001January 9th um M jinsky roll call please here here here thank you please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and for great the next um item would be audience participation and anybody out there would like to approach the microphone Moren no I'm good okay thank you um so we're here today to discuss um items regarding legislative matters with the chure delegation and at this moment in time we have representative linahan here um but I'm gonna actually forward this to Dr Solen because I know he's got some items here to um address sure um you know before I go through some of the items in a very cursory fashion and and certainly this I
002think this night is much more about the opportunity to hear from our board and representative linan uh as we open the legislative session today right yesterday yesterday excuse me um so uh again really quickly first of all I just want to say thank you to you I know um uh the other members of the delegation couldn't be here this evening I really appreciate you uh representing the group and I appreciate the work that you and all the members of our delegation do um we very much respect that you know you guys are representing our community our students um and Us in Hartford and that is incredibly meaningful um certainly there have been many highlights uh throughout that relationship that's been beneficial for us and our kids so thank you to you uh and the rest
003of the delegation and thank you very much by the way and to the entire board um I very much value our relationship with everyone here so thank you so much um so you know hitting some of the highlights that you we we've uh thought through is a board and um some of these are kind of historical in nature and um some of them have certainly evolved in time uh educational cost share um that's the state Grant uh for uh basically every District in Connecticut uh there's a formula that dictates how much communities receive uh and I went back into our history in essence we've received 10 million in state funding uh for Education since 1990 uh so about a 35e period if it hasn't changed since when I've been in high school that's not a
004good sign um at the time it represented about 33% of our total budget uh it's now closer to 10 so um we will share with you in Greater detail and the rest of the delegation but we wanted the opportunity to engage in some dialogue this evening so that we could you know refine anything um is necessary and make sure that we're kind of all on the same page with respect to that uh another item that I know has already received a lot of bipartisan traction and Hartford is the special education excess cost Grant uh for those that aren't necessarily aware um you when a student's special education costs exceed four and a half times per pupil expend the um cost of that between the Delta between whatever the cost is and four and a half
005times is basically entered into a pool and all the districts across Connecticut send that information to uh sde who then administers one block grant a lot of people think that all of the money is paid out it is not and um there were some adjustments made to that that have reduced uh every District's share uh for us it's gone from about 72% reimbursement to 62% reimbursement moreover the cost of special education especially private education which is uh pretty much where all of these students fall out placement Services which are um fairly expensive for expensive to begin with have become astronomically expensive has the transportation which is a huge component of that so our bill has gone up pretty significantly in spite of the fact that we work very hard to retain kids in District and
006we've created programs to retain kids in District um so we're getting less of a bigger chunk of money uh so it's it's been hurting us on both ends uh one of the things that we would recommend and chesher has done for years is ask the state to find a way to incent Vis districts for building in-house or Regional programs um Highland has been a beacon for that uh work for decades uh we've established other programs actually in other schools now dittle and uh Norton as well so anything the state could do to even incentivize those programs uh because we don't get reimbursed on those uh being in housee um can I interject on this a little bit um for uh are we we televis tonight right now y okay because I I wanted to make
007sure that people understand it's recorded as well all right great um for those who are watching I know everyone up here is going to know exactly what I'm talking about but for everyone who's watching chesher is one of the leaders in that I I mean I can't tell you how many times I've had parents from all around Connecticut because I I used to be the house chair of the committee on children and so I would hear from parents across the state and they're like you don't understand because chesher does it so much better than everyone else and that's not lip service the programs that you guys put together is phenomenal um and I'd love to see them grow and I really like the idea of incentivizing that so um I know that I'm the only
008member of the delegation here uh tonight and our bills need to go in soon um I really love that idea so much that I do ask that you someone here carves out an hour for me um tomorrow or Monday to talk about that so I can literally put the bill in this week um I think that's really really important it doesn't have to be completely fleshed out but with that said one of the things um that I used to love so much was the bridges program at DOD um and that is no longer there correct it's evolved a lot of our programs and we have we're Nimble enough to evolve to meet student needs so when students have uh emotional needs as are addressed through a Bridges program then we can adopt programs to meet
