001[Music] good good evening I'd like to call the regular meeting of the Brookfield Board of Education for Wednesday October 18 2017 to order please join me for rising for the Pledge of Allegiance thank you all for coming tonight and thank you all for listening in on the TV we have a rather brief agenda this evening we have six of our members of the board mr. shaker called me and tonight's also the best of Brookfield and he's over at that event and said he would get over he ended at 7:00 and he would get over here as quickly as he possibly could so so he expect he'll join us Midway so first up on our agenda is public comment I do believe we have one person signed up so mr. Jaffe I'll turn it to you
002name and address please button is now up you have to be say the Red Sox thing that for the audience that was good it only works once thank you for the opportunity and I will also preface this by saying that I did have this conversation with Harry earlier today and so he won't be missing my my words I want to talk to you about requests for spending and school construction I am concerned that this Board of Education has decided to go to the Board of Finance for $72,000 expense in case you don't know and I hope you do you you know what the state calls the school budget is an itemized estimate you have absolute authority over your budget you can move line items around you can do pretty much anything you want to that
003is much to the consternation of every Board of Finance in the state they like to have absolute control but it is your control you are a unique you are a separate board you set policy you set curriculum you said you set the agenda for for the schools in an issue like this you know and and frankly if you're going to the Board of Finance you can't go to the Board of Finance and ask them to give you money the Board of Finance has no authority by charter to institute spending they cannot initiate spending they can only respond if the Board of Selectmen brings them a request so you can't go and ask them to initiate spending if you want additional spending you got to go to the selectmen the slight wound by charter has to
004bring it to the board it's like for finance they can't reject it they can pass it on with a recommendation not to do it but they have to pass it on okay and where I comment on this is I even understanding where we are with the with the state reimbursements the fact of the matter is that that this spending I believe is something that everybody on the board has is absolutely critical you need to move forward on this and frankly a $72,000 expense in a 41 million dollar budget I know that every dollar is sacred it's a rounding error you need to tonight I believe let the community know that this is important enough for you to act and say we need to spend this money and ask the administration to come back at the
005next meeting and let you know the best way to deal with it this is a critically important thing I think for you to do I know frankly I also think that going to the Board of Finance and asking them empowers the Board of Finance to continue to think that they have authority that they really don't have but would like to have so I would encourage you to really consider tonight doing what you think is the right thing and I hope you think the right thing is moving forward on your own with the spending for the architect so we can move forward on the school project you have the power the people in the town need to see you actually acting in the interest of the students to do that the other thing I want to
006talk about just briefly because we all know that there are a lot of capital issues coming before the town there's a lot of misinformation there's a lot of armwrestling about what's what's going first what our priorities my position has always been that with sound planning it's not a question of if but when and we should be able to do everything that's important to the town these are important investments whether it's the library or whether it's the schools or whether it's the you know the police department or frankly even whether it's roads but in terms of where the the school is going you know I understand that you're looking at everything I understand that we're looking at all the buildings and looking where we're going to be going down the road that's a good thing I've
007also heard that one of the options that may be considered is a consolidation of grades so that we may have a more traditional elementary school K through five here's here's where I come in on this and people who know me know that I am an incredibly strong supporter of school of school programs and budgets okay let's talk just fiscal reality for a moment or two and for those of you who are surprised to hear me talking these terms I really need to look at the numbers okay the the maximum we can get today and this is what's on the books today and I confirmed this with Steve a while ago and it can only well only get worse if the state decides to do anything but what's on the books today is that for a
008renovation of an existing building you can get up to 32% back for a new construction you can get a maximum of 22 percent back that's a huge difference and let's just pick some numbers out of the air that aren't yeah I know that nothing's nothing's real but let's just take some numbers so we can have a frame of reference a renovation of Huckleberry would cost let's say thirty million dollars okay we can argue whether that's lower high but let's just pick a number for sake of discussion and the max you're going to get back on that is 32% now we're talking roughly a 20 million dollar cash investment for the town bonded but cash okay when we looked at doing the high school renovation 18 20 years ago people were talking at that time about
