Board of Education 8-14-25

001Apologies for the late start. We are going to call the board of education business meeting to order on August 14th supposed to be at 7:30. We're at 7:39. Mr. Jazinski, roll call, please. Mr. >> Here >> thank you. Please join us for the pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance 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. >> Thank you. First item on the agenda is audience participation. If anybody would like to go to the microphone, please state your name and address. Seeing nobody at the mic, we're going to move on to item number three, consent calendar. And it looks like we will need a motion to approve the consent calendar. Mr. Gripple. >> Um move

002that the Cherish Board of Education approves the consent calendar as presented. >> Second, Dr. Herrian. There's no public comment for this consent calendar, so we're going to call for a vote. All those in favor of the motion, unanimous. Thank you. Moving on to committee reports. Um, first committee up would be curriculum. Miss Cullinin is currently unavailable um as she is attending an event at Bones Sacket. Therefore, if I can pass this over to Miss Slano. Thank you very much. I'll review the minutes from the June 9th curriculum committee meeting. At that meeting, we discussed an outofcountry field trip which I'll be asking for the board to vote on this evening. The field trip is being led by Katie Oparowski and Josephine Countrymen. They shared details of the trip. They'll be going to Milan or taking

003our students to Milan, Siner, Florence, Rome, and Sarrento. The cost of the trip is just over $5,000. The trip is being the tour guide company is called EF Tours. They would be leaving from New York City on day one and they would be returning on day 11. Looks like they will be spending three days in Rome, three days in Sarrento, and starting off the trip in Milan. The um there's global travel protection that parents can buy in addition to the on this trip and uh what was up for discussion was making sure that we look at the travel advisories for the area in which our students are traveling. And right now, Italy is on the same travel advisory as France, Portugal, the UK, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the Bahamas, which is a yellow

004travel advisory. So, it's not in the blue, but it is in the yellow, and we'll continue to watch that closely. The next item on our agenda were someformational items. And the first one up was that Jillian Pucket, who is our K12 art department chair, was there to represent the art teachers and talk about the curriculum review that they had concluded with and presented to the Cheshire curriculum council, which is made up of teachers from all aspects of K through 12. They talked about the art department emphasizing academic choice. They talked about how they responded to students needs within the art room and they talked about updating some of their curriculum guides, continuing to um publicize their curriculum to all stakeholders. And they also talked about many about how they were emphasizing real world experiences for

005students to take on the roles of artists that and that artists have in the real world. Next up was another uh K12 summary of the music department five-year review. And Nicole Clego, who is our K12 music department chair, led that effort. She really talked about um as did our our art department chair, talked about the surveys that they sent out to parents and students and teachers, talked about the updates that they want to make in the curriculum. And in this role of the five-year review, the teachers talk about their five-year goals and that sets the work of that department for the next five years. So they talked about growing a music technology pathway as that is something that is the wave of the future. They've talked about providing departmentwide professional development including teachers observing other

006teachers. often the art teacher might be the only art teacher in the building and so providing opportunities for them to go watch other art teachers in other buildings uh was was something that they wanted to prioritize. Next up I gave an overview of the early admission to kindergarten in the transition kindergarten program. I talked about the status of that. Whereas the previous year we had 31 families petitioned for early admission to kindergarten. After the screenings 12 were admitted, this year 25 families petitioned for early admission to kindergarten and eight students were admitted early to kindergarten. For the 2526 school year, this one that's upcoming, we'll have two transition K programs and this will be the last year that transition kindergarten is offered. You'll remember that this was put into place um to support families who

007might be struggling with uh the the law going into place without having much time to prepare financially. So, this is something that has helped us bridge the gap. Lastly, we talked about the preliminary safe school climate survey results that were administered in April to students, parents, and teachers. We gave an overview of the initial parent results, but overall we felt that we wanted a larger participation from families. And at that curriculum committee meeting, we discussed readministering the survey in October and perhaps doing it during parent conferences so that while while parents were in the building, they could either scan their Q a QR code with their phone or that we could have Chromebooks available for them to answer the survey right there. So I think our our entire team is behind getting some real time

008information on that and then we adjourned. Any questions? Tim. >> So you said this is the last year that we're doing the transitional kindergarten program. >> Yes. >> It originally started out as one year and then it went to two years. How do we know? Why do you say that this is the last year? And I can envision a few different reasons as to why it it would need to be, >> but I'm just curious why you say it will be the last year. >> Well, we believe that they've had a number of years to really understand the law and preschools have had a chance to catch up with that. The communications have gone out both from our offices and all of the preschools. Families have gotten gotten accustomed to that, but also we'll be

009moving to the new schools the following year. And so that wasn't something that we uh ever anticipated being part of that building plan. >> Okay, that that all makes sense to me. The other thing that goes through my mind is uh our our current teacher body >> which is with student enrollment increasing, >> will they is the expectation right now >> that 12 months from now they'll be transitioning back into the K through2 program? >> Yes, that's that's the plan. They originally were teachers who were teaching kindergarten. >> Yeah. >> And we were able to reallocate them there. They knew that it was only for a year. They were very amendable to to the two years, but they're also, you know, looking forward to getting back to kindergarten. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right.

010So, all right. Thank you. That's it. >> Sure. >> Thanks. >> Any other questions? Mr. Gripple. >> Hi, Marlene. >> Hi, Adam. >> Nice to see you. >> You as well. Um the uh school climate survey. >> Yes. >> Um so I think we have this is an issue we had been discussing for a few months but um so the reason you felt the the parent responses are skewed is because there were just so few of them or was it that they were overly positive or overly negative or all of the above? No, I we want more parent responses and it was after maybe it was the time of year, maybe it was being that it was after April vacation and there were a lot of end of year activities, field trips to be signed,

011things like that. So, we thought if if we had it and offered it, we we'll still send it out the same way, but we'll in addition to that, we'll hit hit it harder during parent conferences when you're waiting around to meet with your teacher while the other family is in there. It's really easy. You have your phone with you to scan a QR code and complete it. When we've done that in the past, I know as principal at Chapman, if we had a survey, we, you know, we wanted to get some input on parents, that gave us really good volume of responses. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, just >> the microphones are a little far away. I feel like I'm leaning in. >> I'm not leaning in though. No, it's it's picking you up. >>

012Is it picking me up? Okay, good. I think the genesis of that and thank you Miss Lano for having a deeper conversation during the curriculum committee because we you're right Mr. Gripple we did speak about it um I think the sample size was too small and we all decided that maybe you know giving it another goound so that we can have a more reliable um data set would be helpful and giving parents the opportunity to have um different access points to it too. So yeah, >> u just real quick, we use EF tours for the >> that's a pretty standard company that is we've used them for a number of other trips as well. >> I would um I would let the board know that we do need to I would hope that you would

013vote on that tonight so that when school starts next week, our two teachers can begin to share that information with students should you approve. >> I think Mr. Gripple has a question on that though. >> Okay. Yeah, >> just leave it. >> No, I was I was hoping it would just turn on when I started speaking. It was super fancy, but no, it's not. >> Um, for the uh for the trip, is that I'm assuming that's an upper classman trip. >> I think it is offered to both the Italian and Latin classes. I don't think you have to have reached a certain um language acquisition in order to go. >> Oh, okay. Other questions? >> Are you ready for a motion? >> I am ready unless uh Mr. Gripple or Mr. White has a followup.

014>> The climate survey, thank you for um working to get a bigger response. Thinking also open house might be another just as a reminder. But then in doing that and uh reaching out specifically to parents who come to parent teacher conferences, I just wonder if we end up skewing it more toward engaged parents and less toward less engaged parents. And the the correlation I'm drawing on that is absenteeism, which is a big concern, I think. And so I just wanted to highlight that as a possibility. I don't I don't want to >> Yeah, >> I totally I totally believe you're doing everything that you can, but I just wanted to point that out. So if there is anything that comes to mind where you might be able to >> Well, you're making me think that

015maybe we actually send a paper with the QR code home. We we send newsletters, but this would maybe reach someone who didn't check their email all the time or read or doesn't read the newsletters. I don't know. Maybe we'll I'll bring that back to the safe school climate committee and we'll see if we can't think of some other ways to engage. >> Yeah, my basic >> the unengaged. >> My basic point is just that I believe unless you say otherwise the last couple years absenteeism has been a has been a significant concern in Cheshire as well as statewide and just to have a brief discussion on that any possibilities of going down that path to >> we have made anything we could do. I mean, we we've certainly um as Marlene was just saying dramatically

016improved our chronic absenteeism better than the rest of the state has improved theirs. But um I the other variable that I am sensitive to for like October is, you know, if you just started in that school, like having been the principal at DOD and assistant principal, like you've been here a month, you know, um we also want >> Yeah. experienced feedback like to to be able to have that be a little bit more valid. So balancing all those variables and ensuring we get quality feedback is something that we're definitely deliberating how do we best do that and asking PTO in the fall and really trying to get some other ideas whether we incentivize it or actually hard copy mail it home or we'll figure something out to try and ensure better response because we want

017to make sure we're doing everything we can to provide the best climate possible. So you don't do that without getting good data in. So thank you Anything else? Dr. Herrian, um, if you can please read the motion. >> Sure. I'll make a motion that the Cheshire Board of Education approved the participation of Cheshure High School students in the educational field trip to Italy from April 3rd through the 13th of 2026. Second, Mr. Grippo. Discussion? No. Any public comment? with the motion. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Do you mind just going to the microphone so we can capture it? Thank you. >> It's for people watching at home. >> I believe the question was who's paying the the cost of the trip? >> That's correct. >> So, this this would be the families. The the board of

018education is not paying for that trip. That being said, it is an expense and I know that some some students save up money over the summer to go on these types of trips. Other times, once the teachers know who's interested in taking the trip, we'll talk to students about fundraising opportunities. >> That's very good. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you for the question. >> Um, we will now vote on the motion that is on the floor. All those in favor of the recommended motion, unanimous. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Awesome. Um, next committee will be finance, Dr. Harrian and Miss Taylor. >> Thank you. So included in our packets tonight is the financial report for the 202526 uh board of education budget reflecting expenditures and incumbrances through July 31st 2025.

