001Now, I guess >> I would like to call the regular meeting of the Plymouth Board of Education of September 10th, 2025 to order at 7:02 p.m. Please join us in pledging to the flag. I pledge algiance 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. >> All right. Item number two. Um before we adopt the agenda, I would like to entertain a motion to amend the agenda as following. as follows. To switch item number four, which is a presentation of our five-year strategic plan, and to place that after number seven, the superintendence update. Do I have that motion? >> So move. >> Second. >> Mr. Showers, Mr. Foot. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Then
002I would like to entertain a motion to adopt the amended agenda. >> So move. >> Second. So, Mr. Showers, Mr. Foot, any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed abstensions. Motion carries. All right. So, now we are moving on to item number three, approval of the minutes. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the special meeting of the Plymouth Board of Education retreat and superintendence update of August 20th, 2025 and the minutes of the regular meeting of the Plymouth Board of Education of August 20th, 2025. So move >> Mr. Foot. >> Second, >> Mr. Showers. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Abstensions? Motion carries. All right, now we are moving on then to item number five, student representatives. Welcome ladies. >> We hope everybody had a great summer.
003The terrible fair had a fantastic turnout this year and ths students were heavily involved. Over at the Friends of Music Booth, we had over 40 band and chorus members, plus a squad of awesome parent volunteers who sold over,200 baked potatoes. That's a lot of carbs. >> A lot of potatoes. All the money raised supports the ths friends of music association. So technically eating potatoes was a noble cause. The ths Leo Club also stepped up with 12 students volunteering to run various activities like home and garden food and children's activities. The boo the booster club lemonade stamp had a great student participation too. It was a sweet success. >> Our fall sports teams have been thriving this year. Participation is way up. So much so that the girls volleyball team which I'm proud to be a
004part of is 26 players. That's the biggest it's been in 12 years. The cross country team is also gaining momentum literally. For the first time in a few years they have enough runners to compete as a full team. They've been working hard even though most of us have only run that far. Boys and girls soccer have also had early wins this season. They've done great teamwork, determination, and probably four months ago. >> Students have been adjusting well to the new school year and waking up early again. Our freshmen are acclimating successfully, and I've yet to see someone walk into the wrong room, which is always awkward. Students seem to like the gradual transition into the year, having this be our first 5day week. For upcoming events, we have the freshman and sophomore classes are hosting
005a communitywide back to school carnival this Friday, September 12th, on the ths soccer field. The event will start at 600 p.m. and include games, concessions, and prizes. It's going to be lots of fun for the whole family. My class, the class of 2026, had our first senior activity on September 2nd. The majority of the grade arrived in the school parking lot at 5:45 in the morning to watch the sunrise. It'll probably be the only day for the rest of the school year that we're early. After a beautiful sunrise, many students drove with their friends to McDonald's or Dunkin Donuts for a not so nutritional breakfast. After speaking with several students, they all agree that the event brought our class together. >> The music department isn't missing a beat this year. We hit the ground running
006with several exciting events coming up. First, we have the Yukon Band Day on September 20th. The marching band and color guard will join the Yukon marching band at Ren Wrenchler Field. Students will get to perform in a college stadium. The Big E parade it follows that on September 26th. The marching band in color guard will perform in the Big E parade in front of thousands of people. No pressure, right? Bristol. Next is the Bristol Mom Festival Parade. On September 28th, the marching band and color guard will perform in the annual Mum Parade. Following that is the Bergkshire League music festival on October 1st and October 10th. Several talented band and chorus students will head to Lewis Mills High School to represent Tville High School. It's a great opportunity to showcase the musical skills of Terryville.
007As a proud member of the color guard, I can say we're all super excited to be back in action. I can't wait to get back to twirling safely. Of course, no eyes have been poked out yet, and we like to keep it that way. >> Thank you. >> Very nice. Thank you for the uh update, ladies and the funny way of it. I caught all those little jokes. Thank you. >> You guys are both seniors. >> No, >> I'm a junior. >> Senior. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> And then just what do you do for fun? Just so the board could get the role. >> You want to go first? >> Representative fun. >> A whole lot of things actually. I am the student council president this year, which is how I'm here and Tiana
008is the vice president. So, we're working together. I also am a threeseason varsity athlete from cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track. I quite enjoy running. Um, I also, what else do I do? I do a whole ton of I'm in Leo's Club, which is one of the groups that helped with the fair. I'm the treasurer for them. I quite enjoy Leo's Club and I I really like volunteering and getting involved in our community, which is another reason why I'm here. Um, what else? Yes, I'm in pep club, too. We We plan the pep rallies. We make sure it's a fun, exciting theme. It really I think puff rallies really get our school united and involved and people who aren't normally in clubs will are more likely to come just to make a fun poster
009but then that will lead them to join other activities besides pep club. >> So Tiana Tiana is in a lot of things too. >> I'm in almost the same amount of clubs as Fallon if not the exact same. I'm also a three sport varsity athlete but I don't like running as much as her. I do volleyball, basketball, but I also do track, but I'm a thrower, not a long distance runner like her. Um, yeah. One of my favorite clubs that I'm in is I really like Unified Buddies. It's our club where we combine the special education with the normal education and we do like events. We sometimes partner with Thomas. Like last year, one of our events was we had a semi formal dance with them. It was pretty fun. Not a good dancer though,
010so It's a nice >> Thank you so much. If you have any questions, please ask away or save them for next time. We'd love to answer. >> Anyone have any questions for our student reps? >> I love all the >> puns. >> Our puns. Yes. >> We're sprinkling some new things in this year. >> Ladies, you are welcome to stay for the entire meeting. You are also welcome to go if you have pressing things to do. >> A lot of homework to get to. >> A lot of homework. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right, we will move on to item number six, public comment. We will start with in-person public comment. Please join us at the podium. Write your name down and then state your name and address for the record. [Music] Melanie
011Church, 328 Main Street. Uh, the reason I'm coming forward in all the years I've been in this town, whenever we've needed roofs, there's grants by the board of ed, the state board of ed, and we've ended up with them from there. And the thing of it is that that's to me an important issue. Um, and I'm going back 20 years ago, but even when we were closing Main Street School and Prospect Street School, we got brand new roofs put on there and it did not come out of the taxpayer because we have roads and other things that really need to be done. And you know, these have been ignored for 12 years. And that's why that's the only reason I'm bringing it up. and we got to start looking at stuff and working as a
012as a village. Um, hope I'm making sense. >> Yeah. >> Um, but I know over the years, even before this school was built, they were getting them in in buildings that we weren't even going to keep open. Um [Music] also, um the the capital improvements, I've been following that. And if you read what the ad hoc committee, we're not following it. And it's supposed to be the council who makes the final decision, not the vice chair of the board of ed. And that's what we're running into. And she's already this was the plan and this is to start next year. >> Clarification, >> huh? >> Vice chair of the board of ed. >> No, of the board of finance. >> Okay. >> And um she's starting next year's budget because I notified the sewer department
013soon as I learned about it and I know they will be there and they weren't invited. So, it's important even if somebody goes even with the list to the meeting tomorrow, you know, you've got your stuff in there. You know, that's what I would do. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I'm Tony Romano from 67 Watchtower Road. Um, not really public comment. I just want to introduce myself as I'm your liaison from the town council. >> I was appointed about four months ago. I apologize that this is the first meeting I've made, but there have been other meetings that I've had conflicts with from my previous involvement with the wetlands commission. Um, I'll be seeing new folks regular. If you have any questions or anything you want me specifically to mention at a town council
014meeting and you can't make it, please talk to me and I'd be glad to bring it up for you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else for public comment? Seeing none, is there any online public comment? >> Not at this time. >> All right, let's move on to item seven, superintendence report. >> Good evening, everyone. Um, we had a great opening to the school year. At our two elementary schools, we had a number of orientations and open houses before the school year starts so the children could meet their teachers, get to know the school with their parents, and feel more comfortable walking in that first day. We also had orientations before the year started. In our transition years with grade six and grade nine, in all of our schools, our teachers completed activities to kind of
015get the students feeling comfortable in school, transitioning them back to school, and resetting the norms of being back in school and not being off for summer break. The buildings looked great. We had minimal concerns with our buses and transportation. The faculty was energized and the students were excited. So, it was been a great kickoff to our 2025 2026 school year. But as the board is aware, at the same time we were preparing to open our school, we were also looking for a principal for Plymouth Center School um with Kim Loveven leaving. And and whoever we hired in would have big shoes to fill in filling in for Kim Lovel. But I'm confident that we've selected the perfect person for Plymouth Center School. As I shared at our last meeting, we held three rounds of interviews.