009those needs when we don't have uh students that have those needs often we pivot to meet different needs um and so you know if there's a a critical mass of students where it makes economic sense for us to to be able to provide that then we certainly do it sometimes um it makes more sense to outplay a student which we hate to do yeah um but if if able we certainly try and build an internal program uh to meet the students needs so as it stands right now we didn't have the demand for that program at the middle school only be two grades we do have at k6 do little okay great good so and there's no plans to change the as PRI program at the high school no so again you know all of
010these programs that we design are predicated on enrollment needs um and the needs of our students so we pivot based on those needs so and to be that Nimble is actually fantastic in and of itself well it's more cost effective and uh better support for our students so for example years and years ago we had a a transition Collegiate program at qu where students um were receiving is required by law uh special ed services to the age of 21 it's it's since been extended to 22 but during the period of this program we delivered uh a transitional program there for students who um were not life skill students students who were um actually taking general education courses at the Collegiate level un you know is is not unfortunately but just our needs have changed we
011didn't have the demand for that for our students um and so we no longer have that program but we could reinitiate uh quinx been a great partner with us we could reinitiate if the need arises so like we try and find Pathways to solve these problems in an uh way that's economically um feasible but also you know really meets our students needs so these changes were not budgetary they were based solely on the student needs yeah ABS that's fantastic absolutely I love that great thank you so that's you know we're tracking IEPs we can kind of project out Robin an Cary our PPS director does a great job of working with our special ed supervisors principles um our full team in trying to project those things um another uh area that I know is receiving
012a lot of attention is elevating the profession of Education just generically um we'll certainly send some more information but you know we're in in this respect kind of the last to find out uh that it's really hard to hire uh people out of college because I think you know as you mentioned we're not just a destination for parents but for professionals too and so you know um we do tend to have a decent applicant pool however in recent years it's become much much more challenging to the point where unfortunately we're poaching people from other districts not that we're actively recruiting them but when they apply to us I feel bad that we're recruiting somebody who's been some place else for 10 years it's not a great way for us to build people's capacity over time
013um and it's certainly a heck of a lot more expensive well let's be honest about that it's hard to bring in new people when there isn't enough housing there aren't there isn't enough housing oh well that's true we can't there there's no place for them to live when they're coming out of state yeah from out of state so you know our job growth and economic growth our business growth our professional growth is so dependent on housing and people often forget that and so chesher is doing a fantastic job right now of building housing I think this isn't obviously solely a Boe issue but there when people hear the term building housing they are afraid of that but this is one of the things that we're seeing without enough housing we can't get the Professionals in
014here and yes that includes teachers yeah chesher um like you said is doing an exceptional job yes especially with multi-unit housing let's not forget folks that affordable housing only means 80% of market rate which actually is still twice as much as my mortgage for my 2300 sare foot home yeah so you know I'll share in the budget meeting uh at 7:30 you know how treasure has expanded with those uh homes and opportunities hopefully that's attractive for teachers who may want to relocate uh locally but um you know there's the other issue is we just do not see people coming out of UN University uh pursuing the the career and that is uh not just a Cheshire Public Schools or State uh e educational problem it's a major economic and uh problem if we're not producing
015talented people to work locally so sure um that's just a another area existing in or potential mandates facing education uh that's you know a horse that's been beaten but we had a committee to get rid of so many mandates we mandated a committee to get rid of mandates that was fun yeah um the cor kindergarten piece is something that um you know we've seen tremendous success with uh our students starting the age of five uh in September rather than um January 1st has been a very positive shift um not surprisingly as I know that's been recommended by Beth b by uh almost every other state in America and so that we I think um and I don't want to say we because I'm this is my preference would be to see um that just be
016a hard cut rather than waving in and out it take it's um we do a lot to evaluate students and they're making a lot of families are making decisions based on economics rather than education which isn't really good um and so you know just something for consideration indoor air quality um V you want to talk a little bit about the in the granting for indoor air quality sure thanks good evening everyone hello thank you for being here miss school lunch and prevailing wage while you're at it yeah okay oh I got to go well indoor air quality there's there's um you know the states had a lot of emphasis on improving indoor air quality in schools so to upgrade the HVAC systems the state has put out two different rounds of HVAC grants we did
