001e okay good evening everybody and welcome to uh tonight's budget Workshop special meeting of the Board of Education uh for a special budget workshop and discussion uh tonight there's no votes going to be taken it is uh primarily um informational for the board members uh for us to have a conversation to begin to do what's what's prudent for a board is to plan uh plan for uh some of the things that we have in place today and see things in the future because things will move very quickly past past Tuesday so so um that's the purpose of this meeting for the board to have a conversation and a discussion uh as we go forward so the first thing I'd like to do is do the pledge of allegiance to flag I pledge aliance to the
002flag United States of America stands na indivis thank [Music] you we have a we have a budget referendum on May 7th which is on Tuesday at this particular uh point the uh hi Erica hi the um Board of Finance um gave us a cut originally of $150,000 uh for us to consider at their last meeting they added on an additional $50,000 of cuts for us to think about um I think it's also prudent to think in terms of um this budget is very difficult I I've said to people that we've hit this um the perfect stor where we have reval coming in at the same time we have budget needs and when they all come together uh it you know we we've I think we've all heard it uh from from many of our constituents
003that this is a tough time for everybody relative to uh to the budget and understanding how rebout works and then adding on um the normal budget process so what I'd like to do tonight is I'd like to talk talk about uh with budget members so that we can begin getting our thoughts down on where we think some of these costs are going to be coming from I don't know if I should have mentioned maybe bring your budget book but I thought we can have a little bit of conversation with our superintendent and there's some thank you Kim uh to talk about where some of these Cuts may be coming from uh as we go forward I think we have to think in terms of um of course I want to be positive and I want
004the budget to pass I think it's a good solid budget by both selectman and uh and Board of Education and finance for that matter but however if it doesn't cut if it doesn't uh pass uh my my sense is that the board of Finance is going to have to make a very deep cut um I've I've heard things from um you know we a 536 I think it is right now for for townwide tode yeah so i' I've heard getting us down to maybe a 3% is more um more reasonable I've heard um I've heard you know you can cut a million dollars out of this budget and not really harm the education system so I think we have to be prepared for a significant cut if if the budget doesn't pass and so as
005board members it's it's incumbent upon us to be having that that thought process because as I said things move very quickly so with that um I I think we'll take this in most in most general terms so I don't want to drill down into um you know pencils and erasers but clearly if we're going to have to make significant Cuts uh the places that we have to go tend to be people uh in programs um we're not we're not going to get there by U cutting a little bit here or a little bit there so um I wanted to I'll kick this off um unless maybe does a board member have a account before we get into this a little bit I don't know Erica no yes as far as where we where I think
006generally are you thinking um generally speaking what are you thinking well you thinking programs my only thought is it's it's makes more sense to cut if you want to say people or positions that have we haven't already we don't already have a person filling the position so if we're adding a position it makes more sense but that position than one that's already filled by a person and I think that's an excellent point because we heard that from the public it was like no new we don't want we don't want to see anybody new coming out so we we'll get cut someone's job that they currently are holding right whereas a position that hasn't been filled yet it just makes more sense to cut that first and and generally speaking Dr Gman we have um I
007think we have five ads I think in the in the U the budget so I just want to remind the the board in the community that this budget from General operation funds take away the grants the the new positions related that going into this budget are the the department chair for English for the middle school high school four campus monitors for one for Cher Brook Primary School one for Camp Intermediate School um actually three campus monitors and one for the after school evening supervision at the middle school high school campus and then the the the final one is a two to fourk Intermediate School based upon the the needs that we are having relative to increasing student achievement and closing closing the achievement Gap um between student population so the the the new positions in
008this budget action minimal the the the part that of makes our staffing look a little bit higher is if we do get the commissioner Network Grant relative to the the middle school being accepted we do have a few positions in with that and then we have a few positions in with our open choice now if there's a significant cut within the district some of the positions that we are using open Choice funds that's the money that we received from Harford that money will have to not be used on staff and we have to use something to offset something in our general operation budget and slide that over into our open Choice funds I I just want to remind the board that this budget we've been talking about this budget since October and November and I