016The first round was with the Plymouth Center faculty and staff, Mr. Bobiner from the board and myself and Mrs. Milo. And then the second round for the people that moved on was in front of our administrative team and a performance task had to be completed and presented. And then in the final round, um the the final two candidates interviewed in front of the board of education. Um, I want to thank you for the the whole process and how it went. It was done in a very professional manner and we chose Stacy Kao, the current principal right now of Lee H. Kellogg School in region one to be our new principal at Plymouth Center. Unfortunately, Stacy couldn't be here this evening because it is her own open house in her school that she's still running. But
017my plan is to bring her to the next board meeting in October to introduce her to the community. She will be at the faculty meeting for Plymouth Center tomorrow and she is hopefully going to be able to be at their first halfday professional development on September 25th. So that's our goal moving forward. And finally, it's pretty short for me tonight because I have some other speaking to do, but I'd like to welcome uh the student representatives Fallon and Tiana. I appreciate them being here and giving their time and I look forward to hearing their reports every month. >> All right, that brings us to item number four. Um, presentation of our five-year strategic plan. Mr. Falcone All right. I brought notes up with me because I didn't know if I'll be able to see the
018board and read off the screen, but I think I should be okay. Um, so working with the administrative team and we were hoping that we're waiting for one board member. I was hoping she would be here by now uh to hear the whole presentation, but I I can give her a recap. >> She's on her way in right now. >> Is she? Then I'm going to stall. >> Yep. Just saw her as you said that. >> Did you? >> We're just starting. Come in. >> I saw I'm stalling for you. >> I'm gonna have Beth Malo sing a song for us while we're waiting. >> Is it like 7:15? >> It is perfect. 7:18. >> So, working with the administrative team, we created a five-year strategic plan for our school district. The reason why we
019created a five-year strategic plan is because we had requests from board members and we had requests from the community to create a long-term plan for improvement for our district. The challenge with a five-year plan and why we've really never had one before is a lot of what you're going to see is based on our budget and the funding that we get to put these initiatives and improvements in place. And so that's why in the past, as far as and as long as I know from working in this district for the past 20 years on and off, we've never really had a strategic plan that went over a year because you have to see the budget you get and make the adjustments to try to make the improvements to the district. But there are benefits and
020it's it's right on the board um of having a five-year strategic plan. And for the board, just so you know, in front of you, you have the presentation. It's different than the actual five-year strategic plan which I'll hand to you in a little bit. Okay. So, the purpose of the strategic plan is it provides a clear roadmap that aligns to our goals for us to improve that we're unified on. Not only are we unified on and understand, but the community as a whole understands why we're moving in the direction, why we're asking for certain things within our budget to improve the overall learning experience for our students from preK through um our transition program, 22 years old. And if you notice in this message that I have here in blue, I have highlighted our four
021goals because they're embedded all throughout the strategic plan. The pro the presentation I'm going to do for you this evening focuses on the key outcomes related to our district goals and I'll talk about that and the annual milestones accomplished. That centerpiece with the strategic initiatives we're not going to cover right now, but it's going to be in your plan for you to read through. And I'll talk about each of those right now. The key outcomes for our district goals. That's looking at from 2025 to 2030, what we're looking to accomplish. And I've broken it up in the plan by each of our goals. So you have our four goals. what we're looking to accomplish in student achievement, student engagement, student well-being, and fiscal oversight for the district. So, that's the first thing you're going to
022see. We're going to cover that in the presentation. The meat and potatoes of the actual strategic plan is the hard part because we could talk about what we want to do and how great we can be, but it's how we're going to get there. And that really falls with the strategy of how we're going to accomplish it, how we're going to monitor the progress and who's responsible for accomplishing those things and bringing those things into our district. But that's in the plan. You don't have that in front of you today and I'm not going to cover that. That's something for you to look at as you look at the draft of this plan. And then you have the annual milestones that accomplish. This breaks up the years. So in year one, what are we looking
023to accomplish? In year two, what are we looking to accomplish? so on for the next five years. Does that make sense? >> Okay. So, I'm starting with student achievement. That's our first goal. And the first thing you're going to notice are some items are in yellow or on your sheet are highlighted and some are in white. The items that are in yellow are all based on funding and budget. And what you're going to see as part of our improvement plan is that we're missing some basic components of a school district. I could give you those examples as we go, but I'll give you some very basic examples. We don't have a social worker in our primary elementary school. We don't have a counselor in our 35 school. We don't have a library media specialist in
024two of our four schools. These are I'm not asking for the world. These are basics in running a school that we don't have in place right now. So this plan is going to cover what we can definitely do, which is in white, and what is dependent on the budget that's in yellow. So between now and 2029 and 2030 um if we don't have certain pieces funded, we cannot accomplish those goals and we'll have to push them off in our plan as we go. So if you take a look, we have first in yellow an alternative high school program. So we have students at our high school that are not succeeding in the traditional high school format. And so we have some students that will not graduate on time or will not graduate at all. So
025we're looking to put in an alternative high school program. We need a certified person to do that. Next, we have reading intervention program at Terryville High School and math intervention program at Terryville High School. That goes along with the aligned MTSS, which is the last thing in yellow process in K12. So, we have interventionists, that's students that are are struggling to be on grade level in math and reading. We have interventionists from kindergarten all the way through grade 8. Our MTSS, which is our tier intervention support, is aligned or mostly aligned right now from kindergarten through grade 8. The only way we could put this through grade 12 is if we hire an interventionist, which is a certified teacher at the high school level and uh for math and for reading. We could probably get
026away with a tutor at the high school level, but we need to hire someone to take the inter intervention program here at the high school to align our intervention services K through 12. And then we also have in yellow universal prek for all the four year olds in town. That should be our goal to one identify children at a younger age if possible uh for any sort of needs that they might have, but also to better prepare our kids in a in a common way for kindergarten. And then when you go through the white uh lettering and the stuff that's not highlighted on your sheet, you see items that the the budget is not dependent on. So we have now put in a formative uh assessment calendar so we can track our kids from the
027beginning of the year to the middle of the year to the end of the year and see their success and kind of modify and adjust our instruction accordingly. So, we put that in this year. We have a scope and sequence that we're trying to put in place for all of the courses we teach at our high school and middle school level and all of our grade levels so that we could begin truly um having some sort of curriculum for each subject that we teach in our schools. This is the starting point scope and sequence with various links that connect the teacher to the assignments and what needs to be done. And then we have the last two is really meeting or exceeding the state average on our state testing. Not only for our regular ed
028population, but also for our subgroups that we have. And there are a bunch of different subgroups from male to female to uh the the different racial differences that that students have. Those are our subgroups. And it's to meet and exceed those state averages on those scores. So, that's student achievement. But, as I said, we have to break this up over a five-year period. And again, you see the yellow follows us through this presentation because everything in yellow is what we had originally with those outcomes um that are budget related. But you can see on this sheet what we plan on doing each year to chip away at our overall student academic achievement. And again, on the full plan, you'll see the strategies that we plan on utilizing and who's responsible for those items. Are there
029any questions with regard to student achievement prior to me moving on to the next goal of the board of education? >> I have a question. >> Yes. How many prek classrooms would we need in order to in order to um welcome all of the four-year-olds in Plymouth? >> We're looking at three more right now. >> Three more than what we have currently >> classroom. So we have right now we have two full day and one half day. So morning and afternoon session, we would need three more. Um and I think Beth would argue with me maybe four, but right in this plan we have three. >> Okay. and understanding that the prek classroom is not just a teacher, it's a paraprofessional. It's outfitting the room to have the bathroom that has to be in there.
030Um, and it's the supplies for those room and the furniture for the room. So, it's it's a pretty big undertaking. >> Okay. >> Um, I had a question about the alternative ad. I know that there are, >> you know, we're a small district. Um, >> are there other districts or through advance? I know they have some programs. Is there a way that we can partner with either a larger school district or another small school district or with our resk Alliance to kind of um maybe come up with some ideas to not have to have a full-time program at our school, but maybe we can do some sending out to other places. >> Absolutely. And so, Kelly, I I met with uh the superintendent from Wilut, Watertown, and Thomas uh originally, and we had conversations about
031how we can share special ed services through all four of our our districts, such as the transition program or um our um our challenging behavior program or our our program that deals with students with significant need. um it's just never it's never got it's never picked up traction. Um and I don't know if it's because of transportation reasons or if it's just keep easier to keep students in house. Um I'm not with regard to that I have it highlighted as yellow. I would I would like to think outside the box on how we can make that happen as well because a lot of times an alternative high school program is not a full day either. So, how can we cover it internally and utilize uh the right programs, usually online programs to help support our
032kids to gather the credits they might be missing or or recovering? So, >> yes. >> Do we have any costs associated with these goals? >> So, I mean, if you're looking at a certified teacher, it would be the cost of a certified teacher. So, if it's a brand new teacher, uh, which, you know, it is possible to get a brand new teacher, you're talking approximately a $50,000 salary, and then we'd have to estimate benefits in there at a probably about $30,000. So, you're talking about $80,000 minimal per position. >> And that am I correct on that? >> No, you're about >> I mean, that's on the that's on the low side for sure. That's that's where you are for for the prek. When you start to talk about your other certified teachers >> Oh, absolutely.
