BOE Meeting 6/4/25

001approve the following minutes. The minutes of the special board of education meeting executive session of May 14th, 2025. The minutes of the regular board of education meeting of May 14th, 2025. And the minutes of the special board of education meeting executive session of May 21st, 2025. So move second. Mr. Showers, Mr. Foot. Any discussion? I do. Yep. Uh, and see the minutes for the special board of education meeting, executive session, May 21st. I did mention at the beginning of that meeting, I was wondering why I didn't have a hard copy of the agenda. I was basically told that it was emailed to me, okay? But it's not reflected in the minutes. and also per Robert's rules. And most of the meetings that I've been to, whether it's a town meeting, a lion's meeting, or this

002meeting, usually there's a I won't be able to find it. Usually is an agenda. And I do believe that it states in Robert's rules that let me get it here. While Rabbit's rules of order doesn't explicitly mandate a hard copy of the agenda for every public meeting, it strongly encourages using a detailed agenda and distributing it to attendees. The key is ensuring attendees are informed about the topics to be discussed and the order of business. So, I would behoove this as board of education that when you're going to put a a meeting together that there's an agenda for each board member and even though the public's not there, there's at least a hard copy, not utilizing the excuse that it got emailed to. Thank you. Duly noted. Any other discussion? All in favor? I. Any

003opposed? Any abstensions? I abstain. Motion carries. And then the minutes of the special meeting of the Plymouth Board of Education Policy Committee of May 14th, 2025. Do I have that motion? So move. Second. Kelly and Lou. Louka. Okay. Any discussion? All right. Okay. And the only ones voting on this one are the um committee members. All in favor? And any opposed? Any abstensions? Motion carries. Thank you. All right. Moving on to item number four, student representatives. We have Fallon with us tonight. Hi everyone. Glad to be here. Ava apologizes that she can't be here tonight for our final meeting, but she wanted to thank you all for giving her the opportunity to be the voice for our fellow students and our school. At our last meeting, you asked if we had a mock car crash

004before prom. After asking Mr. Holtz, we learned that we haven't done one for three or possibly even four years. We asked senior students in student council their thoughts, and they enjoyed Steven Emp, the man we talked about last time, our motivational speaker. and felt that that was sufficient for prom. For some senior activities, prom was at the Grand Oak Villa on May 30th. Seniors were dismissed early and to have time to get ready. Stu students had a great time dancing and enjoyed the tangled theme. Students went to their annual Holiday Hill field trip on May 23rd. Throughout the day, students had lots of fun with fellow THs students and kids from other schools. They got to enjoy delicious food and participate in several group games and other activities. Senior dinner is currently happening downstairs in

005the cafeteria. The seniors and their families are watching a compilation video of their time in Plymouth schools created by August Fortunado as well as having olive garden dinner. It looks fancy. Oh, nice. Sports awards were last night in the auditorium. All teams as well as their families were invited to attend. Some awards given were coaches award, MVP, sportsmanship award, varsity pins, and letters were also handed out. One highlight from last night was Taylor Free and Sarah Barty getting their names added to all state fairs in the gym. Congratulations. Afterwards, everyone was invited to attend, sorry, was invited to ice cream social in the cafeteria. Academic awards were also held yesterday in the morning in the auditorium. Some awards given to students were subject specific awards, the principal's medal for achieving high honors, the Susan Banthony

006social justice award, leadership award, military awards, and even scholarships. Tyler Leance was rewarded a final time for being the I'm sorry for being valid Victoria. Congratulations, Tyler. On May 28th, students from the THS drama club attended the annual Seven Angels Halo Awards. Joan Lopez, Sarah Mars, Ava Sophia, and the ths run crew got nominated for awards with Ava winning best comedic actress in a female role in a musical. Congratulations, Ava. Students loved attending and can't wait to go next year. On May 21st, the ths unified buddies had their annual had their final event of the year, their semiformal. Students got all together with their fellow buddies, danced, sang, colored, took pictures at a photo booth, and spent quality time together. It was amazing. It was an amazing experience and we love to do it again.

007Seniors in band had their final music banquet at the East Street Eyer sponsored by Mr. Keane and friends of music. Families and students were invited. At the event, 18 awards were giving to were given to I'm sorry were given to deserving seniors for their dedication and hard work. An alarming number of birds have been hitting the floor to ceiling windows in the cafeteria. Since you heard about Francis last month, you should know that ths students take good care of the wildlife that calls the area around our school home. We've already met with Mr. Holtz and began researching solutions for our problem. A strong contender is a film used for large commercial buildings with small dots spaced every 2 in in a grid in grid pattern. We will let you know more about our progress next

008school year. Great. Our new vice president is Tiana Avalon. Tiana, could you please stand? Aside from being a phenomenal person, she's a she's a rising junior and served as a secretary treasurer for a student council this year. Tiana is a varsity athlete in three sports and part of six clubs. Tiana's favorite subject is math and she was this year's recipient of the Rotary Youth Leadership Award. Thank you, Tiana. [Applause] Next year, I'll be rising to the role of president. Together, Tiana and I will continue to share news from our school and accomplishments as well as bring issues we're facing to you. Thank you for a great year. Can't wait to do it again. Thank you, Fallon. You're very welcome. If you could hang around for just a little bit, we're doing some presentations and we

009have a little something for you. Thank you. All right. And that moves us on to the presentations. Mr. Falcom. So, our first presentation is going to be done by Miss Lovelin for PAR educator of the year. Do Do you want her to come up with me? Absolutely. Oh, perfect. Cool. Come on up. This is really your spotlight, not mine. All right. So, it is a true honor to be here tonight as we recognize and celebrate an outstanding member of our school community, Nicole Dolo, our PAR professional of the year. Sorry, I don't want to block you. Nicole serves in our STAR program, working closely with students with varying high needs and complex challenges. Her work is not only tireless, it is compassionate, thoughtful, and deeply impactful. She forms meaningful connections with her students by noticing

010the small important details. Birthdays, competitions, favorite foods, least favorite classes. She demonstrates just how much she genuinely cares. These seemingly small moments build powerful relationships and for Nicole are simply part of how she shows up every day. She is also a model of flexibility and calm under pressure. Whether navigating an everchanging schedule, stepping in during staff shortages, or supporting a student in crisis, Nicole is always ready to respond with confidence, kindness, and composure. Her skill in deescalation and her gentle, respectful approach are qualities that our students respond to in remarkable ways. Beyond her expertise, Nicole brings a bright, uplifting energy to our school community. Her presence makes our building stronger, safer, and warmer. Nicole, we're incredibly lucky to have you on our team. Congratulations on this well-deserved honor. Thank you. Oh, thank you so much.

011Thank you. And next up, we have Mr. Holtz for our teacher of the year. Maybe Miss Herd as well or or maybe just Mr. Holtz. Good evening. I first want to apologize for our attire. I would not normally dress like this for a moment. Um, beautiful. If you were to ask me if a teacher could possibly be double booked for something like this, I'd be like, "Yeah, it's possible." If they said it was Miss AFC, I'd be like, "Oh, absolutely." Um, we are facilitating our senior dinner, which is they're they're waiting they're waiting on this before they go get ice cream. So, um, they're they're pretty excited. Mrs. Kate Avali is celebrating her 10th year as an English teacher here at Tville High School. And in that time, she has worn more hats than most

012educators will in a lifetime. From department head to class adviser, yearbook to newspaper, just a few of her official roles. The truth is Kate can't say no to helping. She naturally steps into any gap she sees, taking on countless unofficial responsibilities to ensure that our staff and students get the best experience possible every day. Having multiple roles is a good thing for Kate as she is a planner. Like that is what she is. Whether it's organizing a school trip to Europe, coordinating an event like tonight's senior dinner, or planning each day's lessons down to the smallest detail, Kate has a rare talent for managing moving parts with precision and grace. She is easily one of the hardest working individuals I have ever met, and I'm convinced she doesn't sleep. It's the only way she accomplishes

013all that she does. Each year, our committee carefully reviews the list of exceptional educators for teacher of the year. This year, before the nominations were presented, I told the group I wasn't leaving the room until we all decided Kate was it. My unwavering support came not only from her years of dedication, but especially from the transformation she made in her classroom this year. As a side note, I didn't have to lobby too hard when the nominations came out and the long list of students, staff, and and uh parents who gave their take on it. I I could kind of sit back and relax. Kate has always poured herself into her students, often given more than what most most would think possible. But this year, after much reflection and professional growth, she made a bold shift

014in her teaching philosophy. Her new goal was simple but profound. create dynamic student- centered learning opportunities and get the heck out of the way. It takes a deep understanding, thoughtful planning, and tremendous self-awareness to move away from a teacher-led model. Kate embress embraced this challenge fully, and as a result, her classroom has become a space where students are more engaged, curious, and independent than ever before. The level of productive struggle that she allows and the ability to skillfully support with just the right question or piece of feedback is nothing short of inspiring. Beyond her classroom, Kate is affectionately known as class mom. Her daily interactions with students go far beyond teaching about author's purpose or writing structure. She teaches kindness, patience, and empathy. She builds relationships with students to the point they trust her for

015guidance and reassurance. Her students know her compassion for them is genuine and they go out of their way to show their appreciation. A most recent example of this was at Friday's prom when over a dozen students stayed well past the event to help clean up something that the local police officer said he had never seen before. Kate is more than a teacher. She is a cornerstone of our school community. Her dedication, innovation, and heart are unmatched. Congratulations. [Applause] Hi everybody. [Applause] Go get ice cream. I apologize. No need. What energy? Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah. I would like to congratulate the five individuals who'll be retiring from our district at the end of the year. We have Dr. Bonnie Downey Jenkins who is currently a writing

016teacher at Eli Terry. I've known her in a number of different roles throughout the years. We have Monica Negron who is a Spanish teacher at Eli Terry. We have Karen Robbitai, special ed teacher here at Tville High School. Mark Sconziano, PE teacher here at Terryville High School. and Hedi Ko, special ed teacher here at Terryville High School. Some of those individuals weren't able to attend this evening's meeting, but we are glad to have Bonnie and Hetty here with us tonight. If you two could stand, please. So, in our school district, we have so many people that play roles in making school a great place for children to learn and grow. And all five of these individuals have had a big part in doing that. Their professionalism, commitment, and everyday contributions have had a significant impact

017on our schools and our school community. Specifically, these two though I've worked with in the past. With Bonnie, I was her uh I worked with her as the assistant principal at Fiser Middle School at the time and then Eli Terry Junior Middle School when we we shifted over. She was my science teacher at the time. But if you ask me one thing I'll remember Bonnie for, it's it's her desire to teach CPR and first aid to as many children as possible in our school communities. So Bonnie, thank you very much. And then for Hedi, um I worked with Hedi while I was the principal here at Terryville High School. And what people probably don't know about Hetti is she actually started our transition program. She was one of the first people that I'll be dead.

