001[Music] and I [Music] welcome tonight is one of the uh special nights we have when we get to recognize some of our students and some of the achievements they met made so we're really excited about that we're glad you can make it tonight so we're going to start off with the Pledge of Allegiance then we'll go through our our regular um reports and then we'll get into the uh uh celebration of the students so if you join me with I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the it stands one nation God indivisible liy Justice for thank you okay the first part of our meeting is public comment is there anybody in the public here before we go online anybody in the public want to say anything to the
002board any anything you want to impart to us informationally or otherwise no okay hearing none how about online I have a raised hand from Lisa I'm allow Lisa to call hi Lisa you just state your name and your address for the record please Thank you Lisa cogin danar Drive good okay first I want to say Happy New Year to everyone this is the first um meeting of the new year and I I really want to thank all of the board of education for their dedication um know we've already all put in a full day of work but but you're all attending tonight volunteering to do more and I know that the district has seen a lot of positive changes recently that's a testament to all the hard work from the students the staff and the
003volunteers are all working really hard and I'm personally very grateful for all that everyone is doing thank you a couple of subjects that I wanted to mention tonight though were about transparency and the communication of budgeting I I do think that Anna Robbins is doing an excellent job bringing information forward and I feel really confident about the work she's doing but at the special town meeting in December there was a mention of the $300,000 that was needed to be transferred and I don't think that that ever showed up on any of the board of finance and Facilities committing units there was no mention of the sum and I think that if as a lay person who balances their checkbook I find it hard to understand how things were track and balanced each month only to
004have the $300,000 show up so I don't know when it was discovered or when it was discussed but I hope that you can elaborate more on that at some point lastly I just wanted to ask if there was a districtwide school space study that addresses storage administrative offices and classrooms and if there is such a document if there's a place where the public can access that document to review it I think the public should be able to understand how decisions are being made and where tax dollars are being spent because at the January 8th Board of Selectmen meeting they said that they're committed to renovate Town Hall in order to accommodate additional Board of Education offices and I don't see a mention of that in any of the 2024 2025 2023 2024 or the 2022
0052023 meeting minutes for the facilities and finance committee so I just think if the district has a need that the public need to be educated and informed about it so that they're the town is not conducting urgent meetings and making decisions of Pa thank you very much for your the time um and the opportunity to provide feedback I appreciate it thank Youk Thank you Lisa thank you for those questions anybody else online no other raised hand thank you okay we'll move into the uh administrative reports and we'll go to the Chairman's Corner what I have tonight is uh effective January 1st we uh put together um the new subcommittees and uh if you could pass those down that way um I think I spoke to many many of you about the subcommittee um I just
006want to mention I want to thank Felicia for stepping up and Felicia is helping out now on policy uh and I want to thank uh Cindy for stepping up as our new new Youth Services Bureau liaison so other than that chairs have stayed Finance is Russell Bush policy is Joe shidler and curriculum is Erica Hayes so those are the Committees the ad hoc committee now is Communications um as you might have all heard there's the Farmington Valley Press is no longer so we're going to have trouble getting words out or our message out and uh so that committee is going to maybe be looking at putting together a quarterly uh some type support electronic report um that we can begin to communicate with the public I think Lisa cogin is is right that we have
007to be as transparent and during the budget process as possible we have to be able to get that communication out so uh that is the communication group that'll me quarterly kir is on that also so um any questions on those assignments no okay hearing none that is all that I have other than to remind you that the 28th is our next meeting it's a it's a special meeting and we will have our um we will have our legislators here and as you'll hear in a few minutes that meeting is going to be even more important for us to uh make our points and and get some questions answered so with that I turn that over to superintendent Dr G super thank you Mr Daniels it's great to see everybody it's great to see the the
008children from Cher Brook primary school that I get to see on a a regular basis come to what we hope to be your future School in probably six or seven years from now and I would invite anyone to stop by at the the the basketball game and watch and have your kids your kids can go in free that was one of the things that I said that students are free so go look in see what it's like to uh watch a basketball game at K High School we're very excited rry to present your students this evening I will be presenting questions to the board in the commity based upon my forecasted budget memo that I presented at the last meeting and I'll also be presenting how um I'm recommending to spend open Choice funds for
009next year we had a and Maggie I believe you were there and you're the president I attended last week was it last week the This World Language Department hosted a a cultural night uh great dinner um that we had I I thank Maggie and that group for inviting me it was a great night and it was just a night that I didn't have to worry about dinner because somebody else worried about it for me I do want to talk a little bit about facilities and a recommendation that I made um I I since I'm going to talk about facilities I will mention a little bit about Cher Brook Primary School since we do have Cher Brook primary school here there was a a committee that looked at the space needs at at Cherrybrook Cherrybrook right
010now for those of you that have walked the hallways we don't fit that well at Cher Brook that we have tutoring that is out in the hallway we have special education services that are smaller classrooms that should be in bigger uh classroom spaces so there was a group that met and really looked at what are the space needs and we're actually going back to the um the board of Selectmen and asking them to resend the resolution based upon Poss POS Portables and really do a more in-depth analysis based upon where we are relative to um some of the numbers that we received from outside Consultants on how many kindergarten students that we would have each year are actually lower that they're actually higher than what we're receiving by approximately 25 to 30 students so we
011really need to look at that and one of the questions that you heard in public comment today was there a space study there was totally a space study done I believe it was two or 3 years ago was before my arrival it was done by frier architecture and I'll have Mr Bishop when um he's in District I we post that report online and what that study did look at was not only each of the schools but it also looked at the administrative offices within the Ken Public Schools prior to my arrival so there is a study that was done by an outside organization and it was followed up by U nezda so there was a study of all our schools the space needs and the administrative offices within there and there are some things that
012we need to work on so we're making a recommendation to the Selectmen to uh formulate a committee made up of board of Finance members Board of Select members Board of Education members and town Personnel to really look at what's the best situation for Cher Brook Primary School moving forward one of the things that I was asked by many members of the community is we had a a legendary coach pass away in the fall with uh Nancy Grace and Nancy Grace touched maybe some of your lives that are in here you might have had her as a teacher some of you might have had her as a coach and people came up to me and said what are we going to do as a school district to honor Nancy we need to name a field we
013need to name something in memory of Nancy Grace I need to let everybody know that it's not the Board of Education that names any Fields names um any gymnasiums or anything like that it's just that we can make recommendations to the selectman and then the selectman move forward so this week I sent a memo to the the first selectman uh Kevin wios and our CAO mark penny with three recommendations actually and and the first recommendation and again these are just recommendations I'm not saying this is going to happen so I need to let the board know I had a lot of people that were asking me to make a recommendation so I'm going to make a recommendation it's up to the town and the selectman to decide if they accept my recommendations that's great if
014they don't well it at least starts the conversation of uh many people coming up to me and asking so the first recommendation that I'm sharing is that I recommending that the C Middle School High School stadium that we have the whole stadium that the stadium be recognized as the Nancy Grace Memorial Stadium that the stadium become the Nancy Graves Memorial Stadium right now it's called nothing there there really isn't anything it's just a stadium so I'm recommending to the the selectman in the CEO that it's called Nancy Grace Memorial Stadium while I was at it I had a couple more ideas that came across um my uh mind because we've had a lot of um coaches within our time at zakan public schools that have made a tremendous impact on students and Athletics within our
015school so I'm recommending that right now the field that is out there they call it the turf field the reason they call it a turf field is that when we built it it just stopped that that's our turf field so I'm making a recommendation to the selectman that they call it Legends Field Legends Field what that would allow us to do is formulate a program to honor past Canton Public Schools Athletic coaches Varsity athletic coaches that have made a significant impact on our Athletic program at uh Canton High School and there's certain criteria that I listed out to the to the Selectmen to the first selectman in the C and there would be a committee and then if they accept Legends Field my recommendation is that we would put a big plaque outside of Legends