033>> Math language arts intervention talking about top. >> Yeah. So, I mean there there's you could figure 80 to $100,000 probably per position, >> right? So, I mean, even looking at preK, you're going to add, you want to add universal prek with three classrooms. You're looking at what $240,000 right off the top with a with an individual that's coming in at the lower pay scale, you know, utilizing a certain portion of the benefits. >> And and as Brian said, it's more than that because that's just the certified staff. You're not including the pair of professional, >> right? So you're probably looking at initial start about conservatively about 300,000 that more than that. >> Um is the I know that's not called the school readiness grant. What do they call it now? Early start >> smart
034start smart start. I know you had something with start in it. >> Is that is is there available funds that we can try to >> Yes. >> apply for with that to defay some of that cost? it. It's $75,000. We could apply for another We have $75,000 now. We could apply for another $75,000. The problem with that is they're not approving it until over the summer. >> Okay. >> So, you almost have to hire the person, budget for the person, Smart Start comes in, and it just you're finding out so late. >> So, that but it's it it's a great question. >> There's also I'm sorry. >> I'm sorry. They're just also not guaranteeing the funding after 26 27 or 2728. So, you know that >> there you go. >> I know. But like at
035when I taught preschool back in the 90s, that grant has just changed names a bunch of times. And I think Connecticut is pretty committed to some sort of it may not be as much or, you know, as it was, but that grant has been in place for 25 plus years in some form or another. The the other thing talking with the F FRC is bringing them back to Plymouth Center School and aligning their program with our programs to try to give kids again that common experience. And so that's another thing that I've already met with them, talked with them and and we're going to start planning for that in fe March February of of next year of the 26 of March of 26. So this school year, but uh >> is there a conflict of
036interest? Because I know that the Head Start that was in town closed down. Is that because it's a federal program, we couldn't offer them space in the school for them to run their program. Is that a conflict of I don't know if it would or not be a conflict. >> It's with the FRS. They have to be in a school. >> Okay. >> And so I'm uncertain if and I think they came to me and had this meeting because I'm uncertain if Main Street uh will remain a school after this year. Um I it's an ed advanced building. I don't know what their future plans are for the building. I actually do uh know what their future plans are for the building and it's not going to be a school. So they need a home
037and so we're going to give them a home in our school and then we're going to try to align things the best we can with our new president. >> They used to be in Ple center. >> They were taken out during COVID. >> Okay. >> Um for classroom space. Okay. >> So, uh, Jerry, to get I just want to get back to your point. I wouldn't start adding up the costs just yet because what you're going to see with this plan, if we're really looking to improve our district, you're going to see that we have a lot of needs and all of these needs based on the funding we're going to receive realistically might not come around while any of us are sitting around this table or on the superintendent. This plan is a five-year
038plan that will be extended over time based on the hiring that has to be take place and what pieces we need to put into this puzzle to get us to the level of that gentleman that said, "Why aren't we a top 100 school?" That's what this is going to show. And that's what a fiveyear strategic plan should show. That maybe the $27 million budget should be a $30 million budget. So to to increase on what you were saying, but wasn't it two years ago when Governor Lamont was basically advocating for a universal prek that was going to be um put into the state budget so that uh school systems would not necessarily incur a huge amount of cost associated with putting a program in like that, But the state would have offset some of that
039cost. Now whether it was 100% or whether it was 50%, I don't recall, but I do believe it was two years ago that he advocated for that. >> Yeah. And I think the compromise is adding what Kelly said, additional Smart Start grants. I think, if I'm not mistaken, Matt, I think that might be where we are with this with his original proposal. And when it actually got down to what it is, it's districts that apply could possibly get $75,000 to cover the cost of their prek pro classroom, an additional prek classroom. Um because there's a lot of flaws in the statement that we're going to have universal prek throughout because not all school districts have the space for prek in their schools or even us we don't have the bathrooms in the classrooms for the
040kids. So it would it would be a significant hardship on the town. So is are there any other questions though? Again we could go to the finance when you when you see the last slide. I think it puts things in perspective. Can you just explain what the alternative high school program is? Is that like those night classes that you used to be able to take to not get a GED but still get a diploma or >> No, it's more like the kids would come in during the school day and we would look and work with our counselors and our mental health professionals and we would look at their transcript on what's missing or what they might have uh not passed. and we would build credit recovery and some online courses and working with teachers to
041try to help build the credit hours they need to graduate from high school. So, it would be during the school day while we have our mental health professionals here, our administration here, and our teachers. It would be something that might take place uh in the room next to the library or within the library in the back corner where we were earlier for our meeting where it's more onetoone in and that kind of interaction with the person that's in charge. Anything else? So goal two is is student engagement. And again, you'll see on student engagement a number of items that are in yellow. And I gota I'll I'll be the first to admit two of these items are kind of wishlist items. Um the first isn't to have two schools in our district that don't have
042library media specialists. That's a pretty important piece. And when a library and media center is run the right way, it's kind of the central hub for the school. So right now Fiser Elementary and Eli Terry do not technically have library media specialists. We split the high school person between the schools and she's doing the best she can with Mike Holtz and and and and Darren Vigliotti working the schedule the best they can to align services for her. Um, and then at at Fiser, we have a tutor in place in the library, not a certified library media specialist, but when we talk about the work they should be doing with our kids with social media and with online uh safety and so on and so forth, I mean, there's a full curriculum they should be covering
043with our kids. We just don't have those pieces. The next two in yellow, I'd say, are more of a a luxury piece where I would want some sort of a cultural learning, exploratory language program in our elementary schools. And then our high school and middle school. And again, this isn't a make it or break it. This is more of least priority. I would want to offer another language besides Spanish because I feel like if we're looking at student engagement, we should offer at least one more language for students to choose from. Um, and I'm just going to go back to when I was the the high school principal here. We offered French, we offered Spanish, we offered Japanese, we offered um Dutch and one other language. Now, one person spoke three of them. So, but
044we still had Spanish and French as options for our students in the middle school and the high school. And I would like to get back to that if at all possible. But again, those two are are kind of um wishlist items. But in white, we have increased job shadowing opportunities, postsecary pathways. What that means is looking at how we could combine uh college credit and high school credit classes, AP classes, um things like that for our students, community partnerships in all of our schools, doing things for the Lions Club, um or or the Rotary Club or the just the town and community um food pantry. And then increase community uh I already said that one. Sorry. and then include performance tasks and authentic learning experiences into our curriculum. When we talk about engaging kids, make
045things make them understand why they're doing what they're doing and when they'll ever use that in their lives. So, some subjects it's easier than others, but I think that's an important uh strategy and goal that we should have for our district. And then when you break it down again, you see the yellow that's embedded in there, but this breaks down the year by year uh what we should accomplish in in these areas. Um again, this is all fluid and this is a draft for the board to work on and I'll go over that toward the end. Any questions on student engagement? I'm going to move on to student well-being. If you have any questions, just let me know. So, this is our third goal, student well-being. And you see again a number of items in
046yellow, health education programs in each of our schools. So, we have PE teachers that are certified in health, but especially now with everything going on in children's lives and what they've been exposed to in different ways, whether it be through having their parents' device or or tablet or social media. I think uh health education programs are essential in all of our schools. And so, I have that up there. The next one is one of my priorities and and I really fought uh and did everything I could last year to get this in there. We just didn't have the funding is to put someone in charge of safety in all of our schools throughout the school day. Uh I'm not talking about an armed security person. I'm talking someone that is looking out for the safety
