BOE Meeting 1 13 26

001They changed the meeting. >> It's like the beginning of this sporting night now that official. >> All right. Welcome Board of Education meeting tonight. I call the meeting to order of the our regular meeting of January 13, 2026. And welcome Cherry Brook Primary School students, parents, teachers, staff, and Mr. Emry. Welcome you guys. I'm glad you're all here. Tonight's going to be a great meeting. We're going to be able to give out some awards. We're so excited about being able to do that. But before we do, we're going to go into the pledge of allegiance. So, if you're still rise, can you join me in the pledge? I pledge to the United States of America to the republic for its oneis and justice for all. >> So before we get into uh public comment presentations,

002we have two two uh two pieces of uh changes I'd like to make. Number one is we would like to move uh we're going to move up the the can board of education on the tip. So we're going to take that from the back page and we're going to move that up to the um letter E under the business manage report. Yeah, we're going to move the review, right, which you see here on the back. We're going to move review and approve camp board of education capital improvement plan. We're going to move that up and we're going to put that in um after under new business after the continuous improvement plan from Chile. Okay, so that's the first. So I need a motion on that to move that up. That motion. Thank you, Kim. Second.

003Thank you, Joe. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I opposed. I think Felicia is online and I know she's not feeling well, but I suspect um she voted for that, but we'll go 80 on that. Um second thing is we're going to add an insurance. We just left off a little bit uh in miscellaneous board standing committee reports. We're going to add a insurance committee report uh and that'll be a standing committee report by uh by Jordan. So, if I can have a motion and we're just going to move that to G. That'll be G in your miscellaneous standing committee reports. Thank you. Um, Jordan on first, second. Uh, thank you, Michelle. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. First and second. Any other questions? All those in favor? I opposed? None.

004We'll go a on that also. Thank you. Okay, moving into that. We're going to go right into because everybody has a bedtime, I suspect, right? Mom and dad want to get home. We want to get these awards out. So, we're going to go right into the presentation. We can't celebrate it's Dr. Gman. Super. Very excited that everyone's here seeing our teachers and our students. I was actually at Cherry Brook yesterday. So, I saw a lot of these teachers yesterday and a lot of these. So, Mr. Daniels and I are going to come right up to the podium. Mr. Amry is going to talk about each of you. I promise you parents, you will get pictures tonight. If you can get it from where you're at, that's great. But after we give out the awards, we're

005going to take many pictures over there with your children and we won't leave here till you get the picture that you want, even if we have to reset. So, Mr. Amy, Mr. Daniels, and I are going to come up. >> All right. >> Thank you, Dr. Gman, Mr. Daniels Board of Education and welcome Cherry Brook friends and families um to our board of education meeting um tonight. Um over the past few years, I know your children have been talking about this. We've been working really, really hard about learning what it means to be great in our own school community within the walls of Cherry Brook, but also outside of our community at large. And we've been working on our bare necessities. Um we we talk about we learn about flexibility, respect, being a contributor, being

006a problem solver and leading with integrity. And the children and the friends that I get to honor and um recognized this evening have have have shown this and have have modeled um these these necessities or these attributes since the beginning of the year and and especially in our specialty areas, our areas of music, physical education, art, and media. So, it's an honor to be able to recognize these Cherry Brook friends. I see a lot of smiles and and families. Thank you for joining us. So, the first person I'd like to call up is Kyle Nardini. Come on up, Kyle. Here, Kyle. So Kyle, that's a So Kyle is being recognized in music by Miss Card for being a problem solver. Um, here's a little something that Miss Card wrote. I've had the pleasure of being

007Kyle's music teacher since he was in preschool. And over the years, he has grown so much as a student and a musician. If something is difficult at first, Kyle perseveres until he gets it right. He keeps trying no matter what what whether whether that something is a tricky rhythm he has to clap or a song melody he needs to decode on a xylophone. Kyle is also an active participant and a good friend to his classmates. It is evident that he is innately musical and that he works hard at it. Congratulations Kyle. There we go. >> This is my over here. So Brinley is also being recognized in music by Miss Card um for showing integrity. Brinley is someone that completely embodies the attribute of integrity quietly and all quietly without show. Brinley always and has

008capitalize every single letter of that word. Does the right thing leading her classmates by example. She is kind. She's fair and a role model to her peers both in class and in Cherry Brook singers. Brimley's beautiful, clear singing voice is an illustration of how deeply she listens and internalizes music. She is so deserving of this award. Congratulations. Grace Jambo. So, Grace is also being recognized in music by Mrs. D. Dominico. And Grace is a third grader. She's being recognized for being a contributor. This is from Mrs. D. Dominico. Grace is a wonderful third grade leader in Misa class. It was challenging for me to select one attribute from the bare necessities because Grace is a master of all of them. She is hardworking, a positive peer for all, sings beautifully, works diligently on the recorder,

009and has a smile that can light up the classroom. Keep shining, Grace. And congratulations. And from Miss Miss Card, Grace has always been such a bright light, no matter what setting she is in. Her positivity and sense of humor make her a great friend to others, and her work ethic is unparallel. I can always count on Grace to be a leader in Cherry Brook singers both in um musicianship and in goofy spirit. Congratulations, Grace. this way. >> Now, we're going to recognize a few friends in um art. Um Owen Green. So Owen is being recognized by Mrs. Reposa for being a contributor. Owen always works diligently in art and is eager to help other students at his table. He is a conscientious contributor and puts forth his best effort. His love of art is evident

010and he continues to be a wonderful role model to his peers. Congratulations Owen and Get over here. So, Andrew is being recognized in art too by Mr. Poso for the um attribute of respect. Andrew has always been a respectful student. Each time he enters the art room, he shows he's ready to listen and ready to learn. His behavior shows his respect for himself, his peers, his community, and his teacher. Andrew is a wonderful example of a role model. Congratulations, Andrew. Cali is also being recognized in art by Mrs. Reposo for the attribute of integrity. Cali always enters the art room with a smile, eager to do her best. She is a conscientious student, shows her love of art in every project she creates. She is a role model to her peers, always doing the right

011thing, not only in art, but also during recess. It It's been a pleasure teaching Cali during her time at Cherry Brook. Congratulations, Our next recognitions are going to be the area of media by Mrs. Santelo Brightly Williams. Come on up. So, Brightly's being recognized for being a contributor. Brightly is one of our school's most dedicated library patrons, stopping in several times a week with a bright smile and a genuine love of reading. She treats everyone with respect and brings a warm, positive energy to to each visit. We especially appreciate her comfort and confidence in chatting with adults. Her conversation always brightens our day. Congratulations, Brightly, and thank you for showing what it means to be a joyful and engaged reader. >> Hold on, hold on. Oh, there we go. Sarah Sarah. So Sarah's being recognized

012um by Mrs. Santella for media for the attribute of integrity. Sarah is new to our school, but she has quickly become a role model of integrity in media class. She consistently shows strong leadership, always knowing what to do and willingly offering to help classmates who need support. Sarah isn't afraid to ask thoughtful questions to make sure she understands, demonstrating responsibility and genuine care for her learning. Her kindness, initiative, and honesty make her a standout student. We are so proud to recognize Sarah for her integrity. Luke Elmer. So Luke is also being recognized in media by Mrs. Santinella um for the attribute of being a problem solver. Luke consistently demonstrates exceptional problem solving skills in media class. He often offers creative out- of-the-box suggestions that strengthen our discussions and inspire new ideas. During station time, his

013creativity truly shines as he pushes projects to the to the next level and models thoughtful, incentive thinking. Luke's willingness to explore possibilities not only elevates his own work, but also encourages his classmates to think more critically. We are proud to recognize Luke for his outstanding creativity and problem solving ability. Congratulations Congratulations. Congratul. So, Grace is being recognized in PE by Mr. Omir and Mr. Barnes for the attribute of being a contributor. Grace embodies what it means to be a true contributor in physical education class. She is always ready to listen, participate, and give her best effort. She helps her classmates stay on task, steps in to assist with equipment, and sets a positive example for everyone. Along with her leadership and teamwork, she is an incredibly athletic student who brings enthusiasm and responsibility to every

014class, making her a true role model and deserving recipient of the contributor award. Congratulations, Grace. Francis as we know Frankie. >> So Frankie is being recognized in physical education by Mr. Omir and Mr. Barnes for being a a great contributor. Frankie is an outstanding contributor in both physical education and health. He always gives his best effort pushing himself to lead by example um leading by example student to his peers. Frankie is always kind. He includes others and is very respectful of all students in his class while continuing to give his best contribution and helping to make the class fun and meaningful. Frankie is a competitive athlete who is a great example for all of our students at Cherrybrook. Congratulations Frankie on this welldeserved award. Grayson. So Grayson is also being recognized in physical education by

015Mr. Omir and Mr. Barnes. This for the attribute of respect. Grayson is one of the most respectful students I have ever taught in 38 years of teaching. She is always kind, polite, and willing to work with others in the physical education and health classes. She has empathy for all students and has a quiet leadership style that shows respect and kindness while still giving her best efforts always. She's always smiling and willing to lend a hand to anyone and everyone in our class. She is a gifted athlete with a great competitive spirit while making physical education fun and respectful. Congratulations on this award. Welld deserved. over here. But before we do, I just wanted to say how great it is to see the kids come up. You know, I I was thinking as I'm standing here

016because I also hand out the graduation to the public at the end. And as I see the young children come up, it's a little bit in trepidation, a little bit fear as they're coming up. But at graduation, it's like you know, they can't wait to get that piece of paper. But I I want to thank um our staff and our teachers because what you do, especially Cherry Brook School, which is so foundational in our administration, um you guys do a great job and thank you. And to our parents, you know how important it is to continue to fan this fire. These great awards that they're getting tonight um will just continue as they go through the grades. And then finally, I'd like to say tonight we start our budget workshops and um we're going to

017need your support as we do every year as we go through the budget process. So I'm hoping that you'll be informed and you'll give us suggestions and comments as we go through this. So, I want to thank everybody tonight for all that you do. And now picture. I took my You can go Give me back >> here. Get three pictures. One, two, three, and >> thank you all. Appreciate it. Come on. Let's see what's going on. I got You create smile. Sorry people. I have a secret. How are you? We call the man back in order. You could Oh, we know a lot about the reports. Okay, I'm going to call the meeting back to water. You can see and then we're done. But uh in any event, all right, we're now going to move

018to public comment. So, in public comment, we ask you to give your name and your address. We ask you to uh limit your comments to three minutes or less. We're going to uh we'll just keep track of that. If remember the board of education meetings are meetings of the board of education that are held in public but not necessarily for the public. So that's the way that we approach this. We will not comment on anything in public session. Um and if need be, we'll get back to you later on if questions are posed. So with that said, we'll move to public comment. Is there anybody in the room? We'll start here with the room first. Anyone in the room that would like to speak to public comment? Okay. Sure. Okay. >> Um I just wanted

019to address the board on um my nomination that I had made last week and um apologizing for how that went. Um I didn't want to cause confusion or disruption to the board and I um look forward to working with all of you um going forward. So >> thank you. >> Y >> thank you for that. >> Okay, we'll go back to public comment. I'm going to look if anybody's wrong. Mr. Sora, Mr. Glley, public comment. Okay, then we'll move to online. >> Sure. I have a raised hand from Andrew Levery. You raise the hand first and then we'll go to Lisa C after them. So, I'll allow Andrew. >> Andrew, welcome. Just your name and address for the record, please. >> Yes. Andrew Levery for Pineacres Drive. Can everybody hear me? >> Yes. >> Perfect.

