001of May 14th, 2025 to order at 7:05 p.m. Please join us for a pledge to the flag. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Item number two, adoption of the agenda. Um, I would like to entertain a motion to amend the agenda to add um to unfinished business adoption of the assigned budget. Also to add uh for executive session to discuss the contracts of the superintendent, the assistant superintendent and the business manager. Do I have a motion? So move. Mr. Perigino second. Mr. Showers. All in favor? I. Uh motion carries. Um, now I would like to entertain a motion to adopt the agenda as amended. So move. Michelle, second. Greg.
002All in favor? I. Motion carries. Now we are moving on to approval of the minutes. Okay. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the following minutes. A. the minutes of the regular board of education meeting of April 9th, 2025 and the special board of education meeting budget workshop for 2526 of April 23rd, 2025. So move, Mr. Showers. Second. Second. Cindy. Any discussion? All right. All in favor? Opposed? Abstension, please. Abstension. Jerry. Got it. Motion carries. All right. B. The minutes of the special meeting of the Plymouth Board of Education Curriculum Achievement Committee of April 9th, 2025. And this is for committee members. Move. Kelly. Second. Mr. Foot. Any discussion? All in favor? Okay. Uh motion carries all of them. All right. Item number four. Yes. I would like to make a motion at this
003point in time. Four. Um I want to make a motion to resend the policy pertaining to policy number 9024 bylaws on page 55. This is in violation of the town charter and the Connecticut General Statute section 10-28. I'll second that motion. Okay. Any discussion? Um, could we vote on it? Well, we have discussion before we vote, but yeah. All right. So, everybody understands what it is. It's a new policy, right? No, I don't understand what it is. We're going to Well, Greg was having a conversation. Yeah, I hear you. Yeah, I had to wait. This is in reference to the board policy, new board policy that is in the policies uh in the 9,000 policies that basically states that you have to have you have to be on the board of education for two years
004in order to be uh in order to be nominated as far as the chair, the vice chair, and the secretary. and you have to um attend at least 70% of the meetings. So, in all honesty, it's in violation of the town charter because there's nothing in the town charter that states that other than um stating that when you run for the board of education, it's a four-year term. And one of the Let's see, let me get Mr. Gentiles sent me information. Oops. um sent me information from let's see Lewis Teddiscoco he is the attorney for the Connecticut Department of Education. Okay. And his he replied to a gentleman by the name of Justin. So I'm assuming that Mr. uh Gentile spoke to this gentleman and was looking for some clarification on that on that policy.
005Cherry, could you just speak up because I it looks like they're tr they're having trouble over here. All right. Uh, basically, uh, Mr. Tedesco replied to, um, Justin Clary basically saying a board of education would not have the authority generally to change the requirements for electing its chairperson or secretary which are set forth by the stat in a statute here. Connecticut general statutes section 10-28. The board may prescribe their duties. This is stated in the statute. It is possible, although as I think unlikely, that a town charter, a special act of the legislature could change the manner in which the board's offices are elected. This would have to be checked locally. Doesn't see anything. Okay. So, and this is from the uh from the town at from the Yeah, the attorney for the Connecticut Department
006of Education. Okay. Okay. Any other discussion? I don't know who the guy is. So I doesn't say anything about the board. I don't Well, it says the Connecticut Department of Education. So I would probably say I will I would speculate that Connecticut Department of Education is part of the board of education. Could I make a recommendation? Sure. Um this policy that you're referring to, Jerry, um it it's a policy that we have in place for the bylaws that was voted in, but truly it doesn't impact uh this board until the election in November because that's when we reelect uh leadership positions within the board. My recommendation is let me speak to our our attorneys to see um if they have concerns over the bylaws with the laws that in in the information that you're stating
007um and let let me get back to you on what Shipman says about that policy and the legalities behind it. Well, in all honesty, Brian, and no disrespect, but everything seems to be of legal opinion. Okay. So I have a legal Mr. Gentile got an legal opinion from an attorney from the state department of education. So now we're going to get an legal opinion from shipment and good. So now it will be this attorney figures this that attorney figures that. Okay. The basic thing that we need to do is resend that policy and then go forth and decide if the legalities of somebody having to be on the board for two years before they can be nominated for that position and after 107% of the meetings because in all honesty, okay, I've been on the
008board for approximately six years plus. So basically, if I wanted to, and with this policy, if I wanted to run for board chair in the next election, if I got in, I can't because you're basically saying I haven't served two years consecutively. That's discrimination. That's discriminating against me who's been on the board for a certain amount of time. It's also discriminating for an individual. Let's say, for instance, they were on the town council of this town and decided they didn't want to be on the town council anymore. and now they wanted to run with the board of education. They have enough knowledge within the town and let's say they were the representative and say they were the re representative from the town council here who they come to these meetings every single month to understand
009to know what's going on with the board of ed. Why would you say they can't run because they haven't been on the board of ed for two years consecutively? that personally I think that's my own personal opinion that's discrimination. So all I'm saying is we have a legal opinion from someone that's not on the board of education that you're sharing with us. What? I'm just Oh, Jerry, all I'm saying is we do our due diligence with regard to responding to that information since we do have time before the next election of officers, which happens in November. And we hear from our legal counsel on whether what the board put in place in their bylaws is okay or is not okay. And then we act after we get our legal advice for this board. Um, that's
010why Shipman's there for us to lean on. That's all I'm saying. That's not a problem, Brian, because whatever the board decides, then depending on what goes on, I'll just go have a conversation to the mayor and then I'll ask the mayor if the town attorney can have a legal opinion. Also, Mr. Question, I didn't hear you. I'm sorry. Move your question. Okay. any Well, I want to give everybody else a chance to discuss it if they would like to. Does anybody else have anything that they want to say? I agree with Jerry on the policy. Um, as most of you know, I was out for back surgery. I had no control over that. I couldn't walk. I had to get the back surgery. Right now, I have something wrong with my gallbladder. I might have
011to get surgery. That That's not my fault. So if I miss a meeting and I'm secretary or vice chair, that's medical condition. That's all I Well, you were out. You did it on the computer though, didn't you? I did some meetings on the computer and some meetings not because when I had my back surgery for the first three weeks, I couldn't even though. But I'm saying you did do it on I did some online. Yes. Okay. Okay. So we have a motion. We have it seconded. So, if we're voting yes, then you're rescending the you're rescending the policy. If you vote no, then you are not rescending the policy. That or are we going to table it and get more opinions and bring it back? That would have to be an amended amended motion. We
012have a motion on the on the table. So, Greg seconded it. That's right. Thank you. Yeah. Did you were you gonna ask something? No, I just explained yes or no. So the the motion is to resend the policy to take it away. So if you vote yes, you want to take the policy away. Yeah. If you vote no, then you want to leave it as it is and we can still get more information if we would like to. Okay. So that's completely up to obvious. Okay. I I just want the clarification. Okay. So I'm going to go if everybody's amendable to this, I'm going to go person by person so that we don't have to figure out yeses and nos. Is that good? All right. Jerry, yes. Greg, yes. Uh, no. Mr. Foot, no. Okay.