018Thank you. Um she was one of the first people that took our 18 to 21 at the time and now it's 22 uh program and she she built it from nothing. Um and so I give a lot of credit to these two because the impact they've had on our school community has been pretty significant. And then Justin, so what I have on Bonnie is CPR classes for 30 years, 13 lives saved by students, first nationwide middle school program to certify in the use of defibrill. Won two national awards from the American Heart Association. I don't know is the next part two people. No, that's from the Those are your notes related. You don't want to read that. Okay. So, but again, the contributions have been significant and on behalf of the board of education, the

019whole entire school community for all five of our our um people retiring this year, congratulations. Enjoy your retirement and thank you. [Applause] Okay. And finally, we have our student representative. Um, both Ava and Fallon have been invaluable to us this year. Um, they have brought to us not only the good news and the accomplishments of our students, but they have also brought forward problems to us, which is what we've long been asking for. Um, and we really do appreciate it. We don't want to just hear the good news. We want to hear, you know, if our students are struggling with something or there's something that they perceive that they need, we want to be able to work on that. And um it's been interesting because they always come with a problem that also usually has

020a solution attached to it that they've already figured out. So it's just a testament to the kind of students that we have that they um are problem solvers. So Fallon, we have a little gift for you. Thank you. [Applause] Okay. And at this time, I'd like to entertain a motion to recess at 7:20 p.m. in recognition of the PAR educator of the year, teacher of the year, retirees, and current student representat representative. So move. Miss Lucian. Second. Mr. Showers. All in favor? I motion carries. All right. Tech will take a group picture of um the parah educator of the year, student teacher of the year, the retirees, Fallon, and us as well. So, if all those people could gather in the front, that would be great. And then our tech department can take a picture.

021Okay, let's resume regular session at 7:29 p.m. and we are on to item seven, school climate survey. Mr. Falcon and Miss Bel Malo, thank you very much. If um the board doesn't mind, could we present from there because the we can't really see what's on there and I feel bad for the parents and the community members because it's so hard to see with the glare. Yeah. So, this one's fine. Okay. Well, you can have them put their chairs this way. Just angle this one. This one's fine. Yeah. There's so few of you. If you want to This one is pretty clear. Yeah. Just bring Well, I didn't mean that as it I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. If there was 30 of you, it'd be kind of hard. All right. If you weren't

022dedicated, just bring some sunscreen. Audio visual aid 101. So, all schools throughout Connecticut, um, all public schools are doing school climate surveys or they've done school climate survey. This aligns to a requirement uh the Connecticut school climate policy which tonight will be in front of you to approve. It's kind of a required policy because it has to be in place by July 1st, 2025. The purpose of our climate survey was to identify some strengths in our schools and also some focus areas. And we conducted the survey across all four of our schools and our stakeholders were all students with the exception of the prek through two students who we just felt it wasn't age appropriate for them for them to fill out a survey. But grades 3 through 12, all of our parents and all

023of our certified and non-certified faculty and staff. And so that's kind of the scope of what you're going to see. And the form will be provided with the actual survey results and those will be posted on our website for everyone to see. It's quite lengthy when you go through each school. So it will all be posted on our website. As you know, each school had a survey done by, like Brian said, parents, teachers, and students of the Denver Clement Center. Um, and each school then looked at their results and came up with some strengths that they saw and also some focus areas for next year. The focus areas will be what builds that school climate plan that will be built with a committee next year. Um, so for Plymouth Center, they found their strengths were

024effective communication. Families felt comfortable interacting with staff. Um, teachers are dedicated. It's a safe, supportive environment. The focus areas they want to look at are um more family involvement opportunities, which I think has been discussed here. I don't think that's any surprise. um professional development relevance which is going to be a theme throughout most of the buildings and management of challenging behavior. And when we talk about challenging behavior, it's not just in special education. It's just in the regular ed classroom as well because there's a lot of challenging behavior in classes these days. Um for Fiser, there are strengths for safe environment. Students feel supported by teachers. Um there's a job satisfaction there by the teachers and um there's some knowledgeable teachers as well. focusing um for Fiser is going to be on student relationships

025and peer treatment. Just being kind to one another. We know that age is quite the age and they need some teaching behind that. Um again, managing the challenging behavior just like center and the professional development relevance. And when we talk about professional development relevance, we mean just for every type of teacher and related staff to have something that's very much applicable to them. Because I know sometimes in the teachers board will notice that sometimes you go to professional development that doesn't quite apply to you. We want to make sure it's relevant for every person, every staff member within the district. for Eli Terry. Um the strengths are a safe and positive learning environment, respectful teacher and student relationships, high academic standards, teachers are dedicated, there's great communication. Um and then they're going to focus on

026just like Fiser, student relationships and peer treatment because again middle school is also a challenging time. Uh creating a sense of student belonging and again management ch managing challenging behavior and Tangville High School. The strengths that came out in the survey were high academic standards and student expectations, a safe and positive learning environment, respectful teacher and student relationships. Teachers are dedicated, there's effective school communication, all great things. Um, and they're going to choose to focus on creating an atmosphere that's welcoming and inclusive of other differences, family involvement opportunities, which is probably more challenging when you get to the point of the student, and uh, again, professional. So, this survey is the first of many steps that are going to take place. Um, our policy has to change as of July 1st to align to these

027things. But the first thing we're going to do is we're going to share out these results obviously with the forward and then to the community and let everyone know the results of our survey. That will happen uh probably tomorrow morning. Then after that, this summer, our administrators have some work to do. They have to create a draft of a school climate plan that that hits these focus areas. So, we've decided on the focus areas based on the data we should focus on and look at. So, they're going to create the draft of a plan. And they also this summer have to create a committee within their schools that deals addresses school funding. I also have to create one for the district. So, we're going to have a district school climate committee and individualbased school climate

028committees. From there, that draft is going to be proposed to those committees. They're going to finalize it. They might add to the action plan. They might make adjustments to the focus area after they look at the data. So, that's going to happen in September. It really is going to be September and possibly October. It depends. Um, but throughout the year, that committee is going to meet as a district-wide committee and within their schools, and they're going to implement and discuss those action plans. And then at the end of next year around May, we're going to send the survey back out and we're going to see how we progressed in our school planning plan. This is happening in every public school in Connecticut. So, that is that's kind of where we are. We don't have action

029plans yet. That's work that we're going to do this summer in creating those drafts. And then it's going to be working with um individual teams on each in each school to to finalize those plans and put those action plans in place and then we'll see those results. And the state required that the action plans are finalized um by December 31st. So there there is time next fall for the committee to meet and finalize plans and that's really all we have right now for you with regards to the survey because there's a lot of work our administrators need to do with this and our teachers and those committees need to be created. So does anyone have any questions uh for myself for Beth with regard to the climate the state mandated? Yes. part of the new

030school policy, unfunded, mandated, right? Well, they're taking away if if you look at the policies, they're recommending that we no longer have a bullying policy that this would be encompassed under that. And to be honest with you, this is a policy I don't mind because it truly is going to drill down to each individual school what the concerns are. Uh, for example, we've had parents that come and stand here and talk about um being more involved in their children's education and the data shows that there's some there's there's relevance to that and it needs to be a focus area and now we are going to be held accountable to show the improvement in that at the end of next year. So, this one I don't mind. Um, but because this makes a lot of sense.

031Yeah, it's there's a ton of work there. It's a lot of work. There's a lot of work and you can just get three or four individuals in there that are negative and that's going to you know that's that's my concern about any of these things that are put up there. Well, when whenever you do a survey, you know, if Yeah. If uh you know, Greg Showers goes on vacation with his wife on a beautiful cruise and they have a great time and everything's perfect, it's probably he's probably not going to go on to Expedia and write something. But if he has a terrible time on that cruise, the the bathroom overflows and the food's terrible, get food poisoning, you know, he's going to put some sort of a comment on Expedia. We understand that, too.