020Okay. Late in 2025, a senior at Kanton High School showed me a book that students must read for English class. The book is titled Southernmost by Silas House. The book is an is about an evangelical preacher who offers shelter to two gay men after a devastating flood. In doing so, he begins to see his life a new but risks losing everything. His wife, who is locked into her religious prejudices, and his congregation, who shuns him. This book paints Christians as hateful, judgmental people and therefore paints God as hateful and judgmental. Nothing can be further from the truth. My wife and I are raising our daughter to have a strong, loving relationship with God. I put her to bed every night and we always say a prayer. A deep, long-lasting relationship with God is what my

021wife and I want for our daughter. But it is incredibly disheartening to see that Canton schools will force my daughter to read a completely madeup story that will only serve to push her away from God. Possibly making her think that if Christians are prejudice and hateful against homosexuals, does that mean she is? She of course is not prejudice or hateful to anyone because that is not how my wife and I are raising her. With the help of God's word, we teach her not not to judge people. Matthew 7:es 1-5 states, "Judge not that you be not judged, for with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye when there is a log

022in your own eye, you hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." In other words, God is saying, "Why are you judging others? You aren't perfect either." There is at least one teacher in Canton schools that will undermine how my wife and I want to raise our daughter. Undermining parental rights may not be the stated goal of this board, but it sure appears to be the goal of at least one teacher in Canton High School. I have a feeling that English teacher is not alone. I know being critical of a book that Democrats love will result in the Canton Democrat Town Committee including me in their next newsletter. Infamous book banner I have been called in past newsletters.

023Let me ask the Canton DTC a question. Do you think the Bible should be taught or at least made available in Canton schools? Well, >> Andrew, I'm gonna stop you there because you're making this political about a political party. If you want to address the board, that's fine. And I hear what you're saying, but I'm not going to let you convert that over. You can talk to the Democratic conference about that. >> Uh, no. I'd like I'd like to finish my two minutes, excuse me, my three minutes here. I still have I'm going to gather you up. That's the >> No, you don't understand. I I would like to finish my three minutes, please. I'm almost done. >> Go ahead. I'm just making my comment back, please. >> Okay, no problem. Do you think the

024Bible should be taught or at least made available in canon schools? You might be thinking, we can't because of separation of church and state. That statement appears nowhere in the Constitution, and none of us were taught the correct history regarding that phrase. Put aside what you think you know. If you had the authority to do so, would you teach the Bible in Canton schools at least make it available to students? Most certainly the answer will be no. To which I would reply, so you like to ban books, too. You like to ban a book that teaches men to love their wives as Christ loved the church. Ephesians 5:25. You will ban the Bible in favor of southernmost. A book that teaches people to turn their back on God. And you will ban the Bible for

025books like Gender Queer that have illustrations depicting the author's sexual behavior. In closing, it worries me that the majority on this board will disregard my concerns. It also worries me that members of this community will attack me for my beliefs so much for diversity, equity, and inclusion that those same people preach. Thank you. >> Thank you, Andrew. >> I have a raised hand from Lisa C. I'm going to allow Lisa to talk. >> Welcome, Lisa. If you just name and address for the record, please. >> Yep. Good evening. Lisa Coggin. Stay in our drive. >> Um, first thing I wanted to say was thank you all for volunteering your time. I think all of you are doing important work um for the Canton community and I do appreciate how dedicated all of you are. Um

026congrats to the new members and those who are reelected. Um I do want to ask some questions regarding the budget. Um and if I have additional questions after I have heard the superintendent's answers to the questions, I'd like to raise my hand later in the meeting if that is an option. Please. Sure. >> Thank you. >> I'm finished. Thank you. >> Yeah, that's fine. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> No other raised hands. Okay, seeing no other raised hands, I'll close out public comment. Thank you for all those comments, everybody that spoke. We appreciate it. We'll move into administrative reports. Um, from the chairman's corner right now, I don't have anything specific to bring out because it's all going to be we're going to talk about CIP. We're going to talk about some other things.

027So, there's nothing uh that I need to remind the board of. So, I'll I'll pass the baton over to the superintendent. >> Super. Thank you, Mr. Daniels. Good evening, everyone. Good evening to everyone that is online. I do also want to thank Mr. Amry for coming tonight. And that we had a great visit at Cherry Brook Primary School before the for those of you that were able to attend where Mr. Amry was able to go for his continuous improvement plan. And tonight, we'll just give a a brief overview of the the plan. So, I want to thank him. I mean, what an exciting night. It's for our youngest learners to be here and see the smiling faces. That's why we're all here to what we're doing. Um, I do want to let you know and

028I appreciate Mrs. Kogan's comment that we will have a budget workshop today that we did receive questions from the board and I'll answer all those questions and if there's any more we can answer them also tonight. I I do want to remind everybody this is not my final budget. This was just a forecast budget where I I was on in December. My final budget will be presented to the board on February 10th. I I do want to let you know that the winter coral concerts happened right before the break. It was after our meeting that we had. And what wonderful of events that they were. And I I just want to give a shout out to Mr. Jones and our chamber singers. And Jonathan, you may say this so I'm scaling your thunder. I apologize.

029But the chamber singers is a group that traveled around before the the holidays and and sang at different area events such as senior citizens, different events such as the Rotary. And they actually came to the board of education offices on the Friday and sang it. And I was so impressed with this group. And what was even more impressive is that there was leadership in this group of upper classmen, but the majority of the group is underassmen. So our future looks really really good led by our upper classman, but there were I couldn't there's so many freshman and sophomores in the group who was amazing. So I just wanted to give them a big congratulations. I do want to thank the the the town maintenance crew and our own town uh crew because it's been difficult

030this December weatherwise and I want to let everybody know that those aren't the easiest decisions that I have to make at like 3:30 4 o'clock in the morning. and our town crew is really really good that they're up all night and and speaking to them at 3 3:30 in the morning talking to them and they're just wonderful and our maintenance department for our schools have been really really good trying to get the schools ready and the only other difficult decision that I think that I had to make regarding weather is when we were at graduation last year and we had to decide what we were going to do when we were already outside but that that was a in any place. I think those kids will always remember that graduation. I mean, probably the only

031class that ever indoor and outdoor graduation in the same night. But I'd be remissed if I didn't thank them. And also our bus drivers that one of the things I always tell our bus drivers if we're going to have a delay like we did last week is we get to school when we get to school. that if it's a two-hour delay, I still want them driving safely to school and that I don't want anybody rushing to get to school. So, I appreciate the community support and I definitely appreciate the town maintenance crew and the school maintenance group. This Friday, we will have professional development, which Mr. Bishop's going to speak about a little bit. We have a holiday on Monday where no school and then we have our board of education meeting on January 27th

032at 6:30. And I mentioned this last night at the board of fine against eating. So January 27th at 6:30 p.m. we're going to have two things that are going to happen. Number one, Mrs. McClean is going to be here to talk about special education and what we've done with special education and the different programming that we've done the past few years. But then we've also invited our legislators to that meeting at 6:30. So, I would invite you, please, I would invite you to send questions to the chair and to Claudia Nardy of questions that you would want the legislators to answer that evening. I would encourage you to ask questions about education cost share. I would encourage you to ask questions about special education. And if they don't know them, then it's their responsibility to

033go back. But if we come emptyhand, excuse me, empty-handed with no questions, they can't go back to the legislature. It's a very important meeting. I invited the entire board of finance to attend that meeting. And I actually asked them last night that if they have any questions that they should submit them to Mr. Daniels in uh Mardi and I say this to the public, if you have questions for our legislators, please submit them to Mr. Daniels and to Mrs. Nardi and we'll get them those questions before that 27th. So I would say Mrs. Ny when do we need those questions by to be fair. >> Um just to give them enough time to prepare I would say by the maybe like a week prior by the 20th. >> Okay. So by the 20th, if we

034could get all the questions that we would want to ask the legislators on that Tuesday night that could send them to them. I think that would be very helpful to them and I anticipate that we'll have them for about 45 minutes to to an hour that will be asking questions, giving them type of things. Everybody good? I'll take any questions at this time. Any questions for the superintendent? Hearing none, we'll move to the assistant superintendent John quick. I'll go back to so a bit about school planning culture. First of all, it's been great to be able to be back in the schools. The high school had a great uh end of u first uh the first half of the year uh celebration uh which I think was really well received. There's a lot of great

035work that's happening within our schools. We know that our education is both uh the instruction for the actual academic skills but also in how we should be trained to be able to be and act behave and and and handle ourselves. So the the concept of school climate culture is really important for us. Uh as we think about our district and school work uh to support professional learning in support of our uh staff and students relative to school culture and climate uh we actually had an opportunity to take our uh administrative team out to uh a presentation by Dr. screen. He is an international expert in uh child development and behavior. His perspective on behavior as a a communication tool and as clear um and how clear instruction can lead to the development of key skills

036to help students in their development. Um it was a foundational opportunity for us to be able to work and learn together. Uh his perspective kids of kids do well when they can with our support is a really key thing to be able to consider as we uh continue to be able to refine our own practices. This variety our schools will engage in professional learning relative to their climate and culture plans as well as development of key skills for their students too. Uh further with support of our community uh in support of our community and understanding the climate culture legislation. We're excited to have Amanda Picket who is an state department of education to join us to be able to share on the state of culture legislation and practices um and be able to work to

037be able to share some of progress in the in the pathways that we're providing and then also involvement for our parents and guardians to be able to join in with us for the future as well. >> So that'll be a parent and family and community event. >> Correct. That's correct. So, we're looking forward to being able to lean into that direction, particularly in this new year to be able to uh uh just rekindle our efforts with this school culture fund. >> Any questions for me? >> That's good, John. Um any questions for Mr. Mitch? >> What was the date of that? Sorry. >> I've got a preliminary date, February 25th. Okay. So, I want to make sure that it's it's settled for for everything that's out there. As soon as it's settled, Jordan, I will

038make sure that it gets out to everyone as well. What's wonderful too is Amanda had a number of other resources that she and I are working on that will come out to the community as well that are coming from the state and other locations as well to provide further support to our >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you, Mr. Bishop. >> Thank you, John. >> Thank you. Um since Lucas isn't here today, he is at a basketball game which best of luck to him. I'll be covering the CHS and CMS um reports um for Can High School. Um this past before break um students had their first time off for the holidays which uh following their break. We also had a pep rally after the 19th of December.

