BOE Meeting 2 13 24

001okay big big crowd um to be virtual and uh this is really our second meeting our first meeting it's like the storms are chasing us so this is our second virtual meeting so thank you all for joining us tonight so therefore we're going to condense some of our agenda tonight we're going to uh because we don't have a flag really to stand up to we're going to um eliminate the Pledge of Allegiance tonight we're going to eliminate the uh were going to honor the shops for their contributions to the district we're going to eliminate that tonight and of course we'll eliminate the Canton celebrates I want to welcome everybody that's on on tonight um especially the administrative team Kim H is here tonight gonna give a report and we we have the PTO that we'll

002be giving an update so it's going to be a pretty action-packed meeting not to mention that Dr Gman is going to go over the uh the uh administrative budget that he submitted and um I can't say enough about the document that he produced um and the team that put that helped him produce it I think it's a it's a great collaborative effort and it's a real upgrade from where boards in the past have uh been able to see so thank you for that Dr Gman so with that I'm G to kick right into the Chairman's report and uh really I don't have much to much really to report other than um I just want to say how great it was last night to attend the girls basketball game at the High school they had three

003graduating seniors and um they did win and that was a that was a big deal and um Kim was telling me earlier that they start tomorrow with the with the playoffs so there's a game tomorrow night I was most most really pleased about is there must have been seven or eight teachers that were there not to mention all the all the kids that are there watching their um their their basketball mentors on the court but um it was nice to see all the teachers from from Cherrybrook all the way up to the high school supporting uh the basketball program the second thing is once again we we produced a very successful prisms program and I was saying to Dr Gman earlier that you know since since really since I was on the board the last

004time our music and arts program is is superior it's it's it's a great great program and it's something that I think that we're getting we should be known for uh in the town of Canton small small school district with with a with a big band um that might be the tagline but um I'm just so pleased at what uh what they were able to accomplish what they the performance the musicians the the um the Arts uh and all the volunteers and the parents who went in to make that such a successful evening so uh I was just one of those nights where you're just proud to be part of part of Canton so um all that is really great um I just want to remind everybody in the back of your kit is please look

005at the upcoming meetings that are coming into we're we're now drilling deep into a budget season and as uh Dr Gman goes through the budget tonight what we're going to ask you to do is uh write down your questions uh we're not going to take the time tonight to answer the questions we're going to ask you to come back in our at our next board meeting uh get those questions into him by when would you like those in by the 20th of February did we say the 20th I I'll go over the timeline in about half right so I just want to remind everybody of that and uh other than that that's that's really all that I have and so I'll turn it over now to uh Dr grman for his report super thank you

006Mr Daniels it's great to see everyone in the the squares hopefully uh everyone's safe and they um had a good day today a very difficult day for the the superintendent of schools the past 24 hours whether we would kept changing up until 11:30 last night so it is one of the most difficult uh decisions we have but we always decide on the side of safety so it's good to see everyone and we do have uh roughly 13 or 14 people also uh viewing this via zoom and as we know there'll be a recording i w do want to welcome Jamie Neeman Jennifer Violet Maggie me and Courtney Vincent from our PTO is here tonight to give a brief update of what's happening at each of their schools and also I I believe we have Ali

007Barker representing the Canton friends of Arts um Canton parents for Arts that are is going to give a a brief update on the Arts and as Mr um and our athletic director uh Kim H and as Mr Daniel said I did have the opportunity also to go to prisms last week with a few also a few members of our administrative team and it was a wonderful event I I also which was really exciting got to go to Yukon last Friday to see the kanton middle school and the kanton high school jazz band perform at the University of Connecticut through their judication festival and when I tell you that I was really impressed I saw a lot of bands that day um I was really impressed with um our our bands and how they performed and

008the the the middle the high school was outstanding the the middle school jazz band is probably one of the best middle school jazz bands that I've seen in a long long time and uh Mrs antonucci should be really excited for what's coming her way at the the high school in a couple years or a year from now it it was just wonderful I I also want to remind our community that we have our winter recess next Monday and Tuesday a very exciting event is Thursday February 22nd the astronomy night I believe that's at Cherrybrook primary school at at 6:30 um p.m. John that's a Cherrybrook just nod the high school it is at the high school but we invite our Cherry Brook friends to that correct um Tuesday um also tonight I'll be presenting I'm

009really excited to present the administrative budget tonight and I'll go over a lot of dates that we're going to get together as a board in some timelines that we have as a board as we go through the the budget process so I I'm going to stop there I'll take any questions out of the superintendent's office at this time any questions from the board members Jordan can I ask you just to give the board just a real quick update on past and what's going on at Cherry Brook please yeah so there there's a lot of things that um need to take place in the next several months and I anticipate that there'll be a going out to the entire town relative to p and some of the testing that that needs to be um done um

010what they're really looking at is uh getting the filtration system and getting that system uh started very very soon a lot of work could be done um towards the spring and towards the the summertime um they need to do some more testing as they've been doing for the past few years and um I anticipate that the CAO will be sending out communication to the the town and we will certainly communicate that with our school Community the commun the communications that go forward um so they're they're moving we'll also be talking about that in the budget process because there's funds within the the large Capital to fund um the the the past filtration system that they're looking to do thank you for that update board members any further questions and one more Mr Daniels while we're

011on that the um the the the group that is looking at the architect for the module classrooms at Cherrybrook uh met today and they they learned a lot um regarding that and the processes whether to uh go to bid out to the state um for Grant reimbursement or not so those will be things that that group will be bringing back to um the per permanent building uh permanent Municipal Building committee and I'm sure Mr Bishop next month uh we'll give an update on where we are uh relative to where that group uh lands but I just wanted to touch on that I know Mr dangel and Mr Bishop and Mrs mikowski attended that meeting and there'll be more of an update next month thank you any questions on what you've heard tonight so far okay

012so we move right to the student reports and Maggie Juliana and Simone is with us who would like to go first okay Juliana you're up because you're in my Square okay um so I will be reporting on Cherrybrook so in honor of the 100th day of school the Cherrybrook School Community has been collecting non-p perishable food items for donation to the local food bank as of yesterday State students have donated 70 big boxes of food and other items to be donated to the local food bank in addition uh to learning how to be safe kind and responsible cheer Brook students have been introduced to something called The Bare Necessities the bare necessities are flexibility respect contributor integrity and Problem Solver at the January all school meeting students learned about flexibility and when things don't go

013their way how they can compromise and adapt at the next school meeting students will learn about respect and being kind to someone even if they are different to you the bare necessities initiative is being led by Mr amera Miss santanella Miss card Mrs raposo and Miss Donahue additionally Friday March 8th is Cherry Brook's night at the Hartford uh wolf pack excellent anything else that's a great report by the way I'm so impressed with the amount of food that was was um donated collected that's just that just has a huge impact where where do where do the food where does it go is there a food bank that we're donating to or I'm pretty sure it's the Canton food bank it's a Canton food bank that's huge great thank you very much Simone you want to

014go next and then we'll close out with Maggie all I can go next um so first with the Middle School um they put on their production of the Phantom toll booth they also started the new year with the resolution to read more in 24 and are celebrating the joy of reading um they also held the seventh grade parent orientation welcoming current sixth grader sixth grade families as they prepare for their transition to middle school then this month they will be fundraising um during February with several fun events culminating in our or in their sorry P teacher event all of which um will raise money for huskython which supports ccmc um febru February will also contain the pto's we love CMS campaign and bus driver appreciation week and lastly the CMS jazz band performed at Yukon

015Jazz Festival on February 9th and that's it for the Middle School excellent job um I can quickly do the high school one as well well okay um for the high school you already had mentioned but we had prisms which was amazing and it had a huge huge turnout um and then finally the whole school selected classes on Friday February 9th except for seniors of course great thank you Simone welcome and Maggie um I'll re reporting on CIS they had a really successful first ever family paint night they used donated paint and repurposed pieces of slate removed from the roof last summer and Mrs Costello prepped each individual piece of slate and prepared brushes and paint and the PTO provided Refreshments congratulations to the kidlet team they competed for the first time in several years in

