001a.m. on Monday, April 28th, 2025. And I would like to convene this regularly scheduled board of education meeting. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Miss Davidson. Mr. Bellica, Miss Failen here, Mr. Gallales, Miss Ferissa here, Miss Hoskin here, Miss Palumba here, Mr. Malagoodi here, Miss Lton here, Mr. Cameron, and Miss Kas here. Thank you. Everyone should have received their board of education meeting minutes from March 24th, 2025. Does anyone have any questions? Seeing none, do I have a motion to approve the meeting minutes from the board of education meeting from March 24th, 2025? Yes, Madam Chair, I move to approve minutes from the
002board of education meeting March 24th, 2025. Do I have a second? I second the motion. Any discussion? All those in favor? Opposed? Abstensions? Motion passes. Moving on to student recognition for the Connecticut Invention Convention. Thank you, Madam Chair. At this time, I would like to uh announce uh the Connecticut Invention Convention, which the Watertown Board of Education would like to congratulate the following students from Pulk and Judson Elementary Schools who excelled and were recognized by the Connecticut Invention Convention. So, what I'm going to do is call out uh the names from all of the Judson students. When your name is called, please come up and receive your award and stand up here. And we're going to call all the names. and everybody at the end of the pulp and Judson announcement there. We'll get a
003picture with the board and we'll welcome parents to take pictures as well. Just wanted to congratulate all the students for participating. Great to see all the faces in the crowd there. Love reading all the interesting names of the uh the different inventions here. So for our third grade inventors from Judson, Anna Atanasio for the handy dandy helper. You can go here. Congratulations. You just stay up here. Thank you, Charlie Benedict. Easy sleigh 400. Charlie's not here. Brillan Ruiz, family focus chart. Leak Norris, the cold keeper. Congratulations. Our fourth grade inventors, Emma Whitley, bathroom blocker 8000. How'd you come up with 8,000? I love it. That was great. That jumped at me. Maggie D. Angelico, busboards. Bin Prolocks, the scrap saver. Aaron Fitzpatrick, Grocery Guardian, Julie Gudi, The Straw Landing there. Thank you, D. Congratulations, Julie.
004Teddy Carrey, the chill shirt. There's the shirt. I love it. Congratulations. Nyla Stallings, the clear bar sticker. Kit Vadney, HFH, hands-free highway. And our fifth graders, Eleanor Hickner, Onthe-Go glasses. Dalia Woodard, the pillow bag, and Michaela Norris, the Dell Acne. We know there's a number of events happening now that is spring season and everybody's everywhere. So, thank you for showing up tonight. We really appreciate And the following Judson School students advanced on to the state finals at Yukon. Emma Whitley and Teddy Kerry. and Pulk Elementary School students. Landon Johnson, Realatron, Leer Olsen, the Savvi Space. Congratulations. David Taseline, the dish defender. Matthew Billy Frosty Ashi, the foodie spinner. Grace Tronowski Demir's the emotion ride the messkin congratulations Dylan Webster pelis scissors Mara Triawa chest organizer 1.0 No. Carson Finnegan, Musty Buster 5000. Ethan Dusquez, Cozy
005Fold, Tyler Medina, Hydro House, Justin Murphy, Findies, and Landon Johnson moved on to the semifinals. Um, and can I also call up uh Miss Lauren Oul who's sitting in the audience here and Miss Lisa Plant who's back there. Um, these are two teachers with teams as well. Yes, sitting right there. Come on up. Who um help run the Connecticut Invention at both Judson and Pulk and I see also Mr. Hobrief and Miss Raymond sitting in the audience. So, come on up and join your crew and we'll take one big going front. Okay. get all everybody. You're going to look at me first. So, look at mom and dad. First, I want posters glow up so I can see them. Turn around so they face me. Very good. Everyone showing their photos. Excellent. Now, all eyes
006are going to be on me first. One, two, three. All eyes on me. Very good. Now, you're all going to look over to your right side and I'll have moms and dads over here. [Music] All right. Now you got to go over to your left. All your moms and dads over here. Keep that smile. Good. All right. Hi. Good. How are you? Let them go to sleep. Okay, moving on to the report from student council representative for John Tumble Primary School. of the John Trumble Primary School proudly welcomed 15 volunteers from the America Reads during a breakfast orientation. Many of these volunteers were former teachers who are graciously giving back to JTPS community by reading to and with the students. Miss Mecca and Miss Cardy have been reading to the whole school through a Google
007Meet to encourage love and acceptance of all students. Some books read were a friend for Henry, Just because I was adopted, someone in our class had food allergies, Katy Cam, I can talk in different ways, and who do you see when you look at me? Um, along with this, for the month of April, they have focused on autism awareness and are proudly partnered with Sun Moon stars to bring an author and a guest speaker to JTPS to promote acceptance. Um, they also have a special bubble day planned to go along with this. Um students have offered valuable insight to their experiences with students who learn differently and the school is very proud of them for always keeping love and kindness in their hearts. For Judson Elementary School students have been having fun in their last
008round of highlighted academy groups are I spy Spanish explorers and girls who shine. Um with this to date student Judson has completed the ELA and math performance task portions of smarter balance. The math test task will be given on today which is April 28th along with the 29th and the 30th. A spirit week is also occurring this week to encourage positivity throughout the tests. Um lastly, the class placement project pro process will begin soon for the upcoming school year. Our teachers and staff dedicated considerable time and thought to ensuring that each student is placed in a classroom environment where they can shine both academically and socially. For Pulk Elementary School, students have taken the stage in a fantastic performance of aristocat aristocrats. Um the students showcased their hard work and dedication making the audience smile,
009laugh and applaud throughout the show. A huge thank you goes out to the students performance dedicated staff and supportive families for making this production such a su success. Um lastly, Pulk's Wild About Testing State Assessment Pep Rally was a huge success. Students came together to celebrate their hard work and build confidence for the upcoming state assessments. With exciting activities, energetic cheerleaders, cheers, and a words of encouragement from teachers and staff, students showed their determination and school spirit. Um, for Swift Middle School on April 10th and 11th, all sixth, 7th, and eighth grade students participated in training for say something anonymous reporting system. This program empowers students to recognize warning signs and safely report concerns regarding the well-being or safety of others. Students now know how to access the system and understand the importance of speaking
010up. Um along with this to kick off the Smarter Balance testing in Swift, they had a pep rally also on April 8th. Students competed against their peers and staff members in games like Hungry Hungry Hippo Hippos, musical chairs, and volleyball. It was fun and spirited event to build community and boost confidence for students to begin testing. Um, all students have successfully completed the Smarter Balance ELA assessment and there's a big thank you to the Swift PTO for providing snacks during the test days. Lastly, throughout the work of um the school swift school climate committee um they dedicated the month of April to practicing lockdowns. They've been working hard to ensure everyone knows what to do in case of emergencies by practicing lockdown drills in both classroom and cafeteria. Um for WHS, there was no reports.