039Thank you to student council and Mr. Gwen. Um upcoming during this month um the school will be having their prisons concert at the end of January. And there's the Northern Regional Music Festival this Friday and Saturday. Jazz band will be going to Yukon in the first week of February along with Science Olympia on the same week. Um on the Freaky Friday musical auditions and casting are complete and rehearsals and hit band sessions are finally underway and for the end of this month in January will mark the end of quarter 2. for CMS. Unfortunately, Lucas wasn't able to receive a report from Mr. Moore, so I'll be moving on to CIS. For CIS, in December, CIS held a successful toy drive to support the Canon community with fifth grade collecting the most toys and earning a

040celebratory recess. The video please stop. Um, a group of CIS loudest performed at the S market, showcasing students talent beyond the school walls. uh PTO's sponsored movie and Cocoa event um combined with the PJ day on Friday raised over $1,100 for CCNC and sixth grade m fifth and sixth grade musicians held winter concerts before break and the performances were excellent. fourth grade students along um held a virtually volcan uh volcanologics to learn how volcanoes form, their impact on the environment, and what it's like to work. And additionally, students also reflected on the end of 2025 to set goals for 2026 for academic and personal reasons. And they created vision boards to help them stay focused and follow and follow throughout the throughout the new year. Moving on to Cherrybrook. Um there was a strong restart

041after winter break where students in fact reestablished routines quickly and with a noticeable positive energy, high engagement and a continued emphasis on academic academic growth and social emotional well-being. UNI unified sports kicked off with a new season this past Friday at Cherry Brook Primary School. This inclusive program, if you don't already know, brings students with and without disabilities together through shared athletics, building true belonging, confidence, empathy, and friendships. Kindergarten science enrichment had a Connecticut officer and canon parent, Mr. John Chos with will return for his annual Connecticut wildlife program directly supporting kindergarten science units on animal features and habits. And finally, a PTO community event on February 7th. um will hold a pancake breakfast event at uh Cherrybrook, including student made Valentine's cards for Cton student seniors or Canton seniors at the senior center with

042special guest red readalouds. An easy win for community connection and leadership. >> Good job. I I do have a question. I didn't get a call back from the director for Freaky Friday. Does that mean I'm out? >> It is in the It is in the works right now. >> All right. Any questions on the student report? Jonathan did a great job because we had a game tonight and we're going to excuse him because he's I saw his uh he's got a bunch of tests coming up. So, good for you. All right. You're excused. Thank you. >> It's the first. Thank you so much. >> Okay. Um, we're going to move to the business management report and that is Mr. um financial results for December 2025. >> Can you please speak a little louder? So, >>

043sure. September of 2025. We um we are six months through the fiscal year and we are about 40% through the academic year for school year. So um numbers are starting to firm up a little bit and um that's a good thing. So the um the overall forecast for December 31st is unfavorable 296,289 which is um 45,91 better than the previous month. General education is forecasted to be favorable 84,561 which is 65,440 better than the previous month and special education is forecasted to be unfavorable 3808 is 19,509 worse compared to the previous um notable changes for December um salary and benefits I just want to point out that salary and benefits is 80% of the board of education budget that um last quarter we had 342 employees in that payroll. Um and these shifts are going

044to continue to happen throughout the year. Um this current shift represents about 43% of the budget of the total budget. I wasn't going to um going to zone in on any of those particular items, but I I think that'll level out, but um still will be shifting. Um special education is um summarized on page four of the report. Um and um it is over budget 38850. Um we had some savings in special education non-certified staff um and um favorable changes in special education tuition and transportation um but that is offset by an unfavorable variance in certified staff change in staff. our substitute line, which we've been talking about throughout the year, um continues to climb um due to a higher than average employee long-term medical leave um instances on for the staff. Um but overall,

045as we close the month of December, we are halfway um halfway through and we are evaluating needs and instruction operation areas in order to minimize the projected overbudget conditions um that are projected in special education. So, we're keeping a close eye on things that you can see the um the overall um forecast is under $300,000 and we um we're just, you know, working to continue to continue to um to mitigate. >> Thank you, Miss Br. I do not. Okay. Any questions for MRS? >> Yes. This is for you and Jordan where we were stinging parents. >> Yeah, we're missing a lot of parents now at Cher. >> Yes, Cherburg Primary School right now is like we're revolving doors. Some are going out on leave, some are leaving many for retirement a year and the last

046I've heard is that we were down five paras be six at Chad Brook. So, Mr. is doing some creative thinking. I met with Mr. yesterday regarding looking at some of the tutors during their free time should they go from we were down five six at Brook and then two at school high school certified certified staff were 100% paris there's a variety of factors and um one of them I'll say is the minimum wage as you know went up in our minimum wage for our pairs. They're a little bit above minimum wage and negotiated that negotiated that contract. It is already at roughly five to 6% increase. So, it's something that the board's really going to have to look at again. It's a problem. >> Any other questions? Mr. Push will have further comments uh from

047the finance committee for this morning. Um, so I'll take a motion to move this camp board of education approved the December 25th, 2025 financial that motion. Thank you. Second. Thank you, Jordan. Any further discussion on the report? Hearing none. All those in favor? I post. We'll go 80 on that. Okay. Thank you very much. Will you go continue with Dr. Gman? >> Yes. So, as I mentioned that the Brew had a great visit to Cher Brook Primary School where you got a very detailed report. So, Mr. Henry is just going to give some of his highlights from his continuous plan. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Mr. Daniels. Um was wanted to welcome the board back in December prior to break to highlight and showcase all the great work that we're doing at Cherry Brook

048this year. Um, our motto is building strong foundations that spark roads, inspire innovation and ensure success for every student. Our areas of focus this year continue to focus on strengthening our literacy and math instruction through our science and reading initiative and our focus on high quality instruction. We continue to double down on coaching cycles. Um, really looking at our um, assessments and practice monitoring and how students are doing. We continue to foster a safe, inclusive and supportive school climate um through our practices, responsive classroom practices, our mental health team and schoolwide culture initiatives. Um we continue to enhance our communication and collaboration with families and community partners to support um transparency and engagement um and student success. And then um another focus area is promoting equitable practices um responsive learning and ongoing professional development to

049support um staff growth and ensure strong and sustainable systems. So um the big focus for student growth and achievements really in that those first um two bullets there engaging in team regular team meetings focused on curriculum instructional strategies performance data and then regularly analyzing this information to make sure that we're meeting all children um both academically and um social emotionally and behaviorally. Our next area is focused on partnerships and community engagement. Um we can continue to maintain um formal and informal communication lines for families um focused on academics um but also social emotional wellbeing and and what's going on in our school community. Our next focus area is around financial sustainability and efficient operations. We continue to work with um the district uh central office of board and state uh school stakeholders to develop a

050responsible transparent budget that supports um the academic, social, emotional and operational priorities at Cherry Brook um learning environment and belonging. We we continue to work on a uh fostering a culture that um embodies respect, inclusion, and empathy through schoolwide initiatives um programs such as some responsive class um all school meetings that support our cultural climate initiatives. Example was earlier this evening with our bare necessities. Um and then with embracing equity um we continue to um collectively collaborate to support each and every student, each and every staff member and community partner. And then finally with workforce development um continuing to work on hiring both certified and non-certified staff to meet um the needs of our students and programs um throughout the school year and and the goal of just retaining those folks throughout the year and

051that's the work that we're doing this year. I I will say I had a chance to sit down with I missed you out the walk through but um there there's some very good numbers behind this. I think the rest of the board had a chance to see those that weren't here. Mr. Bry provided me a little but the the metrics are looking very good. The data behind it is and I appreciate the um the generalization of the presentation that you gave tonight. But I I just wanted to show the board that Sherry Brook Primary School is really moving in the right direction. Any comments on that? No, I I would open it up to any board members that want to talk about their visit to Chair Brook in your your thoughts. I get to go

052to Chair Brook two or three times a week. So, I would offer your your thoughts. Mr. Sean, just a quick comment, Dave. It was an excellent visit. I'm sorry I couldn't say for the whole two hours, but that's the visit that uh you and your staff, you have two staff members there that that really have identified some areas of concern and and your plans to address those areas of concern. Um you're looking at the the data and what it says and what we do to improve it. Uh was very impressive, very thoughtful and uh was certainly a good a good hour which I could have been to the classroom visits for the second hour, but just want to thank you for having us. appreciate the work you're doing. Thank you. Thank you for the support.