017get approval for some grant money in the last round the state's supposed to be making another round available I don't know if that's going to happen but the recommendation we had in last year's legislative session is just make hbac grants eligible under the state's standard grant program through osgr so that's it was Co dollars correct yes yeah so so they weren't going to make anything State money until there was no more Federal money so I I that would be the reason why nothing really has moved forward in that respect now until now um but as we keep going forward I would imagine that if uh it is still seen as um a priority that there there would be some sort of State money but I do want to say whenever we apply for a grant
018please let my office know um I I I honestly don't get notified um when anyone in municipal government is applying for a grant which is something I've been trying to get people to condition to do for so long um and it's still not done but uh I can be very helpful in that so please the whole delegation let us know okay um you want me to talk about well the next item is the national school lunch breakfast a lunch and breakfast program um so here our recommendation um and you know this year just to refresh everyone's memory anyone who's eligible for reduced price meals is getting those meals at no cost so they're free the state did that on its own um and you had a hand in that I suppose yes thank you that
019came out of yes that was that was our bill yes but the the thresholds are very very low the federal thresholds um just to give you an idea here in the state of Connecticut you know which applies nationally a family of four would have to make a gross income of less than $4,560 to free meals and that's gross income a family of four I don't know how you live on 4,560 in Connecticut and then if you wanted to get reduced price meals you'd have to be below 57,7 120 and for family of four so those thresholds for Connecticut are way too long you know our recommendation is raise those thresholds so that more families can qualify one of the things that we've been seeing in the last couple of years is that the number of
020families who aren't paying for their meals has increased by a lot prior to the last couple of years the most we ever had in unpaid meal balances when we ended a year was $4,000 last year it was around 20,000 this year it's pacing equal to that 20,000 we're at about 21,000 now and we think that's a sign that there are a lot of families that just miss qualifying that's exactly what it is that can't get free and reduced so you know I know maybe we can't change the federal law that quickly because I think that's what needs to happen but can Connecticut work to provide a gap so that we can allow more just adjust for cost of living right so let me explain what I tried to do last year um uh so the
021extra money that you guys received at the end of the year um for this coming year excuse me this year that we're in now um based on if you had a free if you had reduced lunch now it was going to be free that was money that really we went around to um different districts uh senators and representatives who had had some money out in bonding that we could actually or in the budget that we could reduce by 10 grand here 15 grand here little bits and pieces in order to move it to a different pot to pay for that um originally the bill that was trying to be pushed through was free meals for everyone um unfortunately that's not uh economically feasible however the bill that I put in which I think it might
022take a few years but with the help of everybody here we might be able to get it moving faster um is everyone here um familiar with what the Alice numbers are so for those watching on TV it's um asset Alice stands for asset limited oh my gosh AI income constrained employed so it basically means that you have a one or two parent household you're working um but you don't necessarily own a home you're paycheck to paycheck uh and so with the cost of living so high in the state of Connecticut the federal poverty level in Connecticut is always done in a multiplier to make it right for Connecticut what the United Way did was created this these Alice numbers instead that says um this is how much you need to live in Connecticut if you
023are an ALICE family what's interesting about the Alice numbers is that they are not done Statewide it costs more to live in chesher than it does to live in Colchester for instance so so the Alice numbers from United Way are done geographically within the state so what we tried to do was um to have the state put in extra money for Alice families to be able to reach to have that um threshold be the Alice number for the community that you live in that number did turn out to be quite high so instead what we were trying to negotiate was the possibility of a 7525 split uh and with that 25% um that you guys can local Boards of Ed can go out and raise funds for that to be put in it doesn't necessarily
024have to come out of any operating budget um and so we're getting some traction there uh it would be an opin because we don't want to force any community that can't afford it right um but there can be ways that maybe we can all figure it out um there was some push back because quite honestly there's not a great understanding of Alice numbers um and and how they are determined but I think we're overcoming that obstacle so to your point the federal numbers are not going to change we are pretty confident that nothing like that will move in in our Direction over the next four years um so while there is a combination of needing to um be proactive there's also the need to be re active so we can be proactive and pass things
