BOE Meeting 12/08/2025

001just give an over overview. Um there are a number of items tonight. Welcome by the way board of education members. Thank you for coming out early for our our two subcommittee meetings this evening. Um there are lots of updates. So I appreciate you taking the time. Um so tonight there are a number of um updates. Cap my water bottle. There's a number of updates um that we have for you facilities related finance related. Um, I know that there were some questions um about where we ended up coming up with funding for some of the unexpected um funding that we had to put forward this year. Um, so it'll be a little combination of a facilities update and then anything that we did have to fix where we were able to uh secure those funds for

002the unanticipated costs. Um so there are several item agendas um several items one through four and then five um they all lead into five which will bring us to our upcoming an upcoming policy meeting. So there's just a little bit of introduction. Um so Mr. Valardi can start by talking a little bit about the field lights which I know we discussed um at Mills complex um but we wanted to get an overview and then also uh talk about where we were able to fund that project. So I'll turn it over to you first Mr. Valardi. So, as everyone is aware, the the um the issues we had with the field lights over the last four years since I've been here, the struggle to try to find parts and to get the lights where they're supposed

003to be at a safe, [snorts] you know, lighting. But over the summer, and it's actually started in the spring, we started getting uh officials saying safety issues on the light, the darkness, and the brightness of the field. There was blind spots on the field, especially by the time the end of August came, we had 15 lights total out and the majority of the lights were on the far side end zone where the white where the flag is. I think we ended up only having like three lights left on that on [snorts] that pole. So, we you know, I've been booking for about three years on companies to come in here and try to change our lights and we never quite got the [clears throat] funding for it. So I found the company that uh puts

004out the bid for uh the lights in in conjunction with Eversource on a you know financial Eversource would help us financially and then Marie could take >> So before Marie goes I just wanted to mention that we kind of were um at a place where there wasn't a choice as to whether to um change the lights out or not. we were at the point where we would have had to not do anything in the evenings which would have impacted practices and games. Um so I think what ultimately happened this year is is that we didn't have much of a choice but to move forward. We did go out to RFP um and we ended up finding an amazing company. Um they were wonderful to work with. They were fast. They were efficient. They were fairly

005[snorts] priced. Um, so we did move forward with that project and uh we always want to just update the board especially if it's something that wasn't budgeted for where we actually came up with those funds. So I'll turn it over to Marie who can talk a little bit about how we funded that project. >> So I found a money tree. No. Um [laughter] sorry trying to make light of the situation. [clears throat] But um it is important to note too that if the not only were some lights out, but there was one time I think Luigi where we were worried that at one point the lights were not even going to turn on possibly at a game or something. We were always just crossing our fingers hoping that it would go. And then the other

006conversations that had been going on for four years was do we just replace the lights entirely, the poles, the you know everything that was involved with that. So, I just wanted to point out that of the three quotes that came in, they ranged anywhere from about $130,000 to $325,000 with $325,000 being like the Cadillac of everything, brand new poles, lights, everything. So, um we of course because we were under um time constraints as well and needing to take care of this right away. And looking over, you know, the three scenarios, we felt that the the one that we went with was the best one. Um it started out with approximately $130,000. um the $130,000 quote. It was the lowest quote that we went with, but in addition to that, we had to add in an

007additional 12,500 or thereabouts for prevailing wage um rates, which are mandatory when you're working on um municipality type programs over a certain dollar amount. So, in essence, the full amount that we needed to finance or come up with was $142,346, which we knew we obviously did not have a pot of money anywhere close to this. Um so one of the things I had mentioned [snorts] was that we have um two pay to participate fees. One for the middle school and one for the high school. And that is where we take all those pay to participate fees that are paid by students who play sports or at least the majority of them because some of them obviously um you know if they're free and reduced or if they have some sort of mitigating circumstances. We always

008work with families. Uh we do have um you know balances that we carry over from year to year. I never let those accounts drain fully because it's it's sort of like a little nest egg. Those funds by all intents and purposes, I don't want to make it sound like they're just sitting there [snorts] not being used. We know that that money is there and it does offset other costs that we don't approve in a budget, but it is always like a little nest egg that we have in there that we could tie in. Although, usually we've used it for um emergency fill-in uniforms. Sometimes you have that one student that you just don't have. I just don't want you guys to think that we just have a pool of money sitting there. It's usually there,

009a small portion of it is there as a a rainy day account, but it's not the full funds. Those are used for other things. Um, we decided to apply um almost $21,000 towards this project because we knew we would at the very least need to come up with the financing for this year. Even if we financed it, we still need to make payments this year. Um, so that's what we did. And those funds, all of it were coming from [snorts] pay to participate fees from both um the Swift middle school and or the high school fees, which was our little extra cushion that we have for this year um to go towards other possibly, you know, unanticipated problems. Um so the good news is is that um Eversource in um there's a couple of good

010things. One, there was an incentive where we are actually going to incur savings because the new lighting is going to be more efficient. um we still have to pay the financing on the vehicle on the um the purchase or the repairs, but the good news is that it was at 0% financing. So 0% financing and they estimated about $8,000 in incentives and savings um over the course of us financing this. So that that was good news for us as well. Um if you have any questions in particular about the you know the financing or the um the account that we took it from, I'm happy to answer any questions. Um just for the board's information as well, we are in we had to freeze as part of the cuts for this year the uniform rotation.

011Um so [snorts] you know it would have been nice because now you know that the year is underway. We have heard some comments about the uniforms which is another another topic. Um but we will get back into that rotation. But again that's another place where we draw from um for those kinds of expenditures. But this was something we just had to do and I think we made a very wise purchase. We I don't think we needed the Cadillac. It was sufficient what we got. They're high quality. Um, and I thought the company was great. They came and explained how they would position everything. So, I think it was a really good purchase for us. >> Um, through the chair. >> Is this Eversource loan? It's an Eversource. >> Uh, it's financed through Eversource. Yeah. So,

012basically what they do is they'll they took one of our bills and they are now are going to bill us monthly for, you know, for 5 years. It's 16-month loan. Um, but again, it was 0% financing, which is great. It's, you know, we didn't have to come up with the full amount now, but we will be paying it over the next 5 [clears throat] years. Um, and we may very well, depending on how budget goes, I I'm anticipating that we may have to always put some of this pay to participate amount towards that amount unless we can find savings somewhere else in athletics. >> So, just to make everybody aware >> and we did make a nice partnership with Earthlight. If we do do any solar projects moving forward, um, we would always go out

013to bid, but we were very impressed by them. Um, and they have a very good reputation across the state. So, that was also a nice partnership to have. I thought they were incredible to work with and that's important as well. Um, so that was it for the field lights. >> Any other questions for field lights? Okay, moving on I would assume to Mike um for the update on the RFP for the sound system. >> Yeah. Um, you know, we uh sorry, early in the summer, early in July, I uh I really wanted to get in there with with a uh contractor to take a look at the sound system because doing a lot of kissing, especially during large [cough] events with multiple microphones and it made it impossible to hear at some events actually led

014to some embarrassment on a couple of occasions because the quality was so poor. So I set an appointment to go in there and when I went in there the sound system in the auditorium high school was completely nonfunctional and so I believe somebody blew the system uh at some point toward the end of the year and into July. I don't know what group went in there or whatever, but uh [snorts] but I believe it just it just was on its last leg and whoever used it last just it just died. So um so there was a an emergency repair done to the system in the auditorium where they replaced a a power unit in one of the uh sound processors and uh that's allowed us to that allowed us to open that allowed us to