016Field and on Legends Field we would have all the coaches that have been nominated and selected so for example I give you for example I've never been a coach with the the C public school so I could say so let's say Jordan Gman wasn't incredible which I probably wouldn't be an incredible basketball coach and I won several state championships and I I just made a my team won several state championships that I coached and one of my former players who lived in the Canton Community said you know what they named Legends Field and I think Jordan grman should be part of Legends Field and the committee selected me my name Jordan Gman basketball coach from 1968 to 1972 wasn't born yet so I'm going to say that this means I'm just kind of making it
017up but that that would be the point of Legends Field to honor all our coaches the last part since I had the attention that I have the attention on the topic is we had a field in 1999 that was named the Catherine T designus field right now that field was torn down it's now a parking lot in part of the corner of our new track so I am recommending to the selectman that they rededicate a field the upper field where our track participates in field uh for track and field to be uh renamed the designless field so I I share with the Board of Education and it just happens to be that jar P families are here that I made three recommendations to the the the first selectman and the the CAO I don't know
018if they'll accept the those recommendations it has to go to the selectman but enough people have asked me um throughout the town um what what am I going to do and it's not really me what am I going to do um to honor the the leg of the the late Nancy graay and and talking to um a lot of people that I that I trust and some thoughts that I already had in my mind uh these are some recommendations that I put forward in writing and I share with you as a board of education just in case it gets to a selectman meeting before I would be able to tell you I believe uh first MOS is going to put it on in February um so I definitely wanted to let you know um before
019because it's a drafted memo for me so I know that was a lot I know really don't talk that much in my updates I want to let the board know that we do have a meeting on the 28th where our legislators will be there you it's still time to send Claudia questions that you can have of our legislators and we'll send them to our legislators January 17th we have an early release we have no school on Monday and I've been told we have a curriculum committee meeting on 29th at 9 a.m. so I'll take any questions out of the superintendent's office at that time I apologize that that was so long any questions for the superintendent any questions on those recommendations felici online or no is Kim online okay anybody on the board questions good
020okay let's move on thank you Dr um we move on to student rep reports Lucas is downstairs I saw him there who's doing his report he told me splitting the report so nice all right who wants to go first um so I'll start so I'll be reporting on Cherry Brook which I'm sure all of you guys in the audience probably relate to a lot of the stuff I say um before break um that Friday that half day uh Cherry Brook had their sing along along event which was with great success um being part of the High School chamber singers we actually joined them for that so it was really cool seeing a ton of two schools coming together and singing for some holiday cheer um now this is after coming back from winter break um
021cheer Brook has launched the science unit titled uh weather hibernation in Winter which is a play based uh learning in primary grades um which Fosters engaging uh students in um activities that promote uh cognitive social emotional and physical growth uh in addition Unified sports at Cher has launched its 16th season this past Friday um with much appreciation to the chair of teachers uh Mr stevea and Mrs farmer um and all the additional staff members that help with that program um and lastly uh cherb will be participating in the uh Jump Rope for Heart on February 7th so yeah so the PE classes will be doing that are we gonna see Mr hem that great thank you Maggie I'll be reporting on CIS uh several CIS budist played at lal's Market as part of the town's
022Christmas and Collinsville event uh fourth grade scientists met virtually with a volcanologist who shared his expertise about volcanoes enriching their birth of raw science unit CIS held its grade five 3 six which concerts in December and all of the band in the choir SED fantastic on the Friday before break the C the CHS chambers of your CIS to Carol uh for their students during their lunch wave and there was singing along and dancing after break author Beth brael that with each grade level on author day to share her presentation titled why it's okay okay to make a mess of things sixth grade student council members attended C's annual student leadership conference last week and last Friday roaring book Nature Center presented their clean water program to the fif grade students we'll move on to the
023report now um I'll be doing CMS so CMS hosted their Partners from the State Department of Education for their midyear audit the school climate team hosted a resiliency lesson during advisory the CT Human Society presented the seventh grade science classes to discuss dog reads and trads as part of their unit on genetics and the library learning progams is holding a organization Jeopardy competition to focus on stay organized at the mid of the year very good Juliana um and then I'll finish off with the High School uh so Quarter Two in semester one ends next Friday um the prisms band concert will be February 1st I encourage everyone to come it's Disney music so if you're a big fan of Disney music good for all ages so even you guys Cher book families I would encourage
024you guys to come um model un the Yale um field trip will be uh January 23rd to the 25th uh Northwest uh regionals band Festival will be January 17th and uh last Friday we had our blood drive uh that was sponsored by the National Honor Society and that went super well I think we had around 40 people that came out uh community members and also students that came so that was super great um and then seniors uh so safe graduation is hosting a fund currently right now uh they're selling raffle tickets for a calendar fundraiser uh which uh each day in February they're going to pull one of those tickets and you can end up winning some great prizes so if you're interested I know there's a bunch of senior parents that are selling tickets
025um so yeah we would love if you guys are interested we're just the money also I think they're selling um different uh sweatshirts and shirts like that and that money goes for the uh prop goes to the seniors so if you're looking for K outerwear or if you're thinking about the Memorial Day of parade M March you can wear Canton sweatshirts and shirts right Erica okay all right well thank you for those reports any questions for the student reps okay moving on business manager report Mrs Robins Mr D I'm just going to jump in so Mrs Robins is going to share uh with you the the financial report that went over we went over this morning and and chair uh Bush will chime in a little bit to I'm just going to set Mrs Robins
026up a little bit um there's something called excess cost which is money that we received from the the state of Connecticut and we budget to receive 72% from the state of Connecticut and a lot of you may hear about this in the news you may say what are they talking about this is what they're talking about um when our legislators are meeting right now that we're supposed to get 72 vote we're supposed to get more than that we're supposed to get 100% of reimbursement and it's been coming out to be 72% reimbursement for um student special education costs over the amount that um we're obligated to do well we were informed this week and we reported that in our financials that Mrs Robins will speak about we actually receiving 62% so that that's a big
027difference between what we're planning on and what we um actually are receiving so in simple math terms it's $370,000 that the state is 370 370 that the state is not providing to the town of can in that we thought that we were going to get based upon budgets that were submitted uh through the the the government our state government Mrs Robins will speak about that I'm actually also going to ask her to speak about because we did speak about it that finance committee this morning about the $300,000 that was spoken about in in public comment and in the timing of that and I'll just be right out there the timing of it was we didn't receive the audit report till after our our meeting last time and Mrs Robbins will explain what that is so
028Mrs Robbins and Mr Bush Chim in any time so thank you you're going to have to speak up and because we got a big problem got it thank you and good evening so um um as Dr Gman um mentioned we're our our U our overall forecast is on favorable compared to last month and that is due to the um excess cost adjustment um we actually operationally um we're doing better although still at our loss at 150,00 ,000 positive um forecast uh change for special education which we were pretty excited to report um and unfortunately uh look dampered by the excess cost news we are um projecting to be about $92,000 um dollar positive in the general fund um so overall um we we are $180,000 worse um but again due to the excess cost um
029situation we did have some slight changes in a variety of categories um no big swings except for the one that we mentioned we can continue to be UNC concerned about our facilities repairs and maintenance as um we're spending more than budgeted on that line item um because of I believe the lack of um funds to invest in capital items off the operational books um and then our janitorial custodial supplies um are a little high um keeping very close eye on that um now that's the the monthly operational um report that we have um we did at the finance committee meeting um discuss that $300,000 deficit um as Dr Gman um this was for the 20 for the board members this was for the 24 25 school year that with the audit Mrs Robins was 23
03024 excuse me where the a audit came in and this is where there was a town meeting which you have to have to offset the the money so the the town was off funds and the board of ad was off funds from Mrs Robins will explain why it wasn't brought to the board of AD first and why it had to go to town meeting correct and thank you for that clarification so this is the fiscal year 24 results that are being audited um the the our last finance committee meet uh finance committee meeting was on December 10 these results um audit questions and results became available after that time and then were presented at the board of Finance meeting on December 16th um so it did not we didn't have the ability to convene a
