001um I also want to wish everybody who's celebrating a happy Hanukkah this evening the first night of Hanukkah if you celebrate um Miss jensi could you please call the role here here here thank you could we please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance United States of America andice for all thank you we begin this evening's organizational meeting with the election of officers in accordance with board policy 9120 the board is required to elect from its members a chairperson vice chairperson and secretary at its first regular meeting following the first Monday in December following the banial town election the votes of each member in such election shall be reduced to writing and made available for public inspection within 48 Hours excluding Saturday Sunday or legal holidays the officer's term of office shall be two years could
002I have a motion on the election U Miss herrian I move that the banal election of officers of the chesher Board of Education be conducted conducted as described in policy 9120 any discussion the motion before us is that the banial election of officers of the chesher Board of Education be conducted as described as Po in policy 9120 uh all in favor it's unanimous at this point I'd like to call for nominations for chairman of the board of education Miss herrian I nominate Sam Rosenberg for chairperson of the board of education is there a second nomination Mr White author seconding the motion uh no second nomination oh second yeah I wasn't nominating anybody else I thought it was seconding the nomination this one isn't seconded this is just is there any other nominations last call for
003nominations okay the nominations are now closed I'll distribute ballots please write the name of the candidate in the on your ballot your ballots have your name on the bottom of them so if you could please check to just confirm that it says chair and it's your name on the bottom uh before you write in the candidate point of information yep uh if there's no other nomination is a ballot necessary um because it must be reduced to writing I would say yes oh oh my my apologies thank you sorry some help I am the word policy used to say in ink Quil but yeah does say that yeah the public needs to be I know if it was a law or policy it's policy Point collect the ballots thank you I'll read the votes into the
004record um Mr White votes for Sam Rosenberg Mr ecki for Sam Rosenberg Miss herrian for Miss Rosenberg uh Miss Rosenberg for Miss Rosenberg uh Mr per for Mr Rosenberg uh Adam grippo for Mr Rosenberg and Mar cullinan uh not that there was any suspense for Miss Rosenberg congratulations Sam you're the new chair of the Board of Education we play musical chairs yeah we can play musical chairs yeah I'm not comfortable with a gavel Adam doesn't trust me with unique view over here different view over here yeah thank you for my first task I call for nominations for the vice chair of the Board of Education and I actually would like to nominate Dr Ann herrian is there a call I'm calling for any other nominations the second time other nominations third time around okay nominations
005are closed Dr Solen can you please thank you chair again if you don't mind just please double checking thank you [Music] yeah your steps that's good okay I'm going to read the nominations for the record Mr White for for an herrian MR Aki for Ann herrian Dr herrian for Dr herrian Mr perini for Ann herrian myself for Anne herrian Mr grippo for Anne herrian and Mrs cullinen for Dr Anne herrian congratul you congratulations Dr Anne herrian I'd like to also call for nominations for the Secretary of the Board of Education I personally would actually like to nominate Mr Adam gripple for secretary are there any other nominations on the floor are there any other nominations on the floor at this point nominations are closed Dr Solen will pass the ballots out for us thank you
006you thank you than sure about this yeah having all the ballots I will read the nominations for the record Mrs herck uh Mrs cullinen for Adam grippo Mr eki for Adam grippo Mr White for Adam grippo Dr herrian for Adam grippo Mr perini for Adam grippo Adam grippo for Adam grippo and myself for Adam grippo congratulations Mr grippo secretary grippo at this time I'd like to call for motion to adjourn the organizational meeting of the board first by Mr White second by Mr perini we are journ all in favor oh hi sorry my bad we are adjourned I know I'd like to call the meeting to order Mr zeni can you please call the RO here pres here here here here can every play please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance United States stand
007indivisible andice all and our my favorite order of business is our student representative repor right go ahead Andrew hello everyone I hope you are all doing well today we'll be reporting on the upcoming events in December at chesher high school um unfortunately Ella is not here today so I will also be taking over for her um so last time we I'd like to follow up on those who asked about opportunities for students interested in trade opportunities um in parallel to the college fair we had pre previously discussed in November there's been a construction day field trip a marine career day field trip and a field trip to a career fair plan um last year there were multiple trade panels available for students and those are expected to start again as soon as possible well as
008well um I don't have further information on those right now those are just what I had learned about um there are many charity drives going around the school right now sponsored by different clubs organizations Sports Etc um some of the ones I'd like to highlight are the Senate sock Drive the student Senate sock Drive the young Republicans Toys for Tots the neighborhood food drive sponsored by Pure Health and National Honor Society which I am taking part in and there are more coming out throughout the year and tomorrow is Pajama Day to support the Connecticut Children's Medical Center um yesterday there was a Winter concert for the Bandon Orchestra and a chorus concert next Tuesday the fall play was successful and now it is time to move to the next musical Mean Girls and auditions begin
