001all right with the cast scholar leader award the Connecticut association of schools established a scholar leader banquet in 1985 to give public recognition to two students from each middle school in Connecticut who have distinguished themselves in scholarship and leadership in their school and their community the two scholar leaders and their parents would have been invited to attend a banquet at the aqua turf and I am sorry that that was not able to happen what our to cast scholar leader Award winners from Bolton center school our Olivia Pope Sean and Joshua Hills I'm gonna speak about Olivia first if I could please so Olivia is an extremely motivated and very talented young lady she has been in honors and high honors student in all three years of middle school not only is she academically gifted she
002is also a very talented athlete she's been a member of the girls soccer team for a number of years and has even the distinction of being on the championship winning champion I'm gonna ask that everybody hit because I'm getting feedback so that means somebody some people aren't on you thank you everybody aside from the school's team olivia also plays tennis in addition to being a dedicated scholar and athlete she also contributes her time and talents to a variety of clubs she's been on the spelling bee team throughout middle school even winning awards for being the top finisher in her grade she's part of the middle school book club yearbook as well as student council Olivia's teachers parents administrators and fellow peers are very proud of her accomplishments Olivia congratulations to you Olivia would you like
003to say anything thank you it's an honor to get to sort we're looking forward to seeing you in high school congratulations Joshua hills you are next sir josh is a remarkable scholar who consistently demonstrates excellence he dedicates himself fully in all of his classes even commenting how much he enjoyed learning to play ukulele in music survey I'm jealous of what I want to learn how to play the ukulele he exemplifies what it means to be a role model his outstanding character shines both inside and outside of the classroom in fact he was selected by vice-principal Safran to be this year's mascot buster such a distinction is very fitting for such a wonderful young man within the classroom Josh demonstrates strong leadership skills and is able to work easily with his peers outside of the classroom
004he loves to spend his spare time computer coding and bike riding his teachers parents administrators and fellow peers are very proud of his accomplishments Josh congratulations Josh would you like to say anything uh thank you it's it's a really big honor I mean gelotti's awesome congratulations we can't wait to see you in high school as well and now ladies and gentlemen it is my pleasure to introduce this year's Bolton high school's valedictorian Hallie Gavin yay a big deal holly has completed a very rigorous class schedule over the last four years and continued to be involved with extracurricular activities including but not limited to the eh HS swim team Bolton high school track and field vice president of National Honor Society robotics and Envirothon I'm wondering when she slept she spent countless hours volunteering whether it
005be tutoring coaching or organizing events Ally's always there she's a great leader and takes pride in everything she does she is the recipient of many distinguished awards and taught herself how to use the C + + coding her teachers report that she demonstrates advanced intelligence in all content areas exhibits remarkable character and leadership characteristics Holley will be attending the University of Connecticut in the fall to study biomedical engineering where she is sure to immerse herself in all things UConn and continue to be a leader and a scholar Hallie congratulations to you and to your family well done thank you means a lot to me you're welcome congratulations great to see you yeah and now ladies and gentlemen our salutatorians and we have Co salutatorians this year Bobby flowers and Matt sakowski Bobby is a young
006man determined to accomplish his goals he is dedicated has a positive outlook and participates actively in all aspects of our school and community he has earned many awards at Bolton high school is a long-standing student council rep and a member of the National Honor Society he places the utmost importance on his academics and displays the highest commitment to learning he is a true scholar and possesses the qualities of a lifelong learner his successes in high school go well beyond all of the sports and academic accomplishments he has accumulated over the last four years Bobby's charisma and humanity stand out as he truly cares about people and demonstrates it daily through his actions and his words he is ready to move on to college where I am certain he will continue to be a leader and
007a scholar he also will be attending UConn in the fall and plans to major in business Bobby congratulations to you and your family well done would you like to say anything thank you so much you're welcome congratulations good to see you here Binx in our co salutatorian matthew Zukowski determined trustworthy hard-working these are the first three words that come to mind when we think about Matt sakowski coastal auditorium for the class of 2020 this young man is set on accomplishing his goals and has been a great role model for his classmates and the community in addition to his academic achievements of Coe salutatorian matt has managed to juggle several extracurricular activities and programs his dedication to volunteer work speaks volumes he has given back to his community as a big and little mentor to the
008under classroom knee ask student representative and youth group leader his long list of activities that support his resume include everything from National Honor Society to Jazz Club although he has done amazing things here at BHS matt is ready to move on to college where we are certain he will continue to be a leader and a scholar Matt will also be attending the University Connecticut the fall and plans to major in engineering congratulations Matthew to you and your family well done Matt would you like to say anything oh yeah just thanks for the recognition it's a nice to be recognized it's awesome well done congratulations good to see you as well you guys that's awesome congratulations one more round of applause UConn is a lucky place I think I'm gonna have to call somebody and tell
009them what amazing scholars they're getting from Bolton now I would like to acknowledge I'm gonna try to do this without getting emotional mhm our student rep Hazleton Yali for her continued service as our student rep to the Board of Education hazel excels academically and she has immersed herself in every aspect of Bolton high school Hazel's outstanding commitment to her school community naturally led her to the role as student representative to the Board of Education hazel will be attending the University of Hartford next year where she is sure to find success she's done an outstanding job as the student rep Board of Education and she's gonna be greatly missed particularly by this super done it congratulations so would you like to say anything yeah I would just like to say thank you and I was an
010honor to have had this opportunity thank you so much thank you so much it's great to see on screen hazel and it was nice to see you yesterday - Zach yes if I may so thank you - hazel and Jack is in here - thank you for their service this year and I just got a sake real quick this is it's ironic that we end you know our face-to-face time together with hazel on camera because the very first project that hazel I worked on her freshman year and mrs. MS Carvalho knows exactly what I'm going to say it was one of my information videos where we did like a talk show where students interviewed me and hazel was the one most guilty of refusing to let me see the questions ahead of time she made
011it clear that I had to answer them cold with no preparation whatsoever so it's a funny that we start like that and end like this awesome thank you for sharing that and now we move on to our retirees again I'm gonna go make I'm sorry also in the zoom room tonight is our new thank you Board of Ed student representative as selected by hazel and Jack and myself through our very rigorous process she's in here somewhere Emily do newsy Oh a rising junior will take over hazel seat and assist the Board of Ed next year so congratulations family Congrats Emma would you like to say hello just so everybody puts the board members can put your name to a face yeah thank you it's an honor to be selected we're excited to have you join
012us Emily okay miss miss ellie am i good thank you sir alright we're gonna move on to our retirees we're gonna start with Amy bear Amy began her career at Bolton Center school as a substitute teacher and then began working as a paraprofessional for special education she supported students in many different grade levels with various needs demonstrating her versatility and skills she took the initiative to learn new programs and technology and has always been willing to take on any challenge additionally she has supported students and after school activities and often attends concerts and encourages students and lends a helping hand she's a vital part of the walking field trip for fifth graders volunteering as a docent for bulton history which culminated with a rest break and snack on her front porch and was always a
