BOE Meeting 1 23 24

001Terry's on Terry Terry you have notes tonight right so you're good so I don't if Kim joins later that's fine is Kim on no okay so I I called order the hello hello oh I'm sorry you're you're you're good okay so I called a meeting the uh the January 23rd Board of Education meeting uh in this virtual um virtual content only tonight which means that we'll probably be eliminating some of the things that you see on the general agenda and we'll move thing through uh this pretty quickly um one of the things that we're going to bypass because we don't have a flag is uh unless somebody wants to hold one I think I'll I'll just I'll pass on the pledge tonight and uh nobody send in a letter to the editor that I passed

002on the pledge so um so we'll pass on the pledge and we'll go right to the administrative report which is the Chairman's Corner which the only things that I want to uh mention to this board is and we'll get into it a little bit more with our reps is um we met with the board of Finance last night and we alerted them to some changes that may be occurring in this year's budget due to some um some funding that maybe we were counting on that we won't get and we probably won't get at the level that we budgeted for which is only going to increase our our deficit to some extent so uh we did report that the board of finance and the board of Finance understands uh where we're coming from um so that

003was uh that was pretty good and then uh the other thing is that um that uh we are going to be talking more about CIP that the board of Finance is coming up with more of a long range plan towards CIP I don't know uh if if it'll take place this year or next year but they're certainly focused on trying to solve some of the town's Financial shortfalls that we have on a more of a long-term basis and and some of that has to do with the capital Improvement plan so I'm I'm very pleased with the direction and and the um uh future thinking of our Board of Finance uh so I I I'm expecting very good things out of that group going forward so Ju Just to let you know so um and then

004the final thing I wanted to mention is we are out to RFQ on the on the modular and um we're expecting something back probably in February according to Bob Skinner and when we hear more on that we'll get back to you so those are the three items that really I wanted to mention uh in this in this month's chairman report any questions for me for the chair okay hearing none we'll go right to the superint just a quick question any update on possible reimbursement on the modulus so we we are we're we're looking into that there's some thought that we may be available what might be available is about 38% Jordan we're thinking 38 39% correct we won't we don't we won't know that for a while we submitted our Grant application in we'll find

005out um excuse me let me step back we have to go out to um bid for our architect first put plans together and then we have to go through the whole uh process of applying so we're we're not there yet Joe but we're gonna be we will aggressively look at that so you're muted Joe sorry it's still a possibility well the the the possibility is is we we need to we're going through all the processes right now we're going through um the RFP for an architect and then the architect we'll have to put plans together and then we'll have to go through the the process with the Department of administrative Services thank you any other questions before I move to the superintendent report okay uh we'll go to the superintendent's report announcements super thank you

006thank you Mr uh Daniels it's great to see everyone I wish we were in person uh tough call today by the superintendent of schools but what I will tell you it is very slick um I just actually came in a little while ago and the the roads are starting to Slick up so um this this is the best that we could do it's great to see state senator seminer and representative deot with us this evening I'm glad state senator I I know you were in the waiting room and now we uh got you in so thank you for getting for in it it will be a great conversation uh later in the the evening in the meeting I'll be sharing my responses to the board of ed questions on our open Choice memo proposed forecast

007budget that I presented at our last meeting and then the administration will be here to answer any questions that you may have regarding what you've seen relative to the forecast of budget and the open Choice with the the privilege to present the administration Budget on February 13th which is our next meeting I had the privilege and I don't know if anybody else did to attend the Middle School play th this past weekend Phantom toll booth what did what a great effort that our middle school students put in this play it was entertaining and the the crowd on Friday night was very large crowd and I believe the the the Saturday uh crowd was was just as large so congratulations to our Middle School also congratulations to our high school seniors since our last meeting our

008high school seniors presented their K Mastery projects and what a what a great event when when you walk in and the first thing that you see is a big boat it it realize that there's really not a boat in our school but when you walked in on that night once you walked in there was a boat of one of the students seniors built a a Mastery project with um building a boat and it was well done I was very impressed I know there was a few board members that were able to walk around that evening so very impressive great job to the the high school the there are a lot of events that are that are coming up that I would encourage the the board in the community to get involved in we have our

009course selection an info session for the class of 28 that's our current eighth graders on January 31st on February 3rd get your ticket now because I can promise it'll be sold out it will be the prisms concert on February 3rd 7:30 we have an early release professional development February 13th and then we have our board meeting and finance committee meeting and policy committee meeting on the 13th of February and we have a short break February 19th in February 20th so that that's really exciting that we of all the things that are happening in the camp Public Schools so I I'll take any questions at a superintendent's office at this time just want to say the senior projects were really terrific it was a great night it's all you Mr Daniels you're muted again you're muted

010uh you're muted there now you're good the host muted me who is the host Tonight Kira fooling around all right uh we have uh Simone Maggie and Juliana on who wants to go first I can start for the high school and middle school I was gonna say go ahead okay so um along with what Dr Gman was just speaking on um we had our senior Camp projects and they turned out amazing including Lyla Brower who made a real rowboat from scratch which was very very cool like he mentioned uh Julia Cogan sewed her own ice skating costumes Nikolai marinin wrote and performed a standup comedy act Darien Camaro wrote a weightlifting guide for beginners Katie Harrington upcycled her old clothing Cole Edwards created his own language and I wrote and produced the song um and

011then the middle school had their play The Phantom toe Booth which went fantastic so congratulations and good job to everyone who was involved finally the new semester started today congratulations to all the students for working so hard to do well and to all the teachers who worked so hard to make sure we have the best education possible that's great SAR thank you very much Maggie you want to go next yeah I'll follow up with the CIS report so tomorrow is their PTO sponsored family paint night they have 33 families attending and will be using a fraction of the Slate they saved from last Summer's roofing project as their canvases and they're excited to reuse pieces of the building in this way their last advisory meeting focused on responsibility what it looks like at school at

012home and in the community and during their February advisory they will be striving to show gratitude by making Valentine's Day cards for the community's Frontline workers and their bus and van drivers in anticipation of bus driver appreciation month a bus driver appreciation day at the end of the month great thank you anything else Juliana okay so I'll be doing uh Cherrybrook uh cherb students will be participating in the kids heart challenge um Jump Rope for Heart um from January 16th to February 2nd during their PE classes um they have been active participants in this program for many years and have raised thousands of dollars for the American Heart Association uh School culture and climate uh honey the Cherrybrook mascot has been busy uh visiting classrooms who have earned uh 50 positive cards uh Cherrybrook students

013are doing a great job at modeling being safe kind and responsible and uh to the state they have 2,423 positive cards uh additionally Unified sports at Cherrybrook is now up and running uh since 2009 Cherrybrook students have been participating in Unified sports right now there are 40 uhk through third grade students participating this year and uh Unified sports joins people with and without disabilities on the same team so it's a great way to have some school spirit and to um have people meet each other thank you great report so uh Maggie Juliana and Simone anybody have any questions for our studart reps on anything you just heard tonight good reports lot of activities going uh as we break through January into February looking forward to the spring I think everybody is but uh okay good