009this Saturday and I'd wish every I'd like to wish everyone who's auditioning for it the best of luck um on Saturday as well M the mock trial team is going on their field trip to competition um and to compete their uh compete and present their case against other Connecticut teams um Mrs talion and Mrs LeBron sponsor or are the um advisers for it and I was talking to them they're looking very forward to it upcoming as well is Winterfest and so many high school teams and organizations are participating it's an amazing event for children and little kids who would like to come and have a good time see Santa it's decorated very well in the holiday spirit um it's just an overall great event that I think every everyone loves to be a part of
010uh now that fall sports are over we have we had many SEC and State academic athletes which is an honor for our athletic department our coaches and especially our student body and teachers um I can speak for football because I play football where we I think we had a great season going eight and two beating Southington for the first time in years um unfortunately we lost in the first round at massic but um for now we are just beginning the winter season for our winter sports teams with scrimmages beginning as early as yesterday and throughout the week and Games Starting as soon as next week um Tomorrow there's an interesting opportunity that roughly 50ish students are taking aart in at 8:15 or approximately 8:15 in the morning the US Naval Academy will run the game
011ball for the Army vers Navy football game through Treasure they will travel travel over 400 miles from Annapolis Maryland to Foxboro Massachusetts where the Army Navy game is being held at Gillette Stadium this Army Navy game is tradition is very special and will be awesome to see all the runners embarking on this uh this journey and honoring the veterans in this process um there are a ton of field trips that are going on throughout the school and one that I heard about which is seemed like an awesome experience was on January 8th which is to New England colleges New Hampshire presidential primary convention uh this happens once every four years obviously because that's when the elections take place but students will get a chance to meet the media and most importantly meet the presidential candidates
012uh being able to speak to the media and candidates attracts and educates young people into Politics as we are approach approaching the legal voting age of 18 years old I'm actually attending this trip and I'm really looking forward to it and finally on Sunday the jet the New York Jets um are playing the Houston Texans and at that game we are honoring the football coach Don dust um for the for earning the coach of the week earlier in our season um which is an a which I think is awesome because it's one out of so many coaches in um this whole area and all these senior football players are going along with him to support him with our it's so it's our senior dad trip we all go with our fathers to it should be
013a very fun trip um but most importantly it's to honor coach drust and his achievement throughout this year um and that's it now I'm open to any question questions that you have any comments from board members or questions Dr heran hi Andrew thank you you did a great job we'll we'll make sure Ella knows that that you uh performed beautifully without her by your side um thank you for all that information I'm very pleased to hear about um the father son and Coach uh um football game that's um that will prove to be I think a really wonderful experience so be sure to come back and give us the update on that when you come back next time definitely thank you thank you any other comments I will actually be there on Sunday oh you
014will opportunist yes um I'm not a Jets fan at all I'm a Giants fan so just being in the stadium is awesome but I will be there to um root for our coach yeah can I just ask to clar the Senate sock Drive is that a particular day or you're just doing it throughout until so it's throughout the month of SE or December um the student Senate runs it it's I I forget which organization it supports but they're collecting socks of any type uh to support those in need so does the public or can the public drop off or yes whereabouts would the drop off um I'd have to you have to drop drop it at the front door okay so when you come through the main entrance you'll there's a security reception there and
015you would have to leave it there but we would certainly welcome donations there as well thank you Andrew awesome job thank you and our next order of business uh is the school partnership award and I get the privilege of presenting this if you don't mind Dr Solen so at this evening's meeting the recipient of the school partnership award for Chapman school will be recognized the board of Education representative to Chapman will introduce the school's recipient but I wanted to do this for Mr Jim Jinx Jim is the executive director of bike chesher a community-based nonprofit focused on encouraging and improving biking in chesher bike chesher operates a community Bike Share holds public bike safety sessions organizes group rides and advocates for the chesher village bike route Network a 40 mile network of bike friendly streets
016in cheser according to Mrs Burns the Chapman School princip in addition to Jim's Community contribution Jim has organized and led bike safety classes for the students at Chapman School Jim has taught students how to wear a properly fitted bicycle helmet adjust their bicycles to fit them for safe riding check their bikes for safety before riding how to see and be seen riding and how to best control their bicycle how to watch for road hazards and the importance of avoiding riding at night these critical bike safety skills come in handy when Jim leads our bike to school school day this special day promotes active Transportation along with a social opportunity for Chapman parents and students to connect in the fun of not taking the bus or a car ride to school while practicing their bicycle safety