013fond memory for our students she also supported the efforts of the girls empowerment camp where she demonstrated various skills from the use of power tools to the creation of twirling skirts and of course she found the community sponsors for these activities many of you may not know this but amy is also the magic behind the birthday banners and signs that appear when staffs celebrate birthdays at Bolton Center school she is well respected for her professionalism with staff and her kind and effective rapport with students her high level of concern for the well-being of those around her is evident through her daily interactions she often brought in materials to support lessons and projects enhancing the learning of our students Amy brings warmth and positivity to each room she enters her soft spoken manner warm smile and
014desire to make each student feel valued and loved allow her to support so many students in a seamless way we wish Amy the best in all of her new endeavors and thank her for her dedication to the students and staff at Bolton Center school Amy you will be dearly missed thank you it's an honor and my pleasure thank you Amy congratulations much health and happiness to you thank you pam browning is our next retiree pam joined the bolton center school family in 1985 as a sixth grade teacher in a unified classroom over the following years she moved to fourth grade looped with her fifth grade class and when an opening appeared in social studies on the sixth grade team she volunteered to fill the position and is now finishing her 35th year teaching at Fulton
015Center school as a sixth and seventh grade social studies teacher over her time at BCS she's earned a celebration of excellence award for an environmental project she created called talking trees and who could ever forget the final week of 6th grade with the old social studies curriculum and the castle days when mountains of cardboard boxes would be cut pasted glued colored and eventually transformed into worlds of knights and medieval castles for years pam has been the coordinator of BCS is work with Rochelle Ripley and the hawk wing project collecting assembling and packing trucks with clothing and needed supplies to provide support to the children and families of the Cheyenne River Lakota seat reservation in South Dakota one year receiving special permission to drive out with Jimmy Anderson all that way to deliver our contribution and
016teach a few classes to the school there she's been an active supporter of the choice program at school helping to plan activities for our students after school to allow them to stay and participate in evening concerts and open house activities for the past seven years however one of her greatest and most enduring accomplishments at BCS has been the girls empowerment camp for our middle school girls that she is run with Elaine Allegretti through monthly Friday night meetings and week-long camp in the summer Pam helped to empower girls to be strong independent young women she worked to help them have a safe place to talk about issues they were having while equipping them with strategies to help them become more confident each and every person asked agreed pam was and is one person people turn to
017for help for reassurance or a caring shoulder or simply a laugh her presence at BCS will be sorely missed we wish her nothing but the best in her retirement p.m. congratulations thank you thank you I've always considered the fact that I landed this job in Bolton one of the greatest blessings of my life I'm gonna miss everyone and we will miss you much health and happiness thank you our next retiree Karen Cordero Bolton high school dedicated educator proud mama to bone high school graduates environmental advocate worldwide traveler and Bolton eyes Cole's by far most enthusiastic cheerleader we know her as Karen Cordero we should have sent pom-poms to her house tonight I think Karen began her career at Bolton High School in 1985 and was retiring at the end of the school year after 35
018years of teaching over the years Karen has inspired students to explore the world around them enjoy the wonders of the night sky question the how and the why of the natural world and protect the environment as a former student stated she has taught students not only how to care for the environment but the importance of caring for the environment she has taught a plethora of courses including freshman science UConn environmental science ecology sophomore biology and astronomy all with a passion for teaching and an overabundance of enthusiasm teaching has not simply been a job for Karen it has been her passion and she has wholeheartedly dedicated herself to the Bolton community for the past 35 years Karen and her husband Tom moved to bold and early in her teaching career in order to raise their children
019Lindsey and Collin in the Bolton school system but even before her children were students at the high school and well after they graduated Karen has thrown herself into extracurricular life at Bolton high school throughout her career she has served as class advisor student council advisor Cheerilee coach member of the National Honor Society selection committee ski club advisor and buyeth on coach dedicated chaperone of various events and trips supporter of the Performing Arts an extreme fan at just about every sporting event we have she has also organized highly successful educational trips to Costa Rica South Africa in u.s. national parks giving students and community members alike the opportunities to experience nature outside the confines of our small town the travelers still talk about how the trips were truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunities simply put Karen is the epitome
020of a dedicated and passionate educator who constantly goes above and beyond to ensure that both high school students have a positive and memorable high school experience we will miss Karen and wish her much health and happiness in her retirement people that I watch it's your time at your time I think it's finally my time so thank you all it's been a pleasure and I loved working with everybody congratulations Karen how can that be lots of fun travels absolutely absolutely hang on everybody I gotta take a sip of water I needed a box okay moving on to Laurie Lopez Laurie has been a fixture at Bolton center school for the last 32 years and will be missed greatly as a colleague mentor and friend she began her work in Bolton as a special education teacher before
021moving on to fifth grade she would serve her time as a Spanish instructor before ultimately ending up as a sixth grade language arts instructor the sixth grade team so tightly tightly knit that got along extremely well and lended on leaned on each other for support and Laurie's experience and grace allowed her to bring so much to her team her fantastic sense of humor brought levity to both her classroom and her colleagues in and out of the classroom her language arts team appreciated her candor and her willingness to always share new learning and opportunities for learning with her team so that we could all get better to serve the students and help them succeed her students shall miss her wit and the kindness she always brought to her teaching despite her always holding her kids to
022high expectations beyond the classroom there were so many pieces but not everyone saw from Laurie her caring for students and advocacy for those who did not have a voice to speak for themselves was invaluable Laurie brought nutritious food for students who had none or who were homeless she donated items when she saw firsthand an obvious need she was willing to literally do cartwheels down the hallway to brighten the day of students in need of a smile even her accidental humour from technology frustrations or thrown coasters gone awry brought joy to those around her Laurie has been a supportive teammate and will be a lifelong friend to those who knew her she will always be remembered for her wisdom the joy she brought and the grace she shared with us she has been and is an
023amazing educator and the whole she leaves behind will be hard to fill thank you Laurie for all of your gifts your teaching your friendship and your camaraderie you will be dearly missed we wish you the best in your future journeys Laurie you're on mute down at the bottom of your screen pull your thing all the way down to the bottom left you see the mute button click on it Joe can you unmute her no I tried I can't a little microphone symbol lorry with the red line through it just click on that right down the bottom you can hold your spacebar temporarily unmute [Music] and next steps with everybody that my path has crossed in the bulletin community particularly at Bolton center school I have gained so much in so many ways from knowing each
024and every person and it's made me a better person thank you very much health and happiness to you in your retirement congratulations thank you and last but certainly not least our last retiree was barb Thomas Barbara Thomas has spent 22 years teaching in a bolt-in public schools with three of those years at Bolton high school and the remaining years at Bolton center school teaching grade six through eight she's been a valued team member who will be fondly remembered for her intelligence and helpfulness as a fellow math teacher Kelly Buchi said a Barbara Barbara is not only an amazing teacher she is a kind soul she is the first to offer help or expertise a good friend and a wonderful co-worker she will certainly be missed many other faculty members echoed the same sentiment of her
025helpfulness and they will all miss her her fellow staff members will miss her sense of humor as well many recall the years that they all ate lunch and laugh together with Barbara in her classroom one of the biggest laughs came when Barbara revealed to convinced her students she rode a motorcycle to school every day to help with the ruse the rest of the team went along with the joke and confirmed miss Thomas did indeed arrive each morning riding her loud motorcycle aside from her humor her students also appreciated miss Thomas's intelligence and helpfulness I was always willing to go the extra mile to make sure students had the help in math that they needed one of her recent eighth graders Mia Kota Adkins said of miss Thomas if someone needed help she was really good
