001Good evening everyone. I'd like to call the Monday, September 15th, 2025 board of education meeting to order at 701 p.m. Uh we will begin with the reciting of the pledge of allegiance. [Music] >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Uh, Mrs. Hadlock, would you please read our mission statement? >> I'd glad glad to. The Orange Elementary School District recognizes that the education of each child is the shared responsibility of every member of our community. Our goal is to inspire and empower each student to achieve academic excellence, embrace social and individual responsibility, and lead with integrity. We believe all individuals should be valued and treated with respect, and together we
002will make a difference. >> Thank you. Uh we will do board introductions. Uh start with Amanda. >> Good or good evening, Amanda Zapatka. Carmen Rodriguez, >> Ronette James, >> Susan Rio, >> Jeff Cap, >> Tatiana, Msina, Mullen, Betty Hadlock, Liz Ter, >> Anthony Scarenzi. >> Okay. Uh, we'll move over to public participation. If anyone has public participation, uh, you will go over to the podium, state your name, address, and all that, and Susan will read us. Um, go ahead. I'll let you just read. >> The speakers may offer objective comments to the board concerning school operations and programs. Comments will be limited to to two minutes per speaker. The board encourages speakers not to express personal complaints or defamatory comments about the Orange Board of Education personnel or any person associated with the Orange Public
003School System. Comments about security issues, matters due to due process, negotiations, or grievances will not be permitted. Consistent with the principles of the Federal Education Right to Privacy Act, Furpa, discussions about students are prohibited absent a written parent waiver. Public participation does not allow for two-way conversation between the board and the participants. We thank you for expressing your thoughts and opinions. All comments will be taken into consideration. >> Thank you. May I begin? >> It's all yours. >> Thank you. So, I'm Kelly. I'm rescued. Thanks a lot. >> Is that better? >> Yeah. >> Okay. May I start again? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um, my name is Kelly Billings. I'm an Orange resident. I've been a member of the MLT community. This is my fourth consecutive year. and I'm here to offer the board my
004perspective as a parent and to also speak on behalf of my son who's in preK4 and can't speak for himself tonight. Um, but I think MLT is amazing. I've had a great three years. Um, and I love the program that we have and I want to make sure that the program stays strong. So on orientation to preK4, um I was very disappointed to find out that day that the physical education program uh specialist teacher that had previously been in the school um since I at least have been involved with the school was no longer teaching physical education to prek4. Um, I saw firsthand the value that this position added to Marielle Tracy and also specifically to our preschool program. Um, you know, the physical education teacher ran the field day and I've been assured there
005will still be a field day for preschool program. But I think to say that really devalues what this physical education did, this physical education teacher did throughout the year. Um, I attended the field day program. I saw that these eight stations were so well organized. Three-year-olds stepped up to each station and knew exactly what to do. And that wasn't from that day. That was from a year of learning. Um, and it was really incredible to see. Um, and I think that there's no doubt that the educators that you have at Marielle Tracy will meet the minimum standards, but we're orange. We're more than the minimum standards. This is why people move here and I'd hope that the board takes a look at this. Um, I'd like to see a fix for this year and if
006not a fix for this year, then for future years. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Uh, next. Yep. Go ahead. Good evening, everyone. My name is Josh Orinsky. The address is 355 Miles Road. Um, I have two sons in the school district. I have a seven-year-old, newly seven-year-old, as Dr. or Patty can attest to uh and a 5-year-old at MLT. My older son is uh in first grade. And I want to thank everyone. Uh specifically, I'd like to thank that their teachers if if they can hear this or they know uh for an outstanding start to the school year. My kids are very happy. They come home every day very happy. Um after some proddding, we get a lot of information, which is nice. Um I just wanted to ask if anyone could speak to
007and I I know Mr. Cappy said that this is not a two-way thing. So, uh, whenever it's convenient or possible, if anyone can speak to, um, in regards to the new math curriculum, the illustrative mathematics, I'm just curious as a teacher myself, what is the process for the ongoing training and troubleshooting where teachers are eventually going to find difficulties and where throughout the course of the year, you know, there's been time built in or not. Um, if anyone can speak to that, I don't I don't want to, you know, go against procedure, but if anyone can speak about it now or, you know, sometime soon, I would like to know uh what the process is for that because implementing a new math curriculum is quite a bit. Uh, and so I'm just curious. >> Okay.
008Is that all you had to say? >> And do you have more? >> And thank you. >> Oh, okay. Okay. No, no, no. I just wanted to make sure. So, I'll just let you know that we will have Dr. Scarpetti reach out to you with a re response later on. Uh I can't guarantee how soon, >> but he will get respond to you. >> Okay. >> From us. Okay. >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> All right. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> The microphone is green, so I think I'm good. Um my name is Erin Wilson, 487 Walcott Lane. Um to all of you, thank you so much for a wonderful September so far. Even in August, um our teachers were in the classroom setting things up. our staff were cleaning the classrooms, making
009sure everything was sparkling. Um, and on open house day, which was great. Um, you could really see all the effort over the summer payoff. So, number one, first and foremost, top priority. Thank you all so much, uh, for the wonderful start to the school year. Um, a few concerns, not to diminish that positive positive sentiment. Um, my daughter, um, is five. She just started MLT um, with Miss Riser. Um, she is having a wonderful time so far. Nathan uh just started third grade at Turkey Hill with Miss Castellot. Um specifically uh to Turkey Hill and my son, what he's been expressing, and again he can't be here for himself, um is that he's very uncomfortable in his classroom. Um he's very warm, comes home very sweaty. Um and I've been told by multiple sources um
010that his room unfortunately is the hottest room in the school. Um I think Turkey Hill does run warm. We know that they don't have air conditioning. Um, which is something I believe everyone would love to have, including this entire board. Um, but if his room and of course other rooms, not just selfishly for my own son, but if the rooms could be um, investigated for temperature management, um, just so that our students can excel and learn at the best of their ability. Um, as a mom, teacher, and nurse, I can assure you that um, our students learn best when they are comfortable um, in a, you know, clean, safe environment. Um, so just getting the temperature under control would be lovely. Um, I do also um have the same concerns as Kelly um and Josh
011about um the prek programs um gym. Um I know there was a staffing issue with Mr. B from Turkey Hill um and that sort of thing. So I won't bore with the details, but Mr. Be's retirement was planned and kind of well known, I believe. I don't I don't want to misspeak. Um and so that was sad to see that prek uh gym program stripped. Um, and I know that the math curriculum is causing some distress amongst our teachers. Um, as well as my son who's going through some math curriculum changes as well. Um, and I know it's new. This is his third year at third grade. So, that's just something that he's adjusting to as well as I am as I don't know third grade math, which is embarrassing considering I have a doctorate,
012but that's okay. Um, more to come, but thank you so much for having me. I love being here and learning from all of you. Um, and thank you very much. All right. Thank you for that. And I'll just make note that um Anthony who's on buildings and grounds will probably take note of your comments as well. >> And again, uh Dr. Scar Petty will reach out to anyone with answers. Okay. >> Anyone else? >> Hello. Good evening, board. I'm Lauren Gray. I live at 205 Wilson Road. Um I just wanted to echo Kelly's comments. Um, I have heard from some of the other preschool parents their concerns um about physical education being cut. Um, we have the best school systems here. People move here for the schools just like we did. Um, and I do