017skills Mrs Burns said individuals like Jim are truly unsung heroes who recognize that education is not confined within the four walls of a classroom but extends into the very fabric of their Community Chapman school thanks Mr Jim Jinx for organizing events that bring families students teachers in our whole Community together the chesher Board of Education thanks Mr Jinx for going above and beyond for the students of chesher Mr Jinx can you please come up [Applause] here than I for how tall Jim is that's Smiles right here look at me one more [Applause] excellent congratulations thank [Applause] [Music] you I don't need to I'm not going to duck down but um I just want to say real quick thank you so much for the honor but I mean I don't do all this myself by any
018means um there's a whole group of people that helped me out especially with bike to school day and with our uh bike safety classes uh notably Doug Levens who I think a lot of you guys probably know from the why um Greg wolf who recently became one of our Our Town counselors is part of our our board and helps with the bike to school day and and bike safety classes um you know so there's a number of people that help us um put on these events and like the school day is you know also very much supported by the schools um by the staff and the principles of each one of our of our elementary schools is they always been very helpful with us uh the police department comes out and helps us um so
019it certainly isn't myself and it's it feels a little funny to be honored for doing something that is you know honestly just such a joy to to be a part of every time we do it and I I I invite all of you guys actually to uh to come out whenever we have the rides um they're only two and a half miles you know it's not very far um little kids but this big do them so um but it's always a really good time um and just just a bit of a serious note I I just want to say it's it's a little bit deceiving um how kind of or deceptive how important it is these rides um and kind of encouraging kids to ride to school and walk to school um I it looks
020like it's just a good time which it is but um you know when kids you guys all kind of know this I think but when you bike or you walk to school the kids get to school you know they've they've kind of had that little rush of endorphins and their their you know their their moods are better they're um kind of you know they're um they calm down a little bit you anxieties go down um and that that effect kind of stays with them throughout the day so it makes them more prepared to to be in school and to be um you know there to learn so um the more we can encourage this the the better the better our students are going to be and the better our schools be thank you so right
021sure thanks again guys um our next presentation is the recognition of the girls volleyball coach Dr Solen thank you madam chair it's my pleasure uh this evening to make recognition of somebody who's dedicated a lot of time and energy to our students uh particularly our student athletes in the sport of volleyball to recognize our coach I welcome up to the podium treasure High School athletic director Mr John parisina been watching Board of Ed meetings on channel 16 when I was eight and I my first time speaking this is I feel like I've made it um you gotta get out more often yeah I know good evening Dr soul and assistant superintendent uh Solano Mr masana and members of our Board of Education it's my pleasure to be here tonight as we once again recognize cheser
022high school special education teacher and our girls and boys volleyball Coach Sue balone on October 20th the chesher high school girls volleyball team beat Mercy High School three sets to zero helping earn their coach her 600th win in girls volleyball I want to be very clear this was coach Bone's 600th win in just girls volleyball had it been a combination of both boys and girls I would say it would still be an incredible feat for any coach the fact the fact that it's just in girls volleyball is an amazing accomplishment as a matter of fact the next time our boys volleyball team plays and wins in the spring coach bavone will earn her 900th combined win at chesher high school currently 607 with the girls and 292 with our boys during Sue's 30-year career as
023the girls volleyball coach she has helped lead her teams to 22 Division championships 16 Southern Connecticut Conference tournament championships and four state championships during that time coach bavone has been recognized by several organizations as coach of the year and in 2021 was inducted into the Connecticut women's Hall of Fame when you speak to sue about her many accomplishments she will always be sure to share the credit with her assistant coaches and current assistant coaches Melissa Manning Molly mhad Gina bazelli and her longtime assistant coach Jared aoma thank you coach sue bavone for your hard work and dedication to the chesher high school athletic department our volleyball programs and most importantly to the many student athletes that you have coached over the past 30 Seasons 607 or 899 and Counting congratulations [Applause] suon [Laughter] you ready
024yile one more one more excellent thank than awesome congratulations to both of you um our next order of business is um to ask if there are any audience members who would like to address the board seeing none we move on to the next um standing committee appointments do you want me to read off the okay thank you the following of the standing committee assignments curriculum chairperson an Marie cullinan board members Anne herrian and Mr perini Finance uh chairperson an herrian board member Mark eki Adam Grio we do have a um openings that are not filled for legislative and liaison which will um decide later Personnel chair um an Marie cullinan board member Mr perini Mr White planning um chair member Mark E and myself and Mr White for planning policy Mr Aki chairperson and then
025Mrs herrian and Mr gripple members we have um openings for public information and then Transportation will be in as needed so we'll have to come back and discuss those with regards to the education liaison organizations are Aces Mrs cullinan who represent us there Cheshire Education Foundation Mr grippo cave Mr perini and I do want to acknowledge that Mr perini was just recently um selected as secretary um treasur for cave so we really value you there being connected to Cave calendar committee uh Mrs herrian treasure PTA council Mrs herrian advisory Council we do have an opening there professional development committee opening there the school Business Partnership Council Mr eki and Mr White teacher evaluation committee amarie cullinan and Tim White um Town Council will be myself Planning and Zoning Mr grippo and public building commission Mr
