of Jeopardy it's our fail safe if you will these positions obviously are also uh instrumental in our school culture um greeting people making sure that all the needs of our teachers are met at both anellini and Bakerville and at new Harford Elementary School going further down the list um looking at um our online resources we would be cutting $2,000 from there those have um
012either subscriptions or things that we utilize for our kiddos uh we' be cutting $2,000 from there again now we're going into the impact of higher impact of of our kids uh textbooks would be looking like a savings of about $23,000 if that was cut that applies specifically to our literacy so instead of students receiving workbooks we'd be making copies of that um White Memorial sixth grade field trip traditional here in New Harford public schools that Services approximately 50 to 60 students a year for three days our talented and gifted program runs for um I'm sorry talented and gifted is next at a cost Savings of $5,000 along with math olympiads about two times a month for 30 minutes during the day and talented and gifted meets uh for about um three hours or so once
013once per month is that correct three times per month sorry forgive me thank you um and that Services um let's see math olympiads is 20 to 30 students and talented and gifted is approximately uh 15 to 20 students give or take so that would be again a savings of $5,000 so it's not mandatory by state law that we provide these services or that we provide that for our students it is mandatory that we identify students that are talented and gifted but um we also differentiate instruction across the board for all of our students to meet their needs um with our very talented staff cjr as the board knows is a element that we have here in our school system that provides a service to currently 22 students um and that provides counseling support for our
014families and our students right here during the school day it also provides an additional day of mental health support at our schools um and last on the list here is fifth and sixth grade band so this doesn't mean that the fifth and six sixth grade band is eliminated completely just means it would be outside of the school day with a stien position currently it exists within the school day um The Proposal there says um no General music so what that means that FTE which is a point 6 point 6 translates to three days a week that position that person position would be eliminated and the instrumental teacher instead would be teaching the general music classes here at Antolini at Bakerville and at New Hartford um traveling throughout the fifth grade band uh we currently impact
015um approximately 40 students so going into next year for sixth grade and currently in sixth grade enrolled right now are approximately again 40 students so again this takes in account things that are least impactful to students going all the way down that have more of a direct impact so if you take a look over into the next page if we could why don't we pause there because each one of the additional ads is again additional items onto this list so if we pause here these are repeated does anybody on the board have any questions related to the items that are on this list any further clarifications needed from our superintendent I have a question around um you said it with the gamble to cut off the independent evaluations and the um magnet schools can you
016elaborate on the risk there sure so if um through the PPT process and independent evaluation is scheduled and agreed upon by the PPT at the PPT meeting this cut would limit the amount of resources that we have to provide that and we would be looking from other areas to try to cover that again this is operating at Bare Bones right for going into next year so that's that's what I mean by the gamble the other part is if more students enroll at one of the crack crack uh magnet schools and they have need of special education services from academic support speech language otpt or Behavioral or more then we would be responsible for paying that so they would bill us and then we would pay them for the services provided so I say it's a
017gamble because can't predict right how many independent evaluations are coming next year I don't know best case scenario you know average one two a year maybe but not having the that $10,000 is a gamble because then it means we wouldn't be able to offer that um and then the other part is we're taking a gamble by cutting $10,000 suggesting that we're predicting that no other students will be there that need special education services that would' be responsible for paying so that's what I mean by the word Gamble and just to clarify when you said that if we cut the independent evaluations no one would be able to provide that so no one like we would be cutting a service that no one at the school could replicate correct because it would have to be outside
018of the school independent evaluation means our our staff has evaluated and uh for some reason at the PPT meeting for a Litany of reasons outside independent evaluation would be requested and then would be if that was honored then we would be paying for that this excuse me this leaves a balance right we we're not cutting 100 completely it's not completely a portion of [Music] it question about cjr um that provides one day a week of Mental Health Services correct does that mean if that is eliminated we still have four days um a week for every school Mental Health Services yes yeah we'd be able to stretch that and cover that out currently we have a mental health expert professional provider at every building Monday through Friday at all three of our buildings currently this is
