001good evening ladies and gentlemen um we are calling the special meeting of the Board of Education to order Mr jinsky roll call please here thank you please rise for the pledge ALG to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for stand indivisible andice thank you um so on the agenda there is not a item that states public comment but I know in past practice we've allowed for public comment I just want to follow the rules I'm kind of a rule follower so I'd like for a motion to amend the agenda for a public comment Mr White second Dr herrian thank you if there are any persons in the audience that would like to make public comment please come to the microphone oh I apologize see I told you that uh
002like a vote to amend the agenda to add in public comment all in favor all in favor it's unanimous thank you hey if there are any members of the audience that would like to comment please come up to the mic and state your name um address and make your comments hello oh um Kristen haza 494 B radmir Road here in chesher I'm also the high school German teacher um my students would be amazed for me to be standing here because this is really terrifying for me to stand in front of a bunch of kids is fine but in front of adults being an introvert this is tough but I really really just wanted to come up here and let you know thank you for all your support the um the board of vet has given
003our program in the in the years past and to come but I just wanted to also um put a good word out there for Angela of all the hard work that she's been doing that a lot of what has happened in the upper levels of the high school right now could not have been done or reached without the foundation that the kids have received here at DOD and I also wanted to um wonder about the if it is being just at the high school what is that going to look like when the kids can only take four years of a language and that way they would not be able to reach the AP or ECE level so we would have to get rid of those classes as well um but basically I just wanted to
004come up here and thank you you for all your work that you've done in now um in the past now and in the future and to let you know that she really has made a good foundation for the program at the high school so thank you thank you Miss Dr heran oh I'm sorry apologies hi Flagler R here in chesher um sorry I don't love talking to adults either um I just also wanted to support Angela um my son is in eighth grade here at DD he is German is his absolute favorite class Angela is his favorite teacher I would say um his the success that he's seen in German has carried him through in all his other classes as well like it has made such a difference for him in his confidence he has
005a he uh talked to our high school German teacher last week about um you know going forward and going through the AP classes and taking um classes at Yukon you know he he really uh this has made him make a plan for his future just the German program alone and um has made him more motivated in his other classes so I would really hate to see uh other kids including my two younger children lose the opportunity um to do that in German if that's the language they choose so thank you thank you for everything thank you hi uh Rebecca reev 85 Brier Court in chesher um and I'm also a parent of two children who are currently in the German program uh one eighth grader in dot as well and one sophomore in the high
006school so I just wanted to speak in support of having German as an option at the middle school level um my children are German um through their grandmother of origin and so we were always really impressed coming to chesher that this was offered at the middle school like it kind of like blew our mind so it's really disappointing to hear that it might go away um obviously I understand there's a lot more to it than just I can see but just wanted to really speak in support of having that as an option and and as supporting fra G as well she's been amazing my kids also really love German and are looking forward to continuing it all throughout their High School career so thank you thank you hi my name is Karen Hayes and I'm
007at 40 prins Court in chesher and um I have three kids in the public schools two of them are in high school and one of them is in eighth grade and the two younger ones went through German because their older brother told him it was the best program that was offered for the foreign languages and he was right they both really love it and um fra G has made that experience for sure and um she just notices every chat child like mine are all so different but she takes the time to notice each one and to connect with each one and also to reach out to the parents whether you know positive or I would imagine negative too but we've only had really positive experiences with her um also I mean our family visited Germany
008this summer because of this because they've had such a great experience and wanted to practice their German and experience the culture and everything so it's not just the language but it's also kind of you know impacting their life and um frogi is just like a teacher you want your children to have so it would definitely be detrimental um I also in just listening to the budget thing prior I am a huge fan of Varsity Sports my kids all well two that are in high school both play Varsity Sports but the boys volleyball team has been a club since I was at the high school so I'm wondering if maybe Fen and could continue as a club um but yeah I just really support the German program it is unique and it's been beneficial to my
009children as well hello uh my name is Anthony delviso I reside at 37 Stratton Drive in chesher um I also have an eighth grader at Dodd who studies under Mrs uh gulia medy um he is very fond of the German class and um I think that the loss of German is um a a loss of opportunity for students um I am a software engineer by trade and growing up I found that I received a lot of um sorry this is a very loose collection of thoughts that I did not have very uh that I did not prepare but as a software engineer um my job is to essentially translate ideas from one medium to another um taking ideas in English and translating it into computer code not so much different than taking an idea in