053Other questions, other comments? >> I just want to say thanks for having us and I love the culture that you have in that building. You walk in those doors and you feel like just light and joy, happiness, staff. You can see it in the kids and you can see it staff. So, keep up the good work. >> Thank you. It's team effort. >> Anyone else? >> Thank you so much for being here tonight. Thank you for bringing your staff and children and uh it was a great thing. Wonderful. >> We'll see you in the spring. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. As you remember, we moved up uh from the back of the page the review and approved the camp board of education capital improvement plan. I'll just say before I turn it

054over to the superintendent. So, we've had a few meetings on this. We we started off um with um I have to say the process has been very collaborative cooperative between finance selectman and education and um you know to complement both the selectman side of staff and our staff Anna and her team on what they put together I think of you know the way that we're going through this process has been very helpful. Nevertheless, uh you'll hear that um when both boards when all the boards put their their dollars together, um it was almost a $3 million ask on the capital improvement. And of course, that's that's not going to fly. Traditionally, historically, capital has been about a million to a million three somewhere in that range. So, there's some work to be done on that

055yet. Um you know, you you can't deny things that have to get done in order to not cost us more money down the road. And I think that's the way that we've pri prioritized them. Um we started off with a on the capital side somewhere in 960 branch on the board of education. You can see by your books we paired it down and I'll let the superintendent and actually if we can um introduce um Mr. Craig that would be good too. And then we can get into the uh tum go ahead and describe. >> Yeah. Thank you. Um so a board camp welcome welcome to uh Bob Craig who's sitting right in the front row here um who joins us as superintendent of buildings and grounds for the board of education. Bob joins us with

05612 years of experience of managing facilities for Trinity California Connecticut and Massachusetts. >> Super. Thank you Mrs. Robbins. I just want to remind the board and then I'm just going to ask Mr. Craig could just come up to the podium real quick to say hello and give a little background and his initial thoughts that Bob um if you recall the superintendent of buildings and grounds was a town position and the town no longer was in the need of that position and it was roughly 80% school and it was probably spending almost 100% with the school. So the town said that to the board of that that we can have that position. So now this is in our budget that's in our budget forward as I shared with forecasting. So very fortunate Bob has hit the

057the ground running and the reason some of these capital improvement plans changed because Bob was able to get his hands into it. So Bob just introduce yourself and your thoughts. >> Sure. Uh my name is Bob Craigs and it's at my previous role was in healthcare at Trinity Health. I'm very excited to transition into this role and uh looking forward to working with the board collaboratively. Uh my team's in the process of evaluating each facility comprehensively and uh we have to plan what's needed and prioritizing. >> Thank you. Thank you. So in your book, if you go to page one, not the cover memo, just page one, this is not the first time that you've seen this list. I presented the majority of this list if not all this list on my forecasted memo. What

058we've done now is really prioritize the list and we've given the backup support material. And the reason that we gave the backup support material was the purpose that Mr. Bush sat on a a committee this summer that really started looking at capital projects, bonding projects, and long range projects to really have a plan moving forward with backup information that it was easy for the community to read. What I want to remind the board of education and the public that we could approve this plan tonight and my recommendation is to approve this plan because it's been already presented to the capital improvement committee, the town one, but we don't control as a board of ed and an administration the capital improvement money. It's something that the CEO and the selectman put in their budget. So the

059first year that I arrived back in can I believe we received $50,000 in capital improvement. So there's been a lot of growth over the past two or three years. So I I agree with Mr. Daniels that for us to be able to have this relationship with the board of finance and the board of select and I want to thank Mr. Wickos and Mr. Penny for really working with the the board of ed. So what you can see the first one the Turk track field replacement that's what we call a reserve meaning that this is an ongoing cost to make sure that we have funds available that when we need to replace the track and the field that it is there you can see the number one is the boiler and that's the boiler at camp

060intermediate school that if our our boilers are old and intermediate school and if they go down there is a risk that we won't be able to have school because of the hot water and the heat. Number two is um you've heard this before, our schoolwide public address system that is for safety. Number three is door replacement. We have multiple doors that um that need replacing. The number uh four based upon our safety audit as I explained to you at our last meeting is the stadium netting for the Nancy Grace Memorial Stadium. What that is is that when our lacrosse team is flying, instead of balls going flying into the ongoing traffic of the track runners, this is a net that comes up and protects it. We may say, people may say, well, nothing has happened.

061Well, I don't want to live, but nothing has happened in the past. When that was originally recommended, when we were doing the turf, that was something that was recommended back in the day to put in a netting system. Then you can see the bathroom updates which we're going to talk about later in uh uh I'll give more of a detail of how that looks because that's one of the questions that someone asked. The fitness room, the equipment downstairs, it's original equipment as I shared at the last meeting that is over 20 years old. Now, uh, window repair, you can see that that's an outy year that we're really need to look at. Our windows at the schools and the floor covering replacement for the media center, that's an outy year. And then the firewall replacement

062is an outear 41,000. So, you can see what is being proposed to the CI CIP committee is $650,000. I shared this with the board of finance last night with Mr. Daniels and now it's the discussion of what will be in the board of select and budget related to the board of ed priorities that we have here in Frank. So Bob's here, Anna is here, I'm here, Mr. Bishop's here. If anybody has any questions before you take a vote, >> can I just clarify the door replacement? I assume those are all interior door. >> Mrs. Rob, >> which line? I'm sorry. >> The door said all interior doors. Those are there's the we >> exterior are >> they they don't lock properly and there's also a safety for fire where they have to seal. So >>

063no there is additional list of other things that is not on the capital improvement. >> No there is another list of small capital. So small capital is $25,000 or less. I'm going to talk a little bit about that tonight. A couple things changed off of that list from when I present it to you. And there may be some things that change until I present to you on February 10th. But this is a list of anything over 25,000. So the majority of things that you saw last time are on this list. And if we took them off, it means that Bob needs to take a harder look at what we have on our list. No, that's >> um so when CIP was done, Mr. was not involved in any or most of >> Well, the interesting

064thing is he came in about the time that we were putting everything together. So, he was actively involved in getting the quotes for these things, actively involved because he actually went out and looked at each of these things that are on this list. problem. By the way, >> by the way, I do want to say sometimes with in the past we've seen a capital improvement thing where we're ballparking the numbers. These are accurate numbers. We actually have hard our numbers on there. Correct. >> Yes. No correct. >> Okay. Great. Because I was like, is this going to change immensely now that Craig is on? I mean, yes. >> Yeah. But not this year. This year we're we're ready to spit. Um but we are as Bob had indicated just at the tip of the iceberg

065assessing um the schools and all of the the infrastructure and the building it >> if it's anticipated that if we approve this tonight um there is a meeting now of the CRT committee next Wednesday um to coordinate with board selectment and if that's all put together it has to be moved on to the selectman's agenda. Uh it has to be a board of finance by March I believe right March first week of March. >> What's going to happen next is after we um as the board of ed votes on the CIP it goes to the CIP committee. They'll rank order and ultimately the CEO gets to decide what's in the budget. He presents the budget in February. So whatever he has in February in his budget that's what would be presented in the final budget.

066The board of finance has no line item control over any one of the budgets. So if they decide to add,000 into the budget into CIP that the selectment can control where they put it, they could put it in CIP. But if they cut $75,000, ultimately the select men have the right that they can cut something in CIP. And that's the relationship that is being built between all the boards right now that we will be involved in that in my first year here we were not involved in in that conversation and it was actually quite frustrating um with that because we have a lot of things but I obviously feel and I think everybody would agree on the CIP if we don't get to boiler funds that's major problem >> the one other question that I

067have is I watched the CIP meeting from last Thursday and the looking at this I I I want to approve it. How I guess the caveat to that is and I believe that this was discussed I'm paraphrasing here is are we just like putting band-aids on little things and not looking at the overall issues of all four of our or all three I guess >> the answer is yes and yes. >> Okay. The answer is yes and yes to that. We have old infrastructure, right? >> And but the the bottom line is you you can put a band-aid on a boiler, which we've been doing, repairing a boiler, but if we don't repair the the get a new boiler, >> um but that leads into what is the best investment longterm for the schools. Uh

068that that's a very good question that we're going to be putting a committee together shortly this spring to look at that again. >> Yeah, you mentioned that. Okay. >> So interesting. You heard me make the comment that in a two-year period there's a million dollars in our CIP just for repairs and maintenance. And we need to know we have to start thinking about where's this all going with aging aging buildings because repairs are not there's no grant for that. Periodically there's a grant for renovation and certainly there's large grants for new. >> So those are the things I think the superintendent is indicating that's why we have to put this committee together to start studying. You can't keep kicking the can down the road for the next generation to deal with this and the cost

069of fixing these things. It's higher and higher. Is that the goal of the committee is to have this be the um capital improvement plan be like our strategic plan where it's for the next five years because >> so the goal of the committee will be this is prior to your arrival training it's actually prior to my arrival there was a study done on our buildings yeah >> and one of the things that we did if you recall was to create a plan to put it started with portable at Cher Brook and then it became signal at Cher Brook and it it was talked about that $38 million for that project when it got done it was part and there was no discussion about going out to state grants and state bids and prior to my

070arrival it was well enrollment's going up in the can schools I'm here to say that enrollments are probably it's going down public schools, but we still don't fit at Cherry Brook Primary School even with what we look like. So, the committee and Mr. Bishop will be uh chairing that committee and it'll be made up of representatives. So, board of finance, board of selectmen, educators, board of education to really look at what's the best model for the can public schools that could be five years from now, 10 years from now, 15 years from now to make sure that we we get it right. >> All right. Thank you. >> Other questions? >> Sure. The in your notes turf field should be replaced about every 10 years half million dollars. Um is that number still accurate? Uh

071I think in year 12 okay and that number what's in the now. >> Sure. So, um, you're correct that those are 2014 numbers that you're seeing in the book. Um, right now, um, we are evaluating there's less football being played on the field. So they feel like it'll stay, you know, we'll have it for um a little bit longer than originally estimated, but um we are doing a a complete evaluation of the field, the maintenance that's taking place so far, measuring that against the maintenance that was suggested, and then we'll move forward with the plan there. But and currently, I guess there was $790,000 in that reserve. There is >> we'll be adding another 74,000 um if this is >> and we're sure it'll be usable next year. >> Our field. >> Yeah. Oh yeah.