047of the building. So for example, you have a principal being a principal. You have an administrative assistant with the secretary being a secretary. your teachers being teachers, someone looking out the cameras, someone making sure all the doors are locked, someone walking the building to make sure it's secure during the school day when our children are in school. So, that's up there. Expand the wellness supports in our elementary schools. Those are the two positions I talked to you about, the social worker at Plymouth Center and the school counselor at Fiser Elementary. Those are essential positions for our our kids uh in those schools. additional main office support in both elementary schools. The thing about that is I know we had a dean of students at Main Street School in the past, but the reality is if
048we're going to put in universal prek, we need someone to coordinate that. PreK is a is a beast. It's an animal. And you have certification in that. I mean, it is a large task to throw that onto a building principal who's in charge of K2 as well. And so that position I looked at as being split between both schools as a dean of students to help out Stephanie Satau with PPT's 504s uh evaluations uh discipline and then on the other end to be there for the preschool programs at Plymouth Center to offset some of the work for that principal and then to increase student extracurricular activities. We did that this year in the teacher contract. And so when you look at it in the timeline, you'll see the next teacher contract that comes up. I
049have that embedded there because I would like to still chip away and offer more for our kids after school and their afterchool programming. And then in in the white you have social emotional well-being kind of a sense of belonging for all our kids. And that bullet kind of aligns with the bottom bullet of decrease and suspensions. When we create a school climate where kids want to be there and feel like they belong, really the the the the suspensions should decrease. Family engagement opportunities across all of our schools. We need to increase those. I know that's been a topic up here at this podium. Um family and uh um I'm sorry, faculty and staff well-being initiatives. put some of those things in place, but just showing small ways that we appreciate the people that work here
050and all they do for us. And then creating student leaders and having them lead wellness in and things that are good for the community activities. We have it here at the high school. We started it recently. I want to kind of embed that into all of our schools. And then there's the timeline we're talking about as well that aligns to each of those accomplishments um that we have Any questions with regard to well-being? Um just a question on the um health. I know right now um the secondary students do um PE, physical education and wellness health together. What's the um like state requirements for like half a year, two credits? Like what what kind of um >> Beth is it? >> I we've been removed from the high school credit requirements for graduation for four
051years now. So, >> but I'm just thinking like if there's a wellness teacher and we're offering this class, but if the students don't need those credits to graduate, is that going to be something that like their classes won't be full or you know and I you understand where >> I think what I envision in this uh is similar to what I had at at my former high school where I had a health teacher and two PE teachers. >> What it did is it took the health components off of the PE teachers. So we were offer offered more elective classes. >> Yeah. in in so we we did specific weight training classes for kids or so we were able to offer more in the physical education department because someone took the help off their hands. So
052that's how I envisioned it. I don't it doesn't answer your question with the credits but it's kind of what I pictured. >> Looks like physication physical education and wellness is one credit for graduation >> and then at the middle school that's like a full year of like 5050 split or something. Yeah, I would I would say probably it depends on how it would fit into the schedule that they're running that that Mr. Vicle is running there and how we can infuse that in as as the kids all would circulate through >> but they would have either health or physical education for the full year all three years in the middle school because it's y that's just absolutely whatever the requirement is. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. And I think part of what I eventually want to
053go to in middle school is almost kind of a life skills um with some of the things that they're doing to prepare them for when they're older and they might be home alone. So you have, you know, Jenny Fowler teaching the foods class like basic basic things on how to work a kitchen. And then you have the health teacher that helps them with like kind of their own self and how to to take care of when they do get frustrated or what they do how they get overwhelmed. And then you have, you know, our teched teacher with just basic things like how to paint the wall, like small things that they can do and learn. Um, I would think that's somewhere I would like to go. And if it's not at the middle school, even
054at the high school, how many kids do we have? Um, I have I have two brothers. They both don't know how to paint. Um, I don't know if they're faking it, so I have to paint everything in my my mom's house right now, but they both don't know how to paint supposedly. But those are some skills you should really learn while we have you. So, >> well, I will say after the family and consumer science was removed from here, neither my brother nor my sister learned how to sew buttons on when a shirt fell off one of their or button fell off one of their shirts. And that's like, >> you know, one of the skills that I learned from Mrs. What's her name that used to be here? That's Mrs. Petran. >> No, I
055had Mrs. Rio. I was thinking but um no it's again it's another life skill that is important. So any other questions with regard to well-being. All right. So the the fiscal oversight is the smallest but that second bullet is packed with everything. So the top bullet is a new prek through grade two playground. So right now, as I just shared with our facilities committee before this meeting, when we redistricted and reconfigured how our schools run, that ple that that playground at Plymouth Center is a 35 playground, grade three through five. And now we don't even have 35 at that school. So the little ones can't use certain pieces of that equipment. We are having a number of injuries. And so we really need to replace that playground. I'm working on some things to do that
056uh behind the scenes and until I have some more definite I I'll be able to share that with the board as time goes on. But that is one of our priorities for our our little ones over at Plymouth Center. We've done some work but we have more to do. And then that next bullet is the loaded one. It's budgetary alignment with enrollment shifts, instructional priorities, and infrastructure plans. Basically, that's everything because this is fiscal oversight. This is if we need a teacher, we need to budget for a teacher. If we need a new playground, we need to budget for a new playground. If we want to put in extracurricular activities, we need to budget for it. So, that all falls in there, and that's why this list is small. Don't worry, the next list is
057very large. Um, and then you have a five-year capital improvement plan. Matt has worked hard to take our 10-year plan that we had and condense it into five so it aligns with this with this plan, our strategic plan. And then we have to try to be more efficient with our budgeting and working with the town in the community about how we spend our money the right way. And we're trying we we we sit there all the time trying to figure out how we can do this for less. Um and so that that's the last piece up there for key outcomes. But you'll notice um under fiscal oversight, everything's yellow basically because every one of those pieces in yellow that you saw before falls here. These are all the positions that we would need to hire
058to make this five-year plan possible. So, as I said to Jerry earlier, there's no way in the world we're going to get funded to put all these pieces in place, but we have to let part of a strategic plan is to let the community know. So, there is not a question of, you know, why aren't you in the top 100? Well, we're missing these pieces. Like, it's all here for people to see what the plan is, but we need to have the funding to go along with it, but there's also the reality of being able to afford that as a community. So, we have to just chip away, but it's all here. And some things might slide to the next years as we go on, but at least the community sees the big plan of
059trying to get us to that next level as a school district. So, here are the next steps. What I'm going to do is I'm going to hand you the full plan. This is just my presentation that has the strategies. It has the um the monitoring and how we're going to monitor the progress of of these strategies being implemented and who's responsible. And on that I also highlighted in yellow the items that cost money just so you would see it for yourself because it is a draft. But the board needs to review this plan and then make revisions to this plan. They need to add things, take them away or make modifications. This is something that has to be approved by the board. This isn't Brian Falcone's plan. This isn't the administrative team's plan. This is
060the board of education's plan to move our school forward in the next five years. And then when we're comfortable as a group, the board would then have to adopt that strategic plan, knowing that it will have to be revised annually based on the budget and circumstances that we're up against. Um, I don't believe that the the items that were in white will have to be revised. I believe it's the items in yellow that were possibly not funded for moving forward will have to be adjusted as we go through. Um, and so with regard to reviewing the strategic plan, you're going to get a copy today to take a look at on your own. And then Karen, I don't know if the board wants to hold a retreat and have a discussion about it and have