009presented to you a forecast budget in December and then we really drill down within the the budget and then I presented you a final budget leave in the February time range so this is in the budget that we just came out with in February we've been talking the almost the entire school year and one of the things that would been very transparent with the the board of Finance this budget was this year's fiscal budget 2324 was actually Short change when I arrived as the superintendent of schools of $400,000 in non-certified staff and approximately $600,000 in tuition so this budget for special education so this budget is actually making up for that also on top of a four 4.85% increase in special ed so when you when you take all that this budget and and we
010can we could talk about like well do we really need this do we really need that but just to even roll out of the gate this budget is a higher number than what we are operating on this year so I I feel that the the administration proposed to you a really responsible budget and you as a board on several occasions really went through the budget and really didn't accept my budget as a first read because it's not the same number that I presented in February that I presented to you in December so I'd be more than happy to answer and I have Mrs mle here to answer any questions regarding special education and Mr Bishop certainly can answer or anything on the instructional core that I'd be more than happy to talk to you about
011what impact any line item would have within our budget if it is to be U reduced if you remember as Mr Daniel said the first reduction of $150,000 we we made public that a variety of that would come in the the form of um noncertified staff a variety of that would come into certified staff because we did hear what the board of Finance said relative to um looking at the new positions that we have so that that's why we put that out there that there is going to be a reduction in noncertified staff and certified staff and what I did not want to do and I think the board agreed with me is to create Panic within our teaching staff because we don't want our teaching staff to look into the next District over and
012when we start creating Panic within our teaching staff um you know that's why we didn't do that that's why pretty broad with this specific cut we got the other $50,000 reduction we looked at that that that's looking at pro at programs staff also how we calculated that out so when we start talking $200,000 then I start saying I needed to have a conversation with my teaching teacher and my non-certified union to let them know when you start getting into that number as Mr Daniels um said that if it's a high number I'm not finding um $200,000 more in supplies and $200,000 more in um you know fixing things in the district that the next place that we would have to take a serious look at Staffing programs and our team is here right now to
013answer any questions that you have so so why don't we start with this because I've heard this question and thank you for that that explanation and um it it would appear I agree I agree with Erica that I don't think ads are are going to fit even though I think we we badly need an English chair I mean we all talked about that from a curriculum standpoint um I had one question sure you know how the budgets we we complete them but then the state still working out stuff is there anything where this budget if it gets final aniz that there'll be money coming in that was not you know told to towns or more man uh you know unfunded mandates that now they're going to fund grant money that John's working on yeah summer
014we've accounted for all the grant money that we're going to see yeah the ECS the education cost share uh We've um accounted for that and I appreciate the the board of Finance uh letting us um really put in this the $258,000 we thought it was going to be $398,000 but as we've been told that the formula did not change regarding education cost share of what is provided to the town of Ken what changed is the how they judge the the town of Canton to the relative wealth within the town of Canton So within a Year's period of time we were at 398,000 of what the governor predicted in his budget well right when we were in the middle of our budget that number actually was reduced to $258,000 um line item that's not going to
015change that that's going to be our L correct based on the wealth of the town we didn't actually lose it based upon the formula that we have that the wealth in the town of Canon in the education and how they determine what can and could afford that was reduced the part that I think is still the area that we need to look at is the excess cost and and that is relative to the reimbursement that we received from the state of Connecticut for special education services as you know in the the governor's budget was supposed to receive 88% well each of the school districts in the state of Connecticut put in a a lot more requests for reimbursement so that 88% is not being fully funded that's what's leaving our budget right now in the
016red for this year because we budgeted for when we looked at our budget we budgeted at 88% next year we budgeted I believe around the 70% for uh excess cost so that is a moving um Target but that is nothing that we would maybe we'll know uh relatively soon when the the session is out and we would certainly make U any changes to to our budget and that 88% went down to 70% so equals about 140,000 well I think it's way more than that can't higher thaner so so we got so we're getting pressure on both sides um so one of the things that I hear uh you know fairly frequently is class sizes and and where we stand relative to class sizes and what if we were to take from K to six and
017we we tried to um to kind of shrink our classes and increase our class sizes so the the the Board of Education I don't know Mr Shel you were on that committee looked at looked at the the the class siiz guidelines I'm going to say five or six years ago and our class sides guidelines which are in the budget book are very comparative to surround districts and within the state and districts our size that currently our K one class size guideline is 16 to 18 our grades 2 through 4 are 18 to 20 grade 5 to 6 is 20 to 22 grade seven to 12 to 6 to 30 that's right within where we are as relative to districts of our size and our wealth and so I feel really good with what we proposed