015have communication there that allowed us to have the theater program there and uh but it's on its last leg. We're on borrowed time and there's there's warning lights on the amps and the whole thing. So this RFP uh was designed to replace that system with a modern longlasting high quality audio system. Um not only in this case but there were other states in the district as well. So for example in the high school gym here it also had a temporary repair done in it last year. So that system has just an very basic kind of old dial type of system in it just keeping it functional. Uh so that's on this last slide. And then the uh the music department room, that sound system died uh a year and a half ago. That hasn't been

016working. And then two weeks before we were going to RFP, the system in the pool area [clears throat] died. Not hard to understand given the humidity and the fact that there's chlorine vapor in there. Destroys electronic equipment. But uh and then of course the Swift projector in their auditorium died. They have no projector in there right now. Uh and their cafeteria audio system hasn't worked in like three years. So all those two build these two buildings just these audio systems are ancient and they just failed. And the two systems that are working are are working by bandaid, you know, temporary repairs. So the RFP was designed, like I said, to go in replace these systems in one fell swoop. um and and replace it with high quality equipment designed [snorts] the last 30 years and

017just you know get it done so that we can have high quality programming. Um before we we move to the financing, I just wanted to mention as well just a a few bits [snorts] of information. Um it just made sense since we were going out to RFP anyhow um to see because sometimes if you lump some of these things in together, your pricing is better. And clearly there were times and spaces where we have no audio which it not only impairs us for any of our theater pieces but even for like some of our PD programs like at one point we were questioning whether we could even have convocation this year in in the auditorium. Another just bit to mention and and certainly the equipment was um getting older, but it does bring the point

018of um people using our facilities and our equipment unmonitored and unfettered. Um so whoever used that equipment actually blew the speaker. Um, I will also just give a shout out to DNR because they did um the repair that allowed us to function and they actually didn't charge us for it, which was quite lovely and I attest that to both Michael and Luigi who have partnerships and relationships with a lot of our vendors and sometimes they do us a solid. So, um, there's that whole piece of it. Um, and so yeah, I I think it just made sense to go out to RFP to see where we were because we have so many of these spaces that we just have no sound. Um and then we did um actually move forward with RFP and then Marie

019can discuss where we ended up finding the finances for that because it was not anything that we went into this year anticipated doing. Um but we did end up moving forward. So I'll turn it over to Marie. So there was no more money tree. Yeah. Um so with this one uh again we knew that there was no way that we could do this without financing. The problem was is the type of equipment um that we're purchasing. They normally will not allow you to finance it for more than 5 years. Um, which is fine. We were looking at five or six years anyway, but that meant that we had to come up with uh, you know, the first year obviously in full upfront and then um, finance it for the additional remaining years. Um, so we

020basically needed to come up with almost $50,000. Um, so again, not that we have pools of money sitting anywhere because I always worry when when we when we manage to scrge like, you know, like a squirrel looking for nuts. I don't want people to think that there's lots of money sitting out there, but we do always have um grant monies and stuff that are sitting there that are, you know, we are looking to put towards something, but basically it's a matter of rep prioritizing and saying, "Well, this has to come first." So, every year we do get um -ate um reimbursement and -ate um maybe Michael can give me more details on it, but basically uh for things like our our uh Wi-Fi and and um send and and frontier like the LAN, the Elon

021and the Gigaman and all that stuff that we go um because we're part of this rate program um we usually there's usually a percentage involved and I think ours is where we pay about 60% and then they pay or they reimburse us for 40. We pay the whole amount but then they reimburse us. So, at the end of a year, we usually get a reimbursement check. Michael and I have always taken that money, put it onto a grant line, and then we use that to offset the current year's expenses for the Gigaman or the Elon or whatever. So, um we basically took any remaining balances from Eate that we had left over, which totaled up um probably about 35 of the of the 50 that we needed, and we decided we were going to apply

022that towards um the cost of repairing the system because it needed to be done right away. And then we had uh one expenditure line that was for another grant which we did not receive this year. Um so I took those fundings and basically just said we were going to apply it to towards this as well. And then last but not least, Michael also had a small little pool of money that we've started to make sure that children who um break Chromebooks uh and not just that like by accident, but like they're they're showing that not to have been taken care of. Um he had almost another $7,000 put away um from the past three years where we've collected this. And normally we would go into that when we need to replace Chromebooks or use um

023or even just buy um other parts for them. Um but we we basically drained all of Michael's lines um to help fund the first year's uh you know coverage of the $49,600 or $700 that needed to go towards this. We did um have tons of conversation at that cabinet level because it does the difference between the field lights and this is that like those are actually Michael's funds to use for the projects that he planned to do this year. So we went round and round about do we go down this path or not and felt that like we're at the point with this as well that it really did need to be repaired. Um, so thus we went forward and scred the money from those few spaces to cover the first year and then we'll

024build it into the upcoming budget for next year. Fingers crossed. >> And both of those would also explain I think the question came up um Liz, it might have been you asked why you didn't see it hit a contract line because if it's coming from a grant that's the line that we hit like literally there'll be five different grant lines on that PO that to cover that. And then the same thing with the the field lights because we didn't end up hitting the actual project line. >> Any questions? >> Okay. Um states of the equipment, furnaces, and boilers. >> Yep. So before Luigi goes, I just also wanted to just pause for a minute and mention that one of the things that we talked about at the cabinet level was just really being clear and

025always transparent, [snorts and clears throat] which we talked a lot about this year, just so that you really have a sense of the state of some of the things. um in particular facilities and I know Jason and I and Kareem when we met in prep preparation for the board meeting I've been updating them but I really appreciate the whole board being able to come for the subcommittee meeting because these are things that like actually happened and I think it's important that you're all looped into those things so we will continue to communicate um these things and uh I think that the two gentlemen before you are are are the ones sometimes that probably struggle budget-wise the most and we ended up we end up just doing the things that we absolutely have to versus like

026kind of some forward thinking. So Luigi, who is remember my uh if you were here for my interview, I said we are the district of duct tape and bubblegum. If there's anybody that uses duct tape and bubble gum more in this district, it's Luigi. I don't know how he puts things together and makes it work for us. Um but he's going to share a little bit just about some of in particular from the beginning of the year till now, some of the things that have been unanticipated facilities wise. As [clears throat] you all know, every year I put my budget together to make projects that I wish to have, but every year, usually around this time of the year, unforeseen. [cough] For example, last week, oil tank at my shop, oil tank went, we had

027to replace the oil tank. Something that we didn't budget for, but we had to get done so that we had heat in that building. [snorts] I got an estimate. It was a little high, but we decided to have the faith of my men and we replaced the water heater, you know, in house and the furnace there is is is on its last leg. Also, something that wasn't, you know, put into our budget was was working and just for this week, the water heater here, we're running on one water heater here. So, the money that was that's going to be there to fix or replace that is going to come out of funds that I had set aside for other projects such as the Swift wall, uh, John Trumbull U primary retaining wall, the sidewalks, um,

028all that money in the end. So, last year, I know we heard a little bit about, um, someone saying, "Hey, he's got all this money in this in this projects. What's it doing sitting there? It's because Luigi's too scared to use it right off the bat for what it was budgeted for because all these unforeseen issues come and they and they come. So, just in the last week, we probably replaced 32 heating actuators and all the multiple schools, an oil pump, um a glycol, two glycol pumps that went that, you know, I wish I could see the future, but I can't. and it comes in and it attacks my attacks my lines. Another thing is the lift at Swift. That was something that I I feel had to had to be done. They were totally

029down a lift, especially by the nurs's office. So, we had to uh work together to try to get that done. Also, >> um with respect to the maintenance garage, I will say that Luigi and his that what went was behind a wall. So, they took down a wall. They took everything out. Luigi went himself to either Home Depot or Lowe's, I don't know where to buy the boiler himself. They rebuilt the floor because it was on dirt. Um, so I mean, it's just important to our garage was a horse farm. [laughter] >> And when I could, you know, I should have looked and go around my building, but I'm always doing inspections around these building. Yeah. >> And I could have sworn there was a door back there to get the oil tank out. Well,