016early February it finished seven out seventh out of 29 teams and they were one and a half points away from moving on to the second round last week two CIS students were recognized at the 25th Annual CIS celebration of the Arts and last February in advisory student made Valentine students made Valentine's to show kindness and gratitude to our community members at the police fire department and those at Cherrybrook healthc Care Center this week CIS is celebrating random acts of kindness week if students can earn an average 50 of 50 kindness cards each day for their school this week each grade level will end the week with a 15minute dance party excellent I I have to say that um the the three reports from our student reps um so much better this year we we've kind

017of evolved and moved forward to to hear some very meaningful things and I'm glad you're all uh interacting at the different uh levels the different grade levels so any questions for our student reps anything that you heard or comment on board members okay thank you very much so tonight we're we're very fortunate to have our our our PTO members and um thank you Jordan is I second Jordan's uh appreciation for everybody taking time out of their night tonight and I'm I'm glad in a way I'm glad this is a zoom meeting because I know it makes it easier and I'm glad for our administrators because you're out so many nights so um even though that it's always nice to have these meetings in person but I want to thank before we start I just see

018so much activity going on with our P PTO I I read all the updates I see all the things that you're doing Canton is an amazing place that the balance that you bring the the the impact that you have and and what you're teaching our children I think they see um they see parents involved rolling up their sleeves getting involved helping out at every level and and also doing things where maybe the board can't afford certain things and you're doing things like cleaning up and sprucing up um break rooms for teachers and all the other good things so on behalf of the Board of Education I think if we if you were here tonight we would all be smiling and wanting to shake your hands and say thank you but thank you to our pto's

019so I I'll start Jamie do you want to do you want to start or Jennifer Maggie Courtney who would like to go first can you hear me I can Jamie thank you I can go hi thank you um for inviting me uh to the meeting tonight um as the C uh Cherrybrook um PTO President we kicked off February with our spread the love event we had Parents um along with us Supply uh treats to the Teachers Lounge um it was a little thank you to the teachers for February we are supplying all the students and staff at Cherrybrook with new updated Spirit Weare to incorporate our new mascot honey so those will be expected um to hit their classrooms in March um our children's Fair planning is in full swing we have our Fair scheduled

020for Friday May 31st um so that is we are in the nitty-gritty of getting that all planned um together with CIS and the middle school PTO we are celebrating our bus drivers next week so Cherry Brook will have our day on Thursday um in March we have our book fair um which is during conference week so we're looking forward to that um for read Across America we are going to be supplying the teachers with goodie bags so that they're able to have an interactive read allowed in their classrooms and then in April we are hosting an Uno game night for families so we're hoping that will be a fun turnout great thank you Jamie thank you Jennifer you wna go next sure um I'm actually gonna split U my report with Maggie um so the

021last time we were able to meet with Dr grman was way back in the beginning of October and looking back from what we've done since that time is is amazing the amount of things we've been able to accomplish um so first off looking just at our membership we had set a goal to have 60 families join this year and we surpassed that we have about 74 families that joined and just for comparison we have 58 families that joined uh for the 2022 2023 school year so we're very excited about that um just a quick recap of the things we did in the fall we we had our annual Fright Night back in October 20th uh which was also very successful with the Haunted Hallway uh we had live music and we actually a new addition

022this year we had food trucks uh we also started our Courtyard project so we utilized funds from the Paul Newman Foundation Grant which we were used to clean up the courtyard we had parent volunteers along with board members come and help plant perennials clean up the beds and we also created a rock riverbed using painted rocks that students paint every year at the beginning of the school year um with Mrs costell uh so we created a very nice border um and then the plan is to continue this project into the spring with adding a bench and also looking into having a parent um consider painting a mural on the outside wall we also had custodian appreci appreciation day where we provided a gift card to the custodians to Evon Prime meets and this is the

023first time we've ever recognized the custodians individually uh usually they get lumped in with just uh staff of appreciation uh November was a little bit of a quieter month we did our annual um conference meals and had a different theme for each day December we hosted our first probably since before covid indoor movie and we did this in coordination with ccmc pajama day and we showed the movie Togo and we collected funds for uh ccmc and raised over $350 and with the coordination of Pajama Day the kids able to come in their pajamas and stay after school and have air poop popcorn and hot chocolate um additionally we had we're working on staff lands Renovations so this was um a project that we were starting to plan last year and it didn't come to fruition

024but this year we started renovating the staff Lounge in place of a holiday gift so uh parent volunteers PTO members we painted the lounge we purchased a new kitchen table a cabinet for paper office supplies a new couch and a new chair um we also have our art teacher Deborah Costello Who's purchasing canvases and she's going to help with the decor by having her art students paint on canvas and have that on display um the goal is to continue this project into the 2024 2025 school year um additionally we were able to uh for the first time probably since pre-co to fulfill wish lists for teachers um so we had three different requests that were submitted for stools and workstations um so to provide a more um flexible learning environment for the students um January

025we did a night at the Harford wolf pack and um as already mentioned we also did a paint night fundraiser with Mrs Costello and uh we raised over $800 with over 60 people in attendance um February actually tomorrow we are going to be Distributing Valentine's that the students made and they're going to be given to the Kinton police fire department and Cherry Brook Healthcare residents and this is to coincide with the random acts of kindness week um along with the middle school and Cherrybrook we're also uh going to participate in bus driver appreciation week we'll be um putting together small small goodie bags for each of the bus drivers monitors and crossing guards and the last event for February is we're going to be hosting a student staff basketball game on February 29th the admission

026is a food item to give to the Canton food bank in addition we we purchased new spirit Weare of spirit socks and we purchased some socks uh for the teachers and staff that are participating and as another Act of thank you we will be providing lunch for the staff the day after the game um so I'm gonna have Maggie um just go through the remainder of the report briefly I'll finish off the year um so for March um we're doing a readathon where we're planning a fundraiser and coordinating events during the first two weeks of March um to get kids to count their minutes and get them to be reading we also reach out to local businesses at this time to sponsor classes teams and grades March we also will do um provide conference meals

027the week of conferences April we give small gifts for PA of professional day as well as administrative professional day may we have teacher appreciation week we'll celebrate and principal's day we're planning a fundraiser with Sharon leer photography um to do five minute sessions um for siblings at CIS um and then we'll also be hosting a yard goats game at the end of May and welcoming our fourth graders June we will provide an ice cream truck um during field day and we will assist with the sixth day sixth grade celebration to date we've had um four fundraisers ch a catalog fundraiser A Mizu 21 fundraiser and then our paint night um so our budget you can see there but the highlights of that is because of um our fundraising efforts last year and this year we've

028been able to increase um what we donate for field trips by 50% so that's a great thing for the students and families at CIS thank you for inviting us that's fantastic both reports are fantastic I I have to ask you when 60 families joined what do we have maybe 90 families because of the duplication it's CIS or what do you think I mean that that's a pretty good ratio and and so I wanted to ask when when you have 60 joined does everybody participate I mean do you get that kind of participation from the other parents because it can get heavy when it's just three or four so our goal was to have 60 families join but we had about um little over 70 as far as participation you know I know it's hard people

029have their work home life balance schedules um we do tend to see a lot of the same families that get involved and but when people do get involved they're it's extremely helpful and extremely appreciated great and and uh Jamie I just wanted to ask you do you have a a good solid membership base um we ended up uh changing our membership uh this year we asked for uh donation where parents could choose where their money went to so we had a check box um where if parents wanted to donate for Teacher meals or for the children's fair or for a a book for a child at the book fair um so they were able to pick and choose um where they wanted to send their money um so we did not necessarily have a membership