009why don't we do a new building you know this was originally built as a middle school a lot of work needed to be done you know wouldn't it be better just to build something from the ground up well back then you know the estimates for a brand-new building for a high school were in the 80 to 100 million dollar range depending on what we wanted to do that doesn't count property okay and whether that's an accurate number or not I don't know but let's let's take an eighty million dollar you know figure right now for a new building with a 10% you know 20% reimbursement rate from the state as a Max and and just in terms of reimbursement rates when we did the high school renovation at the time the numbers were the same
010we could have gotten a max of I'll close it we could we got it we could have gotten a max of 32% our architects told us there's no way you can do that they they said you can probably get 29 30 but we went out and we told the town less than that I think we told them 26 27 percent because we wanted to be conservative with the town but having said that let's say an 80 million dollar project with 20% 20% reimbursement rate now you're talking about around 70 million dollars for the for the town to spend huge difference and the question I would ask is not would it be nice but what the question that I would ask of the administration is in terms of educational outcomes knowing that we have an excellent
011school system right now with excellent outcomes can we cost justify the additional cost if that's the proposal you're going to bring forward to me that's a hard sell in this town and so the reason I bring this up and I appreciate you indulging me for a couple extra minutes the reason I bring it up is that if you're going to go forward with an architect you want them to focus on coming back with some reality so thank you for the time and just things to consider I just want to clarify one comment the Board of Education did not go to the Board of Finance and asked them for this money we brought it up in context of the cuts that were coming along so your point is taken on this boats up to this board
012to decide whether to take action or not but we have a anvil sitting over our head of massive cuts and we've actually that if you actually go look at the Board of Finance meeting it was to update them in the context of where were they planning what was a solution in terms of doing it they offered in fact the town controller offered to go back and look at the capital funds and informed us that if they could find a way to get some money which would be nice they would run it through the Board of Selectmen as you said I do agree with you that it's up to this board to decide to initiate the funding this is our decision more than anything so we need to we need to move on but the problem
013with a million for two million maybe more hanging over our heads is it makes it very difficult to act unless we have absolute partnership and agreement with the three boards so that's the nature of the beast we're in right now okay so any other public comment from those who have joined us since okay Dan Berryman you're up next with an update front as our student representative go Yankees but the evening session will be October 25th from 5 to 7 p.m. at WMS the walkathon will be October 26 the end of that marking period is November 6 and the fall parent-teacher conferences are November 15th and 16th at BHS this week is the continuation of spirit week tomorrow is decades day and Friday's balloon ball day in this Friday our annual pep rally will be held
014in addition to this the homecoming carnival and the homecoming football game will be held we are playing Masek Key Club will be selling tie-dye shirts and having a bake sale for the homecoming booth and the freshmen currently taking digital student have completed a program with our public rile I brer E to receive public library cards and the second half of the freshmen class will be doing the same thing common next quarter thank you very much for Spirit Day because I saw some interesting photos yes today was holiday so you picked any holiday that you wanted to be international or national and you were able to dress up based on that so we everything from Father's Day to Christmas I saw the impressive Pi Day photo if anyone saw them by day we a lot of
015creative there were what 15 different students and they each had a number of of the pie I lined up very appropriately for it they got it an order or you would know we would never know yeah that's cool okay thank you Dan all right now next up is written correspondence written correspondence from Ron Jaffe regarding the Connecticut Post article thank you Board minutes recommend a motion that the board approved the minutes listed below is recommended the regular meeting of October 4th moved and seconded any discussion all the minutes we all got those sent out hearing none all in favor aye any opposed all right superintendent's update thanks mr. Belden um before I get into my update which does have a point on an update on the economic a ssin cost sharing situation in state budget
016like turn over to mr. Harding Thanksgiving I think Supercenter burrow our dr. burrow yes thank you very much you know it's so funny I just looked I saw out of the corner of my eye as I was wanting to address you so just an update from my my perspective is there seems to be a closed agreement now between both sides of the aisle and getting something done which should have been done six months ago and we're gonna meet tomorrow in caucuses tomorrow morning about this possible agreement so at that point I'll have much more of an idea of what we're dealing with regards to municipal funding regards to teacher pensions shift one thing that Collette and I were talking about at the beginning of the meeting was that this seems to be a teacher pension