026perini School Representatives um will be Chapman School Mr perini CHS and humiston Mr eki Darcy myself Dodd Mrs herrian D Mr grippo Highland Mrs cullinan and Norton Mr White those are the current committee assignments and now we actually move to committee reports so I'm going to ask Miss slano to report on new textbooks thank you at the last meeting of the curriculum committee as was reported on to the full board um a new textbook for the chemistry class being used for grades that will be used for grades 10 through 12 was put out for public comment both at the chesher public library and in the curriculum office the book is being replaced because um the book is new because the other one is being replaced because it's outdated um the condition of the book is
027also poor this new book which is world of Chemistry by Steph s zimal Susan zimal and Donald D coost was reviewed in the science department particularly by Susan Chason and Julie Barker they presented this they had actually looked at several books last year went back to the drawing board and looked at a three more this year they used a pretty rigorous evaluation tool a rubric which looked at alignment to the standards assessments instruction learning tasks materials and actually we had four people on that committee it was Jack Hammer Jack alexovich Laura landro and Sue Chason Sue Chason came to our curriculum committee and presented this um a few weeks ago so of the three books that they looked at was world of chemistry Inspire chemistry and introductory chemistry tro they are putting forth world of
028chemistry they liked the fact that this book um Not only was aligned to the ngss but it was useful for teachers they felt that the performance expectation science and engineering practices all of the components of the ngss were clear they felt that the readability of the text was good to um for a range of students they thought that the problems and the test bank for teachers were very helpful to be supplementary materials so that what they're looking at is to order a class set of books to keep in the classroom as we've talked about before student students don't always take the book back and forth but it is there for for students each and every day and for students who want to take it home that's also an option but this has an online component
029so with their Chromebooks they have access to the textbook and the portal and all the um supplementary materials that go along with it I'm happy to answer any questions any questions for Miss Lano and no for the online element we have to Ren renew every year um I believe let me just check this is a multi-year subscription by multi you mean how many three five years any other question Tim yeah I'm just curious with regard to the online portion and we've got it over the course of a couple years um with regard to this material or anything else do we ever end up getting any sort of trend analysis any what trend analysis on student performance anything that's useful in terms of that just being online it'd be easy for them to okay just a
030question thank you I'm I'm not sure if I'm understanding your question but an analysis of if if they're student performance yeah I mean are now I could not link any of our increases to a textbook at this time no or oh it's not even it's not even you linking to anything else it's just in general do you have do you get any sort of trend analysis from them are you thinking we improved our ngss scores by about 133% over last year at the high school so in grade 11 the students take that ngss test and over last year there was an improvement by 133% they aren't taking Assessments in the textbook yeah okay thank I was yeah exactly sorry thank thank you that's right any other questions for missano no so seeing no questions we
031call for a motion to approve the world of chemistry textbook an and is there a second Mr perini oh excuse me I Mo I moved that the Board of Education approved the purchase of world of chemistry as recommended by the curriculum committee thank you an is there a second Mr perini thank you any comment no no comments we'll call for a vote um we'll move to all in favor thank you sol all in favor for the world of chemistry textbook it is unanimous congratulations thank you you've just made the science department very happy if I could I just make a comment I should have done it before on the comment yeah um I just wanted to say I invite anybody to come to curriculum committee meetings when this material is presented to us because the
032the Committees that are put together to review new textbooks are done so systematically and so carefully and there's so much work that goes into it that it you know it really makes our job easy to to accept these books that they come up with so if you could maybe I'll pass along publicly thank you to um the Committees that specifically the science committee that U teachers that got together for for this task Madam chair if I may Mr perie I also want to piggyback on Dr hargan's comments thank you uh Marlene and your team and the commun F to work uh not just textbook but any textbook review department has been as an described systematic thoughtful so please let your team know thank you for continued efforts here great we're g to move on to
033um Finance Mr masana all yours sir good evening thank you welcome to the new board members the board members do have the finance report I I will go quickly on this report there's there's not a lot um that I will add from last month um our budget is 84 84.9 million you know through the month of November so that's five months in we've expended or encumbered 68. 04 million that gives us about 80% of our budget expended or encumbered all is looking just fine on the budget this month though I did want to note that uh we did see uh several students that had to be outplaced that we could not accommodate with um we couldn't accommodate their specialized needs with in District programs uh and and the district does do a good job of