019So that's a whole month of the first of our our fiscal year. Um the approved budget for fiscal year 2526 is 93 million 124,314 and as of I think as of the end of July um 17786,660 or just just slightly over 19% is encumbered and expended. And as we know, the bulk of the encumbrances for the larger accounts being um payroll, transportation, those have not yet been encumbered and the September and October financial report will include those incumbrances and more accurately reflect the full year financial picture. So at this time there are no variance concerns. Um, and I'll hand it off to Miss Emily Taylor uh to add anything if she needs to um about this first month of incumbrances, but also to talk about the energy price locks and the um medical benefits fund.

020Awesome. >> Thanks, Ann. And good evening, everyone. Um so to uh add on to Dr. compar uh we did lock our energy prices for this year and we had some pretty favorable pricing for our um big commodities. So you can see this year compared to last year especially heating oil transportation for both diesel and gasoline we actually had a uh savings from the prior year. Uh we are locked in for the amount and now locked in for the price for the upcoming year. Um we don't we have not locked in for propane yet. That will probably be in October and same with electricity. Uh and then for natural gas, we just purchase at Eversource market rates. And just to reiterate, we don't have any variance concerns for the budget, but it is early. So you'll

021see more a more accurate reflection of some of those bigger uh ex budget categories uh in September and October. So we we uh tend to encumber all of our salaries for the year. So when you're seeing something like 9.3 or 45%, that's not going that's going to change quite drastically when we are in the fall. So the other piece uh for medical benefits, I'm actually going to jump backwards and go to June and close out medical benefits. But for this year, July is not yet available for the report. So I'll report on that next board meeting. But our medical benefits fund budget for this fiscal year is almost $16 million. We're going to be contributing more than we contributed last year, about $1.2 million. And uh that's an increase of about $100,000 a month from

022the prior fiscal year. And the balance, the starting balance for this fiscal year is $2.6 million. Uh and with that, I'm going to go backwards and close out last fiscal year's medical benefits report. Uh and also if you want a more detailed obviously with the kept everything the same the fiscal we have all of the account descriptions and once I do the medical benefits report I can take questions on either the medical uh benefits report or the uh financial report. So closing out last fiscal year for medical benefits I am happy to announce that we actually ended up with 2.25 uh claim months in reserve. We ended up $330,000 over where we started last July and we had a pretty good claims month in June of 2025. You see it's just over a million dollars

023which was less claims than the previous two months. So our starting balance for this fiscal year is the 2.6 because that was our closing balance from the pre prior uh fiscal school year. Um, and with that said, we do have a potential stop-loss reimbursement coming in as well. Um, so that's we did have more stop-loss reimbursements than the prior year. You see we have 764,000. Um, and we had more rebates, prescription rebates. So, with that said, I'll take any questions that people have. Hello, welcome to the deis. >> Thank you so much officially. >> Yeah. Um the uh stop loss uh will that be I guess that will be recognized in the July report. Okay. >> Yep. And it's still being tred up. So I'm not sure that it'll be in the July report. There's

024still some back and forth, but it be recognized in this fiscal year. Yes. >> Thanks. >> Can you just go back? What's the um any specific item for the the in the 2 million increase that you mentioned earlier >> for the monthly monthly increase? That's just reflecting the additional cost for the insurance plan to make sure we're covering our um our portion aligned with like the employee co-share. It's just more expensive and we have budgeted more. So, um we want to make sure that we're adding more to the fund accordingly, anticipating those increases. >> Thank you. Mighty, did you have a question? Great. That's it for med benefits. >> I'm sorry I didn't hear. >> She wants to ask a question. >> May I ask a question? >> I think so. >> Yeah, absolutely. >>

025Insurance. >> Yeah, the mic might be best so that we can capture your question for those watching at home right at the podium. >> Thank you. If you could just state your name and address, that'd be great. Good evening. My name is D Flanigan. I was wondering whether on the medical insurance whether that was sent out for bid for competitive bids. Um and I was wondering if you could give me some information about that. >> Yeah, it was not sent out for bid this year. We work with an insurance broker. Um we believe that we have a good rate. We work with Sigma currently. So it was not out for bid this year. >> Okay, great. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Anything [Applause] else in finance, Dr. American? >> That is all I

026have. That's all you have, Emily? >> That's all I have? >> Yeah, we're good. >> Awesome. Uh, next committee would be personnel. Um, Mr. White, do you want to just cover this? You are part of the personnel committee. >> Yeah. [Applause] We had a meeting and I I wasn't I wasn't preparing for this. So what was the it was a contract I think >> the July >> July 8th meeting okay >> the superintendent's evaluation process >> um that I distinctly remember so we covered two topics which was the par educators uh union contract >> is that >> no this one was the July 8th meeting where we talked about my evaluation process and basically we decided in that meeting to uh facilitate a a retreat with the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education to work

027with the board to identify goals um to support my evaluation. So part of the um discussion that night was about that retreat and how we were going to schedule that. And then the second and what the structure of that would be. The second part of that evening was a conversation about how that would then translate to what my the superintendent's evaluation would look like as trying I think we tried to keep away from like Jeff personal like any superintendent's evaluation that might work in the Chester public schools. What would that look like? And um started to to figure that out and then there's going to be another report later on the retreat that we actually had to do all that stuff. So, >> didn't what meeting was it? Didn't the didn't the Paris come in

028for a >> That was the June. >> All right. >> We did have a special meeting on that on July 30th where we approved the PAR contract. So, you're definitely not crazy. >> That was personnel. >> And when we when we appointed officially appointed Emily that night, >> we've had a variety of personnel meetings >> and I do remember I do remember you're discussing >> that we're going more than a month ago at this point on that meeting. >> Okay. Sorry. I I apologize for not coming prepared for it, >> but yeah, that that is basically what I recall for the last few meetings this summer for personnel. Thank you, Jeff. >> Sure. >> Thank you. That's personnel. Um, then we move on to planning, which is what Mr. White's been waiting for, the update

029on our energy performance contract. Miss Taylor, or should we invite Mr. Masiana to the podium? I I believe so. Let's let's have our start. >> Thank you. And good evening. >> So on tonight's agenda, there is the approval of educational specifications um which is the second item under planning, but that is the purpose of the presentation that I'm going to walk through. And I'll try and do this quickly. I do know Mr. White sent some questions. So, I'll try and address those as we go through this presentation and then I'll certainly entertain any questions. The um presentation that you see is a presentation that was made Tuesday night to the Cheshire Town Council and I'm going to ask Dr. Solen who's navigating to go to page three. And as he does that, what I want

030to explain is the the board is certainly aware that we've been working to get an energy performance contract in place. This is initiative that started with planning in October of 2023. So, you know, we we've come a long way since then and we are at a critical stage. Now, what we're trying to do at this point is we had to split the energy performance contract initiative in half. And the reason for that is there are some significant tax credits that are going to be expiring uh now that the one beautiful bill act has been passed. It eliminates some of the uh inflation reduction act tax credits. So on this particular screen and you really can't see the whole thing over to the right but what we're trying to accomplish at this time thanks Jeeoff that's

031perfect. We're intending to install a fuel cell at Cheshire High School and photovoltaic electric generation which are solar arrays at six of our schools. This chart I know it's a little bit of an eyeburner but um there's a couple of important pieces. The column that says hard cost this is about $19.5 million worth of project work that would get completed in this phase. If you look over to the right, there's overhead and profit. There's fees from Enia. So, the total cost of this phase is 23.4 million. And then the next two columns are very critical. There's $6.6 million of rebates and school construction grants that we would receive. And that's why we have the EDS specs on the agenda for this evening because in order to apply for a school construction grant, the board has

032to approve the EDS specs. That next column, I estimated IRA benefit, again, IRA stands for inflation reduction act, that $4.6 million of benefit expires if we don't complete this portion of the initiative uh by September. and have part of the construction completed by December of this year. We can accomplish all that as long as we continue to move on the timeline that I'm going to show you here in a minute. So again, the the initiative here has been expedited because we don't want to lose that IRA benefit. And so that last column, the net total is the difference between the cost of the project, 23.4 million. If you subtract out the rebate and the tax credit benefit, we would install the solar and the fuel cell at a net cost of 12 million. Now, we'll

033be saving about a million dollars a year in energy if we complete that work over 20 years. So, there are savings that exceed the total cost when we do the financing. There's a lot of other detail I'm leaving out, but I'm trying to give you the top line. Jeff, if you go back one slide, and I'll show you the timeline that we're working with here. So, we um we signed our agreement with Johnson Controls and the uh town council approved it in May. In we started in earnest on this initiative to try and get these items fasttracked in July. You'll see that there are a series of steps that we have completed successfully. The um where it says we are here contract approval that was presented to the town council on Tuesday evening August 12th.

034They did approve the contract to go forward. It's a very extensive contract. I will tell you that we're still negotiating some of the terms back and forth with Johnson Controls. Our town attorney has done our review. There were just some minor changes that were requested from Johnson Controls. I did get late uh late this afternoon Johnson Controls um revised contract. It looks pretty good to me. So, we're still working through those details and I don't expect that uh to be a showstopper at all. So, the next two items are the only things I want to point out. By August 27th, we have to submit an application. The acronym there is NRES. It's uh help me out, Tim. It's nonresidential energy savings. It's a program that in this case would give us about $5 million worth

035of benefit. Um and then NTP for construction that is the notice to proceed to Johnson Controls to begin actual construction of the solar and fuel cell project. So tight time frame, but I'm happy to say that with the council's approval of the contract August 12th, we can make this happen. Um if you >> That was unanimous. >> Yes, it was. Jeeoff, if you go forward now two slides and I know that the board members you have this presentation in your package, but um at just at a very high level this cont the contract highlights as I mentioned there'll be guaranteed savings of a million. The most important thing to understand about what we're about to embark on, assuming this gets all the necessary approvals, is Johnson Controls is representing that we'll save a,85,300 per year.

