001and welcome to the Tuesday, November 18, 2025 Aquinamic uh school board meeting. The board went into executive session at 5:30 on motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Higgins to discuss uh certain personnel and legal issues. We have now come out of executive session and uh we will start this meeting as we always do with 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. Um, I should also point out that um, board member Michelle Dit was not feeling well and she is joining us by Zoom. So, she is present. Can you hear us, Michelle? >> Yes. Good evening. >> All right. Thank you for, uh, being here. >>
002Uh, so with that, um, Dr. Burroughs, are there any adjustments or changes to the agenda? >> Just one that's noted. It's item 11 I. There are no change orders this month for approval. >> Okay. Uh so with that uh next on the we have a number of special recognitions which are always I think the highlight of our meetings and we will start with the middle school volleyball champions. [applause] >> Good evening everybody. It's nice to be back for our first uh awards for our middle school sports of the year. And we're going to start with our girls volleyball. And the fall of 2025 was the second year for our girls volleyball to compete in middle school. And tonight we are proud to recognize the team from Alfred G. Waters who defeated Meredith 2 to1 in
003a very exciting match to capture the 2025 district middle school girls volleyball championship. AGW also finished the regular season seven and zero and they are repeat champions as they were the 2024 champions also. So at this time I'm going to introduce their coach Joe Holddrren and she will introduce the players on her team. [applause] Abigail Bench, [applause] Eva Cahill, who could not be with us tonight, [applause] Adeline Gervin, Ritvika Gamakala, Mahika, Hyermath, Kylie, Imbriali, Harmony George who could not be with us tonight, Payton Kaine, [applause] Caroline Kzner, Yashika Capalaconda, who could not be with us tonight, Grace Overby, [applause] Janiah Patt, Everly Reyes who could not be with us tonight. Cavia Svage, Kenisha Chararma, Morgan Stewart, [applause] and Evangelene Sed. >> [applause] [applause] >> All right, congratulations. Uh, next for recognition, we have the middle
004school field hockey champions, Miss Taylor. >> Yep. All right. [applause] Yes. So, next up is field hockey. Again, tonight we are going to recognize Ever Meredith Middle School who defeated Kwells Bridge 3 to zero for the championship. Um, since field hockey has started, it has been Kwells Bridge versus Ever Meredith in the final every year and they're kind of going back and forth, back and forth. So, this is Meredith's second in the last four years. And Meredith also finished the season 8 and zero undefeated. So, Congratulations. [applause and cheering] And I'm going to introduce their athletic director, Miss Riser, who will announce the coach and the players. Liliana Koreah, [applause] >> Gianna Draper, [applause and cheering] >> Aubrey Giles, [applause] >> Ariana Hall, [applause] Brinley Kelly, [applause] Ellie Clarine, [applause] Delaney Man, Emilyn Miller, Keegan
005O'Neal, [applause] Evelyn Ordorf, [applause] Juliana Peruchi, >> [applause] >> Keegan [clears throat] Peters, Payton Rash, Lily Sappitin, Mandolin Scott, [applause] Rebecca Steven, [applause] Kendall Talmage, Kobe Turner, Cameron Vaughn, Mia Washburn, Abella Zarelli, Jamie Diceet, Lauraai Hardy, Amari a point Dexter. And I would like to end with our head coach, Coach Rya Wilbur. [cheering] [applause] Please >> [cheering] [applause] >> All right, we'll be back next month for cross country. But once again, we always want to thank um the schools and the board and the district for their support of our growing and flourishing middle school athletics program. Thank you very much. [cheering] All right, I think I think just about everybody has gotten out, so we can continue with recognitions. Can somebody shut the doors to the hallway? Maybe. >> All right. Next for recognitions, we
006have the Muse Award, which is the Delaware Secondary Art Educator Award. And Miss Sebastiano Good evening everyone. I am Laura Sebastiano. I'm the visual and performing arts coordinator for the school district. And um Delaware art, music, and theater teachers recently gathered for the annual state arts professional development conference. [snorts] And at that conference, the Delaware Muse Awards were announced and Don Hunter, art teacher at Middletown High School, was recognized with the secondary level Muse Award. And to be considered for a Muse Award, a teacher must exemplify the characteristics of being a masterful, unique, strong educator. I was told that um for this year's awards, there was a significant number of applications, but Mrs. Hunter's dedication, effort, and passion for art education really stood out among the applicants. I've seen firsthand the incredible work she does
007with her students, and um I couldn't agree more with the committee's decision. Uh please help me recognize Don Hunter for this achievement. All right, with that we move on to the SLE Lighthouse Academic Honor. Ladies, good evening everyone. My name is Christy Boyd and I am the very proud principal of Silver Lake Elementary. I'm joined by Dr. Suther, my assistant principal, and Mrs. Amy Hoff, who is one of our teacher leaders at Silver Lake. Um, this is our 15th year in our leadership journey, and our core values are that of community, leadership, and growth. Growth being our main focus now. So, we're super excited to have really been able to move our students, make some additional progress, and then be recognized by leader and me. So, special shout out to Mrs. Hoff for her work
008that she does with all of our student leaders. Mrs. Kahhal is our coordinator. she was un unable to be here tonight. And the Mrs. Widows also partners with Mrs. Hoff. So, it's absolutely a collaborative effort. And then last but not least, Mrs. Cindy Clay was supposed to be here tonight and we were going to brag about her because she's the reason that we started the journey in Leader Me to begin with. So, thank you so very much. >> Thank you. Congratulations. It's the second year in a row, right? It is. >> Congratulations. [applause] >> [applause] >> All right. Next on the agenda for recognition, we have the NASN publication. Miss Carac. >> Good evening. My name is Ivon Kamak. I'm lead nurse and coordinator of health services for the district. Um the month of November
009is diabetes awareness month and I'd like to recognize one of our outstanding nurses, Amy Hastings. Amy serves as our district float nurse and diabetes resource nurse. Um she uses her professional expertise along with her personal experience as a parent of a type 1 diabetic to serve and support our school nurses, the students and the families throughout our district and throughout the state. [clears throat] Amy has founded Beads for Diabetes which has raised over $25,000 to send student athletes to diabetes camp each year. Also, she um partnered with the Lions Club to um ensure a grant that educates all of our school staff throughout every public school in the state of Delaware to raise diabetes awareness. But most recently, and the reason for our special recognition tonight is her manuscript titled Empowering School Nurses in Delaware,
010a collaborative um approach to improving diabetes management in our schools was accepted for publication in the National Association of School Nurse Journal. So, congratulations Amy and thank you for everything you do for our [applause] students. [applause] >> [clears throat] >> All right. And the last of our recognitions for tonight is Beats Maker, Dr. Small. >> Good evening, everyone. The Apple Beatsmaker Award. Our Beatsmaker Award celebrates staff who are nominated for exhibiting our Apple Beats. Collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity, and engagement. Tonight, we are excited to celebrate three staff members and thank them for being Appleo Beats makers. a technology associate nominated by the SLE Silverl Elementary support team for collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, and engagement. Please help me in celebrating James Skinner. [applause] Sorry, I would love to brag on Mr. Skinner. Um, we
011already mentioned that one of our core values is community and what I love about most about our school is how much our staff and all the adults wrap around our kiddos. So, one day Mr. Skinner was in our building and I they were calling me from the office saying he needs to see you. So, I thought we broke something in the world of technology. So, I came and I found him and he said, "Um, I just needed to let you know on my way in there was a student outside struggling with a bike. I went and I got tools from the custodial office and I tried to repair it. Um, but I want to point out the bike to you just in case it doesn't hold up because then I want to buy him one.
012And it was just so moving. That wasn't why he was there, but it just speaks to how amazing of a person he is and we felt it was worthy of sharing. So, thank you. [applause] >> [clears throat] >> All right. Second up, a teacher that was nominated by Amy Hastings. Amy, I see what you did there. You were here for two purposes tonight. >> For collaboration and communication, Aaron McFaden. >> [applause] [applause] >> Aaron McFaden, my apologies. >> [applause] >> And last, but certainly not least, a custodian nominated by Lynn Streets for creativity and engagement, Alex Port. [applause] >> [applause] >> So, Appo High School affectionately calls uh Mr. Port Mr. Alex. And the reason he was nominated is because every student in the school knows Mr. Alex. Last year at graduation, the line got
013held up because so many kids wanted to hug him in the graduation line. Um, and this year he asked if he could please go to prom and he'd buy a ticket. I said, "Uh, you'll be a better chaperon than most of the chaperons there. Please come. We will certainly pay for your ticket." But he is an integral member of AHS and we're so happy to celebrate him with this award. [applause] >> [applause] >> All right. By the way, for these recognitions, I think the best thing you can ever see is all the parents struggling to take pictures of their kids when their kids are in front of that white thing. It's It's really neat to see that. Uh reports. Item seven on the agenda. We start with the superintendent's report. Dr. Burrows. >> Thank you.
