Board of Education 12-4-25

001Regular business meeting. Mr. Zinsi, roll call, please. >> Here >> Thank you. Please join us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, welcome back you two. So, we have our student representatives, Maddie and Connor. Take it away. >> Good evening, everyone. We have quite a few announcements this evening to wrap up 2025. So, please hang tight. >> Okay. >> Starting off on a very exciting note, students will were recently informed during their Wednesday's RAM time that midterms will be soon after break. So, to start off the new year, right, midterms will be taking place from January 9th to the 14th. >> Yeah. So,

002before midterms, Chester High School will be hosting its annual winter festival. So, our math hallway will be completely draped with canvases of holiday scenes and then we will have quite a few students dressed up in character. Um, we're going to create kind of a winter wonderland that'll have a reindeer pen, a Arctic Mario station, sugar rush, Whoville, and then of course Santa and the North Pole. Um, this is really a great event. We have our clubs and sports teams come and run crafts in the calf. And then all of the money that we raise goes to the Ryan Tly Memorial Foundation. >> And while members of the Winterfest Club were planning out this wonderful event, students who were in the Open Choice program took part in planning a trip to Boston yesterday. Um, those students

003who were in the open choice program as well as the multilingual program were able to take in Boston city life through walking the freedom trail to learn more about historical figures and also visiting an illusion museum. However, this trip was more than just a chance for students to learn about uh the city life or historical monuments in Boston. It was noted from students in these groups that attending this field trip helped them get to know each other better. And the chaperones claimed that this even built a sense of community between these two groups. Yeah, we have big news for our um Rams football team. They hosted their first game in first home playoff game in 25 years yesterday against Fairfield Lello. Uh the Rams rallied from a 29-10 deficit, winning 32 to 29. Uh they'll

004advance and they will host Richfield at home next Monday at 6:30. >> Uh today 100 sophomores and several teachers were invited to participate at Chiser High School's annual challenge day. Um this happened from the beginning of the day at 7:15 to the end at 2:15. However, these weren't just any team building exercises. This event incorporated um lessons on treating others with compassion and consideration. And after taking part in this experience, it was noted by many of the attendees that it seemed to have an immediate influence on the um empathy and kindness and positive culture throughout the high school community. >> Yeah. In addition, our CHS students continue to serve their community. Our Cheshire uh blood drive club hosted another successful blood drive yesterday. And then peer health coming up next Saturday will roll out its

005second project of the year with a neighborhood food drive. So we have over 200 students participating and we have distributed almost 3,000 bags that um fam uh the families of Cheshure can fill with food. So it's sure to make a resounding impact. Uh, last week CHS Drama Club hosted a fundraiser at Cheshure Craft Brewery to raise money for this year's spring musical. Considering that this event was a karaoke night, any and all people who attended this event were encouraged to sing a song or two of their choice. And in case anyone here hasn't been informed, this year's spring musical will be Pippen. And students who are interested in auditioning will be able to do so next week. >> Yeah. And like always, CHS talent is always on display. We had our chorus concert last Monday.

006They did a phenomenal job. They performed a variety of different songs including uh fan favorite bridge over troubled water. We also have for our many talented indiv individual students our CHS1 acts talent show coming up on this Friday. And switching gears, uh mocktra recently had a scrimmage with Hampton High School in preparation for their real competition which will be on December 19th. Additionally, this scrimmage was different from their past practices which was only within the Cheshire High School teams. Nonetheless, mockt trial members found this event to be extremely useful because they were able to mimic the unpredictable setting that is found in the regular competitions. >> And uh before we wrap up, I would just like to share something exciting that happened to me. So last Wednesday, I committed to Villanova University. And I would

007be thank you I'd be I'd be completely remiss if I didn't acknowledge how big of an impact Cheshire Public Schools had on allowing me to take these next steps. whether it be the phenomenal teachers that I've had or the opportunity to do really, really cool things like this. So, that's all we have and uh we hope you have a great holidays and a happy new year. >> Thank you both. >> Just a couple clarification items. Did you guys mention that there's a new display for the winter? I think every year you add something new or am I hearing things >> for Winterfest >> for Yeah. Did you build a a new display? >> We did. Yeah. What's the new item? a full new kind of like when you come down the stairs to the commons,

008we have instead of having the last year you went around back and you did a craft with the elves, this year >> it was a little tricky with getting people out. So, we've kind of streamlined it and we just have people coming down the stairs and then into the food area. >> Nice. Awesome. And then what's the spring musical this year? >> Oh, Pippen. >> Yeah. >> Okay, got it. >> Congratulations, Connor. >> Thank you. >> You're still in the Big East, which is good. >> Oh, yeah. Okay. >> Any comments from board members? >> Um, thank you so much. I loved hearing all of that. I did want to say that I heard from a a friend who's got a a son in the high school that how much challenge day impacted um him

009and a few people others that. So, I really um commend that uh event. I think it's really important. So, thank you for reporting on that. >> Any other comments? >> Board members. Miss Colin, >> I just want to thank you both. I think you report out to us. >> I just want to thank you both too. Maybe >> um because every time you report out to us, it's cheerful, it's informative, and we're so happy to hear some of your own, you know, personal um stories. So, thank you both for making our meetings so informative but fun. Thank you. >> Our pleasure, >> Dr. Herrian. I'll just reiterate quickly what uh Amory just said. Um always enjoy hearing what's going on at CHS and would actually love to hear from the lower grades at some point

010and the middle school also. So maybe we can work that into our our schedule sometime. So thank you both. I think we have something planned, right, Dr. Song? We're working on that for sure. >> Awesome. Well, happy holidays to you, too, and see you next year. Thank you. >> Thanks, guys. >> As always, you're welcome to say. You know that, right? >> Awesome. Next item on the agenda is our school partnership. Um, I'm going to pass this over to Miss Cullinin as the >> Is it Chapman or Highland? >> Highland. Thank you. That's why. Good evening. Tonight, the recipients of the school partnership award for Highland School will be recognized. The board of education representatives to Highland, which is me, um will introduce the school recipients. Highland Elementary School would like to extend their heartfelt

011gratitude to the members of the PTO FunRun Committee, Luke Dingoli, Angie Bradley, Trisha Rowand, and Jordana George for their extraordinary efforts in organizing this year's event. Through their tireless dedication and teamwork, the committee successfully raised nearly $70,000 to support the installation of a new playground for our students. Their work went far beyond the fund run itself. They coordinated and promoted the fundraising campaign, reached out to major donors, planned and prepared for family funday, and ensured the smooth facilitation of the fund run for all 930 of our students. This committee's commitment, creativity, and enthusiasm not only made the event a huge success, but also inspired the entire Highland community to come together in support of a shared goal. Thanks to their efforts to lead a successful funr run event and through the partnership with the CPS

012and board of ed, we were able to install the new playground in time for the start of the 2526 school year. The Cheshire Board of Education thanks Miss Rowand, Mr. Dingoli, Jordana George, and Angie Bradley for going above and beyond for the students of Cheshire. And I personally would like to thank this group um on the first day of school when we were visiting. We did go and see um the brand new playground. So, and my uh grandson who's a graduate of Highland now at Dodd um I actually had to take him over and he played on the swings and things um because he was so in awe of what you um were able to bring to the school. So, thank you Come on up. >> I hope I didn't mess up your names. >>

013That was great. Thank you. >> Did I say them? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Of course. I'm really tall. Thank you. Thanks for all your work. Good evening. Congratulations again to the recipients. Um the next item on the agenda will be our um Dr. Mr. Sen will be giving a presentation on the district performance index. >> No problem. Okay, thanks for your patience as we uh got through the technical stuff. Uh we're going to kick off this evening with a review of the next generation accountability report system. This is uh otherwise known as the district performance index. It's a really a data set that uh the state department of education collects on all of our u data. Uh and you'll see I'll outline the variety of data points that they use

014and it's an applesto apples data collection across the state of Connecticut. So every school system is required to submit data and basically they use it to uh track school district progress. uh help us make improvements. Um they review all this data at the state level as much as we review it at the district level. Uh obviously promotes transparency and it uh satisfies all of the state and federal requirements. So um this slide is a little bit redundant but uh it'll the state uses this information as much as I said as much as we do to take a look at how are we performing on an incredibly broad range of metrics. So um jumping into that what are the 12 indicators and these indicators also have subsets to them. So the first one is academic achievement.

015How are our students performing on things like the smarter balanced assessments, the SAT? And when I say the subsets of data, it also looks at how are our high need students performing, students uh that might be identified for special uh education support services, um free and reduced lunch, uh English language learners, um as well academ academic growth. So the one of the data points is when on the smarter balance assessment you receive a score the state uh can predict through data you what your one-year gain should be and so the we get feedback on how are our students doing how many students are meeting that one-year target what percent to what degree do they meet that target uh the participation rate obviously it's important that we're measuring a high percentage of our kids in the

016district. Chronic absenteeism, what what percentage of kids are um prepared through coursework for po postsecary uh work? Um graduation rates for students with special education services and students um who have more typical four-year rate. Uh what's our post-secary entrance rate look like? Physical fitness, arts access. That's why I say we tend to use this is really the best gauge of what our overall progress looks like. And our data uh is the same data that's collected from every district in the state of Connecticut. So this is what our uh report looked like for 2425. The green bands, I know this is is really difficult to read because it is so small, but the green bands represent where we earned the maximum possible number of points. Um, and so, uh, just to highlight those, it's ELA performance

017for all students, uh, math performance for all students, and science performance for all students, the percent of students at the high school taking college and career readiness courses, and then the post-secary entrance rate. all were were perfect scores there. So looking at each of those indicators, you earn a percentage of points on each of those different indicators. So there are 12 indicators, but as I mentioned before, many of them have subsets. So in this uh slide, green represents, excuse me, where we earned um the same number of points or higher than we did last year. So um it's it's pretty exceptional performance uh across the board where we've demonstrated growth. Uh the areas that don't have that, for example, uh chronic absenteeism for all students, it was 90.6% of points earned in 23. It's 90.4

018in 24. The chronic absenteeism for high need students, 64.8% was flat in each year. um where it went down in on track for graduation was from 100% to like 99.3 or 99.9 uh very small fallbacks. Um so overall um incredibly high performance. So how do we do compared to our peers compared to other K through2 school systems in Connecticut? Um the we finished eighth uh in terms of our our total possible points, our our outcome rate percentage. Um we had 85.43 uh points. Um Madison was seventh ahead of us at 85.50. Uh it's seventh in Connecticut. Number one was New Kanan. Um they've been at the uh top basically every year. uh they have a little different socioeconomic strata and they um the last column on the far right illustrates the uh per pupil expenditure

019is what PPE stands for. So um for example uh New Kanan who's number one their per pupil expenditure is 26,345. Uh number five uh region 9 their per pupil expenditure is 34,346. So that per pupil expenditure is just like it sounds. Take that dollar figure multiply it by the number of students in the district and that's the amount of money that they spent. Uh in comparison, our per pupil expenditure was 20,816. Uh so our rank when you look at per pupil expenditure in Connecticut is 122nd out of 166 school systems in Connecticut. Uh so you know I think we represent an incredibly high value. The average per pupil expenditure of the top 20 school systems in Connecticut is 24,492. And so when you take a difference between the average and our per pupil expenditure, roughly

020$4,000, and multiply it out by the number of students we have, that would mean our budget would increase by $15.5 million to meet the average. Um that's a that's a massive number. Now, a lot of these school districts are in um Fairfield County and um so, you know, certainly there's like a cost of living adjustment. So, if you even factor in a 25% increase there, which I think is is pretty generous, um our budget would still need to increase by 11.6 million to meet the average. So again, I think we represent an incredible value uh for our performance um relative to expenditure and we've worked really hard on that. This next graph illustrates our growth over time. Um in 2016, our rank was 23rd in Connecticut, and you can see the trend line. uh we

021had a little bit of a setback postcoid uh but then obviously have been in the top 10 in the last three years uh representing you know incredibly high performance. I think you know at the heart of this is our commitment to two goals since 2016 uh the development of our students as complex thinkers uh and equally as important is our focus on students and their social emotional learning and their social emotional growth. So um that's been our our focus over that time and we've seen significant growth uh over that time as well. Uh another thing that the state looks at is achievement and graduation rate gaps. Um is there a s significantly statistically significant difference between all students and students with special needs? We don't have a gap like that. uh there it looks to

022see if there are outliers um in the in the data. Uh it's not. Uh ours is within the the rate of uh expected rate. And then our participation rates uh they look for a target of 95%. our district-wide performance science high needs fell short of that at 94.5 but otherwise we were um in excess of the the minimum participation rate. So that you know covers our um achievement presentation. I don't know if uh any members of the board have any questions that I could I could reference back to >> comments from where Miss Fitzgerald and then Mr. Kolau. By the way, I'd be remiss. Congratulations to our two newest board members. Welcome aboard. >> Thank you. >> Take it away. >> Thank um I just had a question. Thank you for that. um on the

023cost per pupil. Does that change with the schools coming online, the new schools, does that get figured into cost? >> So, um no, because the cost per pupil is a function of your operating budget divided by the number of students that you have. So, um it really doesn't have to do with facilities, uh for example, but you know, if we have 5,000 students and whatever the operating budget is, now the operating budget is apples to apples, too, because we have to report all of our um expense lines to the state of Connecticut. So, uh, these are it doesn't include like trans, uh, excuse me, it doesn't include, um, like construction cost or anything like that. Those are capital budget items. >> Mr. notice on the, uh, index rank that you showed where we had grown

