001pledge allegiance, I will not call a meeting to order. 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. Um This is not an official meeting, but since we do have some guests and I do need to present um the CAG student leadership award. Uh I do want to recognize um um some our Tigger family has experienced two profound losses within our school community this past month. We lost Mrs. Marsha Martin, a previously retired long-time educator at um Thompson Middle School, whose dedication, compassion, and commitment to students left a lasting impact on countless lives. We also mourn the loss of Mr. Arthur Greenside, a previously retired long-time business teacher and guidance counselor at Turn
002of River Memorial High School. Throughout his years of service, Mr. Greenside worked tirelessly to help our high school students grow into thoughtful, responsible, and contributing members of society. His guidance and encouragement shaped the fullness of many students and families. Both Mrs. Martin and Mr. Greenside served our district with distinction, care, and unwavering dedication. Their contributions to our schools and community will not be forgotten and their absence leaves a tremendous void in the hearts of all who knew them. I also want to mention that Integrity Plus took place last week and Madison, congratulations. Um there's a town meeting on this Wednesday on 5:13 that is going to send the budget to a vote on 5:27. Everybody, please go out and vote. And this is a very very busy time of year for the town of Thompson,
003the school. There's a lot of going on, so I know there's a lot of juggling as we see tonight, baseball games, and I know there's a lot of parents on our board, so there's a lot to deal with. The next thing I would like to do is I will not entertain citizens comments tonight because this is not a meeting. >> Amanda Jean just jumped on. >> Oh, she did. Great. We have We can have a meeting. Good. I will call the meeting I will call the meeting to order at 6:07:06. So, great. We have an official meeting now. I will entertain citizens comments. Any citizens comments from the peanut gallery? And I'm dating myself. Really dating myself. My mother would not allow me to watch that show. If anybody remembers If anybody knows >> the
004saying. I don't know where it's from. Yeah. >> It's the Howdy Doody Show. >> Okay. >> Any citizens comments from the Thank you, Amanda, for hopping on. Any citizens comments from the Zoom audience? >> No. >> Hearing none, I will go to the student recognition. The Cave Student Leadership Award goes to Oh my god. Maya Kay. And actually, Ms. Granados here, so she could probably pronounce it for us. >> Okay. Come on, Ms. Granado. >> Is it Maya or Maya? >> Maya. Okay. Maya, congratulations on being chosen to receive Cave Student Leadership Award. YES. FLEETWOOD MAC, ONE OF MY FAVORITE BANDS. AGAIN, dating myself. >> Be careful. >> Maya. >> Yes, so I just want to say a few words about Maya. One of the most beautiful things about Maya is she goes under the
005ra- radar, but always has the Oh, look, Maya. Look at >> Yeah, do you want to open your book first? >> Yeah, open the book. There you go. >> Thank you. Um when I choose the student for this award, I I always like to choose someone that is a leader, but kind of we don't we don't we don't know it, and she's um very much in the classroom, always has um her own opinion, and stands by what is right, and leads her classmates, even though the uh opinion may not be what everybody else's. So, I just admire that in her, and I wish her nothing but the best in the future. And I believe you are going to Thompson. >> Yes. >> Turn left. Yeah, so very proud of that, too. So, uh Turn Left
006is gaining a beautiful and wonderful student. >> CONGRATULATIONS. >> AND I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT being able to pronounce your last name. >> Thank you. >> Okay, now we will go on to the Finance Director's update. >> Where did I leave off last time? >> It's on here. >> Hey guys. A little bit of good news or or at least trending a little bit positively this month. Year-to-date spending, no change to the to the budget as usual. Year-to-date spending of 16.9 million. 77 and a half percent of the budget, which is behind where we were last year, which is a good sign. Encumbrances are a little bit ahead, but we are already starting to trim those back. You know, the annual dance where we're closing POs and the like. So hopefully that will yield some fruit.