010English and translating it into another language be it German or Latin or Spanish French or even Italian growing up I thought that going into this career that mathematics was the way to go for me as a software engineer but it's not necessarily the case there's a lot more to stem than just pure mathematics and Linguistics and the study of languages is very much um uh a part of software engineering in one way or another that doesn't seem that intuitive when you think about it on the surface um I support Mrs gami and I think that she is a great um benefit to the chesher public school system and as a recently new resident of chesher one of the things that I've come to learn is that the strength of cheshire's Public School Systems is in
011its faculty and the loss of any faculty it is just kind of it's it's a travesty in a way so I wanted to thank you all for your time and um appreciate the work that you do my name is halan new 85 RA chra in chesa um I'm a proud parent of for Gman owner students uh I have three boys and then one is just recently graduate franchia high school and as with the owner in German um one of the uh I also have two other twins uh also twin boys and then they are in German and you wonder why because their older brother told them that if you ever want to have amazing memory of a school you should join German class and that's why so all my three boys are learning German and
012then interesting me I'm learning German too because I'm helping them stunning I got it for free um but the I want to tell you that how amazing experience we had as a family with fra G and fr house as well is that my oldest son right now is Val as a freshman he told me that the most amazing experience he ever had at chasa high school among all the classes he aced through is German class including D Middle School too and then what a inter me is that it teaches not just how you learn concept how you learn a language but also how you try to understand other human beings which I really really think if you should consider is that once we go through the pandemic we sort of lost that sense of inct
013with each other uh I need through my kids I feel that way because they are connected with the device and they lose that sense of connection but learning that Gman class using very interactive uh uh course schedule and having a lot of interesting project really bring those case together and also brought their Horizon to say their other culture they need to embrace to become a global citizen rather than just narrow-minded a person I feel my son my older son really beneficial that Gman project a lot I learned so much just by watching him create amazing video clips actually enable him starting to develop his interest in um music production uh right now is his major in college and he all started with a Gman class and I cannot believe that actually leading to that he
014chos his uh College passway into music production fra G is amazing teacher I have a personal uh family very uh challenged T well my case are in down Middle School one of my twins uh had uh been bullied in the uh in the school hway and he was punching in the head and had a concussion and subsequently got a depression that period time was darkest in my whole life ever he actually was Hospital IED uh for a while because of the depression during that period time his goto person there's only like one or two teacher he would go to ask for deep down help one of them is frogy and then frogi is go beyond what she was supposed to be and really help my family and my case going through that very difficult period
015of time my when I heard about this news today I only got to know about this today I feel like decision poty is already been made and I know budgeting is very complicated uh process in general I'm going through that for my department uh for my work as well but I just want to voice that you know the importance of a teacher impact on a person is beyond just what on the surface and and I'm I would pay a million dollars if I have to keep her over here because she is not just being a teacher he's being uh how do I say that it's that it brings life back to my kids to really re Inspire them to do something interesting my younger kids who suffer from that period of depression finally get on
016his foot he's able to regain his confidence that regain that interacting with other case after that period difficult time and then all that through very secretly interaction with fra G that getting that full support that for for beyond the language uh uh teaching class I was super super impressed and about how we actually been supported as the family through chasia public school system because I feel like I couldn't survive that period of time without the teachers and then the whole supporting system we have in chasia public school district I I'm very grateful for that but I also very heartbroken to know that you know her position is being eliminated given how much we appreciate and then giving how much my kids I actually enjoying through the years of education with her and all together with
017the the German class in general so I want you possibly reconsider but I also want to voice that it's so important that um as a teacher she's Beyond just language art teacher it's has a profound impact for case growth thank you so much thank you any other audience members who'd like to speak thank you um so at this time I'd like to open it up to the finance committee for an update on what was discussed prior to this meeting thank you chair [Music] um so um I really appreciate hearing I I need to First say I really appreciate hearing from the people who spoke at the mic I know that it is very difficult to do that it's not the same thing as being a teacher in front of and speaking with your students um
018I've gotten more comfortable over the years because I've been on this board for eight years but it but it takes a long time to and I'm still not entirely comfortable speaking in front of other adults even though my students are adults because I'm at the college level um I appreciate people um in support of foreign languages because they do all uh learning foreign language students learning foreign language it does so much for for who they are as a person and um the relationship to math and engineering and all of those other um other subject areas and also just to the development of of students as people and as they grow um I'm a language teacher as I said myself I teach French at quinc University and um I see the hard decisions that we make
