BOE Meeting 12 9 25

001Thank you for coming. put the rest. You want to do this? >> Yeah, sure. >> Okay, welcome everybody. I call the meeting to order of the Canton Board of Education. This is our regular uh meeting of Tuesday, December 9th, 2025. I want to welcome everybody uh for being here tonight. I want to thank our administrative team. Here is uh Brian Winn is here, our ad Jack Moore, our CI, our CMS uh principal. We have um Barbara McCann is here, our director of pupil personnel, and Rebecca Plutoau, our principal at CIS, and we have some teachers in the crowd. And I just want to thank everybody for being here. Our CEO is also here, Mark Penny. So, I want to welcome everybody for being here for me. So, we're going to kick off with the pledge

002of allegiance and then we have some interesting things to do. So, please stand and join me. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> This is going to be a great meeting because we're going to honor a lot of our students from Canton Intermediate School. And I see them in the back and I'm so excited to see the awards and things that you've uh you've accomplished. But also tonight for our students, you're gonna get to see government in action because tonight we're going to do a couple a couple of things. We have a uh we're going to propose a new board member. We have an opening for for a board position and then

003you're going to see the election of officers on the board of education and then we'll get into our regular meeting. So that's what we're going to start with. So, board of education, um, we had a resignation on the 12th of November, um, with Eric, Erica Hayes, and, um, we put together a little committee to, uh, do some interviews. We had seven very capable, excellent candidates that came forward, um, to, um, to come before the board. But um one one candidate seemed to stand out among amongst the others and he's here tonight and it's Quinton Rucker. So Quinton is here tonight and um the board we went through a process. There was four of us on the committee. It was Jordan, it was Felicia, it was myself and >> my vice chair. So, uh, the four

004of us went through the process and it was unanimous, uh, board of education was unanimous to bring Quinton before you. I've given you and you've seen, uh, his credentials. Uh, I'm going to ask him to maybe come to the front and just give you a little bit of an overview of him himself and, uh, who he is and what he's done and what he's accomplished, what he, uh, his job and so on. And you'll see, I think, from that little bit of a introduction, you'll see that um, I think this committee has got it right. So Clinton, welcome and you can uh come up and and then if the board has any questions, I'll ask the board if uh they can ask any questions, but go ahead. >> Thank you. Um I'm Quickert. I am

005uh the uh proud uh member of the Canton community. Uh I live here with my wife and two children who are uh students here in the Canton public uh school system and have been since the beginning. Uh I saw this opportunity as an opportunity to service my community the and the town of Canton. Uh and what I bring to the table is 25 years as a public educator. I am the executive director of shared services which makes me the special ed director for all five districts in the northwestern regional uh school system. And uh so uh when I came before the board, I explained about my 25 years of public education experience and my deep belief in public education and and my commitment and love for the camp community. So that's what brought me to

006want to serve on the board. I saw this as an opportunity to serve and uh hope hopefully it'll work out well. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. That was great. Um, any questions by the board members? Then I'd ask for a motion. >> I moved that the K board of education appoint as a member of the board of education for a term to expire on December 9th, 2027. >> I have a second. Thank you, Kelicia. Any any discussion for discussion on that? >> I Yes. >> I just wanted to add that we did have five applicants that weren't able to be interviewed, but they did put in a lot of their time. Um and just to recognize that as well. >> Thanks. So yeah. >> Okay. So I have a motion on the floor. Uh

007and the motion is that we move the camp board of education appoint Rickard as the member of the board of education for a term to expire on December 9th, 2027. I have a first and a second. All those in favor by hand, please. Okay. Russell online. Thank you. That makes eight, I believe. 80. And uh that's unanimous. And we're fortunate tonight that the CEO has come to be able to swear you in so you can take a seat at the table and I'll ask CEO Mark Penny to come forward. Right there >> right there's good. >> Please raise your right hands. Do you solemnly swear or sincerely affirm as the case may be that you will faithfully discharge according to the law your duties as a member of camp board of education to which you

008have been elected to the best of your abilities. So help you God for upon penalty of pursuit. >> I do. >> Thank you. Great. >> Welcome to the board of education. I I also want to just note tonight's the first meeting for our newly elected two newly elected members of the board of education. We have Michelle Ful and uh Allison Barker. Ally Barker is on the board of education. Of course, Lisa won her her seat also, but welcome for your first meeting and uh thrilled to have you on the board. So, that's great. All right. Uh, at this point I'm going to turn over the gavl to our superintendent schools because we're going to let the officer in for the next school year, Dr. Bro. So, Mr. Daniels, I'm actually going to do something different.

009I'm actually going to turn the g because I was supposed to be 10 minutes late today and I actually made it on time, but I'm going to turn the gavl over to my assistant superintendent who was prepared to run this meeting to help. So, Mr. Bishop. >> Yeah. No, I'm I'm going to speak loudly for this one. Section 9110 indicates that all officers of the board shall hold office for a term of one year and until their successors are elected and have qualified. Section 9120 indicates the officers of the board shall be the chair, vice chair, and secretary who shall be elected annually by the board at its regular meeting in December. Section 9132 indicates that standing committee shall be appointed by the chair following the election of officers each hearing. It is the recommendation

010that the board conducts the election of the chair, vice chair, and secretary of the board of education by paper ballot and by roll call for those attending virtually. I've reviewed the bylaws of the board of education with regard to annual officer elections and voting for the process of the meeting. The voting will be done by a paper ballots. Please make sure to sign who you are voting for and your name as well. They will be read aloud. I'd like to make a motion to open nominations for chair. >> I'd like to um nominate Joe Shidler for chair. Joe has served as vice chair for as long as I've been on the board. And I've always appreciated his steady, calm, and kind leadership. And I would like to honor that leadership by nominating him for chair.

011And we got a motion for Joe Shidler. Is there a second? Okay, >> motion fails. Uh, I'd like to be able to offer another motion to open nominations for the chair of the Tant Board of Education. >> Mr. Shidler, >> I'm looking for a motion to open nominations or you looking for nominations? >> I'm looking for a nomination. Do I have a second? >> Second, Michelle. Thank you. >> So, Joe Shiver has nominated Blue Daniels for chair of the Canton Board of Education. And Claudia, do we need to do a first and a second from there? Do I have a a first? >> So now we will hold our vote on the approved motion uh for of which Mr. Shyler has nominated Mr. Daniels. Again, you'll need to use the uh the forms in your

012envelopes. You'll need to put down the names and you'll need to also put down your name as well. and then those will be both uh passed to me. After I've read them aloud, then Mr. Bush, I will come to you for your vote. You'll need to say your name aloud and who you're voting for. >> Oh, thank you. All right, I will now read the results aloud. Mr. Rucker votes for Lou Daniels. Miss Barker votes for Lou Daniels. Mr. Shyler votes for Lou Daniels. Miss Sullivan abstains. Miss Jordan votes for Lou Daniels. Miss Koulap votes for Lou Daniels. Mr. Daniels votes for Lou Daniels. And Mr. Sant votes for Lou Daniels. Mr. Bush, please state your name and your vote. >> Russell Bush, I vote for Lou Daniels. >> I believe it is eight with

013one abstension. Congratulations, Mr. Daniels. >> Thank you, Mr. Bishop. So, we'll proceed with the uh with the voting. Now, we will vote for vice chair. Um, and I need a nomination for vice chair. >> I would like to nominate Joe Schneider for vice chair. >> I have the first for Mr. Sher, vice chair, second, Leicia. Thank you very much. Any further discussion? Do I have any other nominations for vice chair? Hearing none, I would ask you to vote on your yellow ballot, please. Thank you. Yeah. Vice Chair, uh, Joe Shiler, Michelle Hulac. for Vice Chair Joe Shiler. Cammy Sullivan for For Vice Chair Joe Shiler, Quinton Rucker. for board vice chair Joe Shiler, Alli Barker. For board vice chair Joe Shiler, Jordan Tusant, board vice chair Joe Shiler, Felicia Jordan for board chair Joe Shiler,

014Joe Shidler for board chair Joe Shidler Daniels vice chair >> vice chair I'm sorry it away >> and I'll ask Mr. Bush and your vote please. >> Mr. Shidler >> okay Joe Shidler. So that makes it unanimous. >> All right. Uh final final uh position is vote for board sec or board secretary. I'll take a nomination for board secretary. >> Kim Sullivan. Do I have a second? I have two. Thank you. Jordan Tusan. Okay. So I have a first and a second. Any other nominations for board secretary? >> Hearing none. I'd ask you to vote on your lavender. Beautiful lavender uh piece of paper. >> Thank you. Thanks very much >> for board secretary Kim Sullivan. Joe Shidler for Board Secretary Kim Sullivan. Quinton Recorder for Board Secretary Kim Sullivan. Alli Barker for Board Secretary

015Kim Sullivan. Kim Sullivan for Board Secretary Kim Sullivan. Michelle Kul secretary Kim Sullivan Felicia Jordan Board Secretary Kim Sullivan Jordan Tusant Board Secretary Kim Sullivan Lou Daniels Mr. Bush >> Kim Sullivan. >> Thank you very much. All right. 80 Kim Sullivan is boarding secretary. >> N sorry I know. Okay. So we now have the um we now have the officers for 2025. And congratulations to Okay, we're going to move now to our presentations. So, I would now pull on you want to do. So, Dr. Gman, please. Super. So, it's great to see everyone here. Very excited to see Can Intermediate School students and families and staff. This is how this is going to work. Mrs. Corteto is going to speak about your your student and possibly some staff members and Mr. Daniels and I will