013think that physical education should be restored to the prek if possible. Um, we know how much energy the kids have. If you're with a lot of preschoolers, um, they do need to get that energy out in a positive way. So, would be really great to have that restored. um or at least you know some of the answers given to the parents why there was a change this year. Um would love to see that. And for myself um I just wanted to take a brief moment to say thank you to our teachers, our staff and our administrators of all of our Orange schools um for a really great start to the year. My son started um at Mariel Tracy. His teacher is Miss Hasos. Um he is coming home every day telling me about everything he's
014learned and he's like mom did you know one is o two is twwo and three is th hre and I'm like did you learn that in three days? So um it's really impressive how much he has learned and my mom has been a kindergarten teacher for 35 years in South Carolina and they don't even teach this in their kindergarten. Um, so she said, "Your son is already ahead of where my kindergarters are going to be until next year." So, I just really wanted to say the curriculum, um, seems really strong. So, um, and from day one, it's been really clear how much care and preparation has gone into making sure our schools were ready. Um, our students felt so supported. Um, and thank you to all the teachers who held my hand as I cried
015on the first day. Um, you know, sending my oldest off to school. Um it's been so reassuring to see how he's thriving already. Um I did get to already volunteer in his art class for the handprint fundraiser. I'll be back in the schools tomorrow. So thank you for um the PTO for offering this volunteer opportunity. Um I can see for myself the energy in the buildings is really positive. I do appreciate the communication from the school. Um and I really appreciate the focus on emotional well-being already too. Again, it's really encouraging to hear my son and his friends tell me about what they're learning. We're so fortunate and here in Orange to have the one of the best school systems in the whole state. Um, and I'm really proud to be here. So, again, on
016behalf of so many grateful families, I want to say thank you um to a great start for the year and we're looking forward to continuing the school year in a really positive way. So, thank you. >> Thank you for that. Anyone else? Sorry, I did not plan on talking, but >> that's okay. >> My name is uh Michelle Montro. I live at 493 Wagon Trail. Um this is uh my sixth year in the Orange Public Schools with my children. My oldest did not get into MLT in the lottery and we were it was the year we moved here and we were very disappointed. Um I have three children and my other two did go are one in the preschool program right now and my other my son went through preschool. Um, being an educator myself,
017I am also very concerned about the PE program being cut from the preschool um, program curriculum. So, I just wanted to take a moment and say that I wanted to speak in regards to the keeping our pre preK program gym curriculum in our classrooms, especially that these are integrated classrooms and u in a one-to-one program. I think at this age movement is not just play. It's learning. Physical education helps develop, you know, balance, coordination, strength, skills that are supporting the readiness to go back to reading and writing and being able to sit in a chair. Um, I also believe that this is one of the classes where everybody is kind of on the same playing field where we're able to be inclusive and all of our children are included in this in this um curriculum.
018While prek may not be mandated by this, but prek gym might not be mandated by the state, I believe that it's been offered for the last few years. And they think that was the shock that I came to when looking at my daughter's schedule on orientation day that prek was just kind of left the left off the gym schedule. Um, I think it was just not communicated to some of the parents who maybe were in the program in the past and kind of expected that our students will get uh the same specials that we had the year before. And also I being an educator myself um I am an art teacher in another district and I am you know I see where cuts have to happen and cuts you know to make curriculum and to
019make make our budgets but as everybody has said in the past I moved here for this school system. I moved here so that my kids would have the opportunity to strive and succeed. And when we compare ourselves to Milford and Trumbull and I've reached out to teachers in those districts, pre-K teachers, then they do have specials. They all do have the specials that we have. So, I'm looking I I feel that it is at a minimal um budget line if you think about it. It's it's a 3.2 position. I know depending on schedules, but it could be a part-time position that could be added back into the budget for the following year. Um, I thank you for everything you guys do. I And uh, that's all I have to say. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank
020you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak during public participation? Nope. I think we hit everyone. Okay. Okay. Thank you for those comments. Um, we will move on to our next agenda item. Let's see here. um our consent agenda. I need a motion to accept the first item under the consent agenda. The first item is the minutes from the August 18th, 2025 board of education meeting. Do I have a motion to accept the minutes from the August 18th, 2025 board of education meeting? Uh Tatiana second. Susan, any discussion? All in favor? Okay. Okay. Um, we are going I'm going to move the facilities uh update presentation to after uh superintendent's report if that makes sense to you guys. Okay. So, we'll move over into the superintendent report and I'm going to hand it
021over to Dr. Scarpetti. >> Good evening, Mr. Cap and the rest of the board members. Welcome back. We are in full force. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and even more so I'm sure you're looking forward to this upcoming weekend. It's the Orange Cr Oh, I almost messed up again, Betty. Orange Country Fair, not county fair, country fair. It begins uh this weekend. So, that's always a great time to kick off the fall season with all the kids and families look that look forward to it. As you're also aware, we welcomed our students back to school on Monday, August 25th. Like every year, the first week or so has brought about some adjustments. We've been working on fine-tuning things such as bus schedules, dealing with the exciting first day of school photo phenomenon and
022coordinating the AMD bus routes to ensure our students are dropped off and picked off on time. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to our parents for their patience as we navigated through these first few weeks of school and also to all our board members. Please note that we're going to we're going to have a bus driver breakfast on octo October 8th. I know that was shared, but if you could respond back to see if you're able to make it or not. Our bus drivers do a fantastic job. We're very fortunate to have our owner operators. At our last board meeting, we expressed our gratitude to the custodians and the facilities supervisor for their tireless efforts in preparing our schools. This goes beyond just making our schools presentable. It's about ensuring the health and safety
023of everyone with our school community. As customary, we in a moment we'll provide an update as Mr. Cap just shared and then uh as a note next week we do a technology report. So that's an important piece that we'll have Neil present. Um as the school year has kicked off so has our school events all schools have already hosted their open houses. But in addition to to our school events we've also had some cold flu sinuses. Um the uh nurses want to remind everyone, please if a student or or even a staff member is not feeling well, we ask you to kindly stay home until they're feeling better, but also are feverfree for at least 24 hours. Um I know in our finance report we talked about auditors, but believe it or not, this month
024we start our 26 27 budget. So budget collection documents will be sent to department heads by the end of September, marking the beginning of our journey towards beginning and managing our budget for the following year. And finally, I want to thank all of you for your continued support. I look forward to working together to make this school another successful for our students and staff. >> Thank you. Does anyone have any questions for Dr. Scarp? >> Sure. >> I just want to comment. I'm very disappointed I'm unable to make the bus driver breakfast. It's one of my favorite things to do. I just am so thankful that we have such great bus drivers and they're all just just good people that really just want to take care of our kids, drive them to school, bring them
025back. They're they're just great and I feel bad because I have to work with them. Thanks. Sorry to miss. >> Yes. Does anyone else have any questions, comments? Okay. Uh, Mr. Gray, we'll move over to you. >> Okay. So, I'll start just by um reviewing our beginning of year grants. And we went over this in our finance subcommittee, but for the full board, we have several grants we're starting the year off with. We have our ARPA summer mental health supports grant. This is a $35,000 applica uh allocation, and this goes to support students uh receiving summer school programming. Um and it's mental health supports is the title of it. Um ARPA school mental health specialists. Again, this is the additional social worker that we brought on board uh two years ago now. Uh we're in