025like this and hopefully help it but we also have to leave enough room and money for us to be reactive when the federal Administration does something to essentially hurt blue States so all of that to say um this year you may not see a lot of budget movement because we have to be the combination of proactive and reactive there needs to be enough room to be reactive to what's coming down the Pike and we're not going to know that federally until after we do our state budget so there's a little bit of concern there what I am going to ask I will alert all of you that if these things do get raised in either the committee on children uh I know I shouldn't say I know I'm confident that there will be some School
026meals legislation raised whether it's in the committee on children or in education or possibly even both I don't know but I think testimony from everyone from communities like ours are really important because uh middle class and upper middle class communities are often seen as having enough money to handle things but we have to remember that just because we have some wealthy residents doesn't mean we have all wealthy residents so your input on these issues is going to be hugely important communities like chesher need to have a voice I just ask mhm sorry can I just ask uh just from your perspective if there were something that the board unanimously supported um would it be better to draft one piece of testimony or seven seven um and one person should show up and they should alert
027me and I will walk them in and sit next to them and that's that's how all testimony from the board should and if not me then Jen hakel Jack vino or any one of our you know even um Senator Samson if he agrees with it he'll do that too um so we will certainly do that for anyone who asks thanks sure okay and then the last one um that I have is the prevailing wage which we've requested before right now if we go for a new construction project the prevailing wage uh minimum is a million dollar or more but for renovation it's $100,000 and we'd like to see that increase to $500,000 it'll just enable us to do smaller project you know at a more efficient lower cost is the goal of that request the
028one thing that um I can say at at every turn is that I will always be honest with you even when it's not politically expedient this is one of those times there I'm going to guess 99.999% chance that there will not be any prevailing wage legislation in the next four years we still put it on the list sure absolutely but I just want to be honest and that that completes the list yeah thank you uh obviously like I said I want to leave this open for dialogue go ahead gentlemen thank than you Sam uh Jeff thank you for compiling it um and generally I agree with it at 100% that's fine if we vote on it I'll raise my hand in support of it I wanted uh one topic that just came up that across
029my mind was housing and I don't know if this would relate to you in any way Jeff or vin you might opine really briefly if something comes to mind but one thing that struck me about housing we've got humiston across the street that we've been talking about vacating and I've said it for a couple years I've never really advocated other than in a couple meetings but just turning that into Condos for teachers police officers Town employees who might be able to do something so obviously there' be funding issues uh I don't know if there is already a state bucket for housing or something like that that maybe a developer could you know connect with that and it could work another thing that struck me is it could end up sort of conflicting with Union contracts
030I don't know if you're allowed to put an Adder onto a union well if you made it exclusive to Union employes how would that sort of work it's just a side note you mentioned housing so I'm just throwing that out there because I know housings are real issue and I personally think if that got converted to condos people there are people who would probably like it people who are probably on the younger end it's gorgeous building huh it's a gorgeous building but um I'd be sad to see it go but yes um well to not make it go a conversion that's it right I meant for the lovely Board of Ed but um there are a lot of creative ideas on how to repurpose yep older buildings like the idea of that you get tax
031breaks if you are turning malls in into um apartments and condos uh things like that um and I am sure that government buildings could be included in that whether or not you're able to um specify that it could solely be for um Municipal Employees that I don't know that's a super interesting question um and I will do my best to get that answer for you and and email or text you that yeah and it's I'm not looking for I mean if you're having conversations at the this is my job if you're having conversation the building get it I get it I don't want to kill you with research or anything like that I do have a different topic that really crossed my mind just in the past week or two um which is this is
032the uh I'm a little bit older than you but you may recall it this is the 25th anniversary of the Ilan Gonzalez Affair you you recall it so you probably recall um the law enforcement officers who in the pre-dawn hours entered the house guns drawn with her military Garb on with Ilan Gonzalez the six-year-old basically kindergarten age crying president-elect Trump and mass deportations I am 100% on board with going after the 100,000 violent criminals that came into the country God knows how I don't know how that happened I don't want to see I don't want to see Law Enforcement Officers with guns drawn the same thing that happened with the alien Gonzalez going into kindergarten classrooms here in in town um so I'm not speaking to the endgame but at least with regard to the