016be up front shaking hands. Plenty of opportunities to take pictures. You'll be able to get them up front, but then after we'll make sure that you get pictures with the board members and your student. We want to make sure everybody gets that picture that they want. So, Mrs. Cortell So, we have over 330 students at CIS and we've got some of the best of the best with us here tonight. Students were nominated by their teachers and I'm going to start by calling up Kora right now. Kora is worthy of recognition. She worked hard to create a meaningful campaign for Kid Governor. Cora spent time outside of school researching and writing about her platform to inspire others to help the homeless. Her mission was wellreceived among the Canton fifth graders and after a very close race,

017Hora was elected by her peers as the CIS representative in this statewide race for kid governor. Congratulations. For this one, I'm calling up four very talented musicians. Gian Paulo Domenico, Jude Leman, Hudson Tarski, and Vincent Vermillion. on the face of your audience. You're proud. Harmony Winds is an intermediate wind ensemble for advanced middle school and early high school students looking to refine their ensemble skills, technique, and profality repertoire at the University of Hartford. J Paulo, Jude, Hudson, and Vincent took on the challenge and completed the audition process by preparing a solo and a scale to be eligible to perform with the group on Saturdays from September to May. They performed in their first concert this past Sunday on the U-Hart campus representing CISL. >> He looks so sharp. >> Wow. You going to stay? >>

018Yeah. Stay up here for the picture. >> And then even after that. >> And this is for >> for two weeks. >> Jude, you look like a police bro. >> Hudson. How are you? >> Congratulations, >> Vincent. Congratulations. Nice job. Turn around. We're going to get a picture. You want to shake? Yeah. Open up your kids first. >> I'll take two walls. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you guys. We are also going to recognize GP who auditioned against students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade and was chosen to participate in the Northern Regional Musical Festival. Not only was he chosen, but he scored the highest of all tuba players who auditioned. He persevered through some nerves and doubts and proved he very much deserves to be part of Northern Regionals. Congratulations Next, I'd like

019to call up Braden Boy. Yes, Braden. Braden is respectful to everyone each and every day. We can always count on Braden to come to school ready and excited to learn. When he enters the classroom each morning, he immediately gives a warm greeting to his teachers and his classmates. Braden is always observant of those around him, often noticing when a teacher or a classmate may need a kind word or when he can offer his help to others. We notice him always doing this willingly and without hesitation. He shows off his positive, respectful attitude when he eagerly focuses on lessons, works wonderfully with all of his classmates, shows patience, and always takes his work seriously, often challenging himself to exceed expectations. Braden does things simply because they are the right thing to do, never seeking praise. CIS

020is a better place because of all the big and the little ways that he makes such a positive contribution to our school community. We're lucky to have Braden at CIS. Travis Paul, come on up. Travis is consistently respectful of students and his peers. He comes to school each day with a positive mindset. He always follows classroom expectations, engages in learning, and tries his absolute best. He is kind and polite to everyone he encounters. He gets along well with all of his peers equally. He's willing to help teachers and peers and step up as a leader and a role model when necessary. Overall, Travis embodies what it means to be respectful, and we have no doubt he will continue to shine bright and inspire others by being his respectful and fun self. Natalie Jam. Natalie is

021a shining star at CIS. She exemplifies everything that a respectable, responsible role model stands for. She comes to school each day with a positive attitude and a desire to learn. She's a true friend to all with a caring heart. She is respectful, hardworking, passionate. She always gives 100%. Natalie strives to find ways to grow as a learner. She is humble but leads with confidence. And there is no doubt that Natalie will continue to shine bright and will move forward to make the world a better place. Hazel. >> Hazel represents a responsible student in every way. Hazel is extremely responsible in the classroom, leading by example, always setting goals, and resetting to the next level once one goal is attained. She's an extremely responsible classmate. She values all of her classmates and respects all types of

022learners. Her Kid Governor campaign was inspiring and inclusive. She leads by example and helps other students feel like they matter. Hazel also has a competitive side, yet she never lets it get the best of her, and she always accepts a loss in a dignified manner, even if it's a close game of silent ball or pickle. Hazel makes everyone's school day better and inspires us all to be our best selves. We're pleased to nominate Hazel Poach as an example of what responsibility can be. >> Tessa Langden. Tessa truly embodies what it means to be a responsible student and community member. She uses every minute of her day to improve and produce high quality work and turns in all of her homework on time. Tessa takes initiative, beginning her work independently and taking responsibility for her own

023learning needs, assertively yet respectfully seeking support when necessary. Her classmates look to her as a trustworthy source of guidance, knowing she'll respond with honesty, humility, and care. Tessa consistently follows through on her commitments. She comes prepared, listens attentively, and makes the most of her time. Always ready to learn and often ready to teach. Tessa asks sets the standard for responsibility. Hunter Mullins. Hunter has risen to the high expectations set for him this year, showing strong growth academically and a genuine willingness to take on new challenges. His confidence continues to grow and he is steadily becoming a positive leader in the classroom. His effort, maturity, and example inspire those around him to follow his lead. Nice job, Hunter. Matthew Olen. >> Matthew represents the very best of our school community. His constant dedication to learning paired

024with a sincere kindness towards others makes a noticeable impact on everyone he meets. Whether he is following teacher directions, taking part in student council, or being a positive example for his classmates, Matthew consistently shows strong character and quiet leadership. His caring attitude and drive to do his best encourage others to work hard and build each other up. In every setting, Matthew shows what it means to be a respectful, determined, and dependable. He's truly a role model. >> And our last student of the night, Griffin Senator At Kane Intermediate School, everyone knows his name, and for good reason. This sixth grader exemplifies what it means to be a true role model in every sense. He consistently follows directions, treats others with kindness, and chooses to do the right thing simply because it's the right thing, not

025for recognition or for reward. His perseverance through challenges and his positive attitude make him a joy to be around each and every day. He truly embodies the spirit and the values of our school community. Irvin is a student any teacher would be lucky to have in their classroom. And we're counting our lucky stars that he's at CIS this year. I just want to thank all the students for being here. What great accolades and what great achievements you're making. And you know, you have your whole career now in front of you to keep piling on those awards, right? But I want to thank the moms and dads because it's mom and dad that sacrifices and helps you with your homework, make sure you do your homework and all those good things. So I want to thank

026the parents for helping our students because CA is a great place to grow, great place to learn and you make it that way. So I want to thank you all for being here. Thank you. >> Mrs. For and then tire board. We can just go over there. Take as many as you want. Whatever. Foreign speech. Foreign speech. First we Look at me first, then I'll I'll let everybody else take their question. >> It's all you. We'll stay here all good. Congratulations. question. President So trying to get some food. I think it >> goes. I'm back. Okay, I'm going to call the meeting back order and um at this particular time we're going to go to public comment. So anybody in the audience has public comment public comment or online the way the public comment works

027is we ask you to spend three minutes give you give you give us your name and your address and keep in mind that uh the board of education is a meeting that's held in public but it's not for the public. It's a meeting between the board. So, uh, anything that you tell us tonight, we probably will not comment on because it has to be on the agenda and, uh, for the most part, we don't, uh, we don't engage in a give and take on public comment. So, having said that, anybody in the audience that has public comment, >> the wind here, my name is Morning Road. Uh, I'm here tonight to share a concern that I believe is important to both the board and our community. I applied for the board of education vacancy because

028I care deeply about our district and believe it shouldn't be meeting. I was invited to interview but the interview was later cancelled. After the changes were announced, the chair personally contacted some effective applicants to inform them and thank them for their time while others received no communication from the chair at all. I feel the board should be aware of this inconsistency throughout the process. Every Republican applicant as well as every unaffiliated applicant who had changed their registration within the past 90 days was was removed from consideration before interviews even began. To my knowledge, no board of education policy prohibits Republicans from being considered and the public posting for this vacancy explicitly listed Republicans as eligible. The email containing that posting came from the board of ed side and included chair Daniel's signature. Because of that

029public listing, I invested significant time and effort into my application, gathered three letters of recommendation, and even spoke directly with Chair Daniels about my interests and qualifications. Learning afterward that my application and others had been set aside solely because of party registration or recent affiliation changes was deeply disappointing. It effectively excluded entire groups of residents who were willing to serve. Yes, this is a board position, but we are a small town and this application process wasn't strangers interviewing strangers. These were community members who know one another and deserve direct communication from the board. At the end of the day, the made solely by the board of ed and relying on town staff to reach out and handle the board's responsibilities feels like an inappropriate shift in accountability. When I reached out to Chair Daniels for

030clarification, I was told the decision was attributed to the town. I followed up seeking further explanation, but my emails went unanswered. Mark Penny has shared that he was not consulted prior to the posting and was only contacted 2 days before the scheduled interviews. I want to be clear, I fully respect the board's authority to make this appointment. My purpose tonight is not to question the outcome, but to urge the board to ensure urge the bo the board to ensure that future vacancy processes are fair, transparent, and inclusive, and that no group of community community members is ruled out before having the opportunity to be heard. Thank you for your time and the opportunity to >> Anybody else in the audience have anything to say for public comment? Can we go online? I do already have