030form okay but you feel you have enough you know boots on the ground to do all these yes great by giving the parents the option to where they wanted their money to go we had um an amazing um increase in uh donations from our parents fantastic So Courtney you're up thanks uh my name is Courtney Vincent I'm the president of the middle school can you hear me yep okay um we currently have 33 members this year which is down from previous year um so far this year we've completed several fundraisers uh we started off the year wrapping up the lobster Loop um in September we had our fall mum fun fundraiser which is um coordinated with gresik Farm uh we also have ongoing Spirit Weare sales and we had a restaurant fundraiser with Mizu 21

031uh most of our time is spent um working with staff on teacher requests and school events uh this here some of the things that we've provided the staff um have been a new printer for the art teacher um we donated funds for the PB student Rewards program uh we provided payment to the Connecticut Humane Society for them to come in and do a science program for the seventh graders uh we um donated knitting needles and yarn to the nitflix program through that's through the library at the middle school we provided snacks for club events um and we also donated gift cards for the readed more and 24 raffle um that will be coming up um some events that we helped in the fall um were the uh student staff soccer game which was at the

032end of October which was very successful um despite it being very cold uh we had 37 students play and nine staff members um the band the eighth grade band uh played the national anthem um we sold concessions um and had uh a freeze dance at halftime we've also helped coordinate um with the student council we've helped coordinate the Veterans Day celebration and the Winter Dance um we provided the staff lunch during November conferences from The Little Oak Cafe and um during the holidays we also provided them a special breakfast some upcoming events that we are working on um this week this week we are actually it was supposed to be today but we're going to do it tomorrow celebrate weart CMS and we'll be providing um the staff with a gift and stacking their um

033staff Lounge um as uh Jen and Janie also said we're celebrating bus driver appreciation week next week um we are coordinating with the high school and our day to celebrate the bus drivers will be Wednesday uh we'll also be providing scholarships for the eighth grade DC trip um in March we'll provide St um with a lunch from quente Pub and we're working with the eighth grade English Department to coordinate the Greek banquet um we've also been in talk with some high school parents to celebrate the teachers for teacher appreciation day uh we'll have the spring flower sale in May which is also with gic's farm and then we're going to start um in the next couple weeks starting to recruit for eighth grade promotion and the lobster Loop committee um and then lastly we'll work

034with staff for the e8th grade and seventh grade field days and the eighth grade picnic fantastic Courtney do you feel that you have enough support and help um so far yes um we haven't had needed too many volunteers yet um they we did have a few volunteers for our mum fundraiser um most of our volunteers are needed in the spring with promotion and the lobster Loop um field day and the picnic excellent um board members questions for our PTO volunteers presidents hardworking [Music] volunteers any questions on what you heard Kim I can ask one um I want to just say I agree with Lou on everything that he said in the beginning how much we appreciate the work that PTO does and all the parent volunteers um and my question was just like was there

035anything that the board could do to better support the PTO or even just the school syst system in general or um and do you get opportunity to provide feedback to Administration um about you know things that could help improve um your work that you do to support the schools so that's really for anybody I guess to answer anybody anything the board can do go ahead Jennifer um you know I honestly and I'm new to the president's position this year for the PTO so I don't think I've I've encountered anything as of yet I think maybe that's fortunate um where I feel like we need support from the Board of Ed however you know I feel if we do have any questions or you know if there's something that I I need help navigating um you

036know Rebecca CTO has been extremely helpful and accessible as far as um any questions that I have or that we may have okay well I I want to again uh thank thank you for all the hard work it's it's really what different differentiates our Canton Community it differentiates our district um that I Tred to keep up taking notes with all the things that are going on and all the things that I want to attend and all the things I'd like to be part of and there there's just too many but please keep us informed and where you need some some extra hands make us work a little bit we'll be glad to serve or work an event or something of that nature so come to us we want to support you we want to help

037you because of all the things you do to help us so thank you again and thanks for being here tonight okay that leads us into um Ally we get to hear more about the um the Canton friends for arts and all the things are going is is this a group that changed the name now is it still can school for arts or is it something else hello there can you hear me yep how are I'm good good to see you again Lou um yes my name is Ally Barker and I'm the current president of Canton friends for the Arts or CFA so we have had a name change I'll get into that a little more here in a minute um but before I start talking a little bit about our organization I do want to

038take a quick minute to say thank you to Dr Gman Mr Bishop and the Board of Ed as a whole for your support of our recent prism show your participation in our Hometown Heroes raffle baskets was so appreciated and some of the most bid on items of the night so thank you again um I saw many of you at the show as well and we appreciate the continued support of the board for all of our Arts programs um so I'm here tonight to speak to you all about Canton friends for the Arts which was formerly known as Canton parents for music CPM was an organization that supported all the music programs in the Canton Public Schools but as our Arts programs have continued to grow particularly in the high school we have noticed that there

039is a need for support in other areas in the past couple of months we've done all the careful work of officially changing our name with the state changing our bank accounts Etc we also held the logo contest at CMS and CHS and we're so excited to unveil our new name and new logo the week before prisms you can't see but I'm wearing one of our new shirts uh with Haley Catalan she was our winner with her logo um those are for sale so we encourage you to join us in proudly showing your support for CFA by purchasing a hoodie or a t-shirt our vision for CFA is to provide support with fundraising and volunteers to all our Visual and Performing Arts programs for example our drama program continues to grow with the addition of the

040Fall play and is needed assistance with fundraisers such as the Alice in Wonderland tea party that was held two years ago our vision includes providing support to our Fine Arts faculty and students with guest speakers and special requests for experiences and equipment and of course we will continue with our proud tradition of supporting our excellent K12 music programs with support for guest artists programs and other special requests in 2023 we also set aside a special fund for scholarship assistance for trips and events which will continue to grow as the years go on with broadening our scope we also need to broaden our membership and pool of dedicated volunteers many of our CFA board members have their last child graduating this year or next so we would love some parents of younger students to join us

041we meet monthly and the participation level is really up to you you can volunteer to work a specific event such as a fifth grade concert or you can join our board and help plan for future events we have created some new fundraisers this year we hosted a CommunityWide tag sale this fall which we are hoping to repeat next school year we are also excited to announce a new event coming this spring canton's Got Talent a k to2 event which will be run by music drama and art students and will include an art show as well as a stage show our student council will also be participating so be on the lookout for audition information coming probably in the next week or so um to all the families watching this evening I would like to encourage

042you to become more involved in the campon schools I think it's easier in the younger grades um but as our kids get older we tend to become a little more disconnected with uh the schools um you've heard tonight from all these parent organizations we're all busy but we also want all of our kids to continue to have the special events and experiences that are a point of Distinction and pride among our school we would love to have you join us come to a meeting or just reach out if you have a skill in the Arts that you'd like to share with our students and staff uh we do have an email address that you can reach out to us it is Canton friends for thearts gmail.com we would love to hear from you uh thanks

043everyone for listening and thank you again to the board for allowing me to speak thank you so much Ally and uh so many G Great Performances so so much great art through the hall way it was uh it was really something we're looking forward to uh The Adams Family coming in March I think it is right mid-march yes March uh 14th 15th and 16th I'm very I'm very excited about that and so are my grandchildren so thank you very much thank you so much any questions for Ally and and the Canton Friends of the Arts any other questions I I love that um it's kind of a that it's kind of a star search you're going to be run running with with the kids I mean that's that's the old that's the old phrase um

044what's so this is kind of a new thing um apparently years ago the um student council ran a tailet show of sorts um but I know Michelle uh wuk Taylor our drama instructor she has kind of had this Vision to do this for years and then the trien uh organization also got wind of it and they I was thinking maybe just high school but want to do K through 12 so I I think they're going to have auditions via video um we're still kind of working out the Kinks to kind of figure that all out but um it's I believe the date is going to be April 19th don't quote me on that um but that is is going to be cool I I'm excited to see how it all comes out that's great I