026at helping them in fact barb often gave up her lunch period worked her study hall or stayed after school she always tried to make teaching math and Joya believin holding auctions for students where they could redeem tickets earned in class for prizes these prices ranged from everything from wacky glasses and floral leis to oven mitts and everything in between the students loved the prizes she also shared with her students her expertise with quilting by running quilting workshops in past years during enrichment when asked what barb looked forward to doing in retirement she responded plans for a retirement include a less stressful part-time job a lot of quilting and needlework we wish barb all the best in the next phase of her life and we thank her for all of her service to the students of
027the Bolton Public Schools and for being such a wonderful team member barb congratulations or would you like to say something thank you I will certainly miss working with the students but it's been a great place to work and mixed feelings but it was time thank you thank you best of luck and health and happiness in your retirement Thank You chair bro Neil that concludes celebration of excellence for this evening thank you to all of our students who have achieved high levels this year and congratulations to all our students and thank you to all of our teachers who are retiring regular business part of our meeting so you're welcome to stay or not if you so choose we do we have any comments that have been submitted from we do not have any comments from the
028audience okay do we have any additions to the agenda we do not hi guys thank you very much you're welcome appreciate it thank you to our friends from Florida Nancy and Nancy absolutely tuning in from their lanai very good okay on to routine business item do you have a motion to approve the May 14 20 24 double business meeting minutes Chris Davy thank you well bye Chris we have a second thank you bye Chris second by Sue do we have any discussion or edits Lori Lori you're not on mute Lori there we go oh she's back to the minutes I do and this is Chris Davy under e3 just good typos in the second line of e3 where it says re CS is it should be risks so our ESC and then two lines below
029that the Bolton scholarship fund also meet virtually that should be also met virtually thank you are there any other corrections or its or comments hearing none all those in favor of the amended edited minutes say aye [Music] is there anyone who's opposed or abstaining I think everyone responded formative passes unanimously like a motion to approve the minutes of the may 28 20 20 boards education virtual special meeting move by sue second by Anne is there any editing as well on Board of Education Committee reports finance okay so at this point we are the budget is 84% expended which compares to last year at the same time we were 85 and extended and coronavirus is an ever-changing landscape first time would you like to weigh in on a few things I would yes please if we
030could please put up the transfer list thank you so for transfers we had to purchase instructional supplies for our behaviorist RB CBA we needed additional monies to cover the shortfall for speech and language testing of $6 as you know we needed to repair the leaking hydronic pipe repairs at center school the board approved that a May 14th meeting but it's accounted for there for you we needed to purchase an additional Wilson reading kit we purchased the new laptops for administrators and some admin assistants that that happened you approve that on the May 14th meeting as well we had a dollar 90 five shortfall to order our fiscal check stock purchase we had previously previously deferred projects now that the building is unoccupied that we've been working on that was approved by the board at the
031May 14th meeting that is there for you we purchased a carpet tiles for the Bolton high school library and office space because we're in a position now because no one's here that we can actually get that job done we needed additional postage required due to the end of school mass mailings that had to happen because of kovat we had to cover a shortfall for our secured document delivery we had to purchase that feature in school messenger to allow for the electronic sending of report cards at Bolton center school and we had a shortfall in line for our psychological testing if we could then go to the budget status report please and if we could go to the last page of that report you will see that we have a revised projected balance of a hundred
032and seventeen thousand five hundred and fifty four dollars that would include our commitment towards the 2020 2021 budget and our request this evening for a $75,000 transfer from transportation and fiscal services to systems management to purchase two hundred more touchscreen Chromebooks and that will then position us to be a one to one district I think this is essential for us as we move forward in the fall every child is going to need a computer as the unknowns do to cope at nineteen are very large I we will be putting this in for reimbursement and hope to be able to be reimbursed at a minimum for 75% of this cost but I heard on a call the other day that there is once the FEMA portion is exhausted with the 75 percent reimbursement then you can
033apply for the 25 remaining percent through the relief fund waiting for more specificity on that but that is where we stand and that is the request for this evening are there any questions yeah actually Christianized so with all of these new technology purchases are do you see these as a one-time purchase to help us get through the covert situation or are we going to have to readjust our technology or replacement cycle to now start incorporating all of the computers that we've we bought this year so to be honest Chris I don't know that we've really gotten that far in it right now we're still in emergency mode with COBIT and trying to position us to be in a place where we need to be for the Fall for whatever the ball and or winter or
034rest of next year are going to bring for us we have begun to have some conversations about that but I don't want to shoot off the cuff right now till I have had a time with the administrative team to really talk that through and time with Sarah and Alan to really examine it further thank you very much I'm not really sure what's on the screen right now Joe Miceli thank you um are there any other questions okay hearing none we'll first need a motion regarding the transfers please okay I'll read the language that Kristen provided yes please yeah I moved transfers recommended by superintendent Hecht in May budget update I'll second that oh it's Christie you have any more questions we have any more questions or discussion on this Carrie none all those in favor
035of the transfers the regular transfers okay anyone who has opposed abstentions passes thank you all right so I also moved to approve the transfer of $75,000 from transportation and fiscal services to systems management to purchase two hundred more Chromebooks to enable the district to be one to one second Mike thank you do we have any questions or discussions on this motion hearing none all those in favor anyone opposed or abstaining that also passes unanimously thank you everybody we're done with yeah that's correct yes yeah well one one made it we did sorry about transportation transportation so trip go ahead transparent yeah go ahead sorry no no no I was just gonna suggest that you update us okay so transportation met and we have reached an agreement with both m and j in havens transportation regarding
036the co bid 19 closure and I just wanted to thank Andrea for the countless meetings that we had to get that done so thank you very much Thank You Kristin for all your hard work yes Chris tonight I second that thanks Ron to community meeting reports you know we have any community meetings yeah I have some but before we do that we did should personnel have been on because Personnel Committee did me I'm sorry yes it should have that is a good point a Personnel Committee met yesterday to discuss the superintendent's review and contract and we will be discussing that in an executive session this evening now on to community meeting reports so I attended the correct annual meeting in May crisis was virtual it was followed immediately by the monthly board meeting at that
037meeting members were asked to collect information ahead of our June meeting about how much their districts spend at crack each year and on what services I'd like to thank Christian and Casal for providing that information to me and just so the board is aware this current fiscal year we will be spending a little over $250,000 with crack about half of that goes to tuition for our students who attend magnet schools most of the rest is for IT services and the amount we send a team out of the town sense to Craig is actually higher than what the school sends for IT services because we share the that cost with the town and then there's very small amounts for professional development consulting and the virtual high school program moving on to a scholarship fund we continue