031finance committee meeting but we did discuss it this morning um and that that $300,000 was a is connected to revenue um the board of was projecting to receive um revenue from to from other towns um it was whose books were they going to be reported on um and uh we assumed reported on our books and in in fact they were reported on the town's books and we had to request the money um so you know that's without being too technical um how that worked out um so if I may the board of education did not overspend by $300,000 there was an allocation to the town that went to to the town and we needed that money back it was it was Town money so by us taking the $300,000 it created a $300,000 deficit for
032the town it wasn't an overp the second thing you need to understand is and I think this is important that what we've just talked about about the state not funding at the proper level down to 62% affects all our pocket books it's about 1.2% of our budget that we are not going to get now from the state now if you look at the Harford curd you're going to see articles about it if you turned on the TV you're going to hear uh the news about it the towns the large towns were just uh on TV last night about saying they can't make it every town in Connecticut is facing an educational deficit because especially in a town like Canton where our property taxes is where we make where we fund Our Town that's what you're
033paying for is not sustainable our town is not growing you can look up and down 44 there's not a lot of growth I'm 44 so our property taxes you as individuals that's where you're paying for it so our legislators are coming in on the 28th I'd encourage you to come to that meeting and make some noise about the fact that they have to fight for the towns going from 60 72% to 62% is tough when they should be in the 80s or 100% really that was the promise we're not getting there from that so we need your help so when you hear the budget come out and you hear that there's a six or 7% increase you have to look at where that increase is coming from it's lack of State money that you have
034to fund now because the state's not paying their fair share anymore that money is going elsewhere so just remind you that the board of education is doing all they can to try to be tight with their finances especially when it comes to special education superintendent has done an outstanding job as has our pupil Personnel person in creating a D program that keeps students with special needs in town instead of sending them out of town there's another project that's going on that will also help us in the future we're doing everything we can to squeeze as much out of the rock as we possibly can I just wanted to give you that promise from the Board of Education sorry to jump in that's just great I couldn't have said all that all Mr Bush you good
035I'm good yeah sorry between the three of next my I'm sorry just had to get that off my chest all right um sure questions on finance uh 72 to 62 72 was low to begin with 62 is a lot worse is there an explanation and is it find it yeah I'll explain that so the explanation is the following and I'll explain it I think I explained it all right this morning you did if there's a million dollar that they they budgeted for special education across the state of Connecticut that money is divided amongst all the school districts that million dollar it's not enough so when all the schools submit their excess cost I'll just put it in these aren't real numbers but it would be $2 million so what they need to do is they
036need to say okay we have a million dollar and they have it in tear how much is this school district going to get how much is this school district going to get B upon the formula the bottom line is they didn't budget enough money for as many special education students that we have across the state of Connecticut simp as that is it the 62 final could it get worse could it get better well my I thought we were getting 88% last year and it turned out we got 70% and that was late in the gain they're telling us now that it's 62% could they tell us because we get part now and part in the spring could they tell us in the spring that we're not getting them full amount of 62% yes and you
037thought it was 88% because that's what they told you to say correct and what is the formula Bas on it based on the size of the district econom economic considerations um mostly um the the the state pass us teers um underserved communities um get a higher percentage we're in the mid-range and then there's a a range um above us that actually gets less um based on economic position and what I want to make it very clear this is not a special education Parn or student problem like this is not we we service all children within the can Public Schools it's just for some children it's expensive and we need to do that for kids it's not that we don't need to do this for children so I don't want people to walk out of here
038and there's a lot of people here maybe a lot of people watching oh it's a special education issue my child that's not what this is about it's not what this is about this is not about an individual child or an individual family we're we're all one Community here and we need to support children in the the children of what is best opportunity to serve them in an educational environment so I don't want people to walk out of here saying oh my goodness this is this is reality this is public school and this is what we do and we need to provide the best education that we can to all children within the cam Public Schools any other questions I'm Fray sure just in regards to when the 300 was communicated um to the the public
039and to the finance committee is that the typical time that there will typically be a lapse between when the audit comes in and when the finance committee meets great great question um um the audit is usually um buttoned up a little bit sooner than this okay we were up against I believe that the audit needs to be filed before December 31st yes um so I think this was a little bit late in the late in the game to find out that information um typically that's a little bit earlier so um yeah this is it was it is a little unusual okay and what would War a special meeting for the board of in regards to the finance like when would we have to call or when would it be the board to call a special
040meeting or something like that board of education yeah because we the Board of Education didn't know about any of that until it went to the board of SL or to the town meeting um I mean it to be honest with you it it it happens like overnight okay okay and it needed to be posted on the um the agenda which I believe has to be posted in advance and there was some leg work that needed to be done before that not just on my part or the superintendent's part but also the auditor part and the town's part and so it it was it was literally a I found out about the town meeting go forget the town meeting happened two days before Christmas I that Monday I I found out about it on Thursday that
041we were having a town meeting I was finally notified okay so it's really this was a unique situation it won't happen again yeah that's what I just making sure have the finance meeting a little bit later in the month if that's going to happen again but okay okay good point all right thank you any other questions on finance okay let's get to the fun part Mr Amber all right you're up all right thank you Mr Danel Dr Gman Board of Education members welcome Cherry Brook friends and families um this is a really exciting opportunity for me this evening um it's one of two opportunities this year where um I get to recognize um Cherry Brook students for all the great things that they're doing every morning boys and girls hear me say at the very
042end of our morning announcements at Cherry Brook and Beyond Cherry Brook we work on being kind being safe and being responsible in addition to that you know we work on our necessities and you know and our positive initiative and through that and through this year through our programming and what we're doing together as a Char Community our children here are learning about flexibility being respectful being a contributor being a problem solver and showing Integrity um things that you know they hear me say that takes them through life through the situations that they're going to be facing so tonight I have the honor to recognize the group of special students um friends I see every day um who demonstrated these AC through our Essentials Essentials program through our Arts physical education music um and and media
043and steam program so I'm really excited um to have and I'm honored to be able to recognize um our Cherry Brook students here tonight so Bo go when I call your name up I'd like you to come up because I have something to read okay so you'll stand right next to me and I'm going to start with Mr Connor Bridges Conor is a third grader at Cherry Brook he's being recognized through through music um by um Miss C for showing flexibility Connor over all all your years at Cherrybrook you've shown tremendous growth as a musician a student and a friend you practice flexibility and bring a can do attitude with you to music class every every time you're there he's also enthusiastic member of Cherry Brook singers if Connor ever encounters difficulty he perseveres until
044he Masters it you should see him on a xylophone Connor makes a conscious effort to make any learning environment a positive setting for himself his classmates and he is very deserving of this award [Applause] congratulations so families we'll be taking a bunch of pictures after so if you didn't get a good one we'll make sure you get good ones our next student is a first grader Hannah miar blade come on she's being recognized she's bring recognized in music by Miss card for being a contributor Hannah is a spirited music student who brings her focus and infectious enthusiasm to music class every day you can always hear Hannah's powerful Voice singing from M from the music room Hannah is a great contributor in her class she actively participates is always a first volunteer and entertains her
045classmates and teachers too with her great sense of humor I can't wait to see how Hannah continues to grow as a [Applause] musician all right our next student is a third grader Natalie Nim she she's being recognized in music by um Mrs D deino um Natalie has demonstrated being um respectful and being contributor Natalie is a wonderful respectful and attentive music student she's a role model for her peers in her class she she's always actively engaged in the lessons each week from singing to reading music and playing the various instruments I look forward to seeing engage I look forward to engaging in seeing her in band um in chire when she moves on to CIS [Applause] congratulations [Applause] Leonardo Leonardo is being recognized in art by Mrs raposo um for showing Integrity respect for being