019all the time at the college level too it boils down to um budgets and finance and um sometimes hard decisions are made but I also wanted to give a big shout out to um the high school German program and we have seen in curriculum committee meetings all the wonderful things they're doing and the exchange programs with the students student exchanges so I I feel pretty confident that German is going to continue to thrive at the high school and I'm saddened also that um it won't be an offering maybe it won't be an offering at the middle school but um but I do support this budget that the the uh finance committee has moved forward to the board of EDS so with that um I will just reiterate our motion the finance committee has moved to
020submit to the full Board of Education the proposed budget for fiscal year 20242 of 9, 67,69 an increase of 5,741 180 over this year's budget thank you Dr heran are there any board members who have questions or comments on what has been moved to the full board that we should or second that motion that was just moved second Mrs cullinan second second thank you discussion Mr GLE um I would like to make an amendment to that motion sure um I would like to amend uh that the uh so how do I word this that the uh proposed budget for uh 2425 uh be uh be changed from 90 million 06769 to um 89 mil5 [Music] 11,511 uh a total reduction of 62 $754 I can go through the detail if you'd like I'm not sure
021um repeat that number yeah uh which one 89 89 m511 uh 51 so that would be a proposed so a proposed increase of$ 4,518 82 I believe that has to be seconded and then we can is there any detail are there before hand can you give us the details on it sure okay um so so we in discussion on the motion was it Tim did Tim second yeah I seconded whatever a second okay can just outline your proposal Mr GLE um so some of this is composed of uh estimation um as uh Dr Solen had I think I mentioned a few minutes earlier that um you know some of the uh the figures that we have to use aren't set in stone and so U you know sometimes you have to guess so I'm I'm
022using some historical information and um some of the other information I don't know if I captured everything entirely um so firstly um I included um eight retirements which is our average um for normally every year um I also assume a savings per position of $30,000 assuming that there are new hires uh Dr Sona said that that might be more challenging so again that's a fluctuating number uh so that would be a reduction that's uh line 113 reduction 240,000 um the uh the savings on the uh uh German uh teacher position uh line 13 13 11,200 um the um uh reduction of the former or formerly Grant funded uh math coach at the secondary level of 880,000 um the addition of uh the uh two stem teachers um a um a is that a plus or
023minus uh that is an addition an addition of 100 60,000 sorry that's not a proposed reduction that is not that is proposed addition yes so what what this essentially does it it it adds the uh what do we call it pre-engineering and Science Program um it preserves or or it continues to add the uh fencing program um preserves all of our contractual obligations but has a in my opinion a more sensible uh increase to the budget um so um there would be a uh a reclam not a Reclamation but a reclaiming of uh uh three uh par educator vacancies that are currently unfilled um I my calculation for that was um they were full-time positions at uh minimum wage um and I don't know if they get paid if there's a benefit uh cost to
024them as well that I that I haven't C so this is just a salary savings are you factoring that on 40 hours or no uh 40 hours yes yeah so those are 28 and a half those are 28 and a half well I can adjust that downwards let's see hold on so what how many hours that Peri would you anyone know four no no no um uh what did you say 28 hours 28.5 28.5 all right what's the annual cost for one one of those vacancies you someone knows that off top of the head you can use 30,000 number 30,000 30,000 each yeah yeah okay oh well okay so that's what I was using so does that include does that include benefits as well okay so then I sort of uh mistake my way into
025that one I guess so I yeah so I had uh uh so I had $93,600 reduction there for those um open positions just not to be refilled um also with the the with the thought in mind that uh I know we had discussed uh last week that some of those positions uh could also be um trans transformed into Consolidated right yeah um uh let's see uh holding uh line 323 pupil service is flat so um according to this that would be a reduction of $ 77,78 um instructional Supply uh line 611 so this includes the uh the increase of 120,000 but not including the increase that was in the proposed budget um so that was so that is the 120,000 increase less holding the uh spending flat from last year so it's actually so it
026ends up being an increase of 70,000 so so it's the the incre proposed increase is 50,000 so I'm just taking that out and then okay um other uh purchased Services uh line 590 holding spending flat there U so that would be a reduction of $2,489 um and then I think the remainder of these are the ones that were already in the uh uh previous motion but I'll I'll read through them just to make sure see if I not double counting um Capital Equipment 732 line 732 reduction 5,000 uh tuition out placement uh reduction uh 125,000 that's line 569 um maintenance repair building line 40 uh line 430 reduction 50,000 maintenance repair and Equipment line 420 uh reduction 5,000 uh homebound um line item 115 a reduction 10,000 textbook so sofware line 641 reduction 15,000 replace
027uh replace equipment line 730 6250 reduction of 6250 new equipment 731 reduction 6250 and office supply 610 reduction 4235 for a total reduction of $6,750 for for a proposed increase of4 million 400 uh 4,588 58,800 which would be an increase of 5.32% 5.32 yes thank you any comment Mr White thank you Adam I'm just going to run I try to jot this down while you're going through it I want to see if I have the numbers the same so you said 620 overall including 244 anticipated teacher retirements 111 as recommended in the motion already for in relation to the Middle School German teacher 880,000 for uh math tutor who has been Grant funded for a couple years and the Grant's running out so it's never been funded by the chesher been funded yeah at the
028secondary level there there are currently two positions so one would be so there still be one you said 93 in 93,000 in relation to par educator positions that are have are vacant yes and have they been vacant all year just so we started the year with 20 vacancies I mean these are positions that we've identified is necessary uh through either the PPT process or um some other formal you process there were you know everybody's facing a shortage in those positions uh throughout the course of the year uh we've been able to hire and retain on folks so that there are currently eight vacancies as we sit here at the end of jun January those are still positions we're trying to fill um so if you know anybody but anyway um if you know they were