033how I uh I'm wondering have you spoken with anybody in the state Administration gotten any word about at least if there's going to be a communication because I also saw um uh Trump's uh immigration Zar Tom Holman say that he wants on day one to strike with shock and awe and I understand these are kids I understand what he's talking about I don't want that in our kindergarten classrooms I don't want it in our schools but I really don't want it there I think it could be really really bad um and so I'm wondering if you've had any conversations about anybody at least about how it happens rather than having people knock on the door just walk in the building and say we're here to get so and so this is a heavy conversation um
034I think it's really serious though I I don't mean to say that this is what I've heard is going to happen I haven't heard anything about what will happen right but I did I know that he's talking about shock and awe yeah and I think it's mostly quiet not saying anything more than that and and maybe you know more but but that you understand my concern I 100% not only understand your concern but I share it so um this goes back to what I was saying earlier um being proactive and being reactive we can uh so proactively Connecticut is a sanctuary State okay what that means is it doesn't mean we're going to house all the criminals and throw a party as some might often make people believe what being a sanctuary State means is
035that Municipal and state police officers cannot be used to do the job of the federal government and Ice we cannot use our tax dollars that pay for the protection and the safety of our residents to do the job of federal ice that's all that means it doesn't mean we ignore the law it just means we're not doing it for them with that said that potentially means if there are enough ice officers and they have a warrant to come and round people up can they do so yes they can is there anything that we can do about it right now no there is not as far as whether or not they're allowed into the schools to come and grab the children I honestly don't know um I do know that that is top of mind with
036almost every legislator I've spoken to um and and so that's part of the proactive and reactive things that we are trying to figure out problem is is that uh this Administration hasn't even been sworn in yet um and during the campaign season the conversations that were had around this were so like high level shock and awe well what does that mean there's no white paper that defines what shock and awe is and what their plans are so we don't know if we look at the administration the first time there were Grand plans that never came to fruition but the belief is that those that was because he didn't have the backup um you know the policy people to be able to make that legally happen the concern is now they are there so um so
037there may be things that they're working on that haven't been made public we have yet to see them but they are um we have a whole team of people looking deep to try to get these answers as quickly as possible I can uh when I am contacted by residents not only of chesher but of the state of Connecticut again because um my position in the legislature allows that um there are many people who are fearful for what will happen to their children will they be separated from what we know um what Trump has put out there um there is the desire to separate children from their parents and to hold them how they go and get them and can they do them in our schools that's what we don't know yet so the best I
038can tell you is that it is really top of mind for a lot of us if not all of us thank you um yeah I guess my my closing point is just to reiterate what happens it's the Law whatever I presume whatever it is will be following the law nonetheless how it happens and to the extent ENT that you or the governor whoever could build some sort of relationship with ice to uh try to encourage them to not go into schools um I I think that there could be uh you know the little kids see their friend getting taken away that little kids have in the worst case scenario maybe not the worst case scenario but probably the elen Gonzalez scenario real life situation guns drawn and point at people I I think you can
039talk about shock and awe but if this is what comes to fruition that 's going to be another problem when parents have guns pointed at their kids it's all bad and and again I'm not saying that what's that's what is being planned I have no idea but to the extent that you or the governor whoever could have a relationship to try to encourage people discourage people from from doing something like that and keeping it out of the schools I think I would very much appreciate that you know I think what needs to happen is for the policy to be made public and to and to understand how they're going to carry it out and that's the way we're going to know I I don't think I I don't think there's any good positive relationship that
040you can have with someone to say hey what is your what's your Tactical plan if they're not willing to put it out there like I I it's just we're dealing in it in this new reality um but there are many many people whose sole purpose is to ensure the safety of the kids um I would like to believe that regardless of what administration hires Law Enforcement Officers law enforcement officers are inherently good people and would not want to do that right so let's start there but still work on the policy I understand your concern I have heard from a lot of people who are concerned and we all share it I promise you that we are going to be working on it it's just sort of like what do you do when you don't know