014report we'll turn to Mr Bishop on the assistant superintendent's report please thank you Mr Daniels excuse me a couple elements out of the uh assistant superintendent's office kindergarten registration information did go out to our uh Community uh and we look forward to a a strong process c um in particular in connection with the recent State legislation uh we continue to work uh closely with the school on the uh planning for the implementation of the new reading program uh uh required by State Statute this uh upcoming year and then additionally I wanted to be able to share as well that I had an opportunity to speak with several Community constituents on uh safe walk to school and safe route to schools and and had the opportunity to connect with representatives from the uh state to discuss

015uh opportunities to um work with our municipality to evaluate um routs to school and make possible recommendations on uh improvements within the community to be able to support uh fund acquisition for the town and to be able to support our schools as well uh but those were a few highlights for me and I look forward to being able to connect with uh our curriculum committee at our next meeting John what's our what's our exception rate up to on the uh on the kindergarten side reest for no new no news yet no news okay no news yet great okay uh that closes out the reports Mr Dan can I just can I just interrupt for a sec uh Mr Bishop can you give a a quick update of your uh first Equity team meeting yesterday please

016oh thank you Dr Grossman absolutely uh we had our first Equity team meeting uh yesterday with our district Equity team so thrilled to be able to have uh uh representatives from each of our schools come together and working in in collaboration with uh the partners for educational leadership Carrie Lord and Patrice Nelson uh Carrie and Patrice worked with us to be able to develop our uh Equity statement a few years ago and we're thrilled to be able to have them back to help bring uh action and Direction into our Equity action plan so we have a wonderful team that has assembled and really looking forward to uh the the coordinated work with this team with our instructional coaches and with our administrative team as well thank you Dr grman any questions for the assistant superintendent

017anything you heard okay we're moving right along this normally doesn't happen like this but we are moving right along um so this comes up to the public comment side of things Kira um do we have anybody that would like to make a public comment tonight and we just ask you to uh I understand that we're virtual but if you can keep your comments to three minutes we'd appreciate that so any Body online that would like to say anything if you're joining us online and you would like to make public comment go ahead and use that raise hand feature zoom and I will call on you by your Zoom name and then you'll be allowed to talk I have uh Andrew Lavery with a raised hand I'm gonna allow Andrew to talk great good afternoon uh

018good evening Andrew how are you how you doing L can everybody hear me yep we can hear you fine perfect perfect yeah I just want just real quick uh Andrew La for pineacres Drive just two for for the record um when we give the like the the subcommittee reports Mr Bishop just gave a report on that on that Equity meeting um a little more detail if we could like okay you had the equity meeting for example Mr Bishop but what specifically did you talk about is there a way for me to look that up a little more detail all you basically gave is what I what I basically heard is that you had a meeting you met with some partners he gave some names and that was it like what specifically happened what specifically happens

019at the and what specifically talked about in some detail about the subcommittee meetings I've looked at some of the minutes for the subcommittee meetings and they're very very vague the reports that are given by the board of members who sit in those subcommittees again the reports are very vague we talked about this we discussed that no specific detail at all really ever given in my experience and the handful of Board of Ed meetings that I've attended here recently so if there could be some more some more substance to these reports and uh better minutes taken that would be great for uh for more information for the public thank you good good suggestions Andrew I sometimes my myself I think we're we're a little bit light in favor of trying to uh move through the meeting

020but I hear you um Mr Bishop do we have minutes on on that are there minutes that are going to be published from that meeting that that's not a subcommittee meeting uh Mr Daniels that's a a representative uh group from our district but uh we were going to be able to provide an update to the uh the board of education curriculum subcommittee so we can have information via that mechanism we should um if we're participating on it then I think the board members should get some type of minutes or something along those lines and along with the Andrew's points U maybe we do need to go into a deeper dive sometimes when we Mak reports so let me uh let me jump in there Lou that the equity team meeting is a a teacher meeting

021uh but what is um in great detail that that would um possibly answer that question and is that um the assistant superintendent through the curriculum committee gives an assistant superintendent report that really has detailed activities of what this assist superintendent is doing within his office and details of what these committees are doing and what they're specifically uh working on so we'll take what you said Mr Daniels and we'll make sure that um our subcommittee uh minutes that we're keeping within the the finance committee the policy committee and the the curriculum committee or more detailed that Equity team that that's a a school-based team but we'll we'll make sure that we'll have to work with if this is a priority to yours Mr Daniel we'll we'll make sure that we work with the chairs of um

022Mrs Hayes with the curriculum committee Mr Bush with uh the the finance committee and Mr shiler with the policy to make uh the minutes more detailed thank you and I recognize the limitations on this because we don't necessarily have recording secretaries at every one of these meetings so somebody's volunteering or somebody on the staff is doing that but uh um May maybe we should um try to get a little bit of a deeper dive into what's being uh what we're going over and what we're trying to accomplish so that'd be great thank you thank you for that question Andrew appreciate it any other questions online Kira I don't have any other raised hands um if anybody else would like to comment now's your now's your time no other raised hands okay thank you very much

023Kira okay tonight we were going to we were going to and this will be one of the things that are tabled uh we were going to be recognizing the um the shops at Farmington Valley for uh the uh their contributions to education primarily school education but the monies that they give to our town are are significant as a matter of fact over the last 20 years and I was going to comment on some of the projects but I'll save that but it's in excess of $100,000 which I consider to be a good neighbor uh that they've given to Canton Education Foundation in turn Canton Foundation has given that mostly I would say 98% of that goes to our schools uh for projects that are unbudgeted and uh there is a Canton Education Foundation committee the

024committee uh there's an apption process that's reviewed and those dollars are given out so uh Liz arrian who is the uh the general manager over at the shops who's going to attend tonight we have a a couple um uh citations proclamations for her but we're gon to we're going to move that out to February so we we'll table that any questions on that guys so it gives me a great pleasure and I'm very thankful and appreciative that both our state representatives can make it tonight Senator Lisa seminer and state representative uh elany carbos de gr are both with us tonight it would have been nice to have them in person uh it's always great to see them and I would just say from this board's pect perspective we're very appreciative of what you both do

025uh for us in the way you represent our town and um always uh you know looking for ways that we can uh maybe there's a a grant here or some influence there to help out camp so we appreciate that tonight um I'd like each to you know spend a few minutes just bringing us up to date in your respective offices but um you know the the question that's going to be on everybody's mind to some extent and we realize you're probably just as upset as we are is the uh excess cost sharing that uh those dollars that um have seemed to be reduced maybe maybe not maybe there's an opportunity there and then and then of course some of the grants that are that are sunsetting and of course we're going to have some questions

026about how we can work jointly together on those unfunded mandates and maybe getting it funded down the line so uh wi with that why don't we start with uh state senator Lisa seminer and then we'll turn over to state representative elany caros de So Lisa do you mind going first uh no not at all um so good good evening everybody thank you for having me tonight um I I uh was I'm prepared to talk to you a little bit about the um excessive Co cost Grant I wasn't sure if you um lost a significant amount or you're feeling that you're you you're not my only Town that's discussing this with me so some people felt that their um amount that they were quoted they are not receiving so is that the case in the in