036Um, and those savings come from savings from our utility that we're not buying electricity, but they also come from the credits that are from the NRES program. If we fall short of that million85,000 in utility savings, Johnson Controls writes us a check to make up the difference every year. So that's why that's one of the big advantages of entering into this energy performance contract is that guarantee. Um, and by the way, we will probably never write a Johnson Controls will never write a check to make up that guarantee because they're going to build this um solar and fuel cell and make sure that financially they we will achieve those savings. I didn't mention it, but I just want to remind the board that we are not working on this alone with Johnson Controls. Eneria is

037our owner's representative. Everything that Johnson Controls has presented um is being validated by Eneria, including the details of the rooftop solar to make sure that the schools have sufficient structural support when we add rooftop solar. So, I'll pause there because I see there is a question if that's okay. >> Thank you. Yeah. Uh just with regard to the guaranteed savings that you were mentioning, uh has the town engaged in a performance contract like this before? This is really to give comfort to people who are saying that's just crazy. This wouldn't work. >> But I think >> that's a great leading question. Thank you, Mr. White. >> Do we have 10 years of experience with a contract of this nature? >> Yes. So that's why we call this initiative EPC 2.0 0 is what what it's

038been dubbed, but we did a contract 10 years ago with Amoresco that we are continuing to achieve the savings that were guaranteed by Amoresco. So, you know, Johnson Controls and Energia as our owners rep, they have vast experience with these type of uh energy performance contracts. So once again, assuming this gets approved and we get everything done, you know, I do certainly expect that we'll achieve those savings, but we have the guarantee in case they're not achieved. >> Thanks, Vinn. Um, you had just begun talking about all of these uh solar panels are going on rooftops. Is that correct? >> Yes. I'm going to show you where exactly. And that assumes then my next question which is all of our roofs have been recently recently enough um >> worked on so that they're >> yeah

039that's that's a great question. >> Then really my question is so how long do we expect to to have solar panels on >> well >> on our roofs? it what's it at least 20 years would be the life expectancy >> and our and our roofs are 20 years >> yes already so all the solar that's been recommended >> um has been recommended on the basis that we're only putting solar on roofs that are warrantied and that will have the 20-year life that is certainly a significant portion of the review that gets done Controls has made the recommend commendations. And the blue that these are these is this is Cheshire High School. The blue that you see are the uh proposed placement of the solar panels. If you look at this um the lower left corner,

040it's kind of a you know a plush shaped solar array. That >> that as an example is the West Gym. Um, we installed that's a 30-year warrantied roof system. It's it's probably in our eighth or ninth year, I believe. So, the placement of the solar is there specifically on those sections of roof that we still have warranty. Um, if you if we just flip through the next one, I'll go through these quickly. Uh, Dodd Middle School, we we did all the roofs, so we see that most of Dodd's roof system is covered by solar. Keep going, Jeff. Um, Highland has not only rooftop solar, but where Dr. Solen is has his cursor. That's a proposed carport to add additional, you know, energy or electricity um savings by installing solar. And if you flip one more,

041>> you can see actually right behind that area, this is the Treasure Police Department with their existing solar car. >> Yeah, that's what I was just going to ask. That's actually a really good location for a carport for um for Highland. This is Doolittle. Um we would install new roof on Dittle. Just flip two more. Um the next one is Barnum. Uh and flip one more slide because this what's being proposed for Barnum. This is the roof structure. Um, if you flip back one slide, Jeff, there's also a proposal for solar carport in the parking lot. Now I again to give you a little bit more detail, we did present the proposed solar at the new schools to the school building committee and let them know, you know, not only what are the the financial

042advantages, but this is where the locations, you know, of the proposed solar would go. And the school building committee did express some concern about we don't want to make the building unsightly, you know, by adding solar panels in certain locations. So we're working The point is we're working with the school building committee as well. The there is a balance to strike because the more solar we put on the more energy savings that we'll have. Uh the if we include the solar carport at Barnum, there will be enough solar energy or solar energy that's um created to fully offset the electricity needs. One of the questions Mr. uh White had is if we have excess solar at these sites, can we um use it as a credit to other school or town buildings? And the answer

043is we absolutely can because of the way it's going to be um metered. So, you know, if we generate more electricity than we need, we can use it to offset other buildings across the town. If you flip one more is uh Norton ele Norton Elementary School. Same thing. I will add that an important characteristic of the two new schools is when they were designed and the con and the construction budget contains all the infrastructure that's needed to connect solar. So in the school budget already are all the electrical wiring, a utility room, a utility panel to support solar. What wasn't included in the new school's budget because it wasn't affordable at the time was the actual purchase of the solar arrays. So because that infrastructure is already built into the new school's budget, it will

044reduce our cost of installing solar. just basically have to buy the panels and and the mounting structure for the roofs. Um, and these designs were designed originally by the um the mechanical engineer for the new school. So, we didn't even have to do all that design work. This last slide, at Cheshure High School, the proposal is to add a natural gas fuel cell that will create electricity. And again, there's a significant financial incentive to do that. So, if you flip to the next slide, I'm going to just kind of talk through one more. Jeff, I'm sorry. Um, this slide is is an eyeburner, but if I start at the left, I'm just going to highlight a couple of columns. That left column is the verified guaranteed savings. 24.5 million. Of that 24.5 million, 19 million,

045I'll just get you the closer down. 19.2 million is what we would be saving by not buying electricity for those schools. And 5.29 29 million of that is the uh the the non-residential energy savings credits that we would get, you know, through through that program. So that's how we get to the 24 million. The um gross savings is a total of 35 million. that includes $6 million of state aid and the $4.7 million of investment tax credits. Um, and if you take that 35 million minus the total annual cost of 31.9 million, you'll see all the way over to the right, we actually will have 3.5 million of what is being called excess cash flow. So every year under this program for this particular installation of solar and fuel cells, we're going to generate savings

046over and above our costs of about 180,000 a year. And over 20 years, it's 3.5 million. So what are we going to do with that 3.5 million? What we are going to do is use that excess cash flow to do some important projects that we've included in our capital budget. For example, air conditioning. Doolittle Elementary School was one of the projects that we had. Um, replacing the windows at Doolittle was another project. So, that 3.5 million is not coming back into our pocket is the goal. The goal is to use that to do additional infrastructure work that is funded from the savings from adding solar and fuel cells. So, as I said earlier, we're splitting the energy performance contract. We fast we're fasttracking the solar and fuel cell, but we have additional work that we

047will do. That study is being completed by October. We will know what that additional work will be and what we can afford. We have been working with the working group that was appointed for the energy performance contract which Mr. White is a member of along with Fiona Pearson from the town council and Chris Smith from the energy commission as well as myself and and internal staff from the school in the town. So that's the long and short of it. Kind of, you know, taking this forward, what's in your packet for approval tonight are the EDS specs for each of the six schools where we'll be doing either solar or solar and a fuel cell. So, with that, I'll pause because that's the end of the presentation and be glad to take questions and try to

048answer them all. >> I think we have a list to my left. >> Yes, I know. I saw I saw something earlier. >> Thank you. Thank you so much, Vin. Uh, super appreciate all the work that you're putting into this. And just a little bit of a backdrop, I think it was a year and a half ago, Jeff, your budget, you came to us and your primary, I think you gave us three concerns, but probably the single biggest one was energy prices, global energy prices. So, just as a reminder to people, I mean, this is part of where I'm coming from, which is uh budgetary stability. Um, it's not I I would love to have cost reductions all the time where possible, but even just achieving stability I think is a great thing. And one

049of the nice things about renewables is that it provides stability because we're we're not forced to buy fossil fuels on the open market when Putin starts a war with Ukraine and the price of natural gas goes through the roof. I mean, we all saw it in our electric bills where the rates the supply rate I think went up 50% or something like that. So, that that is part of my thinking in going down this road. Um, with that, a couple of questions and I don't want I I have no interest in um slowing anything down, but I do have a couple of questions. Uh the the fuel cell does that does that get virtual net metering? >> Yes, >> it does. And so there was I didn't realize 650 650 KW seems big to me.

050Is that what our what's our generate? Do you happen to know I'm catching off guard what is the high school generator right now? Because I was thinking 250 or 300 kW, not 650. >> Um I'm thinking it's in the 400 Okay. KW range, I believe, because it only powers the front of the the front portion of the high school, not the whole high school. >> Okay. And I I just looking at this, I doubt anybody would have seen it, but you're talking about two units at 325 kilowatts each. So that doubles to the 650, but we're in excess of the 325. and the discussion we were having just a few days ago, it gets there's a lot to sizing a fuel cell because you're not looking at just getting the energy. You're also looking at

051getting the thermals or the heating and air conditioning from it and balancing those two loads is for me it's complicated. I've tried to look at it before, but there is a reason why we would build possibly a little bit bigger on the above a 400 kilowatt generator and go all the way up to a 650 kilowatt generator. Effectively, it's a generator. It's a fuel cell >> because of other reasons beyond electricity. >> So, thank you for that. >> Okay. >> Um, let's see. And uh so the the financing structure of this, do we effectively own all this equipment at the end of the 20-year contract? >> We own it day one. >> Okay. >> Yeah, we own it day one. So what will happen is once we complete the payment on that lease, any ongoing

052savings. We no longer have a lease payment. So all that savings is ours. So yeah, we own all the equipment including the solar arrays day one. >> So what so the way what I was looking at before is this the guaranteed savings is a million80,000 and we're supposed to be getting $180,000 of >> excess cash. Which means is it fair to say that our annual payment is 900,000 approximately? >> Yes. And okay, that's that's correct. But I just want to add that when we add additional components to this energy performance contract through an an addendum to this contract as the plan, those numbers will change. >> Absolutely. >> But our guaranteed savings will also increase by law. This these energy performance contracts have to be net cash flow positive. Could be a dollar. >> Sure.