046contributor Leonardo is an ex excellent role model for his peers he displays respectful listening during instructional time and is willing to contribute his knowledge and creativity to the group Leonardo is a diligent worker who focuses on his art yet he's there for classmates who may be struggling Leonardo is a young man with great integrity to do the right thing his creative thinking art skills and most importantly his outstanding character are attributes that make Leonardo so deserving of this [Applause] honor Bry Bryce is being recognized in art as well by Mrs raposo um Bryce is in first grade um he's being recognized for being a contributor Bryce has shown great enthusiasm for art his participation and willingness to help others shows what a great contrib contributor he is to his class he's quite creative and enjoy
047sharing his ideas and helping others congratulations [Applause] chce Emma you can go to her Aid yeah just bring it to her go to her you just talk about it yeah right there Emma is very creative and enjoy sharing her talents and ideas with her classmates and she's being recognized for art by Mrs Roso um she's always eager to help others find new ways of creating art through her own example Emma is an excellent contributor in the art classroom and we're so proud of all that she does congratulations Emma Emory Emory's the second [Music] grader okay um um Em's being recognized in in media and steam by Mrs santanella for being a problem solver showing integ and being respectful Emory is an exemplary student who leads by quiet example embodying our school's Bare Necessities she's focused
048and responsible setting a positive tone for others Beyond her personal work ethic Emory offers practical solutions to problems during class conversations she is assertive when when needed asking questions to ensure her understanding with kindness respect and integrity she contributes to a positive classroom environment making her a role model for her peers [Applause] congratulations you're welcome our next student is Griffin who's in third grade good he's being recognized in media and stee by Mrs santanella as well for being showing flexibility and being a problem solver Griffin is student with REM with remarkable problem solving abilities he demonstrates a logical approach to challenges and consistently thinks critically to find effective Solutions what stands out most is his flexibility when problems arise Griffin's positivity helps him to see the good in every situation which helps him to adapt
049quickly adjusting his strategy as needed his calm demeanor and ability to navigate obstacles with e make him a strong asset in any situation congratulations [Applause] bu our next student is Adam Adam is in second grade nice to see Adam McIntyre um is being recognized by Mrs santanella again in media and steam for showing for being a contributor and and being respectful Adam's enthusiasm respect and love for reading make him a wonderful presence in our school Community he's a gracious reader who dives into books um with enthusiasm and is dedicated to finishing an entire series he is open to book recommendations eagerly exploring new titles and is is a consistent visitor to the learning comments Adam is a respectful contributor during media classes always offering thoughtful insights and showing kindness to others his ability to interact
050comfortably with both peers and adults make him a true Stand Out [Applause] congratulations K Kira's in third grade Kira is being recognized in physical education by Mr Oma um for being a great contributor Kira is an outstanding student and in fiscal education and wellness classes she is an except she is an exceptionally hard worker who always gives her best effort Kira is fun talented and a great role model and a classmate to everyone in her class Kira is also a valuable member of our Cherrybrook Unified sports team congratulations Kira keep up the great work our next student is okay and then ohow Owen is being recognized in physical education by Mr Barnes um for being a contributor Owen has been a standout in physical education and wellness this year in first grade he always gives
051his best effort every day in class while bringing positivity and excitement to all activities Owen excels in group work leading himself leading leading his classmates with kindness but is also eager to challenge himself in individual tasks congratulations Owen on this amazing award and your exceptional working class keep up the great work [Applause] so Cherry Brook family boys girls are going to come over we go over here and take a picture [Music] come [Applause] [Music] oh it's fine you know everybody [Music] so I have everybody together I just want to thank parents such a great job with these kids but I also want to thank our staff teachers that came tonight you all know that Jerry Brook is a school distinction do some great things Cherry Brook under the leadership of Mr grory with the teachers
052and staff we have we have some of the best teachers and Pars in the uh in the state in my mind is a great school to to go and learn and have families grow so thank you all for coming tonight we're going to get into our one of our business meeting I don't think many of to say so I thought I'd catch you before you go out thank you P for coming tonight thank [Music] [Applause] so you guys [Applause] [Music] there may be something else hey we do PTO pres PTO pres i' like to introduce uh can I bring if we can your G where is my gab I used to have a g I had and when I retired the first time they gave me a G okay we can uh bring the meeting
053back Mr emry I think you have an introduction for us you have an introduction for it yes yes um Mr Daniels thank you I'd like to introduce uh our PTO president Jamie be providing update onerry hi hi Jamie I'm sorry it's a little noisy in here it's going to it's going to calm down pretty quickly how are you tonight I'm good how are you thanks for joining us thanks for having me well Jamie you're going to give us a report on Cherry Brook PTO yes you're up okay so in August we hosted pops on the playground round the incoming kindergarten students received welcome treat bags I we provided welcome back meals to the staff and stocked the lounge students and staff walked the red carpet with balloons and music on the first day we provided
054$8,000 towards buses for field trips in in September we launched our hospitality and fundraising committees we have some great moms that are spare heading those committees for us we hosted a Lyman pie fundraiser which did exceptionally well we recognized our top pie sellers who received an award and received pies for their classroom Thanksgiving celebration in October we provided Mother Goose enrichment program for all the kindergarten classes we provided popsicles for all the students during field day we hosted our annual uh classroom pumpkin decorating contest we saw lots of creativity from the classrooms some examples of the pumpkins were sores minions the wild robot and Nemo we also launched our birthday book club in partnership with Mrs santanella this program is where um each month families can donate a book to the library in honor of
055their child the student gets recognized with a picture a book plate honoring their birthday and are featured in the Cherry Brook uh Gazette this program has really taken off um as of today we've had 65 families participate and 80 three books donated to our library in November our Hospitality committee posted any way you slice it we appreciate you event where the staff enjoyed slices of pies and various treats in December we hosted our annual gingerbread decorating event where families came out with friends to decorate gingerbread houses and enjoyed music Refreshments um and they left the mess for us our Hospitality committee um organized meals in a coffee bar for our staff during conference week on the horizon we are excited um we just purchased nine square for Mr romea to use in PE class which
056is a combination of volleyball and four squares um we are launching our staff shout outs which is a fun way to recognize our dedicated staff members families will have the opportunity to send us why they think a staff member is amazing we will then post these shoutouts in the staff lounge and in our monthly newsletter um we begin then planning our beloved children's Fair which is scheduled for May 30th and we will be hosting a family game night in March that's great qu questions for Jamie on uh cherb PTO comments questions jammie I just want to say on behalf of the board um we couldn't do half the things that get get accomplished in our district without the ppos and all the work that the parents do and I know it comes from the leadership
057you guys show a lot of the burden but I know the parents all come together you can always use more members we know that but thank you so much for the hard work that you do for our children and really pushing it over the finish line for us where we may not have the funds the PT steps up and does that for us so thank you so much and what can we do what can the board of education do to better support you I know when uh I think it was uh was middle school PTO that was in last time they said membership is push that membership button I know is is important but anything else that the board can do to be more supportive not that I can um think of right now it's
058just just getting um maybe more hour giving us more hours in the day right to have people to be able to volunteer um right but not that I can think of right now okay is there an event that you would like us to to make sure that we're at coming up would you like board members to uh to participate is there something that we should be thinking about being at or we would love to have you all come to the uh children's fair in May um okay that is one of our biggest fundraisers it's lots of fun um last year we had a dunk tank um we are working on something fun this year for Mr Amry to how about Dr how I paid big money for that I WR a big big check he's
059not saying anything couldn't have done that you know back in um back in the early 90s Mr shy I might remember when uh Dr quani was here um I was one of the barkers at to to Children's fairer was uh we called it the DAV and L show Dr kapani and myself so we had a lot of fun Children's fair so I'm glad that that tradition continues it does yes good okay thanks thanks for being part of the meeting tonight Jamie oh you're welcome okay thank you Jamie thank you Mr emry um continuous Improvement you're going to bring the entire board up to date now I think yes um last this past Friday I had the honor to you know welcome um some of the board members to Cherrybrook and um it was was a
060great day great morning to you know be able to you know showcase the work that we were doing and have the opportunity to walk around the building and and see students in action with with their teachers so it was it was a great visit and I thank board members who attended um at last week's um board meeting I shared this quote with with everybody um that you know really Cherry Brooke um is is foundational instruction we're really um focus on foundational instruction to drive growth Innovation and success for all students um our areas of focus this year include um a continued focus and refinement on our instructional practices to support Foundation foundational literacy and math math strategies um are Contin um or continued um focus on early identification of achievement gaps um data decision um