041what you don't know thank you thank you thank you m I'll be quick uh quick few few quick things the uh educator um pool uh issue that Dr s brought up one of the things that and I know I'm not sure how I feel about this one of the things that is working in Connecticut is the reciprocity that's been put in place between Connecticut and orina for example I know last fall uh commissioner Tucker uh gave us an update a different meaning and and we have been on the re the positive end of that meaning that the Connecticut has seen teachers hired away from Rhode Island to come to Connecticut certificates transfer which helps it's not a huge pool but L but that means orland is also suffering because they don't have have the resources
042either for teachers um and even if we do find um even if they come out of college or to Avenues and they want to come live in Treasure as you mentioned the affordability issue I wonder is anything that state could put in place as an incentive for folks to get into that profession maybe there's some incentive towards paying for some to cost of housing they in a great idea about you know turning almost s in the condos but it's one thing for kids students to want to get into the profession and get enrolled and I feel those that do when they come out and have to decide where to work and live there's a clause issue but uh I we know this is going to get worse as time moves on because uh tell neighboring
043states New York New Jersey uh Maine New Hampshire they all have the same problem it seem like no matter what they do um the pools just not out there you guys can't solve this by yourselves but maybe there's a way to put an incentive in place to incentivized teachers that come to conc or live in Connecticut they want to work in E to like treasure or someplace else and the cost of living is a little out of whack maybe there's a little bit incentive for a few years to help them pay off L Cy cost so I'm gonna blow your mind it's like we share a brain um which should scare you tremendously but um I was gonna say it's gonna scare you so I I think I'm in my ninth year I think I'm
044going into my my ninth year in the legislature so this must have been six years ago I wrote a piece of legislation um that was building off a program called learn here live here that actually never got um off the ground but I went in and I changed it in order to get good funding for something that made sense for what we needed and what it basically says is um we can choose this rotating list of professions that will fill deserts or voids for uh for professions anywhere in the state whether it be doctors because we have Healthcare deserts whether it be teachers um what we would do is we would take a student in a Connecticut school uh and if they uh graduate and stay here and sign up for the program that they
045get a percentage of the money that they pay in um taxes back after a period of seven years to play to be used as a down payment on a house here uh and they would have to pay it back if they moved out um within 10 years after that it it was really Innovative at the time um and we got a lot of traction on it it did get passed out of committee out of the higher ed committee um and we thought we were on our way uh and then Governor Lamont um actually changed it to instead be um that it would be student loan forgiveness um for teachers so the bill is still out there there's still the possibility um and I and I think it is time that we start talking about it
046again and the governor's State of the State address he did talk about um the need for better teacher recruitment he wants to do um more male teacher recruitment I think he missed the boat not mentioning lgbtq teacher Recruitment and I'm sure I'm going to get a couple emails about that for saying it right now and out loud but that's what I believe um and so I think that the conversation might be had again this year I will put in that bill again um and we'll see where it goes with it but I think that the need is greater now because we have more professional deserts in the state than ever before uh before it was about keeping the kids here that graduate now it's about filling those professions that we need absolutely and I we
047know each other we know each other we talk quite a bit about this stuff I know we are I appreciate and listen I thank you for being here tonight as well yeah um I know you and the team can't Sol all in yourselves but um I know you'd be looking into that the other one that's really quick is when Dr s talked about uh the impact of mandates on education I know it was two years ago three years ago he actually testified in Harford and you know basically ask hey take a pause study what's out there you know let's limited things that are not working that are you know not cost effective or impacting our students um still very much want to see that uh especially for the unfunded mandates that maybe not be uh
048doing what was intended to do I could tell you and I honestly don't speak for the Department Ed but uh but I got into work with him quite a bit over the last several months uh I think they love the idea but I will tell you that uh commissioner Tucker uh in a k meeting said it's a great idea Tony here's the problem who do you think is GNA be doing that work it's her team which means have to stop other things right so good idea but um it comes back to around to how can we uh convinced the governor to add more staff it's all about full-time employees right so that so that department can have the resources right because it's not the legislators going to be studying the mandates it's going to be