053>> But they have to be cash flow positive. This an energy performance contract is stat statuarily permitted under Connecticut law and that's why we can engage in this type of a contract. >> Okay. Yeah. Yeah. No. And that makes sense to me because we're really talking about generation right now. And the second phase of this project would be looking at more efficiency or conservation measures, I'm thinking, which could be um taking out an old boiler and putting in a new more efficient boiler. That's Yeah. >> Um so the uh total capacity, I was just counting it up. It looks like it's about two and a half megawatts. Do you happen to just based on the handout that you gave us, do you happen to know what the estimated production would be on an annual basis?

054>> In kilowatt hours? >> Yeah. >> It's about 4 million 75,000. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Yeah. The last I looked at it, I think the town used the town and I doubt it's changed all that much. We use about 6 million kilowatt hours. That includes town buildings as well. So >> yeah, that sounds right. >> Yeah. No, this is this is fantastic. I think if we can if we could uh get this done. Um >> and you know, I'll just note that the two new schools, those are all powered by electricity. >> Yeah. So, they're going to use a lot more electricity than we've seen in any of our other buildings because a they're all electric, so no boilers, no natural gas, uh, and b they'll be fully airond conditioned, which our other schools are

055not. So, being able to do these solar arrays at this time, and if everything goes according to plan, by the way, those solar arrays will be installed and operational when we open the new schools in the fall. That's the goal. >> That'd be nice. >> They're obviously both geothermal, too, which >> yes, >> you know, really influences the heating and cooling. >> So, I don't want people to think, oh, we're just all electric and geothermal is a huge offset. >> Yeah. Not Yeah. Um, let's see. Uh, Dodd, I mentioned this. So I I would say in terms of school modernization, I think our next the next school we look at most likely um well I shouldn't say that most likely but I wonder about the significance of renovations at DOD and locking into a 20-year

056contract for solar there. would there be a possibility? And I know we chatted about this a few days ago offline and you pointed out to me like, well, we're talking about an eight-year window anyway. And so it just went through my head. I'm like, wait a second, eight-year window. I'm like, yeah, we started this project before I got on the board of ed. I've now been on the board of ed for six years, and we're talking about another year before the schools open. That's a seven plus year window just to go through the new elementary schools. And we are not at the point, we are not at the point with any other schools where we were at six years ago with an actual committee formed. >> Appreciate your optimism, Mo. >> Um, so it just

057struck me would uh if we did it if could we do a carve out for DOD and just do 10 years or what might be some of the I can envision some things. I'm wondering if you had any conversations about what uh what Dodd looks like 10 years from now. Well, as to whether or not we could carve out DOD separately, you >> I think even if we did, >> um, if you had a you you'd basically be paying the cost of carving out DOT, assuming we could do it contractually, um, which you may not want to do that because we don't know what's going to happen >> to do. And then the other thing, and I know that we talked the other night We could redeploy that solar, you know, we could those solar

058arrays will still be good. Let's say in 10 years we do have a plan and and we're going to build a you know new dot. Well, we could take the arrays and move them. So, that's not a that's a not a sunk cost. That is a throwaway. We could redeploy that. You can't get the infrastructure back, but you could certainly keep the arrays working. So, but I will ask that question, Tim, if there's a way to structure this financially. >> Yeah. And I mean, the council already voted on this and I'm comfortable moving forward right now. 10 years out is a long way. Um, but I I I am I think I'm guessing I'm not the only person who would have a little bit of discomfort with this. Um, and I think my I think

059my last comment right now is something that I had mentioned in some of the meetings, but just as a uh reminder of what I had said, if it could work is I think increasing awareness of how energy works could be of interest to anybody. Most people most people have relatively limited understanding of how energy works. And one of the things I had mentioned was right inside the schools uh just have a TV screen. It could be a touchcreen type of thing where we could actually uh show people not only the production that's happening in the schools, but also the consumption with a an interval demand meter just and people could see the curves and how they work. Uh I think that I think that could be interesting for the kids just to sort of be

060learning a little bit of how how energy works. >> And that is one of the things that Johnson Controls when we did the uh interview with them you know before they were selected they certainly are willing and and have in other you know school districts done educational you know not only seminars but displays where you could clearly see what you're saving on the solar side uh andor the fuel cell. So I that would be I agree with you. It's a critical component of what we will do. >> Thank you, Mr. White. Vin, I just have a a couple questions just for those that have not been fully following this how long? Year or two process. Um, so we have added weight onto these roofs that are quite older, so to speak, and structurally they can

061handle this extra on top of, you know, having snow and so on. I just don't know where, you know, >> it's an certainly an important component of the engineering review that gets done. the um the only structures that not the only structure but the structure that always has the most concern are those structures that have large spams, gyms, cafeteria. Um, and so I've made it a point to ask not only Johnson Controls, but Energy as our owners rep to double check and make sure that, you know, we're comfortable with the large spans. The since I've been here, which is, you know, 15 years, we've had cases where we've had multiple snowfalls and then rain. And so, you know, we've had two feet of snow plus, you know, rain on top of the roofs. Um and

062we've had engineers just do an inspection. Um so that is certainly a concern that will be addressed and one of the ways to address it on the large spans um would be to move the solar off the center and do more around the periphery. So that is going to be a a clear, you know, engineering double check that I've asked for. >> Yeah. I don't say that because of the last incident with the high school roof and how we had to tarp it really quickly. >> Yeah. Yeah. That that you know in New England that is certainly one of the key considerations as you look at um you know adding rooftop solar >> and along the same lines um maintenance and repair-wise who who is responsible for that? So part of what's built into the

063cost is annual and ongoing maintenance for those solar arrays. So there will be a third party vendor that's you know going to be doing that and again it's included. You know this is an all-in cost. >> Great. Thank you. Any other questions for Mr. Mr. Grible? >> Mr. White left me a few questions. Thank you. appreciate that. Um, where to begin? U, let's start with the million80. >> Mhm. >> Um, is that a gross number? >> You said that we would incur a million80. >> The guaranteed savings is a million80,000 >> Per year. Correct. So the net cash flow number is gross savings less debt service that's on that chart. Is that the sort of language we're talking about here? >> Yes. And >> okay I I will say and it's it's disclosed on that

064in the chart on that last page. The assumed financing rate is 4.75%. So, you know, one of the key next steps now that the contract's approved, we will issue an RFP to finance the project through a tax exempt lease. So, to the extent if we get a better rate than 4.75, it improves the financial picture. To the extent we get a higher rate, which I don't think we will, that's I think the 4.75 is pretty conservative. So, I do expect we will do better. Um, that will help you know, improve the financial picture. In other words, it'll increase that net savings per year and that gives us more room to do additional projects that don't have, you know, quick paybacks. Like when you replace a boiler, you know, the payback period is 30 plus years.

065So, we'll be able to do boilers even though we, you know, couldn't finance it under this energy performance contract without the significant savings from the solar and fuel cell thanks to those credits we're getting. Um, so, so, so I I because I don't the energy energy part, you know, not my thing, right? Um, but so it's we're turning the rooftop of our schools into a power plant so that we don't have to purchase electricity, but we have to finance that through debt. >> Yes. Tax exemption. >> So, we're not paying an electric bill anymore. We're paying a debt bill. >> Correct. and the so I'm trying to think about where the spread is here. Um, so we are we are spending $35 million in hopes to recoup $3.5 million. there's incentives too >> but at

066the end of the day you talk about the net cash flow >> is >> so to get that >> just understand when you say you know the >> could you >> just generally the arrangement is your financing the installation of infrastructure and the savings that you gain including the incentives will exceed the costs of that infrastructure improvement to for this particular portion it totals about $3.5 million net over 20 years, >> right? >> In addition to, you know, reducing your electricity and and you're investing in renewable energy after that 20-year period is over. You've paid back all your debt and now you're still going to get that million dollars in savings. And you could see that the savings actually grows year-over-year because there is an assumption of the cost of electricity increasing. I believe it's

0673% per year. So after you're done paying this back, you're still generating 1.2 million a year. question is at the end of 20 years how much solar power are you generating? You know there is a a degradation of how much energy you uh generate from a solar array over time doesn't go to zero. So you'll still have additional savings. Okay. Um, I think maybe we jumped the gun on this. Just my opinion. Um, for so Dodd, we can remove the solar panels if we decide to have a new middle school in 10 years, >> right? >> Yeah. >> And move them somewhere. >> New Dod, >> right? New DOT. Okay. Um, and for dittle, I'm I'm guessing this the design isn't final or did it account for uh new I'm assuming it would be rooftop

068air conditioning for Dittle or or the uh uh what are those? The new fangled ones where they have the fans outside of every window. >> Yeah. >> Heat pumps. Uh >> not fully designed yet. >> Not fully designed. So that that picture is a suggested layout, not a >> final layout. >> I I would say at Dittle is pretty close. >> Okay. So it has been considered though. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And it may not I'm not sure if we would do rooftop units at Dittle. >> Yeah. All right. Um had all the stuff written down here. Uh so how does Johnson Controls make their money on this? Do they make their money through the just the actual construction of infrastructure? I mean the >> sure construction of the solar. >> So they

069they turn the the construction is turnkey. So we say, "Yep, we signed this contract, go build it, and they will take everything from there. They'll hire the contractors, you know, to do the work. They'll pay the contractors. We lay no money out, you know, and I know I didn't mention that earlier, but we have not spent any we have not expended any funds to have this study done. Energia gets paid as part of the guaranteed savings. Um, Johnson Controls, yes, they make their money primarily off the difference between what we're paying for the infrastructure and what they actually get it built for. So, but there's still net savings to us. Now, how do we ensure that Johnson Controls isn't making too much money? That's why we have an owner's representative in Energy looking at that.