024over the last decade or so. Um, did the state just not do this in 20 and 21 because of >> co the assessments weren't given so the data wasn't collected. >> Any other board members with comments or question? Miss Cullinin. >> Dr. Sullen, can you just go to the um with the scores actually? >> Yeah. >> I I just uh Nope. with the um school districts and dirt. >> Okay. The ranks. Yeah. >> Yeah. The ranking. Um >> I just wanted to point out that's not the one though. >> Oh yeah, it is. That um you know the state rank for New Kanan which is coming in at one is 88.6 and we're at 85.4. I mean the difference is a matter of three maybe not even 2 point something points. Um, and I just

025want to point that out because, you know, we say eight, but we're right there. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> So, it wasn't really a question. It was a statement. >> Thank you. Any other board members? >> Thank you, Dr. Solen. I mean, I I think obviously this is a collaborative and collective teamwork. Um, and we've been very successful and very strategic and intentional, too. So, I I do want to give a little shout out to especially the middle school because I know their math scores help to add to the success as well too. >> Sure. I, you know, I I would close by saying that, you know, we don't chase scores. Um, we chase, you know, great instruction. uh we chase um you know supports for students and and um we recognize that we develop

026students and not transcripts. And so um working with with people and supporting kids and families and and with uh family support, our teachers do an incredible job always working on learning and growing. um that you know they recognize that student needs change, instructional practices shift. Our admin team uh inclusive of everybody who works in our schools works incredibly hard to uh yield these results. So they deserve all the credit in the world. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you guys. >> Um I guess you're staying right there. >> Yes. Item C uh will be the presentation of redistricting review. Um so what we're going to do is basically have Dr. Soulen present the information in front of us. Um just for clarity purposes, especially since we have new board members, we will then have a

027discussion um based on the information in front of us and then we'll jump right into um audience participation as well too. And I I want to recognize that, you know, these conversations definitely carry um an emotion and an impact and we definitely, you know, appreciate um everyone's involvement. I I love the fact that you're out here. Um we value the transparency. We value the community voice. So um please continue to be part of the process. Um but I just wanted to upfront just thank you for being here, Dr. Song. >> Thank you. So, um, thanks again. Uh, you know, this this process, um, was really something that we we kicked off this most recent iteration on November 10th, really, when uh, our our colleague, Mr. Zuba from MP Planning Group, uh, gave a presentation to

028the community about where things stood. But um this has really been a long time in the making. Uh the current elementary school layout, the zones for our current elementary schools, uh is outlined here on the screen. Uh we knew, you know, 10 years ago that our enrollment was growing. Uh and certainly the buildings particularly Darcy uh Chapman and Norton were uh had outlived their their lifespan and the community made the commitment to uh build new schools. Beyond the fact that uh those schools were aging, um we also faced a significant issue with overcrowding and recognizing that our population at the elementary grades has been growing and will continue to grow uh for at least the next 10 years. And so uh this slide illustrates uh what our current situation looks like. the uh capacity at

029the buildings. As you can see, Highland is at 105% capacity. Uh and that includes the fact that we added two additional uh portables. Um it would probably even be higher if one of the new streets on the north end weren't entirely exclusively diverted away from uh Highland School. Uh so we knew you know many years ago that we had to make a a shift and address these issues. So in 2021 um we moved forward with the plan and um designed a draft scenario that was to be sorry for this uh blurring the screen. See if I can slide that down. No, there we go. Um, so in this draft scenario back in 2021, uh, Barnum, the location of the facility wasn't finalized yet at that time. uh in in the grant submission process, we uh

030had to submit a plan to illustrate, you know, basically what the capacity was of our schools because when we submit the grant, uh we have to be within a certain delta based on the 10-year enrollment studies that we do uh to make sure we maximize our grant reimbursement. So knowing that this was certainly not the final draft, uh we pulled it down shortly after 2021. So um now, you know, fast forwarding to uh today, uh four years later, we have to take another look at what does our enrollment and our uh elementary zoning look like. And so our our objectives were to develop attendant zones that align student enrollment with the design capacities of New Barnum and uh Norton elementary schools. Uh absorb the closure of Chapman u as well as is Darcy really. Um

031how do we improve our utilization across the district so we don't have such varied uh capacities? How do we do it in a way that's uh sustainable for the long term? That's also part of our grant reimbursement requirement. Uh we also wanted to look at what does the transportation look like in that that process. Additionally, you know, for me, we uh were recognizing that Chapman community expectations were such that everybody who attended Chapman had really been um communicated that the Chapman community in mass would go to Barnum over the last several years. And I don't think that there was any um ill intent or any, you know, effort to mislead anybody. I think it was just really enthusiasm about the construction of the new schools that that was communicated. Um right or wrong, that was

032the the message that was sent. And I think that's a real consideration that we have as we continue to move forward as a community. I'm also respectful of the fact that all of our schools, as you saw with Highlands uh recognition tonight, work really hard to build their own school community. Uh you know, I could tell you, you know, I've worked in the district for 20 years at every school I've worked at, the the middle school, the high school, um and now as superintendent for the last 10 years. every building works very hard uh and is very proud justifiably of their their school community and their success and the uh the bonds that they create at that level. So um you know as we look forward how do we uh make the best long-term decision

033for the community and support the desire of those who wish to stay connected to their current current school. Um and so we started to look at these various scenarios and I think one of the challenges that we have in going through the process is you know Mike gave this presentation like I said um back in mid November and you know in some respects it would probably be easier to just have Mike give us all the information internally and work through some sort of process where we present you know one um and only one uh version to the community and um you know I think that that would be easier in some respects but it also wouldn't it all be transparent on on the flip side it does create a lot of angst when there are

034so many different versions that you people don't know where they're going and I that really troubles me as a a parent as a educator superintendent you know when Our people do feel that angst. I feel it too. And so we went through these various scenarios together to look at what's the balance of each building is as being a an important factor. What does that look like? Because again that's the state will review this for our reimbursement. So when we had that initial presentation be uh the percent uh enrolled at each year for each school is the chart that you would need binoculars to see from the back but it is available on our our website. I think just for ease of reading, the fact that it's all white indicates that in no year at any

035school do we have an enrollment uh at 100% or greater than the planning capacity. So that is for B. The other thing I want to point out on this map is that there are two circles around each building that represents a mile radius around the school. So you can kind of see as we look through these different options, we're looking at really the the um long-term planning, but also in terms of those percentages, but also proximity to schools and and how does that all play out. So B again was was, you know, all white at the bottom there. This is scenario C. You can see um that this scenario at Barnum has uh extended uh issues with respect to percent enrollment exceeding 100% in most years and or excuse me 100% or more in most

036years and two of the years that aren't 100% or higher are 99 and 96%. At the same time in this version, Highland is at only 73%. So there's pretty wild disparity there uh for building use uh over the next decade. Scenario D, uh you can see uh that Barnum in this scenario has uh three years at 100% or greater. a couple the last three years are also at 99% and then proximity within that mile radius uh it it certainly overlaps a lot of Highland and and vice versa. The last um version we looked at, now this was really a function of uh our transportation director saying, you know, one of the bigger problems we have is uh busing and and route 10. Would it be viable to make a a split like this? As you

037can see, it may be um a somewhat attractive option from the fact that we don't get to 100% capacity at any building. Um but it's got serious proximity issues at Highland inside that mile circle at roughly half of it is um Chapman um Barnum. uh because you can see the the dark outline is what is currently Chapman inside that circle. So those would be uh Barnum students in scenario E. Uh as you look at that the proximity is not great. It also um you know disrupts is a a scenario the most students in the entire district uh going from all the way south to north. Now, um, as we evaluated the transportation, uh, Mr. Miller worked, uh, really hard, our transportation director, and evaluated scenarios B, D, and E. Uh, in those scenarios, there really

038is no significant difference in terms of the number of buses necessary. Actually, they're at 85. um for the whole uh three tiers and there are minimal um efficiency gains in terms of the uh average bus ride uh that we would anticipate in scenario E but they are negligible. Um, so you know, in looking at this, I I think as much as the uh the enrollment looks a little bit more favorable, it also still gets very close to 100% on the back end from 2029 uh at 96% 98 997 97 97 as you go out the years. um to the point where I really wouldn't uh think it would make sense to endorse this. Um so the next part of this is when we we're going through this is an iterative process you know where we're

039looking at different scenarios and have to consider adjustments to each scenario. So I mentioned that um I had spoken or we we had the presentation in November. I then went to um I was able to get to a parent meeting at Doolittle, another one at Chapman, and another one at Highland. Uh and I appreciate all the parents who turned out and provided feedback. Um, and I I recognize that, you know, the the bonds to your current school that all of our kids and and families have is um incredibly strong. And so we have to think about how do we make a good again long-term decision for our community and also support our families and our students who are currently in our schools. Um, I mean, that's why we're we're here every day to support our

040kids. So, you we looked at um initial an analysis and we did make some adjustments to boundaries uh in what we were calling now B2 to address some of the proximity issues uh that were identified in that initial u presentation. the initial slide. So in this scenario, the area of Moss Farms on the north central north uh western side of town um Moss Farms both sides of the street and surrounding some of the surrounding streets. They would now be districted to Barnum School at the far uh eastern edge of Cheshure. Cheshure Street in West or excuse me, East would be districted to Highland School. What that ends up doing is um splitting basically Chapman at 5050 nearly. Um where you see these future schools where it says like one student, four students, two, three, that

041is a um those students are kind of outliers because we currently have a waiver process. So, if you live in one section of town, one elementary enrollment zone, and you'd like to attend school in another enrollment zone, then you can submit a waiver. Each year, we get about 80 waivers. So, you see some some outliers there reflective of that. Um, I've been superintendent 10 years. uh the only waiverss we've rejected in that time are in the last few years of people uh requesting waivers to attend Highland School uh because we were so far beyond capacity there that it was just not feasible to do so. So the implications for this um with respect to our uh averages in terms of percentage of students enrolled in the building relative to the planning capacity is uh the

042most balanced. Um leaving room for growth at each school uh as we roll out that 10-year uh lookout. the um the the split obviously of 5050 however is exacerbates the the current issue with ch with Chapman when we looked at that obviously um you can see that you know as we knew going into the process all schools are are impacted to a degree Highland obviously significantly impacted as we had to dramatically pare down on the enrollment at Highland School. Norton also increases as we increase the uh capacity of that uh building. So uh how do we address that um strong desire from uh many in our community to retain um the connection to their current school. Um, as I said, you know, I think Chapman sits in a a kind of a different space given

043the communication that had been relayed to them about attending uh Barnum. Uh, as much as it it wasn't 100% from the outset, over the last several years, you know, it's it's a three to four year window. Um, and the communication over that time has been that they would attend Barnum School. So, you know, my role is is going out and listening to the community and, you know, ultimately I I have to try and make a recommendation to the board of education about, you know, here's where I think the the path of action is and and then obviously you guys have the difficult work ahead of you trying to identify, okay, what what is the best solution and does this solution make sense? So, um what we came up with was something we call like the

044priority waiver. Uh and that would be a legacy waiver for Chapman current Chapman students. So those are students who are the 50% who are redistricted roughly 50 to um Highland school uh would have a priority waiver process as well as as much as I think a lot of people at Highland um expected to be redistricted uh the 29 students that are in that Moss Farms community didn't know that a month ago. Um so we thought that um a priority waiver may make sense for them too, which would mean that as much as they're redistricted to go to Barnum, both of those group, the Chapman to Highland group and the um Highland to Barnum group would be uh asked about their interest in a waiver initially. um how many of these students are actually seeking a

045waiver um to attend those different schools. So, as I said, those those families uh would ultimately after we get a sense of what the interest is, we would ask them to to confirm because my goal would be to try and get a sense of interest pretty quickly and then try and make a decision about all right now, we have some rough numbers. If 50% of people say they don't want to redistrict, then it's maybe a different situation than if, you know, 80% say they want to redistrict. Once we get that preliminary data, we'll give a little bit longer time over the break uh into January for those families, again, only those from Chapman and that small group from Highland to make a a commitment to one of the, you know, either we want to be

046waved in or we don't. Um and then we would pretty quickly turn around a confirmed uh commitment that you the waiver can be granted or a contingent. Now, um the the next slide I'm going to show you is you know what what happens if 100% of Chapman students, every single one that's redistricted says, "Yeah, I want to go to Barnum." and 100% of the Highland students who say that um the that are redistricted to Barnum if none of them say they want to go back to Highland. So in a lot of ways it's the it's the worst case scenario um in terms of the enrollment at the school. And so in running those sections um this is what it looks like. Again, I appreciate that it's hard to see this slide from the the audience

047as we always do this uh you know, I can put this up on our page, you know, really immediately uh for people to be able to take a closer look at. But when you look at the enrollment again in the worstc case scenario where 100% wave in and zero wave out um in that first phase uh it's really it looks a lot like our sections look today. It's really not that different. Um this would be a terrible long range plan. All right. To to redistrict like we'd be already starting at capacity. The facility capacity is 685K through six in this again worst case scenario. Um we're at the building capacity in year one. Uh but as you look at it uh on a waiver basis um we could could manage that and still have class

048sizes that are normal because one of the thing you know we don't want a a scenario where where um sure we'll we'll take everybody but the class sizes will be overwhelming. Um, you know, I I I wouldn't guarantee everybody at this point, but when you look at the data, it looks incredibly favorable. I would say there's another consideration in all of this, which is our our current budget circumstances. Um I already talked about where we stand with respect to our per pupil spending. Um I I shared what that um dollar figure differential was for Cheshure relative to the other uh schools in the top 20. The fiscal difference between Cheshure and other schools in Dur other school systems in Durb B is $8 million per year. So DUI B is um schools like Avon Farmington,

049Simsbury, West Hartford, um you know, there's a there's a a slew of them, Rocky Hill. When you look at all those schools and what they spend per pupil, if we spent the average, our budget would be $8 million higher. Um, again, you know, given the enrollment projections that we have, we do have growing enrollment, and that's not shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. Um, just at the elementary level on our projections, we'd be looking at adding five classroom teachers, the potential to add five classroom teachers, two specialist teachers, and potentially an assistant principal in all of this. Um, we also, you know, just last year reduced three positions in the budget at the high school to to meet our budget. Actually, one of them was uh elementary Spanish that ended up bumping a teacher at