014I appreciate everyone joining us tonight. Um I'm going to start off by saying we're quickly in the second or actually the third month of school heading towards our uh Thanksgiving break. Uh big event coming up on Thursday where we have our uh turkey lunch, our turkey lunch for everyone. Thanksgiving lunch for everyone. I will be uh serving lunch uh this year at Silverlake Elementary School. So looking forward to that. [applause] But all the elementary schools and all schools are serving. So please make sure that you uh have an opportunity to have go with your kid to lunch. Um November 3rd through the 7th is National School Psychology Week. The 18th is National Education Support Professional Day and the 21st and this is every day is a substitute appreciation day. Um and so and I'll put
015a plug in for substitutes. If you are interested in being a substitute, please make sure that you sign up. I think Mr. Banks is here somewhere in the back there. Um, please see him. More than glad to have you come as a substitute. Currently, we have 25 full-time teaching openings. That's the lowest it's been in the last 5 years. Uh, so we appreciate the work of our HR team, our recruiting team, um, and all of our teachers who are recruiters themselves. And we're down to six full-time pair of professional uh, openings at this point. We're currently up from our September 30th count, 139 students. Um, at this point we're 1,00 or excuse me, 13,97 students. We are officially at this point the second largest school district in the state. Um, and at this time I'm
016going to transition. Um, last month we did a board workshop on we took the recommendations that came from the auditors and um, also from the uh, subject matter experts that came in. We took the recommendations and we um talked about how we were implementing that recommendation. We had a request at that workshop if we could give like a timeline on some of these or if we were doing them. I'm not going to go through all 35 slides tonight. I'm going to do the first section of this and then next meeting I'll get into the next uh eight and then the third meeting I'll do the next eight if that's okay. So I'll start off um next slide Steve. Um recommendation one, the district should establish better internal controls within the finance office and implement clear
017approval policies for financial documents ensuring both the superintendent's involvement and the CFO's oversight is documented. So Abcom School District has implemented an internal policy that all expenditures must be approved by the director of finance. This change is being reviewed and updated to implement processes to ensure that the director of finance is aware of all the financial requests that flow in and out of the district. The director of finance meets with the superintendent weekly to provide all financial updates accordingly and the timeline this is already happening and is in place. Recommendation two, training should be held with the school secretaries who manage financial and payroll payroll functions to improve communication and consistency. And I'm sorry. Feel free to stop me at any point if you have any questions. Um, all updates and changes that have been
018made so far have been communicated with all finance secretaries. The finance department plans to meet with all finance secretaries this on November 10th, which has happened to discuss the changes and provide an opportunity to ask questions andor voice concerns. The finance department plans to implement this time going forward until all financial processes have been reviewed and accounted for. Once completed, the director of finance plans to hold finance trainings to provide the information necessary to ensure best financial processes are implemented. As stated, the training occurred on November 10th and this training is ongoing. Recommendation three, a preparation and review process process, excuse me, should be implemented for budgets and monthly revenue and expenditure reports with the FAC, that's our financial advisory committee, receiving full documentation for meaningful discussion. The director of finance is working with the
019superintendent and the financial advisory committee to revamp and define the role of the Abaccom school district financial advisory committee. State policy is being reviewed and discussions are taking place to develop a path that is feasible for the financial advisory committee to be effective and confident in the role that the committee plays for the Applecoming school district. The FAC currently receives all documents necessary to review the overall finances of the district. The director of finance is working on creating a document that is a complete review of the revenue and expenditures of the upcoming school district that can be posted on the upcoming school district website for everyone to review. So, some timeline on that. Um, at our November meeting, the financial advisor committee did elect board member Norm Abrams to serve as co-chair. Mike Jackson is
020serving as chair. Minutes and agenda are being posted on the website and board docs and will continue to be on a monthly basis. It was brought to my attention tonight that these weren't seen on board docs. I know the team is working. Okay, so they're up and are viewable on board docs. Recommendation four, financial advisory committee meetings should be documented to confirm approval of the CFO's presentations and the board should be kept informed through the FAC board representative. Each meeting an agenda for the FAC is provided to all committee to review and the necessary documents are attached as well. Meeting minutes are taken by the finance analyst and the minutes are approved by the financial advisory committee. Once approved, the minutes are signed off by the chair, the co-chair, the director of finance, and the
021finance analyst. All documents are available to the public on board docs and the district website. This is already happening. Documents can be found on the district website and board docs. Recommendation five, the district should provide training for the board members, the superintendent, staff, and volunteers to strengthen financial knowledge. This recommendation will take time to implement and complete. The director of finance has time on the agenda on the agenda meetings with cabinet principles secretaries communicate information and provide the training. Other notable dates this was from that meeting um tonight's board training session which happened on Tuesday October 28th. The director of finance has also held finance courses with cabinet on Monday October 27th to provide training. In addition, trainings training is being held monthly with the FAC through monthly meetings. This is ongoing and will continue
022to take place. The exact dates are included above on trainings that already happened. Uh we're also working on um setting a date for another board training in the near future. Recommendation six, the district should present all financial and budget reports in a clear and easil easily unders and no I can speak easily understandable format. The director of finance has provided a document to the superintendent to review that would be the starting point of presenting the revenues and expenditures in a more clear and concise way. This is currently being vetted. The director of finance will present proposed formatting at the December financial advisory committee for implementation to begin at the January 2026 board meeting in all future meetings. Recommendation one for the financial reporting. And the district should continue working with the dire the DOE's financial
023recovery team and school finance experts to ensure program and physical stability for FY26 and 27. The director of finance communicates with the state of Delaware and the department of education to ensure financial certainty at Appcoming School District. Currently, this includes monthly reports to DOE. The director of finance continues to work with Dr. Dr. Chuck Longfellow, former CFO from ASD to gain insight, mentorship, and direction to ensure that the director of finance is making sound decisions, ensure the stability of the Aberland School District finances. This is taking place and remains ongoing. Recommendation two, a standardized format for budget reporting should be adopted whether mandated by the DOE, developed at the district level, or modeled after similarsized districts. Budget accuracies can be improved by comparing prior year actuals from the state's accounting system with budget amounts and
024by requiring the budget reports be prepared by staff reviewed by the CFO embedded with the financial advisory committee before board presentations. Currently the district utilizes data service center to review expenditure information. The director of finance is in the process of implementing a financial budget system called al view that will address this recommendation is currently being vetted through it to ensure compatibility with the apple school district current network and systems along with the state systems. We're looking at tenative implementation on this for December 1st through June 30th pending approval from the state IT department. Recommendation three, report should be presented to ABcomink Board of Education earlier in the budget cycle, ideally in November or December after the final unit count instead of waiting until February. The director of finance will work with the superintendent on a
025process to address this recommendation. We will update this once we have a complete transition to our new director finance. The preliminary budget will be available in July um of 2020 or of 2026 for FY27. In December, a draft of the final budget will be presented for our FY27 budget. Recommendation four, policy should be adopted to define how reports are compiled, the sources of information use, reconciliation to FSF, that's first state financial system. um and the FAC's review role. The director of finance is working with the superintendent to address this recommendation. Currently, the director of finance explains in detail the reports provided to the FAC and the board so that understanding is gained. In December of 2025, we will begin the process of updating policies and this effort will continue in the future. Procedures will also
026be defined. The review of the FAC's role is complete. Recommendation five, to improve transparency, additional reports grouping operating units by funding source should be required either by the Department of Education or the district to ensure tax revenues properly align with expenses. This recommendation is being implemented in the fiscal year 2026. You'll see tonight in our um report there's a preliminary amended budget that will show this. The director of finance plans to implement a zerobased budget model for fiscal year 2027 that will provide more clarity and transparency concerning the budget for upcoming school district. This is taking place with our separation of um state funds from our local discretionary funds and federal funds in the current budget. Recommendation six, the direct the DOE should work with FSF developers to add automated reporting features to reduce reliance
027on manual entry which is inefficient and prone to error. The state of Delaware is currently looking into updating their system. Unfortunately, ASD is bound by the state s systems functions to execute our process. The director of finance is looking to implement a new budget model system called al view that will assist in resolving this issue. I will say that um we're kind of at the behest of the state that we have to use their system. I think I explained this at previous meetings that first state financial system is an accounting system. It's meant for the whole state. It's not meant for education but it's adapted into education model. So that's where this gets into this recommendation of DOE working with um the FSF developers. We're working at the at the state level is ongoing. They're
028actually going out to bid on a new vendor for this, but I'm not sure if it'll be any better for schools, but we're looking at our own model. Um we continue to work with it to implement Aliv. Recommendation seven, the district should approve the accuracy of their financial position reporting by requiring the physical officers and the FAC to review information before board submission, developing policies to define local expenses and projections tied to the approval budget and ensuring all board approved reports are submitted to the Department of Education on time with documented reasons for any changes as required by Delaware Code. The director of finance is currently working with the state to provide this report by the 15th of every month until the state says otherwise. The finance analyst will review when available the aspects of
029the report to ensure accuracy. This is already taking place and is ongoing until otherwise noted. >> All right, that's it for tonight. >> Unless you have any questions. >> Does anyone have any questions for Dr. Burroughs? All right. Anything further for your report? >> No, I just thank you. I know we're in a stretch run here um as we get to Thanksgiving break. I know there's a lot of excitement in the buildings. I just thank the teachers, the educators, the bus drivers, our um school custodians, um and everyone that's involved in the schools. We just thank you for all their support and we uh thank you um and hopefully you have a grateful and uh great Thanksgiving and we'll continue this as part of this um as we look to rebuild trust be reporting out