030there wasn't. So, we had to cut a hole in our bathroom, replace everything that was in there, and when we finally did get the oil tank out, it was on dirt. So, I had a did some concrete, pour concrete, >> wait for that to harden and then as best we could, you know, as a chunky guy could fit in a little space and push it. [laughter] >> We got the oil tank in the furnace. I'm praying we get a year out this winter out of it. But those are just some of the examples of things that you know we don't know that are going to come up and they come up and they're they're a big impact on my on my budget. >> Right. So we figured I think that Luigi had about approximately $70,000

031earmarked for forward thinking projects before we get into the emergency situation. But what we're finding right now is that that those funds are being used to to fund some emergency projects. And and the hope at some point is that we can get to a point where we can even out and and be more proactive versus reactive and and taking money from Peter to to pay Paul. Um Maria will share just about the lift because I don't know that I ever circle back to the board. I know that was the beginning of the year of where we got the money for the lift. And then she'll um as you know, as I just mentioned, some of those other projects were actually funded right from Luigi's lines. Those were just earmarked for other projects that for now

032we'll have to wait. We'll keep monitoring those lines and once we get through the winter, he may be able to move forward with some of those monies for the other project if possible for the other project. We'll have to wait and see. So, it's important for me to note that when Lisa and I and Luigi met about this, um, to me, this was one that it wasn't even open for discussion because we were at risk for being nonADA compliant and the legalities of of that, especially if you have students in the school who actually need um the lifts, and we do. Um, to me, this was a it's not how are we going to it's not are we going to do this, it's how are we going to do it? We need to find the

033funds. So, um there there we have several bank accounts um that are all earmarked for something. Um we have a community service fund where is where we keep monies like reimbursement funds and whatnot. All of these are audited every year. There's no secrets about any of them. We know about them. We did have um when I first came on three years ago, we had two or three smaller accounts that I just didn't understand what purpose they served. In other words, there was no activity in them, but they had small balances in them. And some of these things are there because back in the day if we had professional development like we had a professional development account we would invite teachers from other districts if they wanted to come hear the speaker whatever that sort of

034thing doesn't happen now. This was from years ago. So I had started approaching both the town our auditors and um Dr. Villanuva when she was here about can we just close out these accounts because the amount of reconciliation that goes into it every month having to produce the the monthly reports and then you know do all the backup detail and everything. Um and we agreed that we would. So we started, you know, when we had a speaker last year or the year before, we used what little a couple hundred dollars that was left in the professional development and applied it towards that. Well, the same was with the case when this came up. I had um said to Lisa, "We [clears throat] have an old community service fund that was left over when when the

035town and um long before I was here or actually I think even Luigi or Mike um when they switched banks from Webster Bank over to Thompson Savings Bank, for whatever reason, this one account was left behind. And just within this past year, I was able to finally um with the help of um the young ladies who work on the town side, the finance director and the assistant finance director to get the signers all switched over so that we had access to the funds. So, it was just a matter of saying, "Okay, well, now we have access to the funds if there's a day that we need something." So, we actually took and and this was the majority of what was in the account on the $14,000. Um which was, I believe, approximately 40% of what

036was due. we needed to have that money up front before they would commit to um ordering the lift and committing to the project. So, uh we paid for that out of there and then the remaining um 40% uh or yeah, the remaining 40% and then a a small balance of $3,000 which came due after that for a total of $29,000. The remaining balances came from Luigi's general fund line that he had for Swift Middle School elevators, repair, service, maintenance. that line is currently one of the lines that's over budget, which means we end up using other lines to offset that. Um, so that's where that came from. So, we didn't even have the means to fund the entire project. We just drained whatever he had left already um budgeted for because all of the elevators

037have to get serviced every year anyway. So, we assume now that we were replacing this lift, hopefully we would see savings on that side. We use those funds and then the remaining of what was in that Webster account and that account is now officially going to be closed because there's nothing. I'm just waiting for the last statement to see if there's any small balance of interest or anything on there. >> The other idea we had to replenish back Luigi's lines if possible, we just haven't finished looking into it yet, is looking at Medicaid and using part of Medicaid because if we could use Medicaid to offset the elevator or some of the Medicaid funding, then we might be able to reinstate some of Luigi's money for that one. >> Yeah, I could do a transfer

038at that point and put the expense on the Medicaid line if we needed to. The chair Luigi, we operate our heating systems on oil at all the schools. >> No water high schools, Judson and Swift run burn oil. Uh John Trum whole school or gas? >> We have gas available here and we have gas available by Judson and I believe >> is is the thought to convert in the future. They're like I remember a couple years ago there were big incentives from Eversource there to do so. >> Yes. Okay. >> We are. Excellent. >> So, we were going to switch over to gas at Judson just to try it because it's a big switch when you add oil, you [snorts] switch over. So, Tristar went there and the amount of pressure that was coming out

039the meter two pounds was too low. So, they changed the meter. So, at one time it was good and now it's too low. So Ever Source came out two weeks ago because we are in the process of trying to maybe convert back to go go to go to gas there and try it out there and they're going to come they had to order stuff and they're going to come back in in conjunction with um Tristar to get the pressures right and then we'll hope and pray. >> Luigi, where are the cogen units? Because we just meet recently met about those. So, the cogen units, we have one co-gen unit at um John Trumble and we have one co-gen unit here at the high school. What the co-gen units do is they they um they help

040with hot water, electricity, you know, they're like a I don't know. They're like a >> it's like a backup backup, I think. Right. Because >> not a back a backup, but they they help our boilers work >> in our electricity. They create electricity. They create hot water so that our hot water heater isn't overproducing or using too much um energy. >> So, if I could just interject, when I started here, the gentleman from Tristar, literally the first two weeks I was here, had asked if he could meet with me. He was one of our vendors. [snorts] And Luigi, I remember telling you this because you started shortly after that. Um he had met with me to explain to me the situation of all our boilers/furnaces in all of our school locations. And basically the way

041he explained it to me is that I believe he told me and I could be wrong that all of the furnaces can operate [snorts] either on oil or gas. And my first question was why aren't we using gas just knowing and he said well if I'm going to be honest with you their age the age that they're at sometimes if you were to switch over it might be a bigger problem than to not. And maybe that's what Luigi was explaining with the pressure. The other um thing that was explained to me literally was that he explained to me that we were, you know, basically fingers crossed hoping that none of these boilers failed because they can't even get parts for some of them and they're taking parts from the backup furnaces. >> Right. At Judson,

042we have three boilers at Judson. >> Yeah. >> Two are operational right now. One one is basically used as a spare part. But the good thing is is in our capital our capital improvements as we get to that we're almost done with the roofs in the HVAC. That is one thing that I have on as a priority is the uh boilers that John had chosen. >> I think the age of them makes it difficult to just switch. >> That's the way it was explained. >> Question. What do you mean by Medicaid funding? >> Marie could better explain Medicaid. So, um, all of our students who are Medicaid eligible and they're it's all specialed students, uh, after they hit that threshold, that excess cost threshold, we do receive reimbursements from that, >> okay? >> And so,

043um, that funding is usually used to offset other things. It's a small, you know, it's not a small amount actually. It's it's we do very well at that, but we can only we only use that towards us other special ed um costs to offset. So, Lisa had mentioned that because this was an ADA situation, could we? And I just said to her, "Well, I don't know if we can use it." And I would never do it without checking first. So, we may do it with what we have. And now, I had promised her that I would look in to see if I could get confirmation. And once I do, we absolutely would apply it towards towards that so that we could free up funds because anytime we can apply something to a special ed line,