019again just for clarification and Jeff correct me I'm wrong this would be this is an additional in addition to having three mental health professionals at all three schools five days a week correct this is an addition to this addice so this doesn't reduce to four days this is an addition to the okay thank you there any other questions okay take us through the the ad to get to the Five Point again I guess I would add here is is this these proposed eliminations removed $39,100 or equivalent to what we are legally required to um pay for the additional all placements so this gets us from an 8.86 down to a 5.7 right so before moving on to the next scenario again I have to reiterate it they get more progressively impactful for our kids none
020of these scenarios drive us forward they all drive us backwards in time um in education here in New Harford public for new Harford Public Schools so the next one uh that you'll see on the next uh proposed budget of a $532,000 500 increase or 5.41% variance would be a cut of a total of $337,450 this additional position that's listed at the bottom is one par educator as we know par Educators Provide support academical academic support emotional support social support across all three of our schools all the time for all kids from prek all the way to sixth grade is not solely special education support it is General Ed support it's support for everything under the sun um they cover everything from hugs to learning to cutting you know cooking and pre the list goes on
021and on and on I could spend so much time here just talking about that that is a really significant impactful position to be eliminated because it's a direct touch Point contact point with children all the time time so that would be um at the cost of $28,000 for this particular par educator position before I go any further on that anything that um is related to any individual par Educators because you'll see a discrepancy in a moment you may raise an eyebrow sometimes a par educator may receive additional benefits for family versus a two-person or single insurance so you'll see a discrepancy there also if it's a part-time par educator versus a full-time par educator so these are more focused on the benefits component that you'll see in another case scenario coming up shortly question just
022real quickly on white white Memorial some of that is paid for by parents correct I don't know exactly how much I think it's funded strictly through the operating budget right now I'm seeing a head so is that something that could be okay so is that something that still could happen even if the 10,150 is eliminated so that would have to Pivot to the parents and PTO okay I I can't surmise whether or not Happ we've never attempted or tried that okay thanks yeah that covers Transportation the use of facility the touring um our nurses stien teacher stiped custodian stiped so there's a lot to that Jee how many kids go on the White Memorial White Memorial is approximately 50 to 60 kids it's our sixth grade group that heads over so every year um 50
023to 60 children that are in sixth grade head over for three-day trip so it's like $200 a kid quick math ready okay so the next scenario is a proposed budget increase of $462,500 or a 4.7 variance to the current um proposed budget from last year to this year the total Cuts would be 8,650 and this adds an additional staff member which is an counselor that provides support to anini but not only anini it allows for all of our mental health support to be distributed throughout the entire district with the addition of this position this was originally um one of the positions that we had a a partial Grant it was adopted we're now uh within it it's been adopted in our budget that we're currently living in this year so this position again provides mental
024health support for all of our kids um not just special education this is also a regular education support service for all children we're having you know we've had a disagreement at recess or whatever it may be I need support because Something's Happened at home again the list goes on and on when you have ancl counselor in your buildings they are there to triage all of the time when our school psychologists are conducting evaluations or conducting their counseling sessions and this is a an element to again Provide support for all students not just special education and it's very instrumental in what we have going on here in New Harford public schools because it does permit us to have mental health support again Monday through Friday in all of our buildings with this position yes sir um
025when was this position added to the budget so it was two years ago Grant funded and then this the past year was partial Grant funded and this year fully funded by the town two years ago yeah and and about how many children would you say on an average this person this counselor um would would per year per month per week per day per week per day I'll look to my team to give me more specifics okay oh thank you for clarification anini and and Bakerville how does that position correlate with the um the other folks that we have in the building four days a week plus the CGR how do those two how do those relate what give me so how is theal counselor for mental health how is that connected to the four people
026that are in The Bu the four days a week that we have someone in the building and then the CGR f uh component so the CGR would be a one- day additional right um but how do all how do all of those work together how are they how are they coordinating with students what's the impact of all of those together on students so as a mental health team as yeah as a mental health Team so they work together for dividing up their case loads for students that require um counseling sessions whether individualized or group so those are spread out amongst the the mental health professionals to provide that whether it's that would be mandated by their special education identification and support services that are necessary but in addition to that she's also an individual that