013Um, Lou, no. Pat, no. Uh, Cindy, yes. Michelle, yes. Kelly, uh, no. Okay. What is that? Four to four. Four to four. Lis it to me again. I am going to vote no. And I would like you to look into it though if you could do that. Ask Mr. Ask Shipman a good one to let us know what the answer is on that and then we have obviously we have time to take that out if we need to. All right. So now we are on to item number four, student representatives. Fallon and Ava, welcome. Hi. We have a lot for you tonight. A lot's going on right now with the end of the school year. Start us off on May 8th, members of the community join the Leo's Club for annual harvest pack. If you're
014unfamiliar, harvest pack is a volunteer organization that packages millions of meals for people in need around the world. We were able to also join force for forces with the Watertown Leo Club for the first time and had four assembly lines running at once. This year, in only three hours, we packaged 13,000 meals for people in Kentucky who have recently experienced extreme floods. The Leos Club is excited to continue this long-standing tradition again next year and pack even more meals. Yesterday, Steven M, a motivational speaker, came to speak to the entire student body. In his speech about the impact of his choices, he shared how one decision he made in his 20s to drive under the influence changed his life forever. Mr. Empt is now paralyzed and uses a wheelchair, but he has turned his disability
015into something great. He's been to the Parolympics twice where he won gold for the United States and has created a career in traveling to schools around the country to share his story. Students were very attentive during his presentation and got to try on goggles that stimulated being under the influence. With last week being teacher appreciation week, student council planned something special. Each year, we hang letters that can be seen through the windows on the front of the school that spell out thank you teachers. We also create personalized handwritten cards for each teacher, pair professional, custodian, cafeteria worker, office employee, and member of the tech department. This year, we wanted to go further to show our appreciation. Students organized and executed a tie-dye day for every member of the staff. Sorry. Our goal was to create
016a fun and unique shirt for staff to wear on Fridays to dress down. Our other goal was to create no additional work for teachers, and we were able to pull it off. Behind the scenes, we organized, washed, dried, and folded each shirt. On Thursday, everyone received their ready toear shirts and finished off the week by wearing them on Friday. That's great. The ths drama club had their show Legally Blonde on April 25th and the 26th. The cast had so much fun performing and putting all their talents to use for everyone to see. We appreciate everyone that supported us and we're so grateful to have had the opportunity to express ourselves in such ways as theater. We cannot wait for the next school year to start again where we can continue doing what we love. For
017the past month, Terrible High School has a has had a new unofficial mascot. Lovingly named Francis, a female killed deer, decided to call the stones between our junior and senior parking lots home. When killed lay their eggs, they carefully select a place where they can camouflage on the ground and remain there until their babies are born and can fly on their own. That's quite a lot of dedication. through the rain. Through all the rain we've experienced, Francis did not budge and ths did everything we could to encourage her to stay. Without complaint, six students gave up their parking spots they paid for to allow Francis to protect her babies. The area was also taped off and no students disrupted her. On Monday, after many weeks, Francis and her babies left the nest. THS wishes them
018luck and happy to see that Francis's babies are healthy. The ths Bandoned Chorus recently took a trip to Hershey Park where they stayed for three nights engaging in activities such as visiting Amish Farms, Hershey's famous chocolate world, gift shops, caverns, and even performing in front of judges at a music in the park ceremony. Here, students won the rank superior, which is the highest rank you can achieve. Students had an amazing time with their friends and fellow bandmates and would love to visit again in future years. Yesterday, the band and chorus had their final performance of the year. Chorus did amazing and beautifully sang five songs including Die with a smile by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga. The band also had a phenomenal performance where they too played five songs, one of which being the Mission
019Impossible theme song and a Mr. Keen original Ruse Blues. After the concert, a reception was held in the cafeteria sponsored by Tarville High School Friends of Music Association. Both band and chorus members were proud of their hard work and how it showed during their performance. We're currently in the middle of AP season. For students taking advanced placement courses this week and last week have been extremely stressful. To try and ease the nerves, some teachers have offered after school study sessions or even bagel breakfast on the morning of the exam. Students really appreciate seeing how much our teachers care in about our success and are willing to dedicate hours of their personal time to go over computing confusing questions or even their use their own money to purchase students breakfast. During testing, we try and make
020the environment as distraction-free as possible. As a result, all bells during testing periods are turned off. Students and teachers have adapted well to not only relying on the bells for time. Miss Salvatore, who taught each student how to do everything you seen you saw in the lobby, has flawlessly pulled it off again. Some students have put years of worth and time and effort into perfecting their pieces, and it really shows. On the other hand, almost every piece of stained glass you see out there is done by someone who has never taken a stained glass class before. It's truly incredible how far everyone has come in only a semester long class. This was about the art show. It's no longer there, but it was there since our last meeting. Since our last meeting, student recognition has