031a raised hand from Audrey. I'm going to allow Audrey to talk. >> Hi Aubrey. Just identify for the board, please. >> Good evening, Aubrey Blley. Uh, thank you for having me. First, I wanted to welcome and extend my congratulations to the new board members. Thank you for stepping up to volunteer your time and serve our community in this way. I did want to address the board regarding the vacancy appointment. I was not an applicant for the position and I am not expressing any opinion on the individual that was selected. My remark should not be interpreted as criticism of him personally. My concern is with what appears to have been a politically motivated process used to fill the vacancy. On November 17th and on several subsequent occasions, the board of education advertised a vacancy that could

032be filled by any qualified Democrat, Republican, or unaffiliated voter. At no point did the board or town qualify the announcement. I learned that after several Republicans applied for the vacancy and were invited to interview, they were subsequently told that the position could only be filled by a Democrat or unaffiliated voter. I have read the pertinent statutes, the charter, and the board's own policies. Nowhere is there any party affiliation limitation for the board of ed vacancy appointment when that appointment is being made by the board of education. Because of the decision to exclude Republican electors, the board's process did not ensure that all qualified applicants had a fair opportunity to be considered. The decision appears politically driven, which is regrettable since the board and our schools should operate in a politically neutral and nonpartisan manner focused

033on the best interests of our students. I'm disappointed that the board has acted in a politically biased manner in filling this vacancy. And I'm concerned that when the board openly expresses its political bias, it will inevitably trickle down into our schools. Thank you. >> Anybody else online would like to speak? >> I have a raised hand from T. Blley. I'm going to allow >> Tom Gladley. Just identify yourself in the board, please. Tom, if you're trying to speak, you just have to unmute first. Okay. >> Thank you. Tom Bradley, 39 Far Drive. Uh, I'd like to express my deep concern and disappointment regarding the board's exclusion of Republican electors from consideration recently board vacancy. I was not a applicant for the position. The decision to unilaterally exclude Republican candidates from consideration after specifically advertising the

034vacancy has been open to registered Democrat, Republican or unaffiliated electors and can in public announcements on at least November 17th and November 25th, 2025 is not supported by the Connecticut General Statutes, the town of Ken charter, or the board's bylaws and policy. Regrettably, that politicized decision, among other things, deprived the board of the opportunity to consider and interview multiple qualified Republican candidates who had the potential to add value to the board and through it in public schools in the town of Canton. Generally, politics should have no part in board decision-m publicly soliciting applications from Democrat, Republican or unaffiliated electors to fill the board vacancy and then privately excluding Republican electors from consideration without any justification appears deceptive, politicized and raises other constitutional concerns. This board is no stranger to faulty vacancy uh filling. The most

035recent position that this board filled violated the Connecticut General Statutes when it violated minority representation statute and filled a vacating Republican member with an unaffiliated which this board essentially had to undo or effectively was void ads. I not sure what's driving or motivating this board other than pure politics, but it's bad. There were many qualified Republicans, including at least one, who had about three decades of experience representing school boards. Um, and that this board now doesn't have that opportunity to consider that applicant. Um, I don't know what else to say regarding the sports decision- making. Uh, but I I just disagree with it and I don't think it's in line with the general statutes or your own bylaws or policies or the town charter. town charter does not provide uh for this board how it

036this board fills its uh vacancy. That's driven by the general statutes. And I'm not sure where you received your advice or how you made that decision, but the decision that was made is not supported by the law. Thank you. >> Anybody else online who would like to speak? >> I don't have any other race. >> Okay. All right. Let's move on. Uh from the chairman's corner, I would just mention to everybody that um today there was a a cave conference cave forums which Alli and Michelle attended and it allowed them to uh to get a indoctrination on what's expected of a board member, what the process is and so on and so forth. It was a well um extremely well done um forum and at the same time I was at a leadership side event

037leadership forum on the other side and I was there uh had some great conversation we learned some more things about AI which we'll share down the road but uh it was great forum by cave and it's one of the reasons why I think our membership really pays off in the uh in the long run. So, um, other than that, I don't think there's anything else, um, from the chair standpoint to report tonight. Um, so I will now turn it over to the superintendent for his announcement. >> Super. Thank you, Daniels. Uh, good to see everyone. I do also want to welcome our new board members tonight and especially Sis Cortto who were able to visit her school last week and she'll give a brief update tonight on her continuous improvement plan. And also tonight I'll

038be presenting our forecasted memo which is our forecasted budget. It's not my final budget. It's just where I am today at December 9. I also want to let everyone know there's a lot of exciting things that are going on right now in our schools and I know Mrs. Nardy put out there the the calendar of events. I would encourage you to get involved in these events and and bring your families and go watch the the band concert and the choir concert last week and the week before for the high school was unbelievable and the the kids are working really hard. Tomorrow we have our middle school concert and I know people are really nervous a little bit about the snow. Um I'm not that nervous about the snow for tomorrow. Uh Mr. Rucker may have

039to deal with that and the Northwest a little bit on the line of it. So I'm not that worried about the snow. But tomorrow is our middle school concert that I would encourage people to attend. We have early release for professional development this week. We have our walkth through next week at the Cherbrook Primary School. So I would encourage everyone if you can that's December 16th at 8:30 to 10:30 at Sherrybrook. That's when you really get the insight of the continuous improvement plan and you actually get to see it in action. So I encourage most of um if not all our board members Quinton for you that's one of our other meetings that we have during the month where it's actually at the school. So, we allow board members to go into classrooms, ask questions

040of teachers, ask questions of the administrators. It's really an intimate board meeting, open to the public, and we've had come on those walks, too. And then we also have, and I'm sure the the boys will speak about it, the the camp um expo for and Lucas has already given me the nod so I won't steal his thunder, but there's a lot of things that are going on that I would encourage you to attend those meetings. I also want to let you know and I'll let the the chair um speak about this if you would like that tomorrow night there's a town meeting and the town meeting is for the appropriation for our overage of special education funds. >> So I don't know Mr. Daniels if you want to add to that. So yeah of course

041Mrs. Robin has been um and and Mr. Bush uh from the finance committee side of things has been keeping um us up to date on uh last year's deficit. Uh it took until the audit which was completed about when in October >> we still working on it right now but but we have a number but we have the so it takes so even though the books close on um June 30th uh and then we have to go through the auditing process and of course um as you know this year we're running a little bit of a deficit. Last year we ran into deficit. So therefore it requires the town uh to uh and the board of finance has agreed to this to um the town has to come back and approve the money out of

042the um out of the um fund fund balance. Thank you. Out of fund balance. So that's what the vote is on tomorrow and uh if any any of the boards can make it it's great that you can be there to support it. I'm sure there might be some questions in the crowd but u any questions for me? thought somebody totally was 7 but I think it's typically 7 p.m. But you know what? No, no, because it is a town meeting. So I think it is 6:00 and they're going to hold it right before the board meeting. >> Okay. So the >> at 6:30 or >> No, no, it's they're going to start it at 7. >> Okay. And then the day >> we'll have Claudia confirm that before we leave tonight, but I'm pretty I

043was told seven. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Yeah, I do. I don't know if this the P bring it up or not. I have a question suggestion about the meeting schedule we adopted at the last meeting and I apologize to letting you go till now. Uh I was wondering how the board and you felt about uh changing the walkth through schedule so that we eliminate the December walkth through the one at the end of September, two in October, one in November. the December meeting a difficult time for a lot of people and then the weather could issue possibility as well but just throwing it out for we certainly the reason that we do it in January if December is a will be here January 13th at our next meeting. So what we

044were trying to do is get that walkth through before his meeting because if you remember one time his was after and he wanted it before. So we have to try to get it in between Rebecca's time in CIS until the that first board meeting. So we could look at it again. We certainly could do it the the week that we come back in in January next year. We have connection in November. He wants to push it sooner. >> Did the high school at the end of September, intermediate school, middle school in October, Cherry Brook in November. >> I don't have the rest of the board. I asked a couple of folks, but I don't have the rest of the board. >> We We have time to if we're going to amend. So, why don't you

045just consider that for for a little bit? Go back to >> as true as October. we started in a second. >> So, we've already um adopted that that calendar. So, what would need to happen is we just need to go back and and amend it or what we could do is you cancel those meetings >> and we would do special meetings if which is fine, >> which is fine. >> Yeah, I would I I would want to talk to Mr. Deipo um to see um where he is with the September one. Yep. Anything else for superintendent? >> 7 p.m. 7 p.m. John just spelled it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Let's move to the assistant superintendent report. Super. This is a conference season and consultant season. Uh we've enjoyed the parent teacher conferences uh in

046November and uh even up into this past week and tonight with some gaming parent teacher conferences going on over at Cherry Brook Primary School. Uh we appreciate the flexibility based on weather and the understanding from our community. We also appreciate community feedback based on our calendar and um appreciate the board's deliberation on that as well. Uh we've also engaged in a number of uh instructional leadership walkthroughs with our instructional leadership team across the district. We're working to be able to improve our feedback overall and align our practices to our consolation. Our vision for high quality instruction has been phenomenal. Uh I also want to be able to share uh an exciting thing for us. Um we've been doing a lot of really hard work digging into data to support improvement. Mr. Mo and I have

047the opportunity again to be able to present uh at uh now the CAS new administrator's uh presentation on Thursday around the state data system and the use and educational leadership. And again it's wonderful when the hard work that we do as part of everyday work becomes something that can be shared out to the rest of the state as well. There are a lot of really great things that are happening within the camp public schools and we're thrilled to be able to have that be magnified out. I'll take any questions out of my office right now. >> Any questions for the assistant superintendent for anything? >> Thank you for that, Mr. Bishop. Okay, student reps, you're on. >> All right. Uh start at the high school. Um winter sports started up and we had a winter

