001cool but let's round her up welcome everyone and thank you for joining us for our June meeting of the Bethany Board of Education where we Inspire and Empower children to thrive in the World of Tomorrow we'll begin as we always do with the Pledge of Allegiance please stand pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all thank you we begin with a student presentation [Music] good evening Madison Wampler is one of our Dynamic BCS fifth graders and if you recall a few months ago Kay had shared with us how excited some of the students were when we had installed the wheelchair swing Madison was very moved by that playground update and it has inspired her to
002take some action of her own ladies and gentlemen Miss Madison Wampler [Applause] [Music] one day I was at the playground and I noticed a new swing that looked different I saw Mrs burden asked her what it was for she said it was a swing for a student in a wheelchair and I thought that was great from there I knew I wanted to raise money for a more playground equipment like that so I walked around my neighborhood and handed out flyers selling eggs they also asked Billy's if I can sell lemonade outside after these a lot of friends came to support me I raised 250 and I couldn't believe when Billy's matched what I made that day over the next few months I returned cans two times a week all of my hard work and also
003inspired a few other people to be a very generous donations I am proud to say that I am donating 1 300 towards playground equipment for special needed children I hope all my hard work inspires other kids to help grow our playground and lastly I would like to thank each and every person who'll help make this one this happened thank you for your time job thank you Madison congratulations it's really inspiring he's working [Music] we move on to student recognition of the Connecticut Invention Convention finalists bird yes good evening convention on June 10th at UConn thank you with Miss Wolcott and while he didn't necessarily take home the Ultimate Prize we are very proud of our three finalists our first finalist is ilongo alango presented the folding station would you like to explain your invention because
004I think you can do it better than I can [Music] I my mom gave me a basketball coach to do and it was very tiring my mom I asked my friend this problem and he said this is the most frustrating show for all adults and it hasn't been solved it this is why I chose to solve this problem they are holding machines but they're very big in size they are very costly they consume a lot of electricity mines is very different because it's small in size it's affordable in cost and it's foldable and it's a you know it does not consume a lot of electricity I started out with a blueprint and then I started building I cut the board and then I named them able to be put in seaboard Indie board I clamped
005two hinges to the a board and they're cramped another two hinges to both the D boards on the back side of a board then I added medium hinges and attempted to the back side able that's in the medium can just clamp to a c board and I used another medium and just and slammed it to another C board then I use small hinges and clamp it to the Deep while I was doing this I ran into a few problems one the keyboards was not stable so I added a magnetic hatch um then all the handles was the same here but the middle kept stopped in the middle so I took it out and I added a handle right here um an improvement Improvement I made was to add a phone holder and a spring here
006the spring was the phone holder was made for you to watch while holding the clothes I looked at the internet and it said most of the people watched while folding their clothes the spring was added to um when you fold the clothes it will be much easier to lift it and pull it back and improvements I want to make in the future is to add about 10 years in Motors so you can walk work automatically when I tested it it looked perfectly fine I asked my friend to test it and then he tested it and he gave me the idea of adding the phone holder then I asked my friends that and he liked how this oh how it's foldable um I think um people who fold clothes at home and people who work for
007other people to fold the clothes and cause closet finally a well-organized space helps to reduce stress and avoid being frustrated I really hope my invention will help other people by reducing their stress and increasing their health thank you and our other finalists actually presented a project together Henry and elikia would you like to come up and share your project it's called The Spill saver our project is systems the problem we're trying to solve here is when dogs eat they spill the food could get stepped on or get water on it this is a big mess for dog owners to clean up it's a waste of dog food it's a waste of the dog owners time and money this is how it works so when the dog spills it goes through this plastic grate and um
008into these funnels and then when you're ready to feed the dog what you do you put the bowl under here you pull off the cap and all the food food falls back into the bowl [Music] ers [Music] [Applause] thank you wonderful great ideas growing in Bethany [Music] we now moved to our PTO report foreign before I get my report I just want to say I have a little personal tie into the spill saver here it was tested on my two dogs Henry and Alexia came over to my house and they tested it on my 150 pound Newfoundland and my 30 pound puzzle and it worked phenomenally so I just wanted to give a little shout out there and I'm proud of them if they do have a video my dog is actually using it so
009okay um so my name is Melissa zaldo um I am right now the secretary for the PTO um effective which I first say I'm actually stepping into the president role so um excited to be taking on that challenge since we last met we funded some PL trips we funded the pre-K four field trip to Common Ground the first kindergarten field trip to Massaro Farm the first grade field trip to Beardsley Zoo and the fifth grade field trip to Sturbridge Village and as I mentioned effective July 1st I'm stepping into the president role and there's quite a few uh PTO members here a lot of the board is staying the same we actually have one of our new members stepping in uh Rami is stepping in as our donations Jeanette's staying on as a co-chair for
010um culture and enrichment and Naomi is our Communications chair so excited we're meeting tomorrow the newborn oh board to start planning for next year um so again uh so for teacher appreciation week we supplied uh sugar cupcakes on Monday to all our teachers on Tuesday we provided a cater lunch from Teddy bees as well as some donated desserts from our BCS families on Thursday Sarah and a lot of people went around and did a little treat cart they used a spinner from the Chiefs and ladders or Candyland one of those board games and they um had a spinner in the teachers and stuff spun it and then they won a little prize based on what they what color it landed on it's really cute I was really impressed with that um we also provided treats