027your situation it is we we budgeted there there was a pretty good indication that the we were going to get 88 there was supposedly 88% was going to be funded potentially on its way somewhere down the line to maybe 100% which is where it should be but um we uh we budgeted 88% and uh it's it's a six figure hit to us uh with not without getting that money and you're talking about the excessive cost Grant correct So Lisa we're talking about the excess cost which is the special education uh funding we're not talking about the education cost share okay education cost share uh kon's actually expected to receive the the same amount this year and uh getting uh an increase next year of $398,000 so we're specifically talking about the excess cost that the

028the state came up with a new formula uh for this year and a a tiered uh system and canton's rate was supposed to be at 88% and so we I worked with the board of Finance in September and actually adjusted our budget from 80 to 88% to to meet that uh not not thinking that would be an issue and about a month ago we started receiving word that it it it may be below 7 % and then yesterday we received some information from uh the Connecticut Association of public school superintendants and in other groups that it could be as low as 70% for us so that's about for Canton right now and now we're looking at it about $140,000 yeah and from what I was told um the uh formula that they use used was

029that didn't take didn't take into account the amount of special ed students I'm not exactly sure uh why that happened I can tell you that I did um propose some legislation for this upcoming session to take a look at that excessive cost Grant formula because my understanding is that it hasn't been looked at in quite a while so I don't know if that was part of the um of the reasoning be behind why the amount of money that was uh appropriated to each Town isn't isn't happening but and I also asked um for some information in terms of is this affecting every single one of my towns and I haven't received that answer yet and I don't know if um rep degra has any further Insight on it than I do sure I'm I'm happy

030to pop in um I've been speaking with the chair about this because we had also heard that this might be a challenge and I do believe that it's actually going to be across the state as of now I will say that um the first thing the chair said to me was please have your superintendent and your board of ed chair reach out he's happy to have a meeting je this is Jeff Curry I'm speaking of who is the house board uh ofed chair he's happy to have a meeting anytime um he knows that Cap's put out that information um and he understands why they put out that information but he would like to meet with you one-on-one if if you would so desire um he is going to be doing that with Avon as well

031because they had similar concerns um the the challenge is yes the wrong we think it was the wrong numbers were used it was data from a previous year so of course that would skew the numbers in terms of U numbers being off for how many special ed students we actually have and so um that number is unfortunately off but I will tell you that um I have seen in the last week um that the chair is very adamant that he gets back to what we what we you know a bipartisan way agreed to have the funding be because we know how important it is to the towns and that um you know your budgets it's really hard to come up with even an extra $140,000 um and you know I think one of my very

032first meetings as a State Rep was with Canton to talk about the fact that sometimes you have four or five students move into the district where decisions had been made about special ed in other districts and then you could be looking at a half a million or more extra costs that you were not expecting that lands in your budget so um while I can unfortunately make no guarantees I will tell you that we are just as upset about it as you are because that is not what we voted on and that is not what we were expecting and so it it's you know we're here to be your voice and I know Senator seminara feels the same way about that and and so it's our job to continue to Advocate and but but believe me

033when I tell you it is every single legislator that is hearing this and is going to the chairs and saying so what are we going to do to fix this um because that is again not what we agreed to so we're going to keep fighting for that and um and and moving forward as best we can on that so I hate to tell you to stay tuned but that's where we are and this is why we have you know a short session which makes budget adjustments because we're going to have to hopefully do one here that's great um so we'll keep our fingers closed just to add while we're looking at I also put in legislation or put in you know plan not only to look at the formula but to also consider the time

034ing that's associated and I know that this has sort of been done many times before but um I hear it from every one of my school districts that the timing of it doesn't allow for for school districts to prepare with their budgets so um I'm hoping we can take a look at that this session and and see if we can make some appropriate changes or you think the towns would just saying tough so so the question the question is that um you know this the state made Lisa as you pointed out the state made a mistake that there was more special education costs so they make the mistake don't they have to find I mean they make this commitment don't they have to go out and find I I know I'm I'm preaching to the

035choir here but shouldn't they be responsible just like we would be responsible if our Board of Finance said you know you made a mistake now go find your cut go find where you're going to get the money that you need to offset whatever it is I don't know why the state gets a free pass on this I I don't think we do that that's that's I I I I think Senator semire I don't want to speak for you but I I mean I don't think we do um I I think that that's exactly what the chair is saying too it's like no this is not what we said what we said and what we said and what we I don't want to use the word promise but kind of um you know that that was

036what we were putting forward was that you would get that 88% even potentially up to 100 so I you know and and that is the challenge when we put in legislation that has a fiscal note is that we as your legislators and even as you know a lesson I'm learning as a chair you still have to chase those dollars even after you've passed it because you have to make sure that it is appropriately awarded the way that it was intended so I I agree with you I think the state is responsible for it because we said so thank you I I agree wholeheartedly I just I wish I can tell you you that it's going to be remedied but I I along with uh rep de gr cannot make that sort of promise we certainly

037every one of us is advocating for our entire districts and um and also hearing from everybody so it's not a you're not a so which I think you already know a soul case so it's an unfortunate circumstance for sure well what are some of the other things that are coming down the pike legislatively that either may be of concern to us or have helped us any any thoughts any ideas um well if you're asking me I think um there's going to be a lot of um I think legislation that's going to talk about or look at engagement of students who have um who don't show up to school uh that's been it's a huge issue it's a growing issue and I think there it is something that is concerning to everybody so I think that

038is going to be looked at uh coming up I also in addition think is going to be what's going to be looked at is um you know as you know we changed the age for kindergarten and uh some people are super happy about that some people are not so happy about that at all um but I think as a result of that we're going to have to take a look at child care issues and I know Child Care issues is is going to be big this session for many many reasons but I think it it's also going to be taken into consideration um because of the changing of the age of the kindergarten enrollment Lisa can I just add something about the kindergarden yeah I think it would be important for the the legislators to

039just take a stand um on that issue because even though it it it says uh and Mr Bishop correct me if I'm wrong a September one date um there is flexibility within that and it's putting parents and Guardians in a tough position and it's putting schools uh districts in a a tough position regarding waivers and you're you're getting different responses in in in different districts across the state some just coming out right out of the gate saying everybody's coming in some coming out um and I haven't heard this one but could say uh nobody's coming in um that doesn't meet the the waiver and then you're getting the the the ability of when do you bring a four-year-old into assess them um closer to when they're five or later in the year so I I

040I think there's got to be some piece and I don't know if that's going to be done in this session um that may be a larger discussion but I I I could appreciate that we went in um after the September one date um but realistically it just th through the ownership right on the districts and every district is doing um something a little bit different so I I I just think that that's something that I'm pretty confident that you're you're all going to hear during the the session is the kindergarten and and then the next one um is the reading legislation um that that just came out and relative to where Canton is on that we're actually excited we're we're our our waiver um wasn't accepted in in one area there were two areas that

041we were accepted in but our team's excited to do the work get their hands um really looking at what's uh best for our kids and what's best for our community um but I I I I think the the legislators have to look at it a little bit different um because it is math next it is science next is social studies next and the the the question that um I'm sure this board will have is where's the local control related to um curriculum and it reading was passed is math next um and there really needs to be some more guiding conversations with that because at times uh I felt in being in two districts over the course of the year I actually felt that the goal post were moving uh with um how the reading legislation