030on our finances and I'll be reporting out and giving a piece of this each month. So thank you. >> Okay, with that we will move to the fiscal year 26 amended preliminary budget. Miss Stewart Good evening, board members. Um, we are going to go over the fiscal year 2026 amended preliminary budget. We're just bringing this to your attention for review. Uh we were late in providing this information to the finance advisory committee at our past meeting and we wanted to allow them the time to really dive in and dig in but we think that it is very worth it with bringing it to the board so that you all if you have any questions we can take that back um and then we can work I can work with Dr. Chuck to do that. I
031will say I want to give Dr. Chuck a shout out. Dr. Chuck has been a great help to me in organizing the fiscal 2026 amended preliminary budget and so he is with us tonight. Um his expertise and his knowledge is definitely um has been very helpful and so I definitely appreciate him and thank him and just want everyone to know that. So Dr. Chuck, you can take it away. >> Can I just give a caveat real quick too with the budget? So, um I don't know if paying attention just with the court case being settled last Tuesday that we were legally allowed to differentiate the tax rate. Tax bills won't be going out. Well, I guess the 18th through the 20th tax bills are starting supposed to start to hit homes with the differentiated tax
032rate. Uh today's 18th. Yep. today um in between 18th and 20th we will tax bills are due on December 31st. Just to give a little bit of perspective uh on that usually by September 30th so the middle of October September 30th we receive the majority of our tax receipts in um we projected at se at our October collection to have about 77 million. We had about 13 million at that time. Um, so currently we're waiting on those tax receipts to come in. So there wasn't any money to upload into budgets at at this point. So the delay with the preliminary amended budget kind of aligns with us getting our revenues in which are projected to come in the middle of January. So I just wanted to make that note. Um, on the budget side of
033things, sorry to interrupt, Chuck. Oh, we're good. Um, can you see the um Excel screen that has the preliminary budget? >> Yes. Okay, great. So, good evening everyone. Um, this is a um report rather than um an item for approval because as Miss Stewart said, um we didn't really give the financial advisory committee enough time to look at this because it was so so many moving parts here. we we were building it um up until a couple days before their meeting. And so they thought very wisely that um we could punt this to December for approval. And that makes sense anyway because as Dr. Burrow said um the tax revenue is coming more slowly than usual. Usually we get the bulk of the revenue in October. This year we're going to get some more in
034December, but we think that um we should have the bulk of it by January as long as everything goes well. Um some changes since last time. Uh you'll see a note here um that we have changed some of the revenue projections based on the unit count. We had originally put the um.19% increase based on the guaranteed unit count, but we changed it to the actual 2.7 or 2.57% increase um for the um for the real unit count, which is which is good because so many funds do follow after the unit count. So um some of those places where changes have been made, you will see some red notes here and there are some other revenues that have come in. for example, a school improvement grant for Reading Middle School of $103,000. And there's some places
035where corrections were made too that we have seen along the way. For example, um some of the minor capital um items. So, um going into the orange here, well, first first I'll go to the the last blue tab, carryover. Carryover, this is really the essence of um this budget document, this version of it. I know that um in the past you've gotten budget books with a lot more information and I know that Miss Stewart also wants to build back toward giving you a budget book with more things like detail on our enrollment and um choice and charter um enrollment and things like that. And those reports if if that's stuff that you need, I'm sure you can get that from uh Dr. Burroughs upon request. But this right here, this is kind of the bottom
036line up front. Um we have um in accordance with the um financial reporting recommendation number five we have peeled away discretionary state and local funds from non-discretionary from tuition fund from um federal from capital from cafeteria. Um and I'll show you some more of that in just a few minutes. But here this shows our carryover into this year of discretionary state and local. What our projected revenue is per this budget document. Our projected expenditures per this budget document with an updated um projected discretionary operating fund carryover for the for into next year of 4.8 million um based on what we know at this point. tuition fund. Same thing, carryover into this year, projected revenue, including um an offset to revenue for the Christina bill that we still owed coming into this fiscal year, the 1.537
037million uh projected tuition fund expenditures. It's a real hard number um to nail down, but I know that as we get into um our zerobased budgeting process in the future, we want to break that down into um finer categories um and our projected tuition fund carryover 739,000. We hope it's more, but this is of conservative um on revenue and cons and uh conservative on expenditures so that we um you know have this projection here. This is the essence of this. Um, and I think that probably um, going forward as a board, this is the information that you should absolutely be looking for and tracing back through um, through these budget documents. Where are we now? And where >> before we move off this slide though that you just put up f first off, I think
038if you go back, we always at every board meeting ask what's the projected carryover for the end of the year. So, this is showing for the operating general operating funds a $4.8 million carryover. That's the one where we have to have the uh two payroll minimum and 4.8 is more than we're going to need. Correct. >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. >> So, assuming that we meet budget, then we will be in compliance with the state requirement. the tuition fund carryover, as I understand it, but correct me if I'm wrong, there's not a required state carryover for that, but it's good practice for us to do that. And this shows us with a $700,000 carryover. >> Yes. Now, we recommend that you have, you know, well over 4 million in carryover. This is not this is
039not enough money to um to really cover the um salaries that happen at the beginning of the year. you end up end up borrowing from other places in order to cover that. That's not the best way to be. But you're right, there is no required carryover. But over the next few years, we need to build up a um carryover in the tuition fund. >> Right. And and again, just so I'm clear, I know there was a $ 1.5 million bill that was owed to Christina that's getting paid. So this does not have us having to make any additional payments going into the next fiscal year. Correct. That's right. That's right. When we set the rate, we built in this um paying off this bill. So, we would cover two Christina bills this year, the last
040year and the the current year bill. >> So, then in theory, the I mean, assuming that our special ed expenditures for students remains the same. It's it's theory now, hypothetical. then our expenditures for next year would be $1.5 million less because we're not going to have that carryover invoice. Correct. >> Well, yes. Yes. In essence, so the way that we report our um transfers to other districts for special programs and to charter schools is an offset to revenue. So our our revenue would end up being one and a half million more. >> Okay. But um >> 61. >> Yes. Exactly. Yep. The um the assumption though is that's a really nice assumption to have, but I don't it's it hasn't been realistic over over so many years that the costs are the same. Okay. >>
041Yeah. No, we've we've talked about that, but I I just wanted to point out that this year's expenditures or this year's starting revenue is is artificially high because we had that one carryover that's getting paid this year rather than last year. But once that gets out of the way, we should going into the next fiscal year have expenditures that are lower at least in that regard. They may go up for other reasons, but we'll have extra cushion next year is my point. >> Correct. Yep. >> Okay. >> And that's by design, >> right? >> So, [clears throat] um I mean all right. So, um the orange parts um are how we built our um preliminary our amended preliminary expenditure budget. So, the first one is the cross the detail crosswalk here. This one here, it's
042a pretty complex sheet, but we wanted to make sure you had it so you could see how we got where we are now. I'm going to um scroll to the top here. We have um you'll notice in row five, we've carved these things out in funds. And if you look in column I, you'll see a letter that denotes the fund type. D is discretionary, state, and local. Non is nondis N is non-discretionary state and local T is tuition F federal C is capital debt service or major minor cap L is cafeteria cafeteria uh C or C and N were taken already so we did it L for lunch that's why cafeteria got that but um we took all of the operating units and program codes combinations that the board approved in their fiscal year in
043their the the last uh budget that the board approved approved in fiscal year 25. We took those numbers and we put them all in here. Um we took a look at the actual expenditure as of June 30, 2025. In some cases, there's expenditure afterwards. Um that's just the nature of especially some of these multi-year funds. That's how it goes. But we we did this to make sure that we are um especially for the discretionary funds budgeting um enough um based on reality. um you know a budget is a plan. There's really no money in a budget. It's just a plan. But this actual expenditure is is actual um um money spent. Column F is where we landed on the preliminary budget for amended preliminary budget for fiscal year 26. G is the difference between fiscal
044year 26 preliminary and the f and the um board approved not the actual expenditures but the board approved. And then this one here, H is preliminary uh compared to the actual expenditures. Just so you can see where that landed here in J. We put the appropriations that are um by far most likely to be found in these um operating unit and program code combinations. And that's for you to trace back or our our public to trace back, our staff to trace back because one of the things we need to do uh every year is check all of these to make sure that we're not finding um appropriations being used in operating unit program code combos that really um that shouldn't be there. We did [clears throat] find a lot of um errors in fiscal year
04525. And so having a guide like this will help us to keep things cleaner. K, L, and M. K is what was it used for in fiscal year 2025. And there is there's an explanation for every single line. For some of these that are new lines for 2026. Um you'll just see that we noted that it's new for 26. 26. This is our intended use for this year. and then how the budget is determined are kind of breadcrumbs to let you know how we um how we calculated what's in this line. And as you go down, you'll see at at first it's kind of boring. They're the school um the school accounts and a lot of those are formulaic. Um but as you go down you'll see you know more detail sources like the consolidated
046grant application um some numbers that that um describe our um calculations some reference to the tax warrant and so forth. So um this is this is kind of our worksheet to build the um expenditure um budget. The next tab is a clean a cleaner copy. These are only the operating unit and program code combinations that are being budgeted to in fiscal year 26 to um to date. There will be some added as time goes on. Sometimes our grants are distributed to schools and at first we'll we'll um just have one um concentrated allocation and then once we know how much goes in each school we'll spread that out. But um it all funds all total this year um APquinamink has a 322 million.4 million budget but this is all funds. So here's just the um
047the um a cleaner version of what you saw the out the outcome of it. Next we have the expenditures by fund and operating unit. So we have each of our fund types. >> Go ahead. Yes. Go back to the budget a second. The total number, the 322 322. So that's everything. That's capital, that's tuition, that's operating, that's that's everything we're spending all in one number. Correct. >> That's everything that has a fiscal year 26 tag on it. Um the asterisk on this. Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. I thought part of what the I'll say the reforms that we were going to be working on and it shouldn't be that hard given that there's codes but I mean are we going to get a budget for the operating expenses to compare to last year's operating budget
048>> because capital can really skew things. I mean if we're spending a lot you know we're about to spend a lot of money on schools >> and suddenly our budget looks like looks like it goes way up but that's only because of the capital portion of it. Right. The critical comparison is just operating expenses year-to- year at least in my mind. >> Correct. Are we going to >> Yes. >> Okay. >> That's that's the next tab. The only real purpose for this number is wow look how big our budget is total all funds. That's about it. Um it really doesn't have a a function to say whether we're over under or anything like that. Um that's that's the only thing there. It's just a wow look at us factor. >> This next tab here. Yes.