061making datadriven decision making to inform and support data driven instruction um our continued refinement of cherry Works culture and climate and belonging initiative and recognizing and continuing to bring awareness to staff and especially our students about being kind being safely being responsible those are our overall focuses for this year um for student growth and achievement our action steps include um our building based team meeting structured and focused on curriculum data and instructional strategies um continued refinement of our mtss process which is multi- tiers of systems of support with the goal of supporting all students continuing to monitor student achievement data using a variety of Assessments utilizing current benchmark assessments to analyze growth for all of our students um and trends in in classrooms and grade levels engaging in high quality instruction and high and utilizing
062high quality resources and strategies and continuing our partnership with this assigns of reading Affinity groups and our collaboration for the with the hill for literacy and especially with Benchmark Advance our new um Ela curriculum that we're going to be launching this month we have our first um PD opportunity with them this this Friday so we're looking forward to that with Partnerships and community engagement our action steps include continuing to maintain formal formal and informal communication between home and school focused on academic social emotional well-being um and and classroom and school Community um through obviously the cbbs weekly classroom updates from teachers we're continuing to work with the school leadership team and Specialists that plan and schedule and school based events for families such as I wonder night and art show music events and curriculum celebrations
063we continue to collaborate and and support the Cherry Brook parent teacher organization as Jamie shared they do a tremendous amount for our school and they support our school in many many different ways and we're much appreciated for that we continue to deepen our productive Partnerships with other outside organizations with financial sustainability and efficient operations we're we're continuing the work with all stakeholders within Camp public schools to ensure a budget that reflects and supports the needs of all cherry uh Primary School students we continue to work with all stakeholders with thinking on public schools to adopt the financial management process that will fall their long-term um sustainability and we're always monitoring enrollment um and class size to ensure appropriate learning environments and staff for learning environment and belonging our action steps this year include our continued
064refinement of Cher Brooks culture and climate and belonging initiative um providing all staff with ongoing professional learning opportunities which focus on so student social and emotional wellbeing with a focus on learning environment belonging in social emotional learning practices we continue our implementation and and staff development around Desa and we're creating opportunities of recognition and celebrations and success for embracing Equity we um Collective collaboration to support each and every student that's a big Focus for us um utilizing high quality instructional practices support learning opportunities for all continue to analyze subgroup data with the focus for growth for all and recognize and bring awareness to staff of students about being kind being safe and being responsible and finally our Workforce Development um action steps include hiring both certified and non-certified staff to meet programmatic and student needs
065um retain high quality and high high qualified certified and non-certified staff pre and Implement a collaborative series of professional development opportunities high quality instruction for all staff both certified and uncertified and continuing training and development of our science of reading practices um so for this year you know we have a lot of exciting things happening um we're seeing um as I shared at Friday's meeting we're seeing some real return on our investment um we know we still have a lot of work to do but we're really proud with you know with the work that we're doing and we're looking forward to what the future brings to us thank you great report good SU questions for board members maybe the board members weren't there you have any questions for Mr Mr sh thank you it's a
066very good report it reads very well too um Staffing are you fully staff powerwise looking for f almost we're just there we have a few fluid things happening right now with some resonations that I I didn't foresee happening so we're quickly trying to fill Five Short across the whole District not certified so I don't know how many are in chare room it's not many and the new curriculum Ela curriculum yeah Benchmark Grant was just adopted and supported by the board yet we um we have a really um strategic um roll out starting um this Friday where we'll be meeting with um representation from Benchmark ashy Garrett is going to be our kind of our staff developer um with marjerie Sullivan um they're going to help lead us um in a soft launch this spring we're
067going to start in January Friday I'm packing what does it look like um teachers already have the resources in hand they've been looking at things we've been doing some in-house um um review of the material but on Friday we're really going to start unpacking it with Benchmark staff developers um February we're going to um beginning of February we're going to be doing a focus on reading starting with unit three and then we're slowly then going to launch writing with a follow up to how that's going small group instruction and then at the end of the year we're going to be doing a lot of reflection reflection and planning for launch for full implementation um starting in the fall feedback has been overwhelm overwhelmingly positive from you know from staff and and from parents that I've
068heard from Good Luck yeah thank you we're excited we appreciate the board support other questions so I was just looking at the The Chronic absente ism numbers those are down from last year yes yeah we continue to um um continue to reach out um as I shared at Friday's meeting for for Cherry Brooks students it's their first experience in school and a lot of them come without without that strong immune system so a lot of it is is illness illness that you know just just have it's not a lack of anything just typical elness that some of our young oh we have a great system within our building to make sure we get those kids to school thank you questions so I I would just say um that our walk through on Friday um there's
069a energy and a um High uh morale if you will as we walk through school with the teachers and the teachers have presented to us and I think that's a testimony to what you've been doing at Cherry Brook and uh we're pretty proud of that school and what's happening there thanks for all the hard work thank you Mr I appreciate that comment and your support great is there anything else a board of education be doing for you I know you work through the superintendent but anything come to mind he he won't mind if you blurt something else so you've done you know you've been so supportive in a my time here in this role good and I just continue to appreciate and um appreciate your support and welcome any good thanks thanks for coming tonight
070thank you okay um moving back on to uh Dr brosman super the the next part of the agenda is to go over some questions regarding the forecast and memo for the budget so in your packet I provided for you another copy of the forecasted um memo and anybody that's here from the the public um care if we could give the forecast memo and forecast memo is also posted online under budget in budget 25 26 for those people that are watching the the document that I'm passing to the right is what I'd like to go over with you uh this evening as I said with the forecast and memo if you could just stay with me as I'm going through the the the questions um we asked you after the the forecasted memo presentation to send
071uh myself questions Mr Bishop Anna questions to Claudia so tonight in this PowerPoint which is on the screen I'm going to answer every question that you provided us with and I'm going to read right off the slide I one quick question on that are these just questions from board members or also the just questions from board members okay you just questions from board members so the first page is the cover page slide two on page two I just want to go over the budget summary I want to remind everybody that this is the forecast budget as of December 10th this is not where I'm going to land when I present the budget in February I I can already tell you that that at this time on December 10th we were looking at a 5.97% increase
072with four 4.56% of that of salary benef benefits Insurance property liability Transportation including fuel electricity he heating oil and natural gas so you can see the the the rest of it and some of it I'm going to talk about within the the questions that you ask but on December 10th I was at a 5.97 and for the community at large and for board members this is an typical superintendent normally don't present budgets twice I'm presenting a budget twice I'm giving it to you where I am am in December and then I'm going to give it to you in February so page three question number one 1% of the budget this was a question 1% of the budget proposed budget is equal to approximately $370,000 please confirm the answer is yes the budget forecast are presented
073on December 10th 36 m969 279 before additional revenues are applied if we were looking at 1% it would be $370,000 question uh two on page four with the exception of health insurance increases all of the other numbers in the salary benefits column are are in the two to 3% what is the reason that the overall increase is 4.56 is it the health insurance so what I ask Mrs Robbins to do if you just take the salary at 2.92 benefits at 1.37 Transportation at 02 in the transportation in including fuel 03 and gas 22 that's 4.56 so if you went back to the first slide 4.56 to the 5.97 are all those numbers listed below page five question number three the difference between the enrollment projections that came from NASDAQ and the num the number central
074office has determined is pretty stunning assuming that the central office numbers are correct will we be able to reduce one section of first grade next year so let me just explain nezda is the group that does our projection for enrollment and we also ask Peter Proud to do that also projections at the kindergarten level be become increasingly fluid across our demographics de democ first their projections are based on birth rates coupled with typical year Trends over time with that our kindergarten projection for the 25 26 has the greatest possibility varability with 121 projected by nzda 106 by pra and 85 projected by F in my team an actual Community data and up until last week because we sent out a survey for the past two or 3 weeks I'm still at 85 the current 2425