048sports meeting on the night of December 2nd. And a special thank you to Mr. went um for the smooth transition to these winter sports and CICD competitions beginning next week. Uh the band and choir concerts were on uh November 18th and November 24th respectively. Uh they were widely attended by family and staff in the community. They were overall a rousing success. This past weekend um on December 15th the club participated in UHart uh their annual meeting. Nine students were able to participate from canon and one student was actually selected to be on the U-Hart leadership council and ran their own room as a dis. So that's a very impressive accomplishment. Uh upcoming for the high school prisons is coming up a theme wasn't it was announced last concert I can tell you all now. Uh

049earth wind fire and water is our theme and the concert is scheduled for uh January 31st. The senior camp expo is December 17th next week. Uh most students have completed their project work already and are presenting through their classes right now for feedback and we're all looking forward to presenting our camp projects on the 17th. There's a school or a schoolwide uh pep rally on December 19th this upcoming Friday. First time in two years. We're all very excited. Student council has worked with Mr. Glenn again to organize that and students are pumped for the opportunity. Science Olympiad has its first competition this weekend on December 13th in South Windsor. There's about 30 students attending, which I'd like to say is a huge improvement from only eight students that were able to attend uh two years

050ago. So, that club is growing and thriving. Um lastly, chamber singers will be caroling in town on December 19th. Uh they'll going to town hall, River Ridge, the Camp Center Church, CIS, uh primary school, and the A1 Canton Rotary. Moving on to the middle school. Uh, in the past, seventh and eighth graders went to winding trails for low ropes courses, challenges, and team building activities. The CMS library hosted practice gratitude sessions throughout November, helping students write thank you notes and create gratitude journals. And the CMS Warrior Squad hosted a food drive to benefit the Canton Food Bank collecting almost 800 items, which is their highest total ever. And coming up soon are the CNS winter concerts which are tomorrow night, 8th grade at 6:30 p.m. It's I believe 7:35 p.m. >> Very good. Excellent. Anything

051for Lucas where he's just provided? >> I do. Um the concerts were excellent. They were supposed the highlight was the guest director. >> Yes. Yeah. >> It was a raffle if you wanted to have a chance to direct the last song. was >> the young man who was chosen was quite amusing but but that aside the concert was really terrific >> from what I've heard and that might be continued and and you might see that opportunity at band con so there >> I'm not interested they were teasing me about that >> if you haven't ever been to the camp expo I'm sure some of you have it's really really you've been all and it's really you an hour on the 17th. It's quite interesting to talk to the kids and see what they they've come

052up with. It's worth an hour of your time if you have it. That's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Sha. >> John, thank you. Um I will start with Cherry Book. >> In Cherry Brook there, they had their Veterans Day celebration. Students honored and learned veterans during their annual school event. And this week or on Sunday, there was also uh talk about some of the the the of the anniversary of Pearl Harbor on December 7th. Um in student council drives, they they hosted a food drive for the Cton Food Bank and partnered with the Canton Police toy drive. Additionally, parent conferences was also held as the final fall conferences were completed around today, including some makeups from last week's since due to the weather cancellation. um community community circles and art display as um the

053fifth grade artwork by Miss Costello's classes is displayed um around town's places like the exporting goods um the bag chillet and Duncan as well as the flute performance in Lasal market um was held um over the weekend. Moving on to CIS parent teachers conferences was also wrapped up giving families teachers and giving families and teachers some time to review progress and some um following steps along with uh along with the uh sorry uh the PJ day held at students and staff were held in support of the Connecticut Children's Medical Center and a holiday toy drive for um sorry for the can police department. Yeah. Moving on to the CIS walkthrough. Um at CIS, Lucas and I were lucky enough to attend the CIS board of ed walkthrough and seeing how teachers are using various skills

054and techniques and implementing them within the classroom. We saw how students are actually learning within their classroom. Um, this includes including student engagement and teamwork with working with other classmates. Not only Lucas and I are privileged enough to take a little field trip, but as representatives, we are very blessed that we are more included with the board's activities amongst this um amongst our district. In the future, Lucas and I are eager to attend more board of ed activities like this. Um that being said, if the cherry walkthrough is in December, we would love to invite you to >> Sure. Okay. Thank you very much, Jonathan. Any questions for Jonathan? Okay. Thank you very much for that report. All right. On to the business manager report and the approval of November 2025 financial assessment. Mr. Robin.

055>> Great. Thank you. Um this evening um we will talk about the the end of November um and the results. We are still unfavorable um but we are at 4221 342,000 would be $221 which is um roughly $50,000 better than the previous month. Um we split that between general education and special education. Um, general education is forecasted to be favorable, $19,120, which is um roughly 16,000 better than the previous month. And special education is forecasted to be um although unfavorable at 361,341. Um this is a favorable change from the previous month by about $34,000. Um some of the notable items that have shifted um in the month of November. Um we always start with special education and tuition um transportation favorable shift this month and and that is um some minor adjustments in student placements.

056Um another notable item in the salaries benefits for the district which represent roughly 80% of our budget. um they do continue to be favorable at this time. Um and we've had a positive adjustment in our benefits um which is where our taxes and our family taxes um reside. We do do an adjustment periodically. Our substitutes um budget is um projected to be over budget um with lots of um leaves, medical leaves this year um more than usual. So um we will have a variance there. And um lastly, our um transportation um and tuition for our Boaz schools um was projected based on um the history and trends that earn enrollment um had more run in that area. So our um tuition and our transportation bar this year and those are the highlights. >> Let's just

057add something else. So, we have a few uh new board members. So, I just want to make sure that I kind of give a little overview even though we had a finance committee meeting this morning, but with two or three of you that are relatively new, the the special education account, the reason that we're over in that and this is now two two years, maybe even three years, is it's not because of poor budget. It's all because when we submit our budget in February, March, things changed. And what really changed was in July and August, we had new students that came into our district. And not only were they in our district, but they were outplayed students already. So the the director of people services forms a PPT team and really analyzes what's the best

058placement. So, we've been riding that 300 350 since the beginning of July, August, relative to special education. And we've been reporting that to the board of finance since the since their their first meeting in July in August. And the talk at the board of finance now and some of you either were at the meeting or you um watched meeting is to really look at the special education arena knowing that this keeps happening to us. And it's not because we're budgeting poorly. It's because we're not budgeting for future students that may come in. So I'm not budgeting for an additional three or four students. on bud budgeting for what we have now. So the board of finance as we are working through the budget process that's going to be a a big discussion by the board

059of finance of how they want us to look at special education and do they want to put it in our budget or they've been leaning on a possible contingency within their fund balance that would be able to go back into the the fund balance. So, this is something that I don't want anybody to think that this is something that is new. We've been riding this since the the very beginning of the school year and now it's two years that we've been riding um this deficit relative to new students um coming in. So, I'll take any questions on that. Any questions for the superintendent? Good. Okay. All right. Thank you for that. Um so now I need um I need a motion that the camp board of education approve the 20 the November 2025 financials as

060presented. May I have that motion? Thank you Jordan. A second. Thank you Felicia. So I have a first and second. Any discussion further on the uh on the November 2012 financials is presented. Okay. Hearing none. Uh the motion is to move the camp board of education approve the November 2025 financials is presented. All those in favor? I Russell. None. Okay. Thank you very much. Now I know. Thank you very much. All right. Let's move on to new business. >> Quick question. I was waiting to go through all the reports to see if there would be answers before I two quick questions. One for you. Are we having subcommittee assignments given tonight? >> No, >> we're not. Okay. >> No, I got I got to pick some. >> Okay. So that and then um is there

061any appetite by the board to have I think it would fit in here the best maybe a quarterly um PTO update because the PTO at >> I can help you out. I'm going to assign I'm assigning somebody to be a PTO liaison. So I I so that's a great suggestion. Okay, >> we're going to have somebody it'll be a monthly report somebody just to check in with the PTO to see what's going on. >> Okay, great. But thank you for that. >> Okay. Yep. >> Anything else? >> Does it? >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um, continuous improvement plan updates. Um, can't intermediate school. >> Okay. >> Thank you. So, I just want to tee this up a little bit too. I I I know for some of you this is repetitive, but

062we have new board members, so I just want to make sure that we understand from the administration standpoint of what we do. So the continuous improvement plans which are in your packet and each of you were provided before um you go into the school we always email that out to you the continuous improvement plan. So tomorrow or Thursday you'll probably you will get an email from Claudia that will give you the tomorrow I should say the Cherry Brook primary continuous improvement plan. So the hope is before you go into this cherrybrook next week that you're able to read that continuous improvement plan because they'll spend about an hour with you going through that continuous improvement plan really looking at data really analyzing what's happening in the school and that's what happens on the school business.