049Go ahead. >> I was going to And the bulk of that number is coming from the state. I mean, it's not our local fund. So, like on the capital and even on operating, I mean, the state's paying a significant portion of that, but Okay. I just want to make sure we were going to get an operating uh budget. >> Yes. And I'll show you that in this tab here, but I'll go back to um I'll go back to the top of this clean copy. The thing that we did in following that recommendation is each operating unit should only be one fund. So all of the schools are discretionary D fund D. Um extra time was pulled out of there. It is a non-discretionary. It's a it's a match tax. Professional development was pulled out. State
050depression uh professional development. That's an N. It's non-discretionary. We do have discretionary technology funds, these three lines here, but in order to pull out these state uh tech block grant and some other things, we had to um light up a let me see where down here another tech um operating unit which is the non-discretionary. So what we've done is we've made it so that every operating unit is only a member of one fund. We're not mixing up funds within an operating unit. And so when I go back to this tab, we're able to map operating units to a fund and show this is major and minor cap here. This is discretionary state and local. Now, there's a lot of operating units here, but every single one of these should be. And again, um if anybody
051sees anything that doesn't make sense or your question, like, wait a minute, you've got a federal somewhere here, let us know. We've taken a look but you know we can miss things. So our discretionary state and local um is 76,926 um 625 budgeted for expenditure. That's the this is the um 76 I'm going to make sure this matches up. 7692625 is this 76920625 that we um that we have here. This is our carryover. This projected state and local discretionary revenue maps back to discretionary revenue. State and local revenue here. 78611661. And so carryover plus revenue minus expenditure is new carryover. Um, back in the funds here, F federal again, there's really no there's no real reason to to have a federal funds balance other than, hey, look how much we rely on the federal government,
052$5.4 million. Cafeteria is its own animal, only one operating unit. Um, non-discretionary. This is another one that really there's no real reason to say, "Well, how many non-discretionary funds do we have? Are we carrying over?" Because all of these are you get them and you you try to spend them all out. That's that's how that one works. Tuition is another one that we have to keep our eye on. And it's got only one operating unit. That's the 999702. So, um, this is this is how we separated all of that out. and um you know we're we've actualized the one um recommendation there. So any questions at this point? Go ahead. >> Does the 4.8 million carryover can that only be from discretionary or can it include non-discretionary? >> It's only the discretionary state and local
053funds. >> That's what I thought. Okay. >> And so it should match up with what you see in the um financial position reports. So, as we get closer to the end of the year, these numbers will con converge. Is this going to be the actual number? Of course not. I mean, we hope we don't know. Well, I we actually I think we will bring in more than what we've projected. And part of that is because some of the um tax bills that went out and people paid and then their residential um amounts were lowered, they may not get a refund. they might just let it sit on account and be used for next year. So, we're going to have to make sure we get with the county and ask them toward the end of the
054year, how much of what you gave us this year is actually for next year, and we'll have to account for that. And then we always um we might budget 776.9 million to be spent, but not everybody spends all their budgets. We um you know hopefully we don't bust budgets you know like we had like we saw with um energy going on. Energy costs can always increase. We try to um you know put we try to predict what that's going to be but that's it's hard to tell sometimes. But you know a lot of the other there are a lot of budget lines in here and you know usually there's some dollars left over in these and so you know if if this [snorts] is more if the 78.6 six is more because we're getting some
055advance from fiscal year 27 and if the 26 or 76.9 is less because we're not spending all of our lines then the 4.8 you know will would be higher. That's what we that's what we hope for. >> Yeah. The other thing, Chuck, too, that obviously we we never try to estimate and it's just found money but didn't happen last year was uh there should be supplemental assessments coming in as well for properties that get CEOs after the start of the fiscal year. >> Yes. Historically that happens, but it's one of those things that you don't count before it hatches. So, um we don't build that into the budget. Yes. >> Right. So for for example, First Watch is supposed to open, can't open soon enough for my money, but it's going to open at some
056point in the next couple months. And then once they open, they'll get a tax bill for the rest of the year. And so that'll be 20 $30,000 that comes to us. Any any stores now, any houses that get constructed now during the fiscal year will owe us a prorated share and it'll go into this budget, but we just have no way of estimating what those numbers will be. So we never try to put it in the budget. Correct. Correct. >> So, um, go ahead. Depending any other question. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. Who's that? >> Yeah. Um, speaking of projected, uh, revenue, do do where do we look considering the uh the delay in the receipt of revenue uh to having to take the the uh the loan that the state is offering us to
057reach that gap? Do do we look like we might need to do that? Do we look okay? That's probably more of an Alisa and Matt question. I know that they've been looking at that. So far, we haven't had to. Um I I know there was some talk about um perhaps invoking that to pay our um our charter bills, our preliminary charter bills. I don't know where where they stand on that, but as far as I know, I don't think we've done that yet. Um, but that's that's more of a question for um uh Matt and Alisa. >> We can get to that later when we do the other uh part of the financials. Unless you have an answer. >> I have an answer. Um so depending on when we start collecting our tax receipts like
058supposedly that it went out to mortgage companies today and if they're they process because they're sitting on they've been sitting on the escrow. They've been holding it since September 30th. If they release it, we're in good shape. We're in good shape till the end of November. If they don't release it, um, and we would have to take the interest free loan that's offered by the state. [clears throat] If they don't release the the funds are are held up in escrow right now, um we will have to um take out the interest free loan to pay our first portion of the um charter school bill >> because that they're they're the same as us. They they have >> they need our money to >> they need revenue. So, we will have to do that for the
059first part. And I'll note that we're not the only district that's having >> No, no, it's understandable. I was just I know that we were trying trying not to but then with the charter school bill they have to keep their lights on as well. So we need to give them what our share of what we collect. >> Correct. >> Or don't or should collect actually. >> Yes. >> Right. >> But part of what we lost because of the delay if we had collected we were supposed to collect like 55 million in operating expenses as part of the property tax. And if that money had come in most the bulk of it in October and we didn't have to spend it yet, we'd at least be getting interest for a couple months on that money. So,
060I mean, there's been some cost associated with this delay and and lost interest. Again, not something we build into the budget, but something we're not going to get this year because of the way the payments were delayed. >> I'm sorry, Chuck, we interrupted you. Is there anything more? No, no, that's No, that's great. Um, and that is a great point. Um, the interest, not not getting the interest. One thing we did do is in our revenue um revenue estimates, we just we budgeted for receiving one-third of the prior year actual interest. Um, part of that is because of a lower carryover and part of that is this uncertainty on when we're going to receive um funds. So, um, if there any more questions or comments, I I'll take them now. And if not, as you
061look through this, if you, um, send them through Alisa and Matt, um, you know, if they if they need me to help respond, then then I'm here to support them. >> Any other questions from the board for Dr. Longfellow? Any questions for Miss Stewart? >> Awesome. It's about the contingency reserves. >> All right. Well, Chuck, we continue to appreciate your uh assistance and help on this and uh look forward to additional communications and and working with you. >> Thank you. >> Next on the agenda, we have the construction update. Mr. Hopkins. All right, still back at Reading. As you can see from here, the school's completed. You know, we we've brought on all the grass. Right now, the uh the new parking lot that's connecting up from behind the gym is complete. They're going to
062start paving that tomorrow. So, we'll start to get all the paving down here for the base coat in the first place, and then we'll come back with a finish coat. The tennis court here has actually been paved and you'll see that in and in in other photos as well as the work around the courtyard for the outdoor classroom. This is going to be the new athletic field here. Once we get u all all graded off, we're going to lay some dormant side so it'll pick up and grow real quick in the spring so we can end up playing on it next year hopefully. Okay, Steve, this is kind of the outdoor classroom now. As you're looking out of the back of the school, you can see the courtyard's all done with the concrete and with
063the pavers. This is the outdoor classroom itself. What you can't see here, right in the middle of that right there is the old reading sign that Lewis Reading stood next to in in in the picture that's embedded in the concrete here. And you'll see in another slide where the old plaque is going to be mounted. Good. See, [cough] this [clears throat] is the parking lot. All the curbs done and then the paving will start tomorrow and we'll start final grading out this way. Go ahead, Steve. There's a look at the courtyard coming up. We have the wall here. Here's the old date stone that's in the wall. And there'll [snorts] be more graphics and signs that come up as we go along here. That's a look coming back towards the school. This is the the
064sign that was out front here. And this is where the plaque will be mounted. We'll have some plannings going in and around to kind of decorate the area. There's the tennis courts. The stripes aren't on yet, but that's coming next. After after it gets done, we get some of the grading out of here. We'll go ahead and stripe it up and that's going to be ready to go. There'll be a fence that goes around the whole thing. >> Is that tennis or basketball? >> Excuse me, basketball. I said tennis about 10 times on this thing, but that is actually a basketball net. And if we could do a tennis net in there, probably, but multitask. Go ahead. Here's a better look at the courtyard coming up. And you see it's all nice pavers here. This