070>> So, two more questions if you don't mind. Um, so the savings is based off of our current energy expenditures. >> Does that include electricity? >> The savings is based on estimated electrical >> use over that period of time >> and that includes the new Barnum new norm, right? Where you know those buildings are not online. But we we do know based on what that building will contain what that electricity cost will be and that was estimated the the actual you know kilowatt hour usage was estimated during the design of those buildings. So again that's what Energy validates as part of this contract that we have with them. >> Okay. Um, and then lastly, so I've been on this board for eight years, and every year we talk about roof replacement or some sort of

071infrastructure replacement. And so in So how long are all these panels and everything warrantied for? 20 years. >> Well, the roof the the roofs are 20 years. The solar panels themselves >> and all the parts and bits. >> Yeah, I that's a good question. I I don't know what the warranty is on a solar panel, but I can get that information and email the board. >> So, in just in the just in the meantime, like I have solar at my house and I believe my panel warranty is 25 years, but the ancillary items are not like it might be 10 years for an inverter. So, there are costs of maintenance like anything that would be baked into it. So where I'm going with this is now the last 10 years we've just been doing let's

072say roof replacements but now going forward let's say 10 years from now future boards um we'll now have to not only do roof replacements but also solar panel replacements and all the bits because they're going to be on all of our schools. Now I don't I definitely don't have a problem with it being on the new schools. If there's a place for solar panels to be, it's those schools. Um, but it's just on the older schools, you know, my concern would be now we have, you know, roof penetrations, however many that is on all these flat, you know, flat roofs, right? Most of them are flat roofs, uh, which which were not, you know, I'm they've all been replaced now with modern materials. I'm sure they work great, but now we're going to have to

073that additional cost in the future. And so when we say savings, it's savings as a current uh current looking at energy bills. But if you were to build in cost of maintenance in the future, or is that already built in? >> Well, I I think I understand what you're saying. >> It seems like it' be double the cost to keep this running in 10 years. There again, there's a there is a maintenance contract for the solar. As far as roof penetrations, the solar arrays sit on the roof. There's not a roof penetration at every >> Oh, they don't sell. >> Yeah, we did the same thing. We did the same thing at the dog park. It's called a floating array >> on a roof. >> That's I believe that's what typically happens. I've seen them

074on roofs and I'm assuming that's glued. >> They're weighted. That's why I asked about >> what if you get like you're talking these are weighted enough that it'll stand up to a hurricane >> 120 m an hour. >> I mean, god forbid. >> Well, if we have a 120 mph hurricane, I'm not sure the the roof would necessarily stay on in this area of the country, but yes. No, obviously they're engineered and they're weighted properly so that it's not going to blow off during a storm that we have here. >> So, a regular storm, >> right? If we have a tornado hit a building, god forbid. Yeah. Then there's no amount of weight would protect us from that. >> You know, as far as any incremental cost that you have related to the installation here

075would be covered under the the maintenance contract. If we have to replace a roof, you would you would have that cost anyway, whether or not you had solar on it. And what you would do if you do need to do a roof replacement for whatever reason, just a roof fails out of the blue, remove the solar array, right? They're just sitting on on structures, replace the roof, and put them back. So I But I think the important thing is you're not getting roof penetrations at every solar. >> Well, that makes me feel better. That's I >> But there is on it. There is a um there is a requirement though that we don't void the warranty with the solar. So that is part of the work the project scope to make sure that we do

076not void the roof warranty. >> So on the new schools >> where the infrastructure was built in are they floating or are they attached because it was sort of built that way. >> Yeah. I don't you know it's not going to be attached. So on the flat portions of roof they will be you know weighted and I I can't speak to what the actual install is on the non flat roofs. I can find out but again these buildings you know were designed and are being built to accommodate solar arrays. We would have funded it through the project if we had the funds. You know this is a this is a really easy way to fund it. We have no outlay. >> When I what I recall from the discussions uh about the new construction that

077probably passed most people quickly, but in terms of being solar ready, it was discussed as including and EV ready as well, electric car. It was discussed in terms of having the conduit in place, which correct me if I'm wrong, the conduit is basically PVC pipe >> to allow to allow for the wires to go. So that's what was discussed. So I don't think it's I think it would be I'm guessing it's most likely that it would just be floating arrays with access through the roof available. Thank you. >> Um, this is a hopefully a quick question, but uh, time frame. Did you say earlier that this in order to get pickup reimbursements, this needs to all be completed by >> not completed. Construction has 5% of construction has to be completed by December. >> Okay.

078So obviously the new schools won't be ready to put solar panels on, but it doesn't all need to be done. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mr. White. Another question. >> Yeah. Uh with regard to the incentives, from what I recall this, the developer had mentioned that the in the f there are fuel cell incentives that are going away at this moment in time. So not the end of the year, but in August. and we had to already queue up for it. >> Yeah, the the NRA we have to submit the application by September 27th, I believe. >> Okay. So, it's not my point being that it's not just federal incentives that are going away. It's state incentives and the state has a whole bunch of incentives. Um, but at least that one, maybe

079more would be going away before the end of the year, which also >> uh sort of encourages the fasttracking of this. And for anyone who's curious, I suspect I strongly suspect that some of these incentives that exist are directly related to what many people I think know now the public benefit charge um at the state level. That's where the money flows. So from what I see, I mean I prefer to not have like lots and lots of programs like this, but they're there. The money's on the table. >> Yeah. >> And my view is uh let's take advantage of it. I I think what's happening the fuel the NRA program isn't going away but the fuel cells are no longer eligible under the uh NRA program you know effective October one that's hence the you

080know attempt to get those that in before that deadline. >> Mr. Sorry, just one more question. Um, why was it decided to go so large? So, why, you know, the new schools are obvious, maybe the fuel cells are a little less obvious, but why was it decided to not do a smaller program like that versus covering all of our buildings and solar panels? >> Well, the the more solar coverage you have, the more electricity you generate and the greater savings that you have. I don't know that there's, you know, any reason beyond that. One of the goals, um, is to try and generate enough electricity from solar to completely offset the cost of electricity. We're not going to get there with all the buildings. Um, but we will with the new schools, but to get

081there with Barnum, you need that solar carport. And that one, you know, it's up to the school building committee if they'll be okay with that. Yeah, just uh just to speak to your point, Adam, the from what I recall from several years ago, the town consumes about 6 million kilowatt hours and this project Vin had mentioned, so correct me if I'm wrong, is the anticipated production is about 4 million kilowatt hours. >> Right? So where everything everything we are generating we'll be able to consume with a critical piece being there's a program called virtual net metering which means if the police station could use extra power we can use the energy generated at the high school and we can offset it on the bill at the police station. It's just it's the way the program

082is designed and you can do that for up to 10 accounts, but we only have I think we have about 40 buildings in town. So, if this is going on eight different schools, six six schools, that means we have up to 60 accounts that could benefit from it. So, I mean, we could even do like uh you know, the bathroom at the new bathroom at Bartland Park because we just have the bandwidth to do it based on the design of the program. So, if any of the schools have more solar on their if they have more solar than they can use, we're just going to end up metering it back to sending that energy back to um any of the other town buildings. I'm I'm confident that's what we would end up doing. U just

083and to just to be clear on this, uh do Yeah. um the $180,000 in savings and excess cash flow. Do we have who has the actual final say on what happens with that? Because my suspicion is that these decisions are actually be will be made by the council and not by the board of ed. >> Well, so we'll we'll probably send 900. So they'll give us an annual budget. Let's just say our annual budget's hundred million dollars a year. What we're doing is we're saying 900,000 of that is dedicated to paying off this and that just goes back to the town. It doesn't really matter how it works. But in terms of like that that savings, is that a is a town council vote or a board vote? Because we're voting on EDS specs here,

084not on financing issues. >> Right. So again, what will happen is that 180,000 a year, our plan is to have an amendment to this contract that says we're going to not have $180,000 a year because we're going to add air conditioning at Dittle. We're going to upgrade the police boilers and we're going to shoot to get that cash flow, you know, down to I'm going to just for emphasis get it to a dollar per year because that's what you have to do under the law because a key component of doing this energy performance contract is to get infrastructure work done that we would ordinarily have to bond, you know, through the capital budget process, you know, and you know, sometimes Sometimes it it takes us, you know, unfortunately several years to get projects approved. Whether

085it's a replacement of boilers or if it's a roof replacement or some of the other work like, you know, you know, do little air conditioning, you know, is looked at, you know, not not necessarily by me, but it can be looked at as, you know, something you don't really need since you only need air conditioning in, you know, May and June when the schools are open or September and October. So it's to me it's not a luxury but it can be looked at something that you could just push off another year and that's you know what's been happening that is the reality. So we can fund those type of improvements through this project. >> So it it is going to be it it's going to be this sort of collaborative process the board the council

086the energy committee that's put together. And the another point to what you were just making, which is one of my concerns is that we're we're in the process of two new elementary schools. Uh I think the tax burden right now on people. Affordability is a huge concern. Um it is for me and I'm sure it's for many other people. Nonetheless, I there are improvements that I think could and should be made at particularly like at Dittle Dittle and Highland where those parents voted in favor of these projects. And I think it's I think some of those I think some of those improvements would be really important to make. And I also think it would be really difficult to the the fewer times that the council goes out and asks for say $ three and a

087half million dollars for a project um for stuff that makes sense that should be done that you know we could all collectively look at and say yeah that that should be done like a new roof or whatever it might be. I think it's um I think this is an opportunity uh that could work well finding that $3 million sort of excess cash flow savings. So I I'm I'm as we get to the vote, I just want to reiterate that uh I want to support I want to support the motion. Um, but I do still have the reservations on DOD about that because it's it's it's basically like a lock in which frankly from a taxpayers's perspective, I pay taxes. Okay, we're gonna go with Dodd. Um, but that there is a bigger question there than

088simply that. So, that's all. Thank you. >> I don't disagree with that, Mr. White. I think if we had that crystal ball to see what, you know, the public feels about um that decision later on, it'd be great. But I think at this point if it benefits us the majority of us, I'm talking about the other locations and that we move forward to do that. Um I I definitely vote that Mr. White should be the poster boy for the awareness campaign. I do agree that we do need to educate our community for sure. >> I thought Mr. White has been for the last decade. >> He has decades. But we need to take this very slow and in chunks because I mean, and I agree with Adam, you know, we're not full experts on this