011for our bus drivers custodial staff and capital cafeteria staff as well um Lego Club Jeanette um they they had their last meeting on May 30th and we are going to be bringing that back next year um hopefully we'll be bringing back full year um and I was just informed from Jeanette before this meeting that the library here in town saw how popular it was and so Jeanette's going to be working with the library to continue to offer something to let go play time for the kids over the summer um and then I think it was the last meeting we were heading into quasi night that's our joint uh Park shuts down and we was down the park with Beecher Road School we had 483 uh friends and family from BCS alone attend that was a
012record number we beat last year's number with that it was a beautiful night um as a parent it's just so much fun we'll let the kids just go wander it's a small Park you feel totally safe letting them you know just ride rides and there was like very little weight for those rides so always a lot of fun for that then the week after that we had our Spring Fling we had close to 800 people um come for Spring Fling and we were also offering teachers the opportunity to come to that free of charge unfortunately if I'm making my son hit strap that day but um I've been seeing pictures all night I saw the amazing amazing raffle prizes that parents were winning a friend of mine sent me a picture she couldn't believe how
013much stuff was in her raffle prize um so thanks to everybody who came out and I hope they had fun also on that we had a ribbon cutting which I sure we talked about later in honor of Kristen pushing who was a BCS mom who unfortunately passed away about a year and a half ago so her husband and her children came and put the ribbon in the dedication of the Trap and then this past Saturday we had our yard goats game we had 100 people attend I thought thanks to Mrs bird the children the families were able to go onto the field and get a picture taken as a BCS family and then I as I understand it I think it was a four four kids were chosen as baby goats to get dressed up
014as a goat and they were able to run the bases during the fourth inning I saw pictures it was totally adorable and then two of the older kids were picked as like flag holders as the race and then they came across the line we also supported uh Field Day by providing popsicles and oranges and watermelon um and I just want to say a huge thank you um to our BCS parents and families um my church has a has a saying that we couldn't do anything without the time talent and treasure we certainly couldn't put off all of the events that the PTO does throughout the year without the time Talent Treasure of our BCS families so thank you so much thank you very much for the updates really wonderful events this last month as always
015and thank you for everything okay we come to our first opportunity for visitors public comment uh and I'll ask my last board here the first opportunity [Music] okay uh we have a public comment from um online Mr James Bruni from hummiston Drive uh makes uh two has two comments first is uh can you provide an overview of both the superintendent and the Board of Education self-evaluation process I'm curious to know what the Board of Ed sees as areas for improvement if any when reflecting on the past school year uh second comment as the Board of Ed and the Bea move into contract negotiations I'd like to publicly address the fact that it's time to support our teachers to the fullest extent possible with this coming contract for too long we have lost teachers and will
016continue to lose teachers partially due to the existing salary schedule we can't only compare a district to those of Woodbridge or orange when it conveniently serves our narrative rather we must take a look at those contracts closely to ensure we retain our stats as a former teacher in District I recall an occasion in which I was told I was replaceable and there were hundreds of other applicants waiting for my job unfortunately this attitude is where our teacher said as what our teachers have been up against and I'm hopeful this board of education has a much different approach many of the Board of Ed members have expressed their desire to retain our best teachers and now is the time to put these words into action thank you for those comments anyone else wish to speak to
017the board at this point okay there'll be a second opportunity at the end of our agenda today all right so we move on to our first action item which is the review and approval of the minutes from our May 10th regular Meeting those minutes are in your packet and I trust folks have had an opportunity to review them entertain a motion to prove John Paul thank you in the second Amy thank you any before we move to a vote any uh questions Corrections or discussion on the minutes of presented in your packet motion passes the minutes are approved and will be posted on our website we move on to our committee reports beginning with Aces down here [Music] um at their main meeting there was a parent who took place they're concerns over reductions there
018had also been a protest by about a hundred thousands down there concerning the same issues apparently there's been a declining enrollment in the budget deficit with the remedy promoted by Department heading part-time teachers created a new position of associated to consolidate the administrative responsibility information [Music] some parents and students were clearly disappointed by these changes the five effective teachers were no doubt also received substantial reduction in their salary but they were told that they could possibly find other teaching positions within the aces systems in the June meeting the legislative session was wrapping up and there was concerns for the passage of bills that Aces had been modeling a letter was drafted and sent to the governor in the name of Aces supporting House Bill 5003 that impart funds magnet and remote control once the session
019ended the executive director reported that funding for their three construction projects and school funding changes partially overall these helpful cases thank you for those updates um any questions about the aces update or discussion ECA runs around uh Asus runs GCA yeah I thought that was part of New Haven oh is that right yeah part-time I guess they only do half days oh is that what it is yeah I think kids from other schools spend part of their deities as they don't I'm sorry I didn't see it anything else on okay thank you we move on to our curriculum committee okay did the committee meet did not meet last week okay very good facilities we haven't met but I was going to ask Kay what's going on with the uh as part of her report okay
020we move on to finance which had as I understand about a four minute meeting yeah there was nobody there why waste the time I can't do it tonight this year what's that I logged on a few minutes later I tried to no that's all right it's just you're a few minutes late with me and you're not there and uh but case got a couple of things that she's going to want to talk to the board about and I've got a couple of questions on the uh report okay well so let's review the finance report um as a board that's in your packet before you have as usual the variances for April and then the updated variances for May and klsq to to go through this since the rest of us haven't haven't yet gone through