065is all the original brick. All this brick around here came off of the building as well as what the uh outdoor classroom is made of. It's all the original bricks from the we peeled from the front of the building side of the building all over. [snorts] This is moving off the summit campus here. >> Before we move to summit, I just want credit to Buck Simpers and his team. They were the ones who came. Originally, the plan was we would tear down um Lewis Reading and those kids would come over and be in other schools while a new school got built where Lewis Reading was. and his team is the one that came up with the idea of building the new school on the site while having the old school still up and running. Saved
066us a boatload of money and made a lot of sense and I just wanted to again thank them for coming up with that idea. Uh it really has worked out I think very well for us. >> It worked out very well and I tell you wedding and deserves a lot of credit too cuz that was a really tight dance of making all that happen and keeping the kids safe and everything happened and Wedding and Turner did seamlessly. We had no complaints. Community didn't complain. We have any problems. So, it went very well. So, they deserve a >> I'd like to add um I did um get to visit last week. That wasn't there when we did the ribbon cutting. >> That is amazing. That outside courtyard, the tribute to the old school when spring hits,
067those kids are going to be so excited to go out there and learn and just be part of be part of the environment. And it's just it's just a great it's just a great piece. You guys really did a great job on that. That that is so neat to look at. It's it's just it's just amazing. >> And what's coming is going to be more artwork and and and there's all kinds of graphics and things that talk the whole story of reading and its history. So, when the alumni comes out to help us open the outdoor classroom, that's all going to be in place and their stories are going to be there to be told so they can walk through and see it. It's going to be a neat thing. All right. Now, we're off
068the summit. Now, we're getting ready to start here. We're going to start with some uh just erosion protections on Monday. You're going to have a contract approved to get that started here in later in the meeting. But this is where it's all going to start. You're going to start coming out, getting your high school and your fields and your grading all done in this area here. It looks small, but when you get out there, it's a pretty big area. And that's kind of where we're headed. This [snorts] is going to be the middle school. You have the elementary. It's there now. Middle high. And this is our fieldhouse back in the back. The tennis courts are over there. And that's but that's where we're headed and it's going to start up Monday. >> Does anyone
069have any questions for Mr. Hopkins? >> All right, Keith. Thank you very much. Uh, next on the agenda, we have board comments and uh why don't we start with Mr. Abrams for >> Good evening everybody. Just want to thank everybody [clears throat] who's working behind the scenes for the benefit of the district. As Mr. for previously noted as being on the building committee when the plans came down for reading and the concept provided by the architects. The vision that was presented in that meeting is becoming reality. So they actually did they did hit a home run. So I just want to thank everybody from construction to planning to the people doing the work has been done a fantastic job. Also want to thank both groups of individuals that recently worked on the audits performed on
070our district finances. um the report sections indicating the past, the present, and the future path forward with recommendations. Just want to let them know that they've we've taken them and Dr. Burroughs and his team and Miss Stewart are working on them to implement them. The applicant financial advisory committee met earlier this month. Again, the discussion was extremely robust um thorough. Many topics were discussed on moving a path forward. The discussions did include reports, the types of reports we get, the analysis that we see, basically the gist of what are we getting, what are we not getting, and what do we need to move forward. Uh minutes were taken as Dr. Burroughs mentioned. Mike Jackson was uh nominated to be chair. I was myself became co-chair and providing a monthly report each month will happen moving
071forward by myself or Mr. Jackson. As I mentioned last month to our board members, please take a look at the policy surrounding the financial advisory committee. Also, take a look at the reports you're getting, what you're not getting, what you want to see moving forward. Um, that's all I have. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Abrams. Miss Dwit, are you still uh with us and able to comment? >> Yes, I am still here. Let me turn on my camera. Can you see me? Okay. Hello everyone. Um, as a board member, I am deeply grateful and my heart is full for all the recognitions that were shared tonight and throughout the year. Um, so many positive things are happening across our district and it's really a direct reflection to our commitment and your commitment
072to our students. So, thank you for doing consistently what is best for our students. I also want to say um I appreciate our staff and just the entire APO community um for just continuing to to support the district um and showing that everyone matters and that we will get through this um this this season. Um, I want to express my appreciation for James Skinner as well for my first day in this role. Um, whenever he looks at me, I know he's checking in on me and that kind of support um, truly means a great deal to me. Um, I also like to give a big shout out to our middle school competitive athletic program for creating meaningful and engaging uh, experiences for our students. Uh, I know this, uh, week and last week at Campwell
073Bridge Middle, u, Mr. Chavis and his team um, organized a two-day try out program with an impressive turnout. Um, the middle school sports initiative, I think was originally implemented by um, Dr. Char, who was um, on the board prior to me joining in 2022. and um just see it grow and the positive impact for students is just um overwhelming. If I am incorrect in the implementation, someone can correct me. Uh additionally, I want to thank Dr. Chuck, Steve, and Miss Stewart for their hard work and partnership and helping us build a clearer and stronger financial picture as we look to work through this current budget deficit. um their dedication to this process is invaluable. Um that presentation that we just reviewed. I mean, I learn something every time I I hear them um provide um
074information. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And lastly, I want to just wish all of our families many blessings as we take time to pause, reflect, and be grateful um this month. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, Mr. Dit, we look forward to seeing you at next month's meeting. Uh, next up we have Mr. Higgins. >> Good evening and thank you. Um, I have just a few things I wanted to touch on. Notice going through personnel over the last few months. Um, it seems like we have um a lot of turnover in our our par uh positions. Um I look it seemed to be like 70% of our resignations and almost this last month about 90% of our terminations are in the par specifically position. I just wanted to see if uh informally
075or formally we could get some kind of a committee together to to look at root causes. Um I'm sure there's complex problems that uh we can all get together and try to solve solve as as a group as a community. um as I believe they do reserve uh and the full resources to to get through the solution. I'm offering my help, my personal time. Anybody want to meet whatever's whatever is proper um I'd love to do that. If I hear nothing, I will keep on asking until um you know, we we could we could see that problem at least addressed with everybody and find out find some common solutions so we can try to help uh a lot of the kids that really need more help than most kids in our in our school district.
076Um, I did visit uh Dr. Bros. I took some time out uh and I visited some of our schools last week. Um, it was great. I want to thank the teachers and the teachers and the students for allowing me to be there and giving their time. Um, the highlight of my of my day was uh I went to reading and I was sorted and uh is Benny is is is Benny uh pick me which I was honored. They their symbols are uh are are are the lion and also the muted swan because they stand for courage but also quiet uh confidence. Uh so uh shout out to my house members biny biny hoo-ha. Um and uh family means everything. So also in that just remind everybody tomorrow is uh bagels with board members with me
077uh at Manhattan bagel at 8:30 in the morning. love to see you and uh everybody have a great Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for all of our teachers, all of our school district, all of our bus drivers, all of our food workers, all of everybody that makes this community as special it is. Uh I know we always address some problems here, but all in all, I I love this school district and um wouldn't like to be anywhere else. Thank you very much. Happy Thanksgiving. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Higgins. Dr. Graham. >> Yes. Hi. Good evening. Um, so I just wanted to kind of maybe reiterate underpin some messages that we've heard so far uh this evening. Um, something that stood out to me, I'm not sure if I missed it in a in a report
078or not, but us being now the second largest district in the state with over uh 13,000 students and so lots of growth, lots of responsibility, uh lots of resources and time and commitment from all of you um at our schools and also in the community. So just kind of just drawing attention to that as well as um that Dr. Dr. Burrows mentioned earlier and then also I think the reiteration around the commitment to respond to the auditor recommendations, right? And so we've heard quite a bit of dialogue tonight about that as Matt actually went through the first eight. And what I heard and know to be true is that there is a commitment to already make these changes. And so hopefully as you all listened to Matt go through them, you noted that he out
079of the eight, I believe it was six were already taking place. and the other two um there are processes uh being developed and so I think just to kind of reiterate our ongoing commitment one of those is actually board training right and so our ongoing commitment to have this oversight and then um I would be remissed if I didn't acknowledge uh my fellow board member Mr. Abrams for his participation in our financial advisory committee as he serves kind of as that direct leaison for us. All of us cannot be we're not allowed to all be present at that meeting at the same time. And so um I appreciate his presence and his um willingness to kind of bring that information back to us and kind of be the representative of us as as a board.
080And so the other component of that there are areas in which we cover governance uh financial reporting and observation observations and recommendations. And so I encourage you implore you all to continue to listen to Matt's presentation month over month as he goes through the different steps um that the district has taken or will take. Um and in addition to that kind of in take the opportunity to educate yourselves via our website. Uh there's a lot of work that kind of goes into the development of our website. Um but there is a specific section our finance section under department um with the subgroup of financial advisory committee. Right. So the onus is on all of us to be um informed about what's actually happening and obviously as a board we serve as resources to you all.