061like a work session or if we want this to run through a committee. Um, or if we want to just do it as a whole board in open session. However, it's open session either way. But if you wanted to do it at a regular board meeting, that's really up to the board on how you want to move forward with reviewing this and making the revisions to the document. But first things first, I have to give you the document. Okay. So, Okay. Any questions for me? >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. That brings us to item number eight, unfinished business. Board of Education meeting dates for the calendar year 2026. This is a motion item. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the board of education meeting dates for the calendar year 2026. >>
062So move >> Mr. Showers. >> Second, Mr. Foot. Any discussion? >> Are there any changes? We already got >> Yeah. >> All right. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Extensions. Motion carries. All right. Next item is the landscaping contract. Prior to the board meeting, each board member received a copy of the three-year landscaping contract with Wagant Construction. You should have that in your Manila folder. um Wagon Construction and Maintenance Services LLC for a period beginning January 1st, 2026 to December 31st, 2029. This item is now open for discussion. >> Just for clarification, this is not this was not this contract was not in your folder. It was given to you um at the interviews um that we did for the principal. So, you all had it for a good week to take a look
063at and ask questions of >> Oh, that folder. I was talking to us in a folder. >> Your board your board packet. Yes. >> Okay. Did I say >> No, I guess you're right. I apologize. >> That's okay. >> Yeah, the folder. The folder. >> Sorry. >> All right. Any discussion on the contract? >> First. Okay. Um All right. Sorry. Took a lot of notes on this. So, I this is the this contract was put into place prior to my getting on the board. So, from my understanding, it actually was a two-year contract with two one-year renewals. Correct. And um now the expiration date is December of this year. Okay. Um so, my concern is in looking at the policy, it it's pretty clear in our policy. special professional services 50,000 or more need to
064go to formal competitive proposals. I'm not sure if 90 days like can you explain cuz I'm not familiar with that process like what is the timeline on like I know I read something about you have to post it to the website for 10 days and then like how long do you people have to apply and do we have enough time at this point to um to put it out to bid with three months before it expires or >> um we we can do that there is enough time to do that. >> Okay. So, we have to put the RFP together. >> Yeah. >> Uh, that really wouldn't take very long because I simply would use the RFP that I used >> with this contract, amend it, and then we would we have to post it
065on our website. Um, typically we post it uh in some sort of news media. >> Okay. Um, usually that costs about $1,000 or so roughly to post that. And then relative to how long it's open for that is up to us in the RFP process. Typically you have it once you have once you post it you can ask for a response in 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, whatever that is. um you get your response, they're opened um and then a recommendation is made typically by me of which of the things that you would want to work with. >> I believe last time you had all contractors come on a certain date. >> Yes. >> Look at all the grounds. Yep. That's all part of the process. So, um, and >> this was our only
066bid. >> Okay. >> Just so >> Well, I guess what I'm just wondering is because two years ago there were like $20,000 in extra expenses and then last year there was like 70,000 and this contract. And I'm not saying they're not doing a great job, but I'm just wondering if either we can consider maybe some of those things that cost us extra being added to the contract or if we should see if there's somebody else who will do all those extra things because when I see a number like that, I'm thinking that's a teacher, you know? So like I just don't know if we should be >> So So you brought that up the last time. So let me just let you know. So in 2223 um we spent $177,000 >> and $76 um the
067additional things that we paid. So the first part is we paid why gant additional money because in the first year of the contract it was a truncated year. >> Okay. So we paid in from January to to June, we paid more than more in a monthly fee because it was a truncated time in the first year. >> Okay. >> So that's part of that additional money. I knew that that was going to happen and it it kind of washed itself out from switching from one year to the next. >> Okay. But we paid $6,000 additional to Want to repair and bring all of our fields um the fields here and the fields down at um Eli and then also the field that's behind Fiser. Um all of them were in serious need of additional fill
068and turf because they were in such bad shape that they needed to be repaired. So that was not that's not part of the landscaping contract. But when they started to work on the fields, they came to me and said, "Listen, this is what we're coming up against. In order for this, particularly the high school field, in order for this to be safe for your players, we need to do this, this, this, and this. Um, we agreed at the time that they're already working on the field, it makes sense for them to >> So is that something that should be done? >> But is that something that should be done like one time during that four-year contract?" So maybe we can get them to throw. >> We've only done it. We've only done it once, >>
069right? So, but will it need to >> Well, now that it's done, we shouldn't have to do it again because built into that contract as it stands now, it does say that they will do kind of superficial building as needed. >> Okay. >> Um, we also paid them $1,200 to fix the field at FE at Plymouth Center School because we had vandalism. If you remember, somebody took a golf cart or a quad or something and tore up >> the the field down there. Okay. >> So, we paid them $1,200. In the end, we recouped the $1,200 from that family in the next fiscal year, but we did we paid them that money. So, that's why you see it that way. In the next year, 2023 24, uh, we had them redo and remodel the batting
070cage up here because what was up there, all of the, um, the railroad ties and everything were either deteriorated or kicked out of the way and all of the fill that was in there, they were pitching out of a hole. They were batting out it. So, we had all that fixed. That was more for safety reasons than anything else. Um, we paid $1,000 to them to trim the tree line and back fill where we were putting the fences. So, we we had them level it so that the fence would go in and there wasn't a big space underneath and we had to cut back the brush in order to put the fencing where we wanted them to do. Um, we had them clean the fence line in between the two screens at Eli Terry. Um,
071so there's a in left field, if you will, there's a 30 foot or 35 foot screen to keep the ball from going into the yards on the other side. And then in between that is our boundary fence. >> Well, over time that had all come overgrown and we had stuff growing through the fences. It was pushing the f both of our fences both ways. So, we paid them to clean that out. Oddly enough, within a month or two, we had a a tree go down and take the whole thing down anyway, but insurance covered that. But that's what we had to do because we had literally tree branches coming through the fence and coming into the field. So, we asked them to clean that up. >> And is that part of like routine like check-ins
072moving forward? So, >> now it's routine. You kind of did it one time and now it's now it's routine. And then we paid them $1,300. um for f for fiser to go through the all three of the courtyards and clean out all the weeds and get all those back into shape because really our custodial staff simply mows the lawn but they become overgrown and Brian and I have talked about alternatives to the courtyard. We we would love to see something different. I just don't know how we ever do it. Um because they courtyards are nice, but they just look unless you have somebody like you have a gardener every day. They just look >> maybe that could be one of the community involvements. We can start a little club, a little gardening courtyard club. >>
073You need people to do it, right? I mean, so that that's the additional money. So when you see the the the money, those are the things we're talking about. The other thing that's in that account from 2324 was we purchased a tractor. >> Oh, wow. >> We replaced a tractor and that was a big ticket item. We bought that at the end of the year based on the facilities need and we use that tractor primarily for snow removal at all the four schools because with the exception of last year we're responsible for the cleaning of all the sidewalks and and so forth. So, we have attachment that goes on the front, cleans the thing, but we also use that tractor for projects that we do internally that aren't part of the landscaping contract. >> So,
074most of those expenses were like that's a one-time thing. We're not going to be seeing this every year, an extra 20, 50, 70 things that come they're they're onetime things that come up that we feel is in the best interest of the district to take care of. It's not they're not gifts. They're not additional things, but these are all things that really kind of needed to be done. So, we took care of those things. Last year, 2020 425, we had 4,68 extra dollars. That's the fertilization of the fields. Actually, I like it's in the wrong. It should be in our athletic field care line, but it ended up here. >> Oh, I'm glad you said athletic fields care line because I had a question about that. Um, so that grounds maintenance, that's this contract referring
075to um, the 155, but then there's 16,000 athletic area maintenance. Is that >> budgeted? This this >> right is that >> that's all fertilization for all of our fields, weeds. It's weed killing, fertilization, so forth for all of the feed fields. >> So that's a different contract, not part of different company. It's >> right cuz they need to have this pesticide certification. >> Can you get them to throw some um stuff on that corner by the solar fields? Like just beg them nicely to like weed back over there. >> It's not our problem. >> I keep in the same category >> between you and that corner and that tree. I was gonna say those you two. >> There's one about to come down on the lady's house right next door here. I could see it.