034providing for students within District but the result of those students being outplaced is that our tuition out Place line is about $150,000 over budget you know as we project out the remainder of the Year still early we'll continue to watch that if we need to make some um adjustments by reducing expenditures and other accounts we will but outside of that everything is trending just fine in the budget and if you'd like I'll give a quick medical benefits update and then I could take some questions the medical benefits report because it's um today's December 7th we usually get the report for the prime month around the 10th of the month I don't have an updated um medical benefits report through no through November I did provide the October report uh which was updated from the last
035board meeting um what I did want to let the board know our Reserve balance sits at 1.93 million um on a year- to-day basis the reserve has dropped 146,000 but I got noticed this week that we are getting our second prescription rebate from Sigma uh which is ex estimated to be about $175,000 so that'll get us even for the year and this year's budget if if the board members were here were call you know our goal was to have enough um contributions to offset the claims so that our Reserve balance wouldn't drop and for the first um you know four months and we'll see what happens in November we're trending in line with our budget overall for medical benefits so so that's the update if there's any questions I'll be happy to answer any questions
036for Mr masana Mr grippo thank you um you had mentioned the the outplacement tuition uh you said that was the 152,000 is an estimated expenditure till the year end or is what kind of exposure are we looking at there so that it is an estimate when we receive um students or when we have students that we have to out place we do uncom for the year what and we estimate what the services that are needed will be and that does change as as the course of the year goes on sometimes those services are reduced from what was encumbered sometimes they'll increase but it's uh as I said it we're five months in you know we've got the rest of the year to go we'll just continue to monitor as we do and the last several
037years we've really been um you know in a good place with our ourplace tuition you know but it is one of those lines that just you know one or two out placements can really you know throw the budget above uh what was estimated so not particularly worried about it yet but I did want to just put a cautionary note that that's where we are so is that estimate if the number of students outplaced remain steady yes or okay so it's we don't project so the the services that have been estimated you feel are that's what it'll be if the if the number of students are outplaced remain the same correct thanks then these aren't new students you said they would just identify for needing the out placement service these are students that are were in
038District they're not new students that came into District these are students that were in District that just um you know their needs have exceeded our capacity at this point thank you and you know Miss Robin an carry is our director of pupil Personnel she's very experienced so you know she's U on top of of what students needs and what services we can offer so Mr White and then Dr No Dr herrian can I ask a quick question on the um claims month and Reserve are because I know we're going to be talking about this much in the month of January but um are we trying to get a little bit more than 1.73 months Reserve or not really well we would we would like to of course you know ideally we should be above two
039months of of claims Reserve you know being um at this point in the year and the fact that we're even to budget seems to uh be on a good Trend and and you know that come January February March when we start the new HSA claim year we would expect to see our claims be below the 1.1 million targeted so we we always cross our fingers as I say with claims um and we'll continue to report and see where we wind up thank you any other questions for Mr masana great thank you Mr masana um I do have a executive we're calling for executive session okay so we're going to call for a motion to move into executive session including Dr Solen Mr masana and Miss Solano to discuss the United Public Service employees union contract
040with action to follow is there a sec is motion Mr White is there a second Mr grippo did you make the motion thank you please um call for a motion to move in into executive session including Dr Solen Mr masana and Miss Solano to discuss the United Public Service employees union contract with action to follow is there a second Mr grippo great the board is now in executive session e regular meeting back to order and move to Personnel Mr masana you're on again sir thank you Ms Rosenberg u i will provide a summary of the uh contract that we negotiated and have a tentative agreement with the international Union of operating engineers local 30 which represents the uh 25 excuse me the 24 maintenance employees who work for the ch School District the contract that
041we had with this bargaining unit expired on June 30th of 2023 uh we've been negotiating with the Union since May of 2023 and we concluded our negotiations when we reached a tentative agreement on November 21st the members of the Union voted on that tenative agreement and voted in favor of it on December 5th this week and they um agreed to the agree uh four-year term retroactive from July 1 of 2023 through June 30th of 2027 there's just a couple of um notable items with respect to this this new agreement that's being recommended to the board for approval this evening um and and the biggest being that currently the Board of Ed has been providing this bargaining unit their medical dental life insurance benefits under this new agreement the responsibility to provide those benefits will move
042to the union iuoe so they'll be providing um Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield medical and hospitalization coverage prescription coverage through opum uh they'll also be providing a Blue Cross Prime dental plan a $50,000 life insurance benefit and vision and hearing aid coverage um which the board never offered that those last two pieces of coverage um also as part of this agreement this group is giving up the long-term disability benefit that they had with the Board of Ed um and in and making that transfer um the board will be paying the Union on an annual basis based on the number of employees at a fixed rate that increases over the four-year contract term um further as part of this agreement there will be wage increases 2% in the first year of the contract that's retroactive to