027provides services to Regular Ad as we just discuss so it's not just the case load that she has that she's divvying up with all the other mental health um specialists at Bakerville and Antolini uh it also she also provides support to the regular a kids as well so they work together as a team what I what I I think with your question is this position allows us to have mental health support in all of our schools five days a week correct so if I if this position were not there then the other schools would not have um mental health support that we'd go back we'd go back in time where we had sporadic mental health support at all of our buildings I would just put an average out there of maybe three days a week
028if that without her there in that position because they spread out their case load throughout the entire district and that was a grant funded position two years ago initially and then it was the next year it was partially funded correct so someone and then pull okay and then we can't get the grant at all there's no other grants to get something for this applied we always appli for them the partial funding last year was very small yeah was uh $8,000 or something minus we we besides the $8,000 last year we the rest was on our budget right right is that what you're saying yes and I'm doing that off of memory from last year's budget book so I believe it was 8,000 I'll give that an approximate number yeah all right got a head nod
029do okay Jeff referencing the social emotional learning how do you know how much we're paying for outside services that are like data collecting and giving the testing to the kids I don't know that answer at all no um no I would not and I don't know I don't think I wouldn't have that prepared for something as a cut yeah for paying for a data service I don't have that here okay sorry no no okay okay hundreds of dollars a couple hundred thousand what do we three or $400 okay best guess sorry I didn't have that it wrong any further questions okay on to the next so the final budget scenario that's before the board of education is a proposed budget increase of 410,000 or a 4.17 and dollar variance the total Cuts here are again
030extremely deep at $461,500 we're not operating at our optimal we're operating in in the past and it makes it extremely difficult um I understand the challenges before the board at the same time and our responsibility to the town and to the board of Finance um but this is step one in a in a journey that we're on uh to provide the best educational support this unfortunately takes us back in [Music] time Jeff can you re visit the uh line item explain the function of the data system specialist line item 2400 d112 this is not on your proposed cut from the previous budget I I wanted to if you could just tell us what that position entails so that position entails very critical management of power schools uh our operating our data system uh specialist maintain
031maintains that operates that make sure that our state reporting is all up to dat uh our office of civil rights reporting when we do that she's instrumental in preparing all the data that has to be sub submitted to the federal government and to the state um this individual also works to troubleshoot anything that's going on in District um in conjunction with Paul Our IT director so there's a lot that goes on with her her job and um a lot of it's making sure all of our data systems are operating op optimally she's also instrumental in making sure that all of the student agreements that we have for private and data privacy are reviewed and making sure that they're in compliance with what the board policies are and the state of Connecticut so those are just
032some of the elements that she's um engaged in Rundy any there's no redundancy anywhere else in her in our administrative staff for that position correct there's no one else who can f perform that function no that's correct [Music] okay with the uh presentation thank you superintendent Susa for the presentation of the the the options that we asked you for um penny has to get off to another board meeting um so penny has I'd like to her to take the floor and provide her comments thoughts and input into this prior to her departure if we could all right thanks Tim all right when we first received the budget with an increase of over 8% I was floored I realize that some of our costs are associated with negotiated contracts insurance and those we can't change I
033realize that special education costs are high and that we do have some children that require outplacement which can be costly unfortunately we can't do much about changing this line looking at the list of proposed Cuts while I agree with some of them I am also saddened to see that White Memorial math olympiads and band and the talented and gifted are proposed to be cut I wish there was another place to cut so that those are were not why do we need so many par Educators for grades 3 through six with the decline in enrollment why we can't reduce the number of new Chromebooks is $35,000 necessary or could it be reduced by $10,000 or more do we really spend that much each year on that line maybe it is time to revisit Closing one of
034our schools realizing this is a touchy subject but our enrollment continues to decrease doing this would help with reducing our budget like Tim said unfortunately I do have another meeting that I have to attend at 7 o'clock so if you look at the past 19 years the average of those budget increases is 2.28% many of the increases are below 4% I would ask that we keep our increase to 4.17% and I'd like to go on record that this is the one that I will support thanks I'm sorry I don't know I guess we'll have to look at his Cuts or find someplace else to reduce well I don't like reducing our teachers and I don't like reducing our parent Educators I think there are other places that might be able to have more cost savings