072>> I know another town that they're feeling terrible for right now. >> So that was one thing we have planned carefully for. >> Yes. >> Okay. Any other questions? Any other questions from the board? If not hearing none, I'd like a motion that be moved the camp board of education approve the 27 through31 camp board of education capital improvement plan. I have a motion. Thank you, Jordan. Second. Thank you, Russell. Any further discussion? Okay, hearing none. All those in favor? I opposed. Oh, thank you very much for that. She's not okay. She's not second. So this this will be uh Mrs. Robbins will send this up to Mr. Penn tomorrow. So that would be okay. That leads us into the 2026 budget workshop and answers to the questions and thank you for the debut uh

073questions that you uh posed to the superintendent on his last budget presentation. So I'll turn it over now to Dr. Bur. So I'm going to start with the open choice memo. So Mrs. basically pass this out and make sure that the the public that is here gets this uh memo. Um this is new information to you and some of you the majority of you have seen this memo before. There's some of you that have not seen this memo. So I just want to make sure everybody gets it before I start. So each year the administration develops a budget for open choice students that support the camp board of education strategic plan. The open choice funds helps the camp public schools meet the legal requirement for the camp for the Connecticut school district to increase opportunities

074for their students to interact with students and teachers from diverse racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. meaning these are students that come to us from Harford. It's a a a lottery and then we declare how many students we would want. The can public schools has participated for many years. Kim has enrolled one of the highest percentages in the state of Connecticut. In fiscal year 2647, camper expects to receive the $10,000 per enrolled open choice students from the city of Harvard plus an additional 4500 to be determined relative to uh kindergarten students. Our open choice ratio for to the student population is 5.72. So that means that if you're above 4% of your population of Harvard students, you get bonus money. and we find out what the bonus money is as the year goes along. So below

075you'll see a chart there. You'll see our fiscal year 2526 actual for this year based upon 81 students. We thought we were going to get more students than 81. So our actual is 8 $810,000 for this year with a total open choice funds this year of $950,000. Next year, we're projecting, and I'll go over it on the next page, of getting 81 students again, and that would be $810,000, $11,000 for uh grade level of of 10 or greater. And then early beginnings, that's the difference between this year actual, and next year. We're actually projecting that we're going to be able to take two kindergarten Harvard uh students next year. and then various chef grants 129. So we're hoping next year to get $959,000. If you go on page two, the most important lines for you

076and for the public is to look at fiscal year 27 in the the color. This is what we are projecting that we're going to offer to the the state to say this is how many kids we can take per grade level. Here you can see we're going to offer two seats for kindergarten, one seat for first grade, two seats for second grade, four seats for third grade, four seats for fourth grade, fifth grade, three seats um six seats, 10 seats for um sixth grade, eight seats for ninth for seventh grade, 10 seats for eighth grade, ninth grade, 10 seats, and then 10 through 12, nine for total 81. Now you can see the difference if you go from the kindergarten to first grade. You can see that we had zero in kindergarten this year and

077then we're added one. Do you see how that works? If you go diagonally down, >> does that mean you're going to get the one or you're >> hope we're opening up the seat declaration and that will give us a 5.8 uh percentage rate. >> Have we done that in the past? >> We have. This is how we've done it since I've arrived. What the the the the the interesting part to this whole thing is when you look out and you project out for 28 and then 29, you could see that we're going to be going down from 81 to 72 to 63. That's a direct relationship to not accepting kindergarten students for the past couple years because our own enrollment of kindergarten students has been high that we in that room. And also, and I

078shared this with you before, is that the state in the Harvard region is seeing less students apply to becoming an open choice student. And I get it. I commend the Harford public schools for creating schools that they want their children to stay in. I I get it. >> And the magnets are also doing a great job recruiting >> through through correct. >> So that's where we are. the where we go on the next page is page three is what are we spending the the funds on as you can see if you go through the total the majority of our funds are technology what I've tried to do under the guidance of Mrs. Robins is to take our personnel out of open choice, especially essential personnel that we need. It's a bad practice to put personnel

079in in grants. And what I'm trying to do over the past couple of years that I've been here is take the personnel out of grants because when you lose the funding, it either is a cut or it will go against the operational uh line. And that's what I explained that you had the last meeting. So you can see technology contracted services for technology. We still have some staff in there relative to some paired professionals. Our magnet school tuition which is on the next page four and five. Those are all our magnet school students and how many students we have at magnet schools. And we're predicting next year for our uh magnet schools that we will have uh 27 magnet school kids and then we'll have 15 kids that go to OKAP and uh agricultural school.

080That's a requirement. We have no choice but to to do that. And so we have budgeted $16,000 for that. Can academy >> So what's the total number of students who are being leaving our district to go to another district. >> So for magnet schools, there are 27 students attending magnet schools projected for next year. We have 29 currently. And then for the bokeat schools this year, we have 17 kids going. Next year we're projecting 15 kids going. >> So we actually have 73 kids moving out of district. Oh yeah, there was no 202. >> 42. Thank you for pushing. 29 >> 29 back in school. >> Yeah. >> 17 vocab school. >> 17. Sorry. >> What was in 27 then? >> Oh, I'm sorry. 297. >> Okay. >> Yep. And then the other part is

081the chef grant. That's other money that we received. That's the 129,000. That's just it. It's just another grant that we received from the state and you can see that's money that we use for student engagement and activities for our open choice students. Our afterchool support program is 6,900 and we still have $115,000 for some staff in there. a point for special education teacher, a tutor, a district equity team, uh facility stipment, open choice liaison. Then we have and then consulting services that assist us with our uh work on um equity and belonging for our goal there. So these are our funds for our open choice. It it's very similar to last year and how we utilize our funds. If we choose to cut something from here, it would and that's what we did last year.

082If you remember when we some of the time when we had to cut from um our operational, we decided to cut from our open choice budget and then slide our operational costs into our open choice and then we cut something from open choice. There's a lot less to cut from the open choice money. Um, so that that's where we are with our open choice. I'll take any questions on that and we can always come back to that as I answer some of the questions that you had u the forecast question. Um, so if I'm reading this correctly, from current year for the open choice program enrollment versus what we're we have for working seats for next year, there's potentially seven open seats. >> Yes. >> Across the Okay. >> What is the open? >> Hold

083on. >> Okay. >> So, Jordan, what's what's represented there? Are you counting the the change from the like are you counting from kindergarten to first grade >> like the diagonal? Yeah. >> So, um I guess my my question is is let's say okay so for sixth grade that's now going to be in seventh grade. That's going from sixth to eight. So we have two seats for the seventh grade for next year. Correct. What are the odds that that actually gets filled >> for sometimes with the the grade levels that it's looking for transitional grades for example so a sixth grade >> goes to a middle school um a third grade may go those are the grades that we try to do it in the younger we can get the the children the the better some

084of these seats that we open up maybe a situ seat that we get lucky um with Um and and what we notice is when we open up a seat for our older students, those get filled pretty quick. >> Okay. >> Um so, but we we don't like opening up as many older kids students because we rather have the students from the very beginning of time, but we have it up. >> I I get what I am getting at is that's $70,000. So do we bank on those seats getting filled or do we not? >> So we bank on the seats getting filled but as we have shared that this year we actually had 800 went more than what we had budgeted. So that's why Anna had actual so we had some money that we had

085in an account choice that we had to draw down from that to cover the the difference. Okay. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> Good question. Everybody give me that magnet school enrollment that's tripled five six years. We've seen that I don't know where the magnet schools are. I can think of when they invite kids to three, four, six, seven, eight, nine. >> Some of them are K to 12, some of them are K through five. We have a couple in Avon that are elementary school. Um, so it could be elementary high school. >> Yeah. And our are neighbors seeing student enrollment. >> Yeah. It's it's it's a phenomena that we're seeing across the region. They were five or six years ago they were talking about having a hard time finding kids on bus for the

086end of >> besides Ellington Ellington is the camp probably those reimbur I know that they have a really targeted marketing to go after kids to come into the mag schools because they get those reimburseable dollars. So anyways, any other questions on that? Is it um we don't >> question? Sorry. So the tuitions are for our students. Yeah. And students Yeah. And children going outside of district. The tuitions are there. The total transportation that we're paying is there. But what are we actually paying total for the 29 students this year? >> I see the 104 for transportation but not the total tuition. >> Is that currently what are we spending or what are we budgeting >> uh currently? What are we spending? I see the transportation is oh that sorry that's projected for 27. So, what

087are we currently spending tuitionwise and what are we currently spending transportation wise? >> Okay. So, if if you were the financial report Okay. Is that okay? Yeah. No, I'll point it out though. Um on page two, um smack in the middle, there's a line item called Boat Transportation. >> Okay. So, we have our budget and our actual there um and our our projection. And then we um just below that there's a line tuition. There is what we call VOAG tuition. >> Now that's out of the general fund. >> Okay. And then we do not transport back school children. Um correct does that. But the um the tuition does come out of the open choice budget which you don't see here in this. >> Okay. >> So you would take these two numbers add them together

088add together the roughly $60,000 for magnet schools and that's our total. >> Okay. So the open choice sorry. So the tuition for 26 for magnet schools is where? >> It's in the open choice budget which is not in this report but it's it's it's roughly 60,000 which is shy. >> Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. >> Okay. We can move on to the budget. >> Okay. So um Mrs. Nard is going to pass out a PowerPoint presentation and car is going to put that one up. So, as she's passing it out, I I want to remind the the board and the community that yes, in December, I presented a budget, but it's not my final budget. I I do it twice. That I want to give the the board a bed and the the community the

089opportunity to see where I am and where I was in December. And what I want to do is answer some questions that you had quite a few and then talk to you a little bit about where I am now. So if you go on to page two, I just want to remind the board in the community that for fiscal year 26 just salaries, health benefits, insurance, property, liability, transportation, including fuel, electricity. Right out of the gate, I'm at a 4.08 08 just to roll over where I was this year. You add in special education, that's another uh 4.84. So you take special education and um the the fixed cost that we have rolling over, you're you're looking at approximately 4.92. We are using the insurance number of a 20% increase. uh that could change. When

090you look at all the rest of the budget with athletics, facilities, and all the other things that make up our budget, it's a 0.89 of our budget. That's less than a a percent. So that's like all our materials and supplies. And as I mentioned the last time, there are schools that actually came in under where they were. CIS, for example, is under where they were budgeted last year. What is uh as I just explained the personnel that we had to move some personnel from grants such as the open choice that's 193 I did cut um from the this budget $223,000 worth of staff at this time and then I want to remind everybody $184,000 from the moving staff over from the town. right there. That's44. And then our small capital is up 127,000. And that

091that's what Mr. Sullivan was referring to. They had a a list that we generated. So that was a.37. So at the time in December 9, that was 6.62. I can tell you I'm not at 6.62 now. And I'll explain a little bit. So I'm just going to go through these questions. I just read right through them to answer them. Please confirm when the next negotiations will be for certified staff, administrative parish, tutors, building subs, monitors, secretaries. So we provided you the the list. Uh what we tried to do was assist the board a little bit and try to spread it out. Our biggest contracts were done at the same year. Um so that actually hurt us. So next year we'll be looking at um working with >> parents and administrators. >> No, I think these