050Cheshure High School, but um we reduced three positions. Um, and I say that because, you know, and I share this data to illustrate the fact that we're already, you know, really lean organizationally. Um, and uh, I think we we just need to be conscious of that as we move forward. Um, unfortunately, our our rolling medical benefit claims are up 10% over the past year. uh the cost of health care is been um skyrocketing. Our contractual increases for next year in the range of 3% plus for personnel currently 4% for transportation. Um we also need to carry the cost of maintaining Darcy and Chapman. I think you that's we just have to keep the heat on. Um basically uh Mr. Masiana and I have talked about it. Uh Vin and I met with Sean Kimble, Jim

051Jascott, um who are town manager and our town finance director as well as members of the council to talk about what are these what are we doing with these buildings? You know, is there a potential revenue source there uh to support our um our budgetary needs? Is there uh you know community need that could be fulfilled in those places? Uh and that's obviously important. The town hasn't made a decision on that yet. Um still in the process of looking at that, but our plan is to use Chapman for the first several months of next school year is kind of like um a storage facility if you will. We are moving a lot of furniture uh and equipment out of Chapman and Norton and Darcy into not a lot into new buildings, but everything that's in

052good condition we're kind of holding now at Chapman because Norton will be demolished and Darcy is not adequate for a storage location. Um so we are we will face some carrying costs in the fall at least on you know keeping the minimum degree of heat and electricity in those buildings. Um and then of course the federal circumstances are are really uh up in the air. So that's you know kind of a broader context of where we are financially. Um, so first and foremost, our priority is looking at those priority waiverss for the Chapman families and for the um the 29 students I mentioned before from the Moss Farms and surrounding area neighborhoods. Um, so after that process is complete, we would offer a secondary process. You know, not listed here, not really discussed here. We

053have 50 students roughly from Doolittle uh districted to Barnum. You know, if any of those students elect to remain at Dittle, it opens seats at Barn from the worst case scenario that 685. So we would initiate that next phase um hopefully in you know end of January um and look at that through early February with a goal of trying to make all the waiver decisions by February 20th. For us, the waiver process and securing that is very important to know the enrollment at each building because we we staff the buildings to maintain the ratios that we've had. So, you know, we have roughly uh 19 students per class on average K through six. the um the scenarios I showed with those four buildings have roughly about 19 students per class on the average. Um, so

054if all 50 Dittle students wave out of Barnum and decide to go back to Dittle, I want to know that by March so that we can staff appropriately so that the class size average stays what the class size average is in Cheshure. Trying to get back to almost what what Heather was almost asking there. How do we how do we make sure that those are balanced, right? And if we have, you know, a significant number, I would anticipate, you know, particularly with a waiver, uh, a higher percentage of kids in grades five and six maybe electing that waiver, you know, then I certainly would need to move more staff around to accommodate that. So after the priority group is addressed, we would open it to the rest of the folks who are um you know

055redistricted in this scenario. So how will we make those decisions? certainly um at at Barnum uh to Chapman the the students in grades four through six younger si siblings uh would be a high priority. Now that being said, I mean I I already showed you what it looks like if 100% move in. Um I think we could come very close to accommodating 100%. Um, and again, that's if zero Highland students who are redistricted there elect not to to go to Highland. Um, again, priority again for those um, Moss Farms neighborhoods to go to Highland. Um, and then I told you we had 80 students right now who are by selection redistricted. um whatever their family circumstances are, they live in one area of town but attend school in another area of town. I am not

056talking about uh students who are enrolled in special programs who may live in one part of town but we operate a special program in another school that is not counted in those 80 students. those students will continue to go and receive the services that they currently receive at the building that those services are offered in without factoring that into these numbers. So those folks would be a priority if you've been out of area placed for three years and into a district you would be a priority to uh again go back to that school and then obviously additional family circumstances are are considered as well in this process um as as we move through. Um, you've probably seen at the bottom that our board of ed policy waivers uh do not include district transportation. So the

057waiver um timelines overview basically um as I said you know we would want to get initial interest to look at um what who would actually be interested in redistricting who would be interested in a waiver. Um the waiver uh as we have it now uh is not guaranteed year-over-year. It would be uh almost impossible to guarantee that. Uh again, that being said, I've been the superintendent for 10 years. Um we've only rejected um recent ones who are a asking to go to Highland. Now, if you know in the subsequent year, uh we have uh a boatload of kids move into a new development um at Norton Brothers Farms. Um might we have to look at what would happen subsequently to Highland Enrollment? Of course we would. Um, and it would be very difficult to I

058can't um approve a waiver for you to go to Highland if the Highland enrollment got to a point where we were, you know, pushing capacity and and class sizes uh out of control. Well, those again I I think those situations are possible certainly within the realm of possibility. not super likely um even at the north end as we evaluate the uh new construction there. um for things that are either already built or being built. Um you know, again, that the town could approve a I don't know 20 story apartment complex tomorrow. And like I I don't I couldn't guarantee that when that's actually constructed two years from now that we could do that. We would have to probably add on to the building anyway if that were to happen. Um, so the goal would be

059to to solicit in interest really kind of immediately by through a targeted communication to the families that are redistricted. Uh, we can do that, email them directly, we can call them um directly, I think through the automated system to make sure that they're aware and that we would need their survey. Now, if you don't if you're not interested in redistricting or waving and and taking advantage of the priority waiver, you don't have to fill it out. But, um, again, I think that gives us data about what are we actually looking at for numbers. Um, subsequent to that initial screener, uh, I know that we've had some conversation about a a board meeting, uh, on December 11th, next Thursday. Um, that's might be a shade early uh, for us in terms of getting preliminary data. Uh

060but it is another opportunity if we wanted to take advantage of that to um you know further plan or we could look at a a later date to get maybe uh data that's a little clearer. So once people have made that commitment um submitted their commitment waiver uh their uh commitment to a redistricting and and take advantage of the priority waiver, we would give them feedback on or around January 23rd. Again, as you look at the enrollment um at the school, I think I would envision a high percentage of those folks being confirmed. Um and a a pretty small percentage being contingent. Um the contingency being well if we're really tight on class sizes when we open up the second wave there are definitely students that are um districted to Barnum and that's a change

061for them from uh where they are now that might ask to to come back to Dittle or Highland. Um, and we would have to look at at those and the open seats available at at Barnum. But like I said, I do anticipate I don't anticipate 100% of kids that are redistricted to Barnum to actually go there um under a waiver scenario. And then the that second wave, the non-priority waiverss, we would review those um January with a a decision around February 20th on or around the 20th of February. Um so, you know, there's there's not certainly, you know, um I don't expect any sort of vote tonight. That's not, you know, necessarily on the agenda. But um I think you know what would be helpful for me and it's it doesn't have to be a

062formal vote per se would be just an acknowledgement to look at this data uh to pull this data that we can review at a a subsequent meeting. Um so that's that's um the soup to nuts of it for tonight. Uh and I certainly take any questions from the board. >> Thank you, Dr. Solen. Um this is a lot of information right now. Um especially seeing it for the first time to digest, but I do again want um to have a conversation um and allow board members to ask their lingering questions um just so that we can also get a sense of some clarity too. Um thank you for your work in in putting this together. Um I feel a little more confident but so um with that being said I'll take the line of of

063questions for Dr. Solen if you can remain up there. >> Sure. >> I I also I already introduced Mike Zuba. Vin Massian is our chief being here. >> Uh Vin's our chief project officer so I'm sure they can chime in as well. >> Perfect. Miss Fitzgerald, how many questions can I ask? Is it just one? >> We do usually have a time limit though, but I go go for it. >> Okay. Quick one is um just overall what is the margin of error? Do you know the margin of error on utilization rate calculation just broadly? I'm just kind of wondering. >> So um our enrollment is based on the projection that Mike did. There are three um there are three uh excuse me, sorry. There are three models, three tiers to that model, a low,

064medium, and high. I think Mike, you you want to talk about where that where that stands? >> Sure. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, that's a really good question. So, typically, um, with utilization, it comes down to the accuracy of the projections. And we've been tracking projections here since about 2020, 2019. Um, and overall, we're about 1% per year. One of the um one of the you could see where especially in some of the scenarios that um Superintendent Solen talked about tonight, it's going to be the residential development, especially in the north end as that's coming to certificates of occupancy. Units are being sold, units are being rented. Um that's where it becomes a little bit more tricky. We built in a little more headroom, especially for Barnum because we know those units over time

065are going to grow students. It's exactly just the pace of it. um we know over a certain number of years we're probably going to add about 70 students um from those developments up in the north end. It's just is it going to be within the first four years? Is it going to be within the first three years? Um it's likely not to see that all next year. Um but pretty much that growth is going to occur. It's just really going to come down to the timing of it overall. >> Thank you. >> Um yes, sorry if I can ask another one. Um, so the legacy waiver does not necessarily mean like if students in fourth grade and they apply for the legacy waiver that they will be able to get that waiver fourth, fifth, and

066sixth grade like they will necessarily be able to promote out of the elementary schools that >> So none of our waivers are guaranteed. >> Yeah. >> Um because things could happen that make it untenable. >> I'm just Yeah. So they have to apply each year. >> Correct. Yeah. >> Okay. for each of their kids, right? >> Yeah. And then if somebody like is there is there a scenario where you could see like they have two kids in in Chapman now, but then they have one coming up behind. So then two are enrolled in Chapman and can petition out to another school, but then this one, you know, the third one that hadn't been enrolled yet. Is that a special situation where they they would all end up in the same school? >> I was my

067I had little kids, too. >> Yeah. Uh that's hellacious, right? To be trying to scoot between two buildings, right? >> Um so yeah, we would make every effort to try and support that, but like I had said before, I can't really guarantee anything >> um in in like a terrible situation like it might be a fourth grader that would be bumped. Again, probabilities of that aren't high, but they exist. Like nothing is guaranteed um for anything. Again, >> as we look at enrollment over time and then obviously people moving out of the school that have been wavered in and it it provides more headroom. it. I think that again the probability of not being able to accept that is low, but I can't tell you it's zero. >> Understood. And then I'll one more and

068then I'll pass it on. Um, when you collect I I would be interested in seeing that data collected on the interest of the waiverss, but I would could you there has to be a question there on like what kind of a hardship does not having transportation >> provide? What does it what does that mean? What does it do to the families? Is it a hardship? What does that look like? Um because you know waiver sounds great but then with you got to think think about the transportation. So that sounds great but is it really better to do a different scenario versus a waiver? I'd like to be able to have the data to think about that completely. >> Yeah. >> Dr. Har. >> Yeah. Um I wonder if we can get back on page nine

069with the worst case scenario projections. >> This guy Yep. >> Yep. >> So that 10 in first grade at Barnum in red, is that an extra class? >> Yeah. So the way the building is designed is in essence there are five classrooms at each grade level. Um, if this scenario were to happen, right, there is flexibility in that building, if if it played out exactly like this in grade one. >> Um, I wouldn't have 10 students in a class, first of all. That's ridiculous, you know, when others are at 18. >> But, um, we would balance it. I I left it hanging out there as kind of the remainder, if you will. Um, in that scenario, we have an available classroom that could be utilized at the prek level. So, in that year, this year,

070if it were to happen, I would take a kindergarten class, put it in that prek wing, which is literally right around the corner from where the kindergarten is now, um, and move a first grade class into that kindergarten space. And also I mean I actually think the numbers at fourth grade, fifth grade, six at 25 and 24 is those are big classes. And also notice that Norton has those 24s and 23s in the worst case scenario. Why why is Norton also high in the worst case scenario? >> Class size. Norton's not really impacted by redistricting at those other two buildings. >> So Norton's going to be that the classes are going to be that high >> potentially. And and you know I I know you're saying that that sounds out of the ordinary. It's not

071out of the ordinary today for for upper upper elementary in the treasure. >> In my mind, we're always trying to get class sizes down a little bit. >> I'm not going to argue with you. >> This is creeping up. Yeah, I'm not gonna argue with you. >> Beyond my comfort level. I'm just saying. >> Yep. And um the we would be adding five teaching positions here. Like this is actually four in this scenario. >> Yeah. So adding five is really when I ran a lot of different data over the last week utilizing various scenarios and things, you know. Um, in almost every scenario, it adds five teachers. >> Um, I just want to end by saying I appreciate all of this information, but um, as Sam said, you know, we we need to digest a

072little bit. I think December 11th is way too soon for us to um think about well first of all we won't have the information that we need if >> Yeah. I think it'd be too early to get good preliminary data. >> Um so I would I would really like to see um what what it looks like. I would like specifically I'd like to see how far from this worst case scenario we're likely to be. >> Sure. So, um, but I appreciate all your work. This, you know, it's obvious that this was looked at carefully from a lot of different >> Yeah, we we definitely spent an inordinate amount of time on it, but that's what's necessary right now. >> Any other Mr. Kau? >> Yeah. First, thank you for you and your staff coming back

073and looking and listening to the community and and finding other ways to sort of address their concerns. Uh, I'm a I'm a fan of this as presented. It's it solves for me the the long-term considerations with also the short-term considerations. The the third grader that has to get moved schools now has an option to stay there, you know, but we need to make decisions that also handle, you know, his or her children that might be in the district 20 years from now, 30 years from now. Um the two questions I would have for you on this, you mentioned in the worst case scenario that it gets tight in grades one and two if I remember correctly. Yeah. Does that continue to track >> year after year if those families continue to come back with the

074legacy waiver? >> It would be it would be tight potentially um if they continue to come back year after year. Um, and the reason it's tight is not necessarily like I could always throw three more teachers in there, but you you really change the configuration of the whole building when you do that. Um, I I think that I I don't know that I would advise of that. Um, but um, right now it's tight without really changing anything. Um so if they were to come back uh and we don't have significant moveins in those grades then it would be fine. >> Okay. And the Thank you. The other question I had is you you had a slide on there about budgetary concerns. Um we also mentioned the transportation wasn't you know that different across these scenarios.