038to meet virtually at our last meeting in May we approved the recommendations of the scholarship review committee scholarship awards for BHS seniors will be announced as part of the graduation ceremony and notifications to current college and grad students will be mailed out next week this was the first year that we used an online application so if there are any parents of applicants unfortunately as it seems they've all left the meeting but oh yeah it's got yeah and if there are any parents of applicants who have comments about a new process or suggestions for improvement we would love to hear them [Music] ensue Andrew and I met with charter revision Commission and Ola Andrew talked more about that but I wanted to mention that after the after that meeting I learned that the Commission is considering
039inserting language into the Charter that would require the town and the Board of Ed to share a Director of Finance I shared this information with Kristian and asked whether that would even be legal under state law I would also like to suggest that the Board of Ed that we might wish to send a formal letter to the Commission expressing our thoughts on the idea and I think you may have seen the email that Kristin sent this afternoon with some further information about that issue lastly I'd like to draw everyone's attention to the recently released Bolton 2020 survey results they're available on the town website they do include some feedback that are relevant to the school system while the schools generally receive high marks from townspeople the comparison to a similar survey conducted 20 years ago
040seems to indicate that people do not rate the quality of the school as quite as highly as they once did so I hope that some future point we as a board can look into that and you know try to figure out what might account for the drop in ratings whether it's you know something we need to be concerned about is there anyone else who attended any community meetings yeah the Charter Commission meeting was focused largely on the question of whether or not the Board of Finance would be eliminated there were kind of kicking that idea around and I think the three of us generally agreed that we think the Board of Finance maybe has a place I think but it was hard to react thoroughly without knowing what the alternative would be we expressed we
041have a good working relationship with the Board of Finance currently and well that's very subjective to who are on both boards that it seemed like we were mostly in favor I would say of not eliminating but we all had kind of said well we don't really know what's gonna replace it so it's hard to react completely the question of Finance was very very briefly discussed as only one Commission member asked us and kind of said well we're not generally in favor of that although we are have been and are continuing to explore shared services in general that this is certainly not something that's a superintendent is in favor of and likely not something that should happen but that was how that conversation went without any other community meetings I'll turn things back over to Kristin
042for the Superintendent of Schools report I'm just looking for a little direction if I could regarding Chris's comments about something from the board is that is that something the board wants to do is that something ender you want to do you want me to work with the attorney to craft something for the board what would you like me to do do we we have opinions from other board members like to hear from anyone who has maybe a strong opinion about it one way or the other some maybe don't know or haven't been around long enough to have a very concrete opinion about it or this is sort of like to know I would I have more questions than thoughts at this point so so I think it would I would like to know what's entailed
043and what you know what a direct like who would be doing the jobs I mean how would the jobs that are required by the Board of Education for finance and business it covered and what are the jobs and how are they being covered now I know that Kristin's mentioned that you know if they need more help you know they need more time for that those duties and and those jobs so like how would the jobs be divvied up and um is it are they thinking of one I I just don't have enough information to even make a decision like they need to be more clear and we're defined though what it is they see you know the whole how it would all function could I suggest we maybe defer this to our next meeting and
044Christian maybe you can we can for one thing put it on the budget and I'm not sure if we should be having a full discussion about an issue that's not at the budget I mean the adjourn we might might not be a good idea to have a full discussion about something that isn't noticed on the agenda and second it would give you time to gather some information about what our finance office currently does do and how practical or impractical it might be to expand those duties or have them managed by somebody who's reporting to the town manager also well if part of that researches we probably should understand the legalities of it as well so I think consulting with the attorney as part of that preparation is important agree do we know when the Charter
045Commission is planning to have this finished I mean what kind of time frame are we looking for in terms do we have enough time to hear from the attorney and then write a letter from the board regarding our opinions my understanding is that we have plenty of time I don't think the Charter Commission is wrapping up their work until early next year late this fall at the earliest so maybe you want to consider a work session on this piece because I think it would be important for Casal to be there and for you to hear her voice in all of this as well so do you not want to consider canceling the meeting two weeks from now to not have meetings Hawaii can we not discuss this at the July meeting you don't have a
046July meeting Kristen needs a break I can see it oh no we usually have a fly meeting and then we cancel its meeting last year when you adopted the calendar we took it off the calendar oh well we never happen aren't we currently in meetings every two weeks mode anyway we have a meeting scheduled for July 25th okay I'm sorry see June yep yeah and then what would be two weeks after that Oh Nathe or ninth or tenth or something that would be July ninth we haven't yet we haven't been formally asked to respond to anything yet as I understand it's just you it sounds like it was briefly discussed at one meeting of the charter connection is that correct it was briefly discussed and then I learned subsequent to that meeting that the reason
047the question was asked at all is because apparently there is one member of the charter revision Commission who has latched on to this idea and brings it up at every meeting and so potentially could make its way into the commissioners recommendations well we certainly will have time but you know I'm just getting to the point is we don't need to rush to have a meeting it's not like this leagues if that's not enough time to be prepared for it if it's gonna go into the fall we put it on an early agenda item or whatever and have the time to properly understand all the facts as long as what you're describing for the schedules where the Charter Commission is that then I would think that we would have that time I don't want to rush
048into a meeting and inhabiting and that's not be ready for it I don't Kristen I don't know how much time do you think you want I mean you've got to talk to him turning it on the how you know yeah yeah well and I think you know maybe it's you know I I have information from the attorney that I have sent and shared with you certainly if you all wanted her to be present at the work session or the discussion we could certainly have that happen as well you know I don't think it's gonna take us all and I a lot of time to put sake I mean we could probably rattle it off right now but I want to be thoughtful I'll write her role and and all that she is responsible for and
049all that it entails and how it continues to grow so if you want to do in two weeks that's fine as well what about four weeks which would be July ninth at that time I mean two weeks I don't know how much else we'd have to discuss the wrap-up of school maybe in four weeks would have we would certainly have more guidance from the state and we would have other business potentially to discuss regarding the return to school I mean I know we don't usually have meetings during the summer so this is in July 16th it's gonna be too hard they're trying to coordinate our schedules why don't we try and get a date together for this and have a meeting sometime in July and discuss any ongoing coltd concerns and then this matter is
050so we agreeing how do we like that Kristen yeah that's fine I just want to make you aware that I am gonna be off the last week in July and not available that week so I'm just putting that out there yeah why don't we try to have it and like the first you know maybe not the ninth or the 16th but one one day in one of those weeks we can try and get some dates together outside of this current meeting and see maybe it'll be a week before that or maybe now whatever works for people but I think we sounds good okay I think I might have lost them yeah the other day soompi I think we should but have one the week after that or the week after that and try and get
051together a on what ever updates we might have or whatever business we might need to take care of because the you know we may not need to do every two weeks over the summer time as there's no functionally active school but you know we already have this piece of business and I'm sure something else will come up by then so we could do maybe a quick meeting take care of this item and then anything else that might occur and then decide on when with the next appropriate time after that to meet sometime probably in early mid-august good all right we'll get together on that and okay now we are on to the Superintendent of Schools report okay so we're gonna start with our distance learning update I've shared previously that our distance learning approach has