029not included in next year's budget maybe we would try and fill them if we do fill 100% then those people would be you the last three in would be let go at the end of the year okay all right so what I'm hearing you say these are my words not yours it's certainly not ideal your goal is to fill those fill those vacancies yep um but it has not been we've not been able to do that at this time yeah okay all right thank you I just want to keep running through to make sure I know what these yep understand this Adam um so what I got uh 21,000 for other services there were two other numbers in there and then after that you ran through the numbers in the existing motion yes there are
030two other numbers and tell me if that's all of them but I heard you mentioned 77,000 and 50,000 I'm not sure what those um maybe are were you talking about instructional Supply that was one of them that was 50,000 sorry I'm trying to jot this down yeah right so there was a uh proposed increase to instructional supply of 120,000 I propose that that that um number included an already proposed increase in the original budget the commissioner superintendent's proposed budget U so I just flatlined the original increase so there therefore the since we're going off this current motion it reduced it down to an increase of 70,00 ,000 on that line item so the The Proposal in the existing motion is to increase that line item in the budget by 120,000 and you're saying reduce that
031by 50 which will be a $70,000 increase for next year correct okay got it thank you no oh wait yeah okay and then the 77 what was that and I could have gotten it wrong I may uh 77 was just um a a flat line so no no increase in the spending no increase to to that line item which line item uh I'm sorry line item 323 pupil Services pupil Services is Jeff is that special ed people Services what is that yes what is um what's the impact on that and your what would your recommendation be how would that be affected that 77 for people services 77 on pupil Services um I don't know if you know Robin if you want to talk to this at all but basically you know that line is used
032as resources to support uh students with identified needs and I think you know part of the increase there was due to the fact that we if you recall are adding an intensive headed progr program at another classroom at Norton school um and that was really the impetus behind increasing that particular line and that is that doesn't cover the teacher but resource costs yeah no so from what but from what I recall the conversation about that that I mean I'm just thinking there's like state law involved and I have no idea I'm just looking to you Robin for a little bit more guidance on what that means in your opinion like if that's because my take away my take away on that the changing it from one classroom to two classrooms is that from your professional
033opinion it needed to happen for whatever reason not like like Beyond just your opinion but state law that's how I see special so basically yeah so we go through a legal process of identifying students with special needs and uh developing a plan in concert with parents and specialist uh General Educators there's a team that um identify students uh is with an identifying condition for special education services when the um the number of students that we have is such you know I know we've talked here before about uh the number at Highland qualifying for intens of special education services got high enough and it got to a place where we're realizing when we redistrict and dropped the number of students in that building uh in the next couple years the the numbers would be really disproportionate
034and we wanted to also try and educate students closer to their home yeah uh wherever we could and so given the number of students that are identified for that support service and where they live in our community we felt it was appropriate um to open another classroom at Norton and so that's part of where it is yeah I mean there is a legal compliance issue uh there's also a service issue there's also an overcrowding issue at Highland so there are a variety of issues that that feed into that okay thank you for that um yeah I mean I the transition the transition to school modernization is oh sure sure sure so um my thought process on that line on him excuse me geeez was not to eliminate the new program right uh it was uh
035I was just looking at the you know just the numbers that in 22 23 um we uh we expended 721 th000 and um it's it's unclear if the current budget was fully expended because it it went up to 786,000 in 2324 and so um it wasn't wasn't a matter of eliminating the unnecessary program it was just um I wasn't sure if the uh increase was arbitrary or not uh just you know if it was just a a fixed cost issue or if it was a matter of if is that 77,000 a uh is there a direct correlation in that increase I I can't tell you that it's quote a fixed cost Adam it's not a contractual increase that arrived at 77,000 this um resource pays for a lot of the evaluation services and Consultants um
036and uh specialed resources that we use to address the whole population I wouldn't say you know it would I apologize if it came off that this is only to cover for that Norton program and that's not a $77,000 investment but especially when you back out the teacher and Par educator support but this is um for services in part reflective in the growth that we've had in the elementary population um whereas middle and high school student population has remained stagnant we've had a growth not by percentage just in sheer number of students that are identified for supports services on the same percentage that we have General Ed growth but that requires more uh supports and services and the greater cost so when we scale that out um that's where the 77,000 comes from thank you sure
037sorry interrupt it's okay [Music] um what what I'm thinking Madam chair is uh I could just make some comments and then when the board votes I don't have to I'll try to avoid repeating anything um so I want to say thank you to all the um parents who came out in support of the in support of the Middle School German teacher fra Chi um I one the I think the dad is gone but he made some comments that really struck me he was talking about likening coding to learning to speak a language and that's I I've learned to speak a few languages in my life um and code as well and I found his I've never heard anyone say that before but I have agreed with that sentiment for years the benefit of learning languages