011Thank you, Sarah. Moving on. Administrative assistance recognition and thanks. The Watertown Board of Ed would like to thank our central, excuse me, our central office administrative assistance and school administrative assistants, otherwise or formerly known as secretaries, for their commitment, dedication, and effort to Watertown Public Schools. We appreciate all your hard work. It does not go unnoticed, and we thank you. Okay, moving on to superintendent's recommendation and report. Uh, no report at this time. Thank you. Okay. And moving on to public participation. In accordance with policy number 9050, public participants must state their name and address for the record and limit statements to three minutes. The board encourages speakers not to express defamatory comments about Watertown Board of Education personnel or any other persons associated with the Watertown Public School System. Items or questions presented as
012public comment will not be discussed by the board. Before I approach the podium, if I have a hand out, may I pass out to the chair? Yes, of course. Thank you. Thank you. Uh good evening. Elio Long. I reside at 83 Bella Vista Drive. Um thank you for this opportunity to address the board this evening. Um a lot of good things are happening in this district. It was nice to see all the young faces in the room. Uh my intent here is just to bring to light what I believe to be uh some concerns or issues in budgets and the uh current year and the upcoming year so that our district can continue to flourish. That being said um if we take a look at the handout particularly uh code 200 which was for employee
013benefits you'll notice for the March financial report which will be presented to you later this evening. It's my understanding the account has been bumped up to $1 million from 9.8 8. So that's an increase within the past 30 days of $1 and a4 million. That could only be a uh a special appropriation or additional appropriation. So a couple weeks ago, the town approved an additional $2.1 million. And to me, this appears to be a partial draw of 1.2. But if you jump all the way to the bottom uh page or last page bottom line, we're still at a $ 1.9 million deficit. So we have an additional 1.2 within the past 30 days. And the bottom line hasn't changed. is worsened by about 20 $30,000. So the true deficit is over $3 million,3.1 to3.3 million
014by my estimate. I really truly believe it's time now to rip that bandaid off and make a public announcement. Residents, taxpayers should be alerted as to what is the pending deficit. We went back in January from 1.2, then we made headlines of 1.9, and now by my estimate, and I stand to be corrected, it's well over a $3 million deficit. And there are certain areas that we continue to spend like in 310 professional technical services. Two months ago, we had a surplus project of 186,000 and now it's down to $9,000. So if there's a freeze on instructional supplies, why do we continue to spend month after month for professional and technical services? Now, the town approved the $2.1 million. You've already drawn 1.2 to$1.3 million. That leaves about $900,000. But going back to the first
015page, 200 employee benefits that are far right, the current year projection to year end is a shortfall of 776. So you still have about $900,000 in your health fund or your project is 776. The issue, the problem being is that once the town sweeps out of the general fund into the health fund, that money is trapped there. It only could be used for health benefits. So there's $140,000 which is the difference between the 776 and the remaining balance of 920 that you can only tap if you will that full balance for additional claims. So that doesn't help the board in terms of writing down the projection to fiscal year end. U now the last meeting or special meeting I know that uh you had acknowledged my letter. I hate to bring this up over and
016over again, but I thought I had heard at that meeting that there would be an answer response to questions. And we're we're a couple way we're just few weeks away from the referendum vote. And you know, if you find that information helpful or you have answers to some of the questions, doesn't mean you have to answer my questions, but what I'm told right here that you will address them and now it's been another week and a half and it's a week and a half closer to the referendum vote. I would appreciate a response, please. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Um, I know we don't typically have conversation, but Mr. Longo, thank you for this and thank you for all the time, for all the details. I do want to let you know that we are
017working on a response. um your original message was quite substantive, so we've been chopping through it so that we can give you um a concerted response to each one. So, you should be getting something very soon. Thank you. Okay, moving on to the telephone and copier RFPs. Great. Hi, Michael. Come on up. Board members, in front of you, you have um two small Excel spreadsheets, and these are bid sheets for our uh two contacts for copers and phones. That's right. It was a a pretty uh comprehensive process. Uh the whole bidding process for our phone system and our copier systems. Uh these are two of the most important systems that we maintain. Uh obviously communications and and copies. Um and so they are kind of an engine that drives the things that go around in
018the district. So this is particularly important. Uh both contracts uh previous contracts were under 5-year terms and they expire uh June 30th. And so uh that was the reason why we went out to bid. Um, now you can see the VOIPE bid the for bid number uh BOE25-001 for the VOIPE services. Uh, for those of you who uh aren't familiar uh you know a VOIPE system is voice over internet protocol and that means that you don't use traditional phone lines anymore. You use your Ethernet cabling and your fiber and that carries the voice data uh o over the lines. So there's no more uh copper uh phone lines involved in the phone systems and that allows you to do a lot of different things that you couldn't do before. Gives you many more capabilities. It's
019also far less expensive uh than traditional phone lines because you're using your your existing infrastructure. Uh and so that brings the costs uh way down. Um and so you see the 18 bids did have a wide spread in terms of their costs. And I'm going to just uh go over the um how I made my recommendations. Uh the the factors that that that I really kind of considered to be most important. The first of course is overall cost. Uh that was the first priority is to get the lowest possible cost. The second was the quality of services and the quality of services of course uh is measured by references and doing our our background uh research. uh the histories of these companies, how long they've been in business, how long they've been doing this. Um