052been guided by three core values connection core content and creativity our team of administrators teachers and staff have worked very hard to not only teach remotely but to support our students and maintain relationships from afar we continue to learn a great deal from this experience and have spent time over the last two weeks examining and evaluating both systems and structures used during distance learning and where students are with regards to their learning at the end of this year and planning for the start of next year the has been invaluable in terms of assessing student learning planning pre-assessments remediation aligning materials and reprioritizing standards providing summer learning experiences designing meaningful celebrations for our eighth graders and our seniors and planning for the fall so again I would like to thank the board for your support in
053allowing us to make a change to the calendar for the last two weeks of school I cannot echo enough I've heard from staff member after staff member after staff member how invaluable and necessary that time has been and how much has been accomplished that will be to the benefit of our students for sure while distance learning has continued to be an extremely heavy lift for all of us I would like to take this opportunity to again thank our dedicated administrators teachers central office staff paraprofessionals administrative assistants custodians and our food service staff for their tireless efforts on behalf of our bolton students to date we have served well over 10,000 meals and we have done our very best to keep every single child engaged this has been a full team effort and every single member
054of our staff has stepped up to do what is right and best for kids I feel truly blessed to work with the committed professional and caring people in the Bolton Public Schools I would also like this opportunity to take this opportunity to commend our students for their grit and perseverance during this pandemic and to our parents for their partnership and for teaching at home lastly I would like to thank the Board of Education and the town for their constant support during this very difficult year the community of Bolton has risen to the challenge that this pandemic has presented and we have done this together I'd like to turn it over to Beth Gould Snyder now please good evening I have a quick update and of course it just as I did that my whole update
055just left so I have to now get my phone hold on a second sorry so I echo Kristen's sentiments with the big thank yous to everybody the staff has been great parents have been wonderful and the students have just really gone above and beyond they're really working hard right up to the last minute many of them so team my speciality choose related service providers and paraprofessionals have continued to provide direct instruction to students right up to the last day of school we're still meeting with kids we've been meeting to share when went well in ways we can improve if we need to do distance learning again we met with the high school special ed teachers just last week they initiated the meeting with with me and then with the high school administration to talk about
056really some things that we thought were really great and some things that we thought we can probably change for the next time if we do this the counseling staff has been working on a plan to support social-emotional learning for students upon our return whether we come back in person or distance learning we really are looking ways to support becoming a classroom community either in our new norm with distance learning and masks and things like that or via distance learning so we will be continuing that work over the summer and the extended school year program for both schools has been planned for and as superintendent had already told you it will be a distance learning program the summer and the credit recovery program for the high school is being finalized as we speak so that is
057my update thank you thank you it's malinowski good evening and I also would like to thank everyone for the time and the support through through these very challenging months it's been I really am honored to work with an amazing staff over the past few weeks are updating around curriculum we very really focused on meeting with all teachers and all grade levels in or departments to identify articulate and document curricular standards in terms of how the standards concepts and skills were impacted by distance learning we are very fortunate to have the Atlas platform we're on the teachers facing side we're able to actually document what's happened where teachers feel that they have addressed or partially addressed or not address certain standards it's been a nice way to reflect and completely document where we where we are
058with our curriculum and how we might need to reprioritize for next year one big takeaway that our staff especially at the elementary level has been able to walk away from you're very fortunate that March visit time a year that we were stepped away because in terms of our standards we really hit we've touched on almost 100% of the standards in ela and a little less in math but really we're over 90 percent in hitting the standards at some point during the school year so that is a huge testament to what our teachers have done we're certainly marched to the end of the years not a lost time it's that reinforcement and strengthening so that documentation of partially met skills we've been able to communicate that with the receiving grades so that teachers may plan appropriately
059for next year and also use our online platforms so that we are able to make sure we don't lose our thoughts over time so that has been a very productive and helpful time and staff really dug in to have that communication we've also as Kristin has mentioned we've we're moving towards that one-to-one initiative and we have already secured 150 at the touchscreen Chromebooks prior to this so we are well on our way Alan is already working on getting those secured the reason for a move towards touchscreens especially is our youngest learners one thing we did learn in this distance learning experience and should we be in some sort of blended learning experience really our young learners the keyboard experience is not necessarily appropriate for the type of all types of learning that needs to happen
060and while we don't have a full IT department having a chromebook will then mimic somewhat what the tablet experiences can happen so for platforms such as seesaw which has been a great benefit for our young learners is now easier and accessible and equitable for all of our students and that's really been our focus of choosing the devices that have been available of how we can make sure that you know as we think about what may happen next year equity is certainly at the top most of our thoughts to make sure we can continue the learning process Thank You Darryl good evening everybody a lot going on into the Year wrapping everything up staff and students are finishing up into the or activities finalizing grades and as a superintendent mentioned earlier we secured a system of
061getting report cards sent digitally secured so we're looking forward to using that collecting any last assignments distribution of materials and collection of materials this week I'd say probably about 50% of families have come to the school to drop off school materials and to collect their materials and we're gonna have another day in either late July or early August for any families everyone able to make it this week so we're gonna hold onto those materials teachers are trying or have worked really hard to last two weeks with meetings with Sarah for curriculum meeting with each grade level for student articulation from one grade level to the next we had staff meetings today we had a meeting about seesaw today so there's a lot of I'm tired of looking at the screen but we've had a ton
062of productive meetings last two weeks so thank you for that time with the restructuring schedule we're sending out or actually they got mailed today the academic awards for fifth through eighth grade students so all the teachers called the recipients of those awards I signed to think about 200 certificates so those would be getting mailed today I know they mean a lot to the students so they should be receiving those soon mr. Sanford and mrs. Sullivan have done an outstanding job preparing a summer learning plan for the summer it's called learning adventures they had a parent meeting the other day and then had a livestream student meeting the other day I was in both of those and they just did a really good job laying it out and if you hear that turn flat Buster it's
063a picture of Buster and a piece of cardboard in anywhere you go this summer you're to bring it with you and take a picture so I have mine with me and going to Harkness once school gets out and I'll get Harkness with it we're currently in the midst of also some hiring processes as you could tell tonight we have some retirees and we're trying to fill those positions and so far the pools have been very solid and the processes are going very well thank you Joe you your army oh yeah thank you we're wrapping up as well at our last faculty meeting today and they're tired they've been working hard I can't say enough about the teachers at the high school and everything that they've done during this tough time they're at the point where