038that being said I want to uh commend the superintendent on innovation effectively what's going on here is the way I see it is that well something is potentially depending on how the board votes tonight something could go away Middle School German but we would also have an opportunity to expand stem program in the elementary schools and that actually is one of the reasons that I got on the board originally that motivated me to run because the world is changing I believe the world is changing dramatically faster and faster your Justin Trudeau comment um and getting government to be government's not normally known as being Nimble but we can change and we can innovate um and so I very much appreciate directionally what you're doing not about eliminating any program but uh doing new things I
039appreciate that and I appreciate you supporting it Madam chair it's I think it's a big deal um so you know I could make um I could make motions and change things on the margins I have I don't have any desire to do that tonight um I will say I said before a couple months ago particularly in relation to fencing uh I I think the idea of adding fencing is great I also I'm also a believer in gradualism um if it were me I'd probably start any new sport like this with a partial budget um because we're doing we're doing the full budget right 24,000 is what's in the motion that you made in right 24,000 which is a full budget for fencing or Jeff sorry correct it okay it doesn't account for $5,000 in revenue
040from Student Activity but okay roughly okay but yeah the cost of the program is 24,000 yeah I so I mean that's something I love the idea of the program and I said it a couple months ago but I also believe in doing things a little bit slowly and getting something up and running but I don't want to make any motions to slow anything down tonight um I with the exception of the with the exception of the people's Services I um would support your motion Adam at the same time I don't I just want to be upfront about it I don't expect that this motion is going to pass and I also appreciate the motion that you put together an and I expect to also be supporting that tonight um I think there's when we're talking
041about a $90 million budget I think there's Flex ability and where it could actually land and still be a good and appropriate budget so I don't know if you would you would you be amendable to a friendly amendment to remove that 77,000 sure we what we would have to do is take a vote on that motion and make a new Amendment all right I said I didn't want to do that so I'm gonna skip that I will just vote in favor of I'll vote in favor of your motion and I'm fully expecting it won't pass and then I'm going to vote vote for the other budget when we get to it so I have a question sure so you want to make the amendment to Adam's motion or the original motion I don't want to
042get involved in that it's okay no don't be scared through it so you're retracting no I don't want to do it I don't want to do it I will support your motion as is um I do not expect it to pass and that's part of me supporting it so I'm done speaking about that I don't expect to I don't expect to speak again on the next motion so I'm ready to take a vote on it um if nobody else wants to speak I don't know if anybody else wants to speak on Sor Dr harrian um doc I I'm hoping Dr Solen can talk about the eight retirees that is also in um Adams Amendment sure and and I you know appreciate that uh being put on the table Adam is one of those folks that
043I was referencing is not really a rookie in this and knows that yeah I mean on average we see eight retirements over the course of a a year on average um right now we don't have and I think we have one or two people that have said you know looking around uh for interest we did have a teacher retire mid year this year um but I think what's changed unfortunately in education the landscape has changed dramatically in the sense that we can't hire first year teachers coming out of college today the way that we could five 10 years ago um unfortunately there's a real issue where we just don't have enough students graduating from University level uh with certifications to teach potentially you know we've had good fortune because our team jumped on it really
044early last year with an elementary certification we might be able to get that we're we are um adding a position there due to enrollment but um you know uh science teacher retires the likelihood of hiring a firste CH science teacher where you're going to make up that fiscal difference between a top step and a first year step is really low unfortunately these days so the savings that used to be realized through that practice is no longer available in the same way that it was I don't you know if we did have eight retirements this year I would think that we would you know potentially save money but I don't think it would be anywhere in the magnitude of what we had done in the past um and I you know it's um 30 grand would
045be exciting per like if that could ever happen but I don't think that that that's uh likely unfortunately under the current circumstances Dr going forward what do you think is a good assumption for that I don't want to um split hairs too thin but it depends on the position I would probably shave it down to like 15,000 a retirement um would be an estimate that I would have today thank you sure any other comments from board members so we're making a motion table there is a motion on the table an amended motion on the table um to reduce the superintendent's proposed budget to 4,518 th000 and based on the itemized description from Mr gripple yeah the the new proposed budget is 89 million 511511 Y correct Adam that right yes at a 5.32 increase yes
046yes and I believe we need to vote on it so all in favor of the motion that is currently on the table Mr White Mr gripple two yay all those oppose to the motion Mr to five n the motion does not pass so we go back to the original motion that was presented by Dr herrian earlier and Dr her can you just read that for the public that just just us please yes the motion was from the finance committee um to the full board is a proposed budget for fiscal year 20242 of 9, 67,69 an increase of 5,741 180 over the current budget is there a second Mrs Cullen and second we are to vote on the motion that is on the table all those in favor of the motion that has been read and