081So, just wanted to draw um a highlight to that to the good work um that Dr. Burroughs and uh Mrs. Stewart um is doing for us in in our district. Um not sure how I should take the fact that uh I didn't realize that we were having able to have lunch with our students. I'm have to discuss that with my student. I >> No, I I did not have lunch. >> No, I'm talking about on Thursday. This coming Thursday, holiday lunch. So, I'll talk to my student about that. But um I look forward to seeing uh the team at um Canwell on Thursday uh for a holiday. And then lastly, just happy holidays to all of you. Um I know that the holiday season isn't always the happiest time for everyone, but just wanted to
082recognize that this is a season of Thanksgiving, and I'm positive that all of us can find something to be thankful um for at this time um in our lives. And so I thank you all for continuing to support us, continuing to engage with us and continuing to be good partners as that is our goal from a board perspective uh to serve you um as as our community. And so with that again, happy holidays and thank you again for uh being with us. So I've commented from time to time. One of the problems with being the last board member to comment is all your thunder gets stolen. I'm going to repeat it anyway. I wanted to also thank Norm for co-chairing the financial advisory committee. He's actually been on that committee for for years and has
083been unheralded in uh taking that additional time and responsibility. Um I thought it was noteworthy tonight that we are now officially the second largest district in the state. Um that um wasn't the case when I first joined the board. Uh we keep growing. Other districts uh are shrinking slightly or just not growing like we are. Um, and I I I'll point out that even as we continue to grow, you saw the careful planning that went into the Everett Meredith Middle School. It's going to be fabulous. Um, and you see the planning that we're doing at the Summit campus, which kind of models the Odessa campus, which has become a model for not only other districts in this state, but other districts uh, in this region and I'm told even in the country. And there's a
084lot of advantages to having a campus like that in terms of less infrastructure costs, etc., etc. Um, and yet we're doing all this. We're growing. Um, we're adding to our staff. Uh, we're adding numbers of students. And yet, NICH, which is an independent uh company that ranks school districts throughout the country. You can look them up on the uh the web, NICE. uh they rank Aquinameck as the number one school district in Delaware and they also rank us in the top four% of school districts uh nationwide and so uh I continue to to think those people must know what they're talking about right um but uh it's certainly an honor to be ranked highly by that independent organization um we were interviewing in an executive session uh tonight we we interview for principal assistant principles,
085administrators, and whatnot. One of the questions asked tonight was, "What are you grateful for?" And maybe it's because it's Thanksgiving. Uh, I thought that was uh a good question to ask, and it can reveal a lot about a person, their answer. Um, so I'll simply say as a schoolboard member, I am grateful for everyone in this room. I am grateful for all our teachers. I'm grateful for all our staff, all our parillegals, all our custodians, all our bus drivers, everybody uh who works so hard for our district. I'm also grateful for all our students, and all our parents. We would not be the top ranked school district in this state without the hard work and dedication of all of those people. So, thank you very much for everything you do to make this district so
086special. Uh and with that I will end board comments and we will move on in the agenda. Old business revised policy 3108 holiday leaves and absences second reading for approval. Dr. Small. [sighs] Good evening again. I don't think I actually need the podium this time, but I figured I would start the pattern just in case anybody wants to come up and use it as a part of their presentation. So, we are here tonight for the second reading for policy revision 3108, holiday holidays, leaves, and absences. So, tonight I will be requesting your approval of the revised policy. Next slide. So as just mentioned um policy 3108 it's a revision to the policy series is 3000 and this is the second reading for the date. So this first slide is to make sure that we're adding
087the governance reference to make the list comprehensive of the paid family medical leave addition. Next slide. This was a section that we added to the policy in order to make sure that we created clarity about who earns acred leave. So employees acrew employees acrew leave under the provisions of the negotiated agreements and state and federal laws. For the purpose of this policy, a day of leave is defined as a standard number of hours and the workday for the position the employee holds. Next slide. This shared some information as far as revisions are concerned to separate and label the sections also to bring language current with the polic or with the practice. Uh we were using three days for sick leave that could be used as personal days. Now we're up to five that can be
088used for personal days. And um you can see also that um illness that um requires a um human resource communication of a doctor's note would be at 4 days instead of at 3 days. Now next slide. This tries to make sure or make sure that the provision is comprehensive. um the old policy or the the policy that in its original context showed one to 10 years of experience but it didn't include the 0ero to one years of experience. So we made sure that that was a part of the policy also. Next slide. And this final change is just to make sure that we improved language flow and specificity for the type of leave, calling it vacation leave instead of annual leave in part of the policy language and vacation leave in the other part of
089the policy language. >> Questions? >> Any questions for Dr. Small from the board? Hearing none, the board uh the chair will entertain a motion. >> Mr. President, I move to policy as presented. >> I'm sorry, let me strike that. I do have a question. >> Sure. >> Um, the cross reference of holidays under provisions is made available where for the employees. >> Can you repeat >> the cross reference of the district the outline district holidays that you added here in the red under provisions is where is that information provided? like what's the crosswalk of the definition of district holidays? >> So, I'm not sure I understand the question that you're asking me. >> So, >> I think she's asking where are where do we say what the district holidays are? >> Yeah, like where's the
090crosswalk for that? Okay. So, um the district holiday crosswalk specifically, we could use the teacher contract, the collective bargaining agreement or the um custodian custodial contract or collective bargaining agreement. Um you could also use the the agreed upon calendar for um the school district that we um use with the calendar committee. >> Thank you for those resources. You're welcome. >> Second. >> There's no motion on the floor. >> The chair will once again entertain a motion. >> Mr. President, approve board policy 3108 as presented. Second reading. >> Second. >> Motion by Mr. Abrams, second by Dr. Graham to approve board policy or revised policy 3108 holiday leaves and absences as presented. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying. >> Well, just one comment. I just appreciate
091the fact that uh the district is uh bringing language current with practice. I think that's just all. >> Yeah. So, I just wanted to say that on the record. >> That's all. >> All right. Any further comments, questions, or discussion? Still hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> Thank you. Thank you, Dr. SM. >> Thank you, Dr. >> All right. Next on the agenda, we have the October 7, 2025 Board of Education meeting minutes for approval. The chair will entertain a motion. >> Mr. President, I move to approve the October 7th, 2025 board of education meeting minutes as presented. >> I'll second. Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Higgins to approve the October 7, 2025 board of education meeting minutes as presented. Any
092questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Any oppo? Any opposed? >> Motion carries. Thank you, Michelle. We do hear you when you vote I. So that's good. Next on the agenda, we have the October 28, 2025 board of workshop minutes for approval. The chair will entertain a motion. >> I I'll motion to approve the uh 2025 board workshop minutes for approval. >> Second. Uh motion by Mr. Higgins, second by Dr. Graham, third by Ms. Dwit to approve the October 28, 2025 board workshop minutes as presented. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I >> I. >> Motion carries. >> Oh, >> I wasn't have to abstain. >> For the record, Mr. Abrams abstained since he
093was not at that workshop. Okay. Okay, next on the agenda we have revised policy. >> Sorry, >> I have to abstain as well. I was not there. >> Okay, so noted. Thank you. Uh but we still had three votes in favor. So that's uh that motion carries. Um next on the agenda, we have revised policy 1106 board meetings. This is the first reading. Dr. Burroughs, >> thank you. So, I presented this uh policy last month uh policy 1106. It's to bring our policy in line with uh Delaware House Bill 64. I'm just going to review any changes that were made from comments from last meeting. So, on this slide, we wanted to bring clarity between there's two types of meeting that were designated in law. There's the open meeting and the regular and special meetings.
094Quorum roll call and call to vote. Both of the um you can see there a method for the public to remotely attend and provide public comment at the schoolboard meetings must be provided. And [clears throat] then again a method for the public to remotely attend and provide public comment. Schoolboard meetings must be provided. It's just designated between the types of meetings that we have. Next slide. There's the only real change to this is where we're updating the policy or the policy will back for review which will be December 2030. Next, there are no changes to this slide from last month. I'll give you a second to look over that. [snorts] You know, I I had one question. Um, and again, we may have went over this, so I don't I'll keep it short. Uh so
095we're we're limiting the whole uh public comment to 30 minutes, right? That's what and and that has been right. >> Correct. >> But what we're changing is we're getting rid of the amount the number of people that can comment. Right. >> Correct. >> Was there I didn't was I don't understand I didn't understand the thinking on that. And I don't I apologize where we went over this last last month, but I don't I mean I don't understand why we limited that. >> Math gives them three minutes each for 30 minutes. It's the same. It's the same. >> Correct. >> Um it was on the recommendation of our attorney to have a time and not on the number of people. >> Okay. So that was Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. >> And then this this this came
096through the district to us. We didn't workshop this and then bring it to you. >> Correct. Dr. I have a [clears throat] question. Um, I know that our public comments are for people that live in the district. Is there a reason why we don't have that on here? >> I'm just looking. >> I think if you look at this first slide that's still up on the screen, it says district citizens may sign up to address. So the by saying district citizen, it means you have to live in the district. >> Okay. I mean, I read it that way, but I don't know if everyone else does. It would just seem like it would be easier just to say um citizens who live in the district and signed up to do board comment or something like
097that. >> We can work on the language. >> Okay. Thank [snorts] you. Next slide, Steve. There are no changes to this as well from last meeting. Next slide. Again, no changes from last meeting. Yes, sir. So, I just want to highlight and reiterate so people don't think that we're rude because that's funny when sometimes when my family would watch a board meeting and say, "Why are you these people are pulling their hearts out and you guys don't comment?" Right. It's because we can't comment. But it's great, I think, that you did add that if there's if we're questioning the comment, we can get ask for clarity. >> Right. But that's that's as policy goes. Unfortunately, that's it. But to your point, we are here available afterwards if somebody wants to wait and we want to
098give our time to help out on a in a concern, it's more than we're more than open to do that. >> Yes. >> Yeah, I think that's Go ahead, Dr. B. >> And just a note, too, um when someone comes for if there's something that we can address, we also connect them with the the person that can address the issue as well. >> Yeah, that's what I was just going to um offer is that there's always an opportunity to connect with the right resource. Obviously, when you stand at that mic, you're addressing us as a board, but ultimately we are kind of the liaison to identifying and helping support uh resolution. Right. So, it's important that um we kind of understand each other's roles, if you will. Right. >> Right. And and to the whole
099point, I think the whole whole purpose of public comment is to address something that's on the agenda. So, that's why it's important to have it when it is and then someone in the public can you know have their piece on something on the agenda and then we will discuss the agenda as it is appears on the on the agenda. So not commenting at the time is appropriate because we will be commenting if all is going the way Humba Common is meanted for me meant for we'll be addressing it later on in the meeting anyway basically. >> Yes. >> And the final point to make too is that and we we say this from time to time but probably can't say it enough. I mean all our contact information that is all the board members contact