021it so under general education our salaries remain status quo from last month there's a slight decrease to the benefits line of about ten thousand dollars due to the addition of a family coverage plan for a staff member we're showing an increased deficit to some of the year end projections as those numbers continue to to fluctuate until the end of the year supplies are showing a deficit of 63 654 dollars that's instructional supplies and a lot of those wish list items and things that the board asked us to move forward and purchase teachers as well as to offset some technology supplies which will use some e-rate funding for moving forward general education has ended the month with a total surplus of 88 958 which is lower than last month's production of 139 311 due to the
022benefit adjustments in all the purchases in special education again the salaries remain the same as last month benefits of real estate for final billing and are now showing a slightly lower surplus of 664 dollars special education is showing a deficit in the services line item of 1561 which is lower than last month due to some of the end of the year projection adjustments that Brandy has made supplies is now showing a surplus of 11 969 due to the offset of funds from some additional grant funding that came in and other special Edline items still remain showing a deficit although it's slightly lower because as again those bills and things come in we can continue to adjust those but with Grant offsets and some of the decreases that we've had the special education budget has ended
023with a surplus of 123 430 dollars over in operations overhead again like the other buckets there salaries remain the same as last month we do have a greater deficit showing in facilities and this is due to some of the Landscaping that we did around the Pavilion and the demolition cost for the portable trailer which I'll talk about leader operations overhead ends the month with a deficit of 72 538 but overall the budget is showing a surplus of 139 850 um it's lower than last month but again a lot of that is the wish list items in the portable and the things of that nature things that were already approved by the board from last week questions for Kate before we go on to a vote on this report yes how does it look for our
024year-end engine two weeks approximately two weeks yeah Brandi will have all the all of those final budget numbers in have everything scrubbed and ready to go by the end of the month but it's still looking that we're going to have a surplus don't know what that number is going to be yet though okay and we're still talking about turning the Surplus back to the top well we will bring our rainy day fund up to five percent yeah um and then will there be some additional offset in your superintendent report so there'll be some that'll go into that fund for next year and then the remainder yeah okay vehicles [Music] foreign I can get that for you what that specific number would be for that five percent and five percent is about three hundred and fifty
025thousand uh we were about three and a half percent or four percent last year around four maybe a little under four yeah so it's probably going to be around 80. you get us but that's a very rough bumper I'll put that in I'll get that information from Brandy [Music] okay any other questions or discussion on this report before we move on to the motion info during mental call for a motion to approve the report is presented thank you uh any further questions or discussion hearing that I'll move on to a vote all those in favor please indicate by saying aye all right any opposed any abstentions motion passes uh and the report is approved we go on to the negotiations committee professionals foreign [Music] thank you very much questions for Amy on the negotiations report
026all right um and we did hear comments about negotiations going forward when we resume that process with an interest in default uh policy I believe has mattered and transportation all right we have no understood so we move on to new business which we have one significant item and that's as Amy just mentioned update on the paraprofessionals conference which I will review with case help since EJ is not here this evening um so we did after a few meetings of the paraprofessionals and their union representative come to an agreement on a contract uh and has that been approved so that has been approved by the usual when it comes to us for a vote this evening and with our vote uh assuming that it is affirmative that contract will be approved in one process with the
027parent professionals uh for this round for the next three years uh the changes in the contract relative to the previous contract you all made those of you who are on the board will recall that three years ago we had a fairly significant change in the paraprofessionals contract up to that point most of our Fair professionals were part-time without benefits and there were only a couple full-time with Benefits apparently referrals and it was decided that the administration felt at that time that we were better served by having a smaller number of full-time paraprofessionals you know we'll spend more time in the school or more you know part of our part of our family right lots of part-timers so that constituted a fairly substantial shift we got full time which meant many more with Benefits we also
028felt at that time that our paraprofessionals were not paid adequately relative to other districts since there was a significant increase in Pay uh I'm committing with shipment to full-time so that was a big change three years ago this year the changes have been more incremental within the same basic structure um there was one issue that came up was with what happened since the paraprofessionals are paid hourly what happens when there's a delayed opening or through no fault of their own they lose hours because there's a delayed opening because of weather or something and uh they proposed and we agreed that uh it's you know reasonable for them to be paid for their scheduled hours uh when they're situated so that doesn't change um there's a new longevity bonus in the contract where a paraprofessionals who've
029been with us for 15 to 19 years get an additional 500 annually and those who've been with us for 20 or more years get in a salary bonus of a thousand dollars and that's in service of our shared interest in having people good people come and stand knowledge acknowledging that one um with salaries we agreed so unlike the teachers the paraprofessionals all make the same salary they do not have steps and so the only way that salaries increase year to year is uh with uh across the board cost of living increase the salary no advancement in steps within the contract and we agreed on a three percent per year salary increase for all finally with insurance so we've worked to bring the insurance plan for the paraprofessionals into alignment with that for the teachers everyone