020and so the experience of the bidder in working with K to2 school districts andor private schools was also an important factor because they understand our needs which are not the same as uh business needs. You know, and business needs, corporate needs, they often times cater to uh call center type of atmosphere uh you know sales types of atmospheres and that's not our uh environment. And so it was important to find a partner that had uh experience working with K to2 school districts. Um the structure of their service agreement of course is very important. Uh what they promise in terms of fixing outages or problems. The structure of pricing. So metered calling versus unmetered pricing. So metered pricing would be you know cost per minute uh that you're charged or unmetered would be unlimited calls. um
021the warranty on the hardware because this is going to include new phones for for all staff members. And then the last one was that it it was desirable although not required but desirable that the company own the VoIP platform that they were servicing. And the reason why is because that it it cuts out a middleman. It's if you have a problem, you don't have to call a third party to to kind of brainstorm a solution. The the the company that you're working with is the owner of their VO platform. So therefore, you know, the problem get resolved quickly. Um, so after looking through all of those factors and doing all this research, uh, I am enthusiastically recommending, uh, CCI voice for our, uh, 60-month a 5-year term or contract. Uh, and and here is the
022reason why. Now, they had they were the third lowest of the 18 bids. And I have to stress to you that, uh, we're saving a significant amount of money uh, regardless of who we go with. actually um but they were the third of third lowest of 18 biders. Um they had absolutely impeccable references. Their references uh that I spoke to personally were just just glowing about their um the quality of their services, their reliability. Um so their three references were Kent School, Colchester Public Schools and the New Fairfield Public Schools. And uh the Kent School, for example, has been with them for over 20 years. and uh they cannot stress how how involved the owners of the company are uh in those few times where there have been problems. The owners took personal interest in
023making sure that the problems were solved in a timely manner. Uh Colchester's been with them for eight years. So they have reuped a contract with them and they told me that in the very few times that a phone actually failed, they the company immediately replaced the phone free of charge uh with minimal disruption. Um, New Fairfield's been with them for three years and they just echoed the sentiments of the other two school districts. I I have not heard a single negative about this company from anywhere and I have looked and just, you know, in more than just those three references. So, they are a company of integrity and I really think that that's an important factor in surrounding ourselves with companies of integrity. Um the service agreement is and all of them in fairness have
024high level service agreements 24 36 724 365 service uh confirmed by their references that that is a legitimate and that they back that up. Uh CCI voice has uh 70 they worked with with 70 school districts across New England and they've been a telefan service provider for 40 years. So, like I said with Kent School, they were with them when they were copper wire, you know, phone provider, service provider, and they stayed with them through the VoIP transition. The structure of their pricing is unmetered. Uh, so therefore there there's no way that to get hit with an overage charge uh for calls. Um, and their hardware warranty on the phones is lifetime. So, as long as we're with them, no matter how many contracts, 10, 15, 20 years, they they replace the phones for free.
025Um and finally they are the owner the direct owner of their of their uh VoIP uh platform. Um the user platform has all the features of the big names like Ring Central and Zoom. Um however, it's it's unlikely that our regular users will use uh the platform is is the you know the uh voicemail to email is still active. Um because it's a VO platform and and all the companies this is true. Um, they have a phone app that you can use on a cell phone. If you have the app on your cell phone and you're not in your office and somebody calls your office, your cell phone will ring. Uh, you can check your voicemail on your cell phone. This is probably not something that we would ask uh, you know, most employees to
026do. U, but for somebody like me who doesn't really have an office who's around every school all day long, you know, driving from one school to the next, it's it's it's a it's a big benefit to me personally and some other people, too. Um they also have in VoIP systems they they they call them soft phones so you can make calls just from a laptop. I mean you don't need the phone anymore really you still have it. Um and so uh we it it really is overall just a VOIPE in general is going to give us a lot of freedom and flexibility in the school district. It's going to save us money and I couldn't be happier uh in in working with this with CCI Voice. Um, and like I said, their ownership is involved
027in in service and and support and uh they're a local company and it's just hard to find that these days. Thank you. Michael, can you transition to the copier? Yes, copier RFP. So, the copier RFP, as you can see, we had uh five responses to our copers and um again, you know, what were the determining factors? What did I look for in my recommendations? Overall cost of course, reference checks of course you know quality of services, experience with working essentially uh the only difference uh between the copier and the VOIPE is uh the system for replacement of consumables is very important. So you know toner staples things like that uh and integration into our current system. So um I uh in this case I recommend uh Prism Office Solutions of Brford Connecticut uh for a
02860-month contract. They were the lowest bid. Um they have out again outstanding recommendations. Um I spoke to the West Haven public schools, the Torington public schools and Lyold Line School District and none of those references had a single negative thing to say. Uh the advantage of Prism uh they have a feature that the second lowest bidder Rico does not have and that is they they have auto orderering of the consumables. So their central system will monitor the uh levels of toner staples and when they reach 25% uh they will automatically ship the toner to the building to the school where that copier is located. And so I the West Haven secretary told me it's a it's strange the toner will show up and then 3 days later uh they run out and then she simply
029walks over and installs it and there's no wait time. Very efficient. Uh, and you know, as long as you have your addresses correct, they send it to the right place. So, um, they they uh they guarantee 4-hour service. So, from the time you call in that one of your copiers is down, they pledge to have somebody out there within 4 hours. And I confirmed that they are very good at um, in fact, they exceed that often times. Not none of the references said that they ever went longer than 4 hours before somebody was on site. Um, that's the short of it. Uh, of course, if you have any questions whatsoever, uh, just feel free to ask, but those two companies, CCI Voice and Prism Office Solutions are my recommendations through the chair. Yes. Um, Mr.