089either. And so I just want to be sensitive to the community that hasn't been following along in these conversations either. And now we're moving to vote and starting the work. Um, which we do have to start by September 10th, it looks like, to to get 5% done by December. Um, so if at all possible, please generate some sort of campaign when we begin. I do have one last question, Vin. >> Um, we have six schools. We start on the 10th after this vote. What is the disruption to the schools with regards to work being done on the roofs right now, if any at all? Yeah, we we don't expect any disruption to the schools. We certainly always look to avoid that. So, some of this, you know, work will start, but the bulk of it

090will be done over the summer. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other last thoughts? All right. So, we have actually six motions that need to be taken up separately from my understanding. >> Correct. >> Okay. So if I >> these I I will just sorry Miss Rosenberg these are the standard motions we do for any school construction grant that's required as part of the state process. The town council if it makes you feel better had to do three resolutions for each of the schools. So they had to do 18. You only need to do six tonight. >> Thank you. It makes me feel much better to sound like a broken record. So we could start with the first. Mr. White, do you want to begin? So, we're I read one and we vote on it just

091to be clear. Okay. >> Please. Thank you. >> All right. Move that the Chesher Board of Education approves the educational specifications for the solar panel installation at Norton Elementary School. >> Is there a second? Dr. Harrian. Any discussion? Yes, Mr. Gripple. Just for clarification, um, Norton Elementary will that will be the new school and not the one we're going to be destroying in a year. >> That is correct. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other discussion or edits to the Okay. All those in favor of the motion that is on the floor approved. Next one, sir. Move that the Cheshire Board of Education approves the educational specifications for the solar panel installation at Barnum Elementary School. >> Second, Dr. Herrian. Discussion. All those in favor of the motion that's on the floor. Approved. Next.

092>> Moved that the Cheshure Board of Education approves the educational specifications for the fuel cell and solar panel installation at Cheshire High School. >> Second. Dr. Herrian. Discussion. All those in favor? Unanimous. Next. >> Moved that the Cheshire Board of Education approves the educational specifications for the solar panel installation at Dodd Middle School. >> Second, Dr. Herrian. Discussion. Yes, Mr. Gribble. >> Um, I just wanted to say that I'll be voting against this motion. Um, I think that putting solar panels on top of uh a middle school that's been derided for at least 10 years, maybe more. uh where there's a significant amount of of the town who wishes to have a new middle school and to put solar panels on it is shortsighted. So, I'll be voting against it. Thank you. >> Any other

093discussion on the matter? All those in favor of the motion that is on the floor. Three in favor. All those who oppose, one opposed. The motion passes. Move that the Cheshire Board of Education approves the educational specifications for the solar panel installation at Dittle Elementary School. >> Dr. Herrian second. Discussion on this next motion. Now, all those in favor of the motion on the floor. Unanimous. And last but not least, >> move that the Cheshire Board of Education approves the educational specifications for the solar panel installation at Highland Elementary School. >> Discussion on the last move. Oh, second. Sorry, Dr. Harrian. Discussion on the last motion. All those in favor? Unanimous on the last motion. Thank you everybody. We conclude planning committee and we're moving. Thank you Mr. Msiana. >> Thank you. >> Move on

094to any other standing committees. Um any board members have reports on any other committees? No. Um >> still summer. It is still summer, but we have been quite busy though as evidenced by this pile of papers that we're going through. Um, next item is the approval of our minutes from the Jul four >> four meetings. Okay. um approval of minutes on the meetings that were held on June 5th, June 30th, July 30th, and July 30th retreat as well. >> Can I get a motion? Dr. Harrian, can you read the motion? >> Yeah. Be it moved that the Cheshire Board, sorry. Be it moved that the Cheshire Board of Education approve the minutes from meetings held uh Board of Education business meeting held June 5th, board of education fiscal business meeting held June 30th, board of

095education special meeting held July 30th, and board of education retreat meeting held July 30th. >> Is there a second for the motion? Mr. Griffo, any additions or corrections? I just have a quick question. I We didn't have minutes for the retreat, did we? >> Yeah, >> they're linked in the uh >> Oh, they Okay, >> linkable >> the linked agenda. >> Agenda. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> Any other additions or corrections or comments? >> No. All those in favor of the motion that is on the floor? Unanimous. Thank you. Did you get a second? Didn't you Mr. W? >> You got it, Carol. Okay. Thank you. >> Uh, Mr. Gripple, any correspondence, sir? >> I am not in possess I am not in possession of any correspondence. >> Thank you. And then

096we move on to um the superintendent report. Dr. Solen, >> thank you very much. um can't get enough of the the big screen up there. So, we're going to go back to that for a hopefully what's amounts to a pretty quick presentation on our start time adjustment process. Uh the board members have in their packet uh this PowerPoint presentation or you can follow along on the screen. Um it should be a little easier to follow uh in most spots than the last one uh just because of the nature of it. Anyway, uh for 2627, I can't reiterate that enough. We're talking about 2026 27 start times, not next Thursday, but 26 27 start times. Um so why do we need to adjust start times? It's a question I get asked. I think there's a can

097be a little confusion around it. Really, it's it's twofold. The rationale first of all is the geography of the schools uh the elementary schools around the building. We're moving um several hundred students uh to a different location in town uh as well as many buses that are associated with those students. That in itself means that the buses need a little bit more time to um get there and uh be reconfigured in town uh for the next wave of of buses. Also, traffic. I mean, over the the start times for our buildings have been the same. I've worked here 20 years, pretty much the same for the 20 years. the the evolution of traffic in the town as well as people driving their children to school has changed dramatically over the last two decades and our

098start times now are not really accurate to be honest with you. So um for example the Highland departure time says 3:30 kids don't get out of there really till 4 those last buses because the traffic is so bad and route 10 is insane trying to get out. We are working with the town and state to try and add another lane there for exiting. We do anticipate a significant improvement though on three, you know, if not four of our campuses with Norton and uh North End Barnum being configured for the traffic that we u see today as well as Highland when you remove 200 students out of there should be a lot easier when you remove a lot of buses as well. So that is why we are changing it. Um but when we were exploring

099options, we thought maybe we wanted to um take a look at adjusting start times really reflecting research. So that was one of the options that uh we examined in that process. And it was interesting um as we were looking at that I got an email from a Cheshire resident uh Carl Ming who uh wrote an article a clinical review for the delayed school start times and adolescent sleep a systematic review of experimental evidence and his co-author Nancy Red Recker is also a Cheshure resident. So found that really interesting. I appreciate him reaching out to me with that resource in particular. Um, and so we did look at, you know, what are the implications of this? So when we designed some initial options for feedback, we did that in the spring, early summer, we solicited feedback

100from students, staff, and parents via via both online surveys and groups. Um I had several uh virtual group meetings with uh folks, stakeholders, staff, parents. Um and it was really valuable feedback. We then uh in midsummer took that feedback, made some revisions uh and issued again for more feedback. Uh and here we are finally at the end of the summer looking at what I hope to be final considerations. So our initial early summer survey uh the first choice which happened to be a lot like our current schedule the proposal A was the most favored 31.7% selected that is their most favored when you look at the 2200 responses we had which is really strong we don't get 2,000 responses for most anything. So, um, that was, I guess, the good news. It was also the

101bad news because 33% had it as their least favorite option more than the people who selected it for their most favorite option. So, it was really interesting to have that kind of dichomous result. Um, where love it or hate it kind of thing. Um so some of the considerations that we had to review uh there was not just the um the feedback around select your favorite but there was a lot of open-ended analysis that went on there was also like I said those opportunities to uh meet with me and we took all that different feedback um people did there was strong interest in a later school start time for the high school uh which you you know, I think was honestly a little bit surprising to me that there was that much interest in it

102um from our, you know, K6 parents um or K12 parents. Later school start times would unfortunately coincide with peak rush hour on Route 10. However, when I met with the traffic division, you know, if we we bumped school back an hour and and the traffic went from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. to get to school, a lot of that time would be sitting on route 10. Um therefore, you know, undercutting the effort to provide more opportunity for sleep. Uh single bus run cost before fuel. you know, this is a um estimate $80,000 is actually closer to 90 when you bake fuel into the equation and everything. Um so to add several runs because one of the options was right now we have a three tier system. If we just added more buses and made a

103two-tier system, one on each tier, the cost would go up astronomically and and that was a deterrent obviously. Um and then finally, you know, the significant adjustments to start time as I kind of talked a little bit were welcomed by many and rejected by many. Um some people thought it was great, other people horrible, right? So, um I guess in I would make the point here that you know we were not expecting you don't expect unanimous endorsement of anything but we weren't looking to get close knowing the passion that exists among the uh 8,000 stakeholders that were kind of involved in this process. So, midsummer adjustments. All right, this is our current schedule. And when we got that feedback, um, we said, "All right, well, here was initial proposal A that was the most favorable,

104but again, also the least favorable." Dug into why a little bit, and we created a revised proposal A to kind of address those concerns. One of the major concerns that um was voiced and it was really out of the elementary uh groups that 350 on initial proposal A is the the end of day for Norton and Highland was um not tolerable for our families because they said my kids have to get to events at 4:00 4:30 um and if I'm getting out at 3:50 that's the bell I'm not getting home. There's not even getting home at 4:30. Um, so what we did was try and squeeze down. I worked with uh Luther and and uh Emily. We worked together to try and massage that back end of that because that was the the driving factor

105really around a lot of the um the discomfort with that proposal. So then we we sent that revision out to the community and this is this chart is honestly a bit cumbersome. Um but it's parent feedback from more than 1,200 people and you had the option of indicating I could tolerate it. I don't like it. I hate it. I love it. So it was really it fell into those two you know was it favorable? not super favorable but favorable and or unfavorable. And um the revision had a favorability index of 82.56 uh% of our families, our parents said that this schedule was favorable, which to me was like, oh my god, I wasn't expecting to get 82% after 30% being the the peak initially. So then the the uh staff data for about 300 staff

106members um 77.8% favorable uh you know 22.2% 2% unfavorable. Again, really, you know, generally a pretty positive number. Um, where it wasn't as favorable were some of the later schools. You can see it was I could tolerate it at Highland and Norton. Didn't really love it. The student um count, and this was only in students grades 6 through 12, 118 students. I appreciate them taking the time to take the survey. 70% favorable roughly 68.64. So with the feedback that we received and knowing where the faculty um sat on this and and they didn't like that they were getting out significantly later uh 4:15 because um you know they're starting later in the morning but they're getting out later and then they have their own children um and their activities and everything else. Uh so on

107the bottom right what you see is the proposed schedule with faculty start and end times. If you remember it was 80 plus% favorable from parents. So I didn't think we really had to address that group all that much in terms of making modifications but the staff was you know really not favorable and that was driven by predominantly Norton and Highland. So what I did was talk to our administrators. I'm talking to the union. We're considering making a shift there where we're adding a little bit more time in the morning for our staff, taking a little bit time away in the afternoon. And ultimately what you end up with is um an adjustment uh there for for our staff from a 4:00 end day to 405, which is beyond reasonable I think uh under the circumstances.