075Um so you know B2 the difference between different families that submit for the waiver and are interested not or not in that waiver. You know it's not clear to me that any of these change across those scenarios. Am I understanding that correctly that that these are considerations regardless of the scenario the outcome that we get? >> Yeah. And again, you know, going back to the conversation with Heather that um you know, we are staffing based on ratios usually. Um and so and really what we're looking at is um the ratios don't change all that much. It's just the locations. And so there are external factors that influence our budget uh that are that are um little different this year that have nothing to do with this. >> Okay. Thank you. So I and I'll just

076close on on my couple other thoughts on the B2 there that you know the the data will certainly inform actions that you and your staff need to take around staffing the buildings but you know in my view if if the board is okay with the worst case scenario and the actions that would be needed you know the data and the results of the survey we would just be going back towards what you mentioned was the best balanced of the scenarios that have been presented, you know, where I think everyone was around 90 or less than 90 even in peak years. So, you know, that's why I'm confident in, you know, putting my support behind a B2 because, you know, if if the worst case solves the short term for families that are concerned and also

077solves the long term and the best balanced capacity of the school, then, you know, I I certainly think this is a path worth pursuing. >> Yeah, I think that's what we were trying to get to. you know, how do we how do we meet both important needs, >> Mr. Dwight? >> Thank you. Um, second. Yes. So, thank you for having done this. I I appreciate it. I I have no doubt that this took quite a bit of time. One of the points that you made was about transportation and that would not be uh covered. I know that's what our standard >> Well, our current board policy Yeah. says that >> okay >> you know but you're the board you know >> oh absolutely I'm just saying based on what has been happening so the the

078one the thing I'm wondering about is assuming that was the case and there was no transportation provided have uh has there been any consideration of drop off or pickup does that become a disaster >> yeah I I think it it definitely becomes more difficult >> okay >> based on the number of people who take the waiver. >> Sure. >> And that's why again why I think that initial data is valuable. >> Okay. No. Yeah. No, that makes total sense to me. Um Okay. So, thank you for that. U >> any other thoughts, Mr. White? >> Yeah. Sorry, one second. Um >> yeah. Uh just following up on Ann's comment. So, uh you had mentioned Norton and the class sizes and Jeff's response to it. I So my son's in fourth grade there. There's four classes.

079There about 20 kids each right now. So if we don't add if we didn't add another teacher, but we do add Deaconwood or Highland, yeah, it's probably going to end up being about 24 kids per class. I could easily see that happening. Um I'm just curious for like a 30 or 60 second understanding on your view on the class sizes. So all of the first K through three are below 20 and then fourth and above jump up above 20. I'm just curious >> where you where your mind is at when you have it set like that. Uh you know what um I think that first of all the early primary grades uh we've historically because it is more developmentally appropriate taken a different approach than we have in the later primary grades. Um I think

080there is a benefit to having a um more students in that later primary uh where kids are engaging in more dialogue. There is there are more models. Um you know would I want to get beyond 25? No. No. Um is it manageable? Yes. But it's never been in our um really it's never really been what we've we've pursued. Um and again, we don't really get there here with the exception of um again the worst case scenario at Barnum with 100% and 0% opting out. Um, and so like I like I said, I've been in the district since 2005 and um we had a a parent large group committee um with parent, teachers, administrators and and we really redefined our our priorities called the personalized learning task force. It was probably what Marleene 2018 or so.

081Um, and one of those priorities was class size. Um, research doesn't indicate that it it makes the biggest difference, but it is definitely a priority for our staff and families and we really try and adhere to that. Um, and we try and be sensitive to it. I will tell you in recent years is the enrollment has increased. Um, and you know, we've had to navigate some challenging budgets. The elementary class size has crept a bit higher over the last and at a time when needs are um, you know, greater than they have been. Um, and so I think I am certainly conscious of that. this uh with the 126 teachers, it takes our class size down. You would think like, oh, you're adding five teachers, it must it must bring the average down a lot.

082Not across 200 kids. It doesn't. Um it brings it from what where it is currently a little above 19 to a little below 19 with five additional people because we're adding students as well. Our enrollment is growing. But so I think, you know, it's a long-winded way of saying, you know, we want to try and keep class size averages down. These are within the realm of what we've had. Um, you know, they look a little shaded higher at at Barnum under the worst case scenario, but I don't anticipate that coming to full fruition. >> Yeah, thank you. Thank you for that. And uh I mean as a parent in that situation, I prefer to see fewer kids in the classroom and more attention. But I also recognize there's budgetary constraints. And I also think back

083to I don't know if you recall her Ruth Pod. >> Oh yeah. >> She was she was a teacher uh for probably more than 40 years, maybe pushing 50 years and on the board of ed for another 10 20 years or something. And >> in her 90s I think on the board. >> Oh yeah. No, she was involved in the school system for a long time. But I remember her um voseiferously advocating for K through three Yeah. >> class sizes being small, saying that that's all the research >> shows. So, I mean, it's not something I particularly care for because it seems sort of counterintuitive, but >> anyway, uh I just wanted to add that I I I trust your judgment on this on the class sizes. >> So, thank you for that. >> Sure.

084>> Mr. Jackie, >> do we have a uh do the teachers contract limit the number of students in the class? >> We don't have that. >> No. >> Okay. How about the uh the size of the classroom? If we're putting 25 sixth graders in a classroom, are we pushing the capacity? What are we at? >> Yeah, I would say it's probably at capacity. You you guys have had um many of you the opportunity to tour our schools. Um, you know, some of the older schools are actually unique in the sense that when they were built, uh, 50 plus years ago, they didn't have class size limits for reimbursement. Like square footage, uh, wasn't really a factor. So, it's weird. We have some buildings that class sizes are a lot larger and others where the rooms

085are really pretty tight. Uh, I think it's been our experience as we um look at these new buildings with the um space allocations that they're they're well aortioned, but the uh I mean 25 would make it tighter. I you know, every student you add makes it a little bit cozier. Um and you know, 25 wouldn't be our target. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Miss >> com I guess. Um Mike, >> I just want to thank you too, Dr. Solen, for the incredible time and effort that went into this um report. Um I like Dr. Herrian, I need more time to study it and actually to drive around, I think, and really get a feel for um what this looks like. I'm looking over Merlene's shoulder at the at the map with the the

086actual street names. So, it is going to take a little time, but again, thank you for this. Sure. I mean, I I know how important this is to our families, how important it is to not just the families that are impacted with redistricting, but every family in our community is impacted by this. So, um, you know, we it's something we do need to put a lot of time into. We have >> Oh, sorry. >> New person want to ask questions. Um, again, thank you to Marlene, Emily, um, Jeeoff, this is great. Um I'm just brought like curious when I look at all the scenarios like prior to B2 all the scenarios Highland is like curiously at lower utilization than like any of the other schools and I'm wondering why that was. I mean it's a

087bit corrected in B2 but it's still you know I'm just curious as to why that was. >> Mike I I think that's uh that's a mic question. >> Yeah, happy to address that one. So, um, one of the goals was to be able to lower the utilization overall. I believe in Highland, we're including in the capacity all the portable classrooms. Even though in the future, they may not be used as instructional rooms. They're still counted as full-size classrooms available. Um, those include the older legacy ones that would likely be used for storage or some other district need. Um, and the newer ones that have installed what the last two years, the last two years as well. So, um, part of the idea is to be able to bring that down to a more manageable section

088size, right? So, you're not really utilizing all of this large space, but you're really looking at having it operate more cohesively with more kind of planned sections and you're able to get back to having some of the spaces that the other schools can have. So, as you grow enrollment in a building, you start taking away little nice to haves in the building um because it's over capacity. Um it's the idea is to be able to return it to that but also have some flexibility knowing that it's centrally located. Um so should you get some growth, you have some future growth space there to be able to utilize that as well. Um, and it was also kind of the function of the push and pull to a little bit in redistricting where we know we needed

089to fill out Norton a little bit more to get it up to the design capacity um, for that design enrollment as well as being able to push some students over into um, Barnum as well just because that was kind of the natural area for Highland for so many years is where that Barnum school is now. Um, so it's a kind of a numerous factors um, were at play as part of So if you took away the portables, that utilization would be higher >> because those are four classrooms that are calculated into the number. >> Yeah. If you were to do four * 20 um so that would be 80. You would basically that's 80 additional students that you could back out or 80 seats you could back out of the equation. >> Yeah. And you'd

090come up at 91%. >> Okay. >> So it's like falsely low but not. But I get Thank you. >> Yeah. It's artificially low because of the inclusion of those four rooms, but we we have to include it in our district space analysis. >> Dr. Heritan. Yeah, that was a great question. Thank you, Heather. I was thinking about that, too, but I got off and I just wanted to say Amory, you and me, we're going to ride around >> ride around the neighborhoods. Okay. >> Field trip, right? Thanks. >> Any other >> modern Thelman Louise right there? >> We're not going off any cliffs. >> Okay. Not yet. Um, Dr. Sir, I have a few items actually, if you may. Um, I feel like we're we're kind of pigeonhold and with respect to my fellow board

091members here. You know, I want to put first off my parent hat on, right? Because and and and call out the fact that there's anxiety right now because we don't have a decision. Um the timeline is I recognize the timeline is short but with respect to also the future planning too. Um I want to try to reduce some of that anxiety because if we we stretch it out even more. We're playing a waiting game and I don't want to do that to our families at all. So I just want to put that out there. Uh change is hard. Um thank you for going over the waiver option. My one question about going back to the waiver option um and back to Miss Fitzgerald's question about transportation and the the hardship on transportation. Is there a

092possibility that we can look at that again? Because if we do go with that scenario and I'm I'm going back to our kindergarten age plan that we initially had. >> Yeah. The age change for kindergarten enrollment. Yep. and and to make that transition smooth for families. Um I'm picturing right now based on what I'm seeing, is there a possibility where we can at least for one year grant transportation so that families have time to transition into their new space into their new u school cultures and what is the impact on on that dollar figure? Well, I first of all, you know, that's that's within your purview to do. So, yeah, I mean, it could be done. The um the implications of that are um contingent upon who's receiving transportation. So, we have over 500 students

093being redistricted in in our community. providing that for every student uh looks fiscally different than providing it for like I was saying the priority waiver people um the priority waiver people uh as you can see here are uh they but pretty closely the lines where we're already providing transportation what as I thought about that. The the other nice thing here for uh Barnum Highland transportation is that we could run two buses through those neighborhoods without wild confusion because don't forget like in either of these neighborhoods you could have kids going to two different schools. There could be families who elect to take the waiver and families who don't. Like it may not be universal. So in that scenario, we'll have two buses running through that neighborhood on two different tiers, which is really kind of

094helpful. Um because the last thing I I wouldn't want a bus rolling through that two buses rolling through that neighborhood at roughly the same time going to two different places and having a fourth grader having to figure that out. you know, if we got a substitute driver or something, I think that creates a lot of confusion >> because they're on two separate schedules. In this case, it's it's really kind of beneficial that you could cycle them through there without much of a problem. And that, you know, we'd be looking at the cost of probably two buses to do that, but the equivalent of about $180,000 >> to do it districtwide. >> You know, that that price would probably increase significantly. Okay, that's >> I have a question through that. >> Um, go ahead. If it's

095connected to >> it's related to that question then is there an opportunity for us to gather that data around um if a family goes for the priority legacy waiver really wants their child to go to this school but cannot because of the transportation. Are we collecting that data? >> Yeah, we we Yeah, that could be >> on the survey. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> So, I think I think definitely um I'd like if at all possible I know you gave me $180,000, but if if we can kind of, you know, sleep on that a little bit, uh I do want to see what the response rate um will be with regards to the waiver survey. Um, what is the hard stop then? Because I, like I said, I don't want to extend this any longer

096than it has already. So, what is the hard stop date so that it doesn't impact now your future next steps? So, um, you know, with this guidance to initiate the survey with those parameters, we would still start that next week. >> Okay. >> Um, and we would submit those by the 19th. I mean, so I think the closer we get to December 19th, the more data that we have, you know, um, as people submit those those, uh, surveys from there, you know, if if a decision was made in that vicinity, the time this timeline as it's presented here is not impacted at all. I'm looking at the calendar. We have a two week break right >> in between. But there I recognize that and didn't build surveying in over the Christmas break because first of

097all I knew that it wasn't um practical from a staff perspective and I also know that it's not really um you know fair from a family perspective who might be you know traveling or certainly engaging with their family hopefully over the holiday friends. So that's why we were um initiating the second phase of the commitment surveying like this is your interest. Let's say the board goes in that direction with whatever parameters on January 5, we would submit the second round to those people who said yes, they were interested in the first round and ask them to make a commitment. And then you know at that point we are on this same time frame. Do would I love to get it wrapped up before February 20th? Of course. But you know I also think in order

098to do it right um we do need to give families time to mle these things over. We do need to give our staff time to thoroughly analyze the data and be able to present it in a way that's coherent um and feels safe for people. Um so you know as it stands right now I think this is our our aggressive but reasonable timeline. So, do we have a drop down date as far as when we have to vote on the scenario so that you can move ahead with the other >> I I think you know if people felt comfortable voting I think we could do it as early as that before December it 19th or around that December 19th date to adopt that on. So I think that would be the earliest. >> So that