043July 1 then 1.5% in year two 1.5% in year three and 2% in year four U those wages are a bit below Market because the cost of the benefits will be higher for the board um the advantage though for the board of transferring this benefits responsibility is that the board no longer has any claims risk on medical or dental um our costs to provide for the benefits for this employee group are fixed for the four-year term of the contract uh for the employees in this bargaining unit they do get a better benefit plan and it's at at no increased cost to them and this contract also is cost neutral as we pay a little bit more for Ben benefits but it's being offset by lower wage increases um the last point that I want to
044make make as as far as a benefit to the board is that um because the benefit plan is better than what the board offered previously we believe it's a retention tool for the existing employees but it's also a recruiting tool for new employees looking to uh join uh our organization in one of the maintenance positions when they're open um that is the summary of the tenative agreement that's before the board thank you Mr masana um I'd like to call for a motion to approve the contract andry that the chesher Board of Education approves the collective bargaining agreement with the international Union of operating engineers local 30 for the period from July 1 2023 through June 30th 2027 further the Board of Education authorized IES the superintendent of schools or his appointed designate to sign the
045contract on its behalf thank you is there a second Mr White are there any discussion none so we're going to call for a vote all in favor vote is unanimous thank you may just make a quick comment I I know none of the um gentlemen in the union are here this evening but I just want to thank them uh we have 24 individuals who care for eight buildings thousands of people that come and go every day uh in 60y Old on average facilities plus uh they do a tremendous job to make sure that our facilities are operational for our students and safe for our staff and our community uh and I just wanted to say thank that thank you you for what they do every day and uh for your work and uh going through
046this this contract process with us so thank you very much thank you Dr Solen uh our next order of business we're gonna oh I'm sorry Tim oh thank you yeah just point of information y uh for the Personnel committee uh a month ago we were I think the Personnel committee was pretty close to being done with the superintendent's goals and then an election happened and I felt the best thing to do would be to hold off on that so just um probably have a discussion about that at some point with the with the new board new Personnel committee noted any other comments no thank you Mr White um planning committee you're back up again Mr masan I apologize to the board members I know I'm occupying the whole meeting tonight but this is important business
047so this uh before the board tonight is a request to approve educational specifications for a boiler replacement project at Dodd Middle School and I'll just explain quickly that the the project itself has been funded the Town Council appropriated $600,000 for this project last year we're actually out um you know on the street we we have a an invitation to bid that was the walkth through today 17 potential contractors showed up so in order for us to apply for the grant funding that the state has just made available for HVAC projects there are several components and that's what's before the board tonight one the board has to approve educational specs and we have to submit those as part of the Grant application and further the Town Council has to pass three specific resolutions in order for
048the Grant application to be complete so this is a an additional request for educational specs to be approved the board members that were here last year you remember we approved um Ed specs for nine different HVAC projects we did apply for the grant ground one last year with those nine projects they were all rejected many districts applications were rejected but the um Department of administrative Services invited everyone to resubmit those applications from round one which we intend to do the deadline is December 31st and now we're going to be adding one more so this is number 10 the edecs are pretty straightforward it explains the two boilers that we're placing at Dodd they're a little over 20 years old uh we do need to replace them and again the funding was approved because we do
049believe that they are near end of life and we certainly wouldn't want to take a chance with losing a boiler plant thank you Mr marciana um so is there a motion to approve the ects for the HVAC project Mr White you want to read it that the chesh that is it on yeah it's that the Cheshire Board of Education approves the educational specifications for the boiler replacement project at DOD Middle School Town of chesher project project number 01522 with an appropriation totaling $600,000 and further that the Board of Education authorizes the superintendent of schools to apply to the HVAC grant program administered by the office of school construction and grants review osgr for the HVAC Improvement projects and respectfully requests that the town of that the chesher Town Council passed the three resolutions required as
050part of the Grant application to number one authorize the superintendent of schools to apply to das for a grant for the project number two establish a building committee for the project number three authorize the preparation of of at least schematic drawings for the project thank you is there a second Mr gripple thank you any discussion Mr gripple um the 600,000 um I think I answer my own question but so you just said you had 17 people come to make a to to have a make a bid on the project um so the hope is that the bids will come in under 600,000 and that the project will be completed with the money allotted that's the Hope correct 600,000 or less is good right lower is better absolutely and I didn't mention that the grant reimbursement