032Uh there's a balance, though. We have enough people that have responded whether it be staff um some of the students uh responded responses were interesting um but and parents um that that we have a good idea of what the trends are that we need to focus on. So um you already have a climate committee in place right? So you would be just continuing that work with some different guidelines. We do not we do not have a climate committee in place. Some schools do. We do not have a district-wide climate committee. You don't have building level climate committee. Some schools do. It's not consistent. Oh, okay. So then it's a good thing this is being put in. Absolutely. Absolutely. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you. Yep. All right. We are on to item number eight, which

033is public comment. We will start with our in-person public. Please come to the podium. Write your name and address and say your name and address. And share your thoughts. Virginia Canine 18 Adams Drive. Here we are June 4th, nearly the end of the school year. I have come before this board multiple times requesting a kindergarten graduation be implemented. Another year has passed and still no kindergarten graduation. I've also come before you with concerns about how the age cut off for prek was implemented by two administrators without any written policy, without any conversation or notice to parents or this board. Choosing to only follow portions of a law implemented for kindergarten on their own accord just doesn't sit right with me. Nothing has been said or done about either of these topics. However, a brand new

034member gets on this board and in one of his first few meetings immediately makes a motion to resend a policy about attendance at meetings and who can be president, vice president, secretary, etc. of this board. Red flag that a brand new member is so concerned about this and also very frustrating that this is what the board finds is important to to deal with instead of addressing things brought to you by parents with children in the schools. if he can make a motion like he did, why aren't board members making motions or having conversations about things brought before them? I think that it's a shame. And to me, that says that this board is more about politics than the children. This board should be anything but political. In addition, it's my understanding that behind closed doors,

035contracts were negotiated for administrators, which included payraises every year. While I'm not saying that they aren't are or aren't deserved, I think it's very disheartening that we give administrators payraises while we are cutting staff supplies and programs that directly impact the children. Furthermore, where is this money going to be coming from when a budget has already been approved? This is not the time for payraises. And if it's not too late, I strongly urge you to reconsider these raises and negotiations. Thank you. Thank you. Melanie Church, 328 Main Street. I agree with the previous speaker. You've laid off teachers. You you've hire you've put the uh janitors out to pasture to be under someone else. They don't have answers. They got it in the mail a letter. That's cold. And that's hard. And you should all

036hang your head. I've worked in places and I've gotten laid off. They met with us, not just sent a letter. And I think you need to start valuing the employees you have. You complain if the teachers get a raise. You went in there and you you begged for more. The town gave you more. And yet, you know, you still had to get rid of teachers, but you didn't care. go into an executive session, rate yourselves, and give yourselves a raise. It wouldn't have hurt you to hold off for a year. We have no steep grant this year. That's the town side. We have roads that are deplorable. We have children who don't even know what happiness is. And that's something you should be really concerned with. The reason I know this, my daughter's working with

037senators and representatives on this issue. They have been into the computers. That's the thing. And that's their socialization. We're in trouble. And if parents want to come into a school, let them in. Those are their kids. You want to blame them when the kids aren't learning. You want to blame them when the kids misbehave. You say it's their fault. Well, if you're not letting them in the room, guess whose fault it is? Right here, you guys. And it's something that you need to all look at because you're here in the business the same thing as any other place you walk into the customer. The customer is those children. They are the most important thing. And whenever there's a new program being offered, they're not making you pay it out of your pocket, Pat. What they're

038trying to do is figure out how to save our kids. When kids are eight and nine years old committing suicide, those are the things that you need to look at. Those are reality. And it's happening because they're not socialized. It they're everything is around a computer and that's their their that's what they they take as their socialization. When they're home, they're on it. I'm very much blessed. My daughter only allows my grandson an hour a day. But I think everyone needs to look at these things and do what's right. Take half of a raise. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else for public comment? All right. Do we have any online public comment? Oh, when I remember there's none. Okay. We are moving on to item number nine, superintendence update. Mr. Bone, thank you very much.

039Um, on May 22nd, Terryville High School held its annual scholarship night. All totaled, our seniors received over $270,000 in one-time and renewable scholarships. I want to take a moment to thank our local businesses, community members, and various organizations for their generous support and their investment in our children. There's also been a change in the international field trips that have been approved by the board. Um, we approved a trip to Puerto Rico for April of 2026. there's not enough student interest to run that trip. Okay? So, that trip has been cancelled. However, the trip that the board approved at our last meeting to Europe uh had a great strong interest. There's a lot of kids. 25 families showed up at that meeting for that field trip. The thing is the majority of the kids and the

040parents that showed up are juniors. So if we don't move the trip up a year, those juniors won't be able to attend the trip. So the teacher asked if it's possible to move the trip from two April 2027 to April 2026. There wasn't push back from the parents at the meeting. From what I've been told, the date is changed. The itinerary stays the same. the price stays the same and everything the board approved stays the same except for the year that they would be going. Right now the teacher would have 13 students that would go on this trip that have or are ready to pay a deposit and she is also opening it up to parents of students that are going if they like to go on the trip similar to when back in the

041day uh we went to Japan we took parents with us as well. So something similar to that to increase the numbers and give everyone the experience. So um I just want to I want to make sure it's okay with the board to move that trip from April 2027 to April 2026. Um so that those juniors can go on that trip and not miss out. Do you need a formal vote or do you need just consent? I just need consent. I anybody It's already been approved. Is there was there another meeting for that Puerto Rico trip besides 2:15 in the afternoon on a weekday because that might have been the reason people didn't show up for that meeting. I I don't know. Only two students gave a deposit though and so that I think that was

042by the the the deadline. So I think that's more I don't think that was promoted very well. The only thing I saw was 2:15 on like a Tuesday afternoon, which many families would not have probably known or been able to attend. So, sorry. No, topic. Does anybody have any problems with them moving the date up a year? Works for me. You'll still be able to schedule everything. The company that they're going with will just move the date and they'll be fine. Okay. Um, as a reminder, Harry S. Fischer promotion cere ceremony will be held on Monday, June 9th at 9:30 in the morning. And then the Terryville High School graduation will be held on Wednesday, June 11th at 6:00, rain or shine. If it's nice out, we'll be outside on the soccer field. If it's

043not, we'll be inside in the auditorium. Then the Eli Terry stepup program will be held on Thursday, June 12th at 900 a.m. And as we're wrapping up the school year, I'd like to thank um a number of different groups that have helped us throughout the year. First, I would like to thank the entire faculty, staff, and administration. As I say, every year, we have a special group of people that are working with our children. I would also like to thank the parents, the PTAs, and the various community members who have supported our kids in our schools throughout the year. And finally, I'd like to thank the board of education for continuing to move forward with initiatives that have a positive impact on teaching and learning. With that, I'd like to congratulate all of our Terryville

044High School graduates. I hope everyone has a nice long relaxing summer. Thank you very much. Any questions of the superintendent? Okay, move on to item 10, unfinished business. Um we are going to take each one of these as a separate item so that we can discuss if we need to. So for the first one I would like a motion to approve the series 1000 community board operations P10006 school security and safety and P 01 0 P10 visitors and observations in schools. You can do those two together. That's okay. Do I have a motion to approve those? Okay. So move Michelle second. Okay. Mr. Peragino, any discussion on those? Anyone? No. All right. Seeing none, I I have a question. Okay, go right ahead. On P10006, yes. Um, review any warrant or other materials that the

045Federal Immigration Authority produces to determine who issued such warrant and what warrantial authorizes the Federal Immigration Authority to do so? Who's going to do that? Is that and are they going to have the legal background to be able to read the warrant properly? The answer is no. Um, for the the second part of your question, who's going to do that? going to be our administrator and shipment in Goodwin. So, let me explain if if you don't mind if the board will let me explain this policy. So, someone shows up to one of our schools, Plymouth Center School, in an ICE uniform outfit, which you can buy on Amazon for, I believe, $15.99. And what this policy says is that we're going to follow the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection standards and the

046Connecticut Department of Education immigration guidance standards and laws. And what they're doing is someone shows up to take a kid out of our school. The policy says that we have to follow and must put in something. It's required in our safety and school security plans that address us dealing with immigration. That's a requirement. That's not an option. The protocol and what this policy is putting into place is one. I'm going to use Karen as an example. She's there as our ICE agent and I would go to her as the principal of the school because that's the person assigned to talk to that agent that we have to assign. And they would ask for identification just like they would for anyone else that's going to pick up a child. We would then have to ask if

047there's like a judicial warrant or what a the scope of the warrant is because there's an adult center school Karen that's looking to pick up a child and she's not on the emergency contact list. We don't know who she is. We don't know anything about her. So, we have a stranger in our school that's going to take a child without parent permission. So at that point, the last piece of this before we let anyone do anything, we call our legal counsel who will then take a look at that warrant and or whatever that ICE agent has and they'll guide and direct us on what to do. Either release the child, not release the child. They'll tell us legally what there is to do. But looking past the wording, because I know it it's very cumbersome

048with the words, when you're in the spot and you're Kim Loveland at Plymouth Center and a stranger comes to pick up a child that's not on any sort of our emergency contact or parental list, we have to have some sort of a protocol to make sure that this is legit. if it's legit and and it that warrant or judicial order says they're going to take the child, we're going to follow the law and the person's going to take the child. Um, but we have to go through that protocol and get Shipment involved. When I when this first came out, I think it was in March, I don't know the dates in the policy. I think it was in March when this first came out. Shipman held an emergency meeting with only superintendents and it was

049virtual and they said what we need to do because there's so much unknown in now bringing and allowing ICE to come into schools and to churches. um we have to just make sure that we are getting our eyes on whatever documents they have so that we can tell you what to do and guide you because I'm not qualified to read uh judicial warrant. Um and so that was clear and so that's our guidance is principal identification um ask for the warrant and then contact the attorney. Actually they're going to contact me. I'll be on the attorney with the attorney driving to their school and then at that point we'll convene and make sure we're going to make the right decision for whether it be the uh ICE agent or the child and family. We are

050going to follow the law. So that's all this is but it's very with words. So has to be done. And I have another question. Absolutely. You have the uh security safety committee. Yes. Which we currently do have one but we haven't met. We haven't met. We haven't met in a while yet. Um, are you going to have a VOE member on there? We're going to have uh So, it's funny because Beth and I were talking today. We, you know, we we have a list of 10,000 things that we have to do. Uh, that's one of them. And I said, "This is this is this is something that I need to do as a superintendent." And it says it in there that I will be putting that together. It's going to be a board of ed

051member. You were on before. It'll probably be you again if that's okay. But it's going to be something we're going to do in September of next year. There's going to be a parent. Um there's going to be a member from each school and there will be police department all all those things and I'll work with Tony Marcini to organize that. Um so I see him every Wednesday at at um Rotary. All the school principles all Yeah. Everyone will be there. This this this the same cast of characters around the table over there. We'll be back. So thank you. Y um I have a couple of questions. It seems like the language in here it only pertains to immigration issues. So is there a different procedure of say the Plymouth police or the state law enforcement?