007Total projected spending as of right now, 21.7 million or 99.8% of the year for the year. Believe it or not, I did not plan this, but that's exactly where we were last year. Um Same two departments currently projected to be over budget. Pupil services, although you'll see that number tighten up a little bit to 306,000. The drivers are the same. And then ESY by 5,000 as we've talked about every month. We've had a couple of offsetting things in this month's financials. It was really the push to to move expenses into grants that we do every time this year. Um and the good guy there was offset by some development in special education as you guys know. So those two things offset to put us slightly more in the black than we were last month. We're
008at 41 just $42,000 projected for the year. Um You'll remember last month that was closer to 19 or $20,000. So all of the all of the good and the bad this month um you know, doubled our our position in the to the good. Um Obviously it's pretty discouraging that more of the good news didn't stick, but that's just just the world we live in. That process with the the grant work will continue through the remainder of the year and and we'll also obviously you guys know we've been our budget's been frozen for quite a while. Um but that doesn't mean that there aren't amounts that have been encumbered throughout the year that as we get closer to the end of the year we'll be able to trim back and that'll help our position. Um that
009said, there always seems to be things that pop up that will will swing the other way. But hopefully the news was a little bit better this month and and hopefully it'll stick. >> And Bill, you start the process very soon of closing down PO's, is that all? >> Correct. Yeah, we've actually done a few of them already. Um really that whole process is helped by the freeze. Um because everything from, you know, a lot of the supplies and things like that have been shut down for quite a while. So if there are PO's here and there related to supplies, those are getting shut. The flip side to that is those dollars as you guys know when we do the budget, they're not all that large. >> Yeah. >> So you might be closing a, you
010know, a $1,500 PO here and there. It's not going to move the needle, but hopefully a bunch of small ones add up to something that matters. >> Right. >> On the latest state funding thing that was brought up, >> does that go into the 26-27 year? >> Yes. >> So it is the next year in the same budget we're talking Right. That we are >> Correct. The the Board of Finance met last week and they put those monies into So 170 million in total, right? In Thompson we get about 385,000 of that. About 301,000 of that I I would think of as additional like ECS type funding. So that actually decreased the the Board of Ed budget and that was that's how it was adopted by the Board of Finance. The other 75 or 76,000
011is additional um Mohegan Pequot money which actually hits the town side, but they took that into revenue on the town side, too. So the combination of those two served to offset to lower the mill rate. So, you'll remember that the projected increase was 1.93 mills from last year to well, from this year to next year. Incorporating those revenues, that brings that increase to 1.56. So, hopefully it puts us in a a little better position to try to get the budget passed. >> That'll come across at the referendum then as far as the actual budget numbers. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Yep. So, no reduction to expenses, but an increase in revenues which So, so we budget for expenses, right? And then we take we subtract out the revenues that we either generate through taxes or
012through fees and whatnot or grants that we receive like ECS. That comes down to a number that we call the tax warrant and that's what drives the mill rate. It's the amount of money we have to raise as a town to run the town and the school. So, those those that additional $385,000 in revenue essentially served to lower that tax warrant and lower the mill rate. >> Thank you. >> Great. >> They could only do that every year. >> Too bad. >> I will now entertain a motion to accept the minutes from the last meeting as of April 6th. >> I'll make a motion to accept April 6th minutes. >> I'll second the motion. >> Second. >> I'll second from Daniela. Okay. Um any discussion on those minutes? Hearing no discussion, I'll put it the
013motion to the floor for a vote. All in favor of accepting the minutes of April 6th, 2026, say I. >> I. >> Any opposition? Say nay. Any abstentions? The minutes passed. Speaking of it, I'm the first to say. Okay. I don't believe we had any sub-committee. >> We We actually had a sub-committee. >> Oh, you have a communications? Okay. >> So, we had a um communication sub-committee on Monday, May 4th. Um I'm going to give you just the highlights cuz we kind of talked about a lot of stuff. Um we discussed um touring the the high school and giving updates as to how the middle school parents and students um the uh showcase and the science fair um and how that kind of played out, and I think that was a positive thing that we
014will try to do every year. Um we talked about simplifying the um communication, which will be rolled out this August um using just PowerSchool as the main communication through all three schools. Um we decided that we are going to continue with the leadership local government round table for the upcoming year. Um ongoing initiatives included the digital campaign um that's on the Facebook uh page. Uh the student spotlights and pathway spotlights, that's also on the Facebook page. Um we talked about the incentive program and some of the things that um that is funding. Um sports promotions and looking for sponsorships um to assist our athletic uh kitty that they have for for funds. Um letter writing campaign is a thing we kind of talked a lot about in terms of um education funding strategizing. Um and