017shift for good reason fortunately seems to be off the table now in this possible agreement so at that time I think what I'll do is I'll give you a call sure more afternoon once I have the numbers and everything else and you can let the rest of the board know okay where we are but it seems like we're getting there okay which is which is great and really quickly I think this is my second look the last board meeting up so you know with we're on this topic I really have been saying this for the last couple board meetings it really would be a good idea to appoint somebody as a legislative or liaison is it really alright great because I think this is something that in future years when I'm not here good point
018to Collette and say give me an update all right thank you thanks Steve so a couple of things you know speaking of Dan's update about the high school I saw a lot of Christmas jammies today as part of the celebration which was I thought was pajama day there was so many was great kids look very comfortable and cozy so it was nice um mr. post and I actually were there and we had mr. bland that was serving lunch to the students and so we partook in the Stromboli that was being served and it was outstanding I must say me the chicken parm is always good so the high school doing a great job up there in the cafeteria um a couple of things to let you know about with it being election season I've actually
019extended an invitation to the Board of Education candidates and have had individual meetings with almost all of them at this point two of them are here okay great meeting so I appreciate everybody's time that's been going on we are looking at the community unit that these second graders are doing and the kids have been visiting Town Hall and seeing the clerk's office and the first elections office and they stopped in to TSO into the central office and so I have a chance to talk to the students and talk about what we do and 100 Pocono rows so it's been a tremendous visits with the kids they ask for all kinds of great questions but I'll leave those for another story the winter weather hard to believe it's been so beautiful but the winter weather I
020send out a traditional weather update letter letting everybody know kind of a process for how we delay or cancel school and where to tune into and what to expect setting up emergency plans and those kind of things as reminders for parents so that's recently gone out and then we're working on a couple of things in terms of celebrating the student voice and getting input from students I'm going to be working with both mr. Renda and mr. B'Elanna about setting up lunches with each principal and myself with different groups of students who are interested in really talking about eliciting from the students what are some of the things that are wonderful and great about your experience and what are some other things you wish we had or you know as you move on maybe talking to
021seniors with your senior year that you want to see in place for the kids coming after you so those kinds of indicate graders as well and that kind of a thing so that we're looking forward to and then mrs. farías and dr. ruby and myself we're gonna be setting up some more listening sessions with our teachers and maybe including our paraprofessionals now in terms of the meetings that i had last year with individual teachers but maybe more in group settings and bring some coffee in and sit down and have some conversations and some input especially as we get toward budget season and the things that maybe we should be playing for and in addition to round tables that the board or formally be running so those are coming up so I want to let you
022know that we're doing that and then the final piece the board retreat dates that we've scheduled we sent them to the board members they were in my Friday update to the board members who will be continuing on after the election as well as to the board candidates November 28th and December 12th will be meeting with Pat McHale on the 28th he's the board of education attorney talking about board member roles and the trials tribulations and rewards of the the position and then Nick Caruso from cave in some of the inner workings of board membership and so forth will be coming down on the 12th both evenings will begin at 6 p.m. at the central office and we'll have dinner served what's really nice about this is part of our cave membership and part of our
023contract with the attorney both of these are free of charge there's there's no extra cost for these it's part of our contracts and our agreements with them so I'm really excited about that and getting started and right on the fast-track with our new board membership because on December 6 which I likely their first board meeting the new members will be discussing the budget for 1819 so that my proposal will be there so it is right away we just started school and we're talking about next year already I mean it's amazing we do this every year and that is all I have I don't know if anybody has any questions or any questions for dr. Birol [Laughter] all right thank you very much thanks for spelling all right subcommittee reports first we have communications communications subcommittee
024met on October 2nd it was fairly brief meeting we did discuss the budget round table which is going to be held at 6:00 p.m. directly before our next board meeting on the 15th of November and discussed um how we wanted to get out the word and exactly what you know what our aim was for that and really we are just very interested in community input as to what they think the budget priorities should be and so we encourage everyone to come to that and we will also be continuing to send out information and reminders about it piggybacking on that we discussed further aboard communication to the public it has improved greatly there's always room for improvement and we are just trying to find the best ways that we can effectively communicate what is happening with