026the third year of this grant. It is a three-year grant. This year we are being reimbursed 70% and 30% of this person's salary is in our operating budget. Next year it would be 100% in our budget. So that allocation is $64,754 this year. Our consolidated title three grant is an allocation of $18,225 and this is for language instruction program assistance uh for substantial increase in immigrant students. And then we have our title grants for the year. Um our title one grant is an allocation of $38,77. This is to ensure all students, particularly low-income students, have the opportunity to meet state academic standards. Our title 2 grant is 17,085 allocation. This is to improve effectiveness of teachers, principles, and school leaders with the goal of increasing student achievement. Our Title 3 EL grant, $12,54 allocation. Again,
027this is to support English learners and immigrant students as well. And then finally, title four grant is a $10,000 allocation and this is um provides access to well-rounded education, safe and healthy learning environments, and effective use of technology, food services. I believe I said this last month, but I just wanted to remind everyone as of July 25, 2025, the state of Connecticut will no longer be providing free school meals to students and families who were receiving reducedpric meals through the star funds program. In 2025 2026 school year, families of those students will have to pay for the reduced price meals, which is 40 cents. This is what they were paying previous to COVID um before free lunches were introduced and it was a phase out program where everyone was receiving free free reduced free lunches
028after COVID. Then they reinstituted lunches for all students. Reduced students were still receiving free until this past July. Now they will pay the 40 cents. As always, families can find updated free and reduced lunch applications and other relevant materials at the website um oess.org and then go to the food services tab. Dr. Scarpetti mentioned the budget. Again, we are starting the 2627 budget process this month. This is the time of year where we actually live in three years. So, going to what I was going to say next, the audit. The auditors have been in um the past uh today and they will be here tomorrow as well. They're completing and conducting the staff surveys that is due by January 31st, but we like to have that done before the end of the year. So before
029December, end of December. Um so that's 2425 budget. We're paying our bills out of 2526 which is what I present during the subcommittee meeting and we're looking forward already to 2627. So sometimes it can get a little confusing. So if we uh mix up dates, please forgive us on that. Um and that concludes my presentation of finance. Anyone have questions on the finance portion? >> Um I may be asking the wrong person, Mr. Gray, but the um highmath tutoring that we had last year, is that grant do we is that all used up? >> So that's expended. Yes, >> that's expended. Okay. Yes. All right. Thank you. Anyone else have questions? >> No. Okay. >> I'll save the other part, I believe, until after Dr. Russo and Mrs. Zto go. >> Sounds good. Okay. Then
030we'll move over to Dr. Russo. >> Good evening. I'd like to share that last Wednesday our grade three through six teachers worked on professional learning regarding vocabulary selection and instruction. We reviewed the process with members of the curriculum subcommittee meeting, but basically we looked at all of the stories that our students read in each of the grade levels and we identified the common threads and themes uh with those stories and then identified vocabulary related to those concepts. because the latest research on vocabulary shows how important it is to select words that are related instead of just like singleton words um that aren't connected for kids. And so we identified uh vocabulary words for each of the grade levels without redundancy and also learning about word consciousness and the origins of the words, all of the
031families related to each of the words and uh also the derivations of words. Since in addition to um learning about vocabulary related to concepts, learning about the smallest meaning parts of words or the morphemes helps to unlock their meaning. And so looking at derivational affixes and the most common ones and so that learning about a few unlocks the meaning of several words. So that was um really like the district-wide approach. And then there's zoning in on on zones of words for the specific selections in the grade levels and in the classrooms. So that was really exciting work. We thought um and we did start that work at the welcome back and it still fits in with the initiative of developing language comprehension because vocabulary is a critical component of language comprehension that actually is related
032to background knowledge that also unlocks reading comprehension. So that's what uh we engaged in last Wednesday. And then uh as per the professional learning calendar, if you look at September, we do have several sessions for our teachers to have opportunities to dive into the math resources, make sure that they are um confident in what they're working on. And if you do look at the professional calendar, we have sessions in math every single month except for I think February, April, and May. But I I'll check in on that. Also, we did begin this work at the end of last year. We made sure that every teacher had the opportunity to take home the first unit uh teacher edition to uh be able to orient themselves some more, refresh themselves on what we started. And then at
033welcome back we did a deep dive and we had another uh like half day session refresher. We are so fortunate in Orange that we do have math specialists at every um school and they go in they push in they support um and they provide that kind of hand hands-on context embedded professional learning that makes a difference for kids. Uh this Wednesday we also have our curriculum Wednesday meeting which is the longer meeting and we will be focusing on analyzing the I ready diagnostic math um assessment data and to really align with what those new resources as well so that we do become more skilled um and experienced with this new resource. We had an opportunity to also share the resources with members of the curriculum subcommittee and the updated progressions and then the updated prioritize
034standards for reporting as well um because of that new resource. And we did also link um on the board update a sample of the English language arts grades three through six. um ELA for for unit one storyboard which was new for us. We're really excited about it and its connections to the vocabulary because as you know we've already done so much work with foundational uh skills and for word recognition. So that comp that concludes my report, Mr. C. >> Oh, thank you for that. I think I need a specialist for the new math. Um >> um any questions? Benny? >> Um Dr. Russo, it sounds as if um the teachers are all, you know, on board and knowledgeable about what's going on. Will there be some opportunities for parents in the future if they have
035I know in the past we've had parent workshops and things. Is that something you see coming down the road? >> Yes. And we always have math nights. Um and we can have discussions at leadership to identify some of those sessions and and as you shared Mrs. Hadlock, it's either we've done that before or we've implemented or or at a PTO or a meeting that we've also included that. So that's something we could talk to the principles about too. >> Sounds like it could be helpful. >> Yes. >> Uh any Oh, yeah. Got it. Thank you. So, the new math program um does it have any uh parent letter that goes home at the beginning of the units that kind of outlines um a little bit about what is going to be covered and and maybe
036strategies that parents can use when trying to help their children understand it better or for to help parents understand it better. I know it's very different from when we learned math. Well, I also wanted to clarify that it's not really a whole program. It's a resource that we are embedding into our curriculum. We still have our standards that we've unpacked into units. Um, we've done some rearranging, but we feel that it's a great resource to support what we've been doing and now adding. So, it's not a totally different curriculum or program. It's it's just another resource embedded. And we'll also be collecting feedback on uh student responses to some of these resources to select the best that go with which standards. >> Okay, Amanda. >> Um I just have a comment um in terms of
037the math specialist. Just want to give a shout out to Mrs. Gilson at Racebrook because she does a phenomenal job. My kids absolutely love her and feel fully supported by her and she's answered a ton of questions from me. Um so she's been fantastic and Betty just to um from a parent perspective, I've gone to some of those back to school like night math sessions and they've been phenomenal. They separate the kids from the parents so the parents are learning what the kids are doing and how to teach um at home and the kids have an absolute blast learning and playing games. So they've been really a fantastic tool. So I look forward to the next one this year. Anyone else? Anthony, >> just real quick wanted to add my appreciation for the story board.