047second it point of order Mr perini I apologize comments go ahead sir you don't want to say anything Mr White sure it's okay I know you I thought you reserved it for this hour here thank you I'll be quick so uh I first of all before I see my comments uh on behalf of Dr s and your team all the administrators teachers that work in this budget which started before this month I know I I had an idea what the number was back in probably early November when someone was going after someone was going through it a little higher than 6% and um these are always tough so I know a lot of thought went into this and a lot of time thank you um to our public tonight that spoke you did CH this
048job it's never easy speaking in public and for 15 years I'm still struggling but it's fun you get used to it um so thank you your comments and so uh I appreciate all the hard work and and certainly I always appreciate uh if you serve with me on this board um as you just saw Mr grippo um we always take a look at every line item we don't think things for granted we know Dr s's team is not hiding anything uh we know there's no fluff but you know we have a line share of the budget of the town this is going to be over 90 million which I think since I'm under the board is almost almost double to when I got on there but that's money well spent um and that's evident by
049Student Success and their growth no questions there this is going to sound really odd coming for me this year but um I don't support this budget because of the reduction I think um I think when we focus on arbitrary number to keep it below certain percentage this is my my experience on the board um it's the wrong approach and yes I know that our town um because I get some tax bills too you know I saw my property value increase last month I'm wonder what's going to happen with the mill rate but I know we we work through that and I know times can be rough for some folks but you know we're talking we're not talking a large percentage here you know 0.3 04 from the original point it's it's not a big number
050um I do not want to remove the German teacher from the Middle School 22% of the students is still a large population of students you know and years ago as a board we made a commitment to expand World languages as much as we can we going to be backtracking on that uh absolutely I support the stem um Dr s knows that after this budget presentation I called him immediately and said hey you should have put that in your proposal and like most of us he was concerned about the Optics of the increase and being responsible to town and folks may look at his budget and say gez $90 million that's huge how you guys being responsible what you don't see is uh we've been nickel and Diamond this budget for decades for years um especially
051with covid we had a back track on adding more courses offerings programs to get through a pandemic and we did we focus on the students mental need health needs uh to get them through it um so I I I appreciate the stem uh I want to see that in there I would have proposed that we keep out the son's original budget and add the step stem cost in there because it's not a large increase compared to what was presented um but looking at these numbers um you know we we're nickel and diming to get a program in when we should just be getting it in um we've been through this every year uh the budget is tight and the downside to this too is we've already telegraphed where if there were any painful Cuts we
052made we already identifying this budget process is not over the town manager has to take the budget Town Council has to look at the budget um I'm not going to kid ourselves we're probably not going to get $90 million we never get 100% of our budget increase and I'm hopeful the New Town Council um like the ones prior put a huge emph on education they'll do the right thing um but you know I uh I value every student the German program certainly gave an opportunity for my daughter when she was the middle school to expand her knowledge base it helped tenfold in the high school um I just think we're shooting for a number uh that really is does make much sense at the end of the day percent increase the other thing too I
053see here is building maintenance repair Building Maintenance to repair of buildings is decreasing and if my uh my colleague Faith ham was still here uh who was proba she would probably if she's not jumping them down now at home probably is because we've pretty much Frozen building maintenance for the longest time we're no further ahead on phase two of a strategic plan for our schools that's been kind of stagnant the last year year and a half so we're going to be spending more money on maintenance uh to keep our facilities running in top shap as we can and uh well I hate to say this you know I I at first I thought there was a stage thing when I walked into the budget meeting I think was last Tuesday or or week prior um
054there was a little mouse running around under the front of the stage actually was kind of tacking about the S um so and by means and I and I don't mean to be crash with that but I found that kind of comic it's a field mouse it's not a INF station but um you know it just kind of reminded me you know we we keep our buildings clean obviously but um so I uh I I'm the odd one out where I did want to see Dr st's budget as is plus the stem I'm not going to make that motion uh Oly there's no support for that and and by no means I know my colleagues meanwhile uh and I I certainly uh will support whatever we can get back but uh I'm not about limiting
055programs especially programs that are working I want to expand them and after years not really doing much of that I think it's time to change that tight so uh I appreciate my colleagues hard work and and I'm sorry that uh and I don't think the parents here that talked about um the math to technology uh analogy he made but for those of you that weren't aware you know I I only found out today at 2:07 PM that you know we got this list of cuts only what happens is that when there are reductions being discussed we try to make that publicly available so that public has the time to talk about it and come to the next meeting and bring more concerns my guess is probably more people out there that like to chime in