021seen an increase. Several students have been a have been highlighted in morning announcements as well as Ruse News. Unfortunately, the majority of accomplishments are still being forgotten. The student council is continuing to work and try and find easy and accessible ways for news and other accomplishments to reach the entirety of school community. Thank you. Great. That's all. Thank you very much, ladies. Um, as always, you are welcome to stay. Does anybody have any questions? Do you still do the MC car accident or is that the replacement what you did? That is usually a senior activity. I if it's happening, we're not aware of it. I don't know. We can let you know next meeting though. I don't know the last time they did the mock accident. And I mean I when I was the principal
022here, we did I think two of them. It wasn't an every year thing. I think it was every other year that the juniors and seniors went out. Um I I can't recall since I've been back. I know Brianna was a part of it. And normally the car sits up there for quite a while. So or they move it to the front of the school. So it it sits there. Yeah. It was the last one I saw. It was here two or three years ago. The last one. We'll let you know next meeting. Keep up the good work with the recognition for students and really happy to see that you're making progress on that. That's fantastic. But as always, you're welcome to stay. Oh yes, of course. I want to thank um the students for their
023commitment to the school community and taking your time, your personal time to come um evaluate other students and their opinion and come to the board and share what's going on in the schools. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. Anybody else? All right. Thank you very much, ladies. Thank you. Have a good night. You too. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. All right, we are moving on to item number five, public comment in person. We have a three minute limit. Please state your name and write your name down on the paper provided. Gentile notepad 269 Montto, Plymouth, Connecticut. Sorry about that. Thank you for fixing the agenda because I did call FOI on the last agenda. You guys did the policy. I love that. That's the way it should be done every single time. Thank you so
024much, Mr. Superintendent. Appreciate that. And I did take the time. It just amazes me how when we put a policy and we don't do our due diligence, but when we try to correct the wrong board members. Thank you. So when we try to correct the wrong, it becomes very difficult. This should have been a simple yes all the way from every single board member. I'm kind of disappointed because you still could have addressed your attorney because no one no one want addressed the attorney when you voted it in. If you took your time and did your due diligence, you would have said, "Oh yeah, I talked to Shipman and Goodman when it went in and we would have had that." But now we have to wait and go to shipment and goodman. When I have
025a the attorney from the state of Connecticut, Lewis Tedes Tediscoco, the state of Connecticut attorney's opinion on he said you shouldn't be doing it. You should adhere to state law. So it just it just discouraged people from even coming to these meetings because you put it in, everybody voted, no one did their due diligence. Now you're going to go call the attorney and do your due diligence. You should have did it prior to voting it. Thank you Jerry Binger for at least listening to me and bringing it forward. I appreciate it. Thank you for fixing the agenda. But I did call OPM. OPM got in touch with state department of education. I got a legal opinion from the state department of education's lawyer and I called FOI because of the agenda. Thank you so much
026for fixing it. I appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Anyone else for public comment? Melanie Church, 328 Main Street. Couple things. One is the superintendent and the administration is not under a union contract where you had to take some cuts. I think that you could maybe consider giving back this year to this community. As you know, we are hurting, whether it be the school or the town side. And I'm asking you to find it in your heart, even if you take half of your raise, but give the rest back. And maybe you can save one little job, one menial job. We're in a distressed community. We are number two in the state in the Lichfield County for the highest taxes, for the highest mill rate. So, I'm asking you to find it in your heart
027to give back because a lot of people are working today with no raise and they're they're getting by and they're paying their taxes and working hard. And I just think it would be a a moment of gratitude that you have a job. You've asked for things and we've given them. But as you can see, things are tight. And I think that would show the parents and the school and maybe set an example for other members of this community that work here. Um, and one other thing is, um, I still don't understand why you can't take a kindergarten, have the teacher, give them a little party of a graduation because it's to look forward to 12 years after. And, you know, you don't do it anymore for the eighth grade. It's called something else going forward
028or whatever. Sixth grade to whenever they change schools, but this is babies. Make them so they're happy. At least they got a memory. And and one thing we have to figure out a way to let the parents back into school because also if you look at state if I had a problem and I wanted to s sit in a classroom or sit in this school while my daughter's in a classroom I can sit outside that room. And those are things that you need to look at. We've got to open up to the parents. parents, you can't blame them for the problems with children if you're not including them here in the school. Thank you. Virginia canain 18 Adams Drive. Um, first I would like to start by saying thank you to Miss Khisa for thinking
029outside the box at the last budget meeting and asking a hard question and coming to a result that wouldn't have happened had it not been for you raising the issue. It's not an easy decision, but you did what was best for our students. Um, second, I am here once again kindergarten graduation. Understand we have teddy bear picnic. It's not the same thing. Appreciate that. However, haven't heard anything further on Teddy um kindergarten graduation. So, bring that up again. Third, um the climate study. I haven't heard anything about that and the results of that. I think I I would like to know what came of that. Um so, I'm just bringing that up as well. So, thank you. Anyone else for public comment? Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to remote public comment. Oh, you remember?