038I look forward to those when those are part of the uh the update. Very helpful. Thank you. >> Did you have something? >> Nope. Okay. Thank you. Uh we will move over to Mrs. Zto. >> Good evening. At the start of the school year, all staff engaged a variety of training modules. One of the training modules involved title N awareness. As you know or uh may know, I serve as the Title 9 coordinator for the district. Title 9 is a federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex and educational settings. It applies to all people regardless of their gender identity, gender expression, or sex. All staff engaged in training as a means to inform and prevent Title 9 violations. I wanted to take a moment to thank all of our staff for engaging in this
039training. And speaking of training, the special education team works in close collaboration with our general education providers to supplement our students educational needs. Prior to school starting, our special education providers engaged in professional learning aligned to the district's initiative around language comprehension with an emphasis on vocabulary. Special services are designed to supplement general education to meet individual student needs. So, it is critical that we align our work with these initiatives. And on a final note, I'm pleased to share that we were granted funds to continue the primary project. Orange is in our seventh year of implementation. This award provides funding for two more years of programming. As a reminder, or for some of the you who may not know, the primary project allows for eligible children in grades K through three a play-based way to
040personally connect to a caring adult. Children are considered for services based on teacher survey results and input, as well as parental feedback and consent. Last year, about 100 children were serviced by our child associates who are overseen by our school social workers in conjunction with our school psychologists. So I'm very happy to share that we have that again and that concludes my report. >> Oh, thank you. Questions? >> Yes. >> If students are in the primary project for one year, do they automatically qualify for the following year? >> No. That's a great question. So the the all children who are in K through three, the teachers do what's called a pre-screener. So they fill out information regarding every child in their class and then based on that information and the teacher's feedback, children are referred
041to the program. If they were in it before does not mean they can't receive that program again and then as a post we also do a post assessment to see the impact that it has had on them. Children can also in one year be involved in two cycles of that program if they're benefiting from it and they continue to need it. So, just because they've had it does not mean they are not eligible again. I hope I've answered your question. >> You have. Thank you. >> Great. >> Any other questions? >> No. Okay. Thank you for that report as well. >> Uh Mr. Gray, we're back to you. Okay, as we wait for this to come up, uh this annually Dr. Scarpetti asked that I put together a presentation uh regarding our facilities, our buildings
042um to kind of go over what we do as far as a facilities department um some of the projects that take place in the buildings during the summer um and then some of the support we get from our town partners as well. So I'll go through this with you. I first want to acknowledge our facility staff. We have a great staff of custodians who care for our buildings. Um, at each school we have two custodians. Our day custodians work from 7:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. Our evening custodians work from 1:00 p.m. to 900 p.m. So they overlap for a couple of hours during the day which is also very helpful. Um, our morning our day custodians at each building are Dean Manley at Race Brook School, MLT, Steve Shami at Racebrook School, Joe Spargo at
043Pepplay School, and Kathy Manley at Turkey Hill School. And then our evening custodians, Jeff Scaransky here at MLT, uh Dave Barton at Racebrook School, Chris Pimis at PC School, Pek Play School, and Sean Murray at Turkey Hill School. We also have a part-time utility custodian. This uh custodian um is a acts as a courier first thing in the morning, so brings mail from each office around the district. um then goes to our buildings and does odds and ends on a rotating schedule and also fills in where necessary if we have a custodian that is absent. Um and we have our supervisor of maintenance custodians, John Panza, who oversees our custodians on a daily basis along with the principles um and takes care of all of our maintenance needs. Our goals for the facilities department really
044there are four main goals that we we live by. Uh, one obviously is to maintain a safe and clean environment for all of our staff, students, and families. Uh, we want our buildings to be safe places to learn, clean places to learn. We use our resources effectively and efficiently. And what I mean by that is that we're we're using them effectively and efficiently to achieve a safe and clean environment, but also to maintain our budget, be budget conscious as we do that. Follow an effective m uh preventive maintenance program. Um, this ties in to what's just below it, which is our long range plan and our annual capital needs plan. Preventive maintenance plan is really something you would do with your own car. You bring it in for an oil change. You get new tires
045when you need the tires. Um, you get a tuneup when you need that done. That helps it to run for a longer amount of time. We do the same things with all of our building components and systems and our equipment to maintain them so they run longer and we can get the most life out of them. During the day, as you can imagine, or during a week, we get plenty of items that come up, issues that come up. Um, and we need to prioritize those. The way we get these is in a ticketing system. At the end, at the bottom of every slide, you'll notice it says uh facilities support facilities.org. Anyone could email facilities. So, if any of you are ever at a building and you see something, you could always email us and
046let us know, hey, I saw this. You might want to take a look at it. But all of our staff know about this. So if something happens in their room or there's something in the building level, they need us to know. The email goes to myself and to John Panza, our supervisor of maintenance custodians. And it also goes into a ticketing system. And then we prioritize. Obviously, we want to prioritize emergencies. That's something where it could prohibit us from opening school or having to close early such as I hate to say it but a flood in a building or an electrical power outage um which we've had in the past. Um so those are urgent safety matters that we need to address right away. Then there's safety. So these are identified deficiencies that could pose
047a health risk in a building. Um it could be something a chemical spill. That could be um something dangerous as far as a sharp item in a hallway somewhere where someone could get hurt. Preventive maintenance. Again, these are the routine inspections and tasks that we do really on a daily basis to try to prevent the next one, which is our re reactive maintenance. Now, it's kind of a balancing act because we do have buildings that are aging. So, there is a lot of reactive maintenance where there's an issue, something breaks down and it has to be repaired. So there's that balance of we're trying to prevent that from happening by conducting those inspections and that maintenance on our equipment and our systems, but inevitably things break down and they need to be addressed. And then
048finally, event support. So really that's a lot of PTO meetings, uh, events, PTA meetings and events, also winter concerts at the schools, um, art shows, um, talent shows. our custodians help to set up and break down those events. So again, kudos to our our staff for all of what they do preparing for opening of school. So this is a big deal in the summer. Everybody leaves the schools, they go off, they're enjoying their summer. Our custodians kick into high gear. There's a lot of work that happens over the summer. I was just mentioning to Mr. Grenzy earlier that it's kind of like uh I equate it to you have a a a work shirt or a pair of work pants that you like to wear all the time. Eventually they have to be cleaned. The