018for kindergarten this year or for fiscal year 25 we proposed six sections at 16.2 if we took away a section that would bring us to 19.4 we'll say 19 kindergarteners which would put us one over our Board of Education policy and and for anybody that's been in a kindergarten classroom lately uh 194 five and sixy olds in in one classroom that that's a lot of children in in those classrooms our first grade uh we proposed um six sections at 17.5 which is right within our guideline if we took that down to five it would be 21 s year olds in in a classroom which from an instructional standpoint that the first grade year if I had to say a grade that's one of the most critical grades for children to learn how to read it
019is first grade and so you put 21 kids in in a a classroom that again is above our class size by three so that would not be with in the guidelines if you look at second grade and we've heard this within the board of Finance it was a question that they asked of we have right now 96 children for fiscal year 24 in in second grade that's the class size average of 16 which is below our class size average but I want to remind the board before my watch that kindergarten it's it's the kindergarten nurse from last year who had a very difficult year as kindergarteners and there was a lot of discussion around behaviors and student achievement with the kindergarteners they've had a much better first grade year we want to continue that but
020if we put in another section or took away a section for um for second rate it would be 19.2 that would be within our class siiz guideline but as I've mentioned to before that would be a class that I would recommend keeping the the same of where they're at third grade at six section at 17.7 which is um that is again below our class guideline but if you go take one section away you're above our class size guideline at at 21 and that's a critical year for student achievement because that's relative to the time that our students are taking their first state test that they need to take and we're measuring their success fourth grade is at 18 and that's right within our class size guideline if we go to Five sections it would bring
021us to 21.6 which is above our class siiz guideline if we go to fifth grade they're are 20 and six sections if we go to Five sections that would be 24.2 for those of you that know fifth grade there is a big jump between a fourth grade student and a fifth grade student from an instructional core especially in the area of mathematics so fourth grade to fifth grade from just from a mathematics standpoint alone 24 kids in a fifth grade classroom is a lot sixth grade six section right now we're that would be 20 that's right within our guidelines if we move that up to cut one section it would bring it to 24 class size of 24 that's a lot of sixth graders in one classroom were trying to find out who they are
022as individuals as a sixth grade and finding out their identity not only trying to achieve in school and and then our seventh and eth grade from 17 to 20 and then from 20 to 24 and that that would be a lot of eighth graders in a classroom transitioning to high school if you did that it would bring us from 54 if your recommendation was to uh cut um those sections that would be nine sections I believe that would be cutting nine sections 54 to 45 nine sections that would approximately be about a half a million dollars um that we would um so that that would be in Paris in that number it would be teachers in that number with benefits and we would also look at the the possibility of non certified staff also with
023but just teachers alone in we have to say around a half a million about a half a million on that Trend um I don't think any of us want this to occur if it had to occur what about the high school it's more complicated uh but is there what would happen if you cut four High School teachers yeah so if you cut four High School teachers it take the average high school teacher around 70,000 with with Benefits let's say and you take that that's about 350 about that um you would have to look at all the sections it could be English for example instead of having 23 in a classroom you could have in it it can be looking at art and say do we need this many art classes instead of having photo you
024don't have photography instead of having 3D you don't have 3D and then what does that mean it pushes our enrollment into other elected that that they go up you know we have um you know I see some of our teachers here today so I'm looking at some of what they teach you know we Anatomy physiology is an elective you know those are all the things that to answer your question Joe you have four we have music technology those are things that we would have to look at as an administrative team and I can tell you I met with our entire senior class um over the past three weeks in in small groups and had discussions with them on things that we do well within the camp Public Schools things that we don't do well and
025one of the highlights that they hit was twofold we like the elective classes that we have but other schools that are larger than us and similar size have more than we have and we miss I.E for example a business department and I know that this has been proposed with in the the budgets in the past they were saying we don't have a business department and we want to do a career in business and the first time we're going to take a business class it is in college and we don't feel prepared for that so they were talking about internships those are all the things that we don't even have now and if we start taking things away they're going to the next time I talk to seniors they're going to say well now you took