099would be December 18th then I think is a Thursday night. Okay. >> If we kept it on a Thursday. >> So you know I think that would be the earliest I could foresee any sort of adoption happening. The latest I think we could really adopt is probably mid January. >> Okay. >> If if we're doing that in mid January, I would really kind of have to accelerate some of the timelines to wrap things up by the end of February. we start preschool enrollment on March 1st. Um and we have to do that for uh special education services um state reimbursement things like that. So you know March 1st is really a a target for us and we need a runway back from March 1st to be able to calculate all the waiverss and make sure

100our staffing is appropriate. I think um I would like to hear from the audience too. I think that'll help in our decision. >> I just wanted to get a sense of what the hard stop would be so that we're not you know impacting what you have to do next basically. Um I think just from hearing your response is >> um I'm I'm our next meeting is January 8th >> right? So that to me would be possibly the best worst case hard stop. >> Um >> I I would agree with that, >> but I I I think next week's too early definitely >> and the 19th again time to kind of digest what it is that you're going to end up you know providing to us with regards to the survey data as well. So, and

101if there's any other impact, I know you had the budgetary considerations, but I'm also I'm going to put my teacher hat on because we still, you know, we're looking at the class sizes right now. Um, and I would prefer that we're not going to 25 in in any grade really. And so, we might need to reconsider adding more staff. I, you know, our success rate is because of the lower class sizes. We have a really great talent pool, but I don't want to max our teachers out either. So >> yeah, I I'm not suggest like I said, I I think 25 would be the cap that we would feel comfortable with, but um you know, in that worst case scenario, those are kids, don't forget late primary where I think you're more likely to see

102a sixth grader take a waiver uh to return to their home school than you are a first grader perhaps. So I think some of that and I think that's again why the data is is relevant uh to see exactly what does that look like. >> Uh Mr. White and then Dr. Herrian. Uh yeah, just with regard to the chair's analogy to uh funding a particular funding transportation and how we had a transition in to K the prek transitional you had mentioned a scenario doing it for one year. Um so I appreciate I I appreciate that. I just if we put that in the survey, I request that you highlight that the idea would be for one year because I think there's without it being absolutely clear that that is the idea right now. I suspect

103there'd be an expectation that it goes on until the kids finish school, which could which is entirely possible of how this board or future boards vote. But if that's the general mindset about a one-year transition period, I just think it would be valuable to highlight that. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Dr. Har. >> Oh, I was just going to say that um to the extent that this is going to impact our budget process because that all starts in January as well. So, um h how much of this information do you think you need to be able to um to work it into our budget? >> Well, I think proposal >> you know the the most critical >> piece the there are two factors as I see it um influenced by this data. Well, first is the

104teacher count. Um, because that impacts our personal personnel line pretty significantly. And as I said, I've run a variety of different scenarios. Each time I keep coming up with 126 as being kind of the magic number, so I know what that N is, you know. Um, the other factor is transportation. So, you know, I'll work with um Emily and and Luther to kind of make sure we're we're nailing down what that number is and that I that our budget presentation will be buttoned up before January 9th. It has to be right. So, um I will factor that into the budget and that'll be part of the conversation. It may not be in the budget book, you know, because we have to publish that even sooner, but you know, you you guys most of you have

105been through the process before. That could easily be an amended line item. I mean, that's that's simple. >> Great. Thank you for thinking of that. >> Sure. >> Mr. Aki, >> just uh one quick followup to uh the point Tim just made with the waiver. If we were to uh if we were to supply transportation, you said it's against our policy, would we have to rewrite the policy? Would we just have to go with a one-year waiver? How would that work? >> Um, you know, I would just check with our attorney on that, but I I think you could you could rewrite the policy in in board um you know, in the board policy, you could a policy could be changed in a single reading. under like emergent circumstances which I think this would be

106considered or typically as you know uh being the policy chair it takes three readings. So um I think we could either do that or I would ask if there's another way for the board to make some sort of special dispensation on that. >> Thank you. >> That's this is a first so I don't know >> any other comments. Thank you Dr. Sen. Um we are going to now take um any audience comments. Um beforehand I do want to provide the uh disclaimer uh of the public participation. The board does welcome um public participation and ask that speakers please limit their comments to three minutes. Speakers may offer objective comments on school operations and programs that concern them. To protect the impartiality of the board, we will not permit any expression of personal complaints and defamatory

107comments about the board of education personnel and students, nor against any person connected with the Cheshire public schools. Such issues should be brought to the school administration. The board will not respond to comments made during public comment except to clarify issues. When appropriate, district administration will follow up at a later point in time. And so if you do want to speak, please go to the mic. I'll state your name and your address for the record. >> Good evening. Uh Tyler Borne, um 25 Oxford Court. I do want to extend uh congratulations to Matt and Heather on your nomination to being elected. Congratulations, Sam. uh congratulations being reelected again and you as well I think uh you know through the last few weeks coordinating with you guys uh level of respect uh professionalism could not thank

108you enough um knowing that there's high emotions during this time um my first question I just I I would like to direct it to uh Dr. Solen, I just want to clarify some of the metrics that have been put out here if I could. So, did I hear you correctly? You're estimating about 126 elementary school teachers for K through six. >> Yes. >> Okay. And there's 147 classrooms that were designated in each scenario planning by the MP planning group. Um I the classrooms th those the 126 are K through six general ed classroom teachers. >> Correct. >> They don't include special education services or anything like that that Mike does include in his >> on Mike's slide. Um I believe it's slide eight in his presentation. He does the breakdown by K through six, takes

109out the classes for Darcy, for all the special ed classes, gym and all that. I believe the total number there was 147 classrooms with that presentation. So when I when my concern when I see the data is that the one that you showed in terms of the the numbers if everyone says yes sure is that it overinflates to a degree and what it really isn't highlighting is that there just isn't enough teachers to manage the available classrooms. And so if we hired 21 teachers to fill the available space that dispenses the kids to a better margin ratio from student to teachers. So like it it feels right now sir out of respect to you and and the time for everybody else is that the families here are having to manage the punishment of a lack

110of hiring to manage the space that's available for these schools. And so we're having to manage transportation times and all of this other stuff that we want to waver in, but we don't even have enough teachers to fill the classroom. So, um, and the last question I have is on the plan you have here, um, in terms of like the next roll out, uh, survey times went out and so for me to give a fair assessment back to the board and yourself in terms of what my wife and I would like to do because we are not going to Barnum from Chapman, um, we would need to know what time the school is that we would have the option to start from. And without that data, I can't even give you an honest response back

111in that time frame. So, if that's not released before then, it's it's really hard for me to give an honest assessment and pinched against time, then my voice isn't heard. Um, and as a parent, that just doesn't sit right with me. >> For clarification, >> yeah, >> when you say start times, you're talking about building start times for next year, >> correct? There was a survey went out in September. I have not seen a formal confirmation of what the start times are. >> Yeah, we we do have that. >> We do. Okay. So, I'm gonna respond to, you know, if we engage in dialogue, yeah, the whole thing, but um any questions that are asked, I'll be sure to make sure that they're available on our website tomorrow under that redistricting page. >> Okay. >>

112So, I want to address that other question as well about the class classes. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Mr. Bourne. >> Any other audience members? Mike Olison, 130 Woodland Drive. First, I wanted to go back to the performance standards, and one of them was something to the effect of not teaching to the test. Having my kids have graduated through Cheshure Schools and now my grandkids, the difference in improvement has been phenomenal from where my grandkids are, from what my kids had. There's no more of these time test meeting math facts, everything pushing just teaching to a test. So, there has been a drastic improvement in the education they are provided. Um, some of the comments I had was when you did your redistricting plan, why wasn't the percentage of student disruption the guiding principle for

113that? there's no consideration for the amount of students that were disrupted when you came up with these plans. That seems to be a really big problem and a big oversight. The other question I have is what contingency plan do you have in place if these schools aren't ready in time? Because driving by looking, you know, what do you have nine months, 10 months? Is there a plan if these schools aren't ready in time? Thank you. I I will, like I said, add that to our website tomorrow. But I will say our schools are actually ahead of schedule on the construction side. >> Thank you. >> Any other audience members? Hi, my name is Kelly Grudadoria. I live at 585 Riverside Drive. Thank you for all putting in a lot of time for us. Um when

114we saw Dr. Sullen at our school at Chapman, um a couple of points that I made to him was we are a family. Chapman is a very small school and we moved to that neighborhood to be part of that family. Um, so, uh, I just asked him to be sensitive to that. Being the smallest school, our kids walk down the hallway. Every teacher knows my two kids' names. Every teacher, every administrator, we have a great staff. We have great families. Um, sorry, I'm a little nervous, but um, keeping us together is keeping our family together. And that community that we have of 380 students is going to go away no matter what. And for our kids, it would be better if they're still together and still seeing those teachers and administrators that they're used to

115seeing being such a small community. The other point that I made to Dr. Solen is forget about the numbers. Forget about the graphs. Think about the namesake of our new school. Colonel Barnum did the right thing. This is why we named the school after him. My daughter had the opportunity to be part of the groundbreaking ceremony. She probably saw most of you there, took pictures with you. um she's excited to be part of that new school. And in many of the scenarios, we are not going to that new school. And when I explained to my seven-year-old daughter that her picture was probably going to be in the new school for part of the groundbreaking ceremony and to have to go back and tell a 7-year-old girl she's probably not going to that school is devastating

116to me because she took it as such an honor. She shook his hand. He gave her a medal. He did the right thing. He fought for our country. We We teach our children integrity overall. That is my goal in our house. And I think that you can ask every teacher, every parent in this room what our goal is for our kids. We want to raise kids who do the right thing. And with that being said, I'm just asking you to do the right thing for our kids. Um, we don't want to lose our family is what it comes down to. That's the biggest thing for us. We don't want to lose our family. And then I just had one more question um from back here. It's very hard to see the slides where the cut

117offs were for B2. So, if you could just clarify that >> the um >> sorry >> the uh you know how that we had those interactive maps right on the website. We'll have that interactive map up tomorrow Mike first thing in the morning, >> correct? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, you can plug in your address again and see exactly where it is or just zoom in on the map and see it. >> Okay. Thank you for your time tonight. >> Thank you. Any other audience members? Please just go to the mic. Okay. Hi, my name is Clara Fan. I live in 645 Queen Court. Uh, congratul um um I I thank Dr. Soren to consider the legacy the uh the waiver for the chairman families that means a lot to us. Um

118but as you know I did a lot of analysis based on MP uh planning group. So I would like to uh take a step back. I know uh looks like we are chosen the scenario uh B. Um but I do want to take a step back to to think about why the scenario D was not chosen. Um and I know you present the criteria the two uh criteras that we consider in terms of this process. One of them a primary one is consider uh projection enrollment and also long-term sustainability and the other one is transportation and we all have heard the minimizing the student disruption and registering impact should be one of very important criteria in this process and you um Mr. uh Rosenberg you have done you have personally involved with Straford uh registing

119impact and that um that scenario they chosen only has 12% the students who have to redistribute to different school out of 3,300 students. So out of our four scenarios, scenario D obviously shows the lowest uh percentage of students who have to relocate from one school to the other. If we choose seniority D, I'm sure that legacy waiver time process would be so much minimized because right now we're talking about lots of I'm sure a lot of family from a chairman would of course myself would definitely apply for the for the waiver. But if we choose a scenario, I think that the time transition the process will be definitely minimized. Um and also in terms of uh uh you know primary primary objective you know as you know is long-term sustainability. If you look at the

120projection of scenario D, the capacity utilization is not really worth much than than comparing to scenario B. Uh so I just want to understand you know how why cinema B is chosen but C looks like from November 10 uh presentation until today. I haven't heard anything about Sen. I'd be happy to elaborate that on tomorrow with a response too >> on the website or you could give me a call. >> Yeah, both work. >> All right. >> Thank you, Dr. Fang. >> And I I want to personally appreciate the fact that you did send your analysis very detailed and thorough too um for us to kind of consider too. Uh, and just to kind of make a uh kind of a point, um, you did bring up my day job, which is Stratford, and fortunately

121or unfortunately, I know Mike very well because we actually did two redistricting. Um, I I want to learn from that mistake because the first time around, um, they rushed into it and then we spent more money the second time around. So the second time around we were actually forced to meet which is which Cheshure doesn't necessarily need to uh we were forced to meet uh racial benchmarks because that town was divided in half racially. So that's a a guiding criteria that Cheshure clearly does not have to deal with at this moment in time. So Dr. Sher, you good? >> Yeah, I would just I'll certainly add some on the website. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other audience members, please? >> Hi, my name is Kristen Mlan. I'm located at 50 Woodland Drive. Um, I just

122wanted to start off by saying that I am a Cheshire resident born and raised here. Um, I graduated from Highland Elementary School. I graduated from Dodd and I was the class of 2000 for CHS. Um, we moved back here about five years ago to give our children. Uh, my oldest son is here 10 years old. My middle child is nine and my youngest is seven. We moved back here to give them the excellent education at Cheshire Public Schools um that I was fortunate to have. Uh when my husband and I were looking to come back here, we were definitely looking in the Highland district because that's where I went. That was where I graduated from. But we couldn't be more pleased to have landed in the Chapman district. Um piggybacking off of what Kelly was

123saying, Chapman is a family. We have close-knit ties. Everybody that goes to that school is within a five minute radius from one another. You know, I'm parent pickup every single day because you can see Chapman from my backyard. Um and and there's a slew of families that know that I pick up every single day. If someone gets stuck in route 10 traffic or somebody's late from work, I'm getting the text messages every day. Hey Chris, can you grab my kid? Chris, can you can you just hang out with my kid at the playground until I get there? You know, like that's the family that we've created. And and I want to take a moment and just address some of the other schools that may not be here. Just because Chapman has a family, it doesn't