035I don't know I think $35,000 each year and I realize it's in cap capital for Chromebooks I think is way too much money do our kindergarteners really need Chromebooks when they're saying that young children should not have those devices all the time and I realize they don't have them the whole time they're in school but they have them part of the time I mean look when Max went to school he didn't have Chromebooks in kindergarten I realize that but a number in the air and then walking out and saying you know I I appreciate all these letters but these are all these are all letters saying don't cut here don't cut here but there's none like no suggestions well where to go so that's our job and I get that but cosing a number in
036here say I would I support four whatever I would too but I don't know how I'm getting there I I don't know either I guess I would have to study our expense report every month that we just approve and I don't think any of us most of us really don't look at it and study it to see approved that's just Jeff spending the money we've already we assume that Jeff is being financially responsible and that's why the budget's there and it's always plus or minus he never blow up by four points a year which is what we're talking about now you're talking about four points to cut off that budget I realize that but it's just I I I don't know where to make the cuts unfortunately the town can the town's people people like
037dear Dre mentioned at the last meeting people are still are struggling with with buying food and clothing and whatever for their children lights yeah exactly everything keeps going up we can't keep going up we don't have industry in our town to help support us I realize the solar power will help with the electricity in this building but there has to be and I don't know what the other ways are but unfortunately I do have to be at that meeting so I wish you well I just wanted to give you my thoughts thank you Penny Jee I am going to bring it up because I brought it up for four years now and we still have done nothing about it we cannot obviously we cannot continue to sustain this type of budget increase it keeps going
038up last year you came to us with a what was it eight point 809 right so your first pass was 809 and now we're at eight six 86 and and and the transportation special education teacher salaries teachers benefits we can't touch those things right or there's some things we can't touch so we're we're literally we keep coming back here every single year trying to pass a budget with money we don't have that we have to go back to the town's people to pay which I don't want to cut anybody but I keep saying why are we not searching and finding other sources of income why are we not fundraising why are we not figuring out how we can work with the you know different parent groups to fundraise to then cover costs like White Memorial
039textbooks stuff like that like talented and gifted math olympiads White Memorial this kind of the stuff should not be in the budget here it should be something that we're trying to fundraise for from a nonprofit capacity or like I told you today ad Revenue we're sending stuff out to to parents um we can get lots of advertisers on a monthly basis to pay for ads like to to cover some of the cost of this stuff but we we can't continue doing this like we we keep going to the table and we keep thinking this money is going to come from somewhere and no one is going to support it the Board of Ed or the the board of Finance is not going to support it they're going to send it back here just like they
040did last year multiple times and the taxpayers can't afford it they can't even afford to pay their electric right now we the second largest electric rates in the country after Hawaii they are struggling to pay their rent their electric and now we're going to go back with an 8.6 increase in their taxes I don't want anyone to get cut I know our kids need need all of this but we have to find alternative sources of funding and I feel like our resources need to be put into to that to cover the cost of some of this stuff I don't know if it's working with the PTA to fund and again we'll have to figure out the legal logistical tax purposes of that but working with the PTA to do fundraising to then offset the costs
041for some of these things that that you have in the line item that shouldn't even be in there so your Point's taken we not going to be able to change anything tonight regarding that right uh we can have future conversation and have an agenda item we can create a subcommittee that can discuss that um tonight that's not going to help us get to where we need to be right so we need to focus on what we have in front of us right we gave our superintendent a direction to give us in his professional opinion with his administration the least impactable the most impactable cuts to get the percentages that we asked them to we need to focus on this tonight to be able to bring a budget to the board of Finance um we can
042continue to presume and say what we think the board of finance will do but we don't know until we get it there we can presume and continue to say what we think the community will do but we don't know until we get it there right we are here as a board of education to serve the educational interest of the town of new Harford we have to do it fiscally responsibly we're looking at a budget increase as as as Je pointed out $300,000 for outplacement $150,000 for healthcare and $200,000 for salaries legal and contractual increases that we have no recourse to right that that's that adds up to $650,000 of our budget increase right of a total of 871 so we have hard decisions to make as a board and we have to look at these