064you know students are really done with new learning classes have ended in these last few days are you know catching up those last little bits returning work picking up materials left to school all those kinds of things the teachers are working hard as Sharon mentioned sharing feedback about successes and things that we can do better next year and we're doing I think a really nice job of gathering that information so we can use that to plan for whatever the fall may bring I also wanted to the guidance department with their amazing work not just keeping up with students to make sure kind of they take care of business but also under Dean Johnson's guidance and and and caring hearts really doing a great job getting ready for scheduling which is tough at a high school
065especially a small school on a good year and then you just send everybody home and try to do it remotely it's just it's it's insane but with all of their hard work so so Christine Taj and Santee amy hyun and danielle Levasseur all of their hard work we're actually kind of in a spot where we would typically be roughly for scheduling which is and I guess that's hard to appreciate but that's amazing that we're at that spot so I'll roll in to graduation summary if if you wish yes okay so what plans are finalized the I's are dotted the T's are crossed the students have been given the information they're getting another webcast for me a little video with some very explicit directions of the how to's for Monday night but they're gonna come by
066the high school starting around 6:15 to pick up diplomas we've got a plan for all of that that's the detail piece so they'll have we've got two professional photographers we're going to take care of all that stuff and they're going to muster over at the center school for a 7:30 step off for a parade chief Dixon and trooper Contenta have worked hard to come up with a you know a really nice send-off for the students so we will depart the center school we'll go through the green will go down Hebron Road up Loomis past actually through the high school parking lot last time as students down Steel's crossing and then into Columbia where the Columbia fire department will be waiting for us so through the center of Columbia and out to the drive-in hoping for
067everybody to get there around 8:30 I hope you all received the email from me last night with all of those details so you can see the parade route and also kind of your pass for your to join us at the drive-in if you wish also the youtube link if you want to watch from home it's the it's the same video so that is the plan we will start at 9 o'clock both virtually and in person because that's when the drive-in says it's dark enough to hit go Thank You Darryl 8th grade promotion planning continues to go well as similar to the high school students have submitted some pictures and short videos that we're adding to the program which is this coming Monday the 15th of 10 a.m. and I'll send out an email as well
068but it's Bolton celebrates comm www is not necessarily needed so Bolton celebrates comm we did a dry run today on the website and we definitely have some things to work out but we have all the meat and potatoes now it's just refining and we'll try it again this weekend live streaming it because we wanted to be as seamless as possible so yeah we're ready to go and just in the final stages were excited thank you any questions or comments for us the up Chris so yeah I have a couple questions but before that I just wanted to say my wife brought my attention to an article that was in The Wall Street Journal yesterday or the day before the presumed to assess how distance learning had gone in the country and basically gave it a
069failing grade and in looking through it I was struck by how many of the problems they highlighted that Bolton did and so just I wanted to express my appreciation to Christian and Daryl and Joe and the rest of senior staff for all of your work throughout this spring it's been remarkable and we are clearly in good hands here in Bolton so thank you for that on to my questions for Daryl the learning adventures what was the sort of feedback you got from families and students I got the initial email and it meant to attend and then forgot about it and so I hope that not everyone else forgot about it as well what is new so with anything new the attendance was a little lighter the first meeting that we had I think and you
070were there and some of the other parents I think we have had 10 parents I would say and maybe eight it's probably the ones I could have picked out before the meeting but yeah it was it was a good meeting with some great questions and I think the biggest takeaway was that the parents were excited that it wasn't just like your formal reading logs that it really was exciting engaging giving the students a voice and choice with the work so that's a shift from the way summer work was in the past so I think the the vision is is strong and it will get more families and students on board thank you so I know in an earlier meeting there was some discussion about you know possibly needing to start the school year earlier to
071help with kids getting caught up I know we moved to the adjusted schedule at the start of June so students would have enough so the teachers would have an opportunity to review where all students were and where deficits might be having done that work do you have a sense how much extra makeup will be needed in the fall and to what extent it might impact our ability to get through the curriculum next year and that's addressed to both Joe and Daryl or Kristen or anyone else sure I think a great place to start might be with Sarah actually with her curriculum meetings that she just had and in which she was able to get through and then I can add to it Joe thank you Joe thank you Darrell so what was clearly articulated in
072our meetings the reason both grade levels were there so that teachers could see what standards they can integrate into their next year's curriculum and that's part of the documentation so it's not this was like a review of the previous year certainly there will be certain skills and standards and concepts that will be hit harder at the beginning of the year but we have really also discussed a very important piece of the start of whatever next year looks like we'll be needing more time to build our community and really looking at the social emotional aspect of learning for all of our students looking at our second steps curriculum and other age-appropriate ways of getting our students into learning because hopefully we'll have a stronger idea as to what the year will look like so we will
073certainly have to make those changes that we we've been learning about and doing and you know thank you for your compliment about the very hard work that everybody put forward but we also feel that we would like to improve and in doing so you know we also need to get our students engaged and figure out you know if people are in a distance situation how do you bring kids in and even if they're not kids have will have been out of school for five months so so there will be I think that in some areas it might take more than one year to completely catch up and that's why the documentation in Atlas has been so critical and the teachers have been very specific so that the thing that the learning can build upon each
074other and the teachers are feeling very confident that they can integrate what was either missed so for example I'm a very specific example and some grade levels the fractions because it was the first time out the gate having hands-on experience and learning that so teachers know that that's going to get integrated perhaps more throughout the day at the elementary level so they're very beneficial beneficial meetings in that regard and we've also discussed it we'll probably meet again mid-year to regroup so that we can better answer that question and just keep this ongoing dialogue so that we can not lose sight of these students and disclosure so that happened at all levels in all in all areas for that I hope that answers your question somewhat Chris absolutely thank you very much oh is the importance
075of that building community and the emotional impact that the social that this distance learning has had and assessing students where they are what they're learning but emotionally where they at and like Joe mentioned we were a little bit lucky going into distance learning in March because they had the rapport in the relationships with their classes who knows what September's gonna look like teachers aren't going to really know all those kids as well so that's a concern of mine and and we're constantly thinking and trying to develop plans for that as well thank you I'll just add that our teachers are chomping at the bit to dive into whatever needs to be douve into to get ready for the Fall and and the unknowns and it's nobody's fault it's just the unknowns that are out there
076is absolutely tearing them apart because they're they're really eager and ready to start planning the next year and they're just they can't so I worry about their kind of social emotional well-being as well to be frightening and just after that there was a little bit of relief at staff meetings today when I said we are really well positioned to be one-to-one with more updated devices for the students so at least that gives something for teachers to hold on to that we can say is it definite so just to see a little bit of a sigh of relief over one thing that they could count on so again thank you for your support in that as well thank you are there other or comments yeah I just have a quick question about can you give us