015we're actually going to have another meeting um in August for the sub-committee to kind of use that as one of our major topics to discuss um so that we can get ahead of it um for this coming next year for when there's uh legislation that's happening. Um and we think we think that some of the efforts that we did was a part of how we ended up getting this additional funding this year. So, that was um one of the things we were kind of pleased with. Um the parent student staff survey will be coming out shortly um to everybody. Um and we talked about that. Um celebrating the seniors. I think everybody's seen on the Facebook page we they've started to put out um acceptance day as well as uh decision day for folks that
016are in the career pathways and having a career right out of high school. Um we talked about the flyer in which um our select person gave us kind of what is in the already for the EDC. Um this is more of for soliciting businesses um and we were kind of thinking to see if there was something that the town could do to solicit the town in general um both for families, um for recreation, you know, all of the things that Thompson has to offer. Um and so there's some discussion to start thinking about that um from a marketing standpoint. Um pathways were discussed um and the vet assistant um is a possibility if there's enough students that are interested in the program. Uh we talked about the referendum uh vote that's coming up. Um and
017let's see what else. Da da da da da da da da da da and then we just set our next meeting date which was for August 24th. Um so that's that. >> Okay, the enrollment update. Okay. So, currently we have 764 students enrolled in the district. That is a reduction of two students At Maria Fischer, we have 326 students. That's an additional student. One student at Thompson Middle School, we have 273. That is a reduction of one student. At Turtle Lake Memorial High School, we have 164 students and that is a reduction of two students. So, overall, we are down two students from the month before, which was 766. We are now at 764. And then Dennett does provide you with the backup as to the comings and goings of students enrolling and withdrawing. And
018at this current time, we do have 23 students outplaced for special education. And I know you can refer back to Dr. Jones' report. And that is the enrollment update. >> Okay. Now, we have the Lifetouch presentation. >> Yes. So, as you all recall, there were some concerns from families about the continuation of using Lifetouch as our school photographer. As you know, the middle school and the elementary school do work with Lifetouch. The middle school also produces their yearbook with Lifetouch. And so, our accounts manager in the region, Dave, is here with his team. Because we wanted to address the situation around the breach of picture confidentiality, the connection to controversial issues that are happening in the country, and and let you hear from the business side of things, where that where Lifetouch stands with all
019of that. And so, Dave is here with his team and they're going to talk a little bit. They've got some handouts in front of you. Um and um I'm going to turn it over to you. If you would come to the microphone though, that would be helpful so the folks at home can hear. >> I did email that. >> Thank you. >> Did you email Danielle a PowerPoint? >> Great. So, we appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to come here, but we thought it would be best and that way the board members can ask you any questions they may have. >> Absolutely. Yeah, thank you so much. Appreciate having us. Uh my name is David West. I'm the Northeast Sales Manager with Lifetouch. We have Alicia Duran as the area manager for
020Lifetouch. And then Dave is the Dave is the local representative. Um so, thank you again for having given us the opportunity to come in here and speak with all of you and and tell you a little bit about what's happened the last couple months. Um now you've been kind of updated uh earlier this year. We were actually kind of a victim of cyberbullying. Is that a better way to put it? Uh a bunch of influencers went on and started talking stuff about Lifetouch and connecting dots between Epstein and us and uh unfortunately it went national and went everywhere. Uh and none of it was true. Uh it all came from influencers that did it on their own. There was no evidence to base it was baseless all the way through the whole process. Uh and
021actually well-known media picked up on it and debunked all of it. Uh well-known medias you'll see in the slides as we start to go through. Um so, if you wouldn't mind going to the next timeline slide. >> You can go to the >> Next one. I'm sorry. So, this is a bit of a timeline, a little bit of a history of of Lifetouch over the last couple years. So, we're a 90-year company. This is our 90th birthday. What a birthday present we got this year. So, in April of 2018, Lifetouch was purchased by Shutterfly. Prior Prior to that, it was employee-owned and operated. Shutterfly was a great partner. We felt, you know, between Shutterfly's capabilities and Lifetouch, it was just a perfect marriage. Shortly after that, in September of 2019, we were purchased by a