075cor has five sections and we will assume that those will move forward as five sections in the 25 26 school year in this forecast budget I am planning on 85 so I have five sections last year if you remember I took the number that Peter PR and I actually had to cut a section so I'm being very transparent right now I'm just going based upon the numbers and then if the numbers go up in the next month I'll propose another section and if we have a tremendous amount of growth come in in the summer I'll call Jordan here's a perfect example I will ask the chair first special meeting and we'll talk about uh increasing kindergarten class acts Jord the number of first grade sections this year is six I'm going to do that in
076the next slide so page six question four while the smaller numbers projected at chair will not solve all our space needs at the school it should have some effect what might this be preliminary projections based on the current and predicted enrollment May yield one additional classroom to address space needs at cherro at this time we are projecting five sections of kindergarten five sections of first grade this is for next year five sections of first grade we're also projecting six sections of second grade and six sections of third grade this may yield an additional classroom next year we gained one this year we'll gain another one next year we're not prepared at this time to move our Preschool location from CIS to cbps the potential room will be used to support tutorial and school operations so
077this came up at the meeting the other day that we had on Friday that I gained a room this year at Cherrybrook we'll gain another room next year at Cher Brook that's two rooms one of our Thrive programs went into the the rooms so now our tutoring still on the hallway if we gain another room next year we'll move another program you may ask well why won't I move the preschool back because if the numbers are correct Peter PR in in nezek I'm going to need that room the following year but if I have a three-year Trend we'll move the preschool back to Cherrybrook and the other thing that we need to talk about as a board and administration is we do have cpat that is here at the high school that was a program
078that was at Cherrybrook so those are all things that we would need to be uh talked about so Cher Brooks with enrollment is a a tricky subject right now page seven question five this is a a long one that you may have to digest a little bit special education will make up about 25% of our budget next year what percentage of our Roman is special ed how do these numbers align with our neighbors andur Mrs McAn when she did her special education report when she came here she provided this but I want to answer it again the 24 Connecticut State Department of Education reports a special education prevalence rate is 17.3 if you look to the right we're right on the state average of 17.3 C is align with it C's preface rate and budget
079allocation reflect our conic into addressing individual student needs in align to the Durk and into the right of you ask how does it reflect to our Durk in the community around we didn't do our entire dir but you can see with the communities that we did were were flat right in the middle and we're aligned with the state question uh six page eight a maintenance position is proposed what isn't getting done now that a new full-time Position will address will this position save us any overtime cost this was a um a position that was proposed by Public Works last year and asked of me to put it in my budget this is not anything that should be new to the board I put this in the forecasted memo last year to be put in for
080this year 25 26 Public Works will help in maintaining athletic fields tennis courts public buildings and other public spaces as needed the town of K W currently maintains all the grounds for the Board of Ed the goal is to continue to provide well Grom grounds athletic facilities and safe campuses to meet both Public Works and pbet goals additional Staffing is required and I do anticipate that overtime cost would be uh brought down by having an additional person page question number seven a human resource position is proposed again this was in my forecast budget last year for something that you would see in 25 26 what will this person do and how are these tasks accomplished currently this person is going to do a lot they're going to maintain employee records with a high level of
081confidentiality and accuracy support HR initiatives such as mandatory staff training coordination assist with recruitment efforts and manage hiring processes including background checks provide guidance to administrators investigate grievances and ensure compliance with District policies and federal laws maintain District position control system manage time and attendance system and assist with leave requests assist with budget preparation prepare and track annual employ employment assignments and contracts ensure adherence to collective bargaining agreements prepare required state and federal employment reports respond to unemployment claims those functions are currently managed throughout the District that have been assigned to multiple staff members on the town side and the school side across the district on many occasion Administration relies on outside legal counsel to assist with client compliant grievance investigation and inherence to collective bargaining agreements the Board of Education had an HR person
082the previous administration due to um budget cut the HR um individual question number eight this is a tricky one the teacher residency program that's the one if you remember that we bring in and we're working with the state I'm bringing in um a a candidate a minority background to work with our staff and then provide a job for them the following year and I'm going to be very transparent if I understand it it guarantees a a position assuming uh here or she is successful here it is if we kept the teaching residency program in this year's budget if we had someone working right now for us um I cannot confidently say based upon our enrollment Trend going down that we would be able to project placement for that person at this time the article in
083the CLA of the trp agreement shares that the district will make the best efforts so tonight you're going to hear me and you saw it in the forecast budget that I have it in the forecast budget for next year to for us to take part that is one item that I don't anticipate that you will see in my final budget proposal because I can't guarantee that we will have a job for that individual for the the following year question nine what is an mtss pair Mr hry actually went over this tonight mtss stands for m multi-tiered systems of support and evolution of the previously used srpi acronym these kindergarten mtss paas that are being proposed provide Foundation academic and behavioral support for our youngest Learners question 10 do you have projections for open Choice funds
084for next year and Beyond yes the open Choice memo will be presented this evening with specific details on how the funds will be used for fiscal year 26 question 11 given the projected declining numbers at Cherrybrook please explain why there still is a need I tried to explain it when I had the Cherrybrook families here I thought it was a good opportunity but Cherrybrook school still and many of you saw it the other day has required additional space for number needs including tutorial space program space office space and meeting space again I'll say it again as documented by the frier architect because we did have a study done and it was a study for all our schools in including administration offices central office based on the revised enrollment the committee as I mentioned needs to
085be formed by the board of Select and we've asked them to determine the exact spaces that are needed question 14 under proposed staff districtwide operational point five is this a floating person this is for a social worker this position will actually say US money if it if it wasn't in our operational it would be in our special education budget the point5 F social worker will serve as a districtwide position based on current needs this position will be assigned to Cher Brook for the 25 25 2526 school year it will provide therapeutic supports and services within our Thrive so it's allowing us to keep kids in District if we didn't bring the social worker in District we would have shouldn't go out of District question 13 in 2829 school year the end implementation cost of the
086new reading curriculum the answer is yes the cost of the new reading curriculum includes a 5-year contract which is paid across four years the current contract will be paid in full at the close of the 2829 school year and the new contract will be negotiated after that point 16 has the public address system at Cher Brook primary school already been replaced I've been told that the PA system at Cher Brook primary school is working fine right now with no signs of deterioration our maintenance department tracks repair request of the public address system at CH Brook signs show signs of deterioration then this item will be added to our Capital Improvement the PA at C CHMS and CIS have consistent maintenance issues this equipment is at end of life unreliable and parts and services are not
087reliably available that's why it's in our CIP question 15 please talk about the turf and track lifespan how old is it and when will it need to be replaced the turf and track at CHS and CMS has been operational since 2013 the turf has been expertly maintained by the board of AD maintenance staff in town DPW annually the field is maintained by an outside contractor the materials Foundation is tested every few years with excellent results when build the field was estimated to have a lifespan of 10 years however in 2023 this assessment extended the lifespan from 23 to 2728 so we're doing pretty good on that field the track was expected to have a lifespan of 20 years when originally installed when evaluated in 23 the the projection was confirmed based on use we will
088have an additional 8 to 10 years before the track needs to be replaced but one of the things that we're going to speak about at CIP meeting on Thursday evening is we have been um saving money in CIP for the field not for the track so we got to we got to talk about that question 16 why is special education at a decrease when we're already over 500 roughly this year I explained this a little bit this morning I'm going to explain it tonight the projected decrease in special education cost for 2526 is largely attributed to reduction in added District placement we anticipate 33 students being placed at a district down from 39 so there's exact numbers this decline is driven by strategic programming including the implementation of District options like Thrive and learning lab