124negate that these other schools don't have those families. I've been in touch with parents from Highland. I've been in touch with parents from other school districts. They're all going through these same hardships. You know, it's not just Chapman. It's all the Cheshure schools. Everybody's being significantly affected by these changes. But the most important piece of that is our children. Our children are being affected by these changes and specifically the children that my son is here, his friends at school have been told since all of this rolled out that they were going to go to the new Chapman. It was told to them from day one this was going to be their new school. kindergarten orientation this year. Administrations administrators were there saying to these new classes coming in every student at Chapman is going to

125go to Barnum. And now all of a sudden these kids are left saying, "Wait a minute. I'm being split up from my friends. I'm being split up from my family, these kids that I've been with for six years." So we just as a family of Chapman, we really want you to take into the consideration the kids, but as a resident of this town, I want all the kids in these districts to be taken into consideration. Not just the Chapman kids, all of them. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hello, I'm Angie Bradley. I'm from 788 Devonwood. Uh just a couple questions. Are we is the 2B is that the one that we that's on the table that I'm going to get the survey so I'm part of the ones that are going to get the

126priority legacy waiver survey for you to get that intel to then you know model out worst case scenario is that what we're voting on is that is that settled because I think part of I think someone made the point around how much we there's so many options on the table the uncertainty is really driving us crazy it is the two be it and then we're just working on maybe some of the other things around the busing and is that what's I just want to understand is that what's on the table and that's what we need to think through between now the surveys all of the >> yeah I think the uncertainty is is really a challenge and I you know as I said earlier I think e would be really off the table um and

127you know it's obviously the board could do whatever they but I I could just never in good conscious rec uh recommend e Now B2 is what I I will be surveying off of. Um so when we we send out the priority waiverss, it would be reflective of those B2 sections. So that'll be the map that's on the website tomorrow. >> And yeah, we would be surveying off of that. But is there possibility of a different scenario coming up between now and then or is is are or is >> I think it would be B plus B2 or you know the board could come by we could get data and ultimately that could shift. I I think the the time for much shifting is is pretty much over. Like we really don't have a lot of

128ability to to say well you know we're going to go with B3 now. Um, so it it is very narrow. Um, and right now I'm only surveying off of B2 unless somebody were to direct me to do otherwise. Okay. Focus on B2. >> That's helpful just because I think certainty. So >> you don't want the beauty. >> Yeah. At this point, I honestly just want an answer and >> just tell me what we're Yeah. So 2B is what we should think about the new proposal on the table. The board needs to confirm that or approve that. But 2B is what's on the table. >> It is what's on the table um to be reviewed at the next meeting which I I think would be you mentioned December 18th >> probably. But I >> that would

129be great if you could do something before >> definitely put out as soon as we have a confirmed date, time, and location. That will be, you know, priority communication. >> Okay. Yeah, that's just great for the to be for us to be able to give you the the the appropriate feedback on your survey. just knowing clear what's on the table and knowing that that's going to be likely the the >> won't be any ambiguity in the survey. You'll know exactly what you're providing feedback on. >> Yeah. I guess my only other consideration is if there is a possibility of it changing back to like the survey we got with the different times and we don't really know what we're answering. If it's hey it's going to be 2B there's some nuances we're still working on

130but I we need you to decide based on knowing this that might give you more accurate data than other ways. So appreciate the consideration. >> Sure. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Brian Mancini, 1135 Chester Street. So, uh, it's my third meeting and every time I've come to, we've offered suggestions and I guess that suggestion hasn't really be heard because we've asked about scenario D. So, can you give a quick reason as my scenario D because the phone call or something that'd be great, but why isn't scenario D in there? Because we heard that transportation is B, E, and D. Beautiful. So what's the issue with scenario D? >> I will first of all like I said in the slide the proximity with D to Barnum is a real issue. Okay. But as I said

131I will >> elucidate on that and uh and tomorrow that'll be on our website uh for you to review and you could certainly you know if that's not clear I take that feedback and we could add more information if it's not clear. >> Okay. And and as someone as scenario D is is a no-go. only B and B2 or B2. >> What we are surveying is based off of B2. >> Okay. So, we've asked a couple times at different meetings, hey, what about scenario two? And that just kind of fell by the wayside. So, the waiver, I appreciate that's awesome that you did. But the caveat that I'm glad was pointed out was that you have to get a ride. Your child has a ride to school. I don't know how many parents I will

132work for, that won't work for, that won't work for me. I Oh, sorry. >> No. Yeah. I'm teacher 20 years, teach high school. I have to work at 7 o'clock. So, I'm not going to be able to drive my child. So neither my wife teaches in Bridgeport, right? 20 years elementary school. So that won't work for us and I shouldn't have to pay money for my child to go to school. So that's a whole another thing. Um what is not important is and I've said this twice now how many countless two meetings I've gone to is the children and the parents of Chapman and yes Highland too because they thought they were going to stay. But let's just stick with Chapman. We were told for how many years that these kids were going to go

133to the new school? It was called New Chapman and a 2021 ser uh scenario A and B. all the whatever stuff. They're drilled in their heads for all this time that they were going to go there. All right. Colonel Barnum, you know, yes, you know, great man and everything. He came there. My daughter comes home. Hey, we met the man who school's going to be named after. So, all of that I I just it blows me away that we're still not going to do the right thing. The right thing to do sometimes is when you say something and you don't do it that that that's just we talk about integrity, talk about virtue and everything. The right thing. So that's what also bothers me that we're not doing the right thing that we told these

134children we told our uh we they told the parents us that they were going to go there and we have a young man here almost 10:00 right you know he want he wanted to come up here and talk and I really wish I could hear him because that's what's most important you guys talked and did your thing but one thing that wasn't mentioned at all is the kids it was almost numbers up there hey 833 6 feet those are kids those are kids that are going to school and they may have social emotional problems and you talked about it yourself Dr. Solen Mr. whatever that the indicators that the indicators are what is hell these kids being successful, right? We could have chronic absenteeism with these kids. We could have depression, depression, anxiety, all of

135these things can happen because these kids have spent three, four, five years at a school in a community, a culture, a climate that they're aware of and then all of a sudden we're going to tell them, hey, you just got to know all the teachers. You know everything that's going on, right? You know your peers, your best friends are there. We're going to send you to a different school. We haven't talked about that. There's countless studies that say even the Connecticut Department of Education puts a study out there that says mobility uprooting children can create all those things. Some of the indicators that we have up there performance. All right. So, that hasn't even been mentioned. It blows my mind that we're just not even they're just numbers up there. That's all they are is

136numbers and everything. And then that's just the very sad part. All right. Because where I teach, it's not about the building old building. It's not about the brick and mort. It's about what's inside that school. What's inside there? And these kids are just going to get uprooted and they're going to go somewhere different. just it's I I don't know. It's it's ridiculous. So, I don't know. And real quick, I guess I referenced um some studies, but there's some people up there on the board up there. I don't know how many times I hear support. I hear community. I hear it all over the place. They've given or interviews in the news. They've done it on parent square. They've said it themselves. So, they talked about how amazing support is for students. They talk about the

137community. But right now, what are you doing? You're just taking how many kids? 50%. Let's just take 50% of Chapman kids and just boop send them somewhere else. So that support if that gets mentioned at convocation that gets mentioned other things. Someone said, "Oh my child, I hope they get support in this town." >> Mr. Mancini, respectfully, the time is up. It's hard. >> Yep. Thank you. >> So my name is Mason Mlan. I live on 50 Willen Drive. Um, I was here uh last Thursday for the other meeting and I spoke and I'm going to say the same thing I said. Um, so I've been here for 6 years now and I know a bunch of friends, a bunch of teachers, peers, everyone. And it just breaks my heart that I'm been lied to

138and be like some of my friends are going to go to Highlands, some of my friends are going to go to Barnum. and like I just want to be together. I remember one day in fourth grade we had a meeting um an 8 to 10 minute video I think it was about uh Colonel Barnum and um what he did to serve for our country and I remember specifically what my uh principal said is you will all be going to Barnum School and I will see you there and something like that. So, and it just hurts that I could be going to Highland and then one of my best friends could be going to Barnum. >> Thank you. >> Um, I'm George Droy. I live on 645 Quinnipiac Court and um I am a middle school

139student and I've went to Chapman before and um I have a brother and a sister who attend Chapman right now. then third grade. And they have friends um and and my um and they got when they got told that they were going to um two different schools that they got really upset because they they had made really strong relationship with their friends and then suddenly they're gone. So they meet them less than um my my brother had a no my sorry my bad um my sister had a friend named Ule um and Ule is is going to Barnum and she my sister right now as far as I know is going to Highland and um when she when she figured that out she got really emotional. you know, because um her one of her closest

140friends was going to a different school. So then she had to make a whole new relationship and it's um yeah, >> thank you. >> Any other audience members, please? >> Hi, good evening. My name is Nancy Hayes. I live on 100 Braar Drive. I've been a resident of Cheshure now for 12 years and actually 13. And um I'm not originally from Connecticut. I'm actually from New York. Um what brought me here was the only Haven Hospital, which um I thought was going to be maybe two jobs, get the name on my resume, and go right back to New York. Um, but I ended up uh building a family here and when I was looking uh for a home with my husband, I got a lot of different recommendations. Obviously, Kenet has a lot of wonderful

141towns, but um we have best friends that live in this area and couldn't say enough good things about the community and the school system. So, we ended up buying a house here and in my and I um I attend Chapman um my neighbors who now have older kids um high school and above college all they and I know them all by name. So, that's how tight the neighborhood is. I know every single neighbor neighbor on my street. And um they all couldn't stop raving about Chapman. the teachers, the administrators, the friendships, the programs, the support. I mean, I wasn't even having kids yet, and they just couldn't tell me enough good things about Chapman. So, I was so excited to be part of that community. Um, I now have a first grader and a third

142grader in Chapman. They love their school. They love their teachers. As some of the parents here mentioned, they they all know them. you know, my my daughter's only in first grade and like so many friends not even in her grade, teachers that she obviously has never even had they know her, they know her brother. Um that feeling is it's priceless. I mean, you all know you all have children. You have children that have gone to school here or in other um towns. The the importance of that your kids spend so much time in these buildings. this is their second family. So, I cannot underscore the importance of really keeping this school community together. Um, I do want to thank Dr. Solen for all the work that went into this new proposed scenario B2. I think

143it really showcases that um the Chapman families have been heard. you know, we went to the board meeting um three weeks ago where we, you know, first expressed our our um questions and concerns and then we were there when Dr. when it came to Chapman and again just a lot of feedback and yes a lot of it can sound a little bit emotional but you know just like Brian said it's because it's they're not numbers they're not students they're are children they're what we live for this is you know and I just you know hearing from the kids here today my children feel the same exact Hey, my son has become best friends and it's the same scenario. One's going to Highland, one's going to Barnum. These kids do every single thing together. They literally

144if I'm like, "Hey, do you want to do lacrosse? Hey, do you want to do soccer?" Oh, well, is Jacob is Jacob? Like they won't do one thing without the other. And that just showcases like how strong these bonds are even at this young age, you know? It's it's really going to scar them to be separated. Yes, kids are resilient. Yes, kids will make new friends. We've heard that feedback when we've raised these concerns at previous meetings. And I'm not saying that's not the case, but it will still hurt and it will still scar them. They there will go through that traumatizing experience. I'm really not sure and I and I'm sorry I'm re-ecuing some of the the sentiments that were already spoken of, but I'm really just not sure why we're not talking about

145scenario D. We have voiced our opinions about it. We have come up with reasons why and how this can be really, you know, showcasing a lot of resolutions to the questions and to the concerns, whether it's keeping our community together, whether it's transportation. I'm just I'm having a difficult time and and again I'm in health care so please I'm not trying to like sound offensive anyway but I'm really having a hard time understanding why this new proposed scenario B2 that includes all these waivers so that we could potentially get all the Chapman kids into Barnum. Why is this scenario better than just adopting scenario D or some version of a modified scenario D where >> disrespectfully times up? >> All the Chapman kids will just go to Barnum. Can we just re-evaluate that >> please?

146>> Thank you. >> Any other audience members please? I'm sorry. I just got to say three minutes. Like I mean we sat here for like three hours. >> I actually timed you all at four minutes. So sorry. >> Hello. Vincent Cersio 304 Beacon Hill Drive. Um I just want to say thanks. I feel we were heard. Maybe I'm in a minority. I don't know. Um at one point there was a lot of clamor for grandfathering and it feels like we have a route to something that feels like that. Um, in the end, we love this. I like Nancy, I also picked my very house because it was in Chapman's district based on all the recommendations of people I was talking to when we were picking Cheshure. Um, and all that is because of this board,

147the superintendent's work. Um, I'm going to give you a lot of faith. You've built it. We love it. We moved here or we're we're working with it. You've heard us so far. Um, we're putting a lot of trust in you to continue to work on solutions. Transportation appears to be an issue. Um, but overall, this actually to me feels like a win. So, thank you. Um, thanks. Good night. >> Thank you. >> Any other board members? I mean, audience members, excuse me. Good evening. My name is Jocelyn Romero. Uh 100 curfew road. Um I think I have say a lot on the last two meetings and it's a very anxious time for us as parents and we are passing down that anxiety to our children because we are advocate we are here advocating for them

148to be on an environment that is safe and love than they love and It's very hard uh for me to answer questions to my daughter every day uh where I'm going. I'm going to Highland. I'm going to Barnam. In our case, she goes to one school or her friends are going to the other and vice versa. So, in known scenario, she's plays with her friends. My daughter has been in that school since kindergarten. Um she loves everybody. She's very happy and very social and likes environments that are stable. She likes to know her people. And I know she's not the only one. A lot of our kids are like that. Um they go, they meet, they share classrooms, they run into each other, they have chamman cheer. There are so many things in that school

149that we are so you know advocating for. So I want you to please when you make your decision think about our children and how much this will you know um be of suffering for them. Uh last year we talk about the the anxious generation. So right now they're very anxious. Um so the other question um some clarification I I wanted to know about the waiver uh which I think it's it's it's a good idea. Um they were saying something about only for a year or is just that one for transportation about the legacy waiver. Um because my daughter right now is in fourth grade and if if it's for a year, I don't want her to be in a place or none of these kids that they have to reapply for a waiver every year.