049those agencies and so I I I know you can't put anything the bill to say hey Governor will add more heal count but I think this can actually get some traction if that department had some help even if it's temporary for a year or two but um because if you get those off the plate it frees them up it frees up some resources and or we have some really great appointees from Municipal Boards of Ed across the state to do the work for the state department of education did I just hear you sign up sounds like it well I'm trying to you know that right so I do I think I think though um no but all seriousness there there's I there's a will will there to look into it the resources just aren't there
050yeah but but I'm going to be really honest with you that's what they say to everything they don't want to do that's the standard we don't feel like doing it so we're going to tell you we don't have the staff if I would go to them and say I I can get you in the budget for one and a half people for the next four years what they'd say is we want to put them somewhere else because they don't really want to do that work and I and you know what I hope someone from SD is watching because it's true and they know it yes and no I mean I would say if that right the read was forced upon them they would have time to work on this but so that choose to but
051anyway uh you guys can my point is that you guys can do that you guys can make us a list of the unfunded mandates that aren't working that don't make sense like I I always say don't wait for the State Department of Education to do work that you could probably do better and faster yeah understood uh the point Tim was making about the deportations I 300% it should be impact on families and children obviously but I would hope the state of it is not going to impede the feds from trying to find and get rid of criminal you can't as best possible so um we just can't help them we we're not paying people our tax dollars to do I would hope that if you know State Connecticut has you know um criminal under arrest
052that's on a just watch list this get a heads up but let they fed do to work because we want these folks out of our system yeah that happens but more importantly I I I hope I'm not sure if con is uh is really a big part of this but you know the hundred of thousands of children have been trafficking to the United States that the feds can't account for I hope that if there's some in Connecticut Connecticut's assistant feds helping find those kids and get them back home well I will tell you that transitions nicely into what I need to talk about fig but I but I but I'm sure other people have questions for me yeah I want to turn back over for chair thank you man we do we do have about
053s minutes before our next meeting comence and so um Dr Aran and then miss colon I just want to very quickly um express my appreciation on am I am I heard um for the free and reduced meals and um I'm greatly appreciative that the state increased that threshold why are we nickeling diming families uh reduced versus free so that issue was taken care of I'm one of those people and not everyone maybe nobody else on this board uh would agree with this next statement but there's in my mind nothing more important to the education of our children than having them fed when they come to school and I you know I'm one of those people that really thinks that if there were more will we could find a way to not charge any child for
054having meals at school so I just wanted to get that out love thank you thank you um I just want to reiterate some of the points that Dr Solen made on the special education excess cost reimbursement um I don't think everyone understands the whole parameters around what four and a half times means you know it's it's meeting a threshold of four and a half times of pupil for pupil expenditure and then when you figure that out you're only getting the money out of this bucket of 62% I have I've been an educator for 50 years and for the past 25 years this has been on my radar um as a special educator as a director of special ed and and we don't seem to get anywhere like the only Movement we really had was the
0555% to 4 and A2 That was supposed to go to 2 and A2 it went to 4 and A2 Chaser has a 177% rate throughout the state there's 22% of our kids identified um you know when we talk about not being able to get special education teacher sometimes we don't have the funds to pay a special education teacher because you have all of this cost that's coming out of the budget I'm sure when we see the budget in a few minutes you know you see that piece of the budget for special education um and also there has to be some cap on on private placements you know if they keep going up and up and up obviously what we have to pay goes up and up and up and we're not getting reimbursed for it
056so somewhere this has to become a priority um in the legislature because this is years and years and it just seems like people nitpick at it and that 05% did nothing for us really so yeah I agree and and your expertise now that you're on the board is going to be so helpful um as you know the legislature now has a special select committee on special education and so um I think that your input is going to be hugely important um so anytime you want to come up and talk to the committee I'll Usher you right in I'd be thrilled to do that well I just served two years on the task force for education and we just did a final report that went up um and and we did mention it in there I