108Now, the other reality is that we um we don't know what dismissal and traffic will look like at the new buildings yet. So, this is 2627. And if we find that, you know, we're wildly efficient and everybody's just sitting around at that point, we could make another adjustment. But I think, you know, what I'm trying to illustrate is over the course of probably five months now, um, if I think that's probably fair, maybe longer. Um, we've worked Emily, you know, even Vin, uh, Marlene, Luther, our our police department, you know, worked in taking a look at this. had a lot of feedback from parents and staff and students and crafted what I think again we're never going to get unanimous endorsement of anything but I think what we've crafted is the most reasonable schedule that

109is also accurate and accommodates our our community needs so I'm presenting it tonight I'll share it with our you know stakeholders again tomorrow but I would anticipate that you know by the time we um come back here again in September 4th to uh review the opening of schools that at that point I think we'll be ready to to adopt this or something very close to it. And um that's important because the next phase in this transition that we're uh you know living through is that our faculty is going to have to think about you know the transferring of people. You know we're redistricting the the community. Our students will be um dispersed differently than they are now. Right? We have 950 kids at Highland School. 200 of those students will then be going to um

110Barnum. And that means we're going to be shifting staff there, too. And to be fair to them, we want them to know like, all right, well, what's the the time of that building? And does that work for my family for me to be able to to request a transfer to that building or would that not be working? Because if you remember early on in the presentations, you know, the the reviews that we were doing, the elementary school could have potentially been, you know, much later start time or much earlier start time, excuse me. So like now that people know, um, and the community now will have a year to prepare for I think what amounts to relatively minor adjustments for most people. um and then our faculty will be able to make a decision about

111whether they want to request a transfer. Doesn't mean it's automatically going to be granted. We need to make sure that the faculties are balanced between the buildings, but um I think it puts everybody on much more solid ground to be able to move into this next phase. So, at this point, obviously, I'll entertain any questions you guys may have. >> I think that was the last slide. Yeah. Sticking with the theme this evening, um what's the uh cost increase? >> Um >> I know we're looking at like almost 800,000 on some of these roots. >> Yeah. >> Right. The the um cost increase on this proposal because our costs are predicated on the um peak number of buses we have in any current run. So um this proposal increase it adjusts the number of buses

112that we have in the current run because just we would have to do this anyway. It's not a function of the times per se. So all of the um except for the later high school start time all of them had cost increases. Ironically the the one with the later start times was actually a bit cheaper. this one the the overall baseline cost increase is $367,000. >> Yeah. So it's I mean some of the other >> terrible >> some of the other configurations >> right as much as like I said the two-tier um when we were looking all right so the later high school start time to drop in a three- tier system uh was $73,000 cheaper. So although the community hated it, so that didn't work. Um to go with the early elementary start, later

113high school start time um on a on a three- tiered system, a million dollars more expensive. The um uh other proposal we had was a tried to be more a coste effective version of a two-tier system with an earlier high school start. That was a $734,000 increase. The two-tier later high school was $800,000 increase. So this also happens to be the most, you know, one of the most economical options of the various proposals. We initially looked at five different proposals. This is the second cheapest of the five. So I think there are a lot of reasons and again that's why I indicated in the considerations that cost is a factor >> um for everybody. So you know all things considered I think uh we're in really good shape here. Um but I like I said

114I will issue this out to the community again tomorrow. >> Yeah. Tim >> so you said it's about $400,000 a $400,000 increase on a $4 million budget. Is that right? So, it's about a 10% increase. >> Um, well, if those numbers are accurate, Vinn, I don't know if the the uh transportation budget is like the busing budget is accurate. You would know 36. >> Yeah. So, it's 367,000 on 400. So, less than >> less than 10%. It says 4.3 million, but I wasn't sure if the transportation line item was matched up to what we're talking about tonight or if there was some other factors in there. Yeah, that's why I wanted to defer to been on that detail. >> And what's the delta between um what you're thinking right now versus the least expensive option?

115>> Well, about more than $400,000. The least expensive option would be a later high school start time. >> Yeah, >> that would be $73,000 cheaper than what we currently do >> on top of the 367. So, we're talking about a $450,000 difference. Yeah. Between the two. Okay. But it wasn't favorable. >> But yeah, >> that was one that >> No, I like it save us money, but it's not favorable to the other variables. >> And it creates other issues like traffic issues. >> Yeah. I mean, if it's not saving any time, that doesn't uh >> Yeah, it doesn't save you the time that you're looking for. Creates significantly more traffic issues and could potentially >> I don't want to make traffic any worse in town, >> right? On route 10 >> for sure. >> Yeah.

116one I think just one last question on this for Emily. These are uh my understanding is the $80,000 per year the $400 per day for a bus and that includes five and a half hours six hours of bus driver time. >> Yeah. Five and three4. >> So how is it do they basically do two different shifts effectively then? like a morning shift because we're running they're going to be on the road and sort of available from 7 a.m. until 4:30. So I'm assuming that's more than 5 and a half hours. So they get like a 4 hour lunch break kind of. >> Yeah. It's kind of however we economize that drive time. So it's on the road is the five and three/4ers. It's not accounting for breaks or anything. So if we can make, you

117know, a two-tier system with a two-tier system you're less economical, right? Because you don't have your drivers on the road as much time as you have for a three- tier system. But it's that is the cost three hour five hours and 3/4 per day >> for even though even though it happens over a 9 hour period >> right they have to guarantee their drivers that >> huh >> and they have to guarantee their drivers that or they walk and go work someplace else. So even though we did it four hours, >> you know, we wouldn't have any drivers at that point. >> Yeah. No, no, no. I understand that completely. I was just trying to understand that cuz I've never seen that. >> When the board is um done with their questions, then we usually

118defer to the the um audience at that point. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Sure. >> Any other questions for Dr. Solen? >> We want to take a question from the community. >> Uh we can definitely take a question from the community given that we don't have a large audience. again if you want to step up to the mic that we could because it's recorded and we can't hear you if you're just asking from your seat. Thank you. >> My question is do we own the school buses or are they leased? >> So the we have a contract with Dco and um we're charged through that. The the cost of owning a school bus uh is really prohibitive. >> Right. We and we've entered a recent agreement a new contract with DO um and you know

119we've had a mutual uh beneficial relationship I think with them. They just purchased a property in town to maint uh provide maintenance on fleet. So it that will make our service much cheaper. um they have are are expanding their operations here in Treasure on Sandbank Road. So um it's it's we've benefited from their growth in our community. >> The other question I had related to buses was did you look into smaller buses for some routes versus >> the standard size bus? I mean was that a consideration to be able to save some cost? >> Absolutely. We have so um we do own some buses and vans that are smaller than the standard school bus and we provide th that route service um where it's appropriate to maximize our cost. our our current transportation director um

120spent many years working I think it was for FedEx um and we leverage all the technology we can and artificial intelligence to map the the most efficient route with the you know maximizing the seats on the bus. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> Thank you. >> Um actually just if you if you would Dr. Solen. Um I know this isn't a discussion point, but it kind of ties into your uh we have had um several inquiries about the pro the busing exception process and so on. And so if you can kind of clarify uh for those at home who would like to submit I know there was a rash of emails that came in after Luther sent out the bus times the bus routes. So >> yeah, I think actually it was it was probably

121before that because actually I know it was before that because >> what um happened is that we have you know our board policy pretty much like every school system in Connecticut uh K through six if you live within a mile of the school you're designated as a walker. um it doesn't mean your kindergartenner um is expected to necessarily walk alone or by the way that one mile distance can be from your bus stop as well. Um, so you could walk a mile to your bus stop, you could walk a mile to the school. And, um, we knew that with our enrollment increases that we've seen over the last few years, we used to easily pretty much guarantee if if you lived within the walking zone, um, and you've filed an available seat petition that you

122we could easily pretty much say, "All right, yeah, we're going to have seats on the bus." not a ton of seats, but we knew that there would be an available seat for you and we could put you on that. So, we had families that had approved stops kind of close to their neighborhood or home for the last four, five, six, seven years. And um knowing that that may not be feasible this year, um on June 2nd, we sent an email to all parents. It says, and you know, basically as our community continues to grow, we see an increase in student population, the available seat petition may not be available to you. Um, and that, you know, you need to submit your forms on time and we were telling people in late August that, you know,

123I can't approve your request yet. the available seat petition. Actually, the form says that, you know, we'll we don't necessarily approve your form until September 15th because we want to know what wrership on the bus looks like um before we start guaranteeing walkers. But in the last, like I said, handful of years, we've been able to approve it much, much sooner. So, you know, um when people were told that, yeah, we we can't approve your seat yet. Um you know, some people took to Facebook, some people called Luther, some people emailed us. Um and so I I I'm afraid it created some confusion for the riding population who lives more than a mile from this. Like, am I not getting a bus? That's never a question. If you live more than a mile from your