049schools get a lot of use during the year. We try to keep up with it as much as possible, but when they're bringing in the salt in the wintertime and the dirt from the fields, it grinds on the floors and it shows its wear by the end of the school year. What they do is top to bottom cleaning. And when I say top to bottom, what I mean is they start in a classroom and they we do work in a team. So all eight custodians, nine with our utility custodian work together in a building and we go from building to building rather than separating. Many hands make light work. So they actually gave me a t-shirt this year with their handprints on it that said that. So kudos to them. >> But they do top
050to bottom. So, one team, a small team, will go into the classrooms and they'll work in order and they'll clean the light fixtures. They replace any ceiling tiles that need to be cleaned. They look at the return and vents. They clean those. Then they come down the walls. They dust the walls. They clean out any cobwebs that have accumulated. They go down to the furniture. They clean cabinets. Then they wipe down all the chairs and desks in the classrooms. All that comes out of every single classroom so that they can then clean the floors. And we have various types of floors. We have VCT tile, luxury vinyl tile, we have carpet, and we have terazzo. So there's a lot that happens. This is every classroom, all of our offices, the cafeterias, the kitchens, everywhere in
051the building, the bathrooms. So it all gets cleaned during the school year. Obviously, we continue with our regular cleaning that we do uh especially those hight touch areas, the office doorork knobs, especially when I don't want to say it, but nor virus in the middle of the winter kicks up and we have to start cleaning a lot of our doorork knobs, the countertops in the offices, phones, things like that. Here's just a few shots of classrooms ready for school. So, you can see the shine on the floor. You can see the way the desks are set up. We ask teachers at the end of the school year to provide the custodians with a map of how they would like their room set up when they come back and the custodians do that. We also prepare
052prepare our HVAC um system. You've heard ours kick on a couple of times up here. Um, so what we do is we've been following since the pandemic the recommendations from the Department of Public Health, which is to run your HVAC system 2 hours prior to building occupancy, 2 hours after building occupancy. That doesn't mean when students are in the building. That means occupancy as far as when a custodian opens at 7 a.m., it's already been running for 2 hours. When a custodian closes at 9:00 p.m., it runs for two more hours. That is really to flush out the buildings with the fresh air that comes in through our HVAC system. And of course, we continue to follow our regular maintenance of cleaning our HVAC systems and changing our filters, which we do three times a
053year. Just a few examples of our HVAC system. Uh on the lower left is an air handling unit. There are two of them in this closet up here. One of them keeps kicking on. Univventilators, which are in the classrooms, and then rooftop units. Uh, all of our buildings have a couple of rooftop units on them. So, AHU is the air handling unit. You may hear me say that in the future. And an RTU is a rooftop unit. Also in facilities is capital planning. This is a a big piece of capital planning and it really ties into the preventive maintenance long range plan for facilities. Um, you've been provided a copy of the long-range plan in the past. It's also uh on our website under the facilities tab and it's a living breathing document so that
054changes uh because there are some links within that have depreciation schedules for some of our equipment and it really lays out when certain items have already been replaced when things are due to be replaced. Um, and I'll have a few slides where you'll you'll see some of that has already taken place. But the way this process works is projects are first identified. The way that's done, there are several layers. First, it's walkthroughs at the building level. So, it's meeting with the custodians, meeting with the principles, kind of getting an idea in the building, what are some priorities of big ticket items that need to be taken care of. Again, this capital funding comes from the town. Then it's Dr. Scarpetti and I sitting down we kind of go through the list that we get from
055the principles and as you can imagine they try to put as many things as they can in those lists. So we have to then kind of really look at it and prioritize it there. Then we bring it to the buildings and grounds subcommittee and again prioritize it further of what we think we should move forward to the ad hoc committee for um capital planning. So there is a town ad hoc committee. Um I'm lucky enough to be on that committee. Most of the department heads in town are on that. So what happens is once the subcommittee has a list ready, Dr. Scarpetti and I will put together rationale for each of the items. What are the impacts if the items aren't funded? And then an approximate cost because cost does change from when we present
056in November when it's due till the following spring is when we usually will be notified and most projects don't take place until the following summer. So that gets presented. The ad hoc committee then presents it to the board of finance in February during budget meetings. And like I said, somewhere middle of spring is when we find out which projects get accepted and funded, which leads to this. So the next several slides are going to have photos of projects that were done this past spring uh summer funded through town capital planning. One of which is bathrooms at ren uh renovate bathroom renovations at PC play school which has been on the list for a while. Um these were original bathrooms. They were falling into disrepair. You can see here this is a fourth grade girls bathroom.
057Um the floor kept peeling up little by little and being patched and patched. It just wasn't a safe situation. It was an uneven floor and as you can imagine the floor patching area actually gets slipperier slipperier than the tile. So, that was totally removed. All the stalls taken out, the sinks and the fixtures. New tile was chosen. Matches a little bit better than the Brady Bunch yellow that you just saw. It's a little bit more updated. Um, and this is a finished product. All the stalls are back in. Much cleaner, nicer look for the bathroom, but it's safer as well. So, bathroom refurbishment in one of the girls bathrooms, but we also had some boys bathrooms. Again, these are original bathrooms. Um, for those of you who may not ever use a men's room, nowadays,
058urinals don't go to the floor like this. Um, they're raised urinals. So, it's important information. Um, but I do want to point out on these urinal something that was a capital planning item that took place the summer before, which are the automatic um, touchless flushers that actually came out of the pandemic. We're we're trying to reduce the amount of touch points in a bathroom and the spread of germs. So, that took place the year prior. So, the urinal, although they may look good, when you get up close, we're falling into disrepair. You can see the cracking of the ceramic. You can see missing parts. Um, they're in really bad shape, so we took those out. They've been replaced in a few of the boys bathrooms that really needed it. New tile floor underneath, new tile
059backing. Um, you'll notice that in the last photo, that's the men's bathroom. You'll notice the different heights. One of those is ADA compliant, the other is a regular adult height. This is the primary playground up at Turkey Hill School. This is the black top that the kids were playing on. Obviously, they're they're cutting grass just as much as they were shoveling snow on this pavement. Some of those gaps were close to 4 in wide. Um really bad tripping hazard. Again, this was on the capital planning list for a couple of years. Uh newly paved this year, so a much nicer surface for the children, much safer, helps a lot with kickball. Back in March, just at the tail end of the heating season, we had just gotten done with the heating season. We had our