044it's to our benefit because there's usually reimbursements down the road on other things that we can get. So, >> I was just trying to reconcile Medicaid. >> Yeah. Because you think medical, but it's it's Yeah, >> I'm sorry. Thank you for clarifying that. Thank you. You're welcome. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? Okay. Watertown High School turf field. >> Okay. Mr. Valari. [laughter] >> So, we have some issues on our track where which our warranty is going to cover, but we also have some damages that have been done to uh the track surface um in uh early late September or early October, I believe it was, uh, Pop Warner had a delivery of Pepsi come in with a tractor trailer truck. >> Oh boy. Oh my god. >> So, usually the Pepsi guy is instructed

045peroper that they need to park in front of the ramps and bring the bring the um the delivery through the ramps and up to the shed. Well, at this point, we were getting our porta potties sucked out and the Pepsi driver brought upon himself to back that truck up over our long jump in our pole vault area, which did $33,000 in damage. God. >> So Pepsi is working with myself and Pop Warner and the insurance company to, you know, they're going to pay this, but it's right now the time we we have to wait till the [clears throat] temperatures are warmer to do any of the um placement there. But some of the warranty work, we do have what damages on that on that [clears throat] track being, you know, I want to say who

046or what cuz we don't really know, but they move something on the track for dragging glaciers across when we're not here. And they pulled up pieces of the track and we knew and the company Atlantic Sports Group knew this was this damage, not warranty, but in the past it repaired it for us anyways. Okay. So now this past couple of weeks by the pole over there, big chunks of the turf of the track surface was ripped up. So someone was dragging something or pulling something and it got under and scratched the the asshalt that's underneath it and lifted the track surface up. So immediately the day later, another they're they're all the way up and down. The guy came from South Carolina, drove up here, evaluated the situation. He's going to give me an estimate

047on how to fix it, but he repair temporary repair so that it doesn't get worse in the in the winter. Because you know, even the Pepsi truck, that track's going to get worse because it created divots, it created cracks, it rains, it snows, the moisture gets underneath there, pushes out just like our dry our asphalt, and there's going to be bigger damages. So, we are on top of it, but you know, I think we need to really think about what we're going to do moving forward and how we're going to govern this and police it because being an issue. I pulled into the parking lot being called by s, you know, towning members, hey, there's parents with folding chairs out on the track. So, I come out here and usually it's, you know, usually it's

048not our our town people. It's people from another town and they're sitting on the track and you know the extremes we go during graduation so that no one even puts a chair on the on the turf and they're on the track and it's good for two weeks. Then you come back and they're right back doing what they're what what they're doing. You know, I don't think anyone's doing anything intentionally like there's kids out there uh damaging the jet, you know, doing it on purpose, but the track needs we need to come up together with something so that we can protect our investment. >> So, I think Luigi's sometimes a little more politically correct and polite than me. Um, again, I don't think anybody's intentionally doing things, but there is certainly not a sense of care

049um, for some of our outside people that come in to use our facilities. Um, dragging goals, sitting with lawn chairs, dragging the rugs, um, that protect for when kids run out with their cleats and pulling and moving all of the the giblets. Um, and so I I do think that it is not necessarily our sports teams, but it's when people are using our facilities um that that there's just not the same level, I think, of care and there's absolutely no monitoring. Um, we have people in and out of our our facilities constantly, just like with the auditorium and the sound system. This is just another example, but this is a multi-million dollar capital project that is not even what, a year and a half old. And and here we are. Um, and again, kudos to

050Luigi because of his relationship with the turf company that they have kind of interwoven some things and done some repairs for us that weren't necessarily because it was their defect. Um, but just wanted to put it on the board's radar. Um, that that is something I mean I we are we have signs in in process, but signs are signs. Um, so I do think it's worthy of of a conversation about how we can protect our resources and our facilities. Do we look at doing some type of contract when we have with other teams when they come in? [snorts] >> So, yes, which brings us to item agenda five. So, um is that five? Yeah. Right. >> I just have a quick question. We do not have cameras outside, I assume. >> There's two at Swift,

051none right now at the high school. >> No cameras outside. >> Okay. So, that may be something to >> Yep. >> Besides monitoring, obviously. >> In other field is used for us. [snorts] I I truly believe it's not our it's not our kids in the school, the sports team. They [snorts] are all very good, but there's different like setups like from a football game from a from a soccer game where the bleachers are on that side, okay, on a Saturday and then all of a sudden there's a football game the next day. So bleachers have to go from that side to that side. masks have to go protective masks the same way and you know is it done properly isn't it done properly you know and I think that's where we're coming into the issues

052here is that there's so many different organizations there's so many different setups like during the week for school we get a schedule soccer my guys go out there they move all the equipment nothing is being moved you know they put it right so we can protect it but on Saturdays and Sundays case and I hate this. I was a coach my whole life. You know, I love sports. You don't want to, you know, say this one or that one, but you get to a field and I know there was one, you know, there's a puddle out there and the worst thing you could do with that puddle is sweep it out, sweep the water into the grass because that turns a divot, makes another hole, you know, but to get that game in, I would

053sweep that puddle, >> you know, until you're the facilities director and now, you know, you're not supposed to sweep that puddle out because there's repercussions after, you know. So, that's just like with Dr. Mrs. Fecky said it's just things that we need to talk about and how we're gonna, you know, keep this safe. >> Y our investment. >> On that same note, it's also important to mention um the a little off topic, but the amount of time after the weekends in particular when people are using our facilities that our custodial staff spends cleaning um cleaning up after some of the outside organizations, cans, bottles, wrappers. I mean, Luigi can tell you it's hours um on any given Monday morning cleaning up after some of these >> Monday morning is usually four hours, two guys. >>

054Yep. >> Because you think it's just on a high school just on a high school field hockey game. It's whatever event was there all day Saturday and all day Sunday. And you know, you drive by, those lights are on. So, there's something going on here and I'll get calls, hey, you guys aren't emptying the garbage. Oh, we empty the garbage every Monday and Friday. There's just no Saturday and Sunday. It's, you know, there's a lot of people using our facilities and they should, but we got to make sure that we're taking care of them using what they're doing. >> Can I When you say bleachers moving, that's you're the metal benches on the sideline. Is that what you're referring to? Oh, the team >> benches. Yeah. Yeah. I've seen those bear on the track. >>

055Yeah. Or there's a there's a lacrosse game. Okay. And then there's a soccer game after that, but the lacrosse nets are still on the field. How are they getting the field the lacrosse off the field? >> They're dragging them. >> What's that doing to the turf? They're sharp edges, >> you know? Or there's a soccer game and then after that there's a football game and then the nets are down and I come in and all the nets on the soccer on the soccer goals are in piles, you know, behind the on the on the rubber track. Luigi, whose job is that? Like, so if if the soccer if the lacrosse nets are in front of the soccer nets and there's a soccer game, whose job is it to take that net and move it away?