076It's that I stopped to talk to her because I talked to all my neighbors. But yeah, that's I I'm assuming that's who owns that property that we complained to. It's not the school, not the town. Who owns that solar field? It's not us, right? >> I don't know the answer to that. >> I don't know who owns the solar field, >> you know. I know who will. I get you the answer. >> Mr. Sanche will know. >> Marty Sanche would know that. >> No, he tried to get the tree done and he Nobody's taking ownership of it. Solar company, the town. >> Thank you, Matt, for um >> clarifying all that. Yeah, >> thank you. >> That tree has been down for over two years now. >> There's about to be another one. >> I
077know. I know. You've been telling me about it for two years, Cindy. >> I heard about it for two years. >> I can safely say that when when trees go down on our property, Jim is on them and we we take care of and we clear them >> because we don't want that public issue of well, it's the school's tree and they didn't do anything about it. >> Can you just go get the tree? It's not our can't settle to take their lesson. >> You go get it at the bothers so bad. >> I'm about to. My husband got a chainsaw. I don't want to get arrested. So, >> neither do we. >> I don't know cuz it is the solar panels and then the sidewalk and a little patch of grass. Like I don't
078know who owns it. I would think whoever owns the solar panels. >> I don't know. I'm going to work on it. >> I know that we don't >> um are there any other are there questions regarding the contract? I can summarize it really quick. Right. So, um I do have a qu correction is the contract in front of you goes for 26, 27, and 28. It says December 29. That would not true. It starts January 26. December of 26 would be year one. December of 27 would be year two. December of 28 would be year three. That would be the >> the ending of the contract. >> And then there is two years. There are two years of renewables at the end of the negotiated thing. But for the three years, it would end at
07928. >> Got it. >> Great. All 26, all 27, all 28. Want has proposed a $5,000 increase in year one, which is 2026. That 20 that $5,000 is a 3% increase over the current rate, which has been flat for the four years that they've been. And we haven't paid them one extra on the contract since they started four years ago. And it remains flat. the $5,000 and then it remains the same for the next two, which basically what we're saying is we're giving Y gant $5,000 over the course of seven years. That that's the overall increase, which if you want to do the math, it's point4 if you took it, it's point43% from the very first year all the way to 2028. um they've done a good job. Um they're very easy to work with
080and they're very responsive. If we call Don, he's the the kind of the general manager, he's here and we can do it at the last minute where we suddenly have a playoff game and it got scheduled for Tuesday, the field needs to be cut and it needs to be lined. They're here and they take care of it. >> Well, yeah. The last example I can give you is I went to Jim Maison today and I said I'm walking in these schools. I see dead flowers in these pots that are in front and I want them all replaced. I want shrubs put in with some mulch and they're going to take care of it by Monday. So there that company's going to come in plant the shrub and so we'll have a shrub in there. It
081will stay green all year round and we won't have uh dead flowers anymore. So, I will go on record to say that I recommend that you approve this, but it's in your hands. I I think that we've negotiated >> an extra um mowing they charge you for right when you call them and ask them. >> It's in there, but they haven't. >> Oh, really? >> Yeah. They've just done >> Oh, okay. They haven't so far. Um, snow removal is not included in this at all. That's a totally separate >> snow removal is a bid that the town does annually. >> Um, and it's open right now. >> Um, we don't have any >> any input. >> Just to clarify, that's for only the parking lots and we are still responsible for the sidewalks. But now
082you have that tractor that can >> Yes. And that is done by our maintenance and custodial staff on on. >> And is that an issue moving forward with this outside contract doing our maintenance thing? Like what is the >> is there a higher cost to us because we're contracted out or is it the same amount that we >> the same? So what happens on a snow day >> is our whole staff comes in early to start clearing sidewalks to make sure that we can get open for school. And typically what that means is um we incur overtime for that work, right? Because they still have their regular jobs to do, but we budget for that. And in the custodial contract, we budgeted for that as well. >> It's part of it's part of their whole
083package. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? >> Okay, we're going to just move on now. All right. >> Do we feel like we are looking to go forward with this company? >> Well, >> yes. >> Honestly, I would say yes because he alluded to the fact that when you put this out the bid the last time, only one company bid on it. >> This is the company. >> All right. >> So, >> they've done an excellent job. I don't I think it's a moot point if you're going to want to put it out the bid because you could get a worse price than what's here right now. >> Right. >> All right. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the landscaping contract with the Want Construction and Maintenance Services LLC for a period of
084three years from January 1st, 2026 to December 31st, 2028. >> Mr. Showers, Mr. Foot. Any further discussion? Okay, we are going to do a roll call vote on this one. Mr. Showers, >> yes. >> Mr. Bouvenir, >> yes. >> Mr. Foot, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kendra Florencian, >> yes. >> Mr. Zubushka, >> yes. >> Miss Tilton, >> yes. >> Okay, motion passes. Thank you. >> Thank you very much everybody. Item item number nine, new business, out of state field trip. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve an out ofstate field trip on September 26th, 2025 to the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Massachusetts for band students grades 9 through 12 at Terryville High School. So, Miss Tilton second. Mr. Foot, any discussion? We do this every year. >> Why aren't they going on
085Connecticut day, which is the 17th? >> I don't think they get to choose. I think they're they have to. >> Just curious. >> Yeah. I don't know. I'll have to ask Mr. Keane that question. >> Yeah. >> All the kids in Connecticut want to go on Connecticut. >> Probably might be byation. >> All right. All in favor? Opposed abstension motion carries and this isformational only. Oh, Mr. Falco, go ahead. Has your name on there? >> Oh, revision. >> So, we have a minor policy revision. I didn't hold a policy committee meeting because it's it's literally one sentence. So, what um our coaches have found with our new reading program in Wit and Wisdom, there are times where kids are going to have to take books home. And what I'm hearing from the high school is
086that teachers need to assign some more readings at time. So, we in in yellow you see I added with the exception of reading which will follow the guidelines of the curriculum for Plymouth Center, Haras Fischer, Eli Terry, and the high school. It wasn't a a I mean a a big change I thought I needed to hold a curriculum subcommittee. I'm sorry a policy subcommittee for it was just a one change but they are looking to change that especially the coaches when I sat with them um in our our original meeting starting the year they were hoping to get this as soon as was possible the change in the policy so they could assign readings that are appropriate based on the curriculum. >> Okay. So that's a first read. So, we'll vote on that next month.
087Um, item 10, business manager report and personnel report. Mr. Denza, >> I'm still tired. >> Wake up. >> Um, okay. So, um, while I was initially slightly alarmed at the spending rates in June, in July, excuse me. Uh, as you can see from the bar chart that we've evened off in August and we're kind of back to normal spending. And I'm pretty sure that uh people were pretty attentive to the fact that we froze the budget pretty early last year and they got all of their orders in real fast. So they didn't have to worry about that that fast. Um as I stated in the written report that's in your packet, I'll give you a financial statement for food services um for July, August, and September in the at the October meeting. And that's simply
088because we had four operating days in August. I don't have a lot to report other than we spent money on getting ready to open. So, you'll have a better I'll have a better something to report to you actually at the next meeting. Um, regarding facilities, uh, the gym flooring installation is underway. Uh, it's probably a little more than halfway installed. Um, we're on target for the expected October completion. Um, and then in addition, the classroom that was damaged where the flood originated is currently under renovation. We have put work on hold in that room. Uh, really for two reasons. One is as we started to take things apart, we found that there was still some moisture there. So, we called we caused we called the insurance company back in. We wanted to make sure that
089we could get everything that we can out of them and they needed to know. Um, but also we're doing a lot of outdoor work or things that are taking priority. We don't need that classroom right now. So, we kind of put that on hold while we're using our resources elsewhere. Um, the fencing is complete over at Clement Center and as Brian already mentioned, we put a nice sandbox in for the the kids to play in over there. Uh, our maintenance staff um built it themselves. It's made out of pressure treated by 4 by 2 by 10 or 2 by 12 with seats and and it's filled with um >> sand playground sand. >> Um >> not your everyday beach sand. Okay. So, um, and as Brian already mentioned, we are looking for some, uh, age
090appropriate basketball hoops and maybe a soccer bowl. So, the kids have a little more to do in that space. >> Um, and the bathrooms, um, over at Fiser are complete and they do look great. I think they've made a big difference with what we're doing over there. Um, on the bigger project front here is the phone system has been installed. The phone system itself is working well. Um, we obviously have some tweaks with making sure that voicemails are set up and extensions are going to the right place, but tech has been working hard to make sure that's all set. And we're still working on some bugs with the intercom system. As we talked in the facilities meeting is there's been a few bugs interface between our old intercom system and the new telephone system. But
091again, tech is working on that and we should have that resolved pretty quickly. Um, and just, you know, as we talk about the intercom, it's been on our capital plan since 2014. So, it's a no, right? It's not surprising that there's some issues. Um, but we're working on that. Uh, I can skip this whole next piece because I just covered it with the landscaping piece. >> Yeah. >> Um, but last month, um, Mr. Baneer asked me to reach out to the construction company that did our our um parking lots here. Um and Jim I had Jim Maison do that. He spoke to Dennis Doyle over at Richard's Construction and that gentleman remembers our project and he remembers that as it got to the end that they felt pretty rushed and they used a new asphalt