060uh annual boiler inspection from the state and our old steam boiler finally gave way and it was leaking. It did not pass the inspection. Um so it had to be replaced. Again, the town helped us with funding for this. So you can see there was a big leak in a in a hot water boiler. They're they're made up of sections. These are called sections. So they're um steel sections side by side bolted together that the water goes through. In between over time they corrode. Um there is insulation between them that falls apart and then they start to leak. That's what happened here. And then in the middle there's a feeder tank. So that collects the condensate returning back from the building supply but it also feeds fresh supply into the boiler. That was leaking as
061well. And you can see the old pad was basically concrete blocks that were put in there. Again, this was 40 some odd years ago, so this is a while ago. This is our new feeder tank, our new boiler with a new concrete pad. You can see much cleaner down there now. Um, all new controls, electronic controls for it. Uh, the yellow lines are the gas lines, the black lines are the water lines. Um, so again, thank you to the town for we had an emergency, they helped us out with that. This is another project completed through capital funds. Our gymnasiums get a lot of use, so they're used throughout the day for our PE classes, but they're open to the communities almost on a daily basis. Um whether it be park and wreck throughout the
062entire winter for basketball. Um AMD uses our c our courts quite a bit for practices whether it's cheerleading or lacrosse. Um football has used it in the past for indoor practices once in a while. We also have other clubs basketball groups that use them. So they get a lot of use. Bad mitten uses them as well. You can see this is the floor at Marielle Tracy. This was the first one that we had done this summer. The floor was in really rough sheet shape. the um the finish was coming off in sheets. So this summer they sanded it down to the natural wood, repainted lines, >> repainted the Marielle Tracy logo in the middle and then finished it off with the um uh gym floor finish. So it looks great. Our next one will be
063Race Brook School. That'll be later in the year, probably during April break when everyone is out of the building. So the last few slides are for me personally because I was a principal at Race Brook School. They make me happy. >> And you'll see a vast difference in the photos. What a little bit of paint will do. So this has also been a project that has been on for quite some time. Dr. Scarpetti uh had mentioned to me today, "These have been on for a while, right?" And I said, "Yeah, it has been on there for a while." We finally got to it. Um, we did have a little extra money in in a maintenance line item that we were able to use. So, it's amazing what a little paint can do. When you watch
064a home show, they always say a little paint can go a long way. It's true. So, these are just a couple of slides of the hallways before and after. So, the school colors at Racebrook are red, white, and black. So, we painted the walls a white color. It's an off-white. It's not a pure white, realizing it is still a school and it will get dirty. Um, but the trim in the doors were painted red. So, these are the old laminated doors, like a laminated countertop. And these are the same doors painted red. In the front of the building, we have the ballards in the front to prevent vehicles from coming through the front door. And we also, these are the gym doors off to the side. This is an after. All the exterior doors were
065painted around the building. This next slide is hard to tell because it's a sunny day on the right and the shadow that's casted. You can't really tell, but we updated the columns. We painted those the same safety red as the rest of the building. The roof on the top, you could see in the left it was deteriorating, so we painted it black up top. The overhang is painted a bright white underneath and we power wash the concrete underneath. At Peek Place, their colors are blue, white, and black. So, again, dressed up their outside doors with some blue paint. It actually really pops off the building, so it looks really nice. Those are the projects that we did during the year. But I also want to recognize just the collaboration that we have with our town
066partners. Uh we do interact with our town partners quite a bit throughout the year and we appreciate all the assistance they give us. So, you know, the police department, you can see the various ways in which we interact with them. Uh, one of which is through our SRO's. Um, Detective Artane and Bailey, they teach the store program to our kindergarteners and our sixth graders, but they also accompany us during all of our lockdown drills, our school crisis meetings. They're part of our teams for those um emergency and nonrespon non-emergency responses at our schools. Unfortunately, when we get alarms in the middle of the night, they're usually there as well. Um, Department of Public Works, they help out with snow removal through application of salt in our parking lots. Um, if it's a really big storm,
067they help us plowing. Uh, we do have two trucks of our own that we plow with, but when it's a really big storm, they're they're large trucks help us. They assist with repairs and improvements when needed and, you know, removal of fallen limbs or small trees on the property. Fire department and the fire marshall's office. Again, they help out with our safety inspections, our fire drills, alarm response, um community outreach programs as well. We have the poster contest in fourth and fifth grade. Kids really enjoy that. The park and wreck department, uh mowing and trimming of all of our grass fields all throughout the spring, summer, and fall. They do leaf cleanup for us. They keep the edges of the property trimmed up nice and neat. So, uh kudos to Chris Small and his team
068for that. The uh Town of Orange Emergency Management Advisory Council, Dr. Scarpedy and I are both um members of that committee as well. So we meet once a month. Um and we discussed townwide emergency preparedness and procedures. We actually had a tabletop exercise um last week which is it's an enactment of your emergency management center. Um, and it's all of the different agencies in town come together and the state provides you with they call them injects which are scenarios and you have to say what it is how you're going to react to those scenarios. So, um, one of which was there was a wildfire and it was close to one of our schools. What would happen? How would we respond to that? So, quite useful. Um, but again, I I want to thank all those
069town partners. Before I end, I want to just loop back to those four goals that we have for our maintenance department. Again, it's really prioritizing um our safe and clean learning environment in each of our schools each day. um really using our resources effectively and efficiently, establishing that preventive maintenance program to try to keep off the reactive maintenance and then that capital plan needs which really sisters up with our long range plan again which they're both living breathing documents. They change from year to year. Um and I'd be remiss without giving special thanks to the following uh all of you. Um, I don't think people realize the work that you do behind the scenes and I don't think some of you realize the amount of meetings you would probably have to attend when you were
070roped into joining the board of education. Um, but we we really do appreciate your support. Um, our students deserve the best and and you helped to provide that for them. So, thank you so much. uh our first selectman, our board of selectmen, board of finance members for all the support through the budgetary process that they give us and whenever emergencies come up, case in point, the boiler here at MLT, uh they helped us out right away with that. So, thanks to all them. And finally, our families, our staff, uh and taxpayers together, we all make a difference. So, that concludes the presentation for facilities. >> Very informative. Um definitely Kudos to the custodial staff for what they do over the summer. It's amazing. Uh when we did our walkthrough, it's been almost a month now.