063Tonight, Rebecca just gives or the principal, it's now Rebecca, will give a very highlevel depiction of the school improvement plan. So, when we do the walkthroughs, those are really the times that you're engaging with the principal, you're engaging with the staff that is there and you're actually able to see that. But you'll always get the continuous improvement plans the week before your walkthroughs, but you'll also get it, just in case you didn't get to read it, you'll get it in the packet when the principal is here tonight. So Rebecca, I don't want you to think Rebecca for the new board member said she's going to be up here talking for about an hour about her continuous improvement, but she's already done that. She's actually done it for two and a half hours. Um, tonight she'll

064probably be speaking about five over back about five minutes. and just a highlevel part of for continues to improve employment. And of course, she'd answer any questions that that you may have. Mr. Scone, >> good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to share again a little bit our about our school goals and our priorities. As I shared at our last meeting at CIS, this year's goals reflect both our continued commitment towards excellence and building upon the solid foundation of several consecutive years of positive growth that we've been experiencing. Our foremost priority remains uh student growth and achievement. Our first goal, we will continue deepening our professional learning and around high quality instruction and strengthening teacher capacity through internal and external development. This includes embedding strategies that promote cognitive engagement, implementing rigorous performance tasks, and aligning

065our reading and writing workshop model with the science of reading. Across grades four through six, we are expanding explicit phonics, morphology, and non-fiction reading and writing instruction while ensuring intervention supports align tightly with students individual needs. We all know and agree that a thriving school is built through strong relationships, which is why partnerships and community engagements remains a core focus of ours. We will maintain meaningful opportunities for families to participate in academic, social, and emotional initiatives. Our new welcome center in the entrance way of our building will help visitors feel informed and connected, while our unit level communications will keep families aware of what students are learning in the classroom. We will continue celebrating positive choices through our star of the day and maintain a positive social media presence. In addition, our pilot partnership with

066the Kon Police Department will bring DARE lessons to our sixth graders, supporting responsible decision-making. We continue to be committed to financial sustainability and efficient operations, ensuring that our school continues to operate responsibly and strategically. This includes implementing purchase and replacement cycles, monitoring class sizes, and contributing to the district's 5-year capital improvement plan. Regular review of achievement, attendance, and behavioral data will guide decisions and ensure our resources directly support instruction and student success. We will develop a compreh develop and implement a comprehensive professional development plan that supports both certified and non-certified staff in support of the learning environment and sense of belonging where students feel safe, supported, and well known. We will continue core community building practices such as our morning meeting, closing circle, grade level lunch, and grade level recess times. And our advisory program

067will emphasize responsibility this year. While schoolwide interventions will be shaped by data reviewed by our school climate and culture committee, our commitment to embracing diversity reinforces the belief that all students and families bring value to our community. We believe that all students deserve access to highquality curriculum and a high quality instruction. So, our efforts to continue to build and expand teacher repertoire supports our goal in this area. And lastly, our focus on workforce development supports the professionals who make all of this possible. In many of our goal areas, both here tonight and on our visit at CIS, I spoke about professional development. Uh, planning for and the implementation of our professional learning opportunities for all staff is vital to our improvement plan across all six goal areas. Our mission is consistent. Our goal is to

068foster a vibrant collaborative school community where students grow academically, socially, and emotionally with continued partnership, deliberate planning, and a shared belief in our students. We look forward to another year this year of meaningful growth and achievement. I thank you all for your support and your commitment to CIS and to all the schools here in K. And at this point, we'll open and take any questions that you have for me. >> Any questions for Mrs. or so or fees at like they saw last week. I'm sorry. >> I was going to ask the question, but I will say it was always a wonderful visit. Saw a lot of you know active engagement with students and great things going on. So, thank you for welcoming us in. Um and the responsive classroom practices about like approximately how

069much of a staff is trained like do you have certain trained and then they support and guide others? >> We do. So we have a handful of teachers who have been formally trained. Uh two summers ago we sent a teacher to be formally trained. Um we've when we hire individuals um we prioritize those who have been trained or are trainers themselves. We're fortunate to have one on staff. So, we do use like a train the trainer model um spread them out throughout the grade level so that we can bring that back to both our morning meeting and our closing circle activities. >> Joe, just a quick comment. It was a wonderful visit. As Kim just said, um you and a couple of your staff members, if I remember correctly, made a presentation about the uh

070data, your analysis of the data was impressive. Okay. your understanding of the data and where to go with it. also impressive uh what you told us we'd see instructionwise uh in the classroom we saw uh you know that it wasn't wasn't a show for us cuz I don't know who knew we were coming anyway and it was in and out and uh you get a real feel for a school you spend a couple hours there classes and all very very positive experience so thank you for all you do >> thank you >> anyone else thank Thank you, Rebecca. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate you. >> Okay, this uh tonight we're going to kick off we got a little bit of a taste of it um in our previous meeting, but tonight we start to kick

071off the uh drill down time and say budget spending. So, we'll turn this over to Dr. Ger. So going to be that teacher that says just don't turn the second page to third page just some of you are just looking for the number and like five of you have the number already so I would just ask you to just stay with me so I can explain everything that's going on here but I know some of you just going to turn a page >> right thank you so this is I introduced this to Canton when I arrived here as your superintendent of schools. The the forecasted budget is not my final budget. I need to make that really clear to the the board, to the community. This is just where we are at this moment in

072time. This is giving you like almost a midyear update of where we are. Everything's in, but there's still a lot of things to be looked at. But what I like to do with budgets is to be real transparent with you and really transparent with the community of where we are as a school district. And you'll see for the past couple meetings, we've actually had budget workshops on our agenda. And we'll have a budget workshop after I present this tonight. And the the the key is after it becomes the administration's budget, it is your budget. It's no longer the administrative budget. It's not the superintendent's job or my administrator's job to sell the budget to the town. It's our job to bring to you what we feel that we need as a district and really what's

073going to support the the students of Canon. It's your job to say if you agree with that and what can we afford as a a town and as a community. So, this document is not the budget book. So, for those of you that are used to seeing budget books and every line item, you'll get that, but you're not going to get that tonight. This is just an overview of where we are with some highlevel things within our budget. The most exciting thing that I could actually say for this superintendent of schools was I was able to really align this budget with your strategic plan. So now you could go out into the community and ground your own budget in the strategic plans and the goals. And that's what's on page number one. What you also

074need to understand is in the first parag in the last paragraph on page one is that this budget really has some fiscal financial challenges including contractual obligations, increasing of health care costs, increasing of special education costs and a big one which is not new is loss of grant funding as well as as small capital needs. So those were highlevel aspects to this budget. The administrators and some of them are here tonight and some of them may be online did a wonderful job with this budget. They really understood that where we are as a town. They really understood where we are as a district. They took the process seriously. And I I got to commend them. And when we met last week, when they saw this forecast memo, I did the same commending them on the

075the budget that they put together. And I I I'll say it before. Um I've said it before without Claudia Nardi and uh Anna Robbins, who I I would have to say is one of the best business managers in the state of Connecticut, that this wouldn't happen. This wouldn't happen. And you know I I you can utilize my mind but I'm not putting a document together like this without the administrative team and without Anna and everybody I'm only as good if I'm good without the people without the people behind me and next to me and with me. Um it wouldn't happen and the administrative team is unbelievable. Page two, some of the fixed costs are contractual obligations. And this board does a a great job with negotiating contracts. Certified staff for next year. They're up advanced

076one step with a 2.7 2.78 increase. Administrators staff were appropriate with a 3% increase. PAR educators, tutors, building substitutes, and monitors 3.25% increase. Secretarials and custodial maintenance contracts were negotiated in fiscal year 26 with a 3.25 increase. So, we have that's a big piece of what we're talking about here tonight. Retirements, no retirements at this time. Health and benefits. And I I thank um Jordan for being part of the the insurance committee. And what I've been told right now is that I should plan on a 20% increase over where we were last year. And you'll see the exact number when we get to the next page. That's a lot. And we're hoping possibility that it may go down, but we'll have to see. That's >> because it was 20% the year ago. >> Correct. Correct.

077So, we'll see where that lands. Insurance and property liability, a 5% increase, and it's in the second year of a three-year negotiated rate. Electricity, heating oil, natural gas, and propane, as we all know, we're forecasting a 3% increase offset by projected decrease in heating oil costs. special education and and again this number is for what we have now. Okay, I come back in February and that 293,970 which is a8%.84% increase. I'll say it could be 150,000 or it could be 500,000. So right now it is at $239,000 and most of it is if not all of it is for out of district expenses due to district placements. Athletics includes transportation increase of 2.5 and coaches salary increase. Transportation including fuel 2.5% increase which is a contract offset by a decrease in diesel fuel. This budget

078has um increases in instructional supplies within technology which was supported by open choice and I'll explain what's happening in open choice when we get to that page of loss of revenue with open choice facilities and maintenance reflects an increase in custodial supplies. As you know, this year we're running low on supplies and our maintenance count is um short due to things that are breaking. Tech services, professional development, travel meetings. As was discussed at the walkthrough, this budget does include a $20,000 increase in professional development. That'll be something that we'll have to talk about. I asked the board at that meeting if you because you remember last year we cut 20,000 as part of the cut that we had to do and I asked the board at the walkthrough, should we put it back in and

079see what it looks like? Well, that $20,000 is in here. enrollment for next year is going to be uh at 1391, which reflects a decrease of 11 students from this year according to enrollment specialist Peter Prader. We'll talk about that in a little bit. Open choice. This is the big one. I didn't expect this. We continue to maximize student support certified non-certified supplies with funds to us through the open choice program. For this upcoming year, we'd expect to have 10 fewer students in open choice coming from to us from the city of Harvard. That's due to a few things. Number one, we're losing students to graduation. Number two, we're not accepting any kindergarten students anymore due to our own enrollment with our own kindergarten that if we accept more, it will put more sections in.