030at this point is covered with a high deductible plan and we changed some of the details of that plan in terms of how much the board contributes um we also moved the board's contribution throughout to the um to the uh plan for the paraprofessionals from a percentage of their of what's due to a flat rate although structure so those are the changes they're all you know who agreed upon and everyone you know left I think feeling that it was fair uh they're all you know incremental but but you know but but valuable to the to our to our employees um within a structure that has not fundamentally changed did I capture the main changes I had some good notes to work off of because that made it easier to thank whoever um any questions three
031years three years uh three percent per year that's accommodated within the budgets yeah yeah when in a contract you're the superintendent makes assumptions and the three percent was what what did they tell us the average in the state was it pretty close it was either very high twos or very low threes we're sort of right in the middle of the with the average increase was it mid 73s [Music] and their role is to the majority are in the special ed department and their role is to you know fill whatever it is whatever it needs come up or support Beyond the outside contractors I know this is not part of it that's fine yeah we use outside contractors for various things generally if we need a full-time person it's usually much more cost effective to bring
032someone in so for example for our behavioral support Specialists who help kids who are having trouble with behavioral regulation we contracted the basis for a long time very costly for us 10 or 15 hours a week and we shifted a while back to spend less money to get more hours things like occupational therapy and physical therapy where we don't have nearly close to full-time need we do still do the contract so we have women need Specialty Services [Music] they're usually more cost effective so it's not like an outside contract that's a substitute teacher for instance um we've gone back and forth with that we have had a it's the same thing is true we can contract with an outside provider for substitute teachers but it tends to be more costly we shifted some years ago
033to a model where we actually where we employ uh sort of building Subs who are here all the time and are ready to plug in wherever they're needed they get to know us they get to know the kids and we had a problem with that program about six or eight years ago well you'll probably think of the internal program is that what it was yeah so there's another way that we've had substitute teachers teachers we've had interns from etching schools of Education who sent teachers to us to do you know the student team or senior student teachers they're mathematic there's some complexities there as well we actually have to pay schools to have their inmates it got crazy so this is something we've gone like how to invest both most effectively and most efficiently cost
034effectively to manage the needs but in general certain my impression is here over the years my impression has been that if we and if people you know get to know our kids [Music] well the agency would be a contractor [Music] you don't have a retired teacher that you call in every once in a while benefits they complete identical I think they're very close [Music] yep that's why I'm making the distinction I can't say it brings them more in mind in terms of their deductibles so for their first year they wouldn't have a change in their insurance benefits and then a year two and three brings them back the teachers [Music] no they're the same plan but they have different costs cost stated contractually within it so everyone's the goal is to get everyone teachers in
035Paris until one plan yeah [Music] okay thank you okay any other questions about this contract anyone want to review anything else before we move on to the vote okay um so I will move that the Board of Education approve the collective bargaining agreement between the Board of Education and paraprofessional CSEA SEIU Local 2001 effective July 1st 2023 through June 30th 2026. [Music] before we move on all those in favor please indicate by saying aye any opposed any extensions [Music] motion passes contract is approved congratulations to all those involved in negotiation vote for the Courtside and Paris side nice to get that find us I think we have a good contract all right that's it for our new business and so we'll move on to our administrative report s start with something really great teacher and
036staff member of the year every year at BCS it's a tradition that we honor a staff member for going above and beyond the Call of Duty for our school our community our families staff and students there were a few people that were nominated for the award this year and they're all very worthy but as always the 2023 is noted to have done an amazing job helping students to get lunches she makes sure that not only the students but the staff are healthy she serves and leads our lunch Advisory Board the wellness committee she's a bright and cheery face in the board of education office and it gives me great pleasure to let everyone know that Donna the charti was named the BCS staff member of the year and we had a chance to honor them
037at the last student community meeting and it was really kind of nice Donna didn't know she was going to be the staff member of the year so she was actually assisting me carrying out the flowers and the Sash and as I was reading the description about the staff member of the year she's like oh well I guess I should just put the Sash on myself so it was it was really nice she was absolutely surprised we also honor an exceptional teacher each year for their contributions both in and outside of the classroom and for the positive impact that they've made on teaching and learning again several fine Educators were nominated or this year and all were very worthy but once again committee can only select one this year's recipient was described by parents as an
038amazing and phenomenal parents remarked how this teacher goes above and beyond constantly striving to come up with creative and fun ways to work with her students she understands the needs of each of each and every one of her children on many levels academic emotional social and all of their personal growth she was described as being considerate caring and kind of truly embodying all the qualities of a very well-rounded teacher and an active role model in the VCS community this year's teacher of the year also serves our school Community as a member of the steering committee boost Academy teacher a team Mentor most recently she was one of the teachers that accompanied Miss Kiesel to present at the Symposium at Foxboro Stadium and I'm honored to announce that kindergarten teacher Rebecca Graham has been named the