071Um I was amazed by the paint jobs that they did at the schools. I mean, beautiful, beautiful work. Um and everything else that they have done for the schools. So, questions. >> Yeah, >> Mr. G, I just have two quick questions. Um, going back to the custodial staff, if for instance a day custodian is not able to, you know, come in for his shift, would that position be open for like the nighttime custodian to fill before you go to the substitute? >> So, we do. Yeah. So, we do have a process. Um, the evening custodian in that building gets first opportunity. Um, if that custodian doesn't want it, then we go through we have tenure. So, we go through that. Uh, and then we do have our utility custodian after that. And then we have
072substitute custodian as well. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> And then also regarding the PCP place bathrooms, um you mentioned the male bathrooms, the urinals. I believe PC place is the only school that has those types of bathrooms. >> Uh Turkey Hill also has >> they I hate the name, but they do refer to them as gang bathrooms. >> Yes. >> So it's it's several urinals in a row. So Turkey Hill does have one of those as well in their upper grade. >> And that was my next question. Those urinals, are those offered for all grades? Is it just for the upper grades? >> So, the upper grades have those. Um, the younger grades at Pek, they have two urinals. Um, Racebrook is unique because it does have single bathrooms. >> Oh, yes. Yes. >>
073Yeah. It's the only school that has that many single bathrooms in it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Anyone else? >> Amanda? >> Um, one, the pictures looked great from the paint job. They look even better in person. and Race Brook was like popped like crazy as soon as I walked in. And then um to piggy back off Tatiana, I saw there was an opening for a like custodian for a substitute custodian. Would that substitute custodian take the full-time position for that day or would that go to like the utility custodian? How does that work? >> Yeah. So again, it works through that process. So if the day custodian at Racebrook was going to be out, which he was today, >> the evening custodian would have first right to refusal. Okay. >> So,
074I would first ask him, which I did, and he accepted. So, he worked this morning and he's working this evening. Um, if he didn't want it, then it would go to our seniority list, but it would really go to, if it was a day custodian, it can't go to another day custodian, obviously. So, it would go to the other night custodians. >> Okay? >> If none of them wanted it, then it would go to our utility custodian. If he was unable to fulfill it, then it goes to our substitute custodian. So often does the utility custodian job get the substitute? Does that >> So our utility custodian um again it's during the day and it's part time. So he gets the courier job done within the first hour that he's here and the rest of
075the time he's doing odds and ends. So it doesn't really affect that. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> And just so everyone know this is based on the bargain unit contract, >> right? >> And so that helps them. So, um, no, I think wisely they put that in their contract because that helps with their overtime quite honestly. And so, by having that first choice, we always have that posting up. Um, and that's conversations we have with that barring unit and we say, you know, sometimes, oh, there's there's there's not a sub, there's not a sub. said, "Well, it's very difficult because you take those spots and so if I sign up as a substitute here in orange and I'm not calling getting called for any substitutes, it's tough to keep a
076substitute on that list." So, there's a catch 22, but that's all based on the bargaining unit contract. >> Okay, Betty. Oh, first of all, I want to thank you for that presentation because it really brought home all the hard work that happened over the summer and I'm very proud of the fact that we have these older buildings that with all the um preventive maintenance and all the work that goes on throughout the year that we don't have too many emergencies that we have to deal with. So, thank you for that. And I'm just wondering, do you already have any um is there a capital project that wasn't able to happen this year that's already going to be up near the top of the list for next year? And it's for some reason I was thinking
077there was going to be a renovation of the Peek Place Library. And maybe I'm am I wrong on that? >> No, you are not wrong. That was a that was approved. But again, when we receive word of when these projects are accepted, sometimes it's late in the school year and we already had two projects for the summer lined up. So that's going to happen in next summer. >> Yeah. >> Anything else on the horizon? >> So we do have other So it's a five-year plan, >> right? So in each column of the plan, we do have items that we move forward to this will be moved forward to this year plus a couple of additional >> that we have. >> Okay. And the playground that's going in at Peg Place >> Mhm. >> is that's
078not a capital improvement plan park project. >> No, that wasn't. No, that's >> it's I mean it looks like it's still underway. It's not completed yet. Right. >> It is. Right. The um the playground equipment has been installed. Uh we're waiting tomorrow. They're actually starting the port in place which is the rubber surfacing. >> Okay. >> Um so probably by the end of the week that should be done and next week we'll be able to be used. Um I learned >> maybe a christening of you know some sort of >> Well I I don't know that I don't know if they're planning to do something like that. I I was >> bring the champagne bottle champagne crack open. >> I want to keep my job so I don't know. I um I was not aware
079of this. Uh Mrs. Lassto the principal of Peek Place made me aware of this that there was actually a playground there in that place in that spot um previously. So there were two playgrounds there. >> So we're just >> one of the challenges that you may have heard um I know we have board members at different tenure here. >> Um when we do these projects of course other schools look at it and like what about us? What about us? What about us? And Mrs. Hadock I'm glad you're asking those questions. Just as a friendly reminder, uh we do have a long range plan. Uh we've shared that I could share that again with all of you that shows these projections. As Mr. Grace said, it takes a while. Like it's nice to see Race Brook,
080but Turkey Hill was painted a long time ago. Turkey Hill receives, you know, the important place around the playscapes. And so, um it's like, uh having a lot of kids. Sometimes your kids get different things at different times of their needs. Um, but it all goes around and I appreciate everyone's patience with that. But as Mr. Gray said, um, uh, at one point PC did have a playscape in that area, was removed for whatever reason. But if you notice, Turkey Hill has one on one side of the building and it has also a larger one. Same thing at Peek right now. Um, Racebrook has a very large one because they don't have that separation. It's all in in the back and encompasses that whole entire area. So, we appreciate your patience and and again, please
081uh anything with the long range plan. If you see, even if you're not on building grounds, don't hesitate to reach out to me or Mr. Scorenzi because uh it's an important piece. It takes time to get there as people has has noted and as Mr. Gray has noted, but um it takes time, but we get to it. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else have questions? No. Okay. Again, thank you for that presentation. Uh we will move on to board business. Um the following are first read policies. Uh there'll be second reads at our next board of ed meeting. Uh the first one is orange board of ed policy 4118.9-4218.9 personnel certified non-certified duties of personnel. Orange board of ed policy 4119-4219 personnel certified non-certified electronic mail and orange board of ed policy 4217.3 personnel non-certified
082reduction and support staff. Uh item four discussion um and possible action of PTO gift to PC play school. Um, Anthony, um, going to pass it over to you to share the, uh, PTO request with the board. >> Thanks, Jeff. The, uh, PCP place PTO has submitted a request to install an outdoor classroom. Our recent building and ground subcommittee meeting. Both the plans and the proposed location for this project were presented to the subcommittee. Board members, you'll find the PTO request at each of your desks for review. Mr. cap. I'd like to make a motion to approve the PCP place request to install the outdoor classroom in the amount of $11,830. >> Okay, that's a motion. Okay, do I have a second on that, Susan? Uh discussion from anyone? Betty, >> uh where is it going?