080So, we're anticipating that that's going to be a loss of $150,000. That is within this budget of that I had to account for of $150,000. If you go to page three, this is the chart that really says everything regarding our budget. If you remember at the tri board, and I know some of you just went right into that number, if you remember the tribe board, we came in predicting that we would be almost 9%. On this day on December 9, just December 9, we're at 6.62. I can guarantee that that number in February, when do I have to present the final budget in February? February. It's not going to be 6.62. It could be higher. It could be lower. We're going to talk about a few things tonight that can make that number fluctuate, but

081this is where I am today. So, if you look, salaries alone, I'm going to take you through this chart. Salaries alone are 2.96. Health and benefits of $331,000 increase is.95% increase over last year. This is over last year. Insurance prop uh property liability is 02, transportation 09, electricity, heat, oil, natural gas and propane. just those categories just out of the gate to open up next year with what we have is 4.08 increase over last year's budget. Then when you add in special education of an increase of 293,000 over last year for 084, you combine those two numbers right out of the gate. If my math is correct, which I think it is, what is that? 4.92. Okay, so right out of the gate, we're 4.92. Then when you start looking at athletics, educational technology, reference

082books, facilities and maintenance, travels and meetings, these are all the things that are going into the operational budget within the schools and within the departments. It's a 089 That's not much. You'll see later on that CIS's budget's actually lower than it was last year. What is interesting is the next thing.44 personnel move from grants. this 193,000 what then makes up is the $150,000 lost from open choice and 40 roughly $43,000 of a mental health grant that we received for a social worker. So I had to move staff from open choice back into our operational budget and I'll explain that in a minute. But you could see this budget also reduce $223,000 almost $224,000 of certified staff. So this budget does include a reduction of two certified staff members across this district. I'm not prepared at

083this time to say what they're going to be. We're analyzing that as an administrative team, but I did account for $223,000 of 2.0 FTE certified staff being reduced. If you go back to my forecasted memo last year, I predicted based upon enrollment that that's what we would be doing. That's what's important about a forecasted memo is we're forecasting five years out. So I forecasted last year that our student enrollment will be dropping. So when you drop student enrollment, there's going to be reduction in staff. And then you could see here's another big item at $184,000 which is.53. This is the the funds that we had to take over from the town if you recall. And for the new board members, there were shared individuals between the town and the school. The town shifted them to

084just be board of educ. They're just board of education employees now, but we have to take over the salary cost. So, our superintendent and buildings and grounds and our HR and benefits, which was a shared position, now comes into our budget. So this is how we came up with a 6.62 with a total forecast budget of a little over $37 million. So what makes this up? We go to the next page and Mr. Bishop does an incredible job of really looking at enrollment and we probably go overboard with this a little bit that besides doing it ourselves, we asked two organizations to assist us. Peter Prada, who used to do enrollment projections for the state of Connecticut, provides us numbers, and that's who we're basing it on. And then we're also working with Nestec um

085to base our numbers on now. But this is where we're at. We're projecting a decline of 11 students in fiscal year 27. The big number that everybody wants to look at is the bottom of that chart, the last row, and that's kindergarten. If you remember last year at this time, we were told that we were going to receive >> that was 130 >> 130 kindergarteners. >> Well, as we were going through the budget process, we were landing on like 80 85. Then it kept going up to 90 and then we landed on 106. and we budgeted appropriately for the amount of sections because we kind of didn't really listen to the enrollment specialist reports. We kind of did our own little science in kindergarten. What they're predicting is now 104 for us for next year

086of kindergarten. So, we really got to look at that number. and Amy, Barbara, and John are really going to be looking at those numbers and starting in January and going January, February, March, and try to nail down and reach out to the preschools, reach out to families to see where that number may land because that's a big part of our budget. But you can see that the big line is the total prek through 12. And this is actually opposite of what was projected prior to my arrival with hip enrollment where everybody thought enrollment was going to be going up. Enrollment is actually going to be decreasing. So you could see the actual right now is around is 1402. By the time 23 we're going to be down to 1,332 students. So if anybody asks if

087April projecting we're looking at a declining enrollment throughout and you'll see in the next uh the next page next couple pages how I'm preparing for that. So that's our enrollment and then you're probably wondering well what are we going to do for sections? How many sections of this? How many sections of that? We're not there yet. You'll get that when I present my my final budget. We really got to analyze the student needs and the board of ed looking at their policy and for class size and how we're going to put it in our budget book is whatever amount of sections we do K through six we're going to support in writing in our budget book why we determined that that would be the perfect amount of sections. So you can see five years out

088or four years from now or three years from now, excuse me. Right now we're at 6.62. If we just move things forward, we're looking at 2728 to be approximately 5.9, 4.87, and 4.8, and 2930. What we've also done is done an analysis of our special education increase from 22 all the way to 26.7 with an average of 5 years of a 22.62% increase in special education cost. That's a lot. And that's not in my mind that should not be on the heels of the town of Kansas. the state needs to come up with more funds to assist us with special education. If you go to the next page, you can see this is proposed staff. You see there's not there's no new proposed staff by any of the administrators. None. And what you can see

089though is we did have to add and I had a one of our finance committee members wanted me to keep harping on this so I will I put it here twice. We had to add a benefits coordinator and a superintendent in buildings and grounds to our budget. It's 185 about $190,000 for us. That's a little over a half of a percent. But just reminder, this budget also to be determined has an elimination of 2.0 certified staffing. The next page out of page six and this is a lot of information and I'll provide how it all works, the questions and everything is the feedback that we need to get from you, but this is something new that we added to the to the memo. It is really outlining projected staffing changes for the upcoming years but

090also looking at it from the possibility of the loss of grant funding also. So you can see for we are reducing grant funding by 08 because we have to pick it up in operation. Everybody follow how that worked? So grant funding, we're losing $193,000. We're cutting two positions, but we're sliding it over for the operational, but there's still elimination of two positions. In 2728, I feel that we're going to again reduce our staff by 2.0, but we're also going to be losing what I'm predicting $60,000 more in open choice. And we also are going to lose $100,000 in staffing from the commissioners network grant. If you recall, we've received over the past three years over $900,000 from the state of Connecticut for being involved in the commissioners network grant. We have staffing that we're really

091going to have to look at to that are part of that grant that could be eliminated the cost of that grant. That's why I've said to you before some of the things that anytime you receive grant money, you have to determine is it a one-time cost, is it a something that's going to be long-term cost or something that's going to be sunseted. So, these are all the things that administrators are going through right now u actually to say what is going to sunset, what's going to be long-term, and what's going to be um a longtime expense. And then in 28 29 I anticipate that we're going to cut $175,000 out of operational and reduce staff by 2.0 and then we're going to lose $25,000 of open choice funding. 2930 two more and I'm not classifying

092if they will be certified or non-certified. Um for those years we really got to look at things. And then 30 31 another elimination of staff. So, we're going align with exactly what we forecasted last year with staff reduction. I'm just not prepared in the out years to say if it's going to be certified or non-certified. On the next page, page seven, it gives you some of the things that are making up this budget and that are driving the budget from the schools and from technology and special ed and athletics. this budget. I'm not going to say this is a flat budget because it's not. It's not. Anytime you say that it's a flat budget, it means there's really no increase to anything. When you have increases to things just based on cost of things, it's

093not flat. So, I term it these are things that we have already and there's increases on it that we use the consumer price index which is a little under three right now. So that's what we were using within the the budgets for the administrators. But some of the things that you're going to um see in in this bullet form, for example, at Cherry Brook, we did get an art kiln that was donated to us by uh several organizations and we need to get some supplies for the art kiln. the the science of reading which was an unfunded mandate for Cher Brook Primary School. We need to start purchasing the the materials. The state gave us a grant for one year but they don't give us a grant for any years after that even though it's

094mandated by the state. PreK supplies are net neutral when you see the the final budget because Cherbrook supplies went up but CIS supplies went down because we had one preschool ad CIS last year. Now they're both at Cherry Brook. Increase in classroom furniture due to the the thrive program at um at Cherry Brook. CIS was probably the easiest budget that we did. Um they had a decreasing instruction applies and materials based on enrollment. Um there was nothing. Rebecca's just moving that school forward with what they have now and it's just a consumer price index on it. the middle school. Um, we need to increase by $1,100 to budget for eighth grade promotion ceremony. And then there's an increase of 6,952 for audio equipment needed for a student. CHS, there's textbooks, new textbooks, which is about

095$15,000 lower than last year, but that will be taken out of the open choice. And if you recall for the board members, I'll come back here on January 13th and provide you an open choice budget also that will list out how we're spending our open choice funds. That's actually we think we're done with the forecast memo. Yep. We started tomorrow with open choice budget and getting that sheet. And Claudia laughs because that was the last thing I told her before I walked out the door today. Um CMS. Um, oh, this is another big one. Instructional supplies will increase at the high school due to our students were actually paying for art classes and for >> the tech ed and they shouldn't have to do that. Like they just should not have to do that. So,

096we put in an extra 4,300 for them. Um, we just shouldn't be charging families for that. PPS uh Washington DC trip by we need to send five by parents um just based upon the the student needs that was an increase of 47,000 4700 excuse me professional development for our nurses professional development for new CPAT teachers and then you'll see um in our small capital uh drive uh room dividersformational technology that aligns with our strategic plan to have a parent community hub platform. Many schools around us have establishment that looks a lot better than our power school. So now Mr. Bishop and his um Mr. Macho are working together to boost up our communication with it in powers school technology software increased 1,500 for Kenton High School, Canton Middle School Music because the the software is