042was was put in so th those are uh two big ones and I know you mentioned the the kindergarten so I wanted to add the reading and and this board has been actively updated by our assistant superintendent where we are with the reading and we'll have a board member on our committee really looking at what's the best um program for the the cim public schools to you so thank you Senator I would also just add add to that um the right to read in terms of the waiver they did I was told that if you were denied any piece of your waiver that you should schedule a meeting with SD and sit down with them and have that conversation I was also recently U made aware that there are additional reading programs listed on the

043SD website I think they originally started with 12 I think there's 19 now um certainly I hear you on local control um I would pause it because you brought it up kindergarten age is local control that's that was why that was put in the way it was so that individual towns could make individual decisions and individual Boards of Education could perhaps look at what their capacity would be for accepting X number of children you know to move them up so to speak or to keep them where they needed to be um and is developmentally appropriate so that's that's the challenge at some point we had to change it 40 odd other states you know have have it that way I I will just tell you a personal story my birthday is September 7th the cut

044off in Virginia was August 31st they put me in with the two-year-olds and guess what I talked this much when I was that age so they immediately moved me with the three-y olds because my birthday was a week later so I mean I I think that that was part of that flexibility and local control that we were trying to put in there for towns and cities the other thing I would say um you know I know there is a lot of concern about what could be next and about especially unfunded mandates a mandate relief um again speaking to the chair you know some of the notes he sent me um there is going to be a mandate relief working group and that is to review recommended mandates that are unnecessary that need amendment that need

045to uh that maybe need to be provided less frequently Etc so there will be an opportunity and my understanding is everything is on the table so there will be an to provide feedback on all of that yeah so the kindergarten legislation I'm not going to disagree at all with what you said the the the piece that is difficult for the the district is how the legislation was written relative to the type of a assessment or um guidelines that that we are using that it says that the state should develop some CSD csde should develop something to guide um districts and that just didn't really happen at a level with the the the read to write the biggest concern that this board um has and this Administration has is is is not so much that it

046started with four or five programs and now it's grown to this many it's this could be a a $600,000 cost to the the the town of Canton and a $600,000 cost to the town C of Canton in the current budget is almost a 1.75 increase on top of what we already have and when we we did meet with the the state the we we got our letter on a Friday night I think we were meeting with the state on a a Monday or a Tuesday um and you know we just had some questions relative to we we we needed to move on and do what was best for our district but that $600,000 what I I did share with csde at that time was okay this is where we're going to have to move uh

047how much are we getting and Mr Bishop correct me if I'm wrong it's $50,000 towards professional development and professional learning that that that that's that's a tough one that this board's going to have to to sell to the community and the question that's going to come out from the community is well why do you need to do this and the answer by this board and this Administration is going to be well the it's a state mandate and it's a state Mandate of a a 600 00 for us it'll probably be about a $600,000 um cost yeah um rep cavos beat me to it in saying that uh I do agree with her that we did um pass the legislation with the idea of local control so um I agree with her there you seem to

048be um I have many many towns who are complaining to me about the right to read in the cost that is associated with it and some of the towns um are also coming to me saying that their Town um reading level is above what was required for this and that is why they are upset if if they feel if their students are performing and they are performing to what the expected level or above why should they be penalized and having it obviously what they're doing is working and is successful so why do they need to spend the money to um get a box program that's the other thing that I've heard too that this is like a boxed up program and it's all prepared with um very little um leeway for the teaching for the

049teachers so um I think that the right to read there there needs to be we need to further look at it at this point and and see if there's any adjustments that can be made um because I I do feel that it's a piece of legislation that is quite frankly costing many districts a lot of money and possibly unnecessarily and it's a piece of legislation that's with good intent right because for some districts it's really necessary um and that's the challenge and I think that it may even be one of the mandates that's examined by this mandate working group because I think that they're even think they're even talking about standing up like a committee that would look at legislation prior to being enacted and I wish that we already had that because that is

050where exactly somebody could have looked at this and said you know if it's this percentage of kids that aren't you know then this these districts should put this in place but if they're up here these districts don't need to do this so that that's the frustrating thing is because we know with good intent but it's the implementation and then the lack of funding that goes with that implementation that believe me when I say we hear you and it again that's another one we are hearing across the state it's not just here yeah so the the interesting thing about that legislation um Senator rep is is that you can correct me if I'm wrong the legislation really has nothing to do about data there there's no data there was no uh student achievement um relative to

051that legis legislation um it it it had nothing to do with if your district is performing at an 80% level or 90% level like many of the districts that didn't get the waiver are performing at an 80 or 90% so the legislation really had nothing to do with uh student performance it had to do with all kids need to to read and I I agree with that wholeheartedly um we when we met with the state it wasn't about um arguing or anything like that was about okay what are our next steps where do we need to go and can you help us fund um this changing can you help us work and make sure that we choose the the the best program for our kids but by my understanding um the leg legislation really has

052nothing to do with student achievement and that's not how um any District was scored relative to they um getting it so I want our board to uh understand that when we submitted the waiver it had nothing to do with uh student achievement it had to do with they assessed you on the program that you currently had um but they did not look at uh student achievement am I correct on that Mr Bishop yeah but thank you those are two hard questions and and I know you're getting hit all over the the the state and in your constituents with reading in kindergarten and unfunded mandates so Mr Jango I thank you for letting me uh jump in there on a couple of those because those are big ones from the superintendent's chair right you know when

053when you talk about um and I know you both mention it that you're hearing it across the state or you're hearing across your District what's it take to to get these things to change I mean h how does it how does it work legislatively I mean you both seem to be very much in favor and you want to help and support and why doesn't it happen faster if in fact others are feeling the same way Senator you want to go first or no no I'll let you take that one okay uh you know it it there's a couple reasons so first of all um you know obviously for years the state was in bad financial shape right so now we have more money and and that was one of the other things I was going

054to mention you know we secured an extra $150 million on top of the $90 million for the continuation of the ECS you know the education cost savings and that's 96% funded as of fiscal year 25 so like you know there is good news um there is good news that you know you'll be paying um I did go and look up the numbers today after I spoke with you um Jordan and the numbers are going to be um 52% of magnet tuition instead of what it used to be um so I think it's important that we you do see there is progress and we're making that progress the challenge is if we're not all sort of rowing the boat in the same direction ction and I think you can hear there's bipartisan agreement here right there's

055actually a lot of that with some of these things in the building that doesn't necessarily mean we get it done fast that's the challenge is that I think that had we looked at the bill and unfortunately I wish I was on education I'm not on education um it's not one of the Committees I serve on but I think that it would have been nice and I'm sure some people probably mentioned why aren't we tying this to data on these reading programs or why aren't we tying this to what existing student success is versus our students who maybe have more challenges um I think it's you know some of it is the process um in a short session I can guarantee you I hope we if we just accomplish getting the money secured that you were