030I did. Well, it's it's it's kind of spelled out here now, so it's a little better. No, there's no remote. No remote comment. Okay, next superintendent's update. Thank you so much. Um, I'd like to congratulate our 2025 Terryville High School saludiatoran and valadictorian. Our saludiatoran this year is Morgan Champagne and our validictorian is Tyler Leance as he found out in front of the board uh last month. This is a tremendous accomplishment and honor and on behalf of the whole entire school community, I'd like to congratulate both of these outstanding students. Last week was teacher appreciation week and on behalf of the board of education and the administration, we arranged for Rita's Italian ice cream truck to come to each of our schools after school. Uh the weather wasn't too great, but they came after school.
031We provided each employee in our district, not just teachers. We celebrated everyone a complimentary ice cream or Italian ice. It's a small token of our appreciation for what they do for our our children in our school community. The Terville High School will be supporting the Plymouth Rotary Club's Day of Service. We're actually calling it the Senior Giveback Day and it's on May 20th, which is next Tuesday. The idea is for our seniors to give back to the community that helped raise them and doing some sort of a service project. So this year the seniors will be helping clean up the fairgrounds and they'll also be working to spruce up a trailer that was donated by industrial riggers that will be used by volunteer organizations for parades and summer concerts. I would like to update the
032board on the mag on the magnet school transportation concern that we've dealt with um in our our elimination in the budget. new superintendent of the Woodbury Waterberry public schools sent a letter to all of our magnet school parents sharing that Waterberry will pick up the cost of transporting all Plymouth students to their magnet schools. I'd like to thank the new superintendent of Waterberry. This is one of his first acts as the superintendent. I would also like to thank the Waterberry board of education for supporting the families and communities in our town. I would also like to thank this board of education supporting the decision to cut magnet school transportation from our budget. Ultimately, that decision saved our district an additional $112,625 in our operating budget. So, it was the right decision. And finally, as a
033reminder, our last day of school at Plymouth Center School, Fiser Elementary, and the high school is Wednesday, June 11th. And our last day at Eli Terry is Thursday, June 12th, and that's because of the flooding that occurred in the school, and we had to close the school an extra day. The Harry S. Fischer promotion ceremony will be held on Monday, June 9th at 9:30 a.m. The Terryville High School graduation ceremony will be held on Wednesday, June 11th at 6 PM. That's outdoors. Unless the weather doesn't cooperate, we'll move to indoors. And then the Eli Terry step up program will be held Thursday, June 12th at 9:00 a.m. I also provided the whole entire board a list of endofear events. I plan on attending as many of these as possible. Um, and if any board members
034would like to join me, please let me know. And again, as as I shared earlier, there are some X's on that list of events. Not invited. You are not invited to the senior prom. you're not invited to the senior trip and and the seventh grade the eighth grade dance and so on. So there are X's through those but I wanted you to know they are occurring and that's all I have for this evening. Thank you. All right. Um we are going to go to our amended item unfinished business adoption of the assigned budget. I'd like to entertain a motion for the Plymouth Board of Education to adopt the assigned town budget of 27,578,551 which is a 3% increase. Do I have that motion? Second, Mr. Showers, Mr. Perigino. Any discussion? All in favor? Opposed? Abstensions?
035Motion carries. Thank you. Now we are into new business. Um I believe uh nope. The first one is not a presentation, right? You want me to do it? Yeah. Go ahead. Okay. The first one is um an out ofstate field trip that will occur uh next March 26th, 27th, 28th, and 29th uh to Walt Disney World, Florida for our band and coral students. They'll be participating in some music activities throughout uh that that Disney offers in their programs and that has been placed into your packet with all the information and details. All right. So, I would like to entertain a motion to approve the out ofstate field trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida for Terryville High School band, color guard, and chorus students in grades 9 through 12 from March 26th through March 29th.