052Would this be the same protocol that you would follow? Because I know everyone freaks out that it's about a kid, but let's say it's a basketball game and you have an adult who's sitting in the stadium. Um, are we going to block any sort of law enforcement from coming in to get somebody who may be a potential risk to our students? Just for clarification, you talking about adults at at something or is this only pertaining to children? This isn't for This is about taking basically taking children from our schools. That's what this is about for safety and security. We have different protocols in that document that I have to send to the state. It is it's it is a confidential document because it deals with safety and security. But if there's someone that's um a

053danger to our schools and or children um the police would be called and they'll address the issue with completely separate from this this and so just um if it's a like say it's a minor say it's a 17-year-old um they have to be 18 before the police can talk to that minor without their parent being there. So their parent would have to be called and they're present. So we would we as administration would take the child and they would be in isolation whether it be in the main office or until the parent got there then the police and the parent would come in. Kelly, I don't know if I answered your question or not. No, I mean that's fine. And then just to be like very clear because I know there's a lot of, you

054know, stuff on the news. So is anything in this policy in conflict with any of the multi- new federal guidelines that have been put out i.e. some in some cases the federal government is suing states and local municipalities and they certainly don't want to inadvertently put a policy in place that will risk our federal funding. It's it's happening right now in certain why I'm a little nervous. language on this and I I understand I think that there's a lot of uncertainty. I'm not I mean I think Shipman had uncertainty when writing this and that's why I think they incorporated it into a policy that we already have in place and they just dealt with what's what was new. But I think even since then there's been more changes and I think I think we're walking

055a fine line in a lot of these decisions that we have to make. But that's why we we'd reach out to the legal counsel and have them make that decision because I'm not qualified to make that decision. Well, given that there's a week of school left and we're going to be meeting prior to the new school year started and the uncertainty, I mean, I would feel like maybe we could table this until the August meeting and have a little opportunity to see what happens when the debt settles before we jump into something that we're either going to have to resend or that we're going to lose money on. I don't know if I believe that's appropriate to table a something for later. Absolutely. I would the only thing I would say is if if they're

056on either of these policies that say this has to be in place legislatively by July 1st, which the others not the others, these two don't. Absolutely not. So if the board made the decision to table these policies, that's absolutely appropriate. And Kelly, I don't disagree with you. I mean, things are changing at a pretty rapid pace, and I know schools are in some hot water right now for maybe policies that are put in place or decisions that have been made that might not align with some decisions that have been made. So, if that's the decision of the board, I mean, that's that's really up to you guys. I make the motion that we table this these two policies until we get further clarification. I'll second it. The motion has been made and seconded. All those

057in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Motion passes. Could I just ask for clarification? Um when when we say we're t we're tableabling it. Additional information. Would you like Rich Mills to write up something for our August meeting? I could talk to him. That would be perfect. Is that is that so that would help you with I know cuz HB5062 changed some of this and I they vote on another one today that changed some of this. Yeah. So and I'll wait till August so he doesn't have to do it three times and charge us three times. Right. So this session ends at midnight. We got four more hours. A lot changes in four hours. Greg. Um so I'll have Rich have something for the board on these two policies when we return in August. And

058if we have to hold a special meeting, we could always do that as well. So Okay. Yeah. All right, let's move on to the next one. Um, I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the following series 5000 students P5003 bullying prevention and intervention policy and safe school climate plan. Do I have a motion to discontinue it? So move. Sorry to I'm sorry to discontinue it. I I apologize. That's my error. Mr. Showers, second Mr. Burbanire. Okay. Any discussion on that one? I think that we're replacing it. It's not like we're Yeah. So, all right. All those in favor opposed abstensions. Okay. We will discontinue that one. That one passes. And finally, we have a new policy. Uh, I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the following series 5000 um P5036 and P5037 Connecticut

059school climate policy and restorative practices response policy. Do I have a motion? So move. Second. Michelle and Lou. Lou. Lou. Right. Yep. Yep. That's what I said. Yep. Correct. Okay. Um, discussion. I have some concerns. Yep. First concern that I have is there's really no page number, but it shows the funding that is being done by this. Okay. The funding basically states the schools district shall in its discretion allocate sufficient funding to satisfy the requirement of this policy for all schools in the district. Such funding shall be distributed accordingly with superintendent approval for assessment and professional development as well as for school community outreach, training, and technical assistance. So that's basically telling this school district that you're going to institute this program, but we're not going to send you any money um at this point

060in time. Is there any dollar figure that's being associated with this so that we have an understanding of next year what this is going to cost the school district. So we have Kim Lovelin that's going as a trainer to train our people on restorative practice. So that's happening through at advance. So she's getting the training so she could come back. So the hope is that the restorative I I don't know which policy which which one are you reading chair is it P50 36 the second to I didn't know if it was 37 or 36. So yeah we we we tried to get ahead of it in sending Kim Lovelin out so she could be a trainer of of our staff to save money on the restorative practices piece with regard to the climate plan. We

061have to see what these plans require. Um there's a there's a realistic uh there's a reality behind it. I mean we have only so much money. Um you're going to hear about that in a little bit from Matt. Um and these plans and and these new climate plans are going to say we need resources in these areas to improve student behavior and what training are we going to bring in? It's that student behavior is aligned through three of the four schools and I would actually say it's in all four because when you look at the cell phones at the high school like that's a behavioral thing that we have to address too. It's a policy. I would look it as a policy thing but a behavioral thing. But I can't answer that question right now.

062Jerry, I think we need to see what these plans are are asking for and then I can probably come back with the number. We have to create those plans first because this is the first step. This is there's going to be money tied into this for sure. Oh yeah. So basically what they're doing is they decided to put the the cart before the horse and then you just and you got to ascertain how much it's going to cost you as a school district and you have to implement this program whether you like it or not. Okay? And there's no rules and regulations or stipulations to put this in dictated from the state. Okay? which is okay. Usually stuff's at the top slides down and by the time it gets to the bottom you're stuck with

063it. All right. So, this is going to be a policy that's going to be we're going to be stuck with it. We're going to find out in September, October that this could potentially be a um a funding aspect that we may lose a teacher from it. We may lose a paraprofessional. We may lose a school psychologist. You know, it's you just look at it down the road because all of a sudden the state wants to align this climate survey with all 169 school districts in this state. Okay? Without having any parameters on how much money it's going to cost them. And I hate to tell you in a small school district, you know, it's we deal with pennies, okay? We don't deal with with millions of dollars. Okay? And I tell this to people all

064the time when we talked even before I was on the board of education again. All right? Smalltown Connecticut is getting to the point where we can't afford education anymore. The state's not allocating enough money to us to help with with the things that are going on in the state with means of what they want us to do. But yet the bigger cities get all the gravy and we just get the crumbs. So it's getting to the point where um I don't know how we're gonna if this comes out to be where we lose a teacher because of this because of funding that's not going to be mandated. What do you want us to do? You know, it's sad. And then when you look at it, this is the school climate committee that's going to be

065done. So you're going to have your school climate specialist, which is Mrs. Lovelin. Okay. So, in her contract negotiations next, does she ask for a stipen for this? No, it's it's not No, it's not Miss Lovelin, though. It's it they're in the schools. It's it's the administration in the schools. Okay. So, I'm just saying when it comes to contract negotiation, now you're going to be adding more layers to what that that committee is going to be. So the head of that committee and there's going to be four committees in each and and there's going to be a committee in each school which is going to be four. So now people are going to be taking on additional work and usually what comes with additional work is a little bit more money. Okay. And then also

066there's going to be a school climate specialist, a teacher selected by the bargaining representative. Um uh demographically represent a group of students enrolled at the school, families of students enrolled, at least two members of the school community as determined by the school climate specialist. It goes on and on and on. And I don't know about you, I have plenty of time in my day because I'm retired. Okay? But there are people out there that may not have time in their day to make a meeting at 3:00 in any individual's school. All right. And what happens if you uh an individual from the school committee is is chosen and you know they miss a meeting, okay? And they don't have any input into that meeting. So, nothing against the state and I get what they're trying

067to do. They're trying to consolidate all the boards of education to work under one program so that each board of education doesn't have their own little program. The problem is is as I stated, they're putting the cart before the horse. Nobody came up with how much is this going to cost and what is it? I'm not going to I'm not saying that it's going to be bad for the climate of the school and things that parent really wants to see happening in the school, okay? Because we've all seen it with people that come up at this podium and speak about their concerns about what goes on in these school systems in the in the town of Plymouth, okay? And I get what they're what they're arguing about. CL the issue that I have is what

068is the financial responsibility of the board of education towards this? And unfortunately doesn't seem like anybody has an answer. The state doesn't have an answer, nor does the superintendent, and I'm sure the business manager has no idea. So, those are my total concerns about this. Well, Jerry, let me just say, um, you're right on on, um, everything. And I think the hard part about running a small school district is that the state puts unfunded mandates such as this out there. Again, I agree with this mandate because of what it's actually having us do. I think this is something that overall will be good at the end of the day. But the, you know, we don't have a director of curriculum instruction. So if I was able to delegate that responsibility to her to run the

069school cl or the district climate committee I don't. There's two people at central office and one of us has to run the climate committee. We also have to do the diversity plan. We also have to run pedak. We also have to and we also have to we also have to. So in larger districts you have a lot more resources that can do those things and you could farm them out to different people. even an elementary school would have an assistant principal that could support that. Um, we just don't have those types of resources. And you're dead on. We're counting pennies. We're counting pennies. Um, but I think we have to be realistic about what this climate plan and what these climate plans are really going to do because we don't have the resources other districts

070might have, whether it be um some of the the more inner cities and or some of the Gold Coast schools where they're bringing in significant programs to help fix this when they have unlimited funds. So, I think we just have to be very reasonable about how we move forward. I have a comment. Um, we just voted to discontinue the policy 5,03. Correct. That's the the bullying one. Yeah. So, it's going to be replaced by these two new policies. Correct. We need a policy. We can't just say we're not going to have a policy and we're not going to have school climate because this whole step about the school climate survey for the parents, for the teachers, for the students, we just can't say no, we're not going to have anything in place for the upcoming