022company called Global I'm sorry, Apollo Global Management. Which is where all this is coming from. So, basically, a gentleman by the name of Leon Black was friends with a Jeffrey Epstein. The thing is about us and why it's so untrue and debunked immediately is that Jeffrey Epstein died in August of 2019. Apollo didn't even purchase us until September of 2019. So, right there, there's really no connection. There was no chance for pictures to be shared and whatever it is that they've come up with online. So, we're just on the unfortunate end of all that. Um you can go ahead and go to the next slide for me, if you don't mind. So, these are actually some of the media coverage that came out in our defense. As you One of them I can see right
023now is USA Today. It's a little small for me from here, but these are just national media companies that came to our defense, did the research, and basically said there's nothing here. There's no connection. Our CEO Lifetouch was never named in the life in the Epstein files. Our CEO was never named in the the Epstein files. It's a zero connection. As a matter of fact, Leon Black, who was part of the Apollo Group, resigned in 2021. So, he's been out of that connection for several years now, as well. Would mind going to the next slide? Thank you. So, this here is a little bit of background of what we do to protect our students that we photograph, or the students that we photograph, I should say. Um so, each year, our company goes through an
024audit. Uh Uh, it's called the SOC 2 audit. And basically what it is is a you're more maybe familiar familiar with the the FERPA requirements. So we make sure that we're in line with all those different requirements and make sure we're following all those guidelines. So we have a third party come in and do a really in-depth audit. It's called the SOC 2 audit. So what they do is they go through and make sure that we're hitting every requirement, state, federal, local law that requires us to keep the data secure. So we go through that. This year we've always done that the last couple years anyways. This year we decided to do a SOC 3 audit. And basically report I should say is what that means is we just took the SOC 2 information that's
025very private and you can't really share that cuz it's got a lot of sensitive information and we made it a an available report that can be viewed by the public and we can absolutely share that. Dave has a copy here tonight. We can share that out electronically if anybody would like to take a closer look at that. But just again basically just as Cliff Notes of the SOC 2 audit that was performed each year to show that we are doing everything that we need to do to keep your family safe. We're actually the only photo company that publishes a SOC 3. Yeah, there's nobody else that has the proof or shares the proof that we do all of that to make sure we meet all those guidelines. Some of the other things that we do
026is we have a secure portal that the schools access. It has multiple authentications to get into that portal. Any data that is transpired is never through email. It's always through this portal. So it's always fully secure at all times at that point. Every image that is taken on picture day is encrypted. And why that's important. So if you can imagine if someone took a picture, saved it to their computer and left the building, maybe stopped at Walmart on the way home, their car gets broken into and all of a sudden now they have all the data and pictures of your students in the school. So, they're encrypted from the point they leave the school into the point they're printed at our lab, which are also all internal. We only we never outsource any of our
027printing. Uh everything is done in-house in our Lifetouch and Shutterfly labs. >> Just Just to add a little bit about that cuz I spent a lot of time in the photography world. So, our our photographers actually use like a military-grade Toughbook computer where those images are stored. So, there's no SD card that those images are placed on at all whatsoever. Those images can only be transmitted by using that Toughbook that is secure through a password through a secure network. A lot of other photography companies are simply using SD cards that I can hold here in my pocket with student images on it. That is not what we're doing. So, they're very very secure and and like I said, no one else can access them after they're uploaded. >> And actually when your photographers leave the
028building, they have nothing on the computer. There's they they leave with nothing. I mean, they leave with the computer. So, there is no data on the computer. It's already been sent to the company via the cloud. >> And I know at our end when you give us the pictures, they're manually uploaded to PowerSchool. >> Yeah, you guys have the capability like your IT can actually we can actually connect Fisher and Thompson middle together and you can actually have access to all the pictures for the whole district in there. And again, that's secure cuz it's all done through our portal. And it's formatted right for PowerSchool. So, we work in conjunction with PowerSchool. So, it's secure to your data system. >> My tech director says she manually uploads the photos. So, >> Yeah, and they're formatted
029directly to the way PowerSchool needs them formatted. So, >> And why those photos are very important to be in the database for us is, you know, for security reasons, uh for safety reasons, we do need to have those images there. >> Okay, would you mind going to the next slide, please? So, this is actually kind of a checklist. These are all the things that Lifetouch does uh to make sure that information is secure and we're following all the rules and that just maybe another vendor may not be doing. So, these are just a way to kind of express what we do uh day in and day out to make sure that all our information is is stored and secure. Uh one thing I didn't mention, every one of our photographers is part of our company.