089which provideed provide tailored support for students and achieving significant tuition savings additionally three students are expected age out of the school system as Mr Daniel said I'm working with Mrs McAn on a possible another program um that could possibly save us money next year it would be flat be at a flat cost but the years after it could possibly save us money um but I'm not prepared to really talk about it because we're finalizing um some details question 17 can we get a line item of new Personnel so we groke it down in the forecast memo but now let's get it into one slide operational funds that means out of town funding operational campus supervisors 19,800 each for the campus supervisors at Cher Brook CIS and CMS that is to provide supervision for those schools
090the maintenance personnel which I spoke about and the the social worker that's a total of $164,000 of operational money and then the the grant funded positions the kindergarten mtss the human resource Specialists the teacher Residency program that the 60,000 which I spoke about that probably won't be there that's not really Staffing but it's grant funding for a total of $343,000 again there's not one position that is on the slide that was not in my forecast and budget from last year so it's very important that this Administration communicates and is very transparent that there's not new staff members just reappearing in a budget cycle and people didn't know anything about it I'm setting these up in the forecast memo of what we're going to need two years from now 3 years from now or what we
091won't need 2 years or 3 years from now page 20 question 18 what percent do we use to project special education percentages if we are forecasting we should add the the same type of trend factor in collaboration with the business department pupil Services utilizes the Connecticut Consumer Price Index as a benchmark for certain projections ensuring that our budget reflects current economic conditions in with known trends for special education expenditures we also prioritize budgeting no based on the known cost when forecasting special education we apply a trend factor of approximately 4 to 6% to our current expenditures and I won't go into this but what it means I'll say it in simple terms we don't know what our added District placements are going to charge us next year or so we go with a 4% to
0926% because that's based upon what the average there is no fixed increase that a private setting is mandated by the state of Connecticut this is something that has been spoke about at the legislators to be able to say that hey keep it out a 2% or 3% if they need to adjust It Up by 4 to 6% they can page n uh page 21 question 19 on page five at the bottom funding sour SCE Grant funded is $178,000 how long will this grant be funded this funding source on that page is the open Choice funding this funding is based upon as long as we participate in open Choice which I'll explain we'll have the funding but if we don't have our enrollment say it is it's less funding if you follow what I'm saying and
093I'll talk about that when we do the open Choice M the next question I'm glad somebody asked this uh regarding grants I really go into this at budget time when I present the the final budget but I it's a really good opportunity I won't go through each one of them but it's a good opportunity for you to look at it the forecasted the fiscal year budget forecast memo focuses on general fund spending and does not specifically address all grant funding the open Choice attendance brand budget forecast will be presented this evening all other expected grant funding is typically addressed at my administrative budget that will be presented to the board of B on February 11 this is the current listing of grants that we're working with so you can see the title grants Ida grants
094um the open Choice Commissioners Network and ARA so this is all approximately of what we're going to be looking at so the question is a real good question if these funding sources go away one or two things happen right if we have positions that are tied to that they either get cut or it goes into the operational budget and our budget increases it's as simple as that so it I often say that it's not always good to put Staffing in Grants but we do that it's not ideal but we have a lot of Grants and you'll see that tonight that we have Staffing that is part of it but if all these grants went away one of two things would happen is it things would get cut or would going operational my favorite question that
095I've ever had and I've never um really thought about this one was have we considered this from the board of education budget to the Board of Education estimated expenditures when using the word budget the public conception is that we won't go over that number estimate as a public conception of being higher or lower I just need to be high honest with you this is not my decision um for consistency purposes the use of word budget is used by both the town and the Board of Education the renaming of the budget is a board of education decision and the town's decision but I wanted to answer I've never been asked that question before and I it made me think a little bit I actually um worked with Mr nardy we actually looked up the definition of
096budget so at my last slide on page 24 um I I provide again the timeline um that this is what we'll go through there's a lot of meetings and part of the agenda tonight is to do a budget Workshop a little bit so that's why I didn't really take any questions that will go into a budget workshop and we'll ask some questions that you may have or more information um that we need um but there's a a lot of time um that we have there so that's the timeline can I just go right into the um open Choice medal that's all so the open choice and I will um present or Mrs Robbins will present one of us will present at the's that oh that's my district up um we will also present the open
097Choice memo like we did last year to the board of Finance so um tonight beginning last year the administration developed budget projections for open choice that support the C Public Schools Board of Education goals the open Choice funds helps the can Public Schools meet the legal requirement for Connecticut school districts to increase opportunities for their students to interact with students and teachers from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds the cam public schools has participated in open choice for many years we we enroll one of the highest percentages of open choice in the state in fiscal year 2526 the district expects to receive $10,000 per enrolled open Choice students plus an additional 4500 per open Choice kindergarten plus additional Appropriations for and entitlements related to the program to be determined our current ratio of open choice to
098Total student population 6.65 is above the the state threshold of 4% enabling us to receive more benefit so if you have more than if you have more than 4% of your population make of open choice and we're at 6.6 we get bonus money for having that if we were at 3% we wouldn't get bonus money so the chart below gives you our actual of what we received this year and what we're pro ejecting for next year so this year we have 85 students and we received $850,000 in additional Appropriations we have 21,000 early Beginnings which is our student for kindergarten it's 4500 various Chef grants 134,000 so a total of a million uh 10,000 next year we're projecting 92 students for a total of 920 and then the same formula that we're anticipating a, 189,000
099coming in the next page is the chart that explains where we've been with open choice and you can see it's very clear that we're going down with our open Choice numbers and that's just not a k um issue that is the whole greater heart harf for area the numbers are going down and that's because families are choosing to keep their kids in the Harford public schools and another reason is we're far from um from Harford so that that plays part too but you can see fisal year 26 this is what we're anticipating uh three students for kindergarten four students for first grade four students for second grade four for third grade three for fourth grade nine for fifth 7 4 6 1148 and 104 uh nine we are not declaring any new seats for 10th
100through through 12th grade um it's just not something that we traditionally do we try to add more students at the beginning of of the year so we have longer time to work with them or at transition grades so there's um our 92 but you could see that we're going to be trending down so it goes back to that original question that was asked what happens if we run out of grand money one of two things happen and you'll see it on the next page we either lose programming lose staff or goes into the operational budget so what does this mean of how we're spending the money page three goes into the MTS Paris that we've discussed we also have the human resource specialist the teacher Residency program 60,000 I don't anticipate that I anticipate that
101we'll take something out of the operational budget and put in an open Choice collaborative uh kindergarten tables the subscription that allows our fans to be able to watch our games online family consumer science the dishwashers textbooks many of you know that's been cut the past few years technology the new equipment a lot of our open Choice funds is used towards technology technology replacement equipment Tech contracted Services go ahead what is number 10 what is that number technology replacement equipment 243 M Robins can you give me an example of what's so it's 243 correct okay okay yeah that's right yeah can you just give an example of what would be um replacement cycle for um I just clarification but I I'm assuming somebody's going to ask what the 243,000 is so M Robins just explain that
102one more time a big number replacement cycle on Chromebook um teachers um computers whiteboards um replacement cycle for the technology that's used we the district um primarily for educational purposes um contracted Services Tech Supplies tech software um social studies as you know we have the the new personal finance um course they need um some materials Can Academy which is our our program for students that struggle in in a regular environment and here's some staffing $328,000 worth of Staffing the reading specialist that is here at the high school that you met Gigi that's funded out of a grant we have a special education teacher and a special education parah that totals the $920,000 that I discussed earlier so it's very transparent like it's not anything that um it's very transparent Chef grants this is uh more
103money that we receive it's not the attendance Grant it's academic and support grant that helps us um work with children that are coming into our district but also work with um Camp students so it's a combination and we have uh student engagement and development activities for 6900 our after school supervision for um some of our choice students that stay we ALS o have in this grant point4 special education teacher CHS tutor our Equity team facilitator or open choice leaon that is a Tha and partners for educational leadership that's providing our professional development is this all state funded grants I'm yes yep well the attendance Grant yes it's all state funded it's all state fun and then the next page I just wanted to provide for you the the amount of students that we have to