043and we have to look at these as best we can as a board using are hired professionals to guide us in the right direction but presumption and in in making Assumption of what the board of Finance or the town is going to say is not what we're here to do can I can we I mean I I'm looking at this first page 5.7% and there's some things on here that I think are detrimental to the kids and again you could talk about White Memorial and how you get there but handson Hands-On learning is is what it's all about you know these these textbooks and this this this new you know teaching systems that are completely different than when we all went through school but Hands-On learning has always been something that's very important for these
044kids I think that's something that shouldn't be cut but and then you know I'm looking at this first page and I'm just going to go from there and I'd say we I I agree with everything this first page I would keep the instructional assistant I keep keep White Memorial and I keep the tag but I would add theal concert to that list and a pair and I think data system special should be also be looked at so you you're bring you bring the cuts up to you know close to $400,000 drop in what we're looking at with those with those suggestions right there can you repeat that again please uh Jeff's first list with the 560 but I would scratch I would keep the instructional assistant because that's I'm looking at where we're you know
045to use Jeff's words touch point right so the instructional assistant keep that position keep the White Memorial because I agree with I think that's important for the kids to have the hands- on learning and I keep the talented and gifted because that's think that's very important for something the kids to strive to but I also that the rest of the list I would go with but I would add a Pera I would move the SE celor to that sheet and I think the data system specialist should be looked at I agree that we should keep instructional assistant um I disagree about the mental health seal counselor I believe that's one item we should not get rid of I agree with Eric I'm looking at this I'm seeing that I think the par educators are very
046important to keep if if possible and I think if we cut theal counselor then we potentially can keep those par Educators um and going forward it seems like we always get these grants and then we're stuck paying all this money afterwards after two years it's almost not worth it to take the grants in the first place in the future because then we just get stuck with all these costs that aren't [Music] funded so just for clarification Tim are you are you a proponent of not that you're a proponent but are you saying you agree with ER I think you said you agree with Eric But Eric said he's he's not in favor of cutting the oh okay sorry I'm the other way I'm in favor of cutting the's and keeping the par Educators I say
047something um I can I agree with Tim as well um and just to confirm if you cut the seal there's still Mental Health um within each School correct so it's still there it's there but it won't be five days a week and it won't be guaranteed to be there so there's a crisis it's teacher or sorry scl specialist from another building traveling over or touch point of of building principal if the building principal is there Amy counted is between new Harford and Bakerville it's not a guarantee um that there's someone there um so that would further again it'd be a further challenge to provide mental Heth support for 5 days a week I been surmise off the top of my head but I'm going to again go on an average of three versus all five
048[Music] days I mean my thoughts on this right is that I agree again I don't want to see White Memorial talented and gifted and math olympiads be removed um you know our our our special education costs have increased exponentially over the years and that comes out of the you know at the detriment of 75% of our students right so we continue to cut regular Education costs to be able to fund special education and there's a point in time where we've got to look at that and say is that the right thing to do right we're impacting 75% of our students so to me White Memorial inty gifted I would not like to go have it seen [Music] um maintenance you know painting again I fear again you you know you need to paint you know
049you need to keep our schools up we need to continue to keep the buildings going um i' I've mentioned to Jeff on on occasions before that $15,000 cut to me comes from emergency repairs those are things we don't know we don't know what we need it for right we have an average of what we spent over the years but that to me should be looked at right in maybe a swap from from painting to to emergency repairs um theal I I struggle with that because our hired professionals tell us that that's the most impactful to our students right before the par Educators I'm I'm sorry following the par Educators so to to to go back on that I I struggle with that I agree in terms of cutting theal especially the impact that has on
050the rest of the staff who don't feel like they have enough support dayto day to get their work done that burden goes to other people within the schools in order to pick up the slack for that and understand that like it's not always there and we've got some redundancy built into the system but the redundancy is there because daytoday people are out and doing things for various reasons like just because you need a team of people to kind of get some of this done so um I if out of all of these um cutting the Mental Health Resources is really really really tough pill to swallow Jee what support do we provide the parents um externally from the school system for resources for them to get access to other mental health resources that are outside