071year. Then there's going to be like no rules or expectations for teachers, students, anybody. And it's required. I was going to say I don't think we have a choice. There's no there's no choice. choice. You don't have a choice. It's it's you have no choice but to adopt this by July 1st, 2025. It's legislation. So, couple questions. Yeah. Okay. Um so, in P536, the administrative regulations, it says that there's going to um students, parents, or guardians may file a written report using the challenging behavior reporting form. Is that something new you're going to have to create? And who is going to manage the um collection and uh evaluation of these documents? Will that be brought to like the full committee to review and take action on or is that going to be work that falls

072to a teacher or the principal or is it going to be situational maybe? I don't know. So the challenging behavior form is going to replace the bullying investigation. So it'll still be it's basically the same kind of investigation um protocol. It's just in encompasses more challen challenging behavior instead of just bullying anymore. That definition is really loosey. The umbrella is really opening up there. Um so it'll still be the administration doing the investigation working with the teachers, the parents, whoever you know in the classroom like what that happens with the bullying. So it'll be the same thing. It'll just be for a broader amount of behaviors now. Okay. And then for the um the meetings, I know even last year, I don't know if that was something new that we did in my district or

073that was came out prior to this with the climate committee needing to have representation certain representation. So for example, you need to have parents on the board and yet you also need to have people who are employed by the school on the or sorry on the committee. So logistically that can be challenging because you don't want to have to pay teachers to come to a night meeting, but you need to have parents who will also be available to attend these meetings. And it also says at least two members of the school community. So is that just like teachers or other staff? Like it this policy is so vague. It's a little vague. Um I don't honestly know about what the school I Yes. I think it's anybody involved in the school community that wants to

074be a part of it. Um, I don't disagree with you about the parent piece. I mean, I obviously wouldn't be able to do something at, you know, 3:00, right? But we need to make sure that we are having all of the people who are Yeah. supposed to be there actually. Oh, yeah. And I think that's part of our planning in the summer with the administration. Actually, those meetings usually take take place about 11 o'clock in the morning for for those. Yeah. This is the climate. The climate that's that's two different things. We use we use ours we do ours at a staff meeting when it's like super early if that's these committee meetings take the place of the professional development meetings that you have throughout the year. Um talk about that topic as opposed to

075some other things that I I don't think that's the intention of these. I think they're going to be separate meetings that we're going to hold and it can I would I'm I mean again I have to we have to go through this with the administrative team. This is going to be part of our our summer work with them and our retreats but we have to figure out the frequency because we want to be consistent in all of our schools. We also want you know timewise if if Fiser decides to do it at 7 o'clock in the evening we can't have the high school do it at 2:15 in the afternoon. So, we have to figure those things out. And then to to I don't know whose point it was at this point, but if you're

076going to hold teachers and they have to come back at 7:00, uh the union will most likely have a concern or issue with that if we're not compensating them for their time. So, we have to find a time that works, whether it be before school, um right after school, or during school, because after that, there is a significant fee. when you have four or five people on a committee, you're paying them their hourly rate per their contract, uh it could get pricey across the four schools. It's just unfortunate we we but these two policies, it's the board's going to vote on it, but we don't have a choice. It's like it has to be in place by July 1st. So, when did this come down from the state? Would it come down? What? Today at

0778 o'clock this morning? No, not this morning. uh other things came down this morning, not this morning. Um so we we we as as a school community have known this. We've been working with that advance that that um survey that was done was created at at advance with that advance and with a group of people. So this has been in the works um for a while since 2023. uh you know that's when it really started the conversation of shifting and I think off of Kelly's point and what what Beth said is the paperwork is not just bullying paperwork. It it's that is a definition that is overused or used wrong. So this will be able to encompass the challenging behaviors. So um so I know we use second step here in the school. So, we're

078going to be rewriting our social emotional curriculum as well because it uses the incorrect language. Just humorous. I know it's not funny at this point in the year. Yes, it's on the on the list. Do a little tweaking on that. Sorry. No, that's okay. Anyone else questions? All right. So, since 2023, this has been being worked up. So for two years, nobody has come up with a cost associated with this. Jerry, we didn't know what it was actually going to be until recently when we had meetings probably in December uh in in November at at Advance when they informed of us as as the rest all the schools there what this is actually going to be because I think there was a general idea of this is kind of what it's going to look like

079and then the risks kind of tightened it up and that's when we went to the risks and I'm going to tell you each risk has a very different climate survey and I just know that from my own children being in a different district that there were four questions on the cheshure survey. We had I don't know how many questions. I don't know. Well, it was a lot. It was it was I think we had 18 or 27. I don't know. I have to look back. Um you you all have the survey in front of you. So, it was done differently by the rests, but the idea was out there. They taught us and then we have to put it in place. Well, my point is is that they've been dealing with this for two years,

080but nobody has there was not a financial analyst that was in on this meeting. There wasn't an accountant in on this. There weren't business managers that were in that was saying that well, you're probably looking at a smaller school district, this is what it's going to cost them. If you look at a midsize school district, this is the potential of what it's going to cost them. And if you look at an upscale school system that has all the resources in the world because they have the money, this is what it's going to cost them. And more than likely the upscale is going to be very minimal where the bottom end is going to be astronomical because of the fact that as I stated we deal in pennies. So that's about it. I am stopping to

081beat this dead horse. Anyone else? Okay, great. So, we have a motion and it has been seconded. We have discussed it. All those in favor? I opposed. Hold on. Uh, I say yes, but with severe reservations. Okay, so opposed, abstain. Uh, motion passes. All right, we are moving on to new business. Item number 11, end of year transfers. We do this every year. I'd like to entertain a motion to authorize the superintendent of schools to work with the business manager in order to make the necessary transfers and expenditures to close the books as of June 30th, 2025 and to expend funds for the fiscal year 2024 2025 and also to be able to utilize the budget 2025 2026 to authorize the superintendent and business manager to expend those funds as needed until the August meeting

082of the Plymouth Board of Education. Do I have that motion? So moved. Mr. Perigino, second. Michelle Lucian. Any discussion on that? Okay. All in favor? Opposed. Abstensions. Motion carries. And now item B, rescending of a policy. I would like to entertain a motion to rescend policy P9024 required two-year service on the board of education to serve in an officer or leadership position. Do I have a motion? So move. Uh Mr. Showers second. Miss Lucian. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor? There's a roll book here. Yeah, you gota on the next page. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, roll. You're right. Sorry about that. Thanks, Greg. Um, okay. So, we're going to do a roll call vote. Mr. Showers, yes. Mr. Baneer, yes. Mr. Foot, no. Mr. Zabushka, yes. Mr. Peragino, no. Ms. Lucian, yes. Miss Tilton, yes.

083Okay, that is one to five yeses and two nos. The motion carries. And then we also have item C, custodian sick time concern, Mr. Falconee. So, um, when, and Matt and I are going to kind of take this one on together. Um, when we negotiated the, uh, outsourcing of our custodial groups contract, um, we did meet with them. We discussed everything. uh we did not mail any letters uh to to to the custodians uh with regard to um anything. We we actually had conversations with them. But um when we negotiated, we negotiated salary, vacation time, and positions because those are the main areas that we looked at. Matt, was there anything else that we negotiated? Uh there there actually is. So we guaranteed their exist existing positions for all those that want to make the

084transition. That was the first thing. Second, we guaranteed the positions at their 2025 2026 rates of pay. We also guaranteed the employees that they would keep all of their earned vacation time and for some employees that's up to five weeks. In addition, I negotiated uh that they would have two additional holidays from what the company that they would be joining have. And I also negotiated that the benefits that they would be have the the the ability to sign up for would be those that the HES management employees receive, which are the the highest level of um benefits. So those were the I mean when I when we sat and talked with them I really wanted to make sure that I could protect as much as possible for these employees and still have savings to the

085district. Right. Ultimately this was about saving budget dollars back. So yeah and so the retire it was the the sick time payout is a retirement benefit. It's not something that they they have. It's when they retired from the district. So, when Matt and I were looking at what needed to be negotiated, that wasn't something we discussed because it's a retirement benefit. In the field of education, um when you have sick days, and teachers would know this, they roll over to the next year. Uh personal time usually doesn't in contracts, but vacation time rolls over, not vacation, the sick time rolls over to the next year. With this company, they have a different format on how sick time works. If you need long-term disability, you can purchase that insurance piece. Correct. You you can enroll in

086both long-term and short-term disability programs. So, what happened here um is that a number of board members have reached out to myself and I spoke with Karen about putting together some options that the board could take a look at if they decided to pay out this retirement uh benefit to the custodians. I have on the on what I sent you has the and I don't know everyone should have the revised document in front of them where there's more than just three options. Um the top has the current language in the contract and then or the agreement and then you have option one option two option three uh option four five six and seven. Um, I think it's important before the board makes a decision or even looks at the options for Matt to discuss where

087we are financially right now towards the end of the year so people could understand where we where we fall with the cost and what we could afford. So, what would be in my report to you this evening is um obviously we're in the final stretch here for 2425. We have 27 days remaining. We're meeting early for me to have a a very good number, right? There's still pretty much the rest of the month to go. My best estimate at this point is we will have a very small surplus. And when I say small, I'm talking about $26,390 555. Jerry, you talk about counting pennies. I try to take it down to the to the penny. Could you say that again? I Some people are writing it down. Yeah. $26,39055. And that's based on what I

088know right now on June 4th. I was putting this together this afternoon at 2:30 this afternoon. I will say that every day I do get surprised with an invoice or something that either didn't get to me on a timely basis or I did wasn't aware that was happening but now it's in front of me. Um so as your business manager I will tell you that this makes me a little nervous but I did try to account for everything that I know. I literally went through this report line by line to to make sure that I was accounting for just about everything. So I I also want to emphasize one thing on I think it was my first or second day working with Matt. The chairman at the board at the time was Walt Seaman. And