045I I I'm going to share with you one quickie that back in the the mid90s uh the PTO ran and Mr shy remember this a star search where we uh various families performed or various individuals and uh I have to say that Pam Keegan and I won the awards that night we were uh sunny and Sher unfortunately I was sh she was sunny but it was a great show so I'll tell you what Lou if you wna you know send in your audition tape we might be able to you know fit you in the to the uh schedule love to see up and roll me out to do that one again but thank you very thank you sounds good thank you so much okay that leads us toh our athletic director Mrs he new mom

046so thrilled to have you and I hope things are going well at home we're glad you were back in the fall and uh did miss a lot of time I think you were back in what by by October yeah the end of October I I came back so um and the baby's doing great the baby is doing great I'm actually doing uh this live fun function in his room right now I I don't know if you can see the miniature clothes in the closet back there um but but yes uh Canton Athletics we had a great fall season and I have to say um I know she's not on here but I wanted to give a shout out to Nancy Grace who was my quote unquote long-term sub while I was out uh she did

047a fantastic job and I know uh you lifers here at Canton know that name very well uh back in the day when she was the athletic director and field hockey coach so a huge thank you to Nancy Grace So Kenton Athletics uh this just a review of The Fall season um so next slide is the by the numbers I don't know if I've been here when we have had every single fall sports team make the state postseason playoff tournament um and that has happened this past fall and it it's fantastic to see that we've been so successful in the fall season with all of our sports teams um boys and girls cross country participated in the state tournament uh boys soccer made it to the second round they lost to the eventual Champion old sa

048Brook gr soccer made it to the semi-finals field hockey um as many of you uh went to the state championship game saw that they were the state Runner UPS they lost in the state championship volleyball made made it to the state tournament for the first time in a very long time so kudos to Joe sooz and his crew for doing that and football made it to the first round of the state playoffs as well uh Middle School sports uh had great participation in the fall seasons and we are looking forward to those student athletes coming up into the high school uh the next slide will show all of our allconference and all state athletes we had 18 allconference Athletes and eight All State athletes and uh you can read their names right there um and

049they will be recognized at the end of the year sports awards um at the end of May early June uh next slide is talking about our community service and our Warrior Leadership Council a huge part of our Athletic program is community service and we want our student athletes to be good human beings when they get out of uh the high school and so being a good Community uh member is essential to that and so a lot of our teams participated in the trick-or Trot uh race the lobster loop our middle school athletes gave created uh gifts and gave them to senior citizens over the Thanksgiving break um we had multiple High School sports teams participate in pink games which gave money and awareness to breast cancer and then we had our annual booster club Food

050Bank competition which the cross country and football teams won and then uh we started a Raheem Nelson scholarship fund which our voicey soccer team and head coach Bill Phelps uh headed and uh they actually won an award for that I'll speak more on that later and our the wlc is the warrior Leadership Council and I had that off and that is a council of all of the captains of all of our sports team teams and any other quote unquote leader that coaches uh nominate to be part of and we meet once a month and we talk on different characteristics of leadership and they are also uh the ones that give different ideas for uh school spirit and increasing attendance at games and also new ideas for uh program uh ath or sorry program Outreach initiatives

051so um thank you to the warrior Leadership Council for their contributions to everything um Athletics has done uh next is our big fall achievements uh Margaret Bristol who is our field hockey coach she won her 100th game this year and our field hockey team uh had its first undefeated regular season for the first time since 1992 and I talked about this beforehand our boy soccer team won the contribution award from the Connecticut High School coaches association um with its efforts in creating the Raheem Nelson scholarship fund and Bill Phelps also won the Lifetime Achievement Award from The High School coaches association so that's a great uh award for him and Jim Potter who is in his second season uh won coach of the year for our conference that we are in so kudos to all

052of our coaches who have done a fantastic job with our student athletes in the fall season um some highlights to our budget in our rotation schedule for uniforms we have girls soccer girls tennis girls lacrosse girls basketball and baseball all up for new uniforms we have uh added a huddle subscription uh for the entire Athletic program for the next three years for those of you who are unaware of huddle that is a video program that allows us to live stream games and have uh outside people watch events and also it is available for our coaches to do film study create recruitment videos and so on and so forth uh Nixon has increased the price of plaque so that price in the budget will go up and our shot clock in basketball was purchased last year

053and is working great this BAS basketball season um we haven't had any issues I haven't heard the cic have any issues with that either so it's been going very well um things to look forward to in the coming months uh I will do another winter review in the springtime and college signing day will be held in May uh in hopes of highlighting every single student athlete that is going to play in college um I know some of them might still be undecided on where they want to play and so we don't want to leave out anybody so we want to make sure that we highlight every single student athlete going D1 D2 D3 or any other uh School playing a college sport so that is what we can look forward to in this uh coming

054months that's great Kim good job on the report board members questions for Mrs Heth any regarding our our school um Sports programs so Kim I have a question for you how are we doing um coaches are always sometimes tough are we are we fully staffed on the coaches right through down to middle school we pretty good uh for the springtime right now we are looking um we have one interested candidate for uh our high school assistant track coach but we are looking for two assistant track coaches at the high school level and one Middle School track coach um in the spring time okay other than that we should be good and and as far as participation it seems like everything is up as far as participation I think this year we even have a a

055freshman boys basketball team correct yes we we have had that in the past um and some sports are up some sports are down um and it's just kind of a roller coaster as it is every single year um and so hopefully we'll make sure that we give every opportunity available to our student athletes great great one more time any questions from Mrs he okay thank you Kim thanks for joining us tonight you're welcome okay uh moving right along Mrs Mrs Kowski okay well this morning uh the finance committee and I met and reviewed the financials as of January 31st in detail uh so I'll give you a quick highlight of that now um the fiscal year 2324 end of year is forecasted at 31 m927 018 which is unfavorable to budget by 18,9 27 um

056I wanted to point out that the general education piece of that is favorable by 14,35 and special education unfavorable by 195 233 uh the fiscal year 2324 forecast as of January uh indicates an unfavorable change over last month of 17,24 um the biggest piece to know you can look at the um uh Det for the financial results in the narrative um but the biggest thing um to note is that for this month's forecast uh I increased our uh reimbursement from Hartford Public Schools by 41,0 182 based on the actual um estimated billing that I gave Hartford so I felt comfortable going ahead and increasing that Revenue reimbursement so that helped us out a little bit uh the excess cost reimbursement however um for that the expectations have been reduced by 140,000 and that's based on

057new data from the state of Connecticut uh including uh indicating that canton's reimbursement rate is now expected to be 70.5% that's 70.5 uh we if we didn't have to reduce our excess cost reimbursement our current position would be about 4,92 seven unfavorable to our original overall budget so you can see how excess costs uh really affects that but please please stop there for one second okay so I just want to tell the board that um the state has pulled the rug out from under us and it's not the legislators it's the governor the governor had promised us 88% we were all high-fiving last year when we heard 88% we came down and typically we're budgeting around 75% so we thought we were picking up 133 % not only did he reneg on the 88% he

058went below the typical 75% to 70% we have been working all year the superintendent the administrative staff on clawing back our deficit down to more of a reasonable number as Donna pointed out it would be more like 40,000 or so uh thousand and instead because of the state we have to make up the difference and and that's a problem and and I really want to encourage each board member to write the governor write the governor as a board member and say listen we work hard at trying to fund our school system and when the state makes a promise we expect the state to fulfill the promise and you know you may feel that this is an exercise in futility but it's an exercise that needs to happen across the across the state that the governor

059has to hear that he is taking away money from our children we can't budget one number get another number and then and then it's at the cost of other programs even even sometimes it's it's a cost of personnel so this this is really something that that I'm upset about I think the board members should get upset about I think part of our job is to lobby for our town and uh we've talked to our state legislators they're as angry as we are they're not happy about it either but they need more Firepower so either send the letter directly to the governor or send it to the governor through the care of our state representatives but they have to hear about this and I would actually encourage the administrative team if you if you felt so