083I mean, I see the picture, but I have no idea where this is. And I'm you going to really have to orient me because it's a big circle and it's already you know when you go around you sometimes don't know where you are. So where outside of the circle is it going to be? >> There may be a better way to describe it but I'm thinking if you're looking straight at the school on the right hand side behind the gate. Um >> oh where the where the fence is already there. >> Was behind the fence and up against the building. >> Okay. So right near the front of the school. >> So Mrs. Hock if you look at the front of the school. >> Yeah the front door. >> Yep. There's that gate to the
084right. See the flag poles there? There's a gate. >> Oh, on the right >> onto the right of the school. >> Oh. >> You say you go through that gate. You walk along the side of the building and then the building goes in like a U. >> Yeah. >> And it'll be right right set there. >> Okay. All right. >> Graduation. >> Yes. Exactly. >> Discussion. Yeah. Go ahead. Is it one single PTO for all the schools like combined or is it pick place's own PTO? >> Pick place has their own PTO. >> So the $11,000 is coming from there. >> This is strictly this has nothing to do with our operating budget. Has nothing to do with our long range plan. PTO's get together and they set goals. Mhm. >> So recently, just as
085a reminder of the entire board, Turkey Hill got together recently and they put a glass uh wall for the uh in the media center for the AV club. So that's something that they say and I think what occurs is the PTA goes or PTA or O goes to the uh principles and schools. What do you need? What would we'd like to do? And they do a great job fundraising and then they have a goal to achieve whatever they want to do. Sometimes we just may share that with the board, but since it's over a certain amount of money, part of the policy is we have to bring it to you and get that approved. >> Any other discussion? We have a motion on the floor. >> I just want this came up because teachers requested
086it or is that is that how it it kind of got to fruition? I don't know. >> Yeah, I think like it's a good problem to have, Mrs. hadlock where again fundraisers occur and they say what do you think we need >> and I think that's was a discussion that happened at the uh PTO meetings. >> Okay. I mean I know when I was teaching we had an outdoor classroom and it was used by teachers all the time. Yes. >> Um so I'm looking forward to seeing how this will be utilized and maybe how it will work with their science curriculum or with any curriculum I suppose. And Yeah. >> Okay. And is there a scheduled date for construction, Anthony? Is there some Do you know about that? I mean, I guess we have to
087approve it first. I know, but >> Right. I don't know. Unless you're aware of >> So, yeah, they're they're waiting for approval so they can start to to order the materials. >> Okay. >> Yeah, they were waiting on our vote. >> Okay. Those are raised um planting beds there, right? Yeah. Okay. >> Any other discussion? Okay. All in favor? Uh that's unanimous. Okay, that will pass. Uh moving on to standing committees, uh finance and operations. Susan, >> the finance subcommittee met prior to this meeting. We reviewed um the financials, uh the audit update, and the grants update, and everything is in order. >> Any questions, anyone? Okay. Uh we'll move over to personnel policy transportation. Betty, >> um our committee met on I believe it was September 8th. Uh due to the opening of school
088and the Labor Day holiday, um we met on a day a different day than we usually meet. And um we reviewed the um policies that are presented here as first reads. And I encourage anyone to reach out to me or Dr. Scarpetti if you have any questions after you read through the policies. and hopefully that we will bring bringing them as a second read to our next meeting. And I know we will need to meet again to get some more policies ready. So, um you know, we're we're a little behind with uh getting all that set, but it's partly because of the uh vagaries of the calendar. Thank you. >> Anyone have questions? Okay. Uh buildings and grounds. Anthony. >> So, the buildings and grounds subcommittee met at 4:30 Wednesday, August 27th. As we mentioned,
089uh Dr. Scarpedi, Mr. Gray reviewed the long range plan with us. Uh we proceeded with that tour of the building, all the buildings. They highlighted all the projects that were presented earlier this evening. Um the long range plan has been shared to all the board members and is also posted to the website. If anyone has suggestions, questions, anything regarding the buildings, please contact myself or Dr. Scarpetti. >> Thank you. Any questions? Anyone? Okay. Uh, curriculum instruction. Betty, would you happen to have a report? >> Um, I can try to pretend to be Mr. Zimon. >> Good luck. >> Um, I don't have anything prepared. Uh, but I will say that we also met on um September 8th. um and had a good discussion. Uh we reviewed the long range plan as well. Uh Mrs. Ztoo
090um reviewed the pro the preschool program and told us about what was presented on March 21st um to interested parents. Um we got an update on the math curriculum. I still have some books that I'm looking at to see some of the new resources. Excited about that. And um I know you heard Dr. Russo talk about the vocabulary um work that's being done and you could sense her excitement and I know how important vocabulary is to the um to reading. So we talked about that quite a bit and um I know sometime in the future we're going to have a presentation by the uh music department telling us about some of the things exciting things they are doing. So um it was a good meeting and I know we will be meeting again in the
091next few weeks. That's up to Mr. Zimman though. Any questions? >> Any questions? >> All right. Thank you for that. We will move on to our ASUS update. Susan, >> so I wanted to share with you a couple things. The ASUS um governing board met last Thursday, September 11th. Um but I just wanted to give you a little bit of a level set because not everybody knows what ASUS is. They see the signs on buses or on bulletin boards or whatever. Um, so ASUS is one of our resks, regional education service centers, and we have 25 either districts or towns that are part of the ASUS family. We don't have necessarily representation from all towns because they don't send them. So there's that issue, but we get about 17 18 generally, which is not bad
092towns that come. Um, and so why do we have risks? Well, towns like Orange is a small town, right? We only have elementary schools. We don't have middle or high schools. And some of the services that the upper grades would get that little kids might be able to leverage. We wouldn't have that opportunity. Could we use AMD stuff sometimes? Maybe. Yes. But the rest provides help when it comes to special services, but it also can help with devices, right? So, if a you know there's um it may need help with transportation, it could need help with language services. Um there's a ton of quote businesses that happen within ASUS because not only is ASE AC as a special ed school, we also have services. And so some of the services that we provide are directly
093to our catchment, our 25 towns that or districts that are in our area. So what have we been doing? That's the next question. um is we've have three construction programs uh projects going on. The first one was for ACES at Chase which is in Waterberry. It's not calling called Aces at Chase now. It's called Chase Academy. And so we go 8 n sorry 67 89 10. I don't think we have 11 yet. I'll double check that though. I should know that but I don't. Um then we had the Wintergreen project when Wintergreen is both Chase and Wintergreen are magnet schools. Um, Winter Green is in Hamen and they had a very large building project as well as an HVAC and a roof project and a cafeteria update. Um, surprisingly they got pretty much everything done
094so school started on time. So that's great. Um, the uh the another construction project we're still working on is 88 Basset, which will be one of our special schools or special buildings with a number of schools ultimately funneling into it. and that's also going very well. Looks like it's going to be beautiful. We're excited about it. Um, ASUS also does the early head the Head Start program in Middletown. That's part of our catchment. And there's been a lot going on with um DEI issues. And so they had to rewrite most of their policies and a lot of different things. And they couldn't make decisions on who could come in um not just for um predominantly for early Head Start who would qualify, you know, you can't use certain things now that you used to. So
095they've been doing a lot of work that and they presented to us this I mean it's you know probably a hundred pages of reporting that they had to change and prove that they had changed. So there was a lot and they do amazing work. Um so we um also one another thing I wanted to share was um ASUS applied to be Moody rated and we have now the same rating as AMD does which is a uh double A3 which I said I guess is good just saying um and um I think that's about everything. >> There's more but I gave you the highlights. That was good. I like that. >> Uh questions. Anyone have Yeah. Any? >> So, the Basset Street School is going to be for outplaced students basically. >> Predominantely. >> Yeah. >>
096Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Some of our more severe. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Right. The village school. >> Is that still on Skip Street? >> The village school? >> No. Okay. >> Village. Um, >> okay. All right. And um, the Winter Green School, the magnet school. What What grades are those now? >> Is that a It's a K to a K to8 building. Okay. And ACES, I just want to be sure. You know, all these acronyms. That's Area Cooperative Education Services. Yes. Why it's called area? I >> Because it's not You can't say it's like Indiana County. >> No, I know it's not because it's got other Waterberry and Middletown. Yeah. >> Right. Right. I mean because you have capital region which is CRE you know. >> Yes. >> All right. Okay. >> Okay. >>
097HR not necessarily part of their >> right. No, I mean we had um PT or OT we were using with um aces for a while too. >> No, I I just think I'm trying to help people who are listening also to understand. So, thank you Susan. >> Thank you. Any other questions for Susan on ASUS? Okay. Well, then I will ask for a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting. Second with Susan on the side of my face here. Uh all in favor to adjurnn. Okay, that's unanimous. We are journed at 8:21. >> Okay, I just remind people, please go to the Orange Country Fair this weekend. Students can be entering um all sorts of special projects that they've been working on.