051is 50% of eligible cost so it's substantial that's total cost 600 not that's not our 50 that's not our match 50% that's it's 50% of eligible cost so there's usually some pieces of the 600,000 in this case that may not be eligible but the expectation is the vast majority will be reimbursable the hope it's the whole we're not it's not going to be a $900,000 project we pay 600,000 right right okay I know what you were asking that Mr White thank you VIN uh are you expecting this to be on the council's agenda next week I don't know if I missed that or not yes yeah okay yeah it is all right thank you and uh also I'll just say we've looked at this for probably a year or two it's been on on our
052agenda and I don't know that there's any altern there are there any options that would make me any happier with a a cleaner energy option um we're in this situation it's got to be addressed ASAP because we can't have DOD get shut down so we need to make this happen and so thanks for making it happen Vin you're welcome I I will add Mr White that these are going to be more efficient than the ones that are 20 years old they are condensing boilers so it's better I know it's not what you'd like to see but we're working on that with the new schools aren't we yes thank you very much trying then just for a clarification for people at home what is Das Department of administrative Services they're the branch of the state of
053Connecticut that oversees among other things School construction projects and this Falls essentially in the same grant program as new school construction projects got it thank you are the any other further comments or discussion points no then we're going to call for a vote those in favor of approving the escs for HVAC project as the motion is on the floor I it is unanimous thank you the motion passes thank you everyone are there any other board members that wish to report on any other standing committees that we didn't Mr White yeah not not a different standing committee but I did want to ask a question of the planning committee and that's probably going to be Vin um if if you have a 30- second update on either energy performance contract or an RFP for solar yes
054the energy performance contract we provided the information to energia and they're in the process of doing their analysis so we're waiting on them with the um the solar question I did speak to you know our consultant who um has a an associate that specializes and has a lot of experience in solar in Connecticut and basically are waiting for the new planning committee to be formed and um he knows he's being invited okay to attend that planning committee so we can have further discussion on the topic awesome thank you you okay the next item is the approval of minutes is there a motion to approve the minutes of November 16 2023 give some time for you to review them if you did not get a chance to should be on the bottom of your packet there
055Aran I move that the Board of Education approve the minutes from meeting held on November 16th 2023 is there a second Mr grippo are there any additions or Corrections nope okay we'll call for a vote those who um appr to approve the minutes for November yeah I'll call for abstentions too then right je yeah you don't have to abstain technically you reviewed it and you saw the meeting but if you're more comfortable abstaining that makes perfect sense too so all those in favor one two three four y all those against Nays none abstentions one two three extensions to four a the motion does passes for to four y excuse me the motion does pass thank you Mr secretary are there any correspondences I was supplied with no correspondence unless the superintendent has any we have
056none oh thank you I shoot you a quick email well thank you Dr Solen all your sir thank you very much uh I'm GNA try and keep this brief but uh of course we always update the school modernization process the last meeting was held on November 30th uh most of the time was spent uh discussing the energy uh issues with each building and how we plan to um provide geothermal uh hybrid systems fully electric at at both locations um that was a desire to be as green as possible and fit within the budgetary constraints of both of those projects so uh the committee affirmed that hybrid Geo thermal uh system at both locations uh there are a series of upcoming meetings to go through the town planning process at this point uh and our next
057meeting will be next Thursday uh here in downstairs in room 207 uh for anybody who's interested um the last night we had the benefit of being joined uh the board was joined by uh Representatives upus representative linan uh and senators saps and hokel for a conversation about the upcoming um legislative U session and we were able to articulate a number of areas that we hoped that they would focus on everything from providing full funding to excess cost reimbursement and reducing the burden of mandates uh but the real I think the Lion Share of the meeting was focused on the right to read legislation uh is a very quick summary to that update uh I'll walk through that but I would encourage anybody who's interested to go on our YouTube channel and watch uh last night's
058meeting where we go into much greater depth but in essence the legislation requires districts to provide scientifically grounded reading program uh for students in grades K through three with the goal of obviously making sure students have strong achievement addressing needs for students who had been historically underrepresented or underperforming uh the state provided a hand full of programs the state department of Ed that is that uh they felt fit that instuction um in some cases we supplement with parts of those but they do not represent the heart of our programs we have grounded our curriculum and and program in the findings from the national reading Pro uh panel that published a a ground Rak breaking report at the time in 2000 really outlining six core reading skills uh the legislation sought to ensure reading success obviously