056supposed to have that will be a huge win um SE change like we had in a long session last year where more got done in Education than has been done in probably a decade or more that's probably not going to happen you know it's bureaucracy it's which direction the boats getting Road it's a lot of those things sure um and I will say based on how many people are calling the chairs about right to read perhaps there will be something done sooner than later um because it it you know it's it's a cost that some towns just are gonna really struggle to bear I mean $600,000 is nothing to sneeze that right so um Senator I'm sure you have other thoughts as well um well I I I really do think that um sometimes it

057it also comes down to it sometimes it is bipartisan and I'll just be honest with you sometimes it it it comes down to as rep degra said that not everybody's rowing in the same D Direction This legislation was passed before I was there just so you know so I I was very concerned when it was passed that it it didn't take into account um you know looking at again student achievement and how the districts are meeting that and I I still I'm still hopeful that that will be taken into account and that because I think many many districts expected and anticipated that when they applied for that waiver that that was going to be taken into consideration and that they were going to be getting that waiver and that didn't happen and there are again

058many many districts with very high achieving students and I think very sound curriculums and um because it doesn't meet the quote unquote criteria that um was set out you know you you didn't get the waiver um so I'm still hopeful there's enough people again that are um concerned about this that are complaining about it so I'm still very hopeful that the chairs will listen and that and I think they agree I think they they feel they are concerned about it and they've heard enough about it not only from the legis the legislators on education but all the legislators and I think they're hearing it from their constituents as well because every one of their districts are getting whacked with unexpected um expenses that they didn't think they had and I will say that even if

059we do are not able to reverse policy we maybe can change policy or at the very least again pursue funding for towns because the unexpected hit of $600,000 I don't think was considered I don't think it was considered how much these programs might cost ultimately so so so along those lines and Kim suin raised a good question she she submitted to to me was um so we see we see these what's seems to be not even across the board or towns are being penalized what can individual board members or generally Boards of educations do other than to pick up the phone and harass you two to say come on we got to do better what what can we do where where can we go should we be uh you know at the capital is there

060chances for Testimony is there what what should we be doing to be more active proactive on the state level to try to fight for some of these things with you arm in-arm with you uh not certainly not against you so what would you recommend for us well and I I wouldn't even say not listen if if it's against that's okay too I mean I you know we're not gonna always be right either so I I I would say please come please testify or at least testify on Zoom submit written testimony if you're not comfortable testifying in person or on Zoom um definitely call us definitely pick up the phone make sure that you know you're reaching out to both of us because that's you know if you hear something at least if it's really bunk

061we can sort of say oh that's never going to happen or if it's something really critical we can say yeah we really need you to testify we want you there we we can certainly keep you AB breast or I can certainly keep you AB breast I am on the education committee I can keep you a breast and knowing that this is a concern of yours but you said something earlier that I just wanted to touch upon and you said what we what can we do other than harassing you I I can only speak for myself but I think cat rep de gr feels the same you're not harassing me this is what I was elected to do I represent you if if you have a concern you should certainly be coming to me and you

062should be coming to me over and over for whatever it is that you have take issue with because that's what I'm here for I'm here to represent you and and all of the towns that I represent so I don't I want you if I can leave you with anything don't ever think that you're harassing either one of us because I we I don't think either one of us take it that way no and I had a great conversation with Kim Sullivan for about 20 minutes get in the line at at Ulta right before the holidays about all kinds of stuff so I I mean the more you know call us it's I don't I don't think we neither of us look at it that way because if we didn't want to talk to you we

063wouldn't have run for office um and and we're you know we're not always going to agree on everything and that's okay too but I I certainly I I I think I can speak for both of us we take into account what our constituents what our elected officials in town said we we do take that into account and like I said doesn't mean we're going to agree 100% of the time but we are you know we do we have to look to you you're the experts on the town and and the and your board of bed I mean that that is where local control or whatever you want to call it that that does come into play because we are supposed to be there fighting for our TS so so Lisa Lisa I we we will

064take you if you wouldn't mind let us know when that education committee meeting we'll circulate it there maybe one or two of our members want to go and listen in at least and uh at least be there in support or or to voice our our our concern so that would be great if you could pass that on to me and I'll make sure it gets it's it's provided in our our monthly agenda when yeah I mean if if this is the issue if this issue is going to be heard and I can't guar but I can't guarantee you that it is but I can guarantee you that it will certainly be raised um to be heard uh and if there is a public uh hearing on it I will certainly make Canton aware of it

065and you and give you as much advanced notice as I can so that you can as you can testify either in person on Zoom or provide written testimony what whatever is most comfortable for you and just so you know the way our our system works when we have a public hearing you get five days notice and then the system closes at 3 o'clock pm the day before the hearing so you have to be signed up to testify by 3 pm the day before so that you can be heard the next day because it's you know say it's 10 o'clock the next day 11 o'clock the next day then you're assigned you know your number 10 to go speak now depending on how many agencies are speaking ahead of you that could mean you know everybody

066gets three minutes kind of like you gave three minutes tonight to Mr Lavery you know it's it's a three minute process and we can ask as many questions as we want um you know within reason um but sometimes you know if the commissioner of Education happens to be speaking that day they may take an hour because of all of our questions off of the top of the morning so it's not like oh you're number 10 you'll be 30 minutes in so just just to explain how that part of the process works the other thing is you can go to the CGA website and you can sign up for updates you know if you see a bill filed that you want to follow you can actually sign up so that way you're get you'll get emailed

067updates every time something changes with that bill U and that's that's an important part of the process too because bills change so dramatically from the time they are files and they're merely a title and a description until what we actually pass if it actually passes um there's some bills that I just automatically tell people that's never going to see the light of day so you don't need to get upset about that because you know thousands of bills are filed every year and we pass maybe 300 I'll just give you for my the committee that I chair Planning and Development I think we passed out 50 from committee but by the time the clock and everything else I think we passed we officially passed both houses and signed into legislation 10 bills and then there were

068maybe seven or eight Concepts that got tucked into other bills that got passed so just to give a more General Civics Lou I just want to add to that when I testified in the spring it was it was amazing to see that it wasn't limited to board members there was principales teachers superintendents language arts Consultants math coordinators so you know other districts are speaking up testifying advocating um from all over the all over the state so I don't you know I don't know how how Jordan feels about our teachers or language arts Consultants testifying but certainly that is going on thank you any any other board members just parents are also testifying and students by the way students come in and testify too and quite frankly they're usually very powerful just so you know and

069really smart uh board members any other questions for our reps Kim Erica I see a couple here Erica and then Joe I was just gonna ask um specifically about the excess cost um reimbursement what can individual board members do um in terms of advocating for it or right right because there's not a specific Bill where we can come and testify about it or anything so so there was last session um the bill that we passed basically held all districts harmless in terms of you won't see any less money than you were currently getting and you should be seeing more money than you were currently getting um I believe the amount that we are hoping the Canton will see is around $200,000 I think that was what was projected again that's something the chairs of of

070Education will be fighting for to make sure that those dollars actually go into effect um it will be 96% fully funded in in fiscal year 25 so you're welcome to send a a letter to the the chairs of of Education um and I would identify yourself as a board of AD member because I think that's important for them to see you know you're not technically their constituent but you could CC you know Senator seminara and myself um but you know there there could be a bill on ECS this year you know we don't know for sure so okay and the board chair is curry uh yes for the house side it's Curry and for the Senate side it is U mccy Doug mccy okay thank you and you you could also send in if if