0392024 teacher of the year Miss gray will received the teacher of the year parking space out in front of the school but since she's down in the Rotunda .com and she'll be recognized in several events throughout the year one being in November when I will accompany her to the Bushnell where she will be introduced as the better meet [Music] congratulations all right enrollment update as of May 31st 2023 the BCS enrollment is at 435 students you have the historical enrollment so you can see what it's looked like 21 for the 2020 year and the 21-20 [Music] um so that's just the enrollment update the enrollment projections is where things start to get a little hairy okay so as you know our kindergarten numbers continue to rise we are as of this afternoon at 55 that
040number has really only gone down because we have a family we have some folks that are moving out of town but we also have some folks who've moved in we just don't have them in our enumeration yet and they're still about 14 or so folks who were on Sue's original enumeration that have yet to register their children uh given that information my recommendation to the board no when you're done okay um would be to move towards more sections of his account I don't think it would be wise I don't think it's good for children or certainly for the teachers to have classes well over 20 um even if you were to put those instructional AIDS we've been talking about into the classroom so my recommendation to the board is to consider ing of the 1048a
041putting some of those dollars into that account so we can open it now my question yes state is both houses have passed okay that's well how does that impact it should if anything knock it down it won't that won't go into effect until 24. so what it's really going to impact and we have yet to have any guidance on that energy of the kindergarten enrollment age to you must be five by the first day of school that's going to impact our students that are in our Pre-K 3 Program is right now we're working under the must be five by the end of December rule which means for pre-k 4 must be four must be three if they change that that bubble of students across and I brought this up to boa and all of our
042superintendent groups that bubble of children is going to have an issue because a lot of history say thank you for completing your k-4 program I'll see you in a year when you're eligible for kindergarten what I but but shouldn't we then it's a problem but but shouldn't Utah we then redo our pre-k program to bring that in line so that if a kid's going to go into the pre-k program then he's going to have to be five at the start of school year a year from now the challenge with that is we've already accepted our students for next year I haven't made any contingencies must legally start to educate at the age of three degrees in theory you could potentially so so those are the things that when that all passed about a week ago
043um I'm keeping this keys [Music] waiting for the guidance from the state I will keep post but yeah so that does it's it's a future problem that I'm worried about now well my gut feeling given that the state is mandated what we have to do there are no dollars what's that they're not giving us the sport just they didn't even ask I I think we have no choice but to rescind the approvals and who we've taken to the kindergarten program because of this issue there's another one she's legally about it what's that if there's if there's a legitimate realistic how many kids how many kids we watched the first thing you're right see oh the more I wouldn't bother but the issue that's one shame but the issue is it's not just on a regular
044education side it affects special education students as well where you legally cannot turn them away but that's what I'm saying it's a special ed I think is is is a worse of a different color you know Pre-K you have an option special or special ed you have no option but half of our BK is special but it's an integrated program how many kids forget about attorney let's say we're not turning anybody away we're keeping things are going to change we've said we sent our Letters Out everybody's hit how many total kids are we talking about being over by because of this because right now we believe it's only it's only one student of the typically identified students but a Pre-K classroom the average size to start is 12. but not here you're the mentor and
045we might potentially have some special needs students that would then have to get an extra year in there so maybe that number goes up to let's say five so you have four four students that are now going to be in there is this a matter of coming up with another classroom or like and hiring as another staff member or are we talking about dollars that would have to go towards curriculum for that extra time that those students are in there but not necessarily another staff member the requirement for students who are already accepted into a program so the state may say okay we're going to grandfather all the children who are going to be in pre-k 3 next year and then start with the following year [Music] is a complicated issue that is being worked
046on and we I trust when did they plan when does he expect to sign it that I haven't seen yet that's my understanding correct when nothing has been signed up there but does he ever projected schedule they say next week okay look forward to so so we so we're looking at one one possibly one but no one has you know we're now in Uncharted territories this is and this and you somebody just raised a valid point this is what the rainy day is for rainy day fund is for eign no one knows what the fallout's going to be [Music] there's two different issues one is what do we want our program to look like in four years and the second is how do we get there without you know providing support for the kids uh
047so then the fact that's that's a self-imposed note the state the the legislation yeah the legislation that that establishes the rainy day fund is that we can put in one or even two percent a year but it's not so from a legislative point of view we could just keep putting money in it now if you're putting money in it there's nothing wrong with you but but so the five percent is what we when when our when that fund began to build up we asked ourselves the questions what's what should we be aiming for well but the attorney also said five percent five percent was the advice from our uh [Music] it's not binding it's just the number that our account gave us is what they thought was a reasonable thinking [Music] I think we're in
048good shape right now yeah it will not affect this coming here in these times so it doesn't impact anything until it doesn't impact anything that we need we're actually yeah for the next six months to a year it'll just give Kay a sleepless night and probably Sue and probably Cheryl and and maybe Tom but God just asked to administer [Music] what's that okay all right all right so can I ask given the recommendation that we go to four kindergartens which obviously has the plan has been that will go to five percent but we now know we're gonna go to five percent and we're immediately going to drop back down again in order to cover the unbushed reports this is your recommendation that we go to five percent and then draw it down is it your