03620 thou 2026 move second Kelly and Michelle any discussion I have a question I saw it was a minimum of 40 people is do we have enough people to fulfill the minimum I don't think he knows yet we have to when we get this out there we'll see right so I'm assuming he will with the numbers in chorus and in band but I I'm not sure and I think it's also going to come down to with the price point of of $1,950 how much fundraising support that the students get to offset the cost of the trip. So any other discussion? Okay. All in favor? I opposed abstensions. Okay. Motion carries. And then we have our second field trip. Makoli, would you like to speak that? Good evening. Um, I'm presenting a trip to go to
037Europe uh in April of 2027. We're planning a trip through EF tours and we're looking to go to London, Paris, and Rome. Um, there's a presentation if you want to see. Oh, okay. So, EF Tours is promoting um is, you know, supporting our trip over there. They have several years of experience over over six decades. They have staff on the ground 365 day uh days a year. They will be available to us at all times throughout the entirety of our trip and they are well known in the field of international education. Um don't need to know that much. Uh our dates are April 8th through April 16th. There's a one to two day window for when the best flights are going to occur. Um but essentially it's a nine-day trip dur that falls during our
038April break. Um and we're looking to have um anywhere from you know uh about eight to 10 students um and if more are available. Um we're looking to go to London. We're going to take a guided tour of London. We're going to be able to see Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, uh Piccadilly Circus, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and uh the Globe Theater. afternoon tea and just tour London. Um then after a couple of days we'll head to Paris where we are going to take a train. Um we will do a walking tour of the Latin Quarter. We're going to catch a glimpse of the Notre Dame Cathedral. Uh it's currently in repair, so hopefully by then it'll be fixed. Um, on our guided tour of Paris, we will also see things like the Concord,
039the Chef Sil, forgive my pronunciation. Um, the Arct Triumph, the um, Eiffel Tower, and the Louvre. Um, we also have plans for a cooking class when we're in Paris, so we can learn a little bit about French cooking. And then our final stop is going to be in Rome, uh, where we'll take a guided tour again. Um, we'll also have downtime in all three of these cities where kids will be able to pick and choose where we go. We're going to see things like the Colosseum, Vatican City, the Sistine Chapel, and several other sites while we're there. It's a big trip in nine days. Um, so few highlights. I threw in some pictures. Afternoon tea in London, the Lou, which I'm very excited about, Cyine Chapel, the Vatican. We're trying to build students awareness of
040universal themes about what it means to be human and get them out of um the state to sort of see what it's like to be in other places. We're hoping to bring as many students as are available to go. Um several teachers have volunteered to come with me on the trip. I think Michelle Luba, who's our social worker, um she is one of the key people that's going to be a chaperone with me and it all depends on student numbers and how many available. The cost is 4259. Um, I'm asking this for the permission for the trip early because we want to make sure that parents have time to plan out and save for the trip. We understand that it is a costly trip, but we're looking to make the trip available to as many
041students as possible. So, we're working with we AF to have scholarships available and then of course we want to have a couple years to fund raise so that we can offset any costs of the trip that would be beneficial to students. Um, our first parent meeting is scheduled for the end of this month and so hopefully we'll get some good feedback and we'll have a good idea of how many kids are interested and from there we'll be able to start fundraising and looking at raising scholarships. This is just what's included in our itinerary. But um, any questions? You have any questions from South? I think it's great. Yeah, thanks. I do too. I never went to London or Paris, but I have been to Rome and Oh, good. That is very, very exciting. They have
042their little streets, nice and narrow, and you know, little shop set up and flowers and the coliseum, Vatican City. I can talk a little bit to EF tours. Both of my kids took trips through at Terryville High School through EF tours. And my daughter in particular had um kind of a major problem that came up during the trip and EF handled it and they were, you know, they were on it and they kind of were able to to um make up for it. They extended their trip at the end for based on something that had happened in the beginning and everything. So, it's a good company to to go with because, you know, things are going to happen. Having them there to help you with that is is it's is very reassuring. It'll be a
043good cultural experience for those kids, you know, especially when they go to a foreign country. I know my son who was in uh in the middle school, I sent them to Brazil. All right. And uh the cultural experience for him was unbelievable because you get used to the surroundings in the United States and go on vacation here, there, and anywhere. And when you go to a foreign country, totally different atmosphere. Very good. Yes. So it'll be a good cultural experience for them. So congratulations. Thank you. All right. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the international field trip to London, Paris, and Rome for Tville High School students in grades 9 through 12 from April 8th, 2027 through April 16th, 2027. Do I have that motion? Second. Thank you, Mr. Showers, Mr. Foot. Any
044further discussion on this? All right. All in favor? I opposed. Any abstensions? Shell should be esteemed. She's not here right now, so we'll have her. Okay, motion carries. Congratulations. Thank you. All right. Item number eight, business manager report. Good evening, everybody. Uh as you saw in the written report uh through April we are 80% of this year's budget has been spent. Um that is tracking a little bit ahead of our historical uh data since uh I've been um overseeing this. Um as I said I expect that we're going to have a small surplus maybe 25,000 to 50,000 based on a couple things. Although I was surprised today by a a invoice that came my way that I didn't account for. Um I won't mention any names, Brian. Um but with that surplus that we have
045a pretty lengthy list of items that we did pull from the budget for next year kind of one-time purchases which will eat that up. So, I do not anticipate that we'll be sending anything significant to the town or I will be talking to you about uh moving things over to the scing fund. I think that we're going to spend down pretty much to zero. Um which realistically is how it should be, but it's a little too close for my comfort when I'm talking to you on May 14th. Right. So, um that's where we are with this year's budget. Um, next year's budget, as I let you know, you just approved the number that that we received from the town. Um, we've already turned over our general ledger. Um, we've already rolled over payroll for next