026my career pathway away for music I sat with three kids today that have this passion for music and one of them being a music teacher she's G to be a music teacher major as a senior going into study music and she looked me right in the eye and she said we need to have more music programs here so to answer your question Mr sh that's where it would be it would be in a variety of different places and I think um every area would possibly be hit depending upon the number well in the cohort of 78 going up to the high school students we've had concerns with them I hate like the sending you don't you have to put something in is so what there is is there's the finance course that will requir to
027do if you remember we put that within our economics but if you think about it from a pathway right now our kids don't have a pathway 18-year-old kid said to me today I just want to learn how to do my taxes it's an 18-year-old kid just want to take a class to so I can learn how to do my taxes so we would we would have to um that's meaningful um if we go to nine sections and we uh cut nine sections and we uh we pull 500,000 out of that and then if we uh red do some of the electives and move we have to move Personnel out of that um how about how about some of the answerr like CPAC [Music] are we up to the public yeah okay I'm sorry so cpath
028that's a really good question that's our can't parents as teachers right that that program's been around for years and bar do you want to explain that that program a little bit sure so um that program is our very first opportunity for parents to connect um with school staff it's also a critical pathway toward child find for students um with identified needs so this year we have H 47 students attending weekly in that program and we had an influx in January which actually poped us that a we list um and we were able to work out scheduling and add additional um weekly course time is that families could get in um it we have I'm aware nine students at the birth to three pipeline um already so they're coming in weekly for early intervention no that
029critical um and it's a place for families who are struggling to uh connect so I can tell you a story very briefly we had a parent going a pediatrician she found out her child was presenting thees she left a message for cat cpat invited her in she was able to meet with other families um and you know keeps coming regularly appreciates the fact that she doesn't feel so isolated very well hook her up with a referral for preschool program um and go through testing she's able to talk to other families who been through the process um it's really a critical way to make the something that can be very overwhelming for young families um feel accessible and it's what do you need for staff right now have for 47 some fames contributing to cost yes
030so right now our whole CPAP program with Benefits is about $90,000 so are we mandated to have a full CPAP program like that no we are not do we need to offer services to families at that age yes can we do it for less than $990,000 not recommendation but could we do it less yes could it's a legal obligation yes could you cap it at 30 instead of 47 and remove one one spot oh we certainly could change the whole you can do anything right it's services to Children an early intervention discuss L is key been remarkably I wouldn't be comfortable no I did that with my daughter in 1988 and uh I was a a mom with no family nearby and really no no friends that you know I kind of knew in the
031community and I ended up making you know friends with other women who were part of that program and being guided uh as to how to how to you know deal with a child you know didn't know what I was doing so it was really a wonderful service yeah so so the point of this exercise I guess is to um to to to have this kind of conversation and we're going to have to prioritize I mean cpat is important we we'll have to talk about where that fits in the pecking order if you have to find a million or more dollars you know if if you're going down to um I don't know and if you work this out but let's just say I think I think if we had to the town budget was dropped
032by 2.37% down to a flat three we for 2third of it is that is that about um in terms of a percentage Yeah well I know our percentage would go down to just roughly below 1% oh really below 2% would be our percentage below two you know nobody wants to make you know I know we're having this hard conversation no I know nobody on the board wants to make these Cuts but at some point we if we have to we are going to have to prioritize and make some hard decision security monitors not that I'm saying for against that what's that that was $68,000 was it three and we heard people truthfully within the $200,000 cut that we've already made that that may have to be with with what we have the board will have
033to um decide that would be one of the things that I will ask the board was the superintendent's recommendation that provide Safety and Security with um those schools I will not um have a within our security team and speaking with our safety officials I believe that we do need a supervision there and we could talk about what's the benefits what's the not benefits I I can tell you I feel really comfortable that if we have a security monitor they there that they're safety M that they're they're looking at things that a normal staff wouldn't be looking for so I I think it's valuable resource for our can intermediate school chair broke and our students after school cost but that could be something that is already embedded in the $200,000 that we have reduced already so
034I want to say with Barber for a minute on special ed C can you I know this is a little bit finger in the wing but what's our special ed population looking like how how is Thrive how is Thrive impacting what we're doing and and I know you you know marvelous job this year we weren't really counting on much we we got some wins but what do you think next year's going to look like so our Thrive program continues to we're we're pushing uh capacity with our limits in terms of wanting to class size as small uh we're at just at 20 students now across the district for students participating and Thrive um and I anticipate that staying consistent uh we Thrive having the program has has kept multiple High students in District who've been