025the board what the issues are with the board to the community to the public to the parents to that extent we wanted to take our Facebook page to the next step you know right now we wanted to put information about our meetings if there are students maybe even supporting material with us and unfortunately where we in there see the page there is put that is we can spend all day and everyone is that is administrators Facebook page has a job and a half all right so we're gonna be meeting we the best forest NNN almost be for the next group on unless to to bring peace and in the right I think they wrap so the [Music] we begin running some Merrill's hopefully all will go to work interesting because we well the the technical
026reactive 35000 give everything yeah yeah then I and then you know what we really in terms of so so that was surprising again it is something there's presumably we there's again we're gonna maintain yeah however schools [Music] where money how much money for manicure I think Paul's most of those long are active believe me there's the plan using the cost of the purpose for which they raised the beginning very careful okay any ball okay we last meeting reason for that is we're working in collaboration with the board and the board to move toward a more transparent to see the community and actually the the world of - as you know the board education I was asked me to go and - and meeting with our came up with we're we might have the money available
027right now and my step is from her and I will be able to go to there and then the other I will invite all members to go with me and we will be doing a presentation to the workmen asking them for the elevation in demonic if they then right and if not it is so so so in their ability and then they would tell me what is with the town and so that and the the day after that and clarification purposes this sunny that now overview the last time this and that is what no but um so I understand that we have a very looming budget into sort of hanging over our heads but I'm saying but this is if not - so did you like any ideas gonna come back because beyond that I
028feel like we should be waiting to - she says she to me within Oh analysts just because not only is the education in holding out the town you know setting - so she's got the whole town to worry about with meeting daily and trying to figure out what they're going to do as well as our whole team is so I'm yeah you know if she gets back to me Monday she gets back to me Monday i mister dunne said he was she brought up his thought and just as a clarity of thought was was they have just happened to be that moment they've been doing a capital review of existing projects and they had identified a number of existing projects that we had under run this can be construed within the general rural capital right
029and which is a town responsibility so one of the this I didn't want to have a big debate with mr. Jaffe but this happens to be in that gray area between the town and the schools and who is responsible for the spend she said from the preliminary review she saw a number of projects that they thought they had under run and they could read since it's already appropriated money with appropriate or to select an abortive finance approvals they could read you know gather that money up and use it to fund this project it takes some approvals to get through one thing if they can do that she had to finish the work and mr. Dunn turned door and said we have a special meeting of the Board of Selectmen in about ten days I would
030like that on that again so he's given her a deadline that's tied into a special meeting of the Board of Selectmen which is right in front of us I don't have a date yet as like a last sort of statement because regardless I won't be at the next board meeting I just learned so no you know it's if you no matter what happens I don't think right you know I think whoever wins the the two years spot raised that we were talking about whoever wins the to your seat will automatically be there at let me let me but anyway whoever wins out would take office lilac meeting you win a spot I want you to come to the next meeting yeah I'll be here good luck but thank you here but I will I don't
031know if I'll beat ya I won't be able to vote so Mabel bump up we would if you win and you have a seat even though there's that funny yeah yeah we'd have you well thank you but anyways I would I would I would hope that if by the next meeting there isn't some definite you know allocation from the town that the board would be prepared to to move on on finding that within our own budget so this is sure that the Board of Selectmen doesn't find the magic the magic solution let's get it on our next agenda okay oh definitely and it's it's a priority for me personally right as I went through the schools and they look the same to me is back I mean they have the same clock in whiskey NER
032middle school as when I was five years old and why they're so it's a priority definitely but thank you thanks okay any further discussion Thank You Rosa that's it pushing that is right okay consent agenda recommend a motion that the board approve the items on the consent agenda is recommended Steve Steve Eve's got the second all right so there's not very many items on the on the consent agenda any comments on that I actually do questions just regarding September financials and I know probably kind of had alluded to it or maybe it was at the weekend update that we were a little bit of an overrun but I just had questions in regards to some of these supplies and tuition ones that are already like two hundred fifty six percent news is that for a