051of the scope of the day when their kids are school school so I mean like if if do we send them home with stuff do we send them connections to places that we have maybe reduced fees with therapists do we what do we do for them outside of you know the scope of being here that councelor position was instrumental in developing a fullon resource of collection throughout our entire Community to provide to parents as touch points cjr does the same thing in terms of connecting uh families with outside services so those are just two Avenues and the Winchester youth Service Bureau is the other that we have that functions within the schools that also provides again touch points or additional uh resources within our communities for parents and their and their students so there's three
052different avenues that that takes place I I work at a school with about 350 students and in that school we hire or we have a full-time psychologist we have two full-time social workers and we have a full-time guidance counselor so I I'm assuming all four of those would be considered as CL um yeah mental health support mental health support and I know for a fact those four um colleagues at my school have their hands full all day long mental health is is um is is really necessary that's just that's really all I can [Music] say I think one thing that I would just like to talk to the board about is that I understand that we all have a responsibility to be fiscally responsible but I think that drawing somewhat of an arbitrary line on
053how much of a percentage increase we can accommodate year-over-year is is it doesn't match up with reality this these are the costs of what it takes to run the school and what we have always struggled with here I think for the board in terms of everything else is like making sure that people understand this I would rather take I'm not even thrilled about this 5.7% budget but like I would rather take this to the board of finance and at least get this to a wider audience outside of people who are just paying attention to the board of ed meetings these are the choices we're making we should not have to make them in a vacuum we should be bringing it to the town we have more people here listening to us tonight people that I
054wish honestly I wish you guys would come more often while we're talking about some of this stuff because this is the challenge where our hands are tied at this point in the year so I would really just encourage you to engage more regularly throughout the year and talk to your neighbors your friends your family especially people kids who don't are in the school because these are the conversations we are stuck having and no one up here is excited to be cutting people at all and like we need people to go to the rest of the town and say yes this is a fiscally responsible situation that no one is happy with but we're doing the best we can um we can't do that by ourselves so I would propose that we go forward and put
055the 5.7% budget if we need to make some of these adjustments that we talking about I'm fine to talk about that but I don't feel like we should just arbitrarily try to cut down to 5 4.1% just to say that we satisfied a number I think we can say these are this is where we are this is what we're this is what we're t with that's what I would like to do can make a motion yes of course I like to make a motion to take uh superintendent Seuss's proposed budget worksheet that leads to a 5.7% increase with the modifications as follows keeping the instructional assistant keeping White Memorial keeping Talent Eng gifted but you add the elimination of the seal counselor which would result in a budget of 10,341 6764 or a 5.16% increase
056I'll second the motion [Music] you have to check my math I did it quick but yeah again I'm just trying to what's your total cut again if I did that you take out 29,000 take out to 10155 I get down to add back to 715 I get to 3365 I don't think that's 5.16 I'd have to check that map but I don't think that's 5.16 Jeff can you is it possible to maneuver the um your computer to maneuver the numbers on the spreadsheet right yes the numbers are accurate I could show yeah can you just do that so we can see it on there instead of trying to guess what what we're looking at here we have we have it right there this one right [Applause] [Music] here I mean what's your total that you're
057proposed sorry What's the total proposal because I could just add that and you could see well I came with my math the total would be the total budget would be 10 million 340 1 6764 you said 56 yeah if those numbers are accurate that is the the variance of 516 right but is that number is that right using this oh got it so instead of 309 so you're you're proposing to remove 29,000 from that no add keep the 29,000 so add it on keep the 10,000 150 for White Memorial keep the tal gifted for 5,000 y but add theal into the cut as a cut instead my math gets me to 3365 the total cut but I don't know how we get to 5 point or 5.16 because 5.1 5.41 is saying it's 33715 yeah
058I have a dollar variance of 57,4 in that's in that scenario 29,000 + 105 plus five you don't have your blue sheet up there yeah do you have do what I was saying was do you have this sheet up there different columns can you pull those up so we can do the scenarios he's talking about I can put it up there but I'm hesitant because then I'm changing my original can you make a copy of it I can just to see it visually because it's hard to go back I want to make sure we have the right we have it visually in front of us just make a copy so you don't lose your original um sorry was your motion to keep 5.7% or was your motion also to lower it to 5.1 motioning on
059the items was my read on you were trying to motion on the item to the math Tom saying take this 5.71 Eric and then dittle down but he he took out more he took out more money than he put then he re then he put back in correct so we're looking his his proposal is looking at a 5.4 yeah that number makes just closer than what I would think yeah my math had a pair in there too I so my mistake but that wasn't my wasn't on my motion but my numbers are wrong it I had additional $28,000 I'm getting 5.16 that's what's strange to me 5.16 that's what I add I'm getting that number but it doesn't equate yeah something's not right because how can sheet 2 be 33715 be a 5.41 I don't