057don't know if I mean this was the second time we had done a really um comprehensive report and it had members on it from DCF and private schools and public schools and SD and Educators and whole you know everyone was represented Early Childhood so it was a two-year committee that we just finished our final report on that went up so yeah you know it's going to be it's going to be a main topic of disc and you were there for the governor and you know that he even brought that up and that we need to talk about it so I think we're going to see momentum but also as you know unfortunately sometimes things are slow as molasses so um that's why I would really love to have you or anyone from the board up
058at any time and we would do what I'd call the Rainbow tour and just go knocking on doors in addition to testifying in front of committees it's really important that people understand you're right it's not welln um and because the education committee had always had this plus everything else and that gets drowned out so now that it's a select committee and there's going to be more open conversation about it and we have leaders of all caucuses talking about the need and the governor as well I think we're going to see some movement so absolutely I love to work with you closely on that so thank you thank you representative lenan um that we have two minutes left I do want to just um kind of say that I I agree with my colleagues here on
059especially with the issue with the deportation um you know going back to proactiveness right now before we do hear what's going to happen is there any community service support outside referring those with high anxiety about this to ACLU in your office do are you aware of any other services that might assist with that there are yeah there are a million um Services out there to talk about this I will get you a list and you can forward it uh to students to parents whomever you feel is appropriate um but I'll have someone put that together for you especially for the ones in our area because a lot of times they're sectioned off by area so um and then Madam chair if you wouldn't mind um I have some things that I need to pass out
060to the board would you allow me to do that fantastic um my only other question is I briefly in between other things heard the governor's address there was a mention about rent assistance possibly too speaking to the whole housing we do already have rental assistance there's a whole program for rental assistance I don't know um his speech wasn't too you know deep on the details uh so we don't know yet but we should start to see the budget uh at least little pieces of the budget and the bills come out um soon so we'll know more great thank you thank you and and thank you for allowing me to just say it really quickly uh in 2022 um my committee passed out um an act concerning the identification and preven mention of in response to
061adult sexual misconduct against children uh this is both in schools uh and in sports and it has come to my attention that the um organization Dr Solen remind me again who it was that usually puts together all of the um casbo casbo I don't even know who medicate Association School business officials yes um that they usually put together the list of things that superintendant need to do to get information out uh and and they inadvertently left this off because of that uh we have not had the information regarding grooming and adult sexual misconduct passed out as according to law uh what the law states is that members of the Board of Education should get this grooming fact sheet every single year additionally teachers need to get it every year as well as parents it needs
062to be sent electronically is fine um we ask that you do not simply send a link because no one clicks a link we ask that um actually the superintendent have a conversation about what adult sexual misconduct is uh so that people understand but it's incumbent upon adults to protect children so um I am going to as I leave here provide for all of you The Grooming fact sheet that was put together due to this legislation by the governor's task force on abuse children um and a copy of Public Act 22- 87 with the new Lang anguage has been highlighted so you can see um but we are now two years behind so um I'm going to get you this information um and as we know look everyone watches the news adult sexual misconduct is on
063the rise in schools we do have um the youth risk behavior survey uh starting this coming year thankfully I was it took me three years to pass the ability to just add one question about adult sexual misconduct towards children in schools to the teenagers in high school who are answering this survey we're going to start to have data back that shows how prevalent it is you should know that any time an adult sexual abuser of children is on the police radar but on average it is the ninth time that they have sexually abused a child ninth time so just because someone was arrested doesn't mean you caught him the first time there are kids out there that this is happening to in every classroom whether it be someone at home abusing them or someone at
064school it is high time that we have all adults in their lives educated on how to recognize and intervene for um our kids so I will pass these out if at any time anyone has any questions or even better yet any ideas on how we can do better please don't hesitate to reach out immediately okay great thank you once again any other oh thank you so much for being here again thank you and with that I'd like to call for a motion to adjourn Mr White second second sco we are um would you like to adjourn the legislative meeting please all in favor it is unanimous thank you representative line ofan thank you so much every