092recommended by the state and it turned out to be not as reliable um as it was and he didn't know anything about the substrate. We did he didn't we didn't venture into that. Um, but with that said, we did have a company come out uh and give us a quote to redo the parking lot, not including the substrate because they wouldn't give us any information until they were pulled up what's there to see actually what's under and test underneath there. But to do the new parking lot here, entrance way and so forth is $476,858. budget number to use as we're having conversations. Um, and a good educated guess is probably a $300,000 plus bill to pull out substrate, put in new material, compact it down appropriately, and go from there. So, we have reached out
093um to try to start to get numbers so that we can have better conversations with the capital improvement committee. So, we did reach out to them. Um Jim is still trying to get more information, but that's where we are so far. Um and then finally, I have one uh question of the board is when we went to Yant, we held back a mower in the event that we needed for an emergency. We had a sudden time that we would need to take care of a field real quick and they couldn't get here and so forth. We have a mower that's in storage. Wagant has offered to purchase that from us for $5,000. We've not used it in four years. Um, what I'm asking is, are you okay with me selling this mower that we're haven't
094used in four years to them for the $5,000? It's a fair price. >> You're selling it as is. We're not making it. They're going to pull out and they're going to take it and >> they're going to start moving mowing our lawns, which >> doesn't they'll work out. mower is it? >> It's a zeroturn >> like >> stag >> riding mower. We had a few of them. We gave them to the town when we made the switch, but we kept this one just in case. >> Why not? >> Works for me. >> Not they they're willing to buy it as is. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Uh with that, any questions? >> Wait, is this this the big pack of paper? Ask questions time. This one >> are you guys awake? >> That's
095usually when Pat and guys this year is to get better at the numbers. So I already got that one though. It's the contract one. >> Did you go through his cheat sheet that he gives us >> because that that cheat sheet was created for me. >> No way. >> Well, you I just have other questions. I I don't know if these are typos. So, on page five, >> hold on. Let me get my my cup. >> Sorry. I'm trying to like be good at numbers for you this year. That's my goal. That's my area of weakness. >> So, I offer you the same as I offered everybody else. If you want to come and meet with me, I'm happy to go. >> I am. We still got to get together. So, you can explain that
096ECS formula to me. You got like >> full day. Um, I just I had a question because it says like the school security personnel is $0 on the budget. Is that >> But I know we have it. So I don't know why >> it's in the wrong category. Okay. So there's it's >> that's what I thought. It was a typo. So I just wanted to point that out in case it was a typo. >> Um, that one they probably should bring up at another time. And then on page nine, um, the curriculum coordinator. >> Yes. >> I'm just trying to Was that the position that we eliminated? Because that's not the same number. So, I don't know if we forgot to pull that off the >> No, the curriculum coordinator >> is a coach that
097we've turned into that. The directors, we've got >> director. It's a teaching position to help with >> team and to help with >> I was just confused because it's under it's not like a coach at one of the schools. It's under the central office. >> It used to be there. So that's where we had certain coaches and that stayed there as the coordinator. >> I figured it was probably a move. >> It's a teaching position. No, it's not administrative. >> That one eliminated. Um, then I have it on page 10, a district consulting expense. And I'm sorry, I'm just always paranoid about consulting. Can you clarify what we're consulting on that one? It's $12,000. >> I'm sure it's something legit. I just >> No, I'm going to tell you one of the things that happened
098when when this year turned over, um, we lost some federal funding for a while. we thought we were going to lose some federal funding. >> And so on my desk, um I had all the professional developments that Kathleen arranged originally. >> Okay. >> Um with that with those funds and what we did is I cancelled some so we have some credits to to shift our priorities. That was a lot of the work that we had coming in to work with our administrative team with doing walkthroughs through schools and classrooms and kind of calibrating our lens. Completely canceled it because we thought we were going to lose the other funds. Right now we're we're just trying to figure out what we're going to have in the future, what we're not going to have, and prioritizing it.
099So that money >> that's not part of like training for the witten wisdom. Okay, that's not that. >> No, that the wit and wisdom came from a lot of the the grant money that we lost. So now what I did is I I tried to pull that money together to make sure that we had those expenses to pay. And even off of your recommendation the other day on the LL, I'm sending four people including an administrator to the training down in Shelton. >> Oh, good. >> So >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. So, um, and just so that you know it's in in addition that may be where Brian decides and I'm using a couple years ago example is we had a coach for a new administrator and that that's where we we budget
100money so that we can do things like that. >> Okay. All right. I just there's a company that is a consulting company that I don't want us to be paying anymore. I just want to make sure it's not them. Um, and then at the bottom the dues for CABE and others. I know we have all the dues, but are we members of CABE again or that's different? >> We are still not members of CABE unless the board wants to become members of >> I was going to say that's not enough to pay dues to them, right? Not >> the money here um is in the event we budgeted money in the event that members of the board would go to CA. We still have to pay for it. >> Pay for it, right? We may
101or may not go, >> but if we do choose to, there was some money there to to cover. >> There's some money to cover it >> off of that conversation based on when the election's happening this year in the I I did not plan on going to CA this year. If the board feels differently, just please let me know. I just need to know if if people are interested in attending, but I did not plan on going this year just based on the election, the number of people that are up for election. I know some of people are automatically going to be a part of it because they're not they're running unc uh uncontested in the election, but I just need direction on what to do with CAE this year because it's kind of a
102unique year. >> I would like to attend. I get a lot out of going, but I don't want to be the only one going by >> if it's not on my parent teacher conferences again. >> It's in November. Uh >> it's usually the second or third. It's right around Thanks. It's around Thanksgiving. It's like the the weekend >> before that. >> It's the Friday before Thanksgiving, I want to say. >> You know, it's usually the Friday of my parent teacher conferences. >> But Cindy, you wouldn't be there because >> the collection will already earlier since I knew I wanted to be. >> It's probably going to be November >> 14 15 >> is my guess. So you probably have to bring that up at the November meeting if anybody's interested because some of us might
103not be. >> Well, that's that's the that's the issue. And then but by the time that meeting happens, it's so close. I didn't know. >> So again, if Kelly, if you want to go in and you know, I think you're running uncontested this year >> uh in in the election. I mean, those are things I I'd be happy to set up. I mean, I'll obviously go as well, but it's up to the board if we want to move forward with that or not this year. And then if we if we want to stay overnight or not >> for the two-day conference or if we just want to go for the day on Friday, >> we could I mean you could email me on you could email me on the side and I could set that
104up. That's not a problem. >> Usually we do that at the October meeting, too. >> Yeah. >> Whatever. I'm trying Matt to >> That's fine. >> Look at those numbers. >> Sorry. >> Number one. What? Are you making fun of me? >> He was all He just called you Pat Jun. >> No. No, I didn't. I didn't. >> No. >> Oh, Lud. >> Looted. >> Sorry. Very tired right now. Any other questions? Go ahead. >> Um, so patient over there. >> I know. I've been pretty quiet. Uh, looking at the capital improvements need for five years. Okay. Mrs. Church alluded to it. I guess there's a meeting tomorrow night concerning capital improvements. So we going >> we didn't know about it till today. >> We knew we found out about it about 2 o'clock this
105afternoon. >> All right. There was and the only reason that we even knew about it is because I asked Robin Chowskis to track down as much information as she could because I was trying to follow the policy that they adopted in January because there's a bunch of forms that need to be filled out. And as we talked in the facilities meeting earlier today, uh, one of the things that I will be doing now because I got the the the agreement to do so is for everything that's on our list, there's going to be one of these so that we present to the capital improvement plan in this budget year so they know exactly what we're looking for. Because right now, even though we provide them with information, I don't necessarily need to put the spotlight
106on it. >> Yeah. And in facilities, Jerry, we talked about how I'm writing a formal letter to the committee asking for an invitation for us to go to them. Or as as Greg said, maybe they could come to us and come to our committee meeting and have a discussion about our concerns over the millions of dollars in in items that are needed in our schools that are town buildings that haven't made the bond package or haven't been discussed even though we've brought them to their attention. So, I'm going to write a formal letter to them. >> And to answer your question, had I known earlier, then I would have I would be attending tomorrow. But I I can't. I have another engagement that tomorrow night. >> So, if I went would be a moot point
107to uh bring this up. No, go. >> I I would if you have time to go, I would encourage you to go so that I we we have some representation. Jerry, if you're going to if so my wife is out of town, so I have to be home for my daughter tomorrow or I would attend. >> But if you're going to go, maybe we could touch base after this. You could stop here and we can give you all of the right paperwork to either hand out or distribute or discuss so you don't have any questions going into it. Because the concern I have is like what Pat said in our last meeting is that you can't see our roofs like anything else. You know, we can use the old adage, you can't see it from