071you have agreement amongst your board members you can send in a a letter or on behalf of your entire board so I I don't yeah yeah I'm just saying if if there's consensus and there's agreement and you're willing to do that um you can do that as well great Joe you had a question yes thank you both for being here appreciate it appreciate all you do for us uh and the additional ECS funding was was duly noted and it's been important to us as well uh the most uh important thing I heard tonight was the comment uh Alana you made about uh un unfunded mandates uh that they all or virtually all them they all sound great and they are great and they're all they all have a price tag uh a $600,000 price tag

072or a couple thousand price tag and maybe some of them have expired and and to uh to put that burden on local districts is really really difficult uh that that for example the additional ECS funding wouldn't two years of it wouldn't cover the new reading curriculum if we had to go that route uh so that that you're going to review all those maybe get rid of some and maybe consider more care carefully about the cost of them is really really important uh and probably something that should have been done a lot sooner just saying but we're here now we have to be grateful we're moving forward with the right thing so I just want you to know that unfortunately is not that report that uh it it's convening um 11 members of um it's an

07311 member board and it's to to again look at mandates and review it's a working group to repeal or amend obsolete or dupli duplicative mandates but the report just so you know is not due until 1125 so I I just I don't want you to think that that report's coming out this session because it will not be we wouldn't want to rush into anything but at least it's progress in the right direction uh the uh uh just another quick comment regarding special education there have been study groups talking groups at the legislature uh for years uh because some of the issues are Universal funding surrounds them uh you mentioned Delani that you know we we get five youngsters move in that come with a half million dollar price take it's just not right uh that

074the funding ought to follow the student not become the burden of the of the town I don't know how to make that happen but that would seem to make more sense to me then there are out placements the uh regulations in the supervision of outplacement schools is lacking and I'm sure there are other special education issues do those task forces do they make reports is there any progress is it an unsolvable problem Senator I don't know specifically any task forces are you aware of anything recent that was done on special ed um I am not aware of anything recent that was done on Special Ed but I will tell you that I was at a meeting last night and someone asked if I would be willing to put forth legislation to to specifically look at

075outplacement and uh you know the cost of outplacement is excessive and could that at least be covered by the state if if they're not willing if we can't make the whole budget you know we can't make everything fully hole in the other way and I don't know how I feel about that I think that's kind of uh not the the direction in which I would like to go but I know that um a lot of people share your concern about the outplacement not only with the cost associated with it but um with the uh reciprocity between the district and the outplacement and the communication that that is between the two um in many situations districts feel like that is lacking and um so uh we might be taking a look at that in the future

076but as of right now I do not believe there is a a task force or a working group looking at special education I don't think it's unsolvable either and I think that you know conversations again that I've had with the chair because every sing single year that I've met with the Canton Board of Ed and the Avon Board of Ed they have brought up special education costs and so every year I go to him and I say when are we going to talk about special education and I think the plan was we need to figure out you know the I was actually surprised that excess cost sort of got taken care of somewhat last year and I think we'd be having a very different conversation if we were closer to 100% I mean that that

077was significant you know to have that Leap Forward frankly compared to previous years and again it's because we're in a better financial position than we previously have been but um you know I think the the desire to tackle that is there it's whether or not we do and again short session I hate to keep saying that if I had my way we would be a full-time legislature to be perfectly honest but there is a reality of a short session and having to follow the process of filing the bills having the public hearings going through the committee meetings and we all have very tight deadlines we start February 7th and my committee has to be finished by March 25th because we adjourn May 7th just to give you an idea of how fast this really goes

078in a short year so um My Hope Is maybe we tackle that in 25 um because it's really critical that we keep looking at that because you're right cost is way too high and those are private businesses that are doing a lot of that special education especially the out placements um and there there could be more oversite frankly that might be a but um but we hear you thank you any other questions from board members right now I I want to thank you both for spending the time and um I'm sorry we couldn't do this uh in in person it's always nice to see you and and um you know mingle a little bit but uh thank you for taking the time tonight and you will hear from us more often and thank you for

079that offer and uh you know you really do great work for us and I know it's a lot of time and we're very appreciative so thank you both thanks for having us yeah my pleasure and uh and again if I hear of something that through the education committee that I think directly affects you I certainly will reach out to you all and make you aware of it and and at the very least um encourage you to testify and and speak your peace thank you thank very much all right both you have a great evening you're welcome to stay as long as you'd like anyway further okay have a good evening thank you so much for having us good night bye bye uh next up on the on the agenda is the board of education budget

080Workshop Dr Gman thank you chair Daniels if we could um K if we could put up that uh slide deck so the community can see it and board members this was emailed to you you this afternoon and for anybody on the community in the community uh this is also on our website are you gonna put are you putting up the large Capital no she's putting up a a slide deck of the open Choice okay got it that you got it cure yep it's it's trying getting there it's trying to open give it one second here well I'm going to give it about 30 more seconds and I know all board members were asent this and I also know that it's on our uh website right and I very easily can talk to it okay so

081Ju Just A a reminder to the the Board of Education in the to the community that on December 12th I presented a forecasted budget to the board of education and to the town and a reminder that the the forecasted budget is not the final Administration budget it it's a budget at that moment in time with all the administrative requests and the department requests of where I was at that moment of time and then we did on December there we go on December 30th um I answered a whole bunch of questions uh to the board relative to questions that you had on the the forecasted budget and on January 9th um we asked for review of clarifications and then on January 9 I um January 9th I presented the open Choice budget to you which um

082I'll go over a little bit this evening and then on February 13th I'll be presenting the administrative Budget on February 27th we'll have a budget workshop on February 29th we'll have a budget workshop with a possible adoption of the board of education budget if we need more time the um we'll have another Board of workshop on March 5th with the board of education budget due to the board of finance of March 11th and then uh a budget the the budget presentation to the board of Finance on March 20th if we need to make any modifications to our budget the 26 will meet the board of finance will suggest revisions to the board of aded and then the annual budget hearing which was approved last night will actually be April 23rd and then the budget referendum

083will be May 9th so we have a very busy budget season as I've shared and we've been very transparent for the past few months with our budget process and once the Board of Education adopts their budget that's when we'll start going out into the community and sharing our budget through uh I I would recommend virtual meetings and some inperson meetings also the next slide just a reminder if you could go down here that this is um a chart of where we are where we were on December 8th and just a reminder if you take salaries Transportation health benefits liability oil natural gas and and electricity and contracted Services right out of the gate were a 4.20 above where we were last year you add in um special education at that moment in time it was

0843.99 you take that's an 8.19 per increase right out of the the start of our budget and that's not including any of our dues supplies maintenance Furniture educational technology tech services and small Capital you add that in of what the administrators were giving me it's 3.54 and then that equals a 12.40 and just a reminder um we had some new staff that we answered at our our last meeting but then you look at the the bottom box what I really want to remind the board again is what I'm looking at is that the the the town will receive an increase of $398,000 in education cost share and what that was directed to do was it was directed to go right to the Board of Education even though it's Town Revenue it was directed to go