049recommendation to go above five percent so that after this growing down that we now know about any land somewhere close to five I'm comfortable and I don't think we need to go over for next year so looking at our second grade our first grade looking at our second grade we currently have 59 students projected to be in second grade next year um one of the conversations that we've had previously is not adding an additional second grade but maybe considering one of those instructional aids to float kind of in support second grade if need be all of the enumerated students are here so it's not the same issue that we're faced with kindergarten it's the issue of people keep moving in which is great because Bethany is a wonderful Community to be a part of but
050they coming in with children that are either kindergarten or second grade next year so I don't know what how to explain that but we're going to continue to that I don't think needs to need to yeah that's that's keep an eye on sleepless night I'll keep you posted so the kindergarten teacher would be in part of the the five percent I think we can get both of those things like if I needed to get an instructional Aid because they're not full-time they don't have benefits with the number uh oh I don't have an example I know last time it depends on the seniority of the teacher who comes in yeah but it would be something with Benefits probably something like a structure eight structural Aid would be something like um yeah it's less than that
051okay we're looking at 100 area but I'm going to give you exact numbers I don't know yeah we set up for it and I think we're in good shape [Music] it's not a paraprofessional our paraprofessionals are trained to work just with our special education students this would be a general Aid in the past when we've gone to really high numbers we had a general Aid that would just kind of go and help the teachers in the classroom they made and she when they had higher numbers we post the position and we okay so it's a new one it would be a new one okay open shows so kids are coming from a city somewhere right is there any limit on how many open Choice seats that we are we currently support I believe five Choice
052six open Choice students um we get funding for those students we decide how many open Choice students okay so there's not a not a specific when an open Choice student applies whether they will commit incident right is one of the criteria among them so that land in a place where they're not going to attack create a problem it's just you know inside of two years at that 60s pressure run in school I'm sure so I would just that's why we don't accept open source students into a place where they're going to put pressure okay foreign shifting gears a little bit a plan now that you're going to have three-fifths and three three sixths how did that work out I know that last time we talked about it we're trying to figure out if there was
053going to be in Summit still or there will still be and then that's all worked out we're good with that [Music] Team Summit used to be things I thought it was five no it was five but that's why because it was created because I thought it went to five originally it would never say anything I wasn't here I thought that was I thought that was Colleen's way of trying to figure out how to handle five because of the drop two and it was created before we went created when there was three years all right a Personnel update the following staff members have unfortunately submitted their resignations but all for really great reasons Daniella Workman is a paraprofessional she's given her notice she is relocating out of the area in Canada home Cecilia Bellamy is a
054paraprofessional that won't be returning because she's going to be taking a [Music] and this one a little bittersweet because I've known her since she was a child Rebecca sparbo is a paraprofessional who won't be returning to BCS in the fall as she's going to become a full-time graduate student on the way to earning her master's degree in speech Republic polish them all well and thank them for staff have already started to do the interviewing for their replacement and rent news all right you know we like a good Grant here in Bethany and we really love it when we receive those grants most of our grants tend to be academic in nature but this time we've been awarded a grant and Technology our I.T director Matt Bruder applied for and received and this is a mouthful
055the state of Connecticut public utilities regulatory Authority public educational and government programming and education technology and investment account Grant uh Jesus this grant was established to promote improve and support educational technology initiatives the district was awarded the full amount requested totaling 65 545 Matt will be using these funds to purchase additional hardware and software to enhance live event webcasting including for Boe meetings BNN training promotions Etc access to live TV digital signage broadcasting and a lot of things that I don't fully understand which is why I'm not the IT director mobile devices and more so I just want to give Matt a little credit because a lot of times we focus on the academic grants but we've got some other stuff doing some big things and bringing in dollars to understand and by way of
056a facilities update um we've been cleared to use the Pavilion given that the remaining outstanding items that we have are primarily cosmetic handicap signs and things that have to be added to some of the ramps that we have we had hoped to use it for our sixth grade graduation yesterday but Mother Nature as we know did not cooperate and we're going to look forward to using it this summer I want to think about white Rooter Carpenter for working so diligently to make the billion a reality for our staff students as far as the portable the quote was received and processed and the work will begin the summer we wanted to make sure all of the students school so once the portable is removed the facilities Committee reconvenes in the fall we can have more discussion
057about future what was the quote which I'm surprised you know that number was going to ask you're going to get asked what's that oh approximate it doesn't have to so the cost just five thousand dollars okay I'll give you the number all right lastly I just want to thank and acknowledge and recognize our Amity interns that spent time with us this spring and to thank the teachers who supported them least beer a real Ambassador Catherine Albert no De Luca and Matt Bruder all had interns from Amity all graduated they all came they were absolutely amazing while they were here at PCS so congratulations to Liam Connors Clara Khan Nora losty Benedict Kian and Anthony Sharma we had our own amazing graduation yesterday with our Scholars but we've seen to be having some referred water problems
058what's that is the water leaking shut down the school it was Poltergeist yeah so yeah we've had we've had what about three occasions water mysterious like clean water mysterious like come on it's the worst ever is it coming through the floor is it coming from the roof is it leaving the kitchen kitchen it starts out in the kitchen and then it kind of comes and it affects the staff Lounge and the cafeteria so it comes out of nowhere seemingly yeah usually a crack in the floor there's a pipe leak in some ways what's that that's what I'm saying there's usually a leak someplace yeah you should be able to find it Fred will find it eventually yeah so we've got somebody coming in to work with Fred to try to get because again it just