030Dalton, you may have said it, but did you recommend a three or a fiveyear uh for the um both fiveyear the cost savings that represents So, you're doing that for the monthly cost savings and the overall savings. Yeah, if you look in if you look at the the key columns here, if you look at the five-year total column in the copier services and you can you can compare that to uh the three-year uh you know total actually the annual is where you can get your averages. You'll see it's significantly lower, you know, on a by yearbyear. And it's the same thing with the VOIPE. So by going into fiveyear terms, you get lower uh rates. It's definitely worth it going for a 60-month term, especially when we're confident of the quality of the companies that
031we're working with. And also CCI Voice, that's the only one I don't know how much this matters. Phone brand is Sigma. Yeah. Yeah. Familiar with they Well, I you know, personally, no, I haven't been. Everybody else uses Yaylink. Um but but the reference the references were had absolutely nothing negative to say about the Sang phones. Thank you. They they you know Colchester's been with them for eight years and they've used those Sangoma phones and they said just very a few of them failed and they were immediately replaced free of charge. Thank you. One other through the chair. Um many of your bids for the phones have hardware costs. There's nothing for CCI. Is there an initial upfront investment? No. There the some of the companies uh do not charge for the phones the physical phones
032themselves. CCI Voice is one of them. they they charge for the services of configuring the VLANs and things like that, but they don't charge for the phones themselves. So, anywhere where there's blank, that means that company's pricing uh basically tosses the phones in for free. I mean, embeds it in their pricing. Nothing's free, but I do have a question. As far as the copers for color and black and white. Yeah. What is our contract as far as like if we go over say it's 100,000 copies, what are they charging us? That the none of the companies included like an embedded amount that you have, you you pay per copy. So that's the reason why the the copier uh sheet is longer because what I did was I I grabbed a sample bill from February to
033March actual our actuals from February to March which was a high volume you know so then I reduced it by 20% to get that high low range kind of figure and I calculated out the true costs per company per year using our actuals and that's the reason why you see so many more columns for the copers uh than than you would and and It's still it's we're still in in outstanding shape. Thank you. Can I ask a question? Oh, sorry, J. Apologies. Um, the second row, last two columns, can you explain what the heading headings mean? The abbreviations for the copier or the VOIPE? Um, the uh the copier. Yeah. Right here. And then the price variation. Yeah. Okay. So the last two columns would be um a black and white. These are for standalone
034printers, not copers. So some people will have uh desktop printers instead of copers. They're always more expensive to print from. And so we are seeking to get rid of as many of those as possible. Um so that's their price per page for let's say uh a 100,000 color copies on a standalone printer rather than the copier which is much less expensive and more efficient. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. You can always email me with any questions. I'll be happy to answer. Okay. Moving on to items of discussion. All right. Um so board members, just as we do every year, by May 1st, um it is our requirement to notify all nontenure teachers um of their status. Just as just a recap, um in the state of Connecticut, for any new teacher who
035has not gained tenure, um they are to work in a school district successfully for four years and then they earn tenure by the recommendation of the superintendent and the uh office of human resources. Um and when they uh retain tenure, it means that they ultimately have job security. Um, if we have a teacher who had tenure in a district prior to coming to our school district and then came to our district as a new employee, they would only have to work for two years and then they could earn tenure. Um, so right around this time, just before May 1st hits, um, I meet with every single non-tenure teacher in the school district and advise them on how the town of Watertown and the board of education uh, notify their teachers of their status and how
036we also follow a three-letter system. Um the first letter is the letter that uh you are approving this evening that basically states that um I am recommending that we do not renew the contracts of all non-tenure teachers in the school district. Then the second letter that they received um is a letter from the board of education that says that you've accepted or not accept my recommendation to not um not renew all contracts in the district. Then there's a little bit of limbo time where um our non-tenure teachers are sitting a little bit on that roller coaster ride waiting for the budget referendum to pass. They then receive a third letter just after the budget passes. Typically, we have a stack of letters ready to go right on my desk so that we can mail them
037out right away. That then says, now that the budget has passed and we have a final number for the coming FY26 school year, we resend to letters one and two and we now uh grant them uh an employment contract that's forthcoming uh for the coming year. So, that is what you are going to be looking at today. And we have on average just around I think 60 to 70 teachers who are non-tenured currently in the district. Um so as I said it's always a little bit of a limbo. Um and this year certainly there was significance because we were also facing um will continue to face a little bit of bud budget reduction. And so for our teachers who are um you know I I understand it they have to make some decisions. And so
038if they're looking for something a little more stable, um this is the time where teachers will start to shop around to see if there are other districts that might be somewhere else that they go. Um other folks, they hang tight. They see um you know, if they can weather the storm a little bit, but we do try to make sure that we hit that May 1 deadline and then we try to get that referendum passed as quickly as possible after that uh 20th date. Okay, good. All right. So then the next topic here is the uh budget public hearing discussion. Uh so here is the uh official minutes that were passed from the meeting on I believe it was April 24th. Thank you. And so the official date for the budget referendum is Tuesday, May
03920th. polls will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. You can see the um tables there that include the numbers that are going to the ballot. Um and the number for the board of education that is heading towards the ballot is now a 57,45,92. Um that is a 4.15% increase from the original budgeted amount from this year. um which is very different from where we were when we were looking at a 2.33% increase. That is approximately a $2.1 million increase over this year's budget. Um and I am thankful that that number is the number it is and it's not the number that it was before. Um I do want to address that we had a number of parents as well as uh some of our senior students who came out to advocate uh whichever