060inclined as as administrators this is eating into what you're asking for th this is putting more pressure on the board of education to find the dollars necessary so you know I I can get a little bit passionate about this and and Don I'm sorry to cut into your your presentation but but it's important that at some point we have to take a stand as Board of Education members we just can we work together I mean we we've discussed this before where a lot of districts will send a group letter and those the board members I don't know if they usually do it as unanimous but we draft a letter and we send it together I mean usually I've seen that happen I'm happy to do that we can all sign it at the 13th on

061the March 13th um and it I've seen that done in you know before we'll do that we'll do that so but we we have to start really pushing back because next year you're nervous about what we're budgeting at and I think Donna budgeted next year at 75% pardon me excuse me 70% so you stayed very conservative to 70 even though in the past we've been getting 75 and we've been promised the 88 so and this is a two-year budget so we almost G we're almost assured that that's what we're gonna get right because this is a two-year budget yeah I let me just jump in there really quick and I know Don you were actually finishing your report um the as you can see we're $180,000 in the red um I I do want to

062make it very clear that if we didn't have the excess cost it would be 40,000 like the chair said but what I do want to highlight is um we for us to come down from last month to this month uh Mrs McAn who's on the call um her team worked really hard um that we actually that that net that we would have received was students coming back to the Canen public schools and doing a reduction in tuition and a reduction in um transportation and so we go to we got to celebrate that that we're welcoming kids back into our schools um and we have to honor that that we are doing the best that we can to um do what's best for kids um but if we didn't have to make that reduction the addition

063in excess cost this would definitely be a different financial report and I'll make it very clear to the the board of finance that within our Thrive program that we are uh doing that there's in the first year Mrs McLean and her team have done a wonderful job in their their savings um in that uh with that program and and bringing kids back um so I got to commend this team uh but that that's where we are and we'll continue uh to work on our budget for uh this month uh Mr Bush I don't know if you have anything to add regarding the financial report just take myself off mute there yeah so in in regard to the financial report no I have I don't have anything else to add I think Donal did a good

064job thanks Russell thank you Jordan so um Kim excellent suggestion we'll have a letter prepared for the next board meeting that we can all approve and sign thank you for that Donna anything else you want to add to your report that I so rudely interrupted you I'm sorry you're fine no I think you and Jordan covered the rest of it if anybody wants to read any of the more details uh the narrative is available so thank you um and I do want to say Mrs mcle we've we've seen uh the activity we've seen some of the things that that have happened the savings keeping some kids in uh Transportation down um and I remember last year when you made the presentation to the board of ed uh to the board of Finance or to us

065and we made to the board of Finance you you were worried about stating any savings in the first year and and you came out and and you really did you did great and thank you for all the hard work thank you okay all right that leads to Mr Bishop and Mr Bishop's going to give us a report and John if I can ask you you also to just to cover just uh the educator diversity plan a little bit and what we're going to do with that please that's that's correct uh and and that'll be what I'll speak to tonight so in in accord with accordance with the legislative mandate Public Act Two uh 23167 section 10 um the the state has uh required that districts create an increasing educator diversity plan uh it was previously

066known as the um the sorry it was the minority recruitment plans uh which may have been in place in the past um the the work really centers around what does the uh District do to be able to have uh supportive hiring practices uh legal hiring practices to be able to support uh employment within a district the plan consists of three areas recruitment hiring and selection and retention and uh elements of the plan uh are developed to be able to be support support of of of strong practices our plan was initially shared with our Board of Ed finance committee this morning because it does have financial implications for us uh but wanted to be able to bring it by the board as well to be uh generally aware of of this as well um our plan

067has uh three Central goals to it um ensuring the necessary conditions are in place to support the hiring of Staff of all backgrounds examine practices to ensure necessary conditions are in place to support uh staff of all backgrounds create conditions which support Equitable practices in teaching working and the learning environment uh you will recall that one of the board's goals is embracing equity and one of the elements that we have brought forward and you will see in tonight's budget is securing funding for and participating in the Connecticut teacher Residency program which provides uh opportunities and Pathways for uh staff to be able to or or uh Community individuals to become certified and an alternative route to certification so I wanted to be able to bring that that uh to the board's attention we did complete

068a a first read or review of it I will be sending this out to the uh the board for further review and look forward to any comments any questions for me thank you John we look forward to getting that at U for the second reading and the approval at the next meeting thank you sir any questions I just want to make sure we're good okay thank you very much okay this leads into our public comment we we make the public comment uh so you can hear some of the reports and some of the things are going on for those of you who joined us in the public um if you'd like to speak on any topic tonight please do so understand that the board probably will not comment on your uh on your statements primarily

069because it's not on our agenda so we're we're limited on on what we can do but we we'll definitely listen and What needs uh action after after the fact if if there is action needed we'll be sure to get back to you so with that Kira you want if you're joining us for public comment this evening you can use that raised hand feature of zoom and I'll call on you by your Zoom name and that will allow you to talk and you'll be able to make your comment in that way so if you'd like to speak go ahead and raise your hands and I will keep an eye out for you Lou I don't have any raised hands at this time okay great Karen then we'll close out the uh public comment so we move

070into the uh administration's presentation in the budget Lou I'll interrupt you for two seconds I did just get a raised hand I don't know if you wantan to he let no yeah that's lovely all right so I'm gonna allow um Kevin Bradley to talk Kevin just uh again state your name and your address for the record please we go thank you Lou my name is Kevin Bradley I live at Fort Eastview Drive here in Canton hello to everybody and everybody watching and listening hope everyone fared well on the uh on the day of snow thankfully we didn't get hit the way we were anticipated to get hit all right uh that being said I just want to go ahead and throw something out because one of the things that's uh been brought to my attention

071with the uh assessments that we all got on our residences was the Imp of the economy the impact of uh uh the assessments on our uh our tax obligations here in town uh which go in conjunction with our tax obligations at the state level and our tax obligations at the federal level along with the increase in all of the prices for everything we are dealing with and that's food that's gasoline that is our insurance rates which have SC skyrocketed uh for this upcoming year and I know that you all are doing the best that you can but I want to implore everybody do whatever you can not to increase the budget because it's really going to hurt so many people that have been here in town for so long and hurt them in a way

072that they can't cut back which is their property taxes that that's it and I'll probably be a broken record for the uh uh this budget season so thank you for letting me speak thank you Kevin thanks for attending our meeting we appreciate it okay uh we will move now into the administrative uh budget and I I when I got my my packet it made me think about when I was a selectman where we would walk away with these green bar books that that you truly needed a wagon to take out the budget and then uh in in Board of Education we were still using the green bars and they were about this thick and and you remember our last budget books have been these big binders that uh I actually returned back to Claud and

073I think she got $15 for my binder that's how much these things cost but uh just kidding uh but now we' we've condensed it but what we have here is some really enlightened um good information for us as board members I know that I U made a lot of highlights to it it will help you as you meet with the public there there are bullet points that you can take out of this I know that I know the superintendent's going to give us also a uh kind of our own bullet sheet of talking points as we go forward but Jordan and team thank you again for all the work that went into this very concise very informative Dr grman take it away super thank you so a as a superintendent of schools you you have

074this Vision especially when you come to a new District of what your first budget presentation will be like in a district and now I could say I'm two for two of having pres to present my my first budget virtually um so we're going to do the best that we can with this and uh I'm excited to present the administrative budget it it's been a a budget that we know that we've been working on since I started in July I'd be remissed if I didn't thank this administrative team for working with the teachers and their staff of putting this budget together this is not the superintendent's budget it's the administrative budget that comes from all our staff collectively within the the can public schools of what we feel it is the best step forward that really