089Walt came and met met with myself and Matt and he was clear that one of the things he tasked us with was the the board of education can't end the year with a surplus. That is the way they were ending. They were ending really high with numbers. We were talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars. Um, and so Matt, myself, Beth, the administrative team, we looked at how we can either utilize that money or what the cuts would be. Over the four years of me being a superintendent, we've cut approximately $2 million in our budget. We've also added programs. We've added a foods program at the middle school, a teched program, a library media program, STEM programming at both of our elementary schools. we've added and we've cut at the same time. You can see

090there's nothing else. when we're ending the year, a $27 million budget with $26,000 on June 4th. Um we, Matt and I, over the time with the assistance of of some budgets that we've received, um we've gotten that number down to where I believe it's respectful and responsible to the community that that is is having a difficult time. So, I think it's important to say. So, getting back to this, I put the options in here. I put what each would cost the district. Um, and uh, with this, I want you to know that I spoke to Cindy. Um, she couldn't be here this evening and Cindy and I had a conversation. Um, she was uncomfortable with the first set of options that I sent out and she requested that I send another set out to the

091board. I spoke to Karen and and of course uh we we did that. Cindy was not satisfied with the the $25 an hour uh 20 not hour $25 per day uh amount and she wanted to give as much as possible to this group. So that was Cindy's feeling and she asked if I could express that at this meeting. So, and now this really is ultimately a board decision. Does everybody need a moment to look through the options or have we already done that? I've looked through them. I have a comment. Yep. Go ahead, Matt. In we have 3 million six $3 million. And now, but our balance is 217,000. Correct. Mhm. And I when I was reading your report, we ran into some problems in the food service with refrigeration. Yeah. Go ahead and ask

092your question. No. No. I was just wondering uh I know the problems aren't over. Okay. So, y food service and operating budget are two completely different budgets and entities. So what's happening with food service is a separate I'll report on that after. All right. Um when we're looking at um the operating budget, right? So yes, on this May 31st report, it says we have $217,000. And as I said, I went through today and I I tried to find every single thing I knew that was coming through, whether it's encumbered or not encumbered. Yep. And that's how I got to my 26, $39055 estimation. Okay. And again, it's based on June 4th. June 4th. No, you answered my question. Anyone else? comments, questions. Are do we have I know we're seeing like there's the number of

093employees who are impacted in each of these scenarios. So like for example 10 years or more would be what would make them eligible for the retirement. Correct. Do we have employees who are like within a year or two of retirement that this is like especially like a gut punch to or not quite that far along in there. I would say where I think it's more of a gut punch and correct me if I'm wrong, it's there are are employees that haven't used their days. They're maxed out or they're close. They have over a hundred sick days, right? and they feel like they're losing them um because they show up and they don't use their time and they're committed employees and they absolutely do what they're supposed to do and and I mean to be fair

094to the custodial group too um you know this is a change they weren't expecting and so um there are there is one person that is retiring to answer your question Kelly there is one gentleman who is going to retire okay um at the end of June June 30th and he is going to sign on with the company. He does have the opportunity to in essence double dip, right? Um we to my knowledge we do not have anybody on board that could re retire. Um they're probably five years out. So it's not a year or two. It's It's a little bit It's more on the far to the finish line. Yeah. Um and you know, Brian used the term the gut punch for folks that um had sick time but didn't have an opportunity to use

095it. We do have a custodian that was going to have a uh medical procedure, was planning on it, unbeknownst to us. Um, and they did talk to me and I have been able to work with AS and we are going to have be able to do an accommodation for them where they would join AGS later. In essence, they'll remain um board of ed employees because the medical procedure is going to be scheduled before July 1st. So they'll be able to stay with us and then once recovery is done and then be able to use the accumulated sick time and then once they're released we'll then join HS and AS has allowed um allowed us to do that for a variety of reasons but one of them is is well if they're not going to join

096us I'm not going to charge you for them so we're going to we're going to pay it on the other right so we'll pay it through our regular budget but they're not going to charge us for so the net is going out So, but I was able to do that. But that was a situation that we were unaware of that came up after our announcement. Um, but once it became aware is I was able to to sit with them and work that out and the employee is aware of it. Uh I I think I have to go on record just so that you know is that the person closest to all this negotiation to me as your business manager, this is a retirement benefit. They will have opportunity for for retirement benefits with this other

097company. And I do you know what the I I do not but I do not my advice my my recommendation to is to not do the payout but the decision is the board but I feel like you should know that that's what my recommendation is. So you're saying option one Matt? I would say yeah because at the end of the day folks is the money is going to have to come from somewhere and as I said it's close for this year and the the thought of dip dipping into next year after all the reductions we've already made is not palable to me but again this is your decision and I will follow whatever direction it is that you want to go. So theoretically with signing on to this new company, they would have time to

098rebuild their reserves before they retired from the new company. No, that their building of sick time is not part of the new company's option. Okay. So they get so many sick days a year and it's I don't like the term, but it's basically use them or lose them and then they get replenished the following year. and Kelly pretty standard but that that's the with regard to the sick time that's why we really couldn't negotiate it because they get a set amount every year and then they if you don't use them you lose them so the carrying over doesn't work for them right because it's a private company not a and I I want to say to the board I understand the challenge because these are people you know we it's easy to look at these

099are people that again didn't know this was coming this is a change for them that they weren't expecting and um you guys are the ones seeing them in the public whether it be at IG or Dunkin Donuts or wherever and you have to face them and so this decision ultimately is a board decision on how you want to move forward. Uh Matt's Matt's feelings or my feelings on where this should be are not really I mean they're not relevant. They're not relevant at all. This is up board decision on how you would like to move forward with any sort of payout if at all. Can I just interject for a second? Um the individuals that have acred sick time. It probably starts from an individual let's say who's been with the district two years or

100somebody who's been here let's say 20 years. So the difference in payout is going to be you know a smaller payout for that first individual because they only have let's say 25 sick days whereas the highest individual even though they haven't attained 180 they could be at like 150. Okay. So you have and when looking at it from the board aspect um just understand that um some people are going to be well compensated and other people are just going to get whatever they have in sick time that's acrewed and um depending on what we want to do and how we want to do it. You know it's I I get it. I get it because of the fact is as I stated before we deal in pennies. Okay. But personally from my own standpoint and

101coming back on the board being new, these are employees that dedicated their time and effort to the town of Plymouth. Okay. Um and to a certain extent I feel as an obligation myself that I should at least award them with something. Okay? And whatever that something is gets determined by the eight members on this board. Okay? Because the board chair technically does not have to vote on this because if it's not a tie then it goes through. Okay? So um I don't you know I don't really know how to explain this to people um what dedication that we have as a board to these employees because they gave dedication to us. So, and as a new member, I'm kind of conflicted on where to go. Now, you individuals have worked with these individuals in the

102last four years of some of you that have been here. So, you're going to have to probably make some type of decision and somebody should kind of make a recommendation so we can at least have a discussion about which one of these options is more closely related to what they already believe they were going to receive. So the retirement benefit is in the top what it actually looks like on in the contractual language. So at the time of retirement, employees after 10 or more years of service in the Plymouth Public School system shall receive payment for one half of their accumulated sick days in the amount of $50 per day, not to exceed a maximum of 90 days. So, if you have 180 days, you can get paid out for 90 of them at $50

103a day, which I believe is 40 4500 $4,500 that that employee would receive. And uh so to Jerry's point, you know, there are people that have that max, they would get paid a significant amount more than someone else that might have 15 days, you know. So, so to be like it is now we're looking at options uh six and seven, right? Is that am I reading that correct? Correctly that that those would be most close those would be the the most close to even which because this is half of the sick days at $50 per day. Yeah. I'm sorry. So when I created this just so you know I I I'll just explain it. So you have the the current language, then you have a no payout. That's as option one where it would cost

104district zero. Then I went to instead of half the sick days, I went to a quarter at half the price that they would get. So I got a quarter of their sick days at 45 max, $25 payout. So instead of having, you know, double that. And then when you go to the next page, it's still a quarter, but you get $50 payout for option four and five. And option six is half the days and then the full payout. So Mr. Foot, it's that option six and seven. Similar and and to align with the actual retirement benefit, it would be six because it's more than 10 years of service. How about option four and five or that would be at one quarter of their their days, not half. Okay. But they they'll get a $50 per

105day. $50 a day at a quarter of the days maxed at 45 days, which I think is $2,250 for someone that's maxed out. And is this something we're doing going to do just at the end of this year, not when they retire? No. No, no, no. We would have to pay this out when they retire. No, no, no. They It would have to be This was basically a payout to these folks that are being transitioned. Gotcha. Um, so it would be happening. So, it would be kind of a June 30th date. Gotcha. Um, so this money would be a one-time loss to our district uh and the amounts that you have on this this list and it would happen now, not when they retire. Correct. Correct. Because at the time they retire, they would no

106longer be our employees. And what was one more time the number that you said we have left? It was 26,000. I know, but I don't think I wrote $3905. Oh, see I knew I wrote numbers. I was really close, though. Jerry's talking about So, um, realistically, options six and seven aren't even on the table because we don't have that money that would deplete to use. We'd have to It would deplete everything that I have that I believe we would have. Um I also also keep in mind we have a very large project that we need to discuss with you later in the agenda. Um that [Music] um any money that was at the end of this year we would have used towards it. But I ju just a reminder is there's a there's an infrastructure

107project out there as well. So, I would be open to looking at option four or five. Michelle, do you want to make a motion for that? Um, Karen, I'll make the motion. For which one? Option four or five? We can have a discussion. I'll make the motion. Can we do just one option? That way we can discuss it and then we can change it if we need to. Just so that we're all right. Narrowing it down. I'll resend my motion. make motion that we look at option five. Okay, Jerry's making a motion to look at option five. Do I have a second on that motion? Second. Okay, so Jerry and then Michelle for option five. Now we can open that up for discussion. Can I just share what option five is for everyone public? Yep.