085to the Board of Education in the use of what we were using our our Esser funds for so that number that 398 if you remember from last time when I presented we actually having our budget that we're holding over that moved into our operational budget of over $300,000 so that's really an offset so we'll have to talk about that a little bit more and then the $850,000 for the the town re gets reimbursed for special education funds so if you take where we were that gives us when we're over in the right of 9.4 and then when you take away the 3.85 on December 8th I presented to you a 5.55 uh proposed budget forecast budget at that time I could tell you when I present to you on uh February 13th that that's not

086going to be my number we're still uh working on our budget um and I need to let you know there'll be some additions to the budget but there also will be some uh reductions uh to the budget so I look forward to explaining that to you on um February 13 the next slide if you go down regarding the open choice and the open Choice memo for all our community is on the the the website we'll be receiving 950 $50,000 for open Choice next year and um there were some questions relative to how some of our open Choice funds were being used the first question is how would the teacher minority recruitment work I want to remind everybody that the Connecticut teacher Residency program operated in partnership with CK it's focused on diversifying the teaching staff

087across the state of Connecticut the program partner with school districts in a grow their own model leading to Connecticut state certification the program works in support of legislative mandate Public Act 23-1 167 increasing educator diversity so this is really how it works the program works in conjunction with the district that Mr Bishop will form a team and people apply for the Connecticut teacher Residency program and Mr Bishop and his team will actually interview uh candidates and they will identify and support prospective candidates for parti for participation the program then supports the candidate in professional learning courses for 14 to 18 months while the candidate Works within the district so if you take a student teacher for example that's what it is so as someone is taking courses also within the C the Connecticut teacher Residency

088program they're also working in our district in one classroom it will be either at Cherrybrook or at kenon intermediate school and they're working in doing their student teaching the entire year candidates participate in depending on the program and work with their Mentor teachers for one school year receiving uh a a small pay um and benefits candidates are then eligible for a full-time teaching position in a partner District upon successful completion of program courses and certification checkpoints so after this person completes the year with us it is the goal that the second year of the program we will hire them as a teacher so what we anticipate is two years from now we do anticipate in elementary opening that the person that we are training for next year with our teachers within the Connecticut teaching Residency

089program would have a job for the 25 26 school year I'm going to stop right there because that's a big one if anybody has any questions board member questions okay the next one is a a lot of slides but I'm as you know I'm very transparent in in the the the budget process the question what was what would the technology funds be spent on so the following slid represent it items that will be paid for by the open Choice Grant totaling $533,000 so that's half of our open Choice funds is in dependent upon um technology is dependent upon half of our open Choice funds so you could see the the threat prevention that is our cyber security type of model Community messaging system copying support copying support electronic document archival system eate firewall keep going

090down Google for Education posting site for the arrow internet filter and annual renewal cyber security monitoring net watch printer support contract public performance movie site license School Erp support cost server battery cyber security training antivirus Solutions applicant uh tracking that's our Apple track Cloud hosting Library content management website curriculum support for teachers Mystery Science which I believe is educational technology freckles star smart and others Renaissance Learning that's some of our software ISL Learning Ally math data collection visualization for Bridges Microsoft licensing I know I'm going on and on but I I I want to answer the question Navan new news Ela paperless employee portal reading program Service Solutions science curriculum sixth grade math momx science simple video capture screen castify social Express cool school videos using animal characters Brain Pop we video cat laptop iPad

091for special ed students color laser printer with copying capacity monthly offline backups classroom techn technology staff and student desktop license server for the Wi-Fi network infrastructure firewall zero day threat prevention server infrastructure asset task for it equipment USB drive CD DVDs and Jewel cases Chromebook Parts classroom supplies desktop computers District badges for blanks District badges Inc stff laptop computer uh replacement student Chromebook that's AIG big one replacement for 99,000 smart score finale interact drawing math type mobile read right for Google backup software cyber security audit and compliance internet service providers earbuds for Smarter Balance earbuds for smarter balance for CIS and CMS infrastructure laptop office supplies tablet Replacements server desktop replacements for a total of $533,000 what you should be possibly thinking in your head right now is what I said is that if we

092didn't have open Choice funds all these things would have to be in the operational budget so that's important to know 533,000 that's about a 1.5% of our budget is earmarked for um technology so I know I had a board member that asked that I apologize for giving so much um but I wanted to make sure that I I was that we were clear in answering the the the board members question of what um technology funds would be spent on and and that's the entire list of what technology would be spent on using open Choice funds I'll answer any questions that you would like uh on that one any questions to the board I mean it's it's an extensive list who puts that together for you Jordan so Jeff deastro this is his budget so if

093he wanted to know what the technology budget is this is his budget and then with the help of Mrs mikowski she exported it out of um our vision software and and uh of course Mrs nardy put it in in nice slides for us and for the public um to view but as I said we could produce any line item of what's in the budget and what we're uh spending funds on um and I thought this was an important enough question to give you every dollar that that was in um that line item with open Choice funds I I think it's important for everybody to understand what we spend our open Choice funds on and that's about that's over 50 50% of what we spend our funds on have most of those dollars been expended I

094mean have we gotten these you know so much of this inventory well that's for next year this is for next this is next so I would suspect in last year's budget was fairly s it was it was did those dollars go out right almost right away or yeah so well we we don't receive open Choice funds um we receive open Choice funds Donna help me out here I think we receive open Choice funds two times a year one um in October and November and then one possibly in April or May okay great any questions about this how this all works the technology side poster by the way in April may say that again April May most most or April May yep so and then the the last slide those were the the the two questions

095that we had regarding o Open Choice um and I just wanted to to say that just reminder to all um board members that um you you received a really high level um forecast and memo back in in December and then we did the open choice and then I'll give you a um a real good administrative um Budget on February 13 that you you'll get um a presentation from me but you'll also get a a budget book that will have a lot of the materials that we discussed already but within that presentation my goal will be to share on three or four slides what is the difference between where I was was on December 12th and where I will be on February 13 I think it's important for you to understand um because there's definitely some

096things that have happened um additionally in in some of the things that we learned from December uh 12th to February 13th and and I had to make some uh adjustments so I I look forward to presenting to you on February 13th and having our budget um workshop and we did share this highlevel view with the the board of Finance last night great okay thank you Dr Gman okay uh we we move on to standing committee reports um nothing's really changed on finance Russell's way so we'll we'll let that go Joe you want to update on policy and what we're going to do at the next meeting sure quickly uh we didn't meet tonight it's it's a difficult work to do in a face- to-face meeting it's just it's too tedious to do in a a

097zoom meeting uh there are about half a dozen policies in the 4,000 series which is uh about personnel which we didn't get to we'll pick that up on February 13th and we'll start reviewing the 5,000 series which is a critical one as I put in an email to you after the last meeting because it deals with student policies so it's it mean all our policies are important these are probably the most important so I would ask the policies that you were assigned to uh please if you get your comments or questions to John H by the end of the month would be very helpful we we will not finish the 5,000 series at the next meeting but we should finish it in two meetings uh and John just a reminder uh we uh we didn't