075will guide this District not only next year but for many years after I'd also be remissed if I I didn't thank our cabinet with with our business official Mr Miss Kowski uh and our director of Technology our facili director assistant superintendent and the one that put this book together and it was a heavy lift for this team because it is new we did flip the whole budget process I is my executive assistant claudon nardy uh really did a nice job putting this uh book together and really beginning the oper opportunity for us to share the story of the can public schools and where we are within the can public schools and related to the budget so what we really need to really look at is the vision of the can Public Schools everything that we

076do needs to be grounded in the vision of the can public schools graduate with creative thinkers communicators collaborators critical thinking and compassionate citizen we need to remember that as an administrative team we need to remember that as a board of education and as a town this is our vision for the Ken public school graduate and this year the Board of Education established goals would board goal number one being student growth and achievement board goal two being Partnerships and Community engagement board goal three being Financial sustainability and efficient operations board goal four learning environment and belonging board goal five embracing equity and board goal six Workforce Development I'm proud to say that the budget that the administrative team put forward aligns with our Board of Education goals in a very very powerful way that is also

077outlined in in the budget book that we presented to you the administrative budget priorities which were really important that guided our work is in six levels number one student achievement in all areas across the district maintaining our class size policy according to the Canton Board of Education policy a strong focus on teaching learning professional development and social emotional well-being of our students and staff a focus on creating an inclusive and cultural responsive learning environment providing a safe and healthy school environment and propose a fiscally responsible budget that aligns with the Canton Board of Education goals what I'm very proud of and I I I I I could take some credit for this being here six years ago um but this town should be very proud of the successes that we have in the can public

078schools and they're numerous the best elementary schools in the US News and report we have students that are compassionate citizens with Halloween drives started in 22 on an average of 200 PBS of candy 100 days of school food drive for the Canton Bank a sixth grade student was chosen by a panel of libraries Educators to represent Connecticut students on the 22 nutmeg nominating committee two sixth grade band students qualified for Northern Regional two fifth grade students were accepted into the heart schools of music harmony winds which is meant for advanced middle school students fifth grade student one the county winner of the state annual fire prevention contest two sixth grade students were honored by the Connecticut Association of schools two sixth grade students were honored at the Connecticut Association of school's Elementary celebration of Arts

079in both 19 and 21 and in 23 a sixth grade student placed first in the Connecticut Middle School Division of invest right seven sixth grade students qualified for Connecticut problem solving 10 sixth grade students qualified for the Connecticut problem solving affiliate bow in 23 we are ordered the distinction of the best middle schools by the US News and reports our music program best communities by the the F the organization n students and staff leaders are Equitable and engaging instruction and have presented at Yukon and Regional Schools on the topic we had an outstanding 24 teacher of the year Ashley lepain hint high school was ranked the 27th best high school in the US News and World Report the high school received a highly favorable denial accreditation from the New England Association of schools our combined

080SAT scores is one of the highest in the state for the class of 23 in 23 123 students tested in a total of in 90 AP exams 33 students were designated as AP Scholars 40% enrolled in the high school and at least one AP 43 seniors received medals for outstanding academic achievement at our latest award honors award ceremony our growth continues to make we continue to make growth on our Smarter Balance assessment Athletics our girls field hockey team as we heard tonight finals girls soccer semifinals grany Canton football let me rephrase that Canton gany football football peat champions in 2123 Co-op ice hockey won the state championship in 22 boy soccer State runner up in 22 over the past two years 16 athletes have gone on to play respective sport in college 36 Allstate athletes

081two all-americans 11 4year scholar athletes and as you heard tonight we have plenty of uh community service so our story for the Canton Public Schools and the success that we have within the Canton Public Schools is tremendous you won't find too many school districts in the state of Connecticut that can share just some of those accolades think about how many we we said tonight so we are very successful in the can Public Schools our student enrollment as we've been talking about for the the past six months that I've arrived and I know there were some studies our student enrollment if you look at the Highlight in 2425 you could see we're actually taking a dip from 1483 to 1475 but you could see in 2526 we go to 1495 then we go down to 1490

082and 1473 and then we start going down you may say we hit the bubble already because if you look in the previous years you see 1521 1497 158 we hit the bubble as a as a district but what we didn't do is hit the bubble at Cherrybrook so you got to look very closely at the prek through three Cherrybrook right now we're 450 we're 446 and then we jump up to 474 483 480 487 so the bubble is at Cherrybrook even though we had higher numbers the previous years those higher numbers were actually at the middle school so if you look at 2122 it was 242 247 and then you could see the middle school and the high school is actually where we're losing our numbers and then the the Cherry Brook um that's where

083our bubble is that's what we're preparing for and then you could see our projected class sizes that we have within our um buget that our class sizes are going to remain as I said within our um class side class guideline and policies that we have for the the the Board of Ed and there's going to be no different in in sections that we have for 24 than we have for 25 and this next chart is just a different way of of showing where we are with the the Highlight for the average um for the 2425 in in Black the one thing that I do want to explain is a per pupil expenditure in the next gener next generation of accountability index yeah I think it's really important to share what we spend in the Canton

084Public Schools and how our kids perform according to the Next Generation accountability index which I'll explain po po pup expend is calculated on an average based on the total District expenditure across all students this measure assists districts in determining the relative return on Performance Based on expended funds so what I need to share with you is the Canon public schools actually ranked 96 out of 194 reporting districts in agencies and per pupil expenditure for 22 that's low folks that we are 90 6 out of 194 so what that means if you look our PPE can the P per pupil expenditure for 22 was 23246 which is below the state average below the state average and what you could see is our students are performing right in the middle right now according to the accountability index

085now you might say well what makes up this accountability index so let me explain that the accountability index is based upon 12 indicators academic achievement measured by state assessments academic growth number three assessment participation rate number four chronic app absenteeism five postsecondary preparation in the coursework six postsecondary Readiness exams and college credit seven graduation on track in ninth grade eight graduation four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate nine graduation six-year adjusted cohort 10 postsecondary entrance all students College enrollment 11 physical fitness and 12 our access so what that means is so if you look at this chart you could see relative to our durg if the left-hand chart Compares us with uh how the state Compares us relative to our Durk you could see that we're at number 15 and how much we spend per pupil expenditure

086and then our accountability index where the state has all that formula we're right still in the Middle with our accountability index at 74.6 5 so we are performing well according to what we're using are per pupil expenditure and then the next chart says really the the same thing Canton is representative by um the the the star right in the middle with us being the the the higher we spend on per pupil expenditure where we are as we're saying it's showing how we are performing at a pretty high level according to our per pupil expenditure um that we are spending so what does that mean if you remember in December on December 8th this chart may look familiar to you I presented to you a a forecasted budget if you look down at the bottom was

087a net percent of 5.55 so I presented to you at that time netting out different things which I'll go over in a minute a 5.5% budget now where am I now so if we go to February 13th and I want to really go through this uh closely with you you can see if you take the salaries Transportation health benefits liability insurance go back here please Insurance oil natural gas electricity contracted Services you can see just to move those things over over it's a 5% increase right out of the gate I'm at 5% then when you add in and you put out the net excess cost just for special education I'm at a 4.85% so right out of the gate with those two areas we're at 9.85 then if you start looking at our dues our

088fees our supplies our maintenance our furniture educ ational technology tech services and small Capital items we're at 12 that's another 2.7 that brings us up to a 12.32 budget then you start netting out our open Choice students so if we didn't if we didn't participate in in the open Choice program um and as you aware we get $10,000 for our open Choice students and I presented to you the the open Choice budget last month that we're anticipating $950,000 so we net out $950,000 and then we're also anticipating additional revenue from Harford for our special education of a 2.68 so right there that is you would subtract 5.67 and then as I've been sharing since we've been doing the forecasted budget that we are anticipated as the town of uh Canton to receive an additional [Music]

089$398,000 in education cost share that I did get confirmed that that it's still in the governor's budget that we will receive $398,000 this year and another $400,000 for the 25 26 budget if you net all those things that brings us down to a net increase of a 5.39 so I'm actually lower than I was last month now you may say well how did I get lower how did I bring that 5.5 that I had in December two months ago now to a 5.39 there was a lot of moving parts that happened in the past month kir so in the past two months excuse me we actually had to add back into this budget $223,000 so we learned that there was a a k teacher kindergarten teacher that we removed from open choice that we had