092dates are Yeah. >> We just did administrator. >> Teachers union is 327, I believe. >> Yeah, teachers union is 327. Historiials are all >> Yeah. Okay. Um during all contractual negotiations had that have happened 23 present were any health benefits changed? No. There were no changes to health benefits during those negotiations. Negotiations are only time to make changes to benefits that participate collective order. any strategies for plan changes that benefit both the district and our employees will be under consideration at the next negotiation. So I would recommend to the board that when we negotiate that would be with uh assisting with the US side by question three when do we or did we go out for RFP for transportation? Have we looked at any other options? The latest RFP for transportation was issued in fiscal

093year 22. At this time, there were four responses to the bid. When bids are submitted, all aspects of transportation operations are considered. Our current contract with Martell Transportation was negotiated through fiscal year 27. We'll begin the bidding process January 27th. As a district, we're always looking at options to improve our operation. Question four, where is the snow blower tractor that was discussed and approved, but we got it. The sign lease agreements have been sent and we took delivery of the equipment on December 22nd just in time. Our maintenance staff reports that the equipment is a perfect fit for Cherry Brook Primary School. So, we moved the new one to Cherry Brook and move Cherry Brooks to USCIS. They are using them. Question five. In the Cherry Brook operating budget, there are funds allocated for the

094kil supplies. Has the PTO been approached about funding this? The PTO has not been approached about approach to funding supplies. These supplies represent an ongoing reoccurring expense. So, it would not be appropriate to rely on PTO funding. Instead, this cost should be covered through the school's operation budget to ensure consistency and sustainability year after year, but we're not tying the hands of the PTO in the camp middle school operation budget as PTO has been approached about funding the audio visual equipment. Great question. We did not approach them about funding the cafeteria or the visual equipment. Instead, Mr. Bishop and I met Mr. born and it's been determined that we actually are going to remove that from the small capital blockchain and fund it through the commissioners network. Right. >> So next year the goal will

095be we'll have a whole system here. That's the goal and that'll be used for the middle school because right now they don't have anything in the technology operation budget as the camps of arts been approaching about funding the new music software. Same type of answer. If the camp friends parks have not been approached to fund the need music software, this software represents an ongoing reoccurring expense. It's not appropriate to rely on private support. Instead, this cost should be included in the district's operation. Just one of those things I think puts a lot of pressure on the friends of arts that every year something's going to go up that they have to rely on that. Um, this one's a long answer. I'm going to kind of let you you read through this, but the professional development

096activities for athletic coaching with the $45,000 there basically was no 2500, excuse me. There was basically no funding for professional developing for athletics in the past. The 2500 allocated for athletic coach will really go over student safety, positive school culture. portions of these funds will be used that all coaches meet the CIA required professional development do their coaching permit completing a education courses first aid CPR AED that's required by the CIA mandatory training for sports safety and heat illness prevention emergency you can tell I answering this question um and be able to allow them to go to individual sports uh clinic the bottom line is we have to put money towards our coaches. Please describe the the process and plan for addressing the Cherburg Primary School bathroom since 10,000 is is budgeted. There are total

097of 16 bathrooms at Cherburg Primary School. All the bathrooms in the building need some level of repair. Our superintendent, the buildings in ground five, is assessing the status of the bathrooms. They will be proposing a plan to address the project. The $10,000 that is currently budgeted will keep the bathrooms up and running until a plan has been identified. Please describe plan for camp middle school and camp high school ceiling title issues that are in the small capital budget that shows 5,000 being spent in each of the next four years. We replace tiles for several reasons. Most obvious for replacement is cracks or damaged sly tiles. In addition, any type of leak, which could be from the roof or a leaking pipe, will stain and degrade degrade the ceiling tiles, which would require placement. Sing tiles

098don't last forever as right now, and they will degrade over time and need replacement. Can we move the 2400 K high school security cameras to the 26 27th school year uh from the proposed? Yes, we can. It would just be a net increase to the uh small capital budget. So if I don't move it and the board wants to do that, that's something that we certainly could do on the board work. Would it be more cost effective in the long run to update the scoreboard rather than to keep replacing the panels? The scoreboard panel has only been replaced once and it was fiscal year 2425. That was this year. The scoreboard was originally purchased at 2013 at a cost of 12,000. that was uh done by a donation from a class I think it was

09985. um the new scoreboard in the long run would be a better investment, but in the in the meantime it it' be way more than the 12,000 and at this time the 6,000 we have small capital is the way to go because it'll just replace the panels if scoreboard lights go out and what's happened in the past has just been uh the lights are nothing's been done with a new athletic director in we realized that that's an important thing. So, it looks like some lights are brighter than others, which is true because we're updating it. This is this was a great question. Has there been any thought to replacing the display cases outside the auditorium? Nope, there hasn't. But it, however, it is a great idea and it is something we can certainly look at

100and Mr. Bishop and I are going to speak to Mrs. um fans and possibly explore with this is a great project for friends of ours to update the potential uh uh cases outside the auditorium. Can the district purchase now a movable ramp? At this time, a movable ramp for kind intermediate school is not included in the current budget. However, the request can be brought forward to the board of education finance subcommittee for discussion and consideration. I just want to let everybody know this is just a temporary solution. You you can't have a ramp out there for as a permanent solution. This is just a temporary one. So if it's discussed at finance committee and they they give you the the green light to purchase it. So the ramp eliminates the need to use the steps

101and it's primarily for um disabled um to come down steps where there is no ramp. Now you see a ramp and steps as an option >> but the CIS I mean >> we don't use emergency. Yeah. Yeah. It is quite quite an interesting process. So the next one is the big one. This is the voluntary early retirement incentive. And I explained this this morning at the finance committee meeting. The retirement incentive yielded the following results. Within 72 hours, I hit the five retirements that we were looking for. Fiscal year salaries were were reduced by a total of $552,000. The incentive will cost the district $55,000 the first year, $55,000 the second year that we offered $11,000 for each one each year. We will replace we will replace retirees at lower staff if possible. Um and

102that will cost the district 259,000 resulting in an overall savings of $239,000. So ultimately this move was a good move. Um for us dependent upon the type of candidate that that we get when we um hire we can't we have to hire the best candidate. That's what we do. Uh but if the the best candidate happens to be on a lower step that's the same. So that's what we're projecting. >> This is baked into your budget. No. >> This is not baked into my tenant. This is this is this it this this will be baked into my final question number and what I will say is and this will be on the next page the five teachers because I know they wonder so I can tell you it um is Steve Omera is an elementary

103physical education teacher. John Pierce a school psychologist at CIS. Anna Wberly an English teacher at the high school. Gene Holan a math teacher at the high school. and Brigita Duffy, the school psychologist at the high school. Now, you know why I said bye? Because if we said 10 or 15, we don't want to lose. We're losing really good people here. But I congratulate these people, too. Stephen Mayor, I think it's 38 years. That's a long run for a a teacher. And we'll have the opportunity as a board and as a school district to celebrate them at the end of the year. What I do want to share is on the next page is some of the questions that you may have. What has changed since December 9th? Teacher early retirement incentive has changed um since

104then that we have five teachers that's different accumulated sick day payout. So what that is is teachers that were in the contract in the bargaining group before 1990 they have the opportunity for sick day buyout. So they get paid for the sick days that they have. So if they never been sick and they have 180 days in the bank they would get sick day buy. We have one of those out of the five. So this early incentive is actually helping us that if all the people retire all at once, we have approximately 14 of them. That could be a half million dollars. So the early incentive actually is helping us if we do it the right way. The we have one additional resignation not related to early retirement. That would be a savings. I can't

105say this publicly. We have a resignation of a second grade teacher at at Cherbrook, Patrice Olston, for personal reasons. And then we have we actually have another one since it's done. We'll have another one at Kim Intermediate School with Mrs. Herszog who will be uh resigning at the end of this school year. So there'll be some savings um there. Not saying I'm not replacing, I'm saying that there's going to be some savings. health insurance s uh se census adjustment. Uh what I will say and this is what Mr. Daniels alluded to is that there will be a reduction in FTE 1.2 FTD at camp high school. That is different. Um, I I bathed in predicting that I would have in the in the forecast budget that I would at least have I tried to think

106that we would have one retirement at high school and it it actually worked out that that was in there that we did have one retirement. So, go ahead. >> Question. Just going going back to the additional resations. Um, so you said that's a savings but we would be replacing the teacher. >> Correct. But there may be a savings that we may not be replacing the teacher at level. >> Correct. Correct. That's all to be determined. It's just a a prediction. But the high school and I shared this with the high school administration and the high school administration shared this with the department of high school be losing based upon numbers due to attrition 1.20 uh FTE and enrollment would support that. Nobody's going to lose their job. Um at this point it's just going to

107be done uh through bit attrition but there is a possibility that people could lose their jobs if there's not numbers and the union is aware of this. Also we had to add an additional occupational therapist. This is a offshoot because we were doing if you remember we were doing occupational therapist with contracted services. So we would be spending $180,000 on a contract with the occupational therapist. We were just able to hire someone. They started when this weekend and last week this week they started. So that's a win for us. Um remove the audio equipment from the CMS cafeteria. There's a reduction of added district tuition. There's going to be a reduction of special education services. We are going to have additional revenue next year to offset our budget from the bridges program. Mrs. McClean will

108be here on January 27th to talk about that. And um we did have discussions with the town and we'll have to make sure that it's not in both budgets, but we are going to ask for that revenue for preschool that was discussed because the town didn't want any of our revenue on their books. So we're going to put it on our books, so we are accounting for that. And then a reduction in non-certified staff wages based upon turnover. Those are all things that are going to be different. So when I say I'm not going to be at 6.6, I'm not going to be at 6.6. Um I'm hoping that I'm going to be lower than the 6.6. >> This revenue for preschool is pretty >> 44,000. >> Yeah. That that has not typically been done.