100information is on our website and you can email us. Um you know if people call me at the office I mean I will talk to them. I can't talk to them for hours but I mean I've certainly spent uh you know many a time talking to to uh parents on the phone who have issues and try to point them in the right direction and get them hooked up or get their question or problem looked into. if um if they're not getting uh satisfactory results or or they feel like they're not getting satisfactory results. I mean to a certain extent being a school board member is also serving as an onbudsman to try to help people who who are struggling to get through the system. But you don't have to come and make a board comment
101to get that. You're always free to contact any of us. And as I say, um our contact information is on the website. So, you know, don't feel that, oh, I've got to come and speak and be nervous. Just reach out to us before the meeting, after the meeting, um, at any time during the month because that's what we're here for, to to work with, uh, folks. Okay, the last slide, there were some changes. Uh, we were asked to clarify some of the language from last meeting. Um, and that section is there. Board members may ask clarifying questions but will not otherwise engage in a dialogue with individuals providing public comment during the meeting. Board members may communicate with the individual following the adjournment of the meeting. And back in we're more than willing to help
102try to address the issue if we're able to address the issue. >> Yeah, I I I think um I think I may have commented on that. So I appreciate that. And I think related but unrelated is that also when you're here in the gallery with us, we won't address that commentary either. So it's not like you're sitting here and you're like yelling something out to us. Like we won't respond to that either. I think it's important uh for the public to understand that. Um as we've had that occur a few times. And it's not that we don't want to. It just it's disruptive to the meeting and we will be here all night if we start having these kind of popcorn comments pop up. um throughout the evening. So, I just wanted to also highlight
103that we're certainly available after to address any of your questions from anybody in the gallery as well. >> Thank you, Dr. Bros. >> So, this is the first reading. There's not a vote. It will be back next month for the second reading, which is where we'll vote on the policy. And if you have anything in between, we'll work on the language uh for the uh district resident uh as our district says that Mrs. uh Mr. to it pointed out. >> Does anybody on the board have any other questions for Dr. Burroughs? >> All right. Thank you, Matt. We'll stay tuned. We'll talk about this next month. Uh, next on the agenda, we have the monthly financial report for September 2025 for approval. Miss Stewart. Good evening, President Forest, Vice President Dr. Grim, and members of
104the board. I come to you tonight to present the monthly financial report for September 2025. Um, just to give you just a little overview of our monthly revenue and expenses for the month of September, we received in tax receipts about $7 million in tax revenue. And for the expenditures, if you're not aware, the way that we're operating right now is making sure that we're only purchasing what we need. We're making sure that we have a eye on the expenses that are being um purchased and expended throughout the district. So there is a go good pulse on that and nothing is out of the norm that should be warranted. We have brought this forth to the financial advisory committee and they have approved and so now we're bringing it to the board um for approval of
105the monthly financial report for September 2025. If you have any questions I can answer. >> So I just have one question on the property tax receipts sheet. It is also showing a line for October even though this is the September report. So is that October number not verified yet or >> that October number is verified but this is for September 2025. What I do do is when I go to the FAC committee if I do have the information available I will prevent present that information available at that time. So that October number is accurate and I can bring that back in the when we present for October or if you want me to explain. >> I just want to make sure. Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions for Miss Stewart? >> I I have
106one. Um I do appreciate all the work that you've been doing. I can't I speak volumes of the work that you're doing. Um and the financial advisory committee. I have asked a few times um if the financial advisor committee could bring their questions that they bring to you in a meeting to this meeting. Otherwise, to me, it just seems like it's a little bit of an echo chamber. Um they're doing all great work. Last week, they're there for three hours, I think. Right? You guys were there for a very long time. But when when you come here and we look at this, I'm not an accountant, nor am I even close to an accountant. So a lot of what I I rely on is the financial advisory committee's feedback, right? And I was at the
107meeting. I try to go to the meeting. So I do hear it there and I I echo uh you know the the Norm is just doing a great job and I think the financial committ is too. But if I wasn't at that meeting, I wouldn't know the questions they brought up. And there were several questions that they had brought up and even though we are sharing the minutes the minutes that we're sharing are like I think September October but November is not accessible for us. So if we could get the questions somehow as some vehicle those questions here so we know hey you know what let's keep an eye on that. Let's let's follow up on that um to carry forward the work that you guys are all doing over there. That that's the one
108thing. And then secondly, um I know Chuck and and you have worked on um a salary tracker which you do bring to the financial advisory committee. I just request that maybe um we we can get that even if it's just sent you know uh put on board docs or and I know you guys again I they're doing all volunteer work. Your hands are full and I do appreciate everything you're doing. But for me those two those two pieces of information for me personally would be fantastic. so I can understand any lingering questions that might be out there from month to month. >> So exactly what do you want? You want every question asked and every answer given? >> I would like and again I've been to the so I do know I do know um
109how it work. So you guys >> usually have most questions resolved um by by by Alyssa. There are some questions that need to be followed up on. And if you go back to a few months ago, Alysa actually list the questions and then answer them. I mean, it's it's fantastic, right? But in real time, that was two months ago, right? So, I would like those questions and I think there was three last month that were brought up. One was about EERS. Um, I haven't written down. >> Um, and then there's two other ones that I I would assume would be on the minutes. Um, and they may be. I don't we didn't we didn't release the minutes so I don't know what the minutes are. We know the minutes of the month prior but if
110they are on the minutes and we could get those minutes I don't know if that's asking too much but if we can get those minutes before this board meeting I think those minutes are on I mean the questions are on the minutes. Am I wrong about that? >> No. And unfortunately you came on at the at an inopportune time. Usually those questions that are asked in our meetings before Miss Stewart was here those questions would be on a report to us for our meeting. These are the questions. These are the carryover questions and this is what was resolved in the meantime from the meeting that transpired to our meeting. So unfortunately >> because of this transition that hasn't happened yet but that was discussed >> okay >> about how questions are going back and forth
111and as as they say they are working out all these processes but >> I do appreciate progress was leap leaps and bounds. I mean I I was at the first financial advisor committee when I was on the board right >> and then I've been to the subsequent subsequent since I've been on the board and it's amazing I think anybody here that could go it is a public meeting correct >> to go to that would give you confidence in what's going on with our financial >> I didn't mean to step on her toes I'm just saying that that is yes you're not getting that but that is happening behind the scenes that >> right but I would like to see that in front of >> that is all being worked on yes >> okay cool I
112I will next time if it's not in play at our next board meeting I will I will have them all I We'll send them out as a report from our meeting on behalf of Mike. I'll show I'll work with him and I'll get what you need. >> There's go. Thanks. >> So, just a point of clarity on that. Are we talking about the unresolved like the questions that are asked uh need followup like need additional kind of um investigation that Miss Stewart or whomever will bring back to us or >> and she does I mean Miss Stewart does do it. Um in the next meeting she'll have those questions answered next month. Um, but I I as a board member would just like to make sure those questions are being followed up and answered. And
113so far they have been, but if they're not, I think we need to have I would like to have those questions and there's not many of them on the record here. >> They are answered to us and we vote and then next month the answers that she gives or the answers are given to us that are given to the committee next month and are presented as they were given to us prior to our vote. But yes, you haven't seen that yet and I know exactly. >> Right. Right. Right. And again, there next month. I'm not questioning that they're not getting answered. I just want to know as a board member representing the community that we keep an eye on the questions that may >> but I will make sure next month in my presentation. I'll
114present a report to you before our meeting so you have time to review it. After our meeting I'll work with Mike. I'll get the report put together and I'll get it to you everybody. So >> cool. >> I'll make sure that happens. >> No. So I additional point of clarity. So there's two different types of questions, right? So, there's questions that are asked and answered, and there's questions that are asked and need followup. What questions are you talking about? >> Every question that's asked, I'll document every question that's asked. I'll provide answers to every question. And normally what he's asking about is if somebody were to question an expenditure, something out of an account, they might not have the answer there, but they'll come back by our meeting and say, "This item number was sponsored
115by the cheerleading club to go to a training facility, and that's why the expense was $13,000. It's stuff like that. >> I'll leave it to you as the representative on the financial advisory committee, but I think to track and trend every single question that is asked and answered in the moment is a bit much. I I I mean, but I'll leave it to you as our representative. I could see the questions that are asked and unanswered or need followup having a a a tracking or trending method. But those that are asked and answered in the moment and the conversation continues, it progresses to me doesn't seem necessary, but I'll leave it to you all. >> All those would be in the minutes, but I'll make sure they're I >> Okay, I'll leave it to you,
116Mr. Abrams. I'm just >> Yeah, I mean it's kind of a timing issue when you think about it because the financial advisory committee will meet. it will approve. So when it met in November, it approves the September financials because they meet the very beginning of November. So there's not time to do October. >> And they approved the minutes from the previous meeting, >> but that at that meeting they were approving the August financials. So when we have our board meeting the week after the financial advisory committee meeting like we're having now, we'll have their recommendation to approve the September financials, but the minutes of that meeting won't be approved for another month. >> So we won't get the minutes where they approved the September financials. I'm comfortable with that unless somebody wants to give us
117unofficial minutes. >> Right. I was only asking for the unresolved questions to be brought to our board, not the minutes >> in our presentation. He would always >> Yeah, but if it's all in the minutes, I don't want to create extra work for people. >> He would address whatever was unresolved. Whatever questions that could not be answered that night between the meeting of the financial advisor and our meeting, whatever those three or four or five outstanding questions were, he would present us and say, "These questions were unresolved. They've been satisfied. Here's the answers." And we would go, >> right? And I don't even need to discuss the questions at this board meeting if it's not if it's not work too much work to just have the questions to brought to us. And then if I
118have the qu one question on one of the several questions I would I would say hey where are you on this? I don't want to bring them up and talk about every question at this meeting. >> So let me take a stab at it next month. You tell me if it's too much or too little. >> That's fine. >> I'll do it that way. >> Right. Right. I work with >> And then with the the salary tracker, that's just a matter of just attaching that to what gets sent, right? That's not any extra work, [snorts] are they? That's >> No, it's I wouldn't say it's extra work, but I would say with given the recommendations that we brought forth to the board, given our internal audit report and then the um expert reports that were