059it's the most random thing none of the alarms go off or anything it's just all of a sudden you start to see water and the guys freezers that are not only draining dishwashing equipment the seal let go I just wanted to look into all those things [Music] any further questions or discussion on any of these items that Katie reviewed with [Music] me technological updates and they'll allow people to use one platform into resources and then on the 16th the teacher will continue their work curriculum and be reorganizing the priority standards police a little anxious to hear about but we know and whose will be taking place one day per week an hour and a half and we'll also be happening next we'll appear as well in special education I submitted a grant for the art
060class summer mental health support Grant competitive whether we receive that or not and the extended school year programs thank you so I actually went back and I looked at it I try and cover it all apologize so on the 15th of May uh the PTO sponsored our BMX bike assembly we had two different sessions uh we had our youngers and our olders out there it was a really great the century was talking about a kind how to persevere bully really cool stuff um specifically told the children not do anything that he did on his bikes several went back and are apparently now going to be like so uh really great stuff a second on the 17th or second grade Homestead the 18th of May are prepaid fours also on the evening the 23rd is Keller
061opened up the doors to the BCS art gallery and we had our showcase which is amazing my favorite was that we had a very competitive baseball game up on the baseball field and the kids wanting to be able to get down here definitely an amazing that night on the 24th of May uh our sixth graders went over to Amity for their field day on the 25th of May uh the fifth grade has a field trip service Village um on the 26th we had our community meeting we honored our teacher of the year and our staff member of the year we uh service and citizenship uh the week of the 29th which was Memorial day back second grade did the schoolhouse here that several students unfortunately had to wear the guns cap and Center that's um
062that they were allowed to get back home uh uh May 31st I don't think there's a lot we're still in May by the way uh on May 31st our fifth graders went to the high school for steam day um on June 2nd um our first graders had their trip to the Beards the zoo um the evening of June 5th we had split the awards so we have our wonderful tradition for the sixth grade Awards so we split that from our promotion ceremony for our sixth graders be able to give them sunshine on June 7th we had our Field Day a huge shout out to Joe DeLuca I know that that was a giant ball of stress for him and his blood pressure dropped on the 8th also for all volunteers we had an amazing set
063of volunteers they had to rescheduled due to impending weather and people mobilized right around for the next month we had an absolute massive amount of food I've been volunteers it's really wonderful on June oops sorry still in the afternoon we had our prepaid promotion and then um in the evening of June 7th we also have our Impact Sports and walk it and [Music] uh on June 8th our sixth grade took their field trip to the Science Center and on June 9th we unveiled our time capsule I was a little disappointed there were no Backstreet Boys but we did have there were a lot of pictures from the building when this whole section would be built and renovated and we even had a lot of things that were put in over here there was also a
064picture of Mr Anthony when he was here uh which was hilarious and the kids absolutely loved that and Mike Sullivan which was amazing because he sort of looks like the same um so that was really great the problem was there was so much stuff that we couldn't actually go through all of it and so what we're doing is we got into the sixth grade classes this week so they could kind of see some new things and understand what a VHS tape is and why Auto rewind is really important uh true story um it was a great we had a CRT TV coming down was wonderful it was like we really were in 1998. um uh we're also going to have uh an open interview and we've had a bunch of alumni reached out so we're
065going to have that available uh on June 9th in the afternoon we had our kindergarten promotion which is really wonderful it's a huge turnout for that um this week now we're getting up to speed uh on Monday we had our next great previews we have all the kids just move forward to visit a classroom in the next few years teachers and just share a little bit about them back um and then yesterday it really feels like 100 yesterday um yesterday we had our sixth grade promotion ceremony ceremony absolutely great to have everyone together [Music] all of our kids um [Music] yeah so um and just one other thing in inside of all of this right this is all of the like outward facing events inside of all of this assessments all of that stuff has
066been going on a lot of amazing work for them to be able to get all of that going on [Music] questions from Mr reedswale I want to ask him to do that again I did want to ask you I know that field day was complicated by the air quality on those couple days and I don't envy you being in the position of trying to figure out how to manage that but just relatively unprecedented for us in this part of the country so I wonder about um whether we need to like it's pretty obvious that we stop if there's a tornado and the school has no you know power and it's pretty obvious that we don't feel that if it's pouring rain like we know how to deal with those things we in this part of
067the country don't know how to deal with a major air quality problem and I wonder if we should think about that and sort of have have some guidelines in place in case in the you know unfortunate but likely event that something like that happens again in the future so we have you know we're not there's some guidelines in place um I don't know if the state or the EPA might or you know might be developing something like that but it just I don't think anyone quite knew how to how to manage it as opposed to in Montana or California they might have but yeah well and we were well into the we were willing so yeah the answer is here are the categories and this is how we're going to respond to this categories if
068we have any kids with health issues we we had a little bit of work so as the day kind of progressed we really kind of watching so as it started there the air quality alert ended at midnight on Tuesday night yeah you know and so in the morning of Wednesdays brought the kids what the kids were no no adverse event uh we had a little bit I know some kids were coming in asking for some masks and we had um Caitlin out there station just yeah I think you have about a point first I mean I I it's not something that we get all the time but it's just nice to have a get some guy plans yeah and it's just not fair to leadership to be and wait this thing is happening and I