033new year or I mean is that we've used that amount just in the two months we've been in session or is that what we've used through the entire year that's page three but there's others like the tuition that's one hundred and fifty three and yes just several of them that are kind of really over already yeah that's a combination of what we've spent so far this fiscal year and what we anticipate to spend through the rest of the fiscal year okay so it's not just what is spent going through yeah actually if you look at the report there's a lot a column calling ENC slash barbecue that's encumbrances and if you look at just take that line item on the supplies that I see the 256 you mentioned if we'd spent it was budgeted for
034nineteen we spent two and there's an encumbrance for forty seven we saw that in the BNF committee and that's going to go back and look at why are we so encumbered there okay and so that's not one of the comebacks we have the encumbrances seem to be a little high in some of those and you'll see there's a lot of large dollar encumbrances on those big dollar items that looked a little odd to us okay big yeah they did when I was looking at it earlier as well it's up that's what we're trying to get this report in a format where it's a little bit more viewer friendly okay any other questions all in favor the consent agenda right so that's the the core but move on to some new business today we have two
035items on new business this week one is the district enrollment report just recommended action that the board receive a district and Roman port from superintendent dr. John Barrow all right over to you so this is a traditional annual report this covers the last four years which includes October 1 of 2017 every October 1st we do a run all districts in the state do this and we look at our enrollment and then we use this October 1 enrollment as kind of the foundation of our budget discussions going forward you know enrollment affects everything we do great level enrollment what schedules are going to look like class sections in each grade all these kinds of things a lot of implications with enrollment so if you turn to the second page the the memo explains everything it's very
036brief mental it explains everything but really where people are you know usually interested in is the second page which shows our preschool all the way through grade 12 and it's a comparison over the last four years so October 1 of 14 of 15 of 16 and this current year the last column has a delta for 16 to 17 and what it does is it goes down and it shows whether a grade level has increased from last year to this year or decreased in total our enrollment last year at as of October 1 was 2700 this year 2636 so a difference of 64 less students this year and that's right around our projection around I think around 26 50 if I recall I'd have to go back to look at our projections from our budget projections
037motors are right around there and you can see in addition to that our special education students identified with special needs is holding steady up one from last year to 356 students our total English language learners continues to increase from eighty five students last year to ninety six students this year and free and reduced lunch continues to increase as it has each of the last four years from two hundred and sixty five students last year to two hundred and seventy eight identified students thirteen more students that's the enrollment report it's pretty straightforward amazing questions or any observations they'd like to ask just just one the 217 it 2000 or excuse me our pre-k from 16 to 17 we had a significant increase but yet in kindergarten we had a significant decrease just the the students who
038are in pre-k not all of them attend our kindergarten so and a lot of families what you'll notice is some different variances and you can't just the year-to-year see there's a lot of movement in the younger grades yes in fifth grade over the last three years it's going down by ten and then by 2022 students into you and we and we remember we plan for a reduction in section this past year and so that worked out we're right at our target numbers were in that nineteen range I will let you know interestingly right after we ran this report two weeks ago last week at huckleberry mrs. diamond reported to us there are five new students registered at the school so these numbers already have had a swing of five it's a moving target as you
039all know it's a good question for you because you know first girls had a lot of building especially of apartments and condominiums some new homes are you seeing any change in trends in terms of the number of transfer ends looked at I asked Denise Walsh who runs our power school database I asked her to run a 3-year report so this this year in the previous two and she looks at the transit the transfers in is what she calls it and I have it in front of me here from August through September so she did it for October 1 and she ran those last two months there really is the numbers there's no pattern to them some grade levels are up from 15 to 16 and then down 16 to 17 others are up all three
040years some are down all three years there's no rhyme or reason no one no one no significant pose no significant pattern the only thing if I'm stretching to get a pattern the only thing I saw was year to year so from last year to this year in Greece I want mention of the regular from fifth grade to 11th grade there was increases of at maximum six students integrate to a minimum of one student integrate those were just consistently in a row the earlier grades were up and down so there really wasn't anything I could I can hang my hat wait when you see a big trend you know what building going in you watch for that well and the one thing that we we haven't we the the Moloney McBroom information that was talked about