119given, we are in the process and I'm working with the superintendent to try to put something in a one snapshot >> document. I just know that when and again you are doing a great job. So I'm not I'm not saying this guy said this or that person knows better. I'm not saying that. But me not knowing anything the fir one of the first contacts I had was Chuck and he had said a salary tracker is one of the best ways to show to follow operational expenses because it's 80% of your operational expenses. So if you have a salary tracker you can see 80% of our expenses on the operation side and it's a great marker to see where we are on the budget. That's the only reason I asked for their salary track was that
120was something that was actually I think Chuck actually put it together uh for that purpose for people that may not have you know very versed in in in school financing that can look at that one that one form and say okay this is what we have this is how much many months more weeks we have left this is what we spent here's where we're at right >> that's I think you're referring to the discretionary cash flow report um there's also that that our supplemental documents that we bring forth. Um, I understand everything that you're saying. I just think that I just need to work with the superintendent to really define what needs to be brought forth. >> I mean, we it's it's ongoing, right? It's it's it's evolving. So, I'm not thinking everything's going to
121be solved in a day. And I do it for again can't reiterate how much I do appreciate what you're doing and uh how impressive you are with what what you are doing. So, just I'll leave it at that. >> But I'll highlight again because I highlighted last month. So I highlight again in the FAC what we have been doing for the last couple of months since I've been um leading that is there's been a lot of restructuring re-implementation understanding of what the role of the FAC is with them looking at the methodology of how we do things. Um that's really has been the the defining line and education and training. This last uh meeting that we had with the committee we finalized the chair and the co-chair and I believe Mr. Abrams brought that up
122in board comment. So, that's where we're kind of at. I have had a one-on-one conversation with Mike Jackson, who is the chair, to work on communication as well and to work closely with him so that we can get to a continued consensus. But we are working together to make sure that everyone is informed for what's going on on the current month that's being brought forward. And I also want to put on record again because even when I gave my presentation that is a red flag for me and this is just for me the fact of timing and lag and I've talked to Dr. Burroughs about this like I'm bringing it's November and I'm bringing September and to President Forest's point the October I try to keep up with those things. I think that that is
123frustrating for myself. O I know has to be frustrating for the community and the district because we're on this time lag and there's a lot that can go on in a month's time between September and even now. So please feel free to reach out to the superintendent and we'll keep you updated and informed and we'll work to do and bring you the documentation that you >> and in that vein that's why I thought it important to have the the current questions brought to the board since it can change in an instant, not the questions from a month and a half ago which you already resolved. That's that's awesome. Thank you. Any other questions or comments regarding the monthly financial report? All right, I think we still need a motion to approve it. >> Mr. President,
124I move to approve the monthly financial report for September 2025 as presented. >> I'll second. >> Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Higgins to approve the monthly financial report for September 2025 as presented and as recommended by the financial advisory committee. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion hearing? None. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda, we have the internal and accounts report for September 2025. Miss Stewart. >> All right. So, I am bringing this forth to request approval of the internal accounts report for September 2025. Currently, our internal accounts report is just a reconciliation of all 21 schools and school funds online. That is the software that we use to house all the receipts and the dispersements that run out of
125our schools. Mainly when financial advisory committee is reviewing this, we're reviewing this to to ensure that what the reconciliation is tying back to the bank um when they are reviewing this report. Sometimes they do have questions about what a specific expense was charged. There was a question about a4 $4,200 charge and I believe like a $6,000 charge. Um both was related to sports. one was I believe the 4200 was cheerleading. I can't remember on top of my head what the $6,000 one but we did address that um accordingly when those questions were brought forth with the internal accounts report um so the financial advisory committee did approve internal accounts report and bring it to the board for approval. >> Mr. President, I move to approve the inter Oh, I'm sorry. >> Go ahead. >> Any
126questions? >> No, no, no. Let's have a motion. In theory, we should have a motion first. Uh, I move to approve the internal accounts report for September 2025 as presented. >> Second. >> Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Abrams to approve the internal accounts report for September 2025 as presented. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Next on Thank you. Uh, and next on the agenda, we have the class size waiverss for approval. Dr. small. >> I Oh, thank you, Michelle. [laughter] >> Good evening again. >> Good evening. >> Feel like I should tell like a dad joke. [laughter] >> Doesn't work to give a report. >> Like the podium better. All right, I'm going podium here. [laughter]
127>> Put my folders on the podium. There we go. All right. So, we have the class size waiver request. So, as it states request, which means I'm going to be requesting approval of the board tonight. Um, so summary, Delaware Code states that there's a 22:1 maximum studenttoteer ratio for students that are in K through three classrooms as of the last day of October. This is applicable to core academic subject classrooms and the school board can wave the requirement from subsection A of section 1705 at a public meeting. Next slide. So, here's the data overview or the start to the data overview. Um, as of 9:30 2022, which is our unit count date, there were n 12,958 students enrolled. On 10:3125, which is the last day of October, there were 13,97. That's a growth of 139
128students. And on September 30th, we were looking for one class- size waiver. And as of tonight, we're looking for two. >> Real quick, um ju just doing the math, it seems that um you guys, the district, us, whoever, you do account for a large amount of increase in class sizes. So, you don't max out these classes normally at the beginning of the year, right? That's correct. because you have 139 extra kids that signed in or enrolled and you only need three waiverss right now for three kids. Correct. >> Two. >> Oh, two kids. Well, even better. So, just so my math's right, you guys, when you do this, right, you account for that buffer. >> Yes. And the 139 students is spread amongst all the grades, not just K through three. >> Two waiverss, three
129students. >> Correct. Right. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> Next slide, Steve. Continuing with the data overview, the number of schools that have grades K through three or at least one of those grades would be 13. The number of classrooms would be 200, actually 205. My apologies. It should not say 204, but 205. And the number of classrooms requiring a waiver request would be two. Next slide. So I stand corrected. It's actually is 2000 or I'm sorry, 204, not two 205. So, here's a 7-year historical look back at the data for the class size waivers per year, the number of classrooms and the number of class size waivers. And as you can see, the 204 for 2025, which represents the two classroom waivers that we're look or class size waivers that we're looking for for
130the 204 classrooms. Next slide. Here's a breakdown of the two classrooms. One is in click or Cedar Lane Early Childhood Center. The number of students over the ratio will be one for classroom number 123 which is a kindergarten classroom. And for towns and elementary school classroom 002 grade three number of students over the ratio will be two >> questions. one question. Um, sure. Again, excuse dumb questions, but so grade three is getting two students, >> right? >> They're two students over the mark, >> right? Um, and they're both going to one classroom, >> correct? >> Is that because the other classrooms already have waivers or is there a different reason that I'm not picking up? So, I think the best answer that I can give you to that is that if those two students were
131in the classroom before the class size waiver was needed. So, let's just say there were 19 students in the classroom and then an influx of students came to the school. They may have been put in classrooms and nobody wants to be the student or the family that has to move their child to another classroom. >> Okay. As a result, >> once they make it into that classroom, they stay there. >> Right. So therefore, that that that prevents that from happening. That that scenario. Not to say that's exactly what happened, but that could be a good reason why it happened. >> Exactly. >> Okay. Gotcha. >> Other questions? >> Hearing no further questions, the chair will entertain a motion. >> Mr. President, I'll make a motion to approve the class size waiver as presented. Second >>
132motion by Mr. Abrams, second by Dr. Graham to approve the class size waiver as presented. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Next on the agenda, we have overnight field trips for approval. >> Chair will entertain a motion. >> Mr. President. Um, so let me start with the trips that are under our list for final approval, which include trip ID 10302, trip ID 10360, trip ID 10575, trip ID 10766, um, and then additional trip ID 1116 for um, initial approval. So I present all of those overnight field trips uh, for approval. I second that. >> Do you want to recite the numbers? >> No, I don't have a paper in front
133of me. >> Okay. He just needs to second the motion. He doesn't have to say anything more than that. [laughter] >> So motion by Dr. Graham to approve for final approval trip IDs 10302, 10360, 10575, and 10766 and to give uh preliminary approval to trip ID 1116. Any questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have construction contracts for approval. And I know we've got at least one because we got a preview of it from Mr. Hopkins. All right. We took bids for contract 31A for the site work over at Summit Campus. We uh brought the bids in, reviewed the uh contractor. Everything is in good standing. Uh we came in slightly under budget
134with that bid. So with that, uh, we're recommending this contractor for approval and seeking approval. >> And that's contract 31A. Is that >> 31A for the site work? >> Okay. Um, the chair will entertain a motion. >> Mr. President, I move to approve the construction contract as presented. >> Second. >> Motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Abrams to approve construction contract 31A, the site work at the Summit Campus as presented and as recommended by Mr. Hopkins. I'm pleased to hear that it came in slightly under our projected budget. Any further questions, comments, or discussion on the motion? Mr. Higgins, >> I just want to comment that I do appreciate the mind the mindset the mindset of construction projects. Um any hurdles or any obstacles you just have to go through because every day costs
135more money. So, I appreciate where you're at and um understand where you're at and just appreciate all the work you're doing. >> Thank you. >> All right. Any other questions, comments, or discussion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Hopkins. All right. Item I was deleted. There are no change orders. That brings us to our personnel report for approval. Dr. Small. Good evening again. >> Good evening. >> The personnel report for the November board meeting has been presented for your approval. We are asking for your approval tonight along with the names from executive session. >> Mr. President, I move to approve the personnel report as presented. >> I'll second that. >> Um, a motion by Dr. Graham, second by Mr. Higgins to
136approve the the personnel report as presented. Let me clarify with the addition from executive session. Correct. Okay. So with with the >> motions are pretty good. >> No, I'm just clarifying that that was included in your motion. >> Okay. And Mr. Higgins, you agree? Correct. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So with that clarification, all in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. Establishment of meeting dates. The financial advisory committee will be meeting on Tuesday, December 9 at 6 pm in the boardroom here. And our next regular board of education meeting will be Tuesday, December 16th, which technically is again the third Tuesday, just so we're keeping track of these things. And that will uh also be in this boardroom here at 7:00. With those observations, we are adjourned.
137Everybody have a great Thanksgiving. You may