069have no guidelines you know Sean said there is a there's a that there is already that very detailed yeah it's just I think we just have to implement something and just make it a policy make it something that okay when we hit this this is going to happen right we hit this system I said after something because I'm a volcano in the other side of the world it was almost the same thing so it's it's good to have something in place [Music] that was actually Joe's look we we came in from that we were talking because we you know we ended a little bit early and we were like all right so let's think you know like a couple of kids missing something and so we were like all right well you know he's gonna
070take care of some of those kids the options during their next week but that was the first thing that we said let's think about can we shift it a little bit earlier than trying the challenges as you look on the back end of the year once you get past April break we start looking at our um at our Benchmark and our s back and end of your assessment window and so you run the risk of running something too far forward you run into that window and then running with the so s back s backs ending um towards the middle and then we've got I ready for them it's definitely possible yeah I think yeah we can shift forward a bit and that was something [Music] okay thank you um my report I just want to
071acknowledge that we're at the end of uh what I think has been a very successful year with the school it's been a like kind of normal year um which has been wonderful um and um I just want to you know congratulate the the teachers and the staff and the kids great year I want to congratulate Kay for completing her first year um so let's put your roles though not the stuff okay and welcome others excellent from the interns anyway so I just want to acknowledge that that we're at with the end of a you know a good year um I want to remind the board members we you've you've uh received emails about this but our summer schedule Summer's always a little challenging July and August we usually don't meet in both July and August
072because there's very little to do on the other hand not meeting at all for three months is is too much so we looked at schedules and suited some polling and what we've settled on is that we're going to have our summer meeting um on July which was get July 12th will be now be on July 20th interesting [Music] yeah Thursday the week after what it would normally be and we are not planning on holding our August meeting there is a meeting on the posted calendar for the second Wednesday of August but as of now we're not planning if something came up that required urgent board to attention or a vote then then that could we could call the meeting in August but that hasn't happened well I don't think that requires a vote like hiring
073a teacher yeah it doesn't require a vote and the money's already there so we do so so okay can when that becomes taken taken forward she'll keep us informed of course but but she doesn't need to bring us all like the only reason we would need to all come together urgently would be if there's something that we could not move forward with that so much actually that is do we know that that does not require that's a good question because we've never done it before so thank you right okay a good question all right um and then I want to address uh actually quite uh something that came up in public comment about that I was going to speak to anyway uh is the process of both superintendent evaluation and board evaluation uh and I'm
074addressing this because we're in the middle of it right now uh so to remind board members but also so that the for the public um the board does conduct an evaluation of the superintendent twice a year we do this in executive session so that we can because it's a Personnel matter um and um that will be happening uh it will be happening after the meeting today and that is because the superintendent you know overseas and supervises all aspects of the school that is an opportunity for us to review with the superintendent not only her performance but also the gear as a whole and where you know things we can take pride in and Lessons Learned so those conversations happen every year mid-year and then now in June and uh are ongoing and as for the
075board self assessment that also happens twice a year we have our own board operational goals which are not about what's going on with the school and the kids but rather about the governance how the board is functioning we reviewed those several months back mid-year I don't remember exactly which meeting and we will review those again at our July meeting and the last thing about board uh you know board uh schedule and practices that I'll note is that we're we're a little bit thrown because uh on all prior years we would have had an election in May we would have been feeding new members in July and so the board retreat in July would be when we see new members elect officers provide so you know guidance and you know to people who are into the
076board and move forward now the election is yeah November and new board members will be seated on uh some days um which will actually be very challenging uh for the board it's not a good schedule for the board because we'll be right in the middle of budget season the new people will be coming in right in the middle so I I was against moving the elections for this reason um and I think it'll be challenging and we'll need to think about there actually are some things in our policies that are key to specific dates that's fairly easy to reach it to change those dates and that will be done but we'll need to think about how we're going to manage or be juggling of the Constitution of the board right in the middle of the
077school year right in the middle of our budget season will be a new set of challenges thank you um anyway so just acknowledging that as we ran out of the school year um that's all I got so emotional executive session uh we before we do that we have a second opportunity for public comments and so I'll ask you I'd ask if we have any correspondence a correspondence and I'll ask if anyone here or online wishes to address the board here at the end of our meeting in our second public comment okay so um at this point we're going to vote to go into executive session we'll then take a we'll research briefly give people a chance to to move out and then the board will convene in private and executive session to proceed with the
078superintendent evaluation and and relevance to the JC matters so I move that the Bethany Board of Education enter into an executive session to discuss the superintendent's evaluation contract and salary and that K bird is invited to attend so we will reconvene an executive session in six and a half minutes six and a half minutes [Music] [Applause] but she looked um is it virtual too because the thing has the invite you sent has like a Google me like okay I just wasn't sure if we moved virtually on that and I could do it virtually if I had to but I won't be in the state