098get minutes from last uh time's meeting so you know weever you can get to that I know it's only it's only been a couple of weeks and to the Mr Lavery and any else who's listening uh all of the proposed policies and current policies are on the school website and accessible to anybody in the public so there's no no secrets there and if we adopt uh new the drafting policies they'll all be provided to the public before we we vote on them right well thank you thank you Joe um I I meant to mention in my comments that I had lunch today with the uh chairman of the board of education for region 10 and uh we were talking about policy in they are they are mirroring us not on purpose but they they've chosen

099the same path that they are uh going to go and adopt the shipment policies uh probably about 85% of them they're going to just accept and 15% they're uh they're keeping and modifying in their own way and uh when I told them our method of going through this he said wow he said I don't think I could get our board members to read all those policies and I said well how do you how do you accept them if you haven't read them he says well he said that's what we're relying on shipment for so I said oh boy so they they flagged the ones that they wanted do uh to keep on their own so it was interesting thank you Joe thanks for that report Erica curriculum I think you meet tomorrow unless there's a

100delay I guess right yeah that's our plan um to meet tomorrow so I don't really have an update um until next meeting sure but um our plan is to discuss the kindergarten registration process and professional development and couple of other updates but I can share more at after our meeting so would you say if uh if tomorrow if there's a delayed opening if if we get that email then uh then curriculum is off for tomorrow correct yeah we decided um that I I think that's right Mr Bishop so we decided that we'd cancel it if there's a delay tomorrow and then we'll reschedule okay so anybody was planning just just FYI and then the the final is uh Communications and um Felicia do you want to give an update on that I know you guys

101are working on a is it a February um drop on that newsletter yes we don't have another update since the last board meeting but we I don't have the date in front of me but I think we'll have an update for the next meeting okay I think we meet right before our our next meeting we usually schedule our meeting uh the day the week before or a few days before so I'll have an update then great thank you thank you very much um calendar of events in in your uh board packet if you haven't printed it uh there's an updated of all the different uh meeting dates that are coming up in the next uh obviously the next board meeting and and all the budget workshops that are going on so I would just uh

102remind you to take a look at that Dr Gman is there anything you want to highlight there I know you did a few minutes ago but anything further that we need to know about no I think I think it says it all okay great um board member announcements anything the board wants to uh bring forward anything that we missed tonight or something that you saw or went to or you want to comment on I I I concur with uh I think it was Dr Gman that said that prism's on the 3 um we did we did submit a uh a basket no big deal but um that's a big fundraiser for everybody and hope you guys can make it and B on the baskets and and help the PTO the PTO is going to be

103at our next meeting with uh PTO update so and if you've never been to prisms it's really cool to work going okay uh board action items um is that a separate agenda item or is that uh well it's just uh it's the secretary um Kim I I don't think there were any action items uh tonight that no for for from tonight's meeting for us to uh to do uh the only thing that I um uh heard tonight um was Mr Daniels asked the the board to uh the administration and the committee chairs to look at our meeting minutes and make them a little bit more detailed so I I would say that that would be an an action item um that we want to look at okay so we move to the consent agenda uh

104and I'm looking for the uh for a motion that the board uh moveed that the camp board of education approved the consent agenda so approve which is the approval of the minutes of January 3rd through 24th and the minutes of the board walkth through of the special meeting on January 9th so can I have a motion to approve the uh consent agenda please thank you Felicia second thank you Erica first and second any questions on the consent agenda no now just just as a reminder I know we get these uh so the discussion that I would just mention I know we get these these uh these packets and the minutes are in there we and and I know that uh Claudia and Terry and Kim do a marvelous job but we're supposed to really proof

105those minutes so if you make sure you're reading the minutes and make sure they're accurate we have to rely on one another that those minutes are uh those are accurate so I have a first and second all those in favor I I one two three I think that's uh everybody what do we have one I three right four five six board members on yeah so six six okay thank you very much 60 all right um Dr Gman you want to give us the overview of the capital Improvement plan please yeah so um this was already presented to you um the the capital Improvement plan and if you recall from the capital Improvement plan when I presented in the forecasted budget um that if you remember I'm trying to forecast out five years out for planning

106purposes for the board planning purposes for the town and for the board of finance a reminder to the to the board that um we don't have Capital large Capital anything over $10,000 in our operational budget Capital within uh the the town of Canton it by Charter goes into the border of selectman budget so for next year our list totals 1,00 1 million excuse me1 m71 th000 included in that is the $500,000 of Portables modules that we got to work with the the board of Finance in the town of how that's going to work other than that um I just had a meeting the other day with uh Mr Skinner the town CEO and our director of facilities and our business official and our Director of Finance for the town to discuss the this list that

107uh we have put together and then the the CAO will put the list together of what they feel that could be put into the the the town budget so The The J the job of the Board of Education tonight is to um approve this list this is our um large Capital list and then um the the CAO will determine what is going to be put in h the the the town budget that's so so I I've had a problem with this method for a while I've talked to board of Finance members that we put together what our priorities are and then we we we allow and the way that the town Charter reads is that the board of Selectmen then will put forth a a CIP budget and they're responsible for and they'll tell us

108what what they feel like paying for so we're we're two-thirds of the budget but we may not be two-thirds of the CIP and and so that that's a problem and I think this is something that the board has to get behind it requires um it requires U Charter change and the way the charter change comes about is uh first of all there's a petition and then there's a vote and um I would really like to see after this budget's passed that I'd really like the board to get behind some type of Charter change that gives us better control of our own CIP and doesn't rely on the board on the board of Selectmen who by the way I think does a fabulous job but even with the arpa funds the arpa funds they they they

109were the gatekeeper on the arpa funds so we could put in what we wanted but the bo it was the board of Selectmen that decided what the Board of Education should get that's not the way it should be the tal shouldn't be wagging the dog here so I I would just like everybody to think about that I'm going to do a little bit more research on it but I'd really like to attack this problem going forward because I I don't see it as uh for whatever the past Charter revision committee saw to do this as a matter of fact back when I was a selectman the CIP L was was at the foot of the uh Board of Finance because they handled the pur strings they could tell you Board of Education what you could

110what what you can spend in Board of Selectmen what you can spend it shouldn't be the board of Selectmen taking that uh role on for uh for the Board of Education too so I I just mentioned that um so with that said need a a motion that the Canton Board of Education adopt the 2024 2025 Capital Improvement plan is presented by the superintended May the first Lou before you do that Jordan on the last page it says PPS $500 that can't be right thank you yeah it does Br classroom portable no windows no ventilation is the justification that must be 5,000 I bet you but actually it's oh I'm sorry it's actually uh in our small Capital plan I should have removed it from there so we'll take that one out all right the motion

111would read then uh that the move of the camp board of education adopted 2024 2025 Capital Improvement plan as amended correct may have the first thanks Joe second thanks Kim first and second any any discussion on that okay all those in favor that's six thank you very much pass okay the final the final piece and this won't take long uh I'd like a motion that the Canton Board of Education go on Executive session for the purposes of the superintendent of school's midyear valuation and we're inviting Dr Gman to attend and that will happen at um 8:35 p.m. May I have a motion thank you Felicia thank you Peggy any any conversation about that so all those in favor I okay it passes we will go off recording now Kira