040way they were for for just supporting school budget. And so that was very helpful. Um and now that we are looking at that long list of reductions that we had all looked at um during the April break, there is a good chance that we can put back in most of our stipens. Um I still say most of our stipens, not necessarily all of them. Uh there's a good chance that uh middle school sports is going back in. I do think we have an opportunity here. it may not be the most favorable decision, but to look at freshman sports still. Um because sometimes when the junior varsity teams are not as large, freshman do um can join into JV. Um it's not a ironclad decision as of yet, but we are looking at potentially seeing if
041freshmen might still be on the table, but middle school sports is definitely back in. Um we do anticipate that a number of positions can also return as well as we shared um or as I shared even by reducing things like custodians and building substitutes there's always the higher risk and volatility that we then go over on overtime and so where we can mitigate that uh we certainly want to do so and particularly you heard u from the public around our classroom teachers and our par educators who are onetoone with our students um they are the heart of this district and so we want to start to return uh those positions back as Um, I do also want to address because I know that there's when it comes down to this level of scrutiny of what's
042being cut and what's not being cut and what's going back and what isn't. Um, it's a little bit of, you know, everybody kind of fending for themselves. And, uh, one of the questions that continues to come up is around our TOSA positions, which is our teachers on special assignment. They're still part of our teachers contract, but they receive um, a small additional stipen to take on coaching duties. They typically hold an 092 administrative certificate. They are not evaluative nor um they're not evaluative. However, they can play a secondary role to provide commentary and ultimately co coaching. Uh we don't typically have toas who don't have an 092. Um and there are people who we had created um a sort of pipeline for leadership steps for leadership to move along in our district. Um there wasn't
043quite a pipeline of growth and so the TOSA positions really offered that. Um some of our um public and some of our existing Falconia staff may wonder why do we continue to keep TOSAs if we are reducing classroom teachers. Um I just want to make clear that we only have right now uh two TOAs who are actually still functioning. Uh last year we had a reduction because one had already left the district for another position. Another one was repurposed to go into our alternative school program. Um, and so really the only two that are are still kind of functioning um are are really hands-on and quite involved in schools. Um, I think at some point there was a little misunderstanding that we had 10 like 10 toes. We don't we only have two. Um, and
044at this time when it comes to reductions, every position is looked at. Um, so at this point nobody has had a private conversation with me as of yet as to whether or not they are a position that's going to be reduced or reallocated. Um, but those conversations are going to be happening over the next couple of weeks. So, by the time our next budget, um, sorry, not our next budget, by the time our next board of education meeting comes around, um, you will start to hear about, uh, schedules being shuffled a little bit, a little bit of reorganizing. Um, and our unions will certainly be part of these discussions as we just try to capitalize on some of the attrition that we're naturally starting to feel now around retirements and resignations and people moving on
045to other positions. um and how we can kind of move the schedules. Now, I also want to clarify um when people heard that the $2.1 million dollars was put towards this year's budget and now we're at a 4.15% increase. Um the assumption was, oh well, you had said, Dr. Villinoea, just to cover contractual increases, it was 3.98%. So, now that you're at 4.15%, you should be able to not lay anybody off and move forward just fine next year. So there's a little uh bit of misunderstanding around that. Um even if we have 3.98% to cover all contractual increases, it doesn't mean that anything else in our budget didn't rise this year. Um and as you know, we're certainly trying to do our our due diligence in new RFPs and contracts for things like large uh
046copers and phone services. We're trying to find uh great rates for utilities and we're trying to do those comparison pieces to bring those costs down. But utilities did go up. Contracts do have percentages that are increasing because we're in um contract. Um and so yes, 3.98% certainly does cover all the contractual salaries. However, uh 4.15 doesn't quite cover everything. And so that's why there are still a few reductions that are still on the table. That being said, many less reductions that are on the table. Um so we're very thankful for that. Um, so again, at our next budget meeting, you will have a very clear um, understanding of where and what has been put back, but just some hopeful things. Middle school sports back in, a number of our stipens back in, a number of
047our personnel positions back in, and I hope that puts a little bit of ease at some of our people's minds. Thank you, Dr. Williams. Thank you. Moving on to people to ask any questions through the chair. Any commentary or questions through the chair on that? Yes. Yes. Okay, great. Thank you. Um, so I have a couple questions, Dr. Villanoeva. Um, one of the questions I have is surrounding the catastrophic healthcare claims and the appropriation that we had to ask the town council for. Yes. We've been hearing about these claims for weeks and weeks and weeks. We didn't know the exact amount, but we knew that it was rising, rising, rising. 31 catastrophic healthcare claims. Now, you know, knowing we'd have to ask for an appropriation, would was there any discussion with the town council how
048this appropriation would affect the MBR minimum budget requirements and how that might affect the cuts that they might give us in any way? Because if there were discussions about that, Sure. that really truly would have made a huge difference and lessened the amount of chaos that was created in the last couple weeks. Sure. So, so your question is, were there any conversations about the health insurance overages? So, if we knew we'd have to ask for an appropriation because we have to balance out the healthcare claims because we went to a new a new um company, which is better for everyone. We know that's going to save us money in the long run. We knew we had to clean up the claims. My question is, we knew we'd have to ask for an appropriation. Did anyone
049think to have the conversation about how that was going to affect the minimum budget requirements going in to the to budget discussions? I'm just throwing it out there because that would have alleviated a lot of stress. So, I don't know if it actually would have alleviated anything, but I can certainly talk to the process that was taken. Um, and then perhaps it's a conversation for council to have. Um, it would obviously be better if it was a joint conversation so that everybody's around the table speaking of the same things. We were fairly um open about our overages early on, perhaps even in the end of September. I think by the time October rolled around, we already knew that we were having overages and health insurance. There were early on conversations with our um with select