041earlier is older demographic information now and the kindergarten numbers have not matched up the last two years so we've been really looking at our own data in trying today they told us because I asked that question that the building wasn't going to drive a lot of you know transfer ends because that most of the people are about getting in those are young professionals you'll see it in kindergarten over time again young children going in but not a lot of transfers and I think what you're telling me is we're not seeing a lot of right now we're not seeing a lot of that I want to just know that Harry in response to your starting with that pre-k so the number of students currently in pre-k at 37 is high compared to previous years we want
042to keep an eye on that number starting at the previous year 27 because in our preschool we provide services to high need students special ed students and they matriculate into that program on their third birthday so remember that throughout the year as students with special needs turn 3 they become eligible for that preschool program so we see the numbers and the need for services increase so we have our finger on the pulse of that particular grade level and I want to mention to everyone not just to not just look at the comparison 16 to 17 but look at a kindergarten from 16 to first grade at 17 or this one 4th grade in 16 to fifth grade and 17 and that's where we get like 14 14 additionally your passports are coming in then we're
043graduating good but but we're for the most part we're gaming or staying steady as our grades are moving you know throughout the year with the exception of the eighth to the high school which case you expect some kids to you know put a private high schools and you got a lot of years as the plus one plus a couple - a couple so but yeah you're right that fourth grade to fifth grade was a noticeable increase yeah I think well worth the phantom 5th to 6th and that's those were the two big that's the plus 20 yeah but then the 6th or 7th is minus 5 right kindergarten to first well and that could be just from a lot of people that's right that tends to be a trend we want to look I mean
044we're so used to receiving these data in this format because that's traditional but just like the the chat that we had the last board the word made before last about how we need to look at cohort data we can't look across columns we have to look and see the the trend in the same cohort of students and that tells a totally different story so thanks for pointing that out so uh will this be on the website I'm sure people sitting there watching us talk about saying I don't want to look at that sheet we're going to turn the next one over to me on budget assumptions and priorities I was going to point to this term and share that these are these are items that should be on the Facebook page is it exactly exactly
045easily linked to them we're all staring at the data okay any other questions on the enrollment data all right let's move on item B is the preliminary budget discussion the goals recommend an action that the board enter into a preliminary budget discussion to include budget assumptions and priorities so the memo you have in your packet we reviewed actually with the administrators administrative team we went over this together took the feedback continued to work on it last Monday brought it to the business and Facilities Committee received some feedback some input has some discussion on it refined it and put it in the board packet on Friday afternoon to all of you and I know you've had a chance to do it it's it's a it's a it's a healthy document in terms of it's full of
046text on on both pages I would share I would submit to you that the budget assumptions going forward for the 1819 budget are very similar to last year there's not much change mr. bill no to take a little direction from you do you want to kind of pull it through these a lot to read okay I don't think we need to go through everything especially if we're gonna make it available for absolutely everybody a chance to look at them yeah I when we went through it with a budget assumptions they were very similar because they're kind of you know what yet what do you about in the school sure the next page is the priorities which really will manifest themselves in the budget presentation going forward in December this is this is really the foreshadowing
047of those priorities you know of course they will be influenced by your input as well as the public's input is we have budget round tables and things of that nature some things that are key priorities we're going to continue to explore the use of the world language lab at the high school and how we can use it even more for our students but also looking at building and implementing world language lab at the middle school we think it's that important in addition to that continue to work with professional development and all of the things we're doing with our teachers supporting our most struggling learners in our SR VI process and other work that we're doing with with those children in addition to that a lot of we've talked about a lot of curriculum work we're
048really in the sweet spot this year of the work with dr. Alcott Kok and the curriculum work we're doing and all in all of the core four areas especially moving forward in science and social studies this year which is really new new on the table to really dig in roll up our sleeves so we're excited about that work in addition to that we really want to take a look at the new talented and gifted identification legislation and the impact that might have on how we take a look at an enrichment or a talented and gifted type program so we want to bring in someone to help us with that in for next year's budget and plan for such a program and the emotional intelligence work that we've talked about quite a bit we definitely want