056>> Right now, nobody's if it's the weekend. That's part of the problem. >> And there's different configurations of the field for doing shortsided and then full field. Yeah. And I think part of it too and I've emailed you when I see people out with folding chairs because I'm like trying to be a quiet parent there and it's like but I think you know we've sent out emails through different youth organizations. I've received them as a parent and I I think a lot of it I've seen is people that are coming in from other towns who are not familiar and it's not so much it's like opposing teams that are coming in and then the onus kind of falls on the volunteer coaches that are out there too. So, you know, maybe part of the conversation

057needs to be there needs to be a point >> person accountable for each organization that >> could be something that we have to have a maintenance person out there and the organization that rents it has to pay for it. >> That's number five. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Do you have a question before? >> No. No. But what I was thinking was we have Pop Warner, we have um the president of Pop Warner, which at least she's familiar with. Maybe conversations with >> Ways Pop Warner. Um >> we have we've done that. It's hard to >> or sorry like charging more. >> And I know that through ways that we we rent several of the fields or use several of the fields in here and we our coaches are are just schooled constantly on what's right

058and what's wrong, but they're they're good. It's just again though it's out of town. It's >> and it's people that just I don't think that they're aware of the repercussions. >> So I know that our time is limited. We only have a few minutes left, but one of the things that is attached to the agenda, we do have um a facilities use and charge policy that we're not enforcing at this point. Um, so my thought and proposal is that we really in maybe our next policy meeting is we really start to take a look at our policy and perhaps consider adding what I would say our site supervisors for some of these events when there's an external organization and the people that are using our space are responsible for offsetting the cost of that individual

059and now you've got somebody that can turn the garbage over that can move the equipment. Um, I do really feel strongly that in particular for some of our more expensive spaces that we need to have site supervisors and maybe add that to our facilities um, policy. And I do think we need to revisit it, update it. And I really feel strongly that we need to enact our facilities policy because right now we are not charging any of these extraneous organizations for any of it. The cleaning, the portaotties, over overviewing and keeping track of our sites. We're we're just not. in most of the area towns um which I'm happy to put together additional information for the board. I've already started to assemble um facilities and usage policies from surrounding towns. Most other towns do indeed

060charge folks to use their facilities. Um even the portaotties, we pay carp lunch for for the portaotties. We pay for the custodians. Um with the exception of right now parks and wreck, I think are the only ones that right now are are paying for the c to offset the custodial fees. Other than that, everybody has completely free use of our facilities and they get to use them however they want because we don't have anybody here monitoring. Um, so that that would be what I would propose for an upcoming policy meeting. I did include the policy 1500 just for the board's information. Um, and it has not been enacted at all at this juncture. Um, so >> go ahead. Go ahead, Jason. >> Where where is our fee structure? Correct. >> Yeah, that was my online.

061Okay. So just being the head of policy and labor in full agreements. I've talked to the specity about this at length. We are running at a pretty drastic deficit with a lot of these things. So it's costing our district especially when you get into damage to more expensive things like our fields. So I think I'd like if every board member had a chance to review this, I'll dig into other districts, see what I could find for comparison there. I'd like to have everybody get a copy of the fee structure and visit that. And again, it's it's putting it into policy and then following policy. I think Jay I think it would be great if we did almost kind of like a a co- meeting with that in facilities because I just on this I had

062I have like six questions right now already that I we do not have time to bring up certainly but maybe if we just did one meeting of a co-ed of just [snorts] those two things because this policy is huge and it can be I mean we realize we're not a for-profit but we have to offset our cost right so I think that that's going to be a pretty large discussion >> you had >> I was just going to add to and I know in speaking with a couple people. Also, I I hope too as those discussions progress that we can involve community members in these organizations because I know when this came up in the past, some of our larger youth sports organizations, they're all our our kids and our students here, but the costs

063incurred to some of them are many thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars that are going to be now trickled down to >> the kids essentially being able to participate in these. So, I hope that as we kind of hash things out, we can get input and kind of communicate those with the the groups that it's going to impact. so we can move forward smoothly. >> I I do think agree completely and I don't think this is anything that we start tomorrow, but I do think it warrants some conversation of really unpacking the policy, looking at fee structures for all of our neighboring districts and then like making it our own and what we think is appropriate for our community. We certainly want to share our beautiful facilities with people, but we also have to

064protect them. And then I think that we're very cautious about how we roll things out that we're communicating with the public and having people in. So it's not like surprise, here's a bill. I mean, I think we need to also do kind of that that work of of getting out there and engaging our community. >> We should be able to at least get it started for a little bit for [clears throat] spring and then go forward with the 2627 school year. I would >> for certain for 26 26 26 27. Absolutely. And if earlier that would just be a bonus. >> Anybody have any other questions? >> I'm so sorry. >> Go ahead. You may want to make a note about how it affects the calendar too, the master library calendar. Yeah. >> Because we

065find I find I think and this is just my personal opinion, we we allow people to book whatever facilities they want as long as they're available. But we have had situations where janitors have a schedule and they're waiting for a group to come in and they don't come in. They just bagged out and that could have been given to a different group that night or whatever. I think if you're holding them accountable for their time and there's a charge involved whether it's a small one or a great one, they're going to be a little bit more responsible about even the use of easily and securing the times. >> So, I just wanted to point that out. Thank you. >> Any other questions? Can I have a motion to return? >> So move second. >> Thank

066you. Thank you everybody. Mike, did you Shel, did you share your slides with Mike or Okay, you did great. >> Okay, we can immediately roll into >> right into the next subcommittee meeting for curriculum and instruction. Um, I'd like to convene it. The time is 6:17. And I guess um the items to discuss are the Swift Middle School master schedule and I see Shelley and John here. So, do I turn it to you? Do I turn it to them? >> Do we need to take a a roll call or no? >> Oh, I don't know. Roll call. >> And then I have a statement to read before Shelley and John present. >> Okay. >> Cindy [clears throat] Failen >> here. >> Karen Hosking >> here. >> John Gavales >> here. >> Christine Pessa >> here.

067>> Jason Malagudi >> here. >> Kareem Bellica >> here. >> Lee Mindy Davidson >> here. >> Elizabeth Lawton >> here. >> Sherry Martino >> here. >> Okay. I just have a statement that I'd like to read and then I will turn it over um to Shelley andor John and then Michael also has some things to share and I have a handout from him um related to the Swift um middle school schedule. So um at the conclusion of the and some of this is just background that I know the board is aware of but just so we're all operating from the same context because we also do have some new board members at the table. So at the conclusion of the 2024-25 school year, a new master schedule for Swift School was developed and released for

068implementation for 2526. Under the previous model, students had a single block of English language arts and mathematics throughout the entire year along with an additional double block of math during one half of the year and a double block of language arts during the other half of the year. The key driver be behind the new schedule for 2526 was to provide extended instructional periods in both language arts and mathematics so-called double blocks every other day for both subjects simultaneously backtoback with the same math or language arts teacher for core and double block. The intent was to create a greater to in create greater instructional continuity and increase opportunities for targeted smallroup learning over the course of the full year with one consistent teacher who understands each student's individual learning needs versus half of a year of

069a double block in one subject, half of a year in the other subject with a different teacher. >> [snorts] >> This would allow classroom teachers to deliver both core and differentiated instruction designed to accelerate learning and improve student outcomes. This became especially important when the interventionists were eliminated from the FY26 budget. As with any master schedule design, prioritizing one goal inevitably affects other features of the schedule. In this particular case, several components were impacted to accommodate the longer blocks, including daily world language for students in grades seven and eight now are a part of unified arts. The traditional team model eagle time for grade six, which also influenced how resource blocks were organized. Because the schedule was finalized and communicated late in the prior school year, there was not sufficient time for staff input, professional

070learning related to extended block instruction, or the ability to proactively identify and mitigate implementation challenges. While the educational rationale behind the extended blocks remain sound, the timing, the execution, and the resulting design limitations have presented difficulties this year. both operational and most importantly in relationship to staff climate. District and school leadership as well as the board of education want to fully acknowledge and and say that we understand the concerns raised by staff and we recognize the legitimacy of those perspectives. Please know that the concerns have been heard, discussed, and documented in good faith. To that end, it's important to note that steps have been taken to stabilize and optimize the current schedule where possible. Concurrently, detailed planning is underway to develop a master schedule for 2627 through a collaborative process between staff and administration that