104go to a magnet schools these are our numbers for fiscal year uh 25 we'll have um 24 students attending magnet school we used to have to pay 100% of those students now it's what 58% 58% that's another example that the state's supposed to be paying 100% And then the next page um the last page on page six is just the cost of each of the the magnet schools and this may change um because they may we have not heard if they're going to increase U the the tuition rate so I threw a lot at you tonight with with the questions that you have so I'm going to ask the the same thing that if you have questions on the open Choice memo that if you could get those questions to Claudia by next Tuesday so
105we could formulate a budget of questions uh for like we did tonight with your questions next Tuesday I think gives us enough time yeah next Tuesday should give us enough time um if you could send them to Claudia myself Anna and John and we'll come all these materials will be posted online for the public to be able to um look at and um the public can come any time and ask questions in uh public comment and then um when we have a budget Workshop we certainly can answer those questions in a public Workshop so Mr Jango I would recommend to go right into the the budget Workshop okay we are going to move into the budget Workshop but I just want to remind everybody you should start keeping a folder on the budget because you're
106going to get a lot of questions and I think this is this is uh you know packed with information to start there'll be other iterations that come your way but um start carrying your your budget folded with you can we have these all electronic they are all posted all after the um so everything that I everything that I've spoke about so far is on our um website the forecasted memo and open choice will go up tomorrow morning because we presented it tonight it's all listed under budget 25 here can you pull that up on the website sure so everybody can see where it is on the public and we have record of it so if you go can Public Schools district you go under budget and then if you can open it up you can
107see 25 26 you may have to update it it's 2526 there it it is you may have to um refresh there it is that happened to be the other day I'm like what so tomorrow all the information that I presented um tonight will be up on the website okay thank you y okay let's move into the budget Workshop so it's an opportunity the budget Workshop to ask me any questions that you may have so far yeah just if ask any questions they you may have so far remember this is not final budget um when we get to the budget budget um as some of you know last year I'm going to be presenting almost the same materials to you it will just be much larger that you'll have a line item of every single line
108item in in the the budget um but this is where we are right now so you want questions on the answers to these questions no my my my recommendation is I presented the forecasted the open Choice memo so if you have any questions on the open Choice memo then you could ask send question but if you have questions based upon what you heard tonight followup we could do it all in one two you could submit those two I mean like Dr BR said you've gotten a lot of information tonight you got to pour through it you have some questions be great if you can send those through to Claudia yep for our 28th meeting uh also that meeting you're going to hear more about CIP do you want to talk about that at all well
109no in the the CIP um you you have in the forecast memo the the CIP list what will there'll be three items that will be added to that list the Cher Brook primary school project will be added to the list because that wasn't on there the CIS cafeteria will be added to that list we do the cafeteria and then the um a possi community gymnasium can I ask for one more thing to be maybe added should be a PA system for uh well no for Nancy Grace stadium for we we could use a PA system on that um I don't know when that will come it could be in five years but it should be at least listed yep will that do it then you put your questions together unless you have something burning right
110now I just have one fin question from one of my questions question 20 was just asking what do we have in um federal grants or federal funding right now title title is federal ID Ida is federal anything that says two year is a federal I could have put it front of there yeah state grants are one year federal grants are multiple years so the commissioner's network is federal that's State actually is State yes that is a um the first year of a twoyear state Grant they'll do two individual when we do the budget book yeah you'll have a whole page that will give you the definition of all the grants and what they are and how much we're spending and what we're spending it on so when you get your book um we learned a
111little bit last year that we're going to put some more information in the the budget book um but there is a page that is designated to Grants in the budget book okay thank you anything else anybody okay all right then we're going to move on to uh standing committee reports I think these will be short uh Russell anything more you want to add on finance uh no I think everything was covered other than a comment regarding the uh public comment that our finance commit meetings are hyd and they're open to everybody and we go over all these issues that we cover in a short amount of time and extensive amount of time for all those so if anybody wants detail more deta finances Mee good thank you Russell um Joe policy two policies for first
112read tonight uh one is both regard regarding changes in the law and there I believe would be fair to say minor changes in the current policy one is family medical leave um Family and Medical Leave as of October 1 24 we were required to provide benefits equal to those provided by the federal FMLA to non-certified employees uh they've been employed by the board for at least 12 months and worked at least 950 hours uh that's the only change in that policy the homeless and children act homeless children and youth act also known as the mcken vento homeless education assistant acts requires each state to ensure homeless children and youth have equal access access to uh public school to education uh it defines homeless children youth to mean Children and Youth 21 years of age and
113younger who lack a fixed regular and Nightmare residence apologize for reading I want to make sure I get the details right uh as of July 1 2023 contic L requires Boards of Ed to provide special ed services to a child until such child graduates from high school or upon the end of the school year in which that child turns 21 whichever comes first we'll have the change we revise our policy to eliminate the age limit and now Define homeless children and youth to mean Children and Youth who lack a fixed regular and nighttime residence Boards of ucation will continue to provide free appropriate education to all homeless children and youth consistent with education provided to other students in accordance with the law again it's a relatively minor change to the existing policy and law but
114it is change and we are obligated to adopt it if you have questions I can send you that explanation I think from Johan's not here tonight I can send it to you if you don't have questions need the policy committee has has reviewed it this would be a first reading so the you this will come back and if you have any questions on it uh policy will take place in February and uh you can come to that meeting also if you have further questions certainly can send you those two par paragraphs that just you to listen to so okay any questions for Joe curriculum Erica yes um so we at our December meeting we uh went over Mr Bishop's monthly update um he also gave us a professional learning update which uh he kind of
115went over the areas that were covered at each date um that was requested by committee members um and we had Mr D and Mrs Harley there to give us a demonstration of the AI program that they've designed and are implementing monitoring um for kids to use it was uh they did a demonstration that we were able to participate in pretty cool yeah it was pretty neat um and then we voted on a few things we did the AP update for the environmental science textbooks um we also passed the Benchmark Advance reading program that Mr Amory talked about uh for Cherry Brook grades K through three and we did the final review and approve of the CHS 2526 program studies our curriculum was busy we were busy yeah very good it's an excellent update thank you
116y and our next meeting 29th 29th at the high school great thank you any questions for Erica curriculum okay and Communications I think uh I don't think Alicia is on but I will say that uh this new Comm Comm Comm Communications committee we're going to have a u a meeting probably first week of February to talk about how we're going to be able to disseminate budget information and things like that in a uh in a better manner now that we've lost uh the C uh the valley price um calendar events is in your um is in your packet of what's happening in January uh call to mind your attention to the meeting on the 28th of course uh Board of Finance meets this Tuesday Monday is Martin Luther King holiday Board of Finance meet it's
117Tuesday 27 27 Oh actually we just checked it okay I I was taking that from our meeting this morning all right so uh Board of Finance is the 27th uh for everybody and um you you'll get more of those from superintendent updates weekly updates on what's uh what's what's ahead um okay Christmas I received Robert's Rules For Dummies it's amazing what we can what we can get accomplished I've been diving into this so for the consent agenda I don't necessarily need a motion is there anybody opposed consent agenda then we'll accept the consent agenda is provided okay so that's the first thing uh on on far is approval of financials reports uh don't necessarily need a motion but I think for financials I'll take a motion to accept the financial report for this evening um
118and Erica thank you for first second thank you Peggy all those in favor okay so it's unanimous thank you okay and then uh we will um as far as uh the discussion for first read on policy 411 FMLA is there anybody opposed to the first reading then we just accept it okay and uh as far as the first reading for um policy 5013 is there anyone opposed to that then we accept it okay um items d& have been tabled um and I think that's self-explanatory everybody thinks you know I think you know why and with that the chair declares the meeting how about that don't need a motion oh I'm B with this thing I am so