150Uh unless it's a transportation one because it's that that is going to be very hard not knowing for the next few years what she's going, you know, she's going to go to another school. Um and also about the transportation. Um, I don't know if you're familiar with the summer camps uh here in town. Um, some summer camps will meet at either Cheshire Park or Chapman uh school and they will take the children from them. I don't know if that's a viable alternative, but I just wanted to bring it to the table uh for those kids that cannot, you know, I I understand it's too many stops or something like that, but if that's something viable and if you can consider it too, that would be great. Thank you so much for your time. >> Thank

151you. >> Dr. S, can you just clarify the legacy since you did just present it? >> Sure. Uh the waiver is designed to be a one-year waiver for each year both uh you know transportation um talked about the potential is that is a one-year or you know Tim I think you had said depending on what future boards do or whatever the um the uh waiver for uh going to the schools I would consider that a one year waiver too because I don't know like I think the example I used is if Norton Farms turns into a 20s story condo unit or something I uh I couldn't foresee that but um it in the one-year process that those folks that enter into the priority waiver process I would expect them to be continued on a priority

152waiver basis meaning they would be the first people retained in the building um and other people that might have waved in after the fact would be first out and then you know again if the enrollment grew to a point where it was untenable anymore um that might have to those students may not earn the waiver in that year but um the projections don't lean that way. >> Thank you. >> Hi. Uh Jason Rosenloom, 1245 Chesher Street. Uh first of all, it's been said a couple of times by a few of the board members, but I just want to reiterate uh if we put this survey out, uh I think there need to be several questions on it. Uh interest with transportation, interest without transportation. And one of the gentlemen said clarification that that transportation if

153it is granted is not guaranteed in following years because I think all of those things change the answers uh to a great extent. I know for me they would certainly change the answers. Uh and I think it would be in the board's interest to understand those answers. As it was said, it's within your power to grant that transportation. So how much interest there is based on the need for that transportation I think is important. Um the other thing less of a question but more of a a statement and it may be the unpopular unpopular opinion here but there's been a lot of talk about trust and transparency. Uh Dr. Soul I want to thank you and acknowledge the fact that I think tonight I've heard the strongest acknowledgement from you since mid November that the

154messaging has been incorrect for se for a long time and we feel the way we feel for a reason. Um, this is a teaching moment for our kids. A mistake was made and why it doesn't even matter at this point. What about acknowledging that mistake? Going in front of the kids and saying, "It was a human error and we apologize. You're going through angst right now and we didn't want that to happen. Owning a mistake is one of the hardest lessons for adults, never mind kids." Let's teach them. Let's set an example. >> Thank you. Any other members of the audience? Um, seeing none, I'm going to conclude this section of the meeting. Um, thank you again everybody for your thoughts, your comments. Um, you know, it does help that you participate and that you're

155advocating because it helps us think through these solutions. Um, obviously with the presentation, like I stated before, we do need some time to process. We do need some time to also collect that data. Um, so, uh, Dr. Zen will respond to your questions as he's writing them all down by tomorrow and that, um, street map indicator will go up tomorrow morning basically for you to look at. And I just want to specifically thank the young students in the room and I want to continue to encourage you because public speaking is not an easy thing. So, thank you for coming up and and speaking. >> Um, I'm going to pause the agenda so that we can recess. Um, since we've been sitting here for a long time, do I need to get a motion? >> Um,

156somebody has to make a motion. I can't. >> I move that uh we take a fivem minute recess to get some water. >> Is there a second? Mr. White, all in favor of a fivem minute recess. Unanimous. Thank you. We will recess. are back reconvene. Just double-checking the next item of business is our committee reports. So, Dr. Hurricane, you're up. Finance. >> Thank you. Um, in in the interest of time, I'm going to pass this along, but I will say that we had a finance committee meeting on November 10th and we had a preliminary review of the 2026 27 operating budget and uh, Dr. Sen outlined uh, many scenarios or very I'm sorry, many uh, variables to the budget. Uh this is all a preview and um I invite people to um join us in

157the many budget sessions that we will have in January um to discuss all of these variables and um where we go from here. Uh with that, Miss Emily Taylor is going to walk us through the financial report. Is that okay? >> That's great. Good evening everyone. It'll be a brisk walk through our finance report. Um so as of just as a reminder our budget is about $93 million and as of November 30th we've expended or encumbered 76,29,636 which is 81.8% of our budget. Uh that's up from 78% last month. We do encumber uh most of our salary line items. So, if you're, you know, if you're new to the board, that's just something to note up here in the um the finance report. That's why it says that the budget is expended or encumbered because

158we encumber for the year on those accounts. Um, and while we aren't currently projecting any var variances to our overall budget, we are closely monitoring some key accounts, including student outplacements, which was also a topic of conversation during the finance um, committee meeting and student transportation due to their potential impact on our year-end expenditures. And then as we think about the 2627 budget, uh, two things to think about. Um, one of them Jeff alluded to in his presentation about redistricting is that we are evaluating the carrying costs for Darcy and Chapman for the upcoming school year. We do need to coordinate with the town to figure out the transfer of the properties and we are working on that. Now, um there's significant not just costs but just logistics associated with transferring the buildings. You know,

159we have grounds crew, we have custodians, all of that, the um the grounds, the indoor. So, uh it's a little more complicated than like the heat, but just know that we are working on that. so it can be incorporated in the 2627 budget. And we do need to go out to bid for our cleaning contract. We are adding 44,000 square feet of space. Uh and we need to have a new contract to uh support that. Our current cleaning contract is valued at $859,000. We anticipate that's going to go up closer to a million dollar um with a new with the additional 44,000 square feet. So we will see once we put that out to bid what we get. Um before I move on to medical benefits questions about the finance report. >> I actually have

160a question on that. Um maintaining the old buildings that's part of our operating budget now. >> Well, it's going to be for 20 26 27. Yeah. >> And then hopefully >> a transfer over to the town. >> I guess I'm I'm guess I'm asking an unfair question. And at what point does that become part of the town's budget? Which I know that our budget is part of the town's budget, but >> yeah. >> And that's >> is there a way that we can get our town council to recognize? >> Yeah. >> That this is in our operating budget? >> Yeah, we're talking to the the town manager now, you know, because there's a lot of different configurations of what could happen with those buildings, right? They could get sold at the end of next year,

161you know, they could not. So, we have to just figure out when the most um the most beneficial time to transfer for the schools and the town. And you know, Jeff had mentioned that we are holding Chapman for a lot of storage purposes and we kind of have to figure out like what our end >> end goal with that would be as well. >> So, you're on it is what you're saying. >> I hope so. Yeah. >> So, then if um it goes into the town, so the town owns the buildings and then they sell them. So we don't get any of that money? >> No. >> Okay. >> That's town revenue basically, >> right? >> Doesn't sound equitable. I mean, I'm just saying like how long have we had it in our possession? Like

162years, so they have it for six months. >> They sell it and we get no revenue from it. >> No, I mean they're all town properties part of the town. We, you know. >> Yeah. But the idea, Emory, would be that they then they won't cut our budget requests quite so much because they've they've gotten money off of some of our buildings. I don't know. >> I mean, can we propose that some sort of contingency account based off the sale of that building? >> I doubt it. >> They turn it into condos. >> One interesting thing that I learned uh at the beginning of the week is they're actually both zoned residentially, which is apparently a very desirable thing for builders and developers. So, >> Exactly. I'm glad you didn't say that earlier. So, >>

163yeah. Really? >> Okay. >> Can we move on? >> We're moving on to medical >> medical bill. >> Good to move on to medical. Um, so our medical benefits report and just right past these two reports is sorry the the larger finance breakdown and then the medical benefits report. Um, and so for our medical benefits, our budget is $15,958,339. We contribute about $1.2 million. That's up from $1.1 million last year. And that's important because, you know, we had to budget a 10% increase this year. Um, the beginning balance of the reserve fund was $2.8 million, which was healthy for us, well above um the two months of claim reserves we like to have. as of October 31st of this year, and I acknowledge that that is a month behind. Um, this will level out once

164our board meetings are closer to the middle of the month. There's some reconciliations that have to happen with our with the town to provide this report. So, it will likely be more up to date as we move forward into the new year. Um, but we are in a decent position. We have uh $2.4 million in our reserve fund. And when you compare that to October of 2024, it was 2.3. So, about $100,000 more. Uh, our claims this year in October were $1.28 million, which was actually a 29% decrease compared to October 2024 when the claims were $1.8 million. I will say there's a lot of variability between the claims when you look between the two years. So, it's not that like we see a huge net increase, but you know, it's it's a not noticeable

165difference between uh October of the of 2024 and 2025. Um, so currently we have 1.92 claim months in reserves. Uh that's comfortably near the target of two months, but of course we'd always like to have a little more in reserves. Um and you know, we have been increasing the amount of monthly contributions. So that's allowed us to maintain a healthy healthy overall reserve. And we also do not have any stop-loss reimbursements at this point in the year. When we get a single uh plan member that has over $175,000 in claims, we have the stop-loss kick in. But you know, at this point in the year, we haven't seen them yet. So hopefully in the next few months we start getting some of those stop-loss reimbursements. We'll which will certainly help out with the reserve. So

166>> you knew that was my next question. So thank you for covering it. >> Any other questions for Miss Taylor? Great. Thank you very much. U Thank you. The next uh committee is planning. Um Mr. White, do you want to you were present. I was virtual. So, >> yeah. No, no, that's fine. Um, yeah. So, we had a planning committee meeting on uh Thursday, November 20th. Discussion. Uh, I would think the line chair of the meeting uh was related to redistricting. Um, and we heard from many of the parents, including some of the same parents we heard from tonight. We heard their concerns two weeks ago. Along with transportation, along with redistricting, we had a discussion on fire suppression upgrades, which related to the need for a bid waiver for some upgrades to some of

167our schools, including the high school and Norton. I I said I was not comfortable with doing a bid waiver on it. Uh largely because apparently the problem began 20 years ago. Um nonetheless, so it's been sitting out there for 20 years. Nonetheless, the we did not have a bid waiver because as an alternative, we contracted off of the state bid. uh which is that's how the bids are done at a state level and municipalities are basically allowed to go out and just use the state as an alternative to their own bidding process. So, thank you for that even though I still have a I still don't quite agree with it considering that I believe Darcy doesn't even have a fire suppression system. Um it's just a whole complicated messy thing that goes back 20 years

168that should have been identified a long time ago. Um so that's that. weight room renovations at Cheshure High. There was some discussion about uh exploring the addition of HVAC um with some uh some support for that which made sense uh good reasons for doing something like that. The turf was a discussion and I think that continues to be a discussion because from my own perspective uh the turf and I probably said this during the meeting the turf is there's a maintenance aspect to it and if it is not maintained there is a point where it's becomes unusable. Uh at the same time I don't want to keep sending something out to referendum over and over again and being told no by the voters. I don't think voters like that. I know I don't like it.

169So, there's a there's a problem here now that was not created by the board because we never asked for it. Um, and then we got a uh also an update on the energy performance contract. And I'm just curious, is there a 30 second update on if that's moving forward right now? And literally 30 seconds because I know everybody wants to get out of here at this point. >> Yes, it's moving forward. We're meeting on the 10th >> with some alternate proposals to get around the school construction grant that we're not going to have at our disposal. And um they're doing some some further analysis on the location of the fuel cell at the high school this week. So we'll be able to give you an update at the meeting on the 10th. >> Okay. Thank

170you. >> Okay. >> Oh, that's right. Yeah, there's a meeting on the 10th of the of the energy performance contract working. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh that's it. That was it for the planning committee. >> Um Miss Taylor, is there anything that we missed? >> Pretty much it, right? >> Okay. Thank you. Uh if any other committees would like to report it out. I think those were the only two meetings that we had. Uh curriculum did not meet. Uh we already did personnel prior to this, a month prior to this already. So we don't need to go there. But I do um need to report out the new standing committee appointments because per the bylaw number 13 um the newly elected chair will appoint standing committees and their chairpersons. Um and

171then the standing committees shall uh address the operations of the board which um shall include committees on curriculum, finance, legislative, personnel planning, policy, public information, transportation. Um I did submit an initial list to uh Mr. Zenski. But just for public knowledge, the following committees are curriculum chairperson, Miss Emory Cullinin, the BOE members as part of that is Annne Herrian, Heather Fitzgerald, uh, and Tim White. Uh, you will notice that this one particular committee does have a larger number of members. Um, and I do want to respect the minority rule that goes into I guess any particular election. Um, and so I also want to respect the fact that, you know, we do have various opinions. Um, and I want to diversify those on the committee. So, thank you Mr. White for um being part of

172that finance. Uh, Dr. Harrian will chair, Mr. Ekki, uh, Mr. Cola, you guys are on there as well. Legislative um I would chair that and then we have Mr. White uh and Miss Cullinin will be a part of that committee. Uh liaison will be an as needed would legislative personnel. Uh Miss Cullinin will chair that. Mr. White and Mrs. Fitzgerald planning, Mr. Ekki will continue to chair that myself and Mr. White will be on the committee. Policy, Mr. Ekki will continue to chair that. Miss uh Dr. Herrian, you're going to still stay on and Miss Mr. Kau will be part of that committee as well. The other item on here is public information and transportation. We're noting that as an as needed um committee and then the board chair shall serve on all subcommittees as

173ex official and all non-committee um member board of members are able to and encouraged to attend all subcommittee meetings in compliance with um FOIA. And then down below just really quick just organization leaison we have ACES Miss Cullinin is part of that trees education foundation Miss Fitzgerald K Miss Cullinin will take that um calendar committee Dr. Herrian the chester council Dr. Herrian advisory council will be in as needed um professional development I will sit in there school and business partnerships council Mr. Eki and Mr. K hour uh the teacher evaluation committee uh Miss Cullinin and Mr. White uh town council I will be the liaison for that planning and zoning Mr. White and then public building commission Mr. Kolau school representatives um just a caveat that this will obviously change when the new schools are

174open Chapman school Mrs. Fitzgerald CHS and Humston Mr. Becky, Darcy will be myself, Dodd, Dr. Harrian, Doolittle, Mr. Kolau, Highland, Mrs. Cullinin, and then Norton will be Mr. White. Those are the new assignments appointments for the committee. That's all you needed from me, right? All right. Um, item number six, I'm sorry, number five. If you have not had a chance, please look at the minutes. Um, but I do need a motion to approve the minutes in front of you. This is for the November 6, 2025. Um, new board members could actually abstain seeing that you were not part of the November 6 meeting. >> Is somebody calling a motion? I just need a motion. >> Move that the board of education approve the minutes from the showcase and business meetings held on November 6, 2025.