030So, everybody in the company, not just our photographers, but all three of us, everybody across the board gets background checked every year. Uh and it's very thorough. Uh so, we go through that process yearly and so do our photographers because they are our employees. >> And that's a That's a criminal and a sexual offender background check, as well as a motor vehicle record check. Um and that's every employee in the company and the company reruns those yearly um or biannually, depending on the position, but photographers, it is annually. >> So, that's honestly basically what we had to present tonight uh for you guys and we're here to kind of answer any questions. Uh we're here as a partner to kind of ease the community of their um unrest of the situation. Uh and just really
031express that we were kind of victims in in this as much as uh everybody else that was involved, unfortunately. So, we're just here to try to set the record straight. >> I don't know if anyone has any questions. >> Okay. >> Well, we thank you very much for coming and sharing this with us. Um and I think if there's any other questions, I'll reach out to Dave. >> Yeah. >> Perfect. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Also, we can provide all the digital files that we used today or that you can share out wherever you see fit to be able to make a decision. >> All right. >> Well, thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, moving on. Is there any old business we need to
032discuss today? Um any We have new business which is the healthy food certification approval. We have to do this every year. >> Do we have to read it all out? >> okay. Yeah, yes. Thank you. >> I see that Bill you have attached the cafeteria >> Um that was actually directly from Deb. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but I will be >> Two motions? >> Yes, Kathleen. We're looking for the >> food one >> the food >> Do I have to read those? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> I got it. All right. Motion number one. Pursuant to Connecticut General Statute Section 10-215F, the Thompson Board of Education certifies that all food items offered for sale to students in the schools under its jurisdiction and not exempted from Connecticut nutrition standards
033published by the Connecticut State Department of Education will comply with the Connecticut nutrition standards during the period of July 1st, 2026 through June 30, 2027. This certification shall include all food offered for sale to students separately from reimbursable meals at all times and from all sources, including but not limited to school stores, vending machines, school cafeterias, culinary programs, and any fundraising activities on school premises sponsored by the school or non-school organizations and groups. Do I have a second to that motion? >> I'll second. >> Okay. All in favor of um this motion, say I. >> I. >> Any opposition? Anything? Any abstentions? >> I. >> Amanda? >> I abstain. >> One one abstention, Kathleen. One abstention. >> Then okay, Danielle abstains. Okay. >> Cuz we don't know what it really means. >> I'm good. >>
034So you're good with it? Okay, thank you, Amanda. Okay, we have another another motion that's required. Motion number two. The Thompson Board of Education will allow the sale to students of food items that do not meet the Connecticut nutrition standards and beverages not listed in section 10-221Q of the Connecticut General Statutes, provided that the following conditions are met. One, the sale is in connection with an event occurring after the end of regular school day or on the weekend. Two, the sale is at the location of the event. And three, the food and beverage items are not sold from a vending machine or school store. An event, in quotes, is an occurrence that involves more than just a regularly scheduled practice, meeting, or extracurricular activity. For example, soccer games, school plays, or interscholastic debates are events.