109>> No, it's been to the town and we discussed it if you remember as a finance committee last year and the the CEO has agreed on that that should be coming to us and we have our uh chair of finance here right now. So he's hearing that also. Uh and then you can see the proposed um timeline for everything. The most important meeting next time is January 27th and then I'll be presenting the final budget on February 10th. A lot of it folks I'm going to tell you is going to be review when I present on February 10th, but I'll highlight different parts. You'll have a book. Um what I will share with you is that um I'm working alongside you have tonight you have the class size policy um to be first read. I'm

110looking at that as I'm developing the the budget. We're definitely going to have some conversations in our budget workshop about class size. I'm going to need some assistance from this board uh regarding class size and how we are going to move forward. I'll make recommendations but then I'm sure class size is going to come up through our our conversation. Um the other thing that I want to open up is if anybody has any questions but then I want to go back to the public. So if you have any burning questions you know based on the time I don't want to get into too deep but what you can do is if you need any points clarification so if there are other questions that are coming to mind now maybe we can submit those back in

111uh and then we can discuss those on the 27th so if you can do that um and then so I'll ask you is there anything you need clarifying questions on anything that you know this may spawn other questions for for you or you want to take a deeper dive into something just we'll get that over to the superintendent over to Claudia. >> Yeah, my recommendation if you have questions he does nothing to Claudia. You copy myself, John and Anna in um but Claudia would be good. >> So I'm going to open up for public comment on what they heard. I'm going to ask you to state your name again and to um keep your questions brief. We're not going to take a deeper dive into it, but is there anybody in Lisa has some questions?

112So, I'll turn to Lisa first. >> Sure. >> She asked. >> Yep. She's got her hand raised. I'm going to allow her to talk again. >> Lisa, go ahead. Still on mute. >> Hi. Thanks so much. I re I really appreciate it. It's just one clarification I'm looking for uh regarding the early retirement. Um just I was wondering will the will there be any impact to the pension funds with the retirement? I'm not really sure how that works if it's the town side or the board of education. >> No, no. Good, good question. Um, Lisa, and I'll I'll explain how it works. Wikipedia has no effect on um the the town at all because teachers participate in the Connecticut teachers retirement plan and they they pay it to that. So, it would have no effect

113on the town for the teachers. >> Thank you so much for the clarification. >> Okay. Anybody else online that has a question specific to the budget that we can help you with? >> I have a raised hand from A Blley. >> Sure. Hi Aubrey, just state your name and address please. >> Hi Aubrey Blatchley U Bart Drive. Thanks for allowing questions during the meeting. One question was uh I apologize because I don't have the paperwork in front of me, but you do have a consultant listed on one of the pages and I think it was under the open choice funding. Is that a requirement to receive the open choice grant or is that just something we do voluntarily? >> Mr. Part of the participation in the open choice program is to be able to engage

114in professional learning as part of the uh uh the workbook with program. It's also part of the uh board of education goals around learning environment and belonging. >> I'm sorry. So it's a it's something that's required to receive the grant money or it's something we do just to help us facilitate the program. I would I would say that it's to help us facilitate the program and the the expectation is that we do participate in some type of professional learning in support of it as well. That particular item is not required by us. >> Okay. Thanks. >> You're welcome. Anybody else? >> There's there's more opportunities. Uh our next budget uh workshop is on the 27th. If you go to the board's website, you'll see other dates that are posted. We value the public's input. We

115ask you to all participate any way that you can. So, thank you. Thank you for that presentation, Dr. Gman. You're on your game. I appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. Uh moving along, we're going to make the uh standing committee report pretty quick. I'll report from Mr. Bush on finance. It was really nothing other than what Mr. Robins uh mentioned today and then you heard it from the CIP. So there's no further information on finding it. So I'll turn to Mr. Sh on policy. We met tonight before the meeting. We looked at a couple of uh required policies to update regarding discrimination uh and harassment. Those will come to you as a first read next time. and the visitor's policy, an update on the visitor's policy in terms of uh should immigration agents come to one

116of the schools, what what uh where do we go with that? That even talking about, you know, who can walk the halls, how to how to access um coming to our schools. And we did suggest to the administration that they might want to consider uh some opportunity to update students or to remind students of some of the many policies that they need to be aware of things they can and can't do possibly with class meetings or well administration of sort of thing. >> Okay. Thank you Mr. Sh. Any questions for policy school curriculum? >> Sure. uh we met last month December 18th and the bulk of the meeting was taken up with discussion on the CHS program study for 2026 to 27. We unanimously approved it with the addition of three classes um advanced algebra

117financial application AP psych and manner to honors. We are also reconfiguring the ceramics 2 class to be ceramics and sculpture um advanced 3D and that just prepares for better development. Your next meeting is >> is this uh oh gosh >> not yeah it's two weeks from tomorrow the 28th >> okay >> any any questions for curriculum move on to um communications we'll catch on the next one correct there was no meeting so there's nothing there updates from the PL >> um first of all excited that we're able to do this And um I will say all the PTO people were very excited to share all the things that they were doing. So I have a lot of information but I'll try to make it as concise as possible. Um I'll start with Cherry Brook. I

118was able to go to their meeting last week. Um they really created very engaging environment and there were so many parents participating which is awesome to see. That's not true across the board for sure. Um they held a toy drive before the break that brought in 301 toys and raised $345. They're hosting a pancake breakfast which Jonathan mentioned on February 7th from 9 to 12. Tickets are $5 for adults and children are free. So not only is there pancakes but they're also going to make um Valentine's card for local seniors and they're also going to do games and stories and stuff like that. Um but you do have to make reservation on the PTO website which so nicely listed. Thank Kier and Claudia. Um they're currently collaborating with the Canton Public Library for story time

119and craft on February 17th and they're also running their second annual student experience auction which I think is super cool. Um it's a fundraiser in early February and it's some examples of things that are done is teachers and the principal have donated time or items like principal for a day, lunch with the teacher, story time, things like that. Um, moving on to CIS, they are hosting a paint night on February 4th with February 5th being a snow day. It's $25 per painter. Um, and the kids or adults will be painting slates that were once part of the original roof of the school, which is really cool idea. >> Wow. >> Um, and the tickets are available on the go site. Is >> that neat that they saved or first of all, but they're utilizing them

120for that. Um, CIS students and families are going to a vote that game on March 6th. Um, the deadline to order tickets for that is the 20th of February. Um, and they're also making plans for bus driver appreciation week which is in February. Um, I would also utilize their website which is also listed if you want to get more information. Um, I do not have a report from CMS but I do know they are struggling with their membership. So, if there's any CMS parents out there listening, please reach out because they need members. Um, Camp Friends for the Arts. So, they hosted their second annual night out for the arts in September, and I know several of us were there. Great attendance and surpassed last year's uh fundraising total, which is excellent. They recently supported

121the Disney Dazzle fundraiser for students. Um, anyone who has kids in music, they know that there's a Disney trip, and this year is a Disney year, so they're working hard to raise funds for that. Um, CFA contributed to the new kiln that'll be at, uh, Cherrybrook. Uh, one of the big ones this year is they created a new scholarship fund to award three senior students involved in the arts $1,000 to contribute to their post high school endeavors, and that would be awarded on the dollars for scholars night. Uh they recently held a winter coffee house where current students and alums come together for a night sharing their talents in the arts and their biggest focus right now which Jonathan also mentioned is prisons and I don't know if you have not gone I would recommend

122you go. It is such a cool event. There's art, there's acting, there's music and the kids do it all. So if you can go to support it that way, that's great. But if you can also volunteer baskets time, please look up there and get their uh their information and uh contribute to that. Finally, uh Canton Athletic Boosters, uh they held a barbecue for fall sports athletes to kick off the season. They ran a food drive with all the fall sports teams to support the Can Food Bank. They purchased t-shirts for the boys soccer team and coaches as they were the NCCC champions this year. They paid for tickets for students who wanted to ride the bus and cheer on our girls volleyball team at the state championships. Uh they recently purchased miked up which is

123a system that can auto program music for games and also do announcements. And last but not least, and this is something I have a child with four years of athletics and I never knew that their biggest fundraiser is collecting recyclables. I don't know if anyone knew this. Um there is a shed at the back corner of the transfer station. So if you have your bottles, your cans, your plastics, save them and take them there. And the booster club actually bins them all up and takes them in. And that's how they get a lot of the fundraising, which I learned something new. >> I couldn't have found her. >> I haven't lived until you spend Saturday morning going to a >> Saturday. You can't believe that. >> Okay. So, maybe we should put another time. >>

124Okay. Any any questions on that's an excellent report, by the way. Thank you. And we're so fortunate. You know, our PPOs are really the backbone of of much of what we can do. So, thank you. >> They do a lot of good work. >> Let them know how much we appreciate. >> So, good. >> Lou, I could give a two second thing on communications. >> Oh, good. I'm sorry. That's right. John and Kira have done a fabulous job refining, reflecting, improving the website, uh, Kansas school's website. And one of the bigger things that Kira is working on, correct me if we're wrong behind the scenes, not working yet, but a new hub or a new link. >> Okay, the parent resource. So, a lot of things that parents may struggle to find if they click

125on the parent resources link. There's a lot of things in that that kind of, you know, from PTO to school teacher emails that has a wealth of information and it's also found in other places in the website, but it's really refined on what what it's simplifying what parents are looking for. Sometimes they're stuck on or they're not sure what to do. So, that's a helpful thing. There's a new search engine that here has worked on, right? Where you are able to now when we search something up on the on the web, you know, the Google or something, it will bring us closer to what we're looking for on our website. >> Oh, that's great. >> So, if you typed in like soccer athletics, you wouldn't get that. But now bringing closer if you type in

126again schools. Thanks. >> It's probably on your agenda, but um we usually get that fall that spring newsletter out in April, which helps support the budget a little bit. It brings people >> a little bit more focus. >> We're going to do one um right at the end of February along with another students at the center video and then we'll have one closer to the end of the year as well. >> Okay. I'd like it to I don't want it to get lost in the sauce. If we do it more in the spring when the budget's really heating up, just draws more attention to the school. So think about that. I appreciate it. >> And M Tusant going to give an update on the insurance. I'm sure everybody's interested about that. This may be a

127good number. >> So we have actually met four times in the past month. Um we went through um a process interviewing process of brokers and we have moved from one digital to USI. So effective uh 1126 USI is now our broker which was unanimous by the committee and we're very excited to forward with them. Um we then met um on the 8th this past Thursday um just to discuss what we are going to see from USI what we want to see the cadence of that um and so on and so forth. I know that the big question is is what is the increase of our health benefits right now? Um and we are remaining at the 20% for right now. However, we have a meeting on the 20th with USI and at that time we

128will go through the actual renewal what we're seeing from United our carrier on the health side um and which is the biggest driver of the health of the our benefits and um go from there. So I would say that the 20% by the committee was decided to stay on both the the town and the board of ed side, but more to come on that. So that's it. >> And and I understand you're you're also I mean you're not just on the benefit side. So you're looking at the property casualty side of your >> property casualty, um dental, vision, medical, all of that. The the biggest driver of the cost though right now is the medical. Um we're selfinsured. at the administrative piece in in the stop loss in the claims um uh mitigation I guess