035able to bring students back um because we have programming um we've been able to offset costs I think that's critical we have our percentage rate uh as of October 1 was 17.3% that continues to grow we've had over 95 special education referrals uh this year U which is not all those students qualified for that's testing supports and services um it just speaks to there are growing needs Beyond academic there's Health needs um we're seeing Rising rates in anxiety and depression their health impairment so Contin go up I think pride is one of those you know kind of hands off certainly but um do do you see more do any any thoughts on more out placements they couldn't cve couldn't uh keep in house you see that number going up because that's Transportation that's support that's
036we we will continue to have students that meet a level therapeutic need that require another District placement so it's not a it's not a cure all for that but we're able to keep many more students here than we would be otherwise and I can share this with the the board because I'll shared in my monthly financials our special education numbers are actually going to be different than the ones that in the superintendent proposed budget and the Board of Education adopted budget it's going to be higher um there have been changes that have happened um since we proposed the budget so not only will there be we'll report this to the board of Finance at the next meeting not only will there be um if there is a a reduction in the the the school budget
037um we're also going to possibly have to find maybe ride in the red and Report out that our special education cost that we have in this budget is not going to be enough um due to some um changes that have happened in the past couple months um that we just became awareness so right out of the gate I'm already sharing with you and I'm very transparent in our numbers uh as soon as we know it and this is something that is new that our our numbers for special education is actually we have right now it being a 4.85 it's going to be higher than that 4.85% it's going to be probably close to a five or six% five or six% oh yeah we have to figure out the numbers we'll know more when we present
038our financials I believe when we present our financials next week we may be able to show that um of what it may be projected for this year because it's going to have a effect this year can Canim do you have any thoughts on on um areas um I'm not support reducing class size I mean I don't know if there's we need all the staff that he presented but if there's Staffing that's not directly impacting direct classes that you know is in excess not for reality but for the situation we're in that's not directly impact everything impacts and learning we know that but if you have to go to bare minimum right I mean trying to maintain the core trying to stay with our number one goal which is academic achievement how do we preserve that
039as best we can so so one one thought might be you know thinking of some of the ancillary U programs that we have out there for example um my my granddaughter attended the summer program what's what's what does that mean so the the summer program right now is R like $40,000 that that is something that prior to co we didn't have $40,000 in the budget what's happening is as we all know and I've been very transparent with this that student achievement is not at the level that that it needs to be our our kids are behind it's very clear in the numbers and we need to work really hard there's there's definitely research that will support I can't cite it right now because I'm not prepared for it but we can get that that would
040support that we need to work with children in the summer especially children that have gaps but when you look at it that 10 months out of the year we need to invest our energy in in kids that are within the walls during the 180 two days or 181 days that we now have in school that the the summer program that is valuable may not be able to happen and that's a $40,000 item I know mentioned insar is like you got to look at interventionist and coaches that we have that are working with kids directly and providing kids extra support outside their their their classroom those are the certified staff that you also need to look at are written into plans and and and you you really have to say what's going to happen if those
041children aren't getting that extra support my next question what would happen if we yeah I let Mr Bishop handle that because he oversees an instructional coaches and introduction sure um if if that were to happen uh it's it's important to be able to note that the the work that our instruction coaches do excuse me it uh it's it's a review of the student performance data it's coaching of teachers and then it's it's directing the tutorial the tutorial program so they develop the prescribed program of tutorial support that our our skilled tutors really are are there to be able to implement uh without our our coaches in place to be able to to support that the tutorial um shifts and it's its ethicacy with it and the ability to coach and work with our our teachers
042and work with students shifts away as well um I think it's important to be able to know uh just as we think about student um student performance these are the folks who are working directly to really Define the academic programs to get to the areas we need to the best uh best of our ability um additionally I think it's important to be able to know too we' really um focused on literacy overall on our district trying to really make sure that we're uh focusing for the work for our youngest Learners and understanding that there is a requirement from the state uh Department of Education to shift our reading program going into next year that would have major major impact on us in our ability to effectively operate there um and what about Kon Academy yeah