050council members um and our town manager. Um typically that is not that's not atypical. The moment that Marie and I have a budget alert that's showing any type of possibility for potential overage, we just I mean we're in the same building. We just walk upstairs and hey, hey, did you guys get your health report? We just got our health report. It's looking hot. What's yours looking like? Let's do a comparison and we have a conversation. We were at a point um early on in October that it was significant enough that we uh did ask for a small meeting that didn't involve every single town council member and I think it was very early in the year. It was October. So, you know, health insurance can and I don't mean for this to sound unreal, but
051it it can't happen. You can have months that spike intensely with claims, and then you can have months that don't have any claims. I mean, we actually experienced that last year where the town had, I think it was March and April, they spiked crazy, and suddenly in March and April, we dropped because there was nothing. Um and at the end of the year we were kind of standing in a funny spot where the town was up and we were down. Um and there was even an appropriation then but we had not needed an appropriation but there was still an appropriation asked and then we started the year and we spiked and the town came down. So again there's an eb and flow to health insurance. That being said, in October there were early conversations around
052overages already being shown here and our brokers because we had moved to new brokers were also anticipating and projecting that that would only grow. So we were keeping a close eye on it. Uh we had other conversations in December. I know that Mr. Alic and Miss uh Rosa and I think Christa and maybe Karen and Marie were or Marie you might not have been there but I remember I was in Toronto uh with my family and I was in virtually but I the town manager was the town manager I wanted to make sure that it wasn't going beyond the Christmas holidays and so I know it was a little bit of an inconvenient but we wanted to have it before we went for break because the numbers just kept continue to grow. Um we had
053at the same time some overages in special education that were showing at that point. Um and then come January, we're seeing additional spikes, additional spikes. So we continue to communicate with upstairs. I I say upstairs, that's that's where the town manager's office is. But again, you know, as we're focusing on what the overages are and talking about whether or not that would have alleviated this year's town council's choice of what to put forward. I think, and I don't want to put words in anybody's mouth, but I think the hope is always that you don't want the MBR to go up for any other reason than you planned for it to go up because you budgeted for it. And so if there's a way to freeze or if there's a way to cover overages, I think
054both the town and the board of ed would want that strategy to be able to help you end your year in the expected MBR you wanted. Now, because we did have to go for an appropriation, including the town, it's out of our hands about the MBR. It automatically goes to the MBR. If we had the opportunity to carve it out and say it's health insurance, it has nothing to do with children. um you know, state, can you please not put it to the MBR? We wish we could do that, but that's that's just not how that works. With that being said, I I don't know if this would be helpful, too. Um just before the public hearing on the Tuesday evening, they did approve the appropriation that was on the Monday night. With the appropriation
055of the 2.1 and a little more um to the budget, it does raise this year's budget right up to about 50. And I actually have it right here. 57 million uh 4005902 I think is the number. So if you think of it that way, although I'm not thinking about it this way, I just want the math to be correct. Um if that's the new MDR, so to say, what's actually moving forward next year is is really only a rise of about $193,000, which is actually not a 4.15% increase. It's a 2% increase. But I don't want to think of it that way. I want to think of it as we are getting 4.15% and it is $2.1 million more well not more but that we can put towards next year's budget which we wanted to
056do. So in terms of chaos um I think that's that's an intense word. I think every year we go through this feeling of unsettledness uh around this time. I think we have the entire time I've been here and I think we've had even more intense times when Woda was still alive. Um I don't think it's a new feeling for Watertown. Um but yes, it certainly can feel like chaos if there's misinformation or people swirling with all Dr. Venue, speaking to that point, why didn't we just have an executive session to discuss your proposed cuts before we brought it out to the public? Because honestly coming into that virtual meeting and then seeing the cuts for the first time, it's like and you ask what are your questions about this? Well, you have you need time
057to like really dig into those each and every one of them before anyone makes a motion whether it's approved or denied because it's a lot of information. It affects a lot of people and it affects the whole district. Those were devastating cuts. That really should have been an executive session to discuss everything. Sure. So, it's not an executive session topic. um an executive session topic is typically left for uh personnel performance and things of that nature or safety and security. Um so cuts of that nature, anything budgetary is considered open in public session. It really is unfortunate. It's, you know, it's not a good topic. It's not a topic I was looking forward to talking about either. Um but that's a little bit of the hard work of being a public servant and being part
058of the board of education of talking about these things. Um, with that being said, I hear the feedback that perhaps um, the board would have liked to have known the cuts prior to to be able to digest them. There's um, certainly different methods of doing this. I think it's hard to put cuts out and ask people not to talk about them when you know that they're there. So there's also a safety in everybody just getting the same information at the same time publicly and then just having the open discussion about it. Nobody around this table wanted to make those cuts, including myself, including any of our administrators. Nobody did. But it would have been very unprepared of us if we were not prepared to recommend something with a public hearing coming up and our public
059community not knowing what it could potentially be. Um because you also hear there's the fine m dance of make sure you have enough people that come out to public hearing to advocate for your budget. But if they don't know what they're advocating for, they don't know what they're coming out for. And so it's delicate and I know it can feel chaotic, but I do think we go through it every single year. I don't think we've had one year and not go through it. I don't think we've ever had a motion to approve the cuts prior to a public hearing and the board's making the recommendation. To my knowledge, I don't recall that. Okay. Uh I'll just I can double check for all of us. Sure, that'd be great. I'm not 100% certain myself, but I'll
060double check. Okay. Thank you. Okay, financial update from Miss Koshuba, business manager. So, good evening, board of ed members. And tonight, you're going to find in your package behind the finance report section um my monthly financial report in the same standard format that I um tend to provide each month. Obviously, this month's report is dated as of March 31st, 2025. So, in addition to it being my monthly report, it also serves as the quarter 3 finance report. As stated earlier, you can see that we are still showing a $ 1.9 million mill million dollar deficit. Has not gone up much since last month. Um Mr. Longo was correct when he stated that in effect we did have uh an increase in the budget line item for employee benefits. That's why I put an asterisk on