046year. The last step is for me to actually load the budget numbers, which I'm making the adjustments within the lines so that all of that goes over appropriately. Um, and I will be opening up next year's budget to put in requisitions um, probably within the next 10 days. so our staff can start to put in orders for next year out of next year's budget. Nothing will be purchased until after July 1, but the requisitions will be in so that those orders can be placed. So when our teachers return and our staff returns, those items should be here. Uh the same as I've done in previous years. Um comment on food service. Uh as you saw from what they prepared for tonight, they are stepping up their game relative to um catering internally. Um we realize
047that there is an opportunity for the for the food service program even within its own district instead of ordering out from from other places. We can do a lot of things here. Um and as I reported is we did have a loss in the month of April, but that was really driven by two the two issues that I I talked about. We had to purchase an additional piece of equipment to make the new dishwasher correct because it was not speced out properly initially. Um, and then the hardware for our point of sales all had to be upgraded thanks to Microsoft. So, we did that now while we could. Um, got staff used to it and we're moving on. We will finish the food service this year in the green. It's not going to be uh
048it's not going to be a loss this year. Um, we'll be we're doing just fine. Um, and then last is I had a conversation with our uh public adjuster um about um Eli Terry as I um reported in in there that the insurance company has approved a $190,000 advance as they continue to to negotiate the final estimates and awards. And that is still going on. According to Ian, the insurance company received their estimators numbers last Wednesday and they're now being reviewed and compared and comparing ours. So, they are now kind of going back and forth. He said, "I do not anticipate any issues getting the money for um the gymnasium floor um and the room that has to be redone, but we're just working through that now." And I said, "You understand that time is
049of the essence. We need to be able to start work like June 13th. Like those kids are out on the 12th. we need to be able to start work on June 13th and he was confident that we will be in a position to be able to do that. Uh I will have more information as this now kind of starts to play out. Um the insurance company that we are dealing with, they switched estimators and adjusters midstream. So they, you know, I have my own skeptic idea on that, but I'll leave that to myself. Um, so that's where we are again talking with Brian. Obviously, our goal is to make sure we have access to the building. Even if that means that certain areas were closed off to be worked on, we need to have access
050to the building for the start of the school year. So, as more information comes to me, I will be updating the board uh via email with with written updates. Um, and with that, you guys have questions? They're going to do the whole gym floor at Eli Terry. The whole That is That is the conversation to have too. They're going to do the entire floor. Right now, the estimate from the people who did the work, who did the sanding and repainting last summer is somewhere around $240,000. And that's removing the bleachers, tearing up the whole floor, redoing the floor. That number that I just gave you does not include the asbestous abatement because we do know that there is asbestous underneath that floor. So that's that's part of what's being worked out right now. Almost they
051do the whole floor. I mean because we know one part, you know. Yeah. Okay. And now they did a good job drying everything out. They haven't seen any mold coming in or anything like that. It's all the continued testing has shown that it is drying out well and we haven't found any um any signs of mold at this point. So, but that'll be continued to be tested as we go through here. I have a question since there's some PTA moms in the audience. Can the cafeteria come up with like a menu for like we just had staff appreciation week sometimes for parent conferences and stuff like that that the PTAs can purchase from the schools like like Nicole I'll tell you like what we have for you guys like they did canoli cookies like lemon
052they cut up a lemon and put like a sorbet type thing in it they do chicken green beans double be like they do so much stuff so instead of you guys trying to figure out what school you know what businesses to order from and stuff. They their food is really good. Like their meatballs are really good. Like I don't know. They cook they do quite a few different things that even if you want to like a tray of cookies or pastries or conference nights, you know how like you guys sometimes bring in stuff like So the the answer is yes, we can provide a menu. Um they have a they they are developing they're expanding the menu. It was very simple before, but they are working on new items, but we definitely can make that
053available to our PTAs. I have a question for you, Matt. Yes, sir. Actually, I'll direct it to Mr. Falcom, too. Um, when I first came on the board, I came into this parking lot. Actually, it wasn't that. I came to the Easter egg hunt for the Terrible Lions, and I was floored at how this parking lot looked. There was a crater right as you come into. So, I talked to one of the councilmen, had them come up with me, and using my professional opinion and his professional opinion working with this type of uh material is that we need to fix this parking lot in certain areas. Okay. Um, in all honesty, Mr. Peragino, you probably know yourself because I think it happened in when when you were the board chair, either yourself or with Ray
054Angel was here, is that we were having issues with the parking lot and the state came in and found out that the base was substandard. Okay. But unfortunately, the clerk of went bankrupt and the bond was no longer available. So that would go on the bond. Okay. So, what I would do, uh, Matt, is get a hold of the director of public works, Mr. Johnson, because they came up and they did some quick repair, you know, and at least it's better than what was there. But, uh, in my own professional opinion, a lot of those areas need to be cut out and repaved. Okay? And I will tell you in looking when I came up here too in some areas the pavement is actually sinking because you can see the catch basins are higher than
055the pavement. And then I also showed Mr. Zigerki an area where there's one of the catch basins that has a hole on side of it. And I told him, I said, "If you get a continual amount of rain in here and get runoff, the backside of that bank is going to end up in a parking lot because the the the water is going it's going into the basin, but it's also going towards the side of the basin. And it's the basin that's right in where the student parking lot is where they paint all their little. You go to that basin. Actually, when you go to that basin, you'll see it's sinking, too. But there's a big hole there. Yeah. Terry, to your point, So if you came last year, they were repaired the same exact
056way and then throughout the winter they all come out and then this year we're doing it again. And if if I would, again, this is town would have to take care of it to try to get it done right so that we don't have to redo the same thing every year and deal with those craters. Uh it was appreciated. I get it. So basically with if you're looking at it, you come up as where the buses come up. All right. There's an area that Richard's Court had to come in and cut it all out and then repave it. Okay. Even some of that area is starting to get pretty bad, too. But that's what the town needs to do. Wherever those areas are, especially like in front of the circle here, that needs to be