043so question that would be one of those again that here we have children that struggle to function in the normal day and can't an academy provides them an opportunity to function in the learning environment that they function in but that is a program when you're talking about the the the number that you're looking at those are the programs that you got to kind of look at about 20 there's about it's about a 20,000 $25,000 program right now there could be seven to 10 it's fluid it's a fluid program students go in and out it supports students that are presenting School avoidance U is course J and special uh and it's it's another really critical resource and pathway that we have to make sure that we're hitting the continum need so that all children can access
044everything is you know everything we're talking about tonight is is critical but unfortunately we we have to you guys are going to have to begin to reconcile some of this that um if we need to we're going to have to prioritize and you're not going to get it out of cutting the coach here or an an program there it's it's got to come from from media areas so was the one who presented to US based on the principle you know they went through this and presented unfortunately you know everything is deemed essential so what do you see like do you have a if we if you have to cut where are you you're the one who would be cutting and presenting it to us and then we would be discussing it it's not like we
045can tell you what to cut oh no I I actually think it's I think it's a a board it's a board of education budget so what I will do is I will talk like how I'm talking right now and take the feedback that is provided to me and give you cost estimates of where things are relative to where we are programming as Mr Daniel says for me the most important thing is the core and keeping our core in solid place you know we I I've heard at several meetings and I attended every single meeting it is you know you but what about like painting an office or the small Capital items that are in there you know we have $63,000 in capital items ranging from desks to chairs I would tell you cut it it's
046going to look the buildings are going to look the way they look right now that the offices are going to look the way that they are um but we're we're keeping the core at its place you know this budget is not made up of um textbooks and workbooks and pencils and credit that that's not where the the M saw recent the meeting we had a book that was 20 something years old like we need to actually do better we need to like get ahead and we're our our teachers are doing a a tremendous job in the resources that we have and we have our resources and we're doing well a high school senior said today that for small schools that should we achieve really well and I'm sitting there say yes but in the back
047of my mind is and this is who I am we need T get back and you know I I'll work with the board I think if there is a a reduction I I think the finance committee is going to have to work collectively and and I will provide all the information and all the data but ultimately it's the Board of Education that that makes the the the cuts it's not the superintendent of schools that makes this cut it's my job to provide you information but it it's your budget it's it's not my budget anymore you'll recommend your top items that you I work with this board on um what we feel and what it would look like if we did do that it it's very clear that I I wouldn't recommend cutting six sections of
048something but if we're getting a million dollar cut that that that's that's a serious amount of money within our budget as Mr Robin said it it brings us under 2% just to roll over certain costs can you find or cut $100,000 worth of high school electives such as things that come out of Arts and Music do you find $100,000 in those an type programs well we we could find $100,000 at the expense of elected classes Well everybody's GNA have let me tell you if the budget doesn't pass everybody have not just his board everybody has to feel everybody has to know what what what a cup means so so you know we we have to find it in blocks and chunks we agree to that so now went through a similar situation and obviously towns
049are different Financial but they went through the reevaluation and they experienced the same thing what was the impact on the schools your experience they go through a similar situation but we're kind of going through what they went through just a delayed yeah I don't like to like compare town to town but I'll just speak in global terms from my experience um I've never had to cut um my my budgets in four years because there was a a guideline and we went through the guideline we hit the the guideline the board of ads budget hit the guidelin so never in my experience had to cut um a significant amount of money as we were going through the process we knew what the guideline was but they also did have their reeval and the budget pass it
050anything that I had to deal with so this is really based on the coming up if it passes then you have to have the people to vote it's really the town's decision right now yeah you mentioned several times about have to maintain the core I would put with you that virtually everything here is part of the core that what happens to the eight youngsters in the C Academy that what happens to the the whatever number of youngsters it is in the CP that program goes away what happens to the uh the youngster who really is questioning his for her value in school when the football team goes away uh what happens to the youngster who is is very much into music we don't have that part of the program anymore that's I think that's all