061it. And that was a partial um appropriation of the 2.1 million that they've uh allocated to us. I was asked by the town if we could do it on an asneeded basis and in trying to be good partners with them. I don't have a problem doing that. So, as we are getting our um monthly bills for the insurance, we are now putting it on the books when we receive the bill and then that is when the appropriation will hit to cover the expenses. Um I will let you know that now that we're in a selfinsured um I'm sorry, in a fully insured um plan rather than the self-insured plan, we actually prepay for the benefits. So technically, even though we're drawing um contributions both employer and employee from the the pays, we actually have to
062prepay a month in advance for the actual expense. That's not unusual. It's just a little bit of a change in the accounting the way we've done it before. Um so I just wanted to point that out to you all. Um I realize that we are show still showing a $ 1.9 million deficit. I do want to point out though that you need to remember that this is a snapshot of our expense reporting as of March 31st. We've already got three more weeks on the books. this number has come down a little already. Um part of that is in fact with what I've done every year and perhaps there's a better way to do it. I keep trying to do my best. We are doing um constant searches on our um current incumbrances and our POS.
063As you know, at the beginning of the year, I try to make sure that we encumber for everything that we're anticipating. We have had some fluctuation in some of those POS and part of that is both um on special ed side with um both tuition and uh transportation billing. the bills don't come in, believe it or not, is not that we want bills quickly, but we've actually had to chase down some people for um uh out of district transportation bills and whatnot. So, I'm really just trying to true up that number and I'm going to continue to true that number up. So, you will see some fluctuation in that. But, as with always, one of the reasons we even started monthly reporting during my tenure here was because we are trying to be as transparent
064um with everyone. So, I'm happy to answer any questions. Dr. B and I have already started to draft up responses to Mr. Longo's request. Um, and I would I would do that for anyone who had a request. Um, do I think it's going to be a tight race to the finish? Yes, a very tight race. And I have explained that to Dr. Villanuva. My hope is that when I return, and I am going away for a few days, but when I return um, in the middle of next week, that I will be able to close the loop on all of those POS um, so that we have a much more concrete number. And at that point, we'll address any situation if we think there's going to be an issue um, coming in with in in
065budget. We're we could not have tightened the belt any more than we have this year. When I say I've looked under every rock, I have looked under every rock and I'm going to continue to do so because um it's never easy for me to say no when someone has a request for a need. And I feel like I say no a lot. So, I know that you all know that. And um I appreciate all that our teachers are doing and working with me with how tight things are. But we're going to get through this. We always have and we will. And it's my hope that better days are coming. But in the meantime, I'll continue to report to you as best I can with any findings that I have. Thank you, Marie. I have a
066question for you. Sure. I know that you send this to the town council every month. Yep. Do they ever call you or email you with questions? I haven't ever gotten specific questions. Um, you know, I am upstairs, like Dr. V says, upstairs with uh the new finance director and Meg, both the assistant finance director and the finance director. I think since the three years that I've been here, my fourth year here, we probably have the best working relationship we've we've ever had. I think we we work very well together and if there's questions, they know they can call me at any point. Even with the appropriation, we were on the phone while I was doing my end of the journal entries and they were doing their ends of the journal entries. But have I had
067any specific questions from the town council, not specifically to my knowledge recently? Um, I wonder if I could just add a comment and I apologize that I didn't do it before. Um, so just since we're talking about the non-tenure teachers and and you can hear Marie talking about saying no so much and just trying to keep this budget as as tight as possible. Um, when I first came to uh Watertown and started having these non-tenure conversations, I thought, "Oh, what an interesting process that our district goes through to have these three letters." And I could see it in the face of every single non-tenure teacher that I speak with. um the unsettling feeling of knowing that you're for a few weeks going to be without a contract. Um and I thought how interesting. This is
068just how it's always been done. This is what we do. This is essentially yes statute that we have to notify people by May 1st, but it's also a symptom of having very tight budgets every year. And so using this as an opportunity, not an opportunity to make people feel uncomfortable, but if the budget were to fail or if the budget were to require us to make more cuts, that we're already in a space where we have a slew of people who are without a contract. Um, I hope that in the future and as we become more sustainable as a school district, this process may change. Um, I don't think we're in a place to change that as of right now, but I think when there's more stability in a budget, when we have more uh
069confidence in a fiscal number that's not going to pitch and, you know, swing as wildly as it does here, perhaps the process for uh notifying our non-tenure teachers may change. Um, but I think at this point, following history of how it's been always done is is the safest way to go about it. But I must tell you it is very a very unsettling process for both our administrative team as well as for our uh non-tenure teachers. It's just feedback. Thank you. Moving on communications, Miss Fer. Yes, we had a letter come in with suggestions on budget cuts from Mr. Warren Campbell. Um information came in and was sent to Mrs. Lisa Fecketty regarding the Bridge to Connecticut transition program. And we had some salesy correspondents come in regarding um air quality requirements moving forward. So
070they were just trying to see if we would bite on a sales pitch, but it came in. So thank you. Thank you. Moving on to committee reports, curriculum and instruction. Miss Hoskin. No report at this time. Policy and labor. Mr. Malagudi. No report at this time. Madam Chair, budget and finance. Mr. Gavales. Facilities. Mr. Gavales. Mr. Gavales is not here tonight. Governance and community engagement myself. No report report from the board chair. I would like to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who came out on Tuesday to listen to the board uh budget presentation. Our community continually demonstrates its unwavering commitment to educational excellence and dedication to our students. With the referendum's passage, this district can persevere and even enhance programmatic offerings and current staffing while operating within the state's funded and unfunded mandates.