056on this um and we did have another week and a half to make a decision but I understand time is of the essence so by no means no one's rushing you or trying to run things by you I'm glad you did find out um but I suspect there be more out tomorrow and uh that being said uh for those that you know do have concerns not just with this budget uh but as this goes to the town manager and Town Council please uh both bodies will tell you we never hear from enough people during this process I'm certain we'll love the feedback even if it's after the fact but this will go on to the town manager next and to the Town Council there'll be more opportunities there for folks to voice their opinion so
057please stay involved um but I appreciate one's hard work and I appreciate all the time the board spent a lot of time last week on this so uh but unfortunately I cannot support this it's just not enough thank you Mr perini any other board members Dr har again and then Mr White are you raising your hand okay yeah I wanted to um make a comment um with something that Mr white brought up with the um the fencing going to a Varsity Sport and doing it just incrementally which doesn't make full sense to me but um more importantly I I I guess I want to challenge all of us to think of the fencing program as something more than just a Varsity Sport to me after listening to two hours of students and former students talk
058about how it makes them feel connected to the school how they want to they want to be like other schools and they want to have the experience of competing and and earning accolades for chesher high school um many of those students talked about how fencing is a sport that falls in a little bit different category and they feel as students who don't always feel like the most most athletic person at their high school but they were welcomed into this fencing program and they flourished in a program that where they had other people and adults and other students in a very supportive environment I think we need to look at some of these these things as really enhancing our our commitment to soci social emotional learning and connecting to our schools and um all the mental
059health benefits that we get from a program that has proven itself to be so supportive and and um I see it as a real opportunity to add this at a very low cost to our budget and I see it every bit as important in um as some of the professional development that we have that we do for our teachers in getting our teachers to support our students with the social emotional learning so um I think we can think outside of the box on some of these programs and and see what they're doing besides just being a Varsity Sport um I really heard the benefits When I listened to those uh students and adults who are involved with that program so um I am in support of this budget um I also want to thank Dr
060suen for all his work in putting this budget together I know it's a big process every year and it comes first from the schools there's just a long process but I also want to reiterate this idea that this is as Mr perini said this is not uh the end of the process because the school budget is part of the Town budget and um it goes through more review it has to fit into the town of cheshire's budget and um there are many there are things that will come to light over the months that it's over on the town side that we just simply don't know about now in January and one of those is the retirement the retirements that might come out of this um so I'm in support of this budget and um I
061just want to thank everybody who's been involved in this whole process thank you Mr White I promise not say anything I'm GNA be only on one topic although lots of thoughts it's okay right to read that would have a budgetary impact and that's why I'm bringing it up now I grow increasingly concerned that Hartford is not going to allow waivers for a waiver for chesher or for other towns I don't understand that and I again encourage parents particularly if you have kids kids who are heading into the K through three grades to be aware of what's going on for me personally I I wouldn't I would be totally open to a protest literally going to hardford with picket signs and stuff like that if we keep going further I may actually support Adam's proposal to
062for a lawsuit I just this is this is absolutely infuriating to me it's personal for me my son's in second grade he'll be in third next year um I think he's doing well I think his teacher is great the other parents I talk to things are going well for them um that obviously is not comprehensive review of all of our kids but all the evidence that the superintendent has presented says to me we should keep doing what we're doing we shouldn't go spend $650,000 on a new program and the single biggest concern I have is that when we change from from the status quo being great the likelihood is things get worse things could get better I totally acknowledge that but it seems to me the likelihood is that get worse that's the problem that
063I have it just makes no sense and I just had to mention this right to read thing it's infuriating thank you Mr AI quick question if if we don't when the appeals where does the $650,000 come from so if you know the waiver gets denied we do have time to implement that for next the end of next year okay and um you know I think we'll have a pretty good sense in the coming weeks uh certainly by the end of the legislative session where that decision will fall um is you know we navigate our budget through this year we're always very cautious about any sort of discretionary spending meaning money that is uh was identified for supplies or other things or let's say knock on wood we have a great winter and uh the snow
064removal budget isn't you know it's coming in way under budget we're good there we start to really get a better idea where the money is toward the end of the spring and if it looked like there was something that you know we were going to have to make a significant purchase on we would be really strategic about trying to put money aside as we would have to identify what the actual cost is and this is an estimated cost um it doesn't necessarily take into account professional development other thing we would really have to get a targeted number by the end of the spring and uh hopefully pull some money from this year if necessary uh pull money from next year Andor potentially you know by April uh when we're having this conversation with the Town