049to have full implementation with the students at whiskey near next year and you may recall we have a Brookfield Education Foundation grant to get it started with the teacher training the adult adult training I should say this year not just teachers paraprofessionals secretaries etc so we really want full implementation at whisk and year for next year with that and that well you know there's some days for training and some other things that we have to support going forward with that and in the leadership section we want to continue to improve the leadership capacity of our administrators a real focus that we continue on is feedback super-super direct supervision observation and feedback that they provide to teachers it's critically important and it's an area that we all can get better at and we continue to work
050in that particular as well as developing targeted instruction in their coaching skills and how they take a look at student learning and then transition that into what does that mean for we have we have these learning targets that students are at this particular area and how are we going to target instruction to make them better how do I could as an administrator coach my teachers and help make that process even better and then find out operations and facilities we have areas we're going to take a look at there continue on with the blue Shapiro recommendations supporting the strategic facility steering committee work upgrading continuing upgrading our technology and servers and switches and the bandwidth and then the presentation stations we have a plan matriculated plan going forward at the presentation stations and how we're going
051to do that at each of the schools and then really advocate and look for athletic facilities and feels and how we're going to you know as we know out back there's a lot of things that have come due the lights the turf feels and we need to really work with the town on how we're going to fund that that's in addition to the you know the school project we're talking about so that's kind of a highlight of what's going on here and we'll publish this document tomorrow on the not only on the website but also on the Facebook wall that the Athletic feels you know with them being the age they are I mean that is something that would really does need to be addressed next year say oh it absolutely has a priority because
052of the you know it's it's their life expectancy and the one thing I would like to add I want to add on number six under operations and facilities is that it would be upgrading the athletic fields and facilities so some things we thought yeah I wanna make sure that's in there so people understand it's not just the fields so the pressbox really you know I have a vision I've talked with the the high school team up here and talked with BNF before like to maybe get some you know bathrooms out toward the middle of the field her visitors and the athletes when they're far far from the school and you know a permanent bathroom facility rather than porta-johns and things of that nature when we have so there's a lot of things to talk about
053they're not in concrete plans yet that there's a lot to talk about it's all Pope facilities on there if you guys are okay with that I'd like to maybe add one more that we can talk about that may may or may not have a budget impact and that would be to maybe take a look at the start times of our schools and I know we had talked about this before just absolutely I don't know if any of you are aware I've been following the Ridgefield thing like very closely and different schools have had different results but our high school has a really your start date than any school in dirt a B or the surrounding area really yes yes as a matter of fact because you know I'm not gonna say anything without just so
054happen ask but but I got you guys remember that I did research before about the store start dates just and the school times just in Derby but when I was taking a look at this I also went back and looked at the ones that have changed since then Madison Greenwich Granby and Newtown have pushed back dates now on two of them Granby a Madison I just put them in because they tweaked their middle schools a little bit but Greenwich and Newtown have significantly changed what they actually change the sort time a lot yes I like how much um here I will do it the ones that have changed her in red you know I did she probably knew I would ask and then at the very bottom of this in red I put this high
055school start times up all the Derg ace districts that are consider are considering an additional is have switched or Richfield Guilford and New Canaan Richfield just two days ago opted against it and when I read about it in the article I think a lot of it was because their solution was to push elementary schools to like a 10:00 a.m. start time and that's just not supported out no one was supporting that [Music] but it's something I think that we just need to take a look at address you know I've been asking around it it's a very unscientific poll but I have been asking parents of kids and they're just out there talking about kids that come home and take naps because they're gonna be up to one or two o'clock in the morning you know
056regardless and the only way they can sustain getting up at 5:00 or 5:30 in the morning to make the start time is to do that you know one parent said we're sending exhausted inexperienced drivers on the road very early in the morning and had questioned that so it may just be worthy of a discussion well I just worry about discussion absolutely it's interesting that one of one of them switched it around where the middle school actually starts before the house yeah we talked about it we danced around it because of athletics and because of jobs and you know and again someone had said someone's got to be the first and we're obviously not even the longer the first but we maybe reach out to these schools see how they're doing how they're managing the athletics