071The board of education and administration work closely together to prepare a budget that upholds the quality Watertown Public Schools is known for. While exercising fiscal prudence for all taxpayers, the last few months have not been easy. Budget season never is. It challenged us and offered us new opportunities every single day. Together, we have responded to the best of our ability and in the best interest of our students. Thanks to your incredible support, we will keep providing every student with an excellent education, including vital resources, innovative programs, and dedicated staff. Your vote makes it possible for students to graduate with not just a diploma, but with the skills and confidence needed for a promising future. Whether as teachers, parents, fellow students, administrators, or community members, we must act knowing our efforts and attitudes contribute to our
072students success. Your votes speak volumes about the trust you have in our schools and the bright future we're building together. Each vote isn't just a mark on a ballot. It's a vote of confidence and the power of education to change lives. Your belief in our mission inspires us to keep moving, to keep making a real difference in the lives of our students. Thank you for being the heartbeat of our community, for believing in our schools, and for investing in the success of our students. Action items. Adoption of items to be approved by consent. Consideration to approve the non-renewal of non-tenured teachers. Connecticut state law requires that non-tenure teachers who contracts are not being renewed shall be notified in writing prior to May 1st, 2025. It is recommended that the board approve of the non-renewal of
073the non-tenure teachers based upon all possible reasons not limited to performance or the need for reduction in force that the board approve the notification of the non-renewal of non-tenure teacher notices in order to be in compliance with state law. Do I have a motion? Yes, madam chair. I move to approve the non-renewal of non-tenure teachers based upon all possible reasons not limited to performance or the need for reduction in force and that the board approve the notification of the non-renewal of non-tenured teachers notices in order to be in compliance with state law. Do I have a second? I second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I opposed abstensions. Motion passes. Consideration of the approval of an outofstate field trip to Worcester, Massachusetts. Miss Spears, a teacher at Swift Middle School, requests an outofstate field
074trip to Worcester Polytech Institute in Massachusetts from June 6th to June 8th for approximately nine Watertown High School students. Students will participate in the first robotics competition along with teams from New England. It is recommended that the board approve this field trip to Worester, Mass from June 6th to June 8th, 2025 for approximately nine Watertown High School students to participate in the first robotics competition with teams from New England. Do I have a motion? Yes, Madam Chair. I move to approve the field trip to Worcester, Massachusetts from June 6th through June 8th, 2025 for approximately nine Watertown High School students to participate in the first robotics competition with teams from New England. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. Abstension. Motion passes. Future agenda items and board member
075comments. I have a comment. Um, I'd like to propose a board liaison that would meet with union leadership monthly for a temperature check with staff. We speak often about the importance of school climate and the morale of our educators and support staff is critical. I would also like to know the process for the board of education to receive notice of grievance settlements and lawsuits against the district. The legal fees settlements and costs incurred are important to note during a time of not only ongoing budget freezes but also cuts. Thank you. Any other comments through the chair? Yes. Just wanted to resonate what was said earlier there about thanking everybody who came out to the not only the hearing but was a part of the process there. I know these were challenging conversations to have. Um,
076and I do remember from last year, so we we we're we're kind of evolving as we go here. I think this year we tried being prepared with what was being cut. And I I actually like the strategy of it because I do recall last year we had many community members in here that were upset about the uh partial cut to the nursing position. So um I think we are working our way through challenging times together. I I do like to hear the open dialogue that's happening. I think there's always room for improvement. I credit town council members. They are in a very challenging spot, but uh it was very heartwarming to to be a part of the hearing the other night and just seeing all the students and uh people just speak their opinion. They
077all did so respectfully. Um we listened to every one of them. They were there past 11:00 proudly. So again, just want to thank all the community members for coming out. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? No. Okay. It is now 8:03. Do I have a motion to adjourn this regularly scheduled meeting of the board of education? Yes, Madam Chair, I move to adjourn this board of education meeting at 8:03 p.m. Do I have a second? I second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. Extension. motion.