071will establish shared priorities or drivers and ensure that each element of the schedule is deliberate, balanced, and sustainable. The purpose of today's subcommittee meeting is to review the current schedule adjustments that have been made, outline the process that's already underway to design a more intentional schedule for 2627 in collaboration with teachers, and clarify why it is not feasible at this time to revert back to the 2425 schedule. I would like to say that our collective goal at this juncture has to be to move forward productively and to pull our energy into a shared understanding and commitment to continuous improvement for student learning and staff experience to put our energy into moving forward [cough] to develop [clears throat] the schedule that we would like to see happen for next year while living and doing our best

072with the schedule that we have now. So that being said, I'd like to turn it over um to Miss Raldi and Mr. Anastasia. I don't know if they're presenting together or separately. Um, I've asked Shelley to come in tonight just to share the the adjustments that she's made this year, but then also really talk the board through all of the things that she's also already put into place to move forward into next year. Um, and then we have some information about why it really isn't feasible right now to abandon this schedule. And we'll hear also from Michael about that because that has a whole power school perspective to it as well. And then I think it's important for us as a board to have a conversation and decide where do we go from here. We're

073certainly open to feedback, suggestions or or other ways that we can kind of work with our staff to move forward in a productive way. Um so I'll turn it over to Shelley. [snorts] >> Hello everyone. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak with you. So since coming on board actually click it over for me. The schedule has taken up a lot of our energies and when I came on board we wanted to look at the opportunities that the schedule presented. As superintendent said it was all in good intentions to increase math and ELA time. So when we started we looked at those benefits. You want to go to the next one? And we really talked about all of these with our staff at the start of the year. all the reasons why the

074schedule was brought in. But then we did come to the point where we did see the roadblocks in the schedule as well. And so really what we saw was there was an interrupted continuum continuum of special ed supports. The blocks were really not as defined. Lack of consistent decision making. The Spanish was impacted. The instructional sequence space and storage not enough seats. um reduced learning opportunities. Grade six um no longer had the cultural connections class. We also lost the computers class and the exploring technology class. Um and the level of need versus the level of supports that we had had shifted. So all of this was happening at once. before the school year even started, we all met together and we realized the challenges with the seats and being able to accommodate our students in

075different blocks. So, we um prior to even schedules being released, we included an additional section of art, instruction, um industrial arts and foods. That meant that these teachers were teaching six classes. Being that it's an AB schedule, they're really teaching 12 classes. Um, we tooured in September, we added additional self-contained math and ELA opportunity with the district supporting us by having another teacher come in. And then on December 1st, we added resource sections and we regrouped all of our structured literacy courses. We began the work right at the beginning of the school year through our swift leadership committee. that is a committee that regularly meets twice a month and I proposed out to them um on September 24th that we take this on as the project that we're working on because we had the greatest

076representation from all different content areas. We additionally brought in a um elective teacher as well as a counselor because they were not originally in the committees. We met on October 8th and I presented a timeline to them which they decided to take on the challenge that we would be completed with a master schedule recommendation on the 11th of March. So as all of this was going on, we knew that we had to communicate to our staff. We were hearing um their concerns with support levels and their concerns with the schedule. We knew that we had to communicate out to them the work that we were doing so that they would be aware. We did this on October 15th at our staff meeting. And at that meeting, we shared what the planned improvements for this year

077was as well as the idea of what we would utilize our time, whether we're going to keep mandating this year or we're [clears throat] going to utilize our time to really focus on a schedule for next year. The slides that you're seeing are the exact slides that were shared with the staff and the biggest planned improvement was the separate resource block that seemed to be where most staff was feeling that the students weren't supported to the levels that they had been in the past. The logistics of that is it would occur during an off team time and our special ed teachers would be teaching that um which really enabled us now to use that double block of instruction for that content area to actually give increased levels of support. This in turn would impact our

078structured literacy scheduling. That was a smaller number. So we started with our resource students first to implement that scheduling. We told the staff that the plan going ahead was that we would work collaboratively. We would have thoughtful dialogue. We would have a give and take mindset because we we can't all get what we want. Um but we would be utilizing student centered decisionmaking. What is best for the students that are sitting in front of us? And then we would have to come to consensus. we're it's going to have to be a give and take. We also shared with them the goals of our committee. We had two goals. One was that our master schedule first and foremost would maximize student learning through strategic use of time, staffing, and resources. That that's what we have at

079our disposal and our control. The second goal was to engage teachers in that process that values their expertise and feedback in designing this schedule to support effective instruction as well as professional growth. We shared with them the timeline. We also shared with them that you know we would have a completed master schedule recommendation out by the 11th so that then our technology team would have the time that they need to do the work behind the scenes in P school that our special ed team would have the information to be making PPT decisions and recommendations and so that our technology team could finish up with all of those specialized requests so that we would leave the school year with a completed master schedule outside of new students that enroll to the district. We also provided opportunities

080for staff input. Right off on that first October 15th staff meeting, we did an initial survey which included things like length of blocks, meeting times, rotating versus non-rotating, all the different um kind of different considerations when making a schedule. We also solicited examples from them of any other schedules that they've seen in any other districts or any other place that they would that they thought was working extremely well. We told them that all of their feedback would be reviewed, schedules would be reviewed. We would present to them on January 21st options for consideration. So the committee was not just putting one thing out. We were going through kind of talking through the different options and we our plan was to put out multiple options to the staff for feedback. That feedback would come back to

081the committee. The committee would review that, make any necessary adjustments that we felt needed to happen, and then another options would go out to them the fee February 18th staff meeting so that they would have another opportunity to provide feedback for any changes or any ideas that were added at that point. And then we would look for a final expression of agreement. And what that is is from our staff saying yes, I can support this schedule moving forward. [snorts] Um, this is just a slide asking them for their input. And then the committee and scheduling work that happened after that meeting. We've had a few meetings on October 22nd. We reviewed there were 58 responses from staff in the survey. There weren't any schedules that were submitted outside of those that were submitted from the

082committee themselves. So we did review all 58 responses and then we utilized those responses to talk to start the conversations on what is most important. What do we need to drive our schedule? Can I stop you there and just quickly mention so in other words, last year the driver was to obtain the double block with the same teacher every other day. That may or may not be the driver next year. And that's how you build a schedule. But I think the difference is that they're developing Shelley and and John are developing the drivers collectively with staff so that all of Swift feels like these are the priorities for us and this is what we're going to build our schedule around. How >> refreshing. So, we went into our November 12th leadership meeting. And the left

083side is what I told them as we're thinking outside the box. These are our only non-negotiables is that our start and end times, the minutes in the day. Clearly, we can't change those. We need a 30 minute lunch for students. So, we said this is the only I can't. So, let's keep a really open mind. to the right side is the groups that this committee worked in and they reviewed off the top of my head I believe it was like 15 schedules um that they utilize their time to start looking through all of those scheduling samples. Um while that work was going on, this was December 1st was my kudos out to staff. As you know, I do a weekly parent update. I also do a weekly staff update. We were able to realize our

084goal. We started October 15th. On December 1st, which was the beginning of the trimester, we had all of our resourcing in place for our resource students. But so that you understand that that piece of it that took three counselors um six resource teachers, two structured literacy teachers and three administrators to be able to identify the students, communicate with the parents, amend IEPs as necessary and schedule in keeping into a keeping in mind class sizes and all that kind of thing and changes that we had to do with students. So we had to communicate with parents as well as students with all of the scheduling shifts. So it took us from October 15th to December 1st to do that in a manner that was respectful to staff, students as well as family and met all of

085our legal requirements of the IEPs. So then I guess it brings me to the question of why can't we just go back? Going back right now would impact about 622 students. It would mean a complete reshuffle of their schedule. When you're talking of sixth graders coming into the building, they are now used to their teacher. They're used to their class. And most importantly, they're used to the peers in their class. That would be an entire reshuffleling to go back to another schedule. The current IEPs as written would have to be amended and changed as the minutes in the IEPs are not what the minutes were in prior year schedules. So those would all have to be looked at. There would also be grading imple um impleations because F1s calculate off of three trimesters. When you're