097no longer working with what we have uh point of sales computers for the point of sale for the cafeteria and then avoid network switch that needs to happen at at Cherbrook uh Primary School. athletics. We've never budgeted professional development for our coaching staff. We need to do that increase for officials in tournament games in the past. We have not budgeted for our students being successful of making semifinals and finals. That expectation is that we do make semifinals in finals. So, we need to budget for that because our students have that expectation. They want to make the semi-finals and finals. So, we need to budget for that. If we don't budget for that, we might as well tell the students, "Yeah, just don't go to semi-finals and finals. We only think you're going to make it

098the first round." What I'm saying, we're going to make it to the semiinal finals. You like that? I said that pretty good. Um, transportation contract 2.5, equipment for various sports. Uh we've been very fortunate um that when we had a relationship with um oh goodness you help me out here fox with blue fox they barely charged us anything for our boys and girls golf team and and now with blue fox not being blue fox anymore being taken over by a private club we're scrambling for relationships to find for our golf team so we doubled it to 62 200. I think that could change in in February that it may be more. We're working on that now. We got a quote from another course of over $12,000. I think we could do a little bit better

099than that. Um, but that's something that we we have to budget for and we have to so that that's a moving number. The next pages are are small capitals. This is $122,000 above what we did last year. So if you think about it for small capital, all we had last year was $78,000 to fix things and make our school better. That's not that's not much money. Um, so what we have here, um, it is a list of things and I would say you're going to see a lot of things for athletics because I feel that our athletic directors done a great job and some things have been ignored. You'll see a new softball outfield fence for 5,500. New field hockey goals. Our scoreboard, which was donated by a class light bulbs are going out, and

100it's just been ignored. And those panels are very expensive. $1,000 per panel. So, you could see we have a three-year plan there. And athletic windscreen. Windscreen for the track and softball field. We need to make if we want to compete and we want to look good within the community, we have to make sure our athletic facilities and our music facilities in our art facilities are are looking good. Uh Cherrybrook, you can see bathroom renovations, um repainting of traffic painting, the auditorium entryway and main entryway. We need new carpeting. That that's we that's probably if you look at everything that happens in the school district, that area where our auditorium, that's probably the most visible area that anything happens in our school district. And it just doesn't look that good if you walk. So, we need

101to get new carpeting down there. Um we need a full outlet for our welding booths. um main office carpet area that's three years out the tech hallway. Every time you walk down there and you see on those walkthroughs, every time you walk with me and we walk down there, when are we going to replace this? It's been on my list since I came here. It's $17,000. We need to do that. It just should have been done when the tile was ripped up the first time. I just don't understand why tiles ripped up and it's not new tile's not put down. Um, I wasn't here. Uh, garage doors, that's a safety issue. We have to replace 19 exterior door closes at CI CIS. Missing internal door closers at CIS. Replace cafeteria doors. 27 28. Everything I'm

102describing here, folks, is kind of like fixing things. It's not really new. Some of it's new, but it's not fixing things that are broken. Go by CIS. We need a new sign at CIS. We've been saying that for many years. Asbestous removal. We have a plan for that at CMS. Audio visual. It would be nice in this room for safety and for board of ed meetings to have a system that's already in place that would have cameras coming out that would have microphones by you're this is where we do our board meetings and and we should make it look like something that we do board meetings but also from a safety standpoint there's no sound system in here for the the middle school. We should have probably done that when we did the building renovation.

103It as I discussed the voice of the VO security ballards in front of the schools raptor hardware which is our visitor management system cameras accessibility PPS safety and security. So those are our safety and security items. Total small capital $200,000. If you go to the next list, this is large capital. And I'm I'm going to quickly go through these and give you some highlights. The public address system, which this would be the second year fixing all the public address systems at the schools. One of the big ones that came up in our safety audit is the trap is to put netting around the track. So when sports are going on and people are running on the track or our track team is practicing that lacrosse balls or field hockey balls aren't coming at the athletes.

104And this is something that should have been done when we did the turf um field in the beginnings and we got cited on that when the audit came in for our perma report. So that's in there. Um, that's where was that? That's the stadium denim is down. That's 60,000. I'm sorry. The turpp replacement, that's the next one. That's $74,000 each year. The bathroom updates at CHS. We also put in here and the next time if you haven't had the opportunity to go into our fitness room downstairs, that fitness equipment is the same fitness equipment that I brought into the school 20 some odd years ago. Um, it's time to to develop a a plan to get new fitness equipment for our student athletes. There's the stadium in stadium net netting. That number may fluctuate by

105the time that we meet and there's a capital improvement plan, long range capital improvement plan that Lou chairs and is involved in our new superintendent of buildings and grounds will be involved and I believe there's a meeting next week Lou on this 18. So this is our large capital. So overall this is where we are right now at a 6.62 with big spots. I just gave you a lot not fixed cost but where we are as an administrative team. I just gave you a lot of information and how the process works and then I'll turn it over to the chair is we now over the next several meetings we really break into budget workshops and answer questions that people have with our community to speak anytime. This document is now on our website. I'll present

106this document at the board of finance meeting next week. Next week, I think we have a Monday on Monday. So, I'll present this so they know where we are at at this moment in time. But what I would ask that if you have questions, what we do at the January 13th meeting is we ask you to submit questions and send them to Claudia, Anna, myself, and John via email. any question that you may have about what you heard or what you saw and we come back on January 13th and we do a PowerPoint presentation with Google Slides, whatever audience puts it in and we answer every single question. We just literally just read right off the slide, we give a copy and then we post that up. So, it just allows the process to be

107very transparent of of what we're doing there. There's no hidden surprises in in this budget right now. I'm not going to rip out in a month from now say, "Oh, in that 6.62 is the new um assistant principal." That that's that that's not what's happening. Uh this is a pretty simple budget. It's a number. And I would just ask the the the group not to just look at that number um because there's a much larger piece that goes into how taxes as you know are established into the town but this is the best thinking of where the administrative team thinks we are at this time. I'll move it there Mr. >> December 18th >> sacrifice. >> So the process we used last time I think was pretty successful the one that the superintendent just described.

108If you would take a look at this, digest this, start getting your your um your questions together and then submitting them and we as a group, uh we can see those answers better than a debating back and forth with this type of meeting. Number one. Number two, just to highlight what the superintendent said, you see a six uh a 662 increase. That is not a 662 increase in tax if we don't want people to run off and stay in public report 662. As the superintendent pointed out, it's it's uh the town budget, it's the grand list, and it's our budget, and there's some number that comes out of that. Um it it could be in the threes, it might be in the fours. It just depends on on the grand list at the end of

109the day. So, we have to see that the grand list comes out in January, everything, Hannah. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So, the grand list will come out in January and then we'll start be able to see how this number pairs down. So with that, any questions on the process or what we're going to do going forward, how we're going to approach things. >> Sure. >> On this really quickly on page five, the totals of those two positions reflected on page three4 184,220. It's actually 181,400. Yeah. Beautiful. Nice job. >> And then just just same question on that. So if with that number in mind and the reduction of two staff, we're basically going to be like net positive 20,000, right? because you're taking on something but then reducing by the say that again >> I

110don't think I was >> no >> so like you're when you take on these two new people but then you're also received >> never mind I take into account what you're talking I was just >> okay >> correct >> well just to ask a question to play off of Felicia so if we're taking on two of the town employees is there is there any is it 7030 is There any reimbursement coming back from the town? >> No. The FY27 budget all on us. >> All on us. >> All right. >> I I would say, you know, based on where we started last month to where we are today, I think you've done a great job. I think it's always the concern of the board and, you know, looking at our strategic plan that we're we're

111getting our our uh management team the tools that they need. Um, I saw that Rebecca wasn't asking for anything, but I know that she did make a mention on professional development. You included that. So, I, you know, I want to be sensitive to that. So, uh, I think we have a good basis here to start. Um, and uh, we'll go from there. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you for that presentation. We are going to quickly go through um, are we supposed to budget workshop? That's up to you. >> Oh, for now? Yeah, it's up to you. >> Any questions that you would have about budget workshop, about the process, about any of it. >> Did anybody have any questions further? >> We go and sorry when we do the budget workshop

112moving forward, do we ask that public make comment during public comment and then we answer during the workshop or the public emails a comment during the workshop portion? will come and hopefully their answers will be heard as we go through our workshop. >> So what >> so how we did it last year is that so for example next month the budget workshop will be I will answer the the questions that you all have asked. Yep. >> Yeah. And then what we did last year and I think it's fine is that if someone from the public did want to just like a regular workshop ask a question they can. >> Okay. Yeah. All right. So we'll do give it back. >> Here we go. >> Thank you. >> Because it's a workshop, >> right? >> Because

113the public >> I mean I guess they could submit questions by the 18th as well and the >> No, I prefer Yeah, that's just for you. Okay. because we've had that in the past and I've gotten like 25 questions and if we could put them in, we try to put them in. >> Um, so I I I I just don't want to guarantee that I'll get the public's questions in there and if if public have questions, of course, we're going to answer them. I just don't want to guarantee that we'll have them for that day. >> Okay, thank you. >> Any other questions? how we're going to proceed. New members, you guys okay? Hanging on for dear life. Um, all right. Let's >> Oh, I do need to say something. >> I apologize. What's not