057program that's why this is a fallacy it's been a policy it's been an excuse and it's we're not here for athletics either so it's an excuse though I agree yeah I I think it needs to be dressed I think so always discussed you have discussed a few so let's put that on the list and put it on about I think that's a good idea okay any other discussion on the budget priorities so this I think we're getting this out there is important and I think this becomes the basis for a discussion at the roundtable we have upcoming so this is that's why we do the roundtable early is to get feedback on the priorities and what what our parents feel they ought to working on so I would urge all members board and all newly
058elected members of the board when they're elected to be in that Roundtable I think it's one of the more important evenings of the of the year that when we do that so so just to summarize on this document we will it's already online to sit on the what it's on the website but in terms of getting it you know how we will I will modify this the priorities well add facilities on number six four fields and facilities and then a seventh will be examine start times I would actually put that up under number 16 in the first pool you want to know over there okay kind of belongs and curriculum this that is an operational okay certainly wouldn't start times as operations and facilities I'm thinking buses and all the operations it's going to take
059to make that happen oh yeah well that that's why I've been fascinating following the Ridgefield the hearings about how to juggle the bus schedules fascinating what the major concern is not sports it's in a lot of these districts and we've reached out to a couple the when there's games that start at three or four o'clock students are missing their last period or two of school to get there that way yeah yeah wit games so that's always something you know we're here for school to the exact comment under stand I'm just and it's just stupid response there's there's things that are out there and people get married to the idea that you can't move the so there's there's a lot of operation kids and you can't move the start time with a game exactly so you
060know wrong I really the reason why they charge new start times and games I just wanted to Stanford to play and it's in bitter late October it's a matter of getting getting getting the game in I agree with you it should not be an excuse to do it but that's why it's it's difficult for them to move it because of travel lights yeah but it's not it shouldn't be an excuse I agree figure something out I agree with I'm just saying I'm just giving one of the reasons while here yeah okay any further discussion on the budget priorities okay next on our agenda is upcoming events tomorrow Thursday the 19th is the center school fall social 5:30 to 7:30 Friday as Daniel had mentioned it's homecoming at Brookfield High School 5 to 7 p.m. there
061is a carnival in the high school parking lot it's very family-friendly featuring food games different activities and at 7 p.m. is the homecoming game versus Masek Wednesday the 25th is the freshman forum here at the high school that is a mandatory freshman meeting for students and a parent that was initiated to for great success last year that's at 6:30 in the high school auditorium Saturday October 28th is the Brookfield PTO trunk-or-treat that's 5 to 8 o'clock in the evening at the Brookfield volunteer fire department also on Saturday October 28th does the Brookfield high school cabaret that's 7 p.m. here at the auditorium Tuesday November 7th is a professional development day there is no students or excuse me there will be no students there's no school for students Tuesday November 14th Brookfield cares is sponsoring a
062film called no letting go that's an award-winning film about the struggles families face when their child struggles with a mental illness it's for adults only but it's going to be here at 6:30 p.m. at the Rockville High School Auditorium and Wednesday November 15th is our next Board of Ed meeting and once again as a reminder there will be a budget roundtable prior to that at 6:00 p.m. here in the media center and all community members are strongly encouraged to that and just just to add on to that November's one of the few months of the year we actually only have one board meeting you know usually we're the first and third Wednesday sits that's us that the second ones here third was that's the third Wednesday as a third so we only have one meeting
063next month so and we're gonna hopefully decide to get the facilities project moving that would be our top should be our top priority so maybe the select may be one last quick item as a parent we asked today about the Washington DC trip it's been sort of the hallmark 8th grade trip the response we received back was unfortunately we have decided that a series of day trips is more closely aligned with the 8th grade curriculum kind of disappointed obviously the students are disappointed that the trips canceled I'm more disappointed over the lack of communication to the parents and it says nothing is set yet but when it is we'll send you an email ok great so it was sort of an informal response to a question my wife had posed and then email to the
064principal you know again it's if we're going to make changes like this 8th grade students are looking forward to it mr. Chekov was that a personal email from the principal to mrs. check or a date that was not an email sent out to the entire that was a personal email if I might reach out on the principal to ask because yeah planning in the spring time we need to sure thank you and this and back thank you if you look into it I'd appreciate thanks certainly well okay there being no further business and no objection the meeting is adjourned thank you all for attending [Music]