051part of the for and and and any any the T is significant but anything that goes well beyond that uh there's no ancillary stuff to cut there's there's no money in crays but there's money in in personel no I I agree with you when I Define core and I haven't defined core um I I look at core it depends upon who the student is and for a student their core as they get older could be I'm going to take every music class that I can take and then I'm going to take my requirements that I need to take but I'm going to take the music tag I'm going to take the AP music I'm going to take um concert band and then I'm going to take choir so my day is full with music but
052then I I take the the requirements that I have that's their core as a senior Junior in in in high school and if they know their pathway and we have plenty of kids then 9 through 12 know their pathway if we take that pathway away from them who took their core away from them and I I did receive an email from a a Community member that reminded me and I didn't even remind me because I knew that that is a core for certain children and kids there are certain kids that come to school just for the wood shop or come to school just for technology it's almost like our prevention program for them to make sure that they're coming to school we have kids that the only reason that they come to school is Mr
053Daniel said and you you said Mr shler is to play on an athletic team that is a core to them this budget represents the core as your new superintendent you didn't really see anything new out of my office and out of my administrative team to this budget that is really we're moving the district forward but we're not we don't have our strategic plan that to really push the distri for we have some of these Cuts they're not going to come back yeah what these Cuts do so the town has continually made investments in education and it's paid off I said it in my comments to meaning that part of the reason why reval has been so difficult is because housing prices have gone up and we're we're a function of that our school system we
054interviewed a uh person for a board of education actually was on and had to remove move but um she told us she came to this town they were looking they were coming from California they wanted to come to Connecticut they looked at other towns and they came to Canton because Canton was the town they wanted to be so you know when we start breaking when we start really breaking down the investment that's been made in all these years and I'll tell you when you do that it takes years to get it back years to get it back and and I I have some sense that um you know some parents are going to leave us because of that um so we'll have to see I I didn't want to ask you one thing about I
055I remember seeing East Grandy um does not provide a food service what's what's our food service like I mean what what can we is there anything we do there I think the PTO takes over yeah so and Mr Robins helped me out here from this it it's not required by state law to have the Food Service program just not required and we have a a food service program to provide children students the opportunity to have a healthy breakfast and a healthy lunch not required and you're not required to actually have a free and reduced program either if you don't have program so our children that are on free and reduced if we didn't have food service program they don't have it uh in the neighboring district and the reason that I know this speaking to
056uh gramby we actually during Co did the Food Service program for East grany because they didn't have a food service program and they went back to just what they do right now is their PTO or the PT um provide lunch to the students that they go in and they can sell pizza um for them they are on the milk program the free and reduced milk program so they provide that opportunity for kids to uh by milk and then that is free and reduced it it hypothetically if we reduce the the Food Services let's say at the middle school and the high school that it would be roughly around 60 or $70,000 by our calculations okay just one more we came up with the meeting someone suggest we don't necessarily have to provide transportation correct me
057if I'm understanding of state law is wrong we do have to provide yeah so that that did come up at the meeting and we did research that we do need to provide transportation we do have a board policy on how uh long a student could be on the bus in amount of time and if we chose to if a recommendation was for me to look at the the transportation possibly cut one uh bus route that that would be and we heard it the other day approxim be about 60 60 to $70,000 roughly the result to that would be his children will be on the bus longer that that that would be a result that okay what I'd like to do is go around one more time any board member also you can a little quiet
058and then I want to open up to a public public forum so Ken start with you right around any you have any further comments or no I'm just struggling with how we're going to cut it's all core stuff um I really think it's in the hands of the public right now you're right to decide what you know their vote pgy well it it sounds really difficult and the other thing is I feel like we might cut now but they'll pay for it later R yeah I me I feel the same way want to pay little taxes as anybody but I mean I've been involved in the budget with you guys with Jordan and everybody since the very beginning here feel like I'm a very fiscally concerned person and I think that it hasn't I don't
059think maybe we didn't it has not it hasn't been overly you know screamed from Hill this is not an increased budget this is a flat budget our fixed expenses went up if we cut anything we're going backwards how can we possibly go backwards with our kids and this is as F it's probably not the right word to say in public meeting but it is and like we're talking about school monitors and we're argu we're considering cutting something that's you know $440,000 or even if it was $200,000 what happens if we have one incident and that person could have saved one kit I mean who could even possibly put a price on that and it's it's just frustrating that and I don't think that the the actual Cuts we took a million dollars off our budget