114in this budget right now is any revenue from the bridges program. So that's why I was saying this is not going to be 6.62. I have not because we have not even forecasted that out for this year. So when you see this budget in February, there's going to be a revenue page that is going to also have on there bridges just like we do for education cost share excess cost. We have a bridges account too and we need to share that with town to say we're doing some really good things that is helping to offset our budget. Sorry. That's good. That's good news. >> I didn't write this question in, but is there a reason to have bridges spiked out or any cost or is there really no cost to the district for bridges? >>

115It's a net. Okay. Okay. That's fine. >> Okay. Thank you. Russ's gone. No. Okay. All right. Um, thank you for that. And we're going to run through the, uh, the standing committee reports pretty quickly. Finance today. Um, Ann, do you want to report on that? I think Russell. >> Sure. >> How did it go today? >> It went pretty well. >> Okay. >> Um, yeah, we reviewed the financials. We, um, talked about Hill Browns. >> Um, we did have a sneak preview of this forecasted budget memo. Um, and we did report out on food service. >> Good. Right. anything that we should be looking to hear more about? >> Um, no. >> Nope. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Policy, Mr. Shil, we met tonight before the meeting. Good meeting. I was expecting the class

116size first week policy to be on the agenda for tonight, but I don't see it. So, I guess that'll be on the January agenda. >> Okay. Um, we're also looking at the discipline uh policy. Very long, very important, pretty complicated too. Uh, it's literally 34 pages long. Don't if you can read it, great for the next meeting. If you first read next meeting, but John's going to provide us with a a one or or two page summary, give you an idea of the highlights in it. It's it's not a brand new policy. It's additions to the policy we adopted last year which was also the same 34 pages but there's some important stuff there that that you could familiarize yourself with and a much shorter but also important policy is the social media policy for

117uh staff for personnel uh straight I think uh and I would you read that one before the meeting next week. you have questions either bring them to the meeting in January or of course send it to me or somebody so we can have okay sorry any questions from policy thank you cor uh curriculum um oh there I can't even remember um and uh Mr. Bishop made his presentation if you want to. >> I know I um >> Yeah. So, I'd be happy to be able to provide a quick update on that. Um we we had a couple different conversations there. Um uh I provided my monthly update. Uh Mrs. Ctoau shared uh some updates uh in the CIS program uh which he spoke about as well a bit tonight with Christy Johnson our uh uh

118literacy coordinator for the language arts coordinator for CIF. We also had Mr. Pickle come to be able to share about the uh program of studies um with a couple additional updates that are going to come forward for a final review by the committee and then also shared information about our November professional development day that was led by our PLC committee. >> Okay, that there was uh communications. >> Um yes, we met um we met on yesterday. Um we spoke a little bit about the student at the center email uh campaign which went out um there was 70% open rate um people that open the email although um people that kind of click through was 11%. So we're still trying to increase engagement on community engagement that goes out within the district. Um still the calendar

119page remains the highest um traffic area on the website. We talked a little bit about school closure notifications to go to the um calls anymore for school closing school closings. We do email, text, and it's also available on Instagram, Facebook, and on local news. Um, we'll talk a little bit about how parents and guardians can manage those notifications through their power plugin and change delivery options there. And then, um, some of the website improvements that are in progress are the policy page, like kind of streamlining how to find different policies that are in place within the district and kind of sort through them. also talked a little bit about developing a parent guardian resource page um which would include athletic program schedules, required forms documentation, student support resources, just district contact information and quick links

120to commonly used tools. So be like a onetop location for family resources on the website where you're able to find things. And our next meeting is on Monday, January 12th at 1 p.m. Uh that was moved from January 5th and set today to come back to >> Great. Um John was it curriculum so everybody has that is it in packet I >> believe December 18th was going to be the date that it was moved to and I believe that's in >> okay and of course policy and finance same day the board >> quick question >> so I know that I about the meeting calendar for board members of adding >> yes um is going to be sending um individual individual to every board member who have it on their calendar. We could accept this. So

121all 90 will um be um set up square members from January for the board. >> January. Okay. Great. Thank you. >> Excellent. Uh there was no correct meetings. The next one is in January. Any questions on any of the uh board reports? Any further question or thoughts? Okay, let's move on to calendar of events which is in your packet and there's a bunch of those right? >> Yep. for >> right before the minutes should be up >> right >> any questions on the upcoming dates >> the length of all to us. So I will share with you calendar invites for the board meetings. >> Okay. >> Uh the committee meetings or everyone interested in getting invites for all the committee meetings. What what would you all prefer? I don't know what's easiest for you all.

122My my intention was to send the invites for the board meetings, but I'm happy to send committee invites as well. I would prefer that just so that if it's okay and not too much. Yeah, I have an emergency that Sure. Sure. The the uh only thing uh coming up in December is December 16th uh is the walkthrough as everybody knows uh CI grade concert is uh on the 16th and you can see the other dates. Okay. And we typically get those um we typically get an invite on all the other committees, right? We have it. So that's and and and the agenda. So that's fine. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. So uh move that board of education approved consent ag please. Thank you Kim. Thank you the second Joe. Any changes uh in discussion

123now? any changes or um anybody see anything that they need to discuss the consent agenda? All right, hearing none. All those in favor of the consent agenda uh for October 20th, November 5th, November 11th, November 20th, signify by saying I. I. >> Okay. Thank you. So that makes us seven now. >> Seven. >> Thank you. Seven up. Thank you. >> All right. I'm not clear on B. Review and possibly approve policy 5015 to improve completion rates. >> That's a policy we discussed last time this first read. So the motion so the motion right. Okay. >> All right. So Mr. Sh, do you want to make that motion? Sure. I'm sorry. I move that the camp board of ed approve policy 5015 improve completion rates of fasting. Any questions on that? I need a second. >>

124Sorry. Thank you. Second, Jordan. Any further questions on that? I know you guys don't think we know what's going to happen. It's okay. You you you >> it's the form for financial aid that the state wants college. >> Yes. >> I I have a first and second on the camp board of education approve policy 1515 approve completion rates and pass. All those in favor I seven. Thank you very much. Uh next up is um review and possibly approved as a first read. This is a first reading. Required updates to policy 5027, student use of district computer systems. Um you can you can click that on um if you wanted to read it. This is just the first read. We're just moving it. Um and we'll you can have further discussion. We'll have a second read.

125We can approve at the second read or we can even u move on from the second read to the next meeting approve it. So you have time to digest this. See, it lays down the rules for what the independent can't do with our computers programs. Pretty restrictive as it should be. So, our motion is you're good. Move that the can board of ed approve the required update update to policy 1527 student use of district's computer systems as a first read. Second. Thank you. I'll take Michelle. Thank you, Michelle. Down in the corner, I can't see you sometimes. Satisfy first and second. Any further discussion on that one? Hearing none. All those in favor? I opposed. That's 70. Okay. Uh the next one is um review and possible approve for first read card updates to policy

12650 32 which is used for private technology devices by students. Want to make >> same deal. uh it you bring your own laptop or what have you to school, it explains that you don't have total use of it when you're on our system that we have the right to in uh inspect what's on there should we find a a probable cause to do that. I get that right J. >> It it's it's got some statutory change in language but overall I guess uh it's something obviously parents and students should be aware of. So the motion is moved that the Gant Board of Education approve the required updates to policy 5032 use of private technology devices by students is a first read. Again this is first read. You'll have more time to hear about it for

127the next meeting. Any further questions? All those in favor I thank you very much. Uh the next this is to approve uh you got draft of it last time the 2026 2027 Canton Public Schools District calendar. Um, can I take the motion? >> Thank you, Jordan. Thank you, Joe. Um, it's I think it's in your packet. >> The last page. >> Yes, last page of your packet if you want to see it. >> And just just to let everybody know, the highlight of that calendar is everybody's conferences to the same 175 which is >> just to clarify, the other change too is the November 3rd you had this wrong on the salary side. >> All right. So that's been corrected as well as well as the 528 day for um professional time half day. So

128that's been reflected. >> Okay. Thank you. So uh the motion is to move that the Canon board of education approved the 2026 2027 public schools district calendar. I have a motion. Thank you Kim. Second Joe. Any further discussion on the calendar? All those in favor? I post. Okay. >> All right. So, our communications director will probably send that out Thursday or Friday to uh families and letting them know be posted and staff and it'll be posted on our website. Great. All right. And then uh finally um approval right the motion. Okay. So the final thing is um approval of the HVAC project number 023-00001 HVAC CN is completed and recommended by the town of the Canton permanent municipal building. You want to comment on that? So this is just that um the HVAC system for

129the auditorium the AC that we just completed that's partially funded by a grant tonight. You just have to accept it that it was closed. So we're done and the town um approved it, the building committee approved it. We have to accept it that it is closed. It's mediated. So you just got to read this, right? You just got to read this into the minutes. All right. So the can board of education accepts project number 023-01 HVAC CN HVAC as completed and recommended by the town of Canton uh permanent municipal building. Motions please. Joel St. Jude right against Thank you. I have a first and a second. Any questions on that? All those in favor? I Okay. Um any other business come before the board? So now we go to a non meeting board contractual contractual

130issue. >> Okay. So what we're going to do here is we're going to endure we're going to go into a non-meating or a contractual issue that is not an executive session but it is a private session. So our students would leave we're going to go into we're going to go into this. So we're basically done. So motion journ you want to get in there. Okay. All right. First and second. All those in favor. >> You're not that open that door, folks. Just think by