077a little more insight on Kristen on what you're waiting for for guidance on what we're gonna see this fall and you know how we're gonna just like what are the next little steps that we're taking on that yeah so we're taking a number so let's start with the guidance first reopen Connecticut has one group assigned to be discussing about school in the fall again on the governor's call on Wednesday afternoon the Commissioner of Education was pressed when are we going to know when are we going to have some information and actually that press this time around did not come from a superintendent it came from a First Selectman so you know everybody is is eagerly awaiting some kind of path forward here he indicated that I think he hedged his bets and basically what I
078heard was we are several weeks away before they're going to provide any guidance and you know what is several equal I don't know he certainly acknowledged the fact that he is acutely aware that we are all in need of some guidance and right now in some level we're spinning our wheels having said that as you know tonight you approved the transfer of those monies for the additional Chromebooks so that's been a team effort this week for sure and thank you to Sarah and Alan and Lisa and Casal for the incredible team effort in even finding them and trying to get them because that was a day long process because they're not really available and we finally found a group that we've worked with before that had 2,000 in a warehouse in Texas and we were
079able to get them in time to get them into hands of some of our students who need to have them over the summer so having said that there's that piece both both schools both principals and I and Beth and at the respective schools the nurses did a walkthrough for several hours yesterday morning taking a look at various parts of the building and where we needed to make Changez or purchase some clear sort of like dividers if you will so whether it's on the front counter in the main office things we have to change in the nurse's offices items that we have to purchase like throw away blankets if the kid is sick got to get rid of the pillows and the nurse's office you know what kind of protection screen do we need to put
080up in the cafeteria as kids are coming through for their lunch how can we arrange things rearrange things in the cafeteria particularly at the high school we move some things create a one-way area where kids can't be on both sides looking at a variety of different things at center school one of the things that we rapidly came to was we have a lot of various seating to meet the needs of our youngest learners and our young classrooms and we don't have desks and chairs in there because that's not appropriate for little kids but because of that we have tables and so you know what all the information we're receiving is that social distancing has to happen people have to wear masks so John is looking into the potential of renting small tables that meet the
081size of our little people because I don't know that it makes sense to purchase them it may in the end I just don't know but we're looking into potentially renting additional furniture for the year so we're working with transfer enterprises on that right now in the end it may be cause more cost-effective to buy I'm just not sure right but there's all of these pieces Beth has been working diligently on continuing to secure PPE for us masks and gloves John continues to work on on securing and you know the sanitizer which we've had on backorder for I don't even know months now at this point we have to replace all of our soap dispensers so that their automatic soap dispensers so you don't touch them anymore thank God we have paper towel holders that you
082just pull down on the paper towels so those are good but we have to block off at least one sink in every bathroom so that there's a distance between sinks if there happens to be more than once student in there at any given time so I don't even know that I've captured it all to be honest with you my head is spinning with all of the things that we need to be doing and maybe my staff wants to add in more of things that I may have forgotten yeah everything from looking at a library and how kids check out books right because you don't want like a kid going a student going in and touching twenty-five books before they pick the one they want but using utilizing a digital talking with Jen Herrick and Kristen
083yesterday and the walk a digital system of reserving the book and then maybe get sent to the classroom just looking at different scenarios for every situation you can imagine yeah and Sarah you know is continuing to look at you know we purchased a whole know we have received for free a hoax to various platforms which has been great that they've been free but now we're not sure like you know do we have to now you know are we paying for it and if so where we find the monies for that so it's it's like this domino effect that I every day you know I think we get up and I must have five different conversations with each administrator every day about all of the aha moments that we've all had during the hunt we're trying
084to sleep so thank you for that question yeah no thank you and I completely appreciate all the steps that you're going through to prepare for whatever it is we see in the in fall lastly how much discretion do you think that the school district is going to have regarding opening or closing so ultimately the super done it always has I think the decision I mean I close schools before the governor did and because I did it because I felt that it was the safe thing to do for our students and our staff for sure however having said that I mean they gave very prescriptive guidance for esy and summer school and one of the things that I heard today on our emergency management weekly call with with town officials and our Stern Highlands Health Director
085he shared that he's on a committee at UConn for their reopening and they're going to be testing everyone and so I asked him will Rob are you hearing that we're going to have to test every child every teacher every staff member and he said that that is somewhere in one of the pieces of the governor's plan about reopening but that's more about you know getting testing really up and and just part of our existence I think at this point so I think it's going to be pretty prescriptive but again in the summer school rules there was all these prescriptive rules and then it said but it's up to the superintendent because I think it's statutorily it's up to the supertonic okay thank you for that yep thank you anybody else okay think we're on unfinished
086business we sure all right I believe most of you got the email about the asbestos project and how we have to amend the minutes Christian you wanna review that at all absolutely so you may recall that our at our November 14 2019 meeting the board approved the asbestos project at BC s as completed for one hundred and thirty eight thousand nine hundred sixty dollars and seventy nine cents that number in those minutes needs to be revised to reflect the final total of a hundred and forty-one thousand four hundred fifty dollars and seventy nine cents there was a retainage payment that did not come in until well after that meeting in November and we want to include it so we can recapture the full amount that we are due so we'll need a motion please this
087is Chris I moved to amend the November 14 2019 minutes item G dot three previously adopted to move I moved to revise those minutes to reflect a project total for Bolton Center school project number 0 1 2 - 0 0 4 0 - C V in the amount of one hundred and forty one thousand four hundred and fifty dollars and 79 cents second thank you have any questions about this or want to make any comments should I abstain this is real because I wasn't on the board then I yes okay and I have second okay that was in November right so then Andrea would abstain from this okay any questions we all understand why we're doing this all those in favor of amending these minutes Oh anyone opposed and abstentions Riya and Ben ram ram
088Ben abstain and everyone else as a favor and that passes thank you and 2020 2021 budget so mr. Misskelley if you could put that information up there for me yep one second so this evening I am recommending that the board reduced the 2020 2021 budget in a personnel benefits line by $30,000 for a total board of education budget for 2020 2021 fourteen million eight hundred and thirteen thousand three hundred and five dollars we received a rate concession from Cigna for health insurance from 19 and a half percent down to 19 percent that will help with the set of this reduction due to the savings and new hires we were able to add back the one elementary position that was cut in next year's budget this position needs to be added back to address the needs
089of our youngest learners after one third of this year being in a distance learning model in addition there continues to be a need to add additional staff member to the business office to support the business manager this need has been shared with the board for a number of years now we have additional reporting requirements koban 19 several CAPA projects an upcoming roof replacement project and day-to-day operations that require additional support we are hopeful that the savings from the new hires and resignations that we did not anticipate that there will be monies available to support this position in some kind of capacity whether it be part-time or full-time and there is the information on the screen for you about the $30,000 bringing the board's budget increase to three point four seven percent and that $30,000 as