108my house. Well, I can't see it from my house. I you know definitely because I'm not looking at the school's roofs. All right. So, and my question is is that in the three roof replacements, we have an estimate of 2024 for Eli Cherry. Uh estimate >> they that's a typo. They should all be 2024. >> I know. I get it. All right. But the thing is is that and this is I don't think what people understand. How old are these roofs? I'll have to get you the exact dates. They're all a little bit different. But I came here in 2020. Those roofs were end of life debt. >> Well, in a portion of Fischer's roof is original. >> Yes. Okay. So, in all honesty, we probably looking at we've we've outgrown the expectancy of our
109roofs, which is probably good because if we had to replace them every 30 years and now we're replacing them 50 years, we're getting an additional 20 years on that roof and saving us money. But at some point in time, >> it's not saving you money anymore. >> Correct. Okay. So, and the issue is and and which and even Pat even tried to allude it too is that we're waiting for an accident to happen and what are we going to do when that accident happens and we can't fix it. Yes. >> Appropriately. And Jerry, also what I said in the at the earlier meeting today is those numbers don't include the removal, the the lost production and the reinstatement of solar that's on all the roofs. You have to add probably another 200k per building >>
110to that number. And the solar company comes and gives us that number because they're the only ones that can handle their >> Yes. Correct. >> Right. >> So in addition, you have to think three buildings, right? That's another 600,000 on top of last year's estimates where probably went up 5% fair. >> Could be even more than that. >> Conservatively fair, right? >> Well, depending on where the material is coming from. uh >> could be significantly more. >> Yes, it could be. You're looking at some of the tariffs that that are going on with the United States and you're looking at anywhere between 10 and 50% depending on which country you're dealing with. So, I mean, this could be an astronomical amount of money because of the fact that we prolong the agony. >> Agreed. >>
111Okay. So, uh, >> and I I think the frustrating part for for us, we were the first ones that went to the capital improvement committee that met since co. So, we were the first group in front of them and we go in front of them and they were wonderful. They were wonderful. They they were they and they said to us, we have to work on our process and protocol and procedure on how to make this happen. And then Kelly sends a screenshot to I think myself or Matt of the new forms they decided to use that they never sent us. And then we tried to find the forms and we couldn't find the forms. We finally found the forms because Pat Paragino went over to the town hall and got the forms and delivered them
112to us. But the forms aren't on the computer for us to fill out. So we have to recreate the forms. So we could submit the appropriate form to the capital improvement committee. But yet they created a bond package without putting any of our items in there. So there's a lot of frustration on our part because I feel like it's the school's problem. The school has to deal with it. But these are town buildings and they have to be maintained by the town. So it's a it's a bit frustrating right now. And I'm not trying to create a divide. It's the last thing I'm trying to do. >> I just feel like we have needs that need to be addressed. So, as we spoke about. >> Yeah. >> And you and Pat argued about the same
113thing last night. >> I think we were on the same page just in a different pew. That's all. I mean, but in all honesty, I mean, we have to do something because these roofs have technically other than probably this building here. This is building's only probably. >> Well, actually, yeah. Depending on when the roof got installed, which is more than like the first thing >> 20 years, right? This, right? This is probably 20 years now. >> 20 years. So, it's still within the life expectancy of the roofing company that put the roof on it. Okay. But the other buildings, you know, we just need to do something. So, I mean, if you want to give me some information and I'll gladly go to that meeting tomorrow. What time is that meeting? >> 5:30. Okay. Not
114a problem. >> I'll bring dinner. >> Okay. >> I might be able to join you for half an hour. I think the open house starts at 6:30. So, I can >> Okay. I'm deliver with you and we'll set up a time for you to come in tomorrow. We'll go through it. >> All right. Not a problem. >> Thank you. >> Kelly, you too. If you can't come in tomorrow, but we can kind of keep you in the loop and Jerry can kind of fill you in. >> I can speak for like half an hour. Anyone else questions for that? All right, moving on to personnel report. Mr. Welcome. >> The only thing I'll say is if if there's any special ed teachers or if you know any special ed teachers, we are in in desperate
115need for some special ed teachers in our district. Um and also 0.5 speech and language and any paraprofessionals if No, >> not speech and language par professionals. >> Okay, then no speech and language. Uh but par profofessionals as well. We are still short. So if you know people that are looking for employment, we have we have openings. Um so please have them reach out. >> I think that's a universal >> I know >> sentiment across districts. >> I know that's unfortunate. >> We're looking to >> Yep. And it's not getting any better. >> No. All right. Item number 11, committee meetings. The facility the special meeting of the facilities committee met at 6:30m prior to the board meeting and discussed the following. Mr. I'm saying this because Mr. Perina wasn't there anyway. The priorities of
116capital improvement 5-year plan and the needs of the district. Nope. That's it. That's it. That's one item. We've talked about that since then, too. So, all right. No other committees met. On to item 12, public comment. We are back to in-person public comment first. Does anyone have anything else to add to our conversation? No. No. Okay. Any online? No. All right. Board liaison reports. Fisher Elementary School. Pat's not here and I didn't go. So, I have nothing to report. I don't think they've actually met yet. I think their meeting is next week. I could be mistaken, but I believe the schedule is the same. >> All right. Plymouth Center School. >> Okay. Um there's they're running a contest for the classroom PTA membership contest and it's going to run through September. Uh the winning class
117teacher wins $200 to shop Scholastic catalog for the class and the kids get an ice cream. Then there's going to be a PTA vote on October uh 14th for the approval of the PTA budget. Bingo was September 26th and I think student representatives are really enthusiastic. They were great. >> They really were >> excellent. >> That's it. >> Eli Terry Junior Middle School. >> Okay, I went to that one. Okay. So, this year the um sixth grade for an orientation, they came in the day before school started for like a an hour and a half, two hour window where it was just the sixth graders. They got to tour their classes, tour the school, practice opening their lockers, and um according to Darren and everyone else, it was very helpful to get the kids get
118some of the nerves out of the kids. So, that went very well. Um the open house is tomorrow from 6 to 8. Um picture day will be October 10th. Um and just to remind everybody that in a heartbeat is coming on October 17th, no October 7th at ths from noon to 5, ages 8 to 18. They do like a heart scan and check. Great idea, especially if you have a student athlete. Um, we talked over some fundraising ideas. >> I think I think it's two to five. >> I thought she said she said the wrong hours. That's what I wrote down, but I could have. >> Yeah. No, I think it's I think it's two to five, but two off top of my head. I apologize. >> So, two to five. My bad. Um, and
119then there will be um they discussed having two dances or kind of danceish for middle school. So, there will be a boo bash on October 24th, which is the week before um Halloween. So, that won't interfere with um plans. Um they meet on the 4th Thursday of every month at 700 p.m. So, the next meeting is September 25th. >> Right. Terryville High School. >> Oh, we haven't met yet. >> Okay. And did anyone attend at advance? No. Okay. Board comments. Mr. Showers, >> I'm all set. >> Okay, Mr. Baneer. >> Uh, well, welcome to the new school year. Welcome to to the the existing uh student rep and the new student rep and good luck for the rest of the year. >> Right, Mr. Foot? >> No comment. >> Okay, >> Mr. Zushka, >> got
120nothing except I was really impressed with those the two student representatives. They they were really livened it up a little. >> Yeah, they did. >> Cindy, >> I have the same thing. Fallon and Tiana did a great job with their um presentation tonight. The October 7th, that's going to be open to children in the public. Correct. >> It actually is right now. I just have no way to communicate that, but we're going to put it on social media as you asked me and email me right now to send the information out to the board. Yes. And >> I I'm gonna make another note to myself uh to to figure out how we could get it on social media to let people know because the registration is kind of open. It's open at all the schools
121that they do this at. They don't just limit it to the one school. So I know they're doing it in Thomas as well. So if the date didn't work for someone in Terryville, they have the right to to go register in Thomasson. The company just wants any and all kids to come to get tested. So it doesn't matter where they're from. So town, >> I know two people that registered for Thomasson when they saw the different dates that were available. >> So that was really good. But yeah, if you can um make that public. >> Y >> and then um I know that you said it's a luxury to have multiple languages um offered in the district, which it is a luxury, but um being somebody that travels a lot in other countries, if you're
122not bilingual, you are considered lower class of the society. And also a lot of job postings are asking for bilingual um people and they will take somebody bilingual before an English only speaking person. So um I don't know why in America in general that being bilingual is not as important but um I think that it is pretty important. So discussion of that one. Miss Tilton, >> um I just want to thank you for all the work you put into that strategic improvement plan. I know that's a lot of effort and it's hard to like maintain that vision far out down the road. So, I applaud you for putting so many pieces together and I look forward to reading it more. I just want to apologize to everybody for being late. I had a work commitment
123so I'm very sorry about that. And um welcome to the new school year. It seems like everything is off to the great start. So that's it. All right. I have nothing to add as well. Welcome back everybody. Thank you to our public who attended. Uh the next regular meeting of the Plymouth Board of Education is on Wednesday, October 8th, 2025 at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria at Terryville High School. I'd like to entertain a motion to adjourn at 8:45 p.m. >> So moved. >> Mr. Showers, >> second, >> Miss Kendria Florenciani, I have to put all your initials here. Uh all in favor I >> motion carries. >> Good night everybody. Thank you very much every day.