035But, soccer practices, play rehearsals, and debate team meetings are not. But, quote, regular school day, unquote, is the period from midnight before to 30 minutes after the end of the official school day. Quote, location, unquote, means where the event is being held and must be the same place as the food and beverages sale. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a second, so okay. All in favor of adopting this motion, say I. >> I. >> Any of opposition, say no. >> I'm opposing. I'm not saying anything. >> Okay. >> If you could even tell me that I'm talking, I'm sorry I sound so bad. >> That's okay, and uh Uh any abstentions? >> I. >> We have one abstention, so we have two. >> And no one is >> Four eyes, one
036abstention, and one no. Okay. So, all of that all of that passes. We're taking care of that. Now, I need to add um a motion to add some correspondence uh to the next um section. And that is Do I have a copy of that first one? >> Letter B will be BOE resignation. >> It's a BOE resignation. And do I have a copy of that? >> Yes, it's in your packet. >> I don't know that we have a copy of that. Oh, I do. Okay. I didn't Oh, okay. I do I do I do I do. Yeah, I'm sorry. I just through the swap this weekend. >> I'll make a motion to add an a b under correspondence for a BOE resignation. >> Thank you. >> Bless you. >> Mother's Day weekend Okay, here we
037go. Okay. And that Okay. Here we go. All right. The first one we have is I don't know what's the first one. >> Christ Church. >> Okay. >> Christ Church. >> Um the first one we have is from Pastor Chris Lang from the Creation Church and Pastor Tim Norman. It says, Um thank you so much. Dear Thompson Public School Board, thank you so much for allowing Creation Church to rent your beautiful auditorium for our Easter Sunday event this past weekend. We had a great event and are very appreciative. The second one we have is passed on to us by the town clerk and was and to Chairman Bolinsky, Vice Chair Herbert, and Superintendent Smith and members of the board. Um fortunately, uh please accept this letter as my formal resignation from the Board of Education
038effective August 1st, 2026. This decision has not come easy due to ongoing health concerns and the need to undergo multiple required surgery. I must prioritize my well-being and recovery in the months ahead. In addition, evolving family responsibilities require more of my time and the attention that I am currently able to balance alongside my duties on the board. That being said, I believe that it is in the best interest of both the board and myself to step aside at this time. I hope moving forward that the board continues to foster a respectful, collaborative environment in service of our students and the community. It has been an honor to serve this community and contribute to the important work of the board. I remain grateful for the opportunity and for the relationships built during my time as part
039of the board. I wish the board continued success in its efforts to serve the students, family, and staff of our district. Sincerely, Amanda Jean Lincoln. So, you'll be with us through um through our July meeting. >> Yes, I will. If I can just talk for a moment about it. >> Of course. >> Um so, I have multiple uh health concerns, autoimmune diseases, and unfortunately going forward, I'm going to have to have kidney surgery number 13 and 14. Um so, lots of things in my personal life have kind of turned into a dumpster fire, so to speak. Um but I just want everybody to know that this was not a decision that I took on lightly. I was honored that the everyone in town voted for me to be on this board. Um I just physically
040cannot handle another thing. And I hope you are I hope you all realize how hard of a decision that that was for me. >> We appreciate that, Amanda, and we wish you well and we hope that everything turns out all right for you and you know we will be on your side. >> Thank you. >> All right. Okay. Um next up I will entertain citizens comments from the Zoom audience. Hearing none from Board of Education comments? Ms. Pinyalo. >> Um so I just want to make a comment. Uh we all know obviously the bifurcation was voted yes at the referendum recently. Uh we know we're going to have a hard fought battle ahead uh with this budget being passed. Um I know we as the board do everything we can to get out there and