108Go ahead. Option five is all custodians and maintenance employees. So you don't have to have over 10 years of experience in the district. Um they would all who are who are employed on June 30th, 2025 shall be compensated for one quarter of their acred sick days at the rate of $50 per day up to a maximum of 45 days. That would impact 11 employees and the total cost to the district would be one uh $16,730. And that would take half of what we Matt figures we have left, right? A little more than half. A little more than half. Yeah. So that will leave us with if you look at the original 10, right? If you look at the original with the with the other company, they don't accumulate it. You get a certain amount of

109days every year and then they go away. but they could purchase long-term disability insurance, which we don't offer through that company. So, there's different avenues to get the time. So, but it's fair. It's it's So, um with option five, please keep in mind that this would be everybody and not just as the original the original um offer is to you'd have to be here for 10 years. Correct. Correct. So, this would open it up to more people. Well, it it would impact if if it was 10 or more years, it impacts seven individuals. If it if we open it up to everyone who has tried to at least acrue some, okay, it would impact 11 employees. So, you're adding an additional four employees, which to a certain extent helps out the individual that may have

110been here for two or three years, okay? But it also helps out the individual who thought that they were going to retire from here and then be eligible to get that $4,500 paycheck once they retire. Okay. It, you know, school district would just pay them. It doesn't go towards their retirement. They would just get a I understand it. I'm just saying that that's not how the original offer was. The original offer was anybody who was here 10 or more years. So those people wouldn't have been even eligible if you know if it were to happen now. Yes. Correct. But because of the situation of where they're you know of what I mean this this all boils down to lack of funding that comes from the state. Okay. It boils down to that where all of

111a sudden you have to make cuts that are detrimental to the employees that work in this school district. Whether you're a teacher, whether you're a paraprofessional, whether you're a custodian, whether you're an administrator, it all comes down to money. Yeah, we know. That's it. It all comes down to money. And then how do you compensate the individuals that unfortunately, you know, especially the individuals that are at the bottom end of the toing pole, you know, so we have the motion on the board. We have the motion on um we have that motion and it's been made and seconded. Does anyone else have anything to discuss about it before we vote? Yeah, if if you're looking at the 16,000 is it? My concern is district-wide phone system, which is down on the agenda, which we haven't

112even talked about yet. And that's a safety issue. Mhm. And I don't know if there's a number with it. I know we want to take some out of the syncing fund, but I I have a concern about that. I don't have a concern about taking out the scing fund. I just I I know this system is is done. It's shot. And if we're going to take 16,000, I don't know if we need extra money. I don't know where we're going to get it from. I just I don't know. I'm I'm not in favor of option five. I support option one. All right. So, we have a motion on the board. We have a motion and it has been seconded. We can vote on that and then we can do another motion if this one does

113not pass. So, if that's how we want to proceed, does anyone else have to anything to say about it before we move on to voting? Want to get ones out that like definitely not. Yeah, we can do that. But should we vote on this? Whatever you want to do on this. Let's just vote on this first so that we can then move on. Does everybody is everybody comfortable with voting on this right now? All right. Um, so option five is what has been made a motion and seconded. So we're going to go ahead. I do you mind if I go person by person just so that we have the right numbers? Okay. Yes and no. Mr. um Showers, no. Mr. Bubber, yes. Um, Mr. Foot? Yes. Uh, Miss Tilton? No. Ms. Lucian? Yes. Mr. Peragino.

114No. And Mr. Zabushka? Yes. Okay, that makes it uh yeses. So, that makes it pass. Um, we just passed it. We're all set now. So, option five. Option five. It is. Okay. Now, we are on to item D, districtwide phone system. So Matt, I don't know if you So I'm gonna I'm gonna say this. I'll give the details. Yeah. Um, we're struggling with our phone system. We have the same phone system as the town and the town is replacing their phone system this year. Um, because it's it's dead. It's obsolete. There's no parts for it. We were grabbing parts years and years ago from districts that were removing this phone system so we would have extra parts when Rich Trudeau was here. Um, it's done. We're resetting our system twice a week and it it

115is a safety issue because you really it we need to have that communication throughout the school for a number of safety reasons. Um so one of the things that we've been doing and looking into is a replacement of our entire phone system because the entire phone system is down and Matt has the details of the vendors and some other information. Okay. So, um, this obviously started some time ago as we started to see that the phone system has been failing. Um, it's been on our list of things to address, but it is slowly escalating up. Um, the tech department and I have we've met with three different companies. We've received some some proposals from those companies. Um one of them is uh ABS automated business systems which is a current vendor of ours. They supply

116our uh copers and uh printing machines. We also supplied uh we also met with a company called Forinet and then CCI Voice. Um, ABS uh came in with the lowest price and best service and it's somebody that we already work with and know foret their um proposal was like off the charts high. We kind of just set that aside right away. We didn't even want to really talk with them. CCI's voice came in higher than ABS but but close and what uh pushed us towards the ABS side is that their support is their tier one and tier 2 support is local as opposed to call centers that can be anywhere. Um we already have a good relationship with ABS. They they're very supportive of our systems. They've been excellent to work with. So, we do

117have a um a proposal from them. Uh and the price tag right now is like 97,400 and change. I don't have the exact number in front of me. I apologize. I have the proposal, but not all the math. So, $100,000 roundabout. Round round numbers. It's $100,000. Yeah. Um what I guess what this on the agenda for Brian is is for us so for the for the board to agree that we continue to pursue this. This is a project that if we can if we can get it done we prefer to have it done over the summer. It includes phones in every classroom and new systems within all of the offices and central office. and they'll be all interconnected. It's all cloud-based. So there the backup system, the hardware is not here on site. So if

118there's if we have a hardware failure because it's cloud-based, we won't have that issue. And that's part of what we're encumber we have right now is the systems are old and we can't, you know, we really can't maintain them anymore. So, um I mean our our hopes were that we would have enough funds um remaining at the end of the year to take care of this project. Um the the custodial piece aside and the decision made doesn't really impact or touch um it impacts it by 16 $16,000, right? I mean, at the end of the day, whatever money we have at the end, I would I would put towards this project, right? But ultimately, it's the sinking fund. We need permission from the board to utilize those funds for a project such as this because

119we just there these are the things that we pull out of our operating budget with the hopes that we can either have the money at the end of the year through savings and oil or whatever else there would be. Um or we would go to the syncing fund. And so this is one of those things that has been on my board for about a year and a half, two years now in its time. So all right, I would like to entertain a motion to authorize the superintendent of schools to work with the business manager to replace the district-wide phone system utilizing the remaining balance of the 2024 2025 budget and necessary difference from the syncing fund. So moved. Mr. Showers, Mr. Peragino any further discussion on this? It's a safety issue. There should be no

120question about it. Yep. It is a safety issue for all these schools and all our teachers and all our students. It's a safety issue. Period. I just have a question. So you because this contract is in the amount close to 100,000 when you put it out for bids, you only got three bids on on that and that was like the best one that because all three of these are part of the state consortium. We can just do proposals as opposed to an RFP. So what we did is we checked around to see who other folks were using and asked them to come in and do those proposals. Okay. Matt, is there any reason why we didn't, you know, piggyback with the town because you I, if I recall, you said something about the town was

121having issues, too. Um, the town phone system and the school phone system were kind of piggybacked together. Um, and then when the tech departments separated, that sort of separated at the same time. even though we're using the same equipment, it's been separated out. Um, they were ahead of us as far as going through this process. Um, and as you know, Brian said, it's been on our board, but now it has moved up. So, we're just kind of on our own, not we're not tied together anymore. Well, even if we're not tied together is whoever they're using one of these companies. So like they're giving us a similar I don't know because they have they have a different group who's making their their decisions. So if I'm not mistaken this this has been on capital improvements

122in 2014 Mhm. 2014 2025 11 years when I went to Yale it was 11 years and it's and yeah it's time. All right. Wait one more question. What what is in the sinking fund now and how empty will that put us in case something else breaks unexpectedly? The current balance of the sinking fund with the most recent project that we did right now is $251,979. But we are still await waiting for a reimbursement for the um security camera grant that we had of 162,500 which would put the safety fund at 414500. I am calling the state literally every other week saying, "Hey, we submitted all the paperwork. When are we getting the money?" And the answer is always the same is we see it's in process. It takes time. It's normally it doesn't take time

123to cut a check. We provision you up. So, we'll have enough to hold us over in case something explodes in the school. go with the word explodes. Oh, sorry. Let's not thinking I was just thinking like pipes breaking like there's been a lot of you know emergency and there has situations and we've made a lot of improvements over the last four or five years. If Mr. Baison was here, he would tell you that. Um, but right, we still call this building the new high school. It's only 20 years old. It is 20. So, um you're right, maintenance, maintenance is maintenance. We have to deal with that as we move along. Um and this is just something that right is like most of our things on capital, we just keep pushing it out until we can't

124push it out anymore. And uh based on our conversations with uh John Damato, who's our tech director, is this is the this is the one issue now that keeps him awake at night. Yeah. We get a lot of those emails saying the oppos are down. We have a motion on the table. It's been seconded. All those in favor. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Motion carries. Item number 12, business manager report and personnel report. Now that I've reported most of what I was report, I'm just going to talk about uh two things. Uh actually three. Number one, the budget for 2025 2026 is open. I opened it on May 29th. So, the staff can be putting in requisitions for next year's supplies and equipment that were in the budget. Um, those items will remain in the approval

125queue until July 1, at which point I'll go in, I'll approve them and we can turn over to POS and get that open. I just want to let you know that budget's open. People can put in requisitions. I know that sometimes you hear from people, oh, we can't do this, we can't. It's open. um food service. When you when you get to look through what I gave you put in front of your uh chairs earlier, you'll see that in the month of June, you had a minor loss $8440. Really caused by two things. One is we had to do maintenance. All the schools refrigeration month of May. And then two, um, the the cafeteria leads bought food supplies at the very end of May to carry us to the end of the school year. So