060who do such permanent damage to the schools like we said for a long time had reiterated what is that millionar actually can translate to the individual taxpayer I don't think that it sounds like a big number when you divide it by you know all residents it's not it's not really that big I think it's going to hurt thank you Erica yeah I agree Russell I just I would ask ask the public not to punish the schools for the reval um and to consider for everyone who has kids in the schools do you want to send your kids to schools with all of these areas that we've been discussing having to cut them I know I don't thank you so tonight's discussion reinforced for me that any major cut would have major consequences um and and
061I would not have voted for the budget months ago if I thought there was I thought were me so I believe what's in the budget is reasonable well thought out would be well used and I I I hope we don't have to have this exercise for re this is just so we know and the public listening so they know good thank you okay uh with with that all said I think what we'll do is we'll go to public comment and we'll open it up to anybody in the room that would like to speak to the board of uh Board of Education when you come up please use the podium just give us your name and your address and um that's all you have to do and then if you can keep it to around three
062minutes we'd appreciate that so anybody yes Mr good evening richlo 321 chb Road class 63 uh from my observation at the level I looked at the budget this year and I said the other night at the budget Workshop uh I do support the the budget going forward um that being said because I'm best known with rolling H grenades and in rooms I've had ask ask a question that uh I've heard different different sides on and the hope I get answer here tonight that's with respect to the name Warrior it's my understanding that there's three uh Town districts in the state that they're not receiving the tribal money at the state level because they continue to have names that are considered to be offensive to uh to Native Americans and um I think that this time
063even though he made it look like uh uh thisal blackmail that if that money is is available at this time I think the education of our students is far more important than the the things came on on the uniform so first question I asked is the information I have correct and second how much money would be you left on the table probably if you decided change the name Warrior uh and made that public you'd probably get a budget with an increase and you s the passion that the local local resid have that name but I just think looking at the kinds of cuts you have to make any income Services you get so so dick I can't I can't answer that question tonight because it's not it's not on our agenda although you've tied it
064to money that we can possibly receive I don't know the answer to that so let me let me find it out for you and I won't leave you hanging I'll try to get you an answer okay I just I just think it's importantly you you show the people go to any exem you can even though it might be that question that there's not a lot of money that's available from the mo hean Grant uh especially to towns the further you go outside of um you know that area but I'll get you the answer I mean Mr Bush said $40,000 for monitors and cost if it's 20,000 that's that's have to cost a month or so I think I think it's something that sure you've got to show that you no Rock goes ont you got
065to go thank you thank you thank you for your comments anybody else like to speak public for drive I guess I'm a little perplexed by this meeting all my years in the town I don't think I've ever seen seen the Board of Ed meet on a special meeting within days of a referendum um I think this is an advocacy position and this board was warned at the last Board of Finance meeting to avoid doing that and there's a statute that governs this it's 9- 369 ba4 and I'll Rec it for it excepted specifically authorized in this section no expenditure of State Municipal funds shall made the influence any person to vote for approval or disapproval of any such proposal or question otherwise Aid the success or defeat of any such referendum ad can be direct
066express Hold sign or to be implied and and it's measured by an objective person reasonable person standard and for example mentioning class that's been considered by the state elections enforcement commission as adoc in terms of a referendum um so again I don't understand the purpose of this meeting the tone tener of it suggest it's nothing but advy relating to the budget and the referendum that's next Tuesday and that's all I have to say thank you anybody else so we'll go online John anybody online would like to make a comment if you're online and you're interested in making a public comment please use the raised hand button and will be promoted to speak not seeing any at this [Music] time okay I'm going to close Public public forum and um I I'll leave the board with
067this that um as individuals you can go out and say whatever you want about this budget you're free to do that we check the town attorney um we cannot use any board resources this was a sanctioned meeting checked with Town attorney who said that uh it's within board's pre purview we've gotten Cuts we've gotten $200,000 in Cuts uh for us to be able to discuss that so I'm comfortable with that we are not using any board uh we are not using any Town services and or uh resources so I would I would Advocate though for each one of you as as residents of this town as tax pay to go out and talk about it the way your heart tells you to talk about it and I think I I think we're all in unison
068on that um from what I heard tonight so uh we will meet again on the 14th referendum is on the 7th I'll take a motion for joury Erica second thank you Russell any discussion all those in favor I thank you Kim okay this meeting's thank you for coming ladies appreciate it thanks for very much