060know maybe this to right so eliminated the two added this as a cut I've got 3365 with the sum of all the cols right C3 to C15 so if I take the 336 500 from the original requested amount what did you this is what I have here 516 yep that's what my motion is I believe that that's the right map and again with with any of these changes again these are going to be approximate Jeff's going to go back and make the adjustments in the budget it's going to be somewhere around there right so again we can't specify a number we can look at the cuts again make the adjustments and then it's going to be in that in that range right unless you're in the you're not in the direct sheet so I'm not
061right um so we have a motion by Tom Buzzy on proposed budget elimination sheet that shows a total cuts of 30950 reev revisions to that are to remove the instructional assistant from those eliminations remove White Memorial from the eliminations remove talented and gifted and math elimin olympiads from the eliminations and add an elimin elimination of the 71,500 for theal counselor the total eliminations add up to $336,500 and it equates to a 5.16 increase to our budget anybody have any questions on that motion actually I should ask first can I get a second to that motion oh we did when did he do that okay any discussion on the motion I just want to say I'm not worried about White Memorial talented and gifted math olympiads you talk about fundraisers that's the those are the perfect
062things to fund raise with so if we take those off of the budget we still can have those programs if we take seal counselor out of there then we're really gonna we're really going to struggle to to have what we need for these kids so again White Memorial talent and gifted that's not something that we should be concerned with right now right now we should be concerned with the number of seal counselors that we are thinking of having so I disagree with this my thought process is that we we got through the bulk of the nonsense from covid without it and now it's only been a two-year position and again to Tim's point we we bring on these people with with the grants and then we next next you know we can't afford them so
063we need to reconsider in the future how we're going to handle those gifts that were throwing upon us that we can't afford so that's my position with the seal is there any other discussion any other thoughts I I agree that we um I agree with Tom about theal I understand mental health is important um I I think it's unreasonable to expect that the school system the teachers the administrators can do all things for all these children um it's just not it's a heavy burden to put on the teachers it's a heavy burden to put on the the administrators everybody involved in the school systems and as parents we have to be able to take some of that burden of our children and some of their mental health supports and the things that they need on
064on our on us right we have to because again a grant position and we we've been able to cover it for a year some of it for the second year but if as far as going after these grants we know that these positions could definitely be eliminated because we're not going to get the grant inde definitely so I understand mental health is important I get it all of these things are important um I I do think that White Memorial the talented and gifted math I don't want to get rid of it and I don't think we have to I think with some creative fundraising and working with the PTO or PTA that we could still make those things happen um the White Memorial is again if you do the math that's about $200 extra that
065the parents would have to help pay for and or have the children help to fund raise for those things just like my son has to fund raise for different things he's doing um you know the the European trip that the kids are taking like he has to fund raise to find $4,000 right so um I think that that White Memorial that 10,000 needs to be cut I think the talented and gifted needs to be cut and we utilize some other way to fund raise for those I think theal needs to be cut unfortunately um I would not like to see any pars cut um and I think that the instructional assistant while important all of these positions are important by the way and we don't want to cut anybody but I just think that um
066yeah I I don't know I think that needs to come out as well just to clarify there's no pair on that cut sheet right now I know but that's if I agreed with your motion I understand right now there's no pair on there right that's what I'm saying but I think I mean I think we need to get the budget he going to come back here so we're going to be back here in a couple weeks got to get under be I think at this point we can't worry about what the board of Finance is going to do we have to advocate for [Music] Education okay is there any further discussion okay seeing none all those in favor of the motion uh on the floor please signify by raising your hand three all those opposed
067motion fails three to four would anybody else like to put a motion on the floor I would like to motion to approve the proposed budget of 5.70% the first uh page of superintendent Seuss's uh proposal as is as is we have a motion to accept the proposal at the 30915 cuts have have a second we have a motion by Eric and a second by Kristen any discussion [Music] I think bro budget touches the children more than the other than more than one I brought up I don't think that's where we're we should be heading is there any further discussion on the motion to accept the proposed budget cuts of 30915 to account for a 5.7% budget increase for the 2526 year any further discussion all those in favor please signify raising your hand all those