086shifting trimesters between teachers, it doesn't calculate as cleanly. as well as honor roll calculations. But I think the biggest reason we can't go back and I think that's what you've heard. Can we go back to the schedule that we have? Mathematically, we cannot because we don't have the same staffing. We lost five sections of computers, five sections of exploring technology, two fewer sections of cultural connections, as well as 10 fewer sections of parasported classes. So, we can revamp this whole schedule and and change it, but we're still not going to have what they had last year. And that's been kind of what they're asking. Can we go back to the same thing? our resourcing at this point doesn't allow us to do that. As well as the disruption to the professional development work that they're

087doing right now. They've been working really hard to improve on practices of co-eing as well as small group and stations work. So though this isn't perfect right now, we our instructional capacity in those areas are growing. We've invested resources into the development of [cough] those areas and that work is still happening. So right now though we may not have the perfect schedule with the tweaks that we've made, we're supporting students to the levels that they need to be supported at. And our students really aren't complaining about the schedule right now. The students aren't coming to us. and in order to revamp this whole schedule, they would be impacted and they would be coming to us. Um before and and I'm sure Shelley and John would be happy to answer questions. I just passed out a

088document to you that Michael put together. Um because along with creating a schedule like Shelley and John are doing with their staff, there's the whole back end of the powers school piece of it which um Mike I don't want to speak for you, but it takes about two months worth of time to actually build empower school so that there's all of the reconciliations are done and that people can go where they need to go. So, this document is just a two-page document for the board's reference um on from the lens of powers school of how you cannot at this juncture go back and and rebuild um a schedule. So, I don't know questions for Shelley, myself, John, Michael, >> through the chair. >> I'd like to make a statement if I could. >> Sure. Um,

089I just want to say thank you for acknowledging the failures of this schedule and all the implications of what it's done to the staff and the morale and the students and it's the impact of the education and understanding what it [snorts] impacted to the IEPs and what your educators had to do at the end of last year to very quickly change many students IEPs and have those discussions was extraordinary. Um, I'm choosing my words carefully because as you all know this these problems were greatly anticipated and unfortunately um they've come to fruition and it's I think it's even worse than what was anticipated. [snorts] It is unfortunate that at that point the educators weren't listened to, the questions weren't listened to, and I believe, again, I'm choosing my words carefully, that the failure of prior

090leadership and the arrogance of prior leadership led us to where we are now because you should not have been starting your year dealing with this in any way, shape, or form. So, it is good to see how much work is being put into this. It is refreshing to see the amount of collaboration that is being done which should have been done for the folks that are actually implementing the schedule and implementing the teaching and the educators and not just the educators all of the staff. So I just want to say kudos for you to taking it to this level to try and understanding why it can't be changed but to look at a different way next year with the full collaboration of the boots on the ground and the people that will be implementing this.

091[snorts] So I just want to say thank you and thank you for acknowledging the failure. So that's what I'm going to say. Thank you. >> So if I I just might I just would like to say that the plan last year was whatever the schedule was going to be was that that would be all tied with a bow and Michael can attest to this that it was supposed to be all finished prior to April 1st and then it wasn't released until June. Um, so I think that that is a little bit of of the [snorts] execution piece of it and I agree and and Shelley and John, please, this is like I want people to be honest. So I think that we've had so many conversations about this throughout the year. Um, it is certainly

092not a perfect schedule. Um, but there are some components that can be effective for kids. And I think that we've we've gotten to that point. Like the idea of the double block isn't necessarily a problem because it allows for small groupoup instruction which kids need. I think it was the execution and the lateness of it that we couldn't proactively see all of the things that maybe weren't going to work to mitigate or fix them. I also think that [clears throat] there was a component of timing, budget and staffing. >> Yes. that you know in a perfect world >> to it was like you know we talk about moving money to rob Peter to pay Paul and in some sense this was in my eyes doing that like we >> couldn't get the interventionists that we

093wanted and so if we don't have the people or the money for those positions then how do we better use the staff not recognizing the impacts to other staff, right? >> And so I would love to see, >> you know, if the double blocks were set up to support students, then test scores will be another measure. And I know we hate to always go back to that. >> Sure. But, you know, I do think as as you're saying, Lee, and listening to to Chris's um comments that the unfortunate thing is one or two or however many, and you guys can certainly say these are the positives, they don't erase, >> right, >> the the the negatives. And unfortunately, it's not like we can flip a switch. It's not like on an assembly line when oops,

094you know, this thing needs to move this way and it's moving that way. We have kids >> and parents and staff that all feel the effects. >> I'll never ever defend the execution in the timing of this schedule. It wasn't fair to teachers or to anybody because it was just it wasn't fair to to Shelley or John. I mean, it's just the fact of the matter. It just wasn't enough time for people to understand it, to dig into it, to to say, "Hey, from my lens, this is going to be a problem. Let's solve it." It just it the execution. >> So, if what's happening now with it would have happened over time and you know, there's no crystal ball. So I don't know that everything would have been caught, but I think there would

095have been a much >> to your point Karen and and the larger problem of all this is when you had the petition come in from the educators and you had someone like Cindy Murphy who was just a legend in Watertown to come in and just say we're not saying don't do this. We're saying can we please just pause it and do all the right things so that we can properly implement it. where where my hackles were raised were the fact that my concern were not the co-eing model doesn't work but it does but if you have the right blend of students in there and if you have students that were their least restrictive environment is in a self-contained model why are we forcing them into a co-eing model so that's where there were a lot

096of things that should have been done very differently and should have been planned out a lot differently instead of it just rammed down everyone's throat the way it was that and I think that if everyone had the time to Karen's point, why did we rush it? You know, why why did we just take a step back and say, okay, there are pieces that can work and pieces that should work and data can show that yes, this is these are good things, but let's make sure we have the right fits with the right students for the right things and you have the educators that have the right training and we take the time to implement this pro properly. And and that's where the frustration and the morale and everything in and the educators at Swift didn't

097feel heard because we're like we're not saying don't do this. We're just saying hold on a second. You threw this at us. So that's where you know when I say again and I don't mean to repeat myself but thank you for acknowledging the things and thank you for taking this approach to try and correct the things in a collaborative way. And again, I feel for the fact that this shouldn't have been how you started your school year at Swift. So >> through the chair, >> I'm gonna I have a question. I'm going to kind of flip it a little bit. So one of the things we lost in the budget last year was your interventionists, but we did not lose, for instance, the computer teacher, the robotics teacher. They were kind of just shifted and

098those classes shifted as well. If the master schedule agreement is due at March 11th, I think it was are is there a plan to bring them back and if budget how does budget affect that? I mean, there's a a timeline in that >> there there is and I think that that's part of the conversation and I think that's a little bit of of where Jen and um Shelley and John and I need to sit down as we're in the place now where Marie's running um right now she's doing the salary increases. I do think that unfortunately or fortunately just the fact of the matter is that staffing does automatically become a budget driver. Um so I think that is something that they are going to need to have a sense of and you could commit

099to only a certain degree of what you're going to have for for staffing. But I think that the decision to move the CTE classes, this is this is something that I do actually know from last year. The CTE demand at the high school was very high and there wasn't any money to hire more CTE teachers. So then this was the decision from last year was to move them over to here. Um what staffing will look like next year, we'll need to actually once we get a little further in the budget process try to pin down what we think that that could look like because that is going to be a driver of their schedule. >> Yeah. >> But one of the things regardless of whether you a And and I would have this is why