126when I figure out June's financials, I shouldn't have a big food purchase. Kind of built bought it early. Um, with that said, we will have uh positive fund balance at the end of the year, which is great. The downside to that is we have a pretty hefty unpaid meal charge balance. Um teachers are probably pretty familiar with that. But uh the state requires that any child that we have that asks for a lunch, we have to give them the we have to feed them no matter what whether they have money on their account or not. Um and we do have a significant um unpaid balance. When somebody askked me a question, are we will that cover will the uh the unpaid balance is about $15,000 and it should just cover. Is there any talk at

127the state again about covering the lunches for these kids? It is ridiculous. There are hungry children out there. Kelly, I agree with you 100%. There was a bill on the floor at this session to go to universal breakfast feeding. Okay. and that died somewhere along the way. In a lot of the big cities, they get all of their meals paid for and just because we're a small town, we have hungry kids, then they don't get their lunches paid for. Is it still a percentage? Is that what it is? It is still a percentage. So, it's it's interesting. They the state came through and said if you have 25% free and reduced, you can go to C, right? So, that's community eligibility program. And that's great. they lower the percentage, but in order for the system

128to work, your percentage still needs to be in excess of 52% because only the free and reduced dollars are what you get reimbursed for and they have to cover all of the students that aren't free and reduced. So, you don't get enough funding. The break even point is like 52%. And I know that because that was my job prior to coming here was creating those programs, right? So I know that that's where it is. So we monitor it and we're in the 40s. Like we're close. But I would I'm going to tell you that if we decided that we were going to go C even though the state number now is 25%. We wouldn't be break even. So we're small town as Jerry likes to use small town and I agree with him 100% is

129we're kind of caught in this no man's land. Yeah. where we need to feed the kids 100%, but they've handcuffed us with the collection side of it. It used to be that we could say you can't go on the field trip until you clear this account. You can't walk at graduation until you clear this up. We're not allowed to do that anymore by statute. So, they kind of handcuffed us. Um I know that there that SNAT which is the state lunch organization um is constantly lobbying for that. So I wish I was I wish we say it was. But with that said, let me just finish service and that is overall the program did have a successful year. And I want to uh thank the entire staff because they worked hard all year and we

130did have hurdles that we needed to get over uh between um extended absences and um some personnel issues that we had to deal with is the staff that is that is working with us today really did a good job and they they deserve credit for that. Um and then uh lastly, Eli Terry Middle School. Um just to give you a quick update is our um our claims consultant has submitted cost estimates to the insurance company in excess of $1.2 million. Now, we're not going to get $1.2 million. This is the it's the insurance claim game, if you will, but they're still working it through. And the insurance company has been dragging their heels on giving their side of what they're willing to do. But they have, as I said in the last meeting, approved $200,000

131as an advance, which gives us enough to get things started with ordering the materials for the new gym floor and beginning the demolition of the classroom where this leak originated. um once the school year is out and we're not jumping through hoops here is there'll be an in-person meeting with Brian, myself and the consultant to really talk about okay what are our next I don't want to use our next test but how are we escalate this because obviously the goal is to be ready to go on August 20th when teachers and kids are back in what what are they saying that you think is a timeline like is that realistic Are they saying 6 weeks? Are they saying 6 months? Like, no. Right now, I think that we are going to be okay. The gym

132floor may not be 100% at that point. It may be that we're still finishing it, but I believe that we'll be able to open at that school. Perfect. That's my belief on June because you can get started on the higher priority areas. Okay. The biggest thing is having the materials ordered because it's all specialty, right? Stuff. Okay. We have a contractor on board. They all working through insurance. It it has been a godsend to to work with them. Yeah. Right. It's a burden off you too really. All right. Any other questions for Matt? All right. We all have the um the personnel report in our packet. Does anyone have any questions for Mr. Felco about the personnel report? Looks pretty straightforward. I mean, you have nothing to note. No, I mean there's a couple positions

133that um are just shortage areas that we're going to be posted and we're going to we're not going to um we're going to hire the right people. Absolutely. So, that's what we're working on right now. Okay. Great. All right. We are moving on to item 13, public comment. Just like before, please come to the podium. State your name. Write your name down if you haven't already. Okay. We will move on to remote public comment. Nothing. Nothing. Okay. All right. Next up is item 14, board liaison reports. Harry S. Fischer Elementary School. That's too early in the month to have had another meeting. Oh, yeah. Makes sense. uh Plymouth Center School, anything? Yeah, there's um there's a few kits available for uh build a buddy which can be ordered through the PTA tree lid. Um there's

134a few yearbooks still available for $25 or you could email the P PTA and um order them online and have it directly mailed to you. and the second grade gifts will be going home this week. I for I did forget to say though Davis today I've heard from my son did not enjoy it but he's not an athlete but I've heard it was wildly successful. Um I know the fifth graders came home with some bike helmets. I don't know how that happened but that was pretty awesome. And um end of you know a lot of end of year stuff. So, the fifth grade um picnic thing is on Tuesday and I'm sure there's other celebrations going on. I do want to just take a moment and thank all the PTA volunteers cuz like it's a

135lot of work to put that stuff together and anybody out there who's listening who's got a third grader coming in and a bunch of meetings, get involved, do fun stuff with the kids. Thank you. With the bike helmets, there was a grant. It was a $5,000 grant for um safety and and transportation. Um I applied for it and under trying to get every student at Fiser bike helmet, we weren't able to afford it because they are a little more expensive than we wanted. I just reapplied again for another 5,000 to get them for the rest of the school. Because the way I look at it is when a child gets a bike um they get to a point where they help grow their helmet and so that's around when it happens. So it is something

136that we've been applied for. So hopefully we get the other 5,000 when we take care of the rest of this. All right, Mr. Foot Tville High School. The uh PTSA has had very successful fundraisers this year. Uh it's been a pleasure to work with them. Very dedicated people. Uh and they're getting ready for next uh on the 11th, next Wednesday uh for their after grad event which sounds pretty good, pretty exciting. Uh they are going to be looking for uh new members for uh class of uh 26 and the class of 27 as well. So but it was it was a great year working with them. Thank you, Miss Tilton for Ed Advance. Our meeting is tomorrow. I have nothing on that either. I apologize. All right. Item number 15, board comments. We're going to

137start with Mr. Falcone. Um, what I'd like to say is this is one of the best board meetings I've ever been a part of. And I'm going to say it because everyone contributed. This is a working session. We made some really hard decisions and we're working as a unit. You know, it's very rare that I agree with Jerry, but like it but it's okay because oh god, he's sharing how he feels and what he thinks is right. And it might be different than what Michelle might feel, but that's okay to have those differences of opinions. And I think where it impressed me the most is with the custodians and choosing option five. That's a challenging decision and we were all over the place, but this is a working meeting and everyone contributed and I was

138very impressed with how the board worked this evening. So, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Showers. Uh, just everybody enjoy the summer and I'll see you in August. Mr. Baneer, uh, congratulations to the staff that has retired. Um, I will tell you it's probably the best thing in the world. uh knowing for myself when I retired. Problem is is that you're going to try to figure out how I did all this work while I was working and now I have to do all this work when I'm retired. And you never have understand why you had time in your day in order to do it. So congratulations to them and congratulations to the pair of the year and teacher of the year. All right, Mr. Foot. Congratulations to the graduating class and everybody have a great summer.

139Thank you. Um, Mr. Zabushka, um, I have to thank everybody. This went pretty smooth and, uh, I enjoyed it. I have a sort of a funny story just that took place. Um, when Dr. Bonnie Dowy Jenkins received her doctorate, uh, Mike Buzzy came over the intercom for the school and announced that she received his a doctorate. And I had a class full of pretty much eighth grade boys that were on the sports teams. So one of them asked him, "So what does that mean?" And I said, "She's the one that's going to be giving you your physicals for sports." That was the biggest reaction I ever got out of the class. It exploded. Sure they like that. Mr. Perino. Yes. Congratulations to the teacher of the year and par of the year. And also congratulations

140to all our seniors that are graduating this year. Uh and I'm really impressed with the amount of scholarship that uh they received for a small town like this. It's uh it's wonderful. Every year they get over 200,000. It's just just amazing. Mission, I just want to say to everybody, have a happy and safe summer. It goes by very quickly and we'll be here in no time at all in August. Yeah. Yeah. But you have it off. [Laughter] Um, congratulations to everyone. I just want to thank everybody for their hard work. I know probably it would be great if you give more than one person teacher and parent of the year because so many people just contribute so much. So, thank you to everybody all again, all the volunteers, all the students, all the staff. Uh,

141hang in there. It's almost over. All right. I also would like to thank um congratulate all of our award winners this a this evening. And to our seniors, have amazing summer and good luck in whatever you choose to do next. Um, as always, I would also like to thank um anyone who came up for public comment. We appreciate the um the input from our uh community. Whether it is something good or whether it's something bad, we are open to hearing it. Um you know, it might seem like it takes us a long time to get to it, but we we do talk about it behind the scenes a little and we do try to work on it. But this is, you know, it's a work in progress type thing. Um, our next board meeting, the

142reg next regular meeting of the Plymouth Board of Education is on Wednesday, August 20th, which is the 3 Wednesday at 700 p.m. in the cafeteria at Terryville High School. Item number 17, executive session. I'd like to entertain a motion to enter into executive session at 9:16 p.m. to discuss the following item. Inviting Mr. Falconee, superintendent of schools, and Mrs. Malo, assistant superintendent of schools into executive session. Update on a legal matter. Second, Mr. Showers, Mr. Foot. All in favor? Motion carries. We are going into executive session. Yeah, go ahead. Of course. regular session at 9:27 p.m. On to item 19. No action will be taken from executive session. And item 20, I'd like to entertain a motion to adjourn at 9:27 p.m. So move. Second. Mr. Showers, Mr. Foot. All in favor? Motion carries. Thank

143you very much. Have a nice See you in August.