068opposed motion fails one two what do we have one total of seven here one six0 would anybody else like to Pro propose a motion I like Tom's proposal but I'd like to add White Memorial back in as a cut and uh make the proposal for that budget okay we have a motion on the floor to uh use the again proposed budget eliminations at 5.7 what the changes to this are to um remove as an elimination the instructional assistant remove as an elimination talented and gifted math olympiads and add as an elimination theal counselor for 71,500 what that does that amounts to your uh removing instruction system assistant you're removing White Memorial you're adding 715 elimination for the SEO you're adding a 715 for the same same motion as Tom except for yeah that stays Tom
069did you to cut the instructional assistant it stays what okay so the clerical a okay yeah that just remove uh 3365 plus 10150 right got a total of 34 346,000 or [Music] 5.34 what is your number I'm sorry so 34650 I go to the budget calculator and remove that from the requested from the 2526 to Dollar variance of 52546 for a percentage of [Music] 5.34 okay right we have a motion and an approval I'm sorry a motion and a second um I don't need to go through them all everybody understand what is on here it's really it's Tom's motion with adding back the White Memorial any discussion on that all right seeing none all those in favor please signify by raising your hand three all those opposed motion fails three US um I'll make a
070motion to see if this helps um I'd like to make a motion again using the same 5.7 sheet um I'd like to motion to change the cut from painting to emergency repairs um remove the instructional assistant remove White Memorial and add the part-time par EDG educator at $28,000 yougen reps and you're going to remove the remal of Memorial correc add of actually I'm sorry also take the Talon gifted remove that from the cuts and add the part-time par educator again and just as Jeff is going through this again my thought is again I'm going to go on the advice of our hired professionals as the most impactful on this list is the counselor that impacts both our special education students as well as our regular education students um again understanding that the par educator being
071part-time also has impact on that um but again based on the professional advice that it has a uh less of an impact um again I do not like the cutting of White Memorial and talented gifted those are programs that are that are geared towards our regular education and again they're they're seeing the brunt of these cuts and as I already said on the maintenance again painting is something that we need to do we know we need to do it emergency repairs are again a an estimate based on what we may not know today so with those jef where did we land so with those those proposed adjustments and Cuts we would land at a 10.41 12 676 with a dollar variance of $146,000 um sorry $578,500 [Music] second all we have a motion to Second
072do we have any discussion all right seeing none all those in favor please signify by raising your hand all those opposed motion fails 340 Tim how are you taking into account any vote I can't she's she's not here so she can't vote I can no she's not here she can't vote no I can tell again we have her opinion and I did fail to mention again Frank did give me a message before uh and he may be joining us soon via teams um but he again was in favor of the 5.7 um or the highest or the least amount of cuts we make to the budget is what his opinion want to make does anybody want to make a different motion an amendment to a motion that's been made it's just my opinion regarding this
073seal position we we went through years and years and years and years without this position and we got it handed to us two years ago and now we're going to be stuck with a $71,000 position that we didn't need two years ago but all a sudden we need it we went through the worst part of the of the masking and the separation and but now all of a sudden we need this position again I'm not an expert but I it's my opinion that if we don't get rid of this position it's just we keep doing that and we're going to keep repeating adding things that we can't afford so Tim I want to make a motion to do um let's see let see if I can do this so so the the original blue right
074the 5.70 um everything on there and then you add the seal that should be 38500 what is that what is that percentage for uh 49 it again 715 so that number should be do make sure it's adding every st3 and what does it look like percentage so with those with that proposal brings our request Quest at 49,4 196 dollar variance or percent variance of 4.99 budget total 10,325 26 I'll second any discussion okay seeing all those in favor please signify by raising your hand all those opposed and that motion passes 430 so again the motion that passes just to be clear is again all the all the eliminations listed on the front page um adding up to $39 $150,000 adding in 715 of an elimination of the seal counselor we get to a total budg
075budget cut of $38,600 um approximately a 4.99% budget increase for the 2526 year so I believe we need a motion to send this to the board of Finance to adopt the budget to adopt the budget as the Board of Education right so can I receive a motion to adopt the budget by the board of education for 10, 325,000 [Music] 26 a dollar variance or an increase of $490,000 $496 and a percent variance of 4.99% this is for the 2526 calendar year got motion motion by Tom for adoption for a second second second by Tim any discussion all those in favor please signify by raising your hand and all those opposed and motion passes 430 okay I think that's all we have on our agenda for today I have a motion to adjourn at uh 7:14
076move by Tom second by dearry all those in favor unanimous for