124school, you will always get a bus. And that's where we're at right now. Unfortunately, where some of the people who live in the walking zone who would like a bus, they're in a little bit of a a wait and see period um till after school starts and we can better gauge the ridership on the bus. And if you know, of course, if there are seats available and you know, we're we're coming through your neighborhood. Yeah, we'll pick you up. Um, as long as we're not going to make stops at every door, but you know, we'll see what we can do as we've done forever. Um, so right now we're just kind of in limbo on that. I have copies of the available seat petition and the memo uh that we sent to families if you

125know give them out afterward. Thank you, Dan. Any other questions? >> Mr. Gripple, th this isn't bus related, but it's Walker related. >> Sure. >> Just because as I've said many times, I live there, right? The uh the new crosswalks at the Barnum School um where there is high high rate of speed. Um, how would I petition uh to like who would I petition? Town council or is it the building committee for some more effective measures for let's say speed control that doesn't involve police? you know, more I guess physical barrier gates or some >> Yeah, something like that. Like, well, probably not bumps, but I think >> like for recommendations or if has that passed and that was already it's already been considered. >> So, >> you know, like now that you see it

126on the ground, you kind of look both ways down. >> Yeah. So, the police department um basically control like the traffic division makes recommendations on that sort of stuff and that's we're not foreign to that. We've had those sort of questions asked um over the years on in different locations actually. Forget the name of the street, Vinn. Remember a few years ago we had that car go off the road um over by Pops Pizza. I forget the name of that street, but you know where the the family was concerned about, you know, the families who live over there were concerned about speed and so we engaged the police department and st stuff like that uh in those sort of situations. Um, and they're helpful. But I think, you know, maybe you want to start with

127the traffic division there. We haven't identified yet 2627. Like the the police department oversees the crossing guards and so, you know, they haven't gotten there yet for 2627 and where they will station a person to support crossing, but I'm sure if you drive around town in the morning, you'll see crossing guards out. Um, they might put a crossing guard up there. I would wouldn't be shocked if they did. So, I mean, I I know that, you know, we've had discussions about uh you know, well, you just put a bus because it may even though we put in a nice crosswalk now and everything, it's right across the street, it still may not be I mean, I know kids at Norton, you know, cross 42 all the time if there's a crossing gardens that. So, yeah,

128maybe that's all being set up. And so, >> so, so just one other point there um you know that you made me think of as you were talking about it that there's another form on our um transportation site uh called an accommodation form too. And you know if you reach out to and I know you guys on the board have seen these periodically over the years like my location is unsafe, you can still fill that out too. Um, and we do have a couple of those places that, you know, it's not safe for kids to be walking or whatever because there's no sidewalk usually. >> Um, and you know, we do have a couple of those as well. >> And the police evaluate those. We don't really evaluate that. >> Now, kudos to the company.

129>> Benny's up and in action now. >> Kudos to the company that built the sidewalks. Are they looking >> Oh, they did a great job with the sidewalks. >> I did want to add the point that for both new schools, Jeff, I'm I'm sure This just triggered that there were some specific specifications in design for the crosswalks at Barnum. Um some lighted signage at the crosswalks. Um I could pull those specs on Monday and send them out. But we're going to have more than just a crosswalk like we do at the traditional school. So that may, >> you know, help you and then you could take it from there if you further. Adam, >> I appreciate that. >> I will pull that. Do you remember Jeff? We >> I vaguely >> during the planning and

130zoning meeting even. >> So there are specs and I just don't remember the details but I'll pull them. >> Thank you. >> So Vin, just to clarify, you're going to have the crosswalk plus the lighting plus the human factor of a crossuard as well. Well, I can't speak to the crossing guard because that's not set definitively, but the signage that's been designed as part of the new schools. Okay. >> You know, that that is definitive. So, I get that and I'll issue it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Sen. There's any additional items. Uh, Mr. White, >> thank you. Yeah, the with regard to the the one mile rule, it does seem like a it does seem like a reasonable concern, a very important concern on the part of parents who fall within

131the one mile and the concerns for safety. One thing I was reading an article totally unrelated to this topic. The article was kind of related to the anxious generation and getting kids out in their neighborhoods and playing. But what it was talking about was a change that's happened in the last say 40 or 50 years where cars are physically bigger SUVs. They're wider than cars used to be. Um so you said that there is you just mentioned that there is a mechanism a tool for people to use when they feel they're unsafe and then the police would get involved to review it. I presume like number of cars on the road stuff like that there. I think that's some of their standard stuff. Have you ever have the Cheshire public schools ever changed based on

132what the police have said? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, there is a there is a real um input there and it is a possibility for parents to a path for parents to go. >> Sure. It it's um >> I wasn't sure if I just want to make sure it wasn't cursively like, oh, we'll send it to the police and they say everything's fine and then we walk away from this. It is an actual discussion that we're involved in with the parents. Okay. >> Yeah. you know, th the this uh on the screen you can see the accommodation petition. Um it could be uh you know, generally around a bus stop or bus route and you can fill that out and then the police department reviews it along with DACO, public works, uh management, whoever um

133you know is gerine to. Yeah. >> And then they issue some sort of decision. Um, and I will say sometimes, you know, the decision is not one that the the family agrees with or sometimes it's not one that we agree with, but they they go through the process. >> Well, yeah. They're just doing it on their standard, right, >> protocol, which for the police that in, you know, they might put up a stop sign or something like that, but they look at the actual traffic that goes through that intersection. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you for that. Um, and one other point just to what Adam was talking about before, I think you you're sort of alluding to traffic calming measures. And just one point on that that comes to mind for me is speed bumps.

134My general understanding is that the police do support something like that and public works fights it all the time. They don't want to have to deal with it with snow plows. >> I don't think you could put that >> or Marian Road though. That's >> I think it would be tough. But I mean >> that's a very high traffic area. >> I don't think >> and we need traffic, but we don't have >> New Haven, but you know, they can do it in New Haven, but >> Yeah. I mean, we basically, my understanding is we generally don't have them in town because the public works, it complicates their life more than anything. It's not even about residents. It's more about public works. >> Yeah. Plowing it. Yeah. >> Exactly. >> Actually, Dr. I do have

135one more point if you will and and if you can disclose as much as possible which this is the first time I've encountered this um inquiries about um changing school districts um we did have one inquiry from a parent from another town who allegedly lives right on the border of um and they would like to send their children to Cher public schools as opposed to the neighboring town. So, how does one >> Sure. We get those inquiries pretty regularly. >> Okay. >> Um, and you know, you may have heard me say more than once, people don't move here for the nightife. Um, >> never heard. >> And they don't move next door to take advantage of Yeah. But, um, people that live on the periphery of Cheshure often, Carol, how many several times a year

136we many times a year probably, uh, we get the inquiry. Um, sometimes there are little wrinkles that we want to investigate a little further to um, ensure that we're making an accurate decision. But if your property pays taxes to another community, that's where you go to school. Um, and it is tricky because there are some actual addresses that say Cheshure, but don't they're not Cheshure property. um maybe because that's where the mailbox is. Uh it's weird. Um and so they're not and so some of them get a little bit trickier and um but unfortunately you know we educate the students who live in Cheshure and pay their property tax to Cheshire. >> Yes sir. my recollection from about 20 years ago and you might recall this. I believe it was Stamford Greenwich and the kid

137and the parents went to court and the ultimate decision was where the head where the head hits the pillow in the room. And so if you have bedrooms that are straddling the line, it's theoretical that you can go to, you know, whichever class, whichever district you want to go to. Um, I don't know how the courts view it in terms of like a closet being on the line, but that was that I'm almost positive that was it was a decision that was made. >> Depends on if you sleep in your closet. But I did consult with uh Floyd on this one as well um just to verify um that was the accurate decision. This guy's >> the there are pro there are properties that are paying taxes percentages of of taxes to Chester and to

138another community. >> The the the other tricky thing is sometimes the vehicle tax can go to one >> and the home to another. It's it's really there are tricky ones like that and so we do >> try and do our diligence and evaluate them. >> Thank you for clarifying that >> for us. Um, next item is old business. I do not have any of board members have any other uh any old business to share? Nope. Um, lastly, uh, I really would just like to say have a great school year because we're starting early. So, um, convocation is on the 18th. Um, and this is going to be a really exciting. You can smell the fresh new school year smell right now. So, I'm really excited. This is my favorite time of year. Um, I did

139want to bring up one thing that to my knowledge, um, Cabe, Mr. Perigene is not here, but Cabe is and I will have a conversation with him um establishing an alumni group, if you will, um for past board members or board members who are on who were part of CABE u and doing work with CABE. So, I'm going to highly encourage Mr. Perigini to continue the work with them if he could. Um but outside of that, the following are the upcoming meetings for the school year. Um currently Thursday, September 4th would be the BOE opening of schools meeting here at Town Council Chambers at 7:30. Monday, September 8th, the curriculum committee will be meeting at 7 at central office boardroom. Monday, September 15th, the policy committee meets at 7 at the central office boardroom. Thursday,

140October 16th, the board of ed business meeting will take place here at 7:30 in town council chambers. Um, as far as school and community events and activities are concerned, as I mentioned, August 18th, convocations at 8:30 and I will be there. I'm uh hoping other board members could join. Um, August 21st will be the first day of school for all students. And then we move into September 1st, which is Labor Day break. schools are closed in September 23rd which is the Rashashana holiday schools will be closed then with that I would take a motion to adjourn. >> Can I can I actually >> Yes. Um >> I believe October 14th for Indigenous People's Day should be October 13th. >> It should be October 13th which is the Monday. >> Thank you for that. >> Anybody

141else? All right. Anyone want a motion to adjurnn? >> Yes, ma'am. >> How would I find that out? >> Why don't we adjourn and I'll come over and check. >> Thank you very much. You're welcome. >> Thank you, >> Mr. White. Call for a motion to adjurnn. Anybody want to second Mr. White's motion? Mr. Grippo. All those in favor of adjournment, it's unanimous. We are journed. Thank you for attending the meeting this evening.