057cut out, remove that stuff, and then put new asphalt down. But that's something that you need to have a discussion. And I would have the discussion with them. and when the school is closed, they'll be able to come up here and take care of that. That'll it's not going to alleviate your problem. It's just going to you just won't have that issue. As Mr. Falcone says, they come up, they throw asphalt in, then once traffic comes along with it and then people start running over it, it just compounds the with the way the base is, we could fix every spot, then there's going to be another spot. It's just a matter of when they pop up. So, yeah, but that's but the thing is is that at some point in time, the town's going to
058have to address that. So, we have had conversations with the town probably for four or five years now since I've been here um about those about those items and they have come and fixed some areas um and in other places it's been patched but it is it's it's been ongoing either myself or uh Mr. Maison have have been talking with the town about we need to have this done. So it's not something that we haven't brought forth. Um we know that we need to address this parking lot and frankly all of the school parking lots need attention. The front of Eli um the back is fine. The front needs to be addressed. Fisher need they all they need it but this is particularly the worst. And I do know that historically the the the base
059underneath is not appropriate. So yeah, it's we're aware of that, but it's going to be I I'll work with Mr. Zigerski. I will talk to him. We'll try to continue capital improvements, Jerry. Every month we send it down to the capital improvements committee. If you look in your packet, you'll see we put been putting in here for four years since I've been here and we met with the capital improvements and you know, they're aware of it and you know what the problem is? There's no money. I mean, it's an ongoing impact. you know, when we were we were involved in that and that's what 20 years ago. So, it's at some point in time, it's got to get addressed and it's got to be fixed and I know it's going to cost a lot of
060money, but unfortunately, like I said, there's other priorities. I mean, I think if correct me if I'm wrong, Matt, we had set a set of priorities with the uh capital improvement committee. And the reason we put that one a little bit lower was because there were other things that were more important at the time, such as the roofs. They were very important. So, you know, it's it's one or the other. What, you know, we're we're juggling the ball here. Which way we going to go? And you I know that it's no good out there. Hasn't been any good in 10 years. But the other part too is the optics. I'm sorry. Uh the optics of it. You know, there are so many roads that need to be done in in town to do a parking
061lot over a a road that is in desperate need. And that those have been my conversations with the mayor, too. He understands. He sees it too when he comes up. But that's his concern is how do you prioritize a parking lot over, you know, roads that are being driven on by people that have not been done in just probably more years and that are that are probably in worse shape. So, I'm sorry, Kelly. I didn't mean to. I was just going to ask if we resubmitted those capitals since they came up with that priority. I don't know how to describe that document that I sent you where, you know, safety is a concern and they rank it in order. I don't know if it's been looked at again. We will resubmit. Right. So this year's
062capital budget is set. So we will resubmit for the next through the next cycle. Okay. But we do set them what our list looks like every month. They get this one right. They get that one. And there's another problem that Pat and I came across when we were walking out after the negotiations last week. Those stairs falling apart. They're they're spalling real bad. Take them out. Don't even replace them. Just take them out. Do we need them? We got the ramp over here. Down the other side. We got a ramp. The other side's walking through. I don't know. We can look at that. That's those those stairs are having the same problem that the sidewalk originally had. It's just they're crap. So, um that we can look at that and the town could do that
063for us. Like that's the thing, too. So, All right. Anything else for our business manager? All right, Mr. Falcom, do you want to speak about the personnel report? Um, just that we have we have a number of openings right now, uh, from people that are retiring. Um, they're all basically retiring from our district. And so, um, we're just we're looking to hire a number of people. math teacher at the high school, PE teacher at the high school, special education teacher at the high school, grade 8 language arts teacher, and a third grade teacher. There are going to be some internal possible transfers to fill those spots. I'm still working with the union and individuals on those things, but basically we have five certified teaching openings at this point. All right, that moves us on to
064item number nine, public comment. So, if you would like to make public comment, please come on up. State your name. Melanie Church, 328 Main Street. In Plainville, there is a grant writer. It's a company and if you use that company, they only get paid if they get a grant. Maybe introduce some of this stuff. Maybe they can find grants and you pay them out of the grant. Um, it's just a suggestion, but it's worth a try because, you know, we have a local one that I don't think is up on all the grants where in Planeville, this is a company. You don't pay them until they get your grant, you know, and that might be a way to fix some of this stuff because like like you said, the roads are are atrocious in this
065town. They've never been as bad as these last years. And they're just getting progressively worse. And you know, you got to reach out somewhere and it doesn't cost anything to ask. And if they come up with the grant, so so you got to give them 10 or 15% of it, but at least we can get some stuff fixed. And then there's the the extra money that's there. and out of that fund maybe just reimbursed if it if we had to add a little bit to it. You know, it's leftover money. So, to me, that's just something that you should look into. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else for public comment? Okay, seeing Oh, online public comment yet? No. But no, just move on. Okay, moving on to item number 10, committee reports policy committee. Miss
066Tilton, um we sent out some modified, discontinued, and new policies to the full board for a first read. So, if everybody could read those for next month, that would be great. All right. Item number 11, board liaison reports for Harry S. Fischer Elementary School. Want me to start? You start. Our PTA PTA meeting is uh the 20th of May. This time, 7 o'clock. The art show is uh the 28th and the 29th of May. The field day is June 4th. And the sad news is is we lost our president uh over the weekend. So we'll see what happens there. That's all I have right now. Okay. I'm just going to add school store is this Friday, May 16th. There was a craft night on May 8th and the week of May 19th. The kids will