090to put in to the general fund for $98,000 we learned since last uh since December that we have a student um that um at a district tuition um that we were short $97,000 because a student is actually going to be at a district we have the new digital citizenship a requirement of $5,000 tuition went up for the Farmington Valley uh continuing education and then our Mastery project of $38 that BR that then increased my 5.5 up by $23,000 that it brought me close to a six so I had to sit back and say based upon the budget workshops that we had previously and hearing some concerns that um we had to be um looking at a budget that would have to be lower but would also move our district forward so what I did was

091everything in red is what I took out of the forecasted budget so there was a request to actually have three additional pairs at for kindergarten for srbi pairs I reduceed that by one and a half we feel that we could transition into um three in the coming years uh based upon enrollment we did have a reduction in our insurance of 44,000 at the forecasted budget we added at 9% it's now at 8% um I did remove the Athletics secretary from the budget for 32,000 we did have a magnet school Savings based upon the the governor's budget that we could put it at 65% of 31,000 I did reduce our legal fees by uh $10,000 I increased that by I believe uh $115,000 so I brought it down only 5,000 up because we don't have as

092many contract negotiations next year workman's comp we feel we could go lower than that we reduced um some of the maintenance project projects that we had of $330,000 that we feel that the estimates that we received may have been a little high um athletic uniforms for 31600 we did have um a lot of uh money not a lot but we had about $100,000 in in the pay for play so we're going to move that to pay for play um special education tuition Mrs McAn um said that we could negotiate um some things with some schools so we brought that down by 15,000 small Capital uh re-evaluation of the administrator projects that we think we could come in lower by 15 e- rate Savings Mr Dum asro has done a great job to go out there

093and find uh grants District interior exterior doors small Capital we're going to take that out of a security Grant um miscellaneous equipment that we feel that um we could get at a better price or possibly do without um again some more e- rate savings by Mr delmastro we're we're looking to do we were looking to move our imput and Visions to a web hosting system we're going to hold that off a year for 17,500 interactive Tech replacement uh Mr deastro actually submitting this grant this week um for the Propecia Grant of of seven of $110,000 to get our interactive boards by Grant I anticipate that we'll get that some athletic equipment of 1,800 to pay for play adjusted our open Choice by 25,000 we actually had 925 in um we actually had 925 in for

094um for our December number and so we were able to do that uh gy chairs for 35 can everybody hear me still okay Jim chairs uh for pay for play 3,000 so you could see I eliminated $342,000 and with the offset of what I had to add of the $23 to the 342 I I reduced this um by $139 um th000 from the the 5.5 so we we did a lot of work from December um to um February 12th where we are February 13th where we are right now next slide and remember our eser funds that we received from the the state of Connecticut is $315,000 that we um still have in our budget relative to uh 30,000 for custodian educational software uh 3.0 tutorial support summer services our communication coordinator and literacy specialist I

095showed you this um last month uh this same exact slide so typically as you know that th this chart just lays out that 75% of our budget is made up of salary and benefits um that that that's a big part of of our budget and um it's just there's not a lot of room in a budget when 75% of if it's it salaries and the next chart just really shows the the different aspects of where we are with our regular education staff and our benefits and you could see General Ed supplies is a small portion of this um budget and and transportation and tuition are are some of the other major drivers of a budget so what's in this budget from a a staffing standpoint our campus monitors are still in this budget for um

096oversite for the the the Safety and Security at Cherrybrook and CIS we have 1.5 kindergarten Paris we have our open Choice after school coordinator at CIS a math English tutor at CIS we still have in here um and we're moving right along with the Commissioners Network that we do anticipate that we'll receive funds from the the state of Connecticut for our 0.5 social worker math English tutor at CMS again the Commissioners Network Ram uh I'm very excited to present to this board our English Department shair for leadership for our department 6- 12 unified arts department coordinator organizing leadership for rtech and PE an after school monitor for the CMS CHS uh campus because we have we have so much activity going on in there our field hockey coach at CMS extended year coordinator occupational therapis

097as I I said to you in December this is actually a cost savings for us because we contracted it out we're going to hire our own and then our as Mr Bishop actually spoke about tonight our teacher and Residency program and that would come out of our open Choice attendance Grant so there are some things there but from a standpoint of where we're going as a district there's nothing new on here that you you have not seen um when I presented the forecast budget in December and then our small Capital um projects that's a different number we were at approximately $80,000 in um December and we decided to scale back some of the projects relative to maybe the cost that they were looking at but you could see the arkil the classroom kids table the

098laminators all the things that we we spoke about in December are are there the kindergarten with the rug replacement the replace some AC units the Middle School printer the washer dryers Athletics the volleyball stand the pure per uh pupil Personnel Services um the music up right piano for a total of 50,000 $53,000 which is not a lot of money for a a a small Capital with in a district to trying to move projects forward highlights to the administrative proposed budget it maintains the camp board of education class side guidelines core instructional student intervention programs maintained campus monitor position for both Cherry Brook primary school and Canton intermediate and extended campus supervision at Canton middle school and Canton High School our teacher Residency program department chair for English at Kon middle school and the high school

099math and Ela instructional materials for both Char Brook primary school and K intermediate school and the new course offering at the high school economic early college experience one of the things that's really important is to look at our six-year average that that we have ranging from fiscal year 20 to 25 that we're the as I said the net increase of 5.39 with an average six-year of 4.04 for total operating budget request 5.39 of 33 million 47,800 had um two or three budget workshops already but now you're seeing the administrative budget in its final terms and ultimately it's the board's job to adopt a budget to bring to the board of Finance so we're asking if there's any questions related to what you heard tonight and looking through the the the budget book which is really

100detailed in what we're asking for that we we're looking for you to send an email with your questions to Claudia nardy Donna myself and John Bishop if you could send that by February 20th which is next Tuesday our goal would be to answer all those questions in a slide deck like we've done at our previous meetings and present those answers to those questions on February 27th in the budget workshop and then we have budget workshops on February 29th and March 5th and then the board of education budget is due March 11th um then Mr Daniels will make a a presentation to the board of Finance on March 20th and then if needed there'll be a a board of edge budget workshop on March 26 depending on if there's any Board of Finance reductions in the

101annual budget hearing is April 23d and then the budget uh referendum is on May 9th so th those are the SCH I I'm really proud of the work that the administrative did with a new superintendent of schools that really flipped the process of what we're doing I I want to remind the board that we had a forecasted budget and we really were looking at where not only where we would be for the 2425 school year but also five years from out and I just want to remind the board I I if you remember how we've been doing the monthly financials I'm actually riding um this budget with if you remember about a $1 million loss from this year that I got to make up for um next year and I if if we didn't have

102to do that if there wasn't a shortfall this year um this budget would actually be much lower um than it is by two or 3% if we didn't have to uh make up for that I I did want to make sure because we've discussed that um before and it's where we're at um but I feel proud of what the work that this team did and we feel that it's um a budget that will definitely move the the the school district forward that truly aligns with the Board of Education goals and I'll take any questions at this time general questions Cara can I ask you can you go back is there any way you can go to page 32 and 33 of the presentation of the budget book or the presentation the budget book is it

103is the budget book here to go yeah you'd have I've got it it'll just take a second all right what I want to tell the board members is I think the thing that I'm most proud about in this budget is the way that Jordan mapped the entire budget to the board's goals these are our goals our highlights of things that we wanted to accomplish and on page 32 and 33 he's mapped every single one of um the dollar increases or the dollar needs uh to those goals so um if you can't pull it up now that's fine but I would really ask you to read that because this is the thing that hit me hit me U you know hit my heart it hit my passion for the board hit my passion for the district