041promote it. Uh how much the school means to the community, to these kids um getting their best possible education with what we have. We can't afford to lose any more money if this budget doesn't pass. I think it would be best if we all work together as a community, meaning we as the Board of Ed, as well as our finance board, selectman board, planning zoning board, everybody, right? We all got to come together. We all need to be working together right now to fight as hard as we can to get this budget to pass. We in this room all know that it's one budget, no matter what, but if one fails, they both fail. We know there's a small group in town that is really pushing hard back at the school. Um but if we
042don't all try to work together as a community as a whole and get out there and promote this, um it's it's not going to look very good. Um so I would hope that maybe we can try to plan something where the boards can all come together to try and push to the town, to the community, to our voters, like let's get out there, let's show how much the school means to us. Um if that's a quarterly meeting, a monthly meeting, I don't think it just needs to be right now. It needs to continue. Um I know our campaign for the Republicans was communication, working together, um one one community cuz that's what we are, right? We're we're one town, we're one essential board uh overall, right? If one area is going to fail, we're all
043going to fail. So I think now is really time with this bifurcation um that we all need to work together. We all need to step up and try and do what's best for the school, or else we're not going to see it succeed, and it has come a long, long way. We do some great things. >> I for one was involved in bringing the budget together. We worked very hard to unbifurcate the budget. That's even a word. >> Um it is now. >> And I was so sad to see that they, you know, we've always done it this way, and I'm so sick of that attitude in this town. And I'll go on as a private citizen. I am going to go on the record to say I am tired of this old we've always
044done it this way. And I know why they do it because and they you know they want to fight against the school. I have a friend who's on the board of finance in Putnam. And how they present it in Putnam is they pay $13,000 a year to educate a kid. Because they net the cost of their that's actually 23,000 or something. They net the ECS and present it to the to the voting public as that's what it cost to educate a kid in Putnam. They don't see the 23 or 24,000. I know Putnam is less but they have economies of scale. They have 1,100 kids in their school system. We have 764. And it cost us 27. Now if we took the ECS grant and plus this new 300,000, we would have somewhere 17,000 that
045it cost us to educate our kids. And if we put that on the ballot, it would look a heck of a lot better. Why don't we do that? Are we actually voting on we only vote on the expenses. We do not vote on revenue. We should net the revenue. We don't vote to accept the revenue. I'm mad about that. They don't see what it actually cost us to run this town. It doesn't cost us $33 million. You've got to net the revenue. It doesn't cost us that much money to run this town. We should only be voting on a mill rate. Do they see the mill rate on the ballot? No. >> No. >> We just see the big number. >> Yeah. >> Oh, that's my two cents worth. >> 1.5, spread the word. >>
046Well, I'm going to. It does not cost us $27,000. >> $27,000 to to run it. Yes. >> You shall be recognized. >> Um I just wanted to say to Amanda that um I'm sorry to see you leave. I understand. I always tell you family and health first. And I'm happy to have worked with you for as long as we did and nobody holds your decision against you. So, I just want you to know that. Everybody wants you to be healthy and don't be concerned about the board. It will go on. >> I appreciate you saying that and I don't think anybody wants me to be healthier than I want myself to be healthy. And and taking uh all the medicine that I have to take just to make my kidneys work is getting exhausting. So,
047we we soldier on, people. We soldier on. >> Yes, soldier. >> Um I just wanted to put it out there to the board, to anybody that might be listening, parents, uh community members. Um I personally um go through my little phone and send a personal text to all of my families and friends in Thompson and just reminding them to vote. Um and so I implore all of the students, board members, community members, parents, all the people, if you all reached out just to remind people that there's a vote and where it is and what the times are the night before, um I think that would you know have an uptick on the voter turnout. Also, I know a group of the communications subcommittee at least and I invite anybody else who wants to join us.