067be having money wars, so they'll probably be asking for spare change. Um and also the fifth grade um promotion I think Mr. Pon mentioned is the 9th and their picnic is the 10th. Okay. Uh Plymouth Center School, Mr. Zabushka. Uh May 16th is Build the Buddy fundraiser. The yearbooks are still on sale or going on. Last day the school store will be Friday, May 2nd. The art show, as in all the schools, is May 27th and 28th from 3:30 to 6 PM. Friday, field day is May 23rd. Rain date is May 30th. Volunteers are asked to be there for school by 12:00 p.m. And there still want more volunteers if they could get them. Early dismissal is June 9th, 10th, and 11th. May 14th, uh, grade one, first grade is going to Indian Rock and
068May 15th is early dismissal. Thank you. All right. Eli Terry Junior Middle School. The next PTA meeting is May 21st at 7 o'clock. You can join online or in person. The new um positions will be filled at the next meeting for next year. If anyone's interested, I think you can still um ask to be nominated. The PTA helped with staff appreciation week. Um the wit and grit was this week and the kids all had glass. Um we also most PTAs give out scholarships. So I know that the scholarships will be giving out during scholarship night coming up and on Friday there's an ice cream truck going to the school for all the kids. Okay, great. Cherryville High School. Mr. Foot, the uh PTSA uh their por fundraiser raised uh 60 $672 for that. Uh their
069donations totals $2,680 right now for uh towards the uh graduation night. The Lions Club donated 1,500 and they were the first platinum giver ever, which was kind of nice. Uh, first bingo raised $1,400 plus. Uh, their yard signs uh are now being soldered uh and given away. I I guess they were at the flower sale the other day. Uh, basically I bought a couple of flowers from them. both part of it support. All right, Mrs. Tilton for Ed Advance. Well, we had our in-person board meeting up at the Ed Advance building in Lichfield. It was very nice and not very well attended. There were only, I think, five members there, which is um unfortunate. They did go over the final budget. Um, as with all of us, no money. So, they are making some cuts
070that hopefully will not impact any of our students who attend the programs. Um, and uh, yeah, I guess that's pretty much business as usual. The rest of it. Okay. All right. Item number 12, board comments. Mr. Bourbaneer. Uh, thank you to two student reps for giving all that information. It's great that we have at least some student representation. A lot of towns do not have student represent rep representation. Um, congratulations to the the teacher that is putting this Euro trip together. It'll be a pleasant experience for these kids. Good to go. Mr. Showers, both trips sound like you're going to be pretty good time. I'd like to go, too. I think there's an X on those trips for us to go. Tonight's food was great, too. Like the cafeteria. Excellent. Yeah, Mr. Foot. Uh, I'm
071always impressed with the things our little our kids are doing in school. Uh, but I was pleased to see second grade women center school are talking about civil rights uh heroes at a time when I guess it's not very nice to talk about such things. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Zushka, uh, I'd like to thank the student reps. They did a great job today. They had a lot of information they handed out. It was really interesting. And uh the trip to Europe, I was just I was just thinking I back in ' 69, I went to the University of Rome, studied art there. I was there for two months. 600 bucks. Yeah. Wow. That's everything. That was a hotel and a plane flight. Times they have changed just a little. Oh, Mr. Peragino. Yeah. I don't
072want it to go unnoticed. I like to thank the superintendent and our business manager for getting together with the superintendent in Waterberry and providing transportation for our for our students, not our students, but the the kids in our town. I know there was a comment made that we don't do too much for the kids who are out of town. I think that was above way above what we should be doing, but we did it and we did the right thing. Thank the both of you. Thank you. Thank you. Mrs. Kandrea Florencian. Um, thank you to all the teachers um for teacher appreciation week. I know some of mine have been give you a headache. I can only imagine. Um, thank you to all the PTAs for everything that they do between the fundraising to offset
073field trips to, you know, go on top of, you know, an ice cream truck, all that stuff. Um, I know that it's like a handful of PE parents that pull all this together. myself. Thank you for all the work that you guys do. Resolution. Um, yes, H. I made most of my comments during the meeting. I just hope the seniors have a nice, safe rest of the school year. And congratulations to all the seniors. Great, Stilton. Oh, yeah. I just like to thank all of the teachers and staff. I know teacher appreciation week was last week and um so grateful for everything that everybody does to help the students learn to the families, the PTAs, members of the community, businesses who donate. Um as we come to the end of the year, it's just it's
074important to know how our small community comes together to support our students and to um make a difference. And um also just um hoping everyone would keep um Mandy's family in their prayers very difficult time. That's good. All right. And I would like to also thank our friend our um community members who came up for public comment as always. Whether it's something you agree with us on or whether it's something you disagree with us on, we are always open and happy to hear it. Um somebody from the board always addresses it at some point. And um while we're not it's not a question and answer, we won't answer you at the time, we do um try our best for somebody to get an answer for you and get back to you. So please ask questions
075if you have them. Um please bring up concerns if you have them. You can email the superintendent. Um he's happy to do it, but truly he is happy to do it. He is happy to help our community out. All right. Our next board meeting, due to a scheduling conflict, the next regular board of meeting of the Plymouth Board of Education is on Wednesday, June 4th, 2025 at 700 p.m. in the library. So, that's the uh change library at Tville High School. We'll be changing it up to the library instead of down here. Same day, just at in the library. All right. Item number 14, executive session. I'd like to entertain a motion to enter into executive session at 8:12 p.m. to discuss the following items. Um, inviting Mr. Falconee, superintendent, Mrs. Milo, assistant superintendent, and
076Mr. Tenza, business manager. Well, I have to say what we're I have to say what we're um discussing first. The proposed agreement between the Plymouth Board of Education and the Plymouth School Administration administrator administrators association. A lot of big words together and the contracts of our superintendent assistant superintendent and business manager. Okay. Mr. Showers second. Mr. Foot. All those in favor? I any opposed? Any abstensions? Motion carries. We are going into executive session. All right. Item 15. I would like to resume regular session. He said no. Uh 9:33 p.m. So move second. There was no no motion needed. Okay. Thank you so much. Item 16. No action will be taken at this moment. And item 17, adjournment. Do I have a motion to adjurnn at 9:33? Second. Greg and Mr. Foot. All in favor? Motion
077carries. Good night everybody.