104that that we've been able to map this budget to the goals and the priorities of this uh this board of education so I think that's important that's page 32 and 33 thank you okay there they are right there I just I just wanted to show you that um you can see how from student growth and achievement all the where the dollars are being spent and I think from Board of Finance situation or perspective uh this is very meaningful so thank you cara that's fine okay thank you Dr Gman great work any general questions on what you saw remember specific questions just maybe you writing down as we were going but we'll do this uh on the um 27th is it 27th yes board members anything okay thank you very much and thank you for that

105presentation okay we're going to go to standing committee reports we'll go quickly on that Russell I think you said you had nothing to add to Donna's report is there anything you want to add from Finance um no we went over the financials um for January we approve and we approved past financials and that's basically we talked a little bit about what Mr Bishop discussed this for the first reading and uh that's about it thank you Russell um on policy Mr shy you had a meeting tonight we met tonight I'm happy to say we completed our review of the 4,000 series Mr Bishop has been terrific in his research and and getting back to us and we began looking at the 5,000 series which is with students very long and very complicated those of you that

106were able to uh read some and send some comments in very much appreciated and we decided we'd add an extra meeting in at six o'clock before the uh regular meeting on February 27 I believe it is and again anybody is most welcome to attend and if you have any additional comments in any of the students uh related policy as the 5,000 series please send them to to John and to me thank you Joe um curriculum and Technology Erica you had a meeting today yes thank you to everyone who came to the meeting this morning um we went over the assistant superintendent monthly update kindergarten registration update um we look we talked about the January professional development um we discussed the literacy update and the equity update and um we will be putting more detailed notes

107um in our minutes for those that want more details and those will be posted to the website in your next next meeting is um February 28th thank you very much thank you and any questions for curriculum I'm sorry no um and for communications Felicia I'm gonna jump in on Mrs Jordan's behalf there um with her approval um uh just to be able to share with the board um uh we have been working to uh prepare the most uh recent newsletter which should be coming out presently to our community highlighting uh some of the uh continuous work that we have do in our district to be able to support even beyond the the typical classroom into uh enrichment for our students and and and helping C really feel like a a home and a place for

108every student uh additionally we are working already on our next newsletter that will go out to the community uh we are in discussions with the uh um Board of Selectmen in the town and the board of Finance on how we might be able to possibly work together in communicating factual information regarding the budget process to again continue to work to support um information for the entirety of our community thank you John fich you want to add anything to that or um NOP that's all and I know we'll have our next meeting will be the probably the first week in March well we'll share that date probably next week with the rest of the board okay and just uh FYI for the board I've move Cindy's uh assignment over to Communications to help out with uh

109Felicia so uh Cindy will be more over to Communications to help out with Felicia okay any questions for any of the subcommittees board committees okay uh calendar of events uh in your packet you'll see the calendar of events mark your calendars appropriately and accordingly um and I'll I'll catch up with you Jordan on on a meeting that I want to that I may not be able to make but U I'm sure Joe will be there so um any questions on the calendar of events okay we'll move into uh board announcements so um Everybody saw that Ryan Ryan is a resigned and I want to say this that um that having served on the board of Selectmen and um other committees and park and reck the hardest committee I serve on or that experienced is really

110Board of Education it is a demanding um it's it's demanding from a volunteer standpoint with amount of meetings and and so on and it's hard it's hard so it's hard to balance uh family life with Board of Education life and it and it's hard when you have other things going on in your life and Ryan stepped up he's got several things going on in home and um he's served this board for six years and he's done a wonderful job and has contributed and he's been a wonderful um member and he's done it sometimes at sacrifice of family but he's been a a joy to have on and when Ryan was on he was really on as far as his comments and really challenged us from time the time so uh Ryan I just on behalf

111of the board I just wanted to thank you for your time serving and we wish you well with all the family things that you have going on and as I've always said to every board member it's got to be family first then your job and then the board and uh so I I can appreciate where you are and I just wanted to from the bottom of my heart thank you for all the time that you put in six years is a is a pretty pretty good run so thanks very much thanks L I really appreciate that and I appreciate each and every one of you you know how hard you work and how much time you spend volunteering um you guys are you know this Bo is really part of the heart and soul of

112what makes Kon so wonderful um and I I really appreciate having the opportunity to to serve with with all of you um and this board has been so pleasant and civil um it's such a refreshing um you know change from what we're seeing on the national scene um and I just would encourage everybody to keep doing that and keep you know no matter what our what our differences may or may not be um to just keep on you know treating each other with the dignity and respect that I've seen over the last six years um and uh you know just be the antidote to that otherwise uh toxic National scene so um you again thank you all for the opportunity and um you know I look forward to be able to help out where I

113can in in the future well we're going to remember that because there's always places to help out but uh and maybe as as life gets easier like I did you can always come back so thank you Ryan great guys I I know that we The Parting Gift for you is is a brick it's a brick uh Donna has ordered the brick and I think in the spring it'll be uh put in at the flag pole at the uh at the high school uh just just thanking you for your time and it's always great to show your kids and and it also Inspire civic responsibility and Duty when people see dad's name up there so I think that's I'm honed thank you guys any board member have any any comments All right so uh what takes

114place is tomorrow there'll be an announcement uh uh seeking a board position for an unexpired term that runs through 2025 I think I've given you all a little bit of ins it on how that's going to work we'll run that ad for the next two weeks it'll close on March 1st which is Friday I believe and then the following week we will we will meet uh to interview the candidates so um tomorrow when uh Claudia drops that announcement CommunityWide you'll also get a copy of that it's a it's a standard uh note just uh seeking applicants for an unexpired term through 2025 who must be a Republican or or an unaffiliated uh voter in a resident of the Town clearly so uh those are the requirements any questions about that okay thanks again Ryan okay

115board board action items uh Dr Gman alluded to it but we are moving forward with the um with the U Portables at Cherrybrook we had good meetings with three Architects uh we learned a lot we know some things and I I think I'll just report to the board right now I'm feeling pretty confident that we can get this done by the uh the date that the superintendent has put down is April 15 2025 so I think I think we're going to get there um other than that that's the only action oh past action item so do we have anything that needs to uh we need to come back to or that we haven't touched base on something only thing Kim the only thing that I I'm getting from an action item from today's meeting is

116just a request uh for the board to um get budget questions to the to Donna mikowski to Claudia John and myself just copy Us in um by Tuesday February 20th that that's the only action item that I was able to get Kim I don't know if you if you got any no you talking to me Jordan I am um that was the only action item that I I I thought tonight yes we have motions for the um recommend actions yeah no I'm just talking about what what needs to be done by board members for next for um that's all I have too super thank you Kim okay um recommended actions and uh point of order Dr Gman um I believe we have to accept if I recall in my um Robert tools we have to

117accept Ryan's resignation as a board I I truly don't know that answer um if you do or if you don't I I feel confident that the board has to accept the resignation from a board member so I think I it can't hurt us to go through the motion correct so um I will entertain a motion to accept ryal donal's uh res from the Board of Education affected February 13 2024 can I have a motion thank you Cindy second thank you Kim uh all those in favor we have nine board members or eight board members now okay so we go to see you go Ryan thanks guys Jesus got have one Des Center or something kind well you said we're a civil board so we didn't want to hurt anybody's feeling here so um okay thank

118you for that now I need a motion uh that the C Board of Education approve the consent agenda is provided and motion thank you Erica and uh Cindy thank you for the second okay we have first and second any other uh conversation questions hearing none all those in favor I and the final act for this board tonight is a motion to adjourn its February 13th meeting at 8:48 p.m. may have a motion thank you Felicia thank you Peggy we'll get you on the on the board now Peggy and Felicia one and two any conversation if not all those in favor we're unanimous Ryan's last act thank you very much everybody for attending thank you administrative team for being here tonight you did a great job thank you Dr Grossman Mr Bishop and the rest of

119the team everybody have a good night see you thank you