048We always kind of wave to the parents and the students coming up the hill in the morning both for the middle school, elementary and high school drop off and usually the the pickup too. Just to again remind people that there is a vote today that may not not realize it. So if you would like to join us, we will be down there and I can tell you the times if you're interested. >> I appreciate all the work that the communications committee has done and Heather's done a fantastic job with that communications committee. I appreciate it. >> Heather, can you send an email out about that? >> To to you? >> Sure. >> Okay. >> What times, locations, stuff like that? >> Yeah, yeah, sure. >> That'll be great. All right. Yes, Rick. >> I just
049wanted to comment cuz Kristen didn't but one of the incredible things as we get to the end of the year is being invited to a number of the functions and there's a lot coming but I had the opportunity to be part of the integrity plus one the other day and it was recommended it and I just with our our representative here just so impressed with the number of the the young people that were recognized by their teachers and one of the most incredible things sitting there next to the high school principal too was that as a as a teacher was talking about one of the students is all the teachers would shake their head yes as the recognition for the quality of the students and what the the the kids put forth amongst their fellow
050students in the in their class and the entire school and to the community. It's been a pleasure to see that as part of the board of Ed this year. So it's been a true learning experience. Um I find it I got to speak with a couple leaving one of the town meetings as well as why would you want this bifurcation thing? You you can see what the dollars and cents are on both halves. It makes no sense. I still don't understand their feeling. But even my neighbor was complaining. Oh, it's going to be this. I said, well, you need to get out there and understand the $12 million part of this to to move the town expenses and how that brings the mill rate down and it all makes sense if you look at the
051numbers. I just encourage folks to reach out and look for the information. Um both about the school cuz the school is tremendous as to what they're doing with and for our students and what the town is trying to do to keep it operating fiscally responsible and I can appreciate that having been here now about 2 years. It's uh >> Yeah, I've gone to many of the since I've been on the board 14 years now and I've gone to quite a few of the I've only missed one or two of the entire class and it is back when they had it at the speedway. >> Yeah. >> And I it is an amazing amazing thing to attend. Um It's and and it's wonderful that they recognize not only the high honors and uh just uh some
052you know, just kids who are ordinary kids but they really are in there for their community, for their school and it is a wonderful thing to attend. >> Mhm. >> And all he gets is a lousy sweatshirt out of it. >> It's a memory. That That night memory has got to be incredible. >> They're not in it for the swag. Scholarship and award night is another That is amazing. That is That is I never miss that. I never miss that one. >> It's coming up. >> Okay. >> Anyway, so any other comments? >> Sorry, no comments. >> Good thing I had my notes with me. >> Yeah. >> That's what I was looking for. >> Second. >> I was just asking if there were any Politely asking if there were any other comments. And I
053did not have a hand in this. I had the creation church one, but I did not have it. >> I had my packet. >> That's what you needed. >> Got you. >> Prove it. >> I didn't have hers at mine. The one that came I received it after I sent your email. >> Did you mail it? >> Does anybody want to make a comment? >> What did you just say? >> I said I don't want to make a comment. >> Oh, Nick, do you want to make a comment or >> Um just uh thank you for the continued partnership and um I'm happy to support you guys moving forward and uh to set the record straight. Um I know there's been kind of a lot of behind-the-scenes conversation of of maybe what my role should
054be or maybe um and I'm not here to to dictate or rule anyone's world. I'm not looking to sit in on any crazy co-subcommittees or disciplinary hearings or employee discipline hearings or anything like that. I'm just here to simply support you guys and your students as one town and one team um if you so choose. Um And if you don't know, I'll still be here. So um please take me up on it. Um >> Can we get some more money? >> You just got 12 million. What more do you want? How much more do you >> Well, hold on. I mean >> We're working towards it. So, we're we're making strides. I know baby steps. I know I know it's a long road, but I do see positivity coming. >> Yep. >> You know, I've
055spoken to most of you one-on-one and it seems like that there's definitely being some forward progress here in Thompson. So, let's stay the course. Let's continue to work together. Be one team and if you guys ever need anything, I'm I'm here for you. >> We appreciate that very much, Nick. You know that. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, I'm away next week, too. >> Yeah. >> Can we adjourn? >> Yeah. >> Yes. We have to vote >> Yeah. >> Christine made it. I second it. >> Yes. >> All in favor? Aye. >> Are you sure?