090everyone knows is the final reduction approved by the Board of Finance for the Board of Education spudger for 2020 2021 any questions hearing none we'll need a motion on that okay I can make it um let's see I just lost my language I moved to reduce the personnel benefits line by thirty thousand dollars in the 2020 2021 board of education budget thank you second thank you been moved by an second thigh band do we have any other questions or comments on this adjustment hearing none all those in favor of reducing the personnel line and by $30,000 say aye [Music] any one who is opposed or abstaining that also passes unanimously we are now on to and get off my motion screen and onto my where was it a new business right so the 2020 2021
091Board of Education meeting schedule you should have found in their email a few days ago we need a motion to adopt the 2028 2021 Board of Education meeting schedule somebody's house is making tuitions anyone wanna move to approve the 2020 2021 Board of it so moved second by an okay to discuss that does anyone have any questions or discussion on this meeting schedule pretty routine maybe we should add July meetings cuz Corona 20 is gonna need necessitate it I'm ignoring that cop bull this havoc emerges Willis have emergency meetings in that case all those in favor of adopting this meeting schedule any opposed abstentions that meeting scheduled passes unanimously and the next item we're looking for a motion to cancel the June 25th 2020 Board of Education meeting RIA makes a motion to cancel the
092meeting so second is there any comments discussion I don't sad they want to meet again on two weeks hi opposed abstentions we are not meeting on June 25th and will get together some it's for the what we discussed earlier resignations thank you so I'm going to inform the board that BCS remedial reading teacher Lisa Shaw BHS special education teacher Lindsey Lockett leer pcs paraprofessional Rebecca Holloman and BCS cafeteria worker Lisa Costello have resigned thank you it will be missed and we have a future business we have lunch prices that was reassuring we have lunch prices to discuss oh yes I'm sorry I think I yeah I think I I pulled up the old agenda yes yes watch prices it was another email you should have received yesterday yesterday so I you know I apologize for
093the lateness of the add to the agenda and the information just received this yesterday it's it's a fast-moving train here gang I just want to remind the board and for our new members that last year I shared that Bolton receives federal funds from USDA for our food service program and as such we are required to use the paid lunch equity tool if we are not at the required average for 2020 2021 of three dollars and nine cents for a lunch which we are not our current lunch prices are two dollars and ninety cents at Bolton Center school and three dollars at Bolton high school further we are 15 cents below the required weighted average required by USDA this weighted average goes up every year basically we are at the USDA's direction for pricing and if
094we do not show that we are using the tool and increasing our prices the state can order us to raise our prices or we will not receive USDA funding or we could keep our prices the same and the BOE would have to make up the difference and this was not a budgeted item as our food service program currently remains a self-sustaining program if we have if we were to lose USDA funding it would mean we would need to raise the prices of lunches to approximately $5 a lunch further we do have the ability to apply for a waiver for the paid lunch equity requirement if the school food service account maintains a positive or zero balance as of this past December 31st 2019 however while we are very cognizant of how this pandemic has affected
095our community it is not unfortunately our recommendation to apply for the waiver as minimum wages go going to go up yet again this year as is the cost of food we're already seeing a rising cost of food now this waiver can be done but it only sets us further back as the weighted average increases every year and the board was made aware that we would need to make an increase again this year and I can tell you we will likely need to make an increase again next year if the board does decide to apply for the waiver we must submit it by July 30th the state did not provide guidance on breakfast pricing so our plan is to keep breakfast pricing the same for next year and I believe that I'm looking for my answers
096to the questions maybe Chris has it that he had posed that I think would be important and for everyone to hear so one of the questions was how much do we receive from USDA for each meal our lunch reimbursement rates for 1920 with the required weighted average was $3 and as I shared in 2020 2021 it's three dollars and nine cents for paid thirty-two cents reduced lunch three dollars and one cent free lunch 3.41 sent an additional six cents per meal certification compliance grant he asked are the prices we charge for meals factored into the calculations for who qualifies for free or reduced meals the price we charge and USDA requires we charge our based on those that do not qualify and pay full price per the USDA ple tool will higher prices allow some
097families to qualify for assistance who might not now qualify families qualify based on their income and/or direct certification eligibility a higher price will not change how they are eligible we do anticipate we will see an uptick in qualifying families based on the current events and their income levels going down and/or assessing services like Medicaid or snap after we discussed this last year I thought about this issue further and it occurred to me that the concern on the part of the USDA might be that town's not in effect use their federal free reduced meal dollars to subsidize the cost of meals for kids who might not need that assistance if that is the point of ple then I'd agree with the reasoning answer yes this is precisely why the USDA requires we increase each year the
098USDA raises the reimbursement rates for those that qualify for free and incentivize the paid and reimbursement meals as well if we do not raise our paid pricing the free reimbursement dollars will have to make up the difference and eventually the model becomes unsustainable the program can no longer operate successfully jeopardizing meal access to those that need it most if our meal cost is lower than the federal reimbursement rate is there some way to petition for a lower reimbursement and thus keep prices lower for everyone and while Heather clearly understands the thought behind this as do I he they continued increase in minimum wage and food costs make this unattainable the government increases reimbursement each year and they expect our programs to do the same to ensure that we can be sustainable what is our actual
099per meal cost would be interesting to get a sense of what sort of improvements we might be able to make if we raised prices say to 310 at BCS and 325 at BHS we currently don't have the actual plate cost per meal available right now we're still in covent 90 mail situation but we also have to consider that labor is factored into this as well there's always room for improvement nothing comes to mind at this time we offer a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables scratch cooked meals within each menu cycle and we do our very best to be sure we are featuring and favorites and they do share with us what the VAM papers are I might add we're always looking at ways to increase participation and we do our very best to create
100a menu that would encourage this within the guidelines that we have to work within what I can say jumping to 310 and 325 or even the recommended $3 and 310 would do is help the program to continue to be self-sustaining self-sustaining school nutrition programs are unusual as most districts rely on BOE funding so keeping pricing at or higher the weighted average promote sustainability and as I've shared with the board before you know each year we're sort of in that might next year be the year that we're not being self-sustaining anymore but we are still working very hard at keeping our self as a self-sustaining program to the extent that we can Chris I want to thank you for those very thoughtful questions so do we have a motion to raise the launch prices by 10
101cents to $3 a ECS and 310 at BHS for the 2020 2021 school year second that things move very well by su second by Chris we have any discussion on this topic I just like to say that I hate doing this I hate when the government tells you you have to do things when they don't make sense and I don't know if I want to fight about it this year but next year I might so all those in favor of this increase this year I all post abstentions that motion passes and we are now on to unfinished business would you like me to note in that approval that the price increase is under protest but the board members realize at this point there no alternative I think we had similar situation last year agreed do
102we have any unfinished business or a new business or anything you know what what I was wondering about actually and I don't know if this is appropriate but we hear a lot about the resignations and retirements and I'm always very curious to hear when we've hired new people and I wonder if it might be possible to highlight our new hires perhaps at the August or September meetings we always do that okay for what I just can't remember it thank you okay yeah no problem they don't always attend but we do share the information fantastic yep cool thank you so that concludes the regular portion of our business meeting and we are now looking for a motion to go into executive session and to invite the superintendent to attend to discuss the superintendent's review and contract
103so moved seconds and did you move that thank you motion by Anne second by Rhea to we have any discussion all in favor of going into executive session opposed abstentions thank you everybody