175>> Is there a second, Mr. White? Thank you. Are there any additions or corrections? >> No. All those in favor to approve the minutes as presented? >> Yes. Unanimous. Thank you. Item number six. Uh, Mr. White, >> are there any correspondence? I was about to say, Mr. Griffle, I'm sorry, but it's just been >> uh, no correspondence that I'm entering into the record tonight. >> Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. >> Item number seven. I'm going to pass this over to Dr. Solen. >> Thank you. I I would just back up a little bit on the correspondence piece that >> Okay. >> Um we certainly have received a lot of correspondence around the uh school modernization plan and redistricting. So >> I don't want to neglect that is as part of it. But um with

176the superintendent's report today is incredibly limited. Um, I think you've heard tonight a lot about what I've been working on over the last couple of weeks, but um, school construction, as I noted earlier, uh, continues to be on time, on budget. Uh, things are going, uh, on pace. So, uh, we're in a good place. >> Do you have a do you have a number of emails that we got through the BOE? >> No, I I could estimate maybe 50. I mean, you think >> I don't think it's >> I thought we were at 25. >> Probably not. >> That's all. >> Felt like 50. One of those. It was not 50, but >> 25 probably is fair. >> Okay. >> Uh there is no old business currently. Uh new business would be my update. Um,

177I really just want to say, you know, thank you to those who were able to attend the CABE, um, convention. Um, pretty inspiring. Dr. Miguel Cardona was the opening speaker. Um, he emphasized a lot, which I was hoping Mr. White was there, um, about building out pathways, alternative uh, programming for our students. Um, and so I think that's you something you've been championing for a while. Um but it's encouraging to hear uh from obviously the 12th you know secretary of education and that he was really going around the nation um from his experience that this would be something that we continue to to work on. So um and the other piece which I did hand to Miss Solano is that this is year four that we are board of distinction and I'm going to ask

178again Dr. So we have to level up next year. So but can you just identify the missing piece because we didn't get that level? >> So one of the missing pieces was we have to hold a cave legislative breakfast which had been uh you know basically uh monopolized by another community in our area and we have uh since taken that back and not back but taken it for the first time. So we will be doing that in January. Carol, I don't can't remember when we're doing that. I know we we have it. I'll get it to you in terms of when that is scheduled for. >> So, you're going to add to this meeting >> step closer to >> list that I'm about to read off for January. >> Okay, great. >> Thank God. >>

179Thank you. >> Here we go. Um, so the meetings for the board of education committee meetings are to be scheduled after member assignments, which we just did. For Cheshire Public Schools, December 24th to January 2nd will be our winter break and schools are closed. January 19th, 2026 is Dr. Martin Luther King Day. Schools and central office will be closed. The meeting schedule is as follows. January 8th at the town council chambers 7:30 will be the presentation of the superintendent's budget. January 13th at Dodd Middle School for 7 o'clock will be the public budget review typically the administrative review of accounts followed by January 15th still at DOD at 7:00 same item. January 20th will also be at Dodd Middle School 7 PM. This will be the public information meeting um board member response to superintendent's

180budget and possible adoption of a board of education bud budget. Uh January 22nd is our uh standing board of education business meeting that will be here in town council chambers at 7:30 and then January 27th will be middle school 7:30 if needed. a special meeting of the board of education to adopt a board of education budget. Dr. So, can you clarify if if we don't meet this deadline >> for the >> just for the new members >> for the board of education budget? >> Yeah. >> Um by uh charter, we're supposed to submit to the uh town council through the town manager our budget. So really there's not a lot of latitude on that. I I don't know what technically happens if we don't meet that deadline. We always have. Uh in the 21 years

181I've worked here, I I can't remember a time ever not meeting it. But um I think you know, as we kind of talked about today, there are some wildcard variables that uh may need review when we then go forth before the council again in March, April. So uh this might be a little unique given the unique circumstances of the next year. >> Perfect. Um, any questions from >> Yeah. Can we talk about the dis what's the December 18th date that was floating around? >> That could be a potential hold. >> Yeah. I mean, if we wanted to look at that for a >> a meeting, >> cancel the 11th and hold the 18th if board members are in agreeance. >> We're checking calendars. I'm J. >> The the only other thing we'll confirm is the

182availability of this space. If not, we'll go to one of the buildings. >> If this space isn't available, I think it should be. >> So, that would be that would be to vote on the scenario. >> Well, it would be to review the data with a potential vote to vote on on the scenario. >> But are we going to have enough data by then? >> We should by the 18th. Yeah. >> Oh, okay. Are we good with a hold at least for the 18th? >> Yeah. >> So, will we have time on the 18th to discuss to ask any questions on the new information that we get? >> I I you know could probably get you data a couple of days in advance of the 18th. Um because if we issue the survey on the

1838th, which is Monday, um that would be our target date. It does take a lot of work in the back end to ensure that we're pulling every single street and person on that street for the the scenarios and emailing them specifically um and then communicating to them as as a followup. I would want to try and text or call robocall to the house to say, "Hey, you got this. Really want to make sure you respond." Um, so the ETH is the target date for us that it's, you know, two business days today and Monday and then we're looking at, you know, worst case Tuesday. But we should have, you know, information by I think most people probably do it relatively quickly. It's an should be pretty straightforward but by next that Wednesday after I would

184hope 16th well Tuesday Wednesday Wednesday >> maybe we can get you data >> yeah doesn't give you a lot of yeah it's only it's only a little over a week is that's my only concern. >> Well and getting close to the holidays. Um would that be a special meeting then? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Do we get a chance to look at the questions before the survey goes out just to make I mean I I don't know how it usually works. I just want to make sure the transportation's covered in the way that I would like to see. >> Not um Yeah, I think we could send it. You can't reply all. That would be an illegal meeting. It's it's difficult. >> Okay. >> We could send it out. Yeah. Um >> and then you can

185give you can give them a call. We're also Yeah, we're also trying to send it by Monday. >> Understood. I Yeah, I mean I understand nature. I would hate for it to go out and be like, "Oh my god, you didn't ask this one question that I, >> you know, you just want a preview of >> a little I would only respond if I had an issue." >> I would ask to um then if you could send any pressing items to me as immediately as possible because obviously I'll be working on this at some point tomorrow. Yeah. >> Um, and then I'll try and get it back out for review and then you can reply back to me if there's a an issue or call me or whatever. >> Mr. Coower, did you have a

186follow-up? >> Uh, yeah, the 18th is fine for me in terms of holding a meeting and I don't object to that. I think one of the things that we heard tonight is the anxiety around here and >> and what I don't want to happen for our community is to get to the 18th and then have more questions and have to have another meeting to decide on something. And so one of the thing I would challenge you know the members to think about is if the results of the survey are zero people are interested what scenario do you like and if a 100% of the people are interested in a waiver what scenario do you like and if the answer is the same in those two scenarios the data is more useful to Dr. Solen and

187staff than it is to us in determining what scenario is most you know which one we would support. >> Mr. White, did you have a followup? >> Yeah, just a point to follow up on Heather's point and >> good for Jeff is Could you just give us a deadline to reply to you like 24 hours or whatever it is? >> Yeah, I'll send it out tomorrow. >> Make sure it moves along. >> I I'll text you all too. So, like, you know, I just sent it. >> Um, and not that you're going to drop everything and Yeah, it could give you 24 hours, you know, at least to do that. >> Of course, you also have a school system to run to. >> Yeah, we do have that. Yeah. But um I should be able

188to do that. I obviously want to the first priority tomorrow is to respond to these questions and get that and ensure that the um that interactive map is on the website. I also have to get a communication out to all of our parents about elementary school about about the redistricting because >> even middle school and high school you could have an infinite home. Like I want everybody to know about it. Um and then get the like I said these questions get that communication out. I also have to communicate to our faculty because I had met with every elementary faculty and told them you know we were going to be trying to target mid January. That time frame has changed and I need them to know that and I need them to know that soon. So

189we also have Marlene and I with all of our elementary people a lot going on tomorrow too in the meeting. So, um, we're going to try and crank through this as quickly as we can. >> I have one more comment slashquest. Um, I mean, in light of what we heard, what we've been hearing, um, in light of that, I'm the Chapman liaison. Now, I would be remiss if we didn't like I would ask this committee to like, yes, let's look at D2, but can we also look at D? And I know you're going to respond to D and you're going to say whole things. But I would like us to actually as a group talk about D, what it is, what it means, why we hate it, why we like it, whatever it is in

190comparison to B2 because I feel like it does sound now like we're only going to look at B2 and that's it. And it's a, you know, yes, no, with some tweaks. And I don't think that that's accurate. I don't I'm I don't feel like it's only B2 right now. That's where I'm coming. >> Thank you. >> Thoughts? Is that a possibility to also we're time is not on our side. >> I think we in order to do something like that and maybe this is the best case anyway. There are committee meetings that are work of the board done in public >> and then there are board meetings which are public meetings. you know, if you wanted to do something like that, I would recommend that that be done um in a transportation committee meeting of

191the whole um either that night or December 11th um to do that. >> I I would agree. Um I think this needs to be pushed back to planning. Um we can obviously review it during that time. I'd like to hear from the rest of the planning group though. >> Yeah. My concern is, you know, if we're if it's just the one that you're sending the survey surveys out on, are we just not voting? Are we not considering the other options or is this is the only one we're going with? Well, you know, that's that's my, you know, and if we are, like Heather said, if we're going to discuss other options, you know, do we have time to do that? I I don't know that we can, you know, because there's going to be arguments.

192Obviously, that the parents have very strong opinions uh about certain things, but do we have time to to really break all that stuff down and and have in depth? I'll tell you the biggest discussion problem with D in a nutshell is if you adopt D from day one, we're putting tremendous pressure on enrollment there. If we because we're already maxing out enrollment when you do something like that in a short run >> and I don't want to redistrict again in four years >> and you know >> so that's that's a huge problem. The other piece is there's a real proximity issue there that people today don't care about because they want their kid to go where they were going. >> But four years from now when your kids's in middle school and you try and

193sell your house, you're going to care because the person can see the building from down the street >> and they're going to Highland >> and they they don't want to go to Highland. I just moved here because I got a brand new building 100 yards away kind of thing. Not 100 yards. That's an exaggeration. But >> but they can see it. >> But it's close. >> Yeah. >> Um those those are two primary significant concerns. The the most being we're putting immediate enrollment pressure on that building. >> Yeah. >> Um it you know we're now granted we're putting immediate enrollment pressure on the building with a waiver process, >> but I'm not guaranteeing it. And it's temporary. >> Yes. >> Because we'll weed those kids out hopefully as the enrollment pressure grows from North End

194Development. >> You know, nothing stopping more development in that area tomorrow, but at least I have a few years of, you know, moving kids out. Um, and I can I can absorb it because I didn't commit to D. that automatically puts the pressure in that space >> and it sustains the pressure in that space. >> I'm that's I'm just telling you I understand tomorrow. >> I don't want >> something to that effect. >> I don't want the public to say, "Oh, well, this was a this was a decision that was already made and and we were just, you know, going through the motions." >> Sure. I mean, this was this was my recommendation to you. Um, but I'm happy to, you know, bring Mike back and we can have a planning committee of the whole.

195I also appreciate that it's still an open wound wound for a lot of people. you know that the the longer we go vacasillating the yesterday the biggest problem I had at Highland and I realized that the clock is striking midnight on us kind of but the biggest concern at midnight was people were freaking out thinking that Eve was still really on the table and the biggest pressure that we were able to alleviate was he's not on the table like we of course it's on the table because you could always vote on that but that would never be what I would recommend and it was like all right at least I don't have to worry about that one >> you know so I think there's a value in leaning into B+ looking at the data see

196how it goes if it's if we find out that that's an abomination then all right maybe we look it up I still think D would need significant modifications because of the reasons we've talked about yeah >> here >> it's 11:01 yeah >> I I need to >> adjourn I need to adjourn or else we need to re >> I think Tim made a motion to adjourn. >> Second. >> Okay. >> You can move it. We're done. >> I'm sorry. Okay. >> Um can I just like can we hold the 11th then? >> Sure. >> The I'm talking to the planning committee now >> and then you know I I feel like I personally want to give Dr. in the respect of a response to those that asked specifically about D and then we'll go from

197there. Um so hold the 11th if we have any other follow-up questions on his response. We can come back to the table on the 11th then. So cool. All right. Is there a motion to adjurnn, Mr. White? Is there a second? I second it. Miss >> Cullinin. All in favor of adjournment. Unanimous. Thank you.