065Council that you know here's our operating budget here's where SD you know came down on this issue this is the real implications for communities I know that chesher is not alone you know I think you're aware 75 communities had their waiver either fully or partially rejected so a lot of people are going through this right now good question guys um and just a follow up with theing and in boys volleyball I know boys volle boys volleyball has been in existence for some time very successful that a Title Nine issue yeah that's you know the boys volleyball yeah has been called a club they've been funded otherwise for a long time they all the transportation's paid for uh coaching stipend are there okay it's um so on all intense purposes of our sport it's just still
066just call the club yeah and I'm not really sure I'll talk to the ad about you know where that is or what has to change there but it's it's like I said all the transportation's been paid for uh supplies are split with the girls team that there is a supply line there um so okay thank you any other board members Mr GLE thank you um yeah I just wanted to say that I I won't be supporting uh this motion either um you know part of the reason why I go through and U make these motions with excruciating detail is to at least prove to myself that sometimes you can expand programs and also find other ways to pay for them and not just uh tax for it um so I I I think I've proven
067tonight that there are other ways uh to uh pay for programs that we want um even with um going with more the more conservative retirement figure that Dr Solen provided uh even by uh preserving uh some of the uh positions that we have uh uh currently have up for uh reduction um you know we could still um have a a a a decrease in the increase of nearly $400,000 for a 5 half% increase something at least a little less little more tolerable but um so for for those reasons I won't be uh supporting The $64,000 reduction uh in the uh proposed budget this evening other thoughts so I I do have a comment but I do have a couple questions for Dr Solen if you can just kind of reiterate um it was it was
068really difficult when you gave us 6.05 knowing that you know you were trying to maintain Services as well as advanced programming for our students but it does come down to um looking at our comparable districts uh what they're expending as well as um ensuring and I have a difficult time with touching any special education line due to the fact that it might cost us more money um for compensatory um services so you know I appreciate I appreciate M gripple kind of digging in and looking at all the line items and so forth um I do maybe for next year um would like to see those um line items presented to us in advance of as well too um and maybe it does take a little longer for this process but that being said if you
069can Dr Solen I know Mr gripple said there's the potential eight retirements what's the deadline for staff to put in their paperwork if you will so I think the contractually it says May 1 but you know I've never been in a situation where a teacher said to me on May 2nd or after that I'm you know looking to retire where I'm going to say well we're going to have to hold you you know that it really doesn't work so um you know basically teachers it's a difficult decision uh particularly in Connecticut where you're you know regular retirement is 37 and a half years uh to walk away and so you know as much as there is a contractual timeline it's hard to enforce yeah and based on what what we did request Mr masana give
070us um an kind of an idea of our staff this seniority list my understanding is you have one person at 42 years and the rest are at 35 so you know if somebody's worked 42 years I mean you would have thought maybe they would have retired five years ago but there's still passion there and there's still other reasons I mean they who know they may work 55 years and I'm not here to tell them you obviously none of us are are interested in telling them you have to retire tomorrow or you know three years from now or whatever so it's uh in an exact science um the other thought is uh the proposal I mean initially we wanted an extra we want an extra math coach to support the high school so the proposal includes
071uh middle and high school math intervention uh coach got it and that would help to reinforce I like Mr perini you know definitely 100% support the advancement of stem and stem education um so I I really loved that you put that in there um the other piece was the back to the fencing I know policy is right now considering moving something forward that would formalize how a club would um be considered for varc in the future years I mean I would hope that the volleyball team would go through this process once we do move the policy forward so that it legitimizes the steps that are necessary to do so yeah they've more or less been a sport though I mean that I don't know you know it's obviously something we could discuss but you know
072that them and um girls golf are in the same position where they basic they've been a sport for years and years complete with Transportation the whole nine yards so not really sure where the club designation comes from they they do participate in inter Scholastic tournaments they have a full inter Scholastic schedule they you know like I said are are funded um in the same way a team is they pay dues like the the whole nine yards I it's uh I I will provide more information at a future meeting thank you so I I do support this at at 5.97 um just because and the the the seasoned board members in the room know that this process doesn't stop right here and we do um wish that the public would be involved as we move this
073forward um because again we're working off of a lot of unknowns um one being the retirement and so forth so I definitely 100% support this we we have a a good problem to have if you will because our enrollment increases beyond the NASDAQ projections um we are one of a handful of districts that are growing um and therefore it's a challenge for us yes but um I'd like to thank the administration superintendent um for doing the the the work from day one to to move this to us and basically challenging us to kind of walk these lines here um so thank you for maintaining the services but also trying to advance our programming for our kids um and with that being said uh I will take we are voting on the motion that's before us
074so all in favor of the motion that was just read by Dr herrian please raise your hand one two three five y those oppose two Nays the motion passed to move the budget forward to the town process now right Dr awesome thank you uh I will take a motion to adjourn Mr White Mr AI second we are now adjourned at 8:44