129I should say. So but yes it is a comprehensive board. >> Good. >> Yep. >> Thank you. Any questions for insurance? >> Okay. Thank you for that report. Uh calendar of events is in your kit so you can see it. Please make a note of those on your calendar. Try to attend when you can. Uh next up is the consent agenda and uh the approval of those uh minutes from 4 8 9 and 6 and 8. We've been a busy group. Um so may I have a motion to move board of education approve the consent agenda unless there are changes. Thank you Mr. Sher first second. Thank you M. Any questions on the consent agendas? on the on the right on the minutes rather hearing none. All those in favor I so that's a thank

130you very much for that. Okay moving moving right along we now go to the review of we'll turn to Mr. Sha for brief some briefing but review improve the required updates to policy 1527 use of districts computer Mr. China. >> It was just an an upgrade to the policy we adopted a year or two ago and it lays out the guidelines for youngsters using our computers that they're not their personal property and they have no right to suspect they have privacy. John was going to answer that or is that >> just just broadly speaking and where a lot of the conversation for the policy committee sat was um helping students to be able to understand um what was relative to this or what's relevant to this and I think that goes back to Mr. Sher's

131statement that he shared just a little bit earlier. Um the substantive changes were minor within this, but they did change um they did change terminology to from child pornography to child sexual abuse material within both of those policies with that. And I think that's part of the gravity that was uh um felt within the conversation with that. Let's make sure that our kids really understand um not just the law but but but implication with that as well. >> The second meeting I think right it is a second. So you've had a chance to look at that. If there are no further questions, I'll take a motion. It says the camp board of education approved the required updates to policy 5027 which is student use of districts computer systems. I have a motion. Thank you, Mr.

132Sh. Second. Thank you. Uh good. I have a first and second. Any further questions? All those in favor? I seven up because Russell's not hearing. Okay. So, seven. All right. Next up is review and possibly approve the required updates to policy 5032 which is use of private technology devices by students. Mr. Shame issue only with this this involves bringing your own device to our system and then we apply the same rules. >> John correct and same statuto language added to this as well. So we've had we've had a first read on second. If you don't have any further questions, this is Mr. Sher. I'll take a motion that says the camp board of education approved require updates to policy 5030. Yeah, we 203 50 use of private technology devices. Motion. Thank you, Mr. Barker. Second

133want to get in on the minutes. Thank you, Mr. Barker. Okay. All those in favor? I said no. All right. Next up is review the possible improve the first read. This is the first read on policy 6151 class size which was proposed on 10125. Um Mr. Sha, this is this is a big one. This is important. They're all on board, but this is particularly important. Uh, and this is a first read, correct? Yes. Um, pull it up here. >> Sure. >> Some of us have been here since 5:00 when there's fing the case may be. Um, this probably one of the more uh thoughtful and lengthy discussions across it can be sat all the time. that it's a very hard topic to come up with anything that's definitive. Uh in terms of the research, uh

134there seems to be unanimous consent uh or close to unanimous descent that K1 is very important in terms of class size. Uh more important than anything else. Once you get beyond K1, maybe two or three, uh there isn't a whole lot of research and it's all over the place. John provided us with a 5 uh sample policies or regulations depending as the case may be uh around the state and we went back and forth on it quite a bit and we came up with uh those numbers and I can say unanimously didn't come up with those numbers. uh the point of contention uh was 4 to six and then slightly and we came to consensus on on uh 7 to 12. Uh note there's a difference there. We kicked up a minimum number from 6

135to 10 for a secondary school course. uh 4 to six uh were the majority of the committee at that time which no longer exists uh agreed on 10 18 to 24 uh one member of the committee who can speak for herself certainly felt that we should keep it at 22 that it was in the past um and I can address Y24 if you want to address Y22 be my guest you don't you don't have to and it's something we can discuss next time too this is not a final Yeah. So I I can speak to that really quickly. Um I think I was very or I felt very strongly about the 22. We had just gone to the um continuous improvement at CIS and I had the chance to ask Rebecca Cortto at that time

136um how she felt about it. Um and she actually said 20 would be her hard stop. Um, and my other feeling for it was if we did 18 to 22 for the classrooms, that doesn't take away the line that says the superintendent will monitor current class sizes, anticipated changes in enrollment. Adjustments requiring additional expenditures must be approved by the board of ed. Um, and it also states that basically the discretion would still be left with the administrators. So for me, I said 18 to 22 felt good. I didn't want to go to 24 because then what I was fearful of is could we go to 25? Could we go to 26? If if our administrator is saying 20, 24 is a big impact. Um but other than that, we >> beat it around pretty good.

137>> Yeah, we did. >> So given that information and that this this is the first read as Mr. Charlotte pointed out it's important policy. Please take a look and review it again. We'll have will be brought back up. Just give me one second. Sure. Number 24. I came up with um I looked at the schools that John shared with us the guidelines for grades five and six. Sometimes it's four, five and six. Avon 25, Brookfield 24, Bearville 25, Branby 24, Gren 26, Gilford 26, Oxford 25, Region 10 25, Rocky Hill 25, Snbury 25, South Windsor 26, Trumble 25, West Arthur 27. Um 24 would bring us in line with all those neighbors or all of those other districts anyway. uh in a perfect world where no limitations anything actually deem to be great. So I'm

138just going to add something that the boards are going to have to consider that whether you adopt the policy or not. I'll still make recommendation within the budget as I said that some of those changes will be drastic changes for current students that are being faced with that. So if we have for example I'm just going to say for example second if we have a second grade that is in six sections as a second grade. Let me rephrase it. Let's take four through six. If we have a a fourth grade that is in six sections right now and they're functioning really really well in in six sections and student achievement is a priority to this board. Culture climate is a priority to this board. If I bring that into five sections next year I just

139added four kids into the section that that's a big difference for kids. That's a big difference for um staff that it it it could take us some time to get into it. And what I promised this board of ed and I promised the board of finance and we were working on it today is that for each grade level whatever we present to the anonymous sections in the budget book we will give you rationale of why we are recommending that class size. I think that's important and that's why I said I think the number one conversation that you're going to have as a board of ed when we see the superintendent's budget is class and that's all right. That's a healthy conversation for us all to have and we'll give you as much information because I'd

140rather have this conversation at the board level and a serious conversation at the board level than having the conversation like we did at the the board of finance level that if we say that we're going against our policy, this is the reason that we're going against our policy or the guidance policy, right? >> It's a policy but it's guidelines. >> It's policy. It's a policy that it gives me discretion, but it's still a policy that you all can say to me. No, and that's all right. And and then but wherever we land, we have to be united when we go to the board of finance because it could be a question and I feel that we only need to answer that question once um of where you landed. So >> since 18 24 doesn't take

14124, it says 18. No, I understand. I I understand. >> Well, if we are concerned about it, but we're not on policy, then what week do we have in this conversation? >> Sure. I mean, you you'll have a chance to to voice your concern with the budget, but depending on what he comes in at, you certainly have a voice. >> Yes. I mean, I'm speaking I am concerned about some of it only because we've heard from principles on our walkthroughs how class size is. So critical features, but and then we just had the curriculum where obviously there's flexibility thanks to the writing where it says super the secondary courses. They're trying to get some course often running and it might be like six to 10 kids this one year, but then it takes momentum for

142these high school courses to take. So that's my concern. I'm less concerned about the high school. I understand the flexibility >> one class. I'm really I looked at the numbers today and there could be some shifts that we're going to talk about. There's no doubt that we're going to talk about it. >> The list of schools that you have there, those were for grade four and six. The number that >> summer five and six, some are four and six. I'd be interested in knowing how in terms of student performance how are those schools ranking relatively >> those are also correct that doesn't mean that that's how >> so I think that that's important to know is that we don't know if Arlington Griffy Avon are actually coming up at 25 26 or if they just

143have this broad range to have a broad range >> could I ask Mr. Bishop that um we we have the policies you provide very good we we had some data in the committee can you get that out to the rest of the board >> sure we can send that >> yeah so you you'll have some of the data that Mr. SH just mentioned that the things that we looked at policy standpoint you can also look at and we'll bring this back to a conversation for a second read. We don't have to approve that second we can we can have a second read then have a approval. So if there's more conversation that's needed we're not going to rush it Kim and if you have comments we want to hear. So >> just just for procedure

144if it is does it get kicked back to policy if it that's >> the board can say go back yes the board can always kick something back down to the suburb. So my my recommendation SC is that um if I present the budget February 10th that this board um would want to approve the policy before this board has to present to the board of funds. So whenever audience know the date that they present support finances to have a clear policy on last >> well then then can we add this to the 27th agenda because we need to you want us to for the second you don't have to approve it. We can approve it in February, but that's totally up to you if you want. >> You want to add it to the 27? We

145get a pretty good >> but that policy committee have a chance to discuss this again prior to that. >> The policy committee wouldn't meet again until February 10th. I don't think there was enough time >> and it was already pushed out of policy to the full board. policy committee is different >> today than it was with this and as said we discussed that a long time my recommendation would be to bring it to 27th you have the legislators you have special education it it's a good time to have the the conversation I I agree that nothing needs to be determined on the 27th and I I would wait till February 10th to see where my recommendation uh comes in with the administration um because it's going to test the the policy where we're at. I

146promise you that. Um and it's a worthy conversation, but I think the board definitely needs to land on a policy before they before you present the budget to the board of fun. This would be a question. >> Oh, does that make sense? So we'll talk about it for the 22nd and we'll get some further information out to you and what other research you want to do. So >> nice thing I'm sorry you're good. >> We did invite the board of finance to our meeting on January 27th saying that we're going to have legislators and we're doing a budget workshop. So, and the chair made a very clear yesterday to the members of the board is that and I know I'm paraphrasing is that he would recommend to the board of finance member to attend board

147of education meetings because a lot of his questions that they have are answered at at these meetings. >> That's right. I appreciate that. I'm trying to stay here till 10 to 9. So, thank you. Um, all right. So what we have here is I'd like a motion to move board of education approve policy 6151 class size as a first read as first week that motion. Thank you all. Thank you Frank. So we have first and second further discussion hearing none. All those in favor I said O. We'll go with that. Um I want to thank everybody for the participation. I know it's a little bit longer tonight but thank you all very much. I'll see you on the 27th motion with your Michelle second. Thank you. Appreciate that. All All those in favor.