100I I believe that Jen and I were proponents of to release even part of the schedule earlier in the year was our ask last year. We could have released even in March all of the schedule except for the UA classes because those were the ones that were in question on the budget, right? So even if worst case scenario, that is what we can do. UA may look differently, but at least like the other portions of the master schedule can probably be ironed out if if we get to that point again where we're in a funny place with budget. >> It's it's a little tricky because you're trying to write a schedule and you're not 100% sure what your staffing is going to be. So, we have to do our best to predict or to commit

101and say no matter what, this isn't going to be the cut. And I think that's like a systematic way of thinking that Marie and I hope to bring and share with the board to have like a a contingency plan A, B, and C versus just waiting and then cutting. >> Okay. >> I don't know if that makes sense or not, but >> just want to resonate what Miss Feressa said. I I look at what Swift went through last year in the last few years with Miss Manion, Miss Lurs, an outgoing superintendent and a schedule change. It's been a lot. And um I I do commend you both and and your staff and everybody involved for the efforts there. I think the one big thing we want is a collaborative effort because that's when we as

102board members hear from more people there that they didn't feel like their voices were being heard and I think that is always the biggest underlying factor when you get into things like the basis of morale. So I do feel like they're being heard now and I commend you for the efforts and looking forward to what you guys come come back with. >> Thank you. So, if I might say, um, I am more than happy to ga engage in dialogue with the board or any other stakeholders for ideas of things that we could do moving forward to help swift staff feel supported, but I do ask in return at this point that we are almost in January. We can certainly consider if there are things systematically that are still very much a struggle. I know that

103that John and Shel collect that feedback, but at some point, I think Shelley might have said it in her slides, we need to start investing our energy into what we can control and what we can do, and that's moving forward. So, put your voices towards this new schedule. I mean, I I don't know what else to do about where how we got here. Um, but I'm hoping that maybe maybe this could be the point where we say, "Okay, it's a new year. we do want to to do the right thing and to be collaborative because the teachers are the ones that do know. They know the day the ins and out from their lenses. So, I hope that this could be the start of us finally saying, "Okay, can we start to repair and move

104forward?" Um, because we can't change anything that's already occurred in the past. >> Shelley and John, by operating this way, do you see a shift with the staff? Do you I mean are they indicating to you that they are feeling >> I've seen the leadership committee I would say invigorated like the level of preparation that they're coming to the [snorts] meetings and the level of discussions that they're having then they're feeding back to their teams and bringing information back. I feel like I don't have anything to compare it from from last year but based on the first meeting that I had with them this year to now I'm already seeing a shift in that. Um the resource just went into effect December 1st. So there was still some transitions with that piece. Kids being shifted

105out of classes and things like that. Overall you >> God bless you. Overall though from the beginning to the year to now. That's my reference point. I do feel like we're in a much better position. I mean at the beginning of the year people were in my office pretty much every day with with you know some type of um concern. And I think putting mechanisms in where they could always be heard. We have a feedback form and them realizing that we are taking their their feedback. It was kind of funny because one of the committee members said she came up to me and she was like >> they asked me is she really letting us have feedback in this or is this just all for optics? And and they were like no we're really I

106the way that I run the meetings is here's the non-negotiables. These are the only things that we can't and then anything else is going to be a discussion of what we could collaboratively accept because there's going to be no perfect schedule. There never is. But it's the best one that we [clears throat] can build with the resources that we have um in order to best support our students. >> Yeah. >> And even inviting the teachers to come with schedules from other districts. I think we had over 20 plus examples that we had to narrow down to a smaller section. Um, but just the excitement of being able to be a part of it and offer their suggestions and what they've seen. Um, I think it's definitely been a bit of a mood shift. >> And

107I think that having kind of that nucleus, if you will, that then spreads out and goes back, >> Yes. is is vital because there is that opportunity to you know even though you're saying people were in your office every day there's some people who won't >> bring it to that level and yet they have that you know John you sharing that question like wait you know they I think that that I think that everybody has somebody that they trust and look to and work well with. And if it trickles out that way, then I think you have an opportunity for everybody to feel heard. >> Yeah. >> Can I ask one more question? And this might have been discussed prior to this board coming on, but is there no longer a team schedule? Correct. No,

108that was a casualty of of the schedule because because the the driver was that there would be a double block every other day of language arts and math and that it would be the same teacher. >> There was and Michael can >> um there was absolutely no way to achieve teams. >> I'm not going to lie. I love that much better. I I I never loved the team schedule myself with all of my kids that I've gone through this with and I'm on three now that have gone through it and I just I I you know one team always got said oh that's the better team to be on those have the better teachers. It just it's like a line in the sand that gets drawn and we don't need any more lines in the

109sand. We just need a collaborative group of kids that have great teachers that are in a great school. No team >> I don't know. >> And just like Shelley said that no schedule's ever going to be perfect, right? for all the people that are like, "I never really cared for teams." There's a whole cadre of people that are like, "Oh my god, I miss teams so much." I think that the thing with a schedule, Mary Jean used to say it all the time. Every year when we used to talk about schedules together, she would say, >> "Lisa, if you're going to get something, you're going to give something." And that's the way a schedule works. Which is why to me the strategy is that you work together with your your teachers and you decide this

110is what's important to us at Swift School. Like if it's that you're going to have world language every day again, that's a driver in your schedule. But like that's what you decide collaboratively together as a group. You decide what is important to us and then you build your schedule around that and you have to prioritize. So if you really want teams, that might be one of your drivers or if you don't want teams, it's not. So, I don't know if that makes sense, but >> but to to kind of to answer that teameming came in when it went from a junior high to a middle school. And so, it was more based on what a middle school concept was. And so I have to say that when I heard no more teams I thought oh

111>> like you know so even the philosophy behind some things you know [cough and clears throat] the what has to happen for the schedule to work doesn't necessarily meet what the >> I'll use philosophy again or you know the the um the bigger you know climate like all of those that's just not what happens on paper, that's what happens, >> right? >> So, I think I mean I could be wrong, but I think like if it were done collaboratively and everybody at Swift agreed, okay, yes, we need these double blocks, we agree, it means we're going to give up teams, then people aren't so upset about giving up teams, right? But I think that that's where this was difficult because it was just there was not a lot of of input, shared ownership over you

112know, as opposed to didn't anybody think about that? >> No. >> Right. Chris, >> no. No one thought about it. >> Yeah. So, I mean, no one asked. No one asked. >> But think about that. What you're doing, >> right? >> Yeah. >> But I think that this is the way it should be done. >> Yeah. Absolutely. >> So, and I think I think it's important because people are still upset and and they have a right to perhaps still be upset, right? But I do think that it's important that people see the good work that's being done to to fix it. At least if the board's aware of that, um, then we we're operating from a place where we know what's going on. >> Can I for the chair add one more comment? And not

113to sound redundant, but I do think it's important too that, you know, I I left a job when my schedule was changed and overhauled without any input and not just because of the direct impact, but the conveyance of the kind of tone of of respect when you're not included in those decisions. So, I just want to reiterate, you know, we are here to support the work of what everybody's doing here. I have a student at Swift and I trust you guys implicitly to know as the ones that are in the building every day what's going on and what's going to work best. So, you know, I this is, you know, thank you for taking the time to do this. I know in my situation, had this been done, I wouldn't have left that job. So,

114this is huge. And, you know, we do we trust you with our our kids here and we're here to support you guys. >> It's a team. It's a team at Swift. It really is. Any other questions? Anything more that you would like to wrap us up with? >> No, I just really appreciate the opportunity for you to see the work that that is going on. Um, and the fact that we really are working to hear all voices. >> Thank you guys very much. >> So, with that, can I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Okay. >> Just jumping so we can go. We are here. >> It's hard for me to say 65. >> Don't worry. I just can go back to