059for all particularly like I said those who um have been marginalized and cheshire's third grade student performance has been exceptionally High uh in in the area of reading actually math as well but for the case of this discussion reading and um just to give some examples our Hispanic Latino students were the highest performing in Connecticut our students who received special education students ranked second and our students identified by the state as quote high needs either receiving free or reduced lunch multilanguage Learners or special education students we ranked seventh overall in Connecticut with that population and seventh for our entire student population so our students have obviously been uh very successful I think we're alarmed at the idea of being forced to buy a particular curriculum our estimate is that it would cost $700,000 just for
060the materials for grades K through six uh because we wouldn't want to go k through three and then switch reading programs on kids uh that doesn't include cost of training and uh the time and energy put into that and uh my greatest concern and I know that Marlene and others that work in our uh you know focus on education and reading and our school system are deeply concerned that it'll compromise achievement uh so we appreciate the legislators coming last night and hearing us out I think there's strong support to take a real hard look at this and make necessary changes so that we don't uh find ourselves in a position where we're paying to compromise achievement uh I'll end on a brighter out at do little school tomorrow uh we do a lot of fundraising
061around the district for all sorts of things and I don't bring all of those uh unless there's maybe some unique wrinkle um tomorrow at D little school they've been strong uh supporters of the Connecticut Children's Medical Center Pajama Day fundraiser for many years tomorrow KC 101 will be there at 12:20 to recognize a couple of classrooms for their work and they'll be cranking our kids up with Dunkin Donuts God bless our teachers for the last couple hours and uh celebrating with our kids so it should be a fun day over at doitt tomorrow that's all I have great are there any questions for the superintendent Mr White and then Mr gero thank you thanks for the report you mentioned that and I'm not going to be able to quote you but you were talking about
062the uh Next Generation building school committee saying that they are going to be doing two hybrid energy systems for the two schools one at each school so it's a geothermal Electric System in each building yeah so my I am a firm believer that a we could be saving money if it was a full geothermal rather than a hybrid my understanding is that the as of a month or two ago a full geothermal was in plan for the North End school and once the hybrid system that was sort of created for Norton was known then the building committee decided to go with a lower initial cost hybrid system at the North End which will have higher life cycle costs higher operating costs going forward so I strongly disagree with that approach and this isn't a reflection
063on this is just the committee in general it's the committee that makes that decision yeah and so I I'm highlighting this for the voters and the committee is appointed they're not elected but I am advocating strongly that at minimum the North End School be switched back to a full geothermal uh and that's not just mentioning it here but I've been uh advocating with the Town Council uh and others just to make this clear to people because I do not based on the understanding that I have right now I do not agree with it and I find it hard to believe that I'd be convinced otherwise the key thing for me is lower energy use first of all and second of all we'll be spending less money going forward on an annual basis if we had
064a full geothermal rather than a hybrid that's all I just want to add a little bit of context to that um because uh you're absolutely correct in the sense that the initial design included a full geothermal at the North End um and when we looked at the geothermal option at Norton and knew that we were wildly over budget uh with Norton unfortunately because of the fact that um the demo on the existing building when factored in pushed Us North well north um so at Norton initially we were 10.6 to 13.3 million over budget uh the North End well better was still 8.4 to 10.3 million over budget at that time so the initial design did include geothermal when we had to make uh substantial reductions in the budgets for both buildings that's when you know
065and it's only really because we were focused on Norton initially to make those substantial reductions the committee examined through the support of our engineering team uh with a goal of trying to be as absolutely green as possible one and two in the future being able to take it off the grid uh through you know things like solar pan chanels uh that could you know be ultimately connected down the road and the the committee decided with the substantial savings it was $2.3 Million reduction for Norton when we switched to the hybrid geothermal system uh which obviously dramatically reduced our shortfall um again another substantial reduction I think it was at least 2.3 million at the North End to do that even though that building larger um and so that's where the hybrid systems came in and
066I know that uh our uh chair Mr Gusenberg shared a really good overview that I just got uh this this afternoon and I I will pass it on to the board and put it on our school modernization page so I think people can kind of see the Ed specs initially you know it wasn't to design a full full Geo thermal program but um it was a lead silver design with a million dollars and additional for uh supporting the uh Energy Efficiency of the building and so with all those things in mind the committee is trying to stay within that budget but get as green as we possibly can so I'll I'll post I'll share that and post that with on the budget on the website as well thank you yeah just follow up to that
067I get it about the budgetary constraints I've gone to the council I said at a council meeting my real request is to get better numbers from The Architects to see what it means geothermal versus the hybrid system but that could ultimately lead to a referendum asking voters for more money I I could see myself supporting that I don't know until I would see the numbers um then I think it would be a really big lift to make something like that happen in an in an expeditious fashion so that we don't slow down Construction in any way I don't want to do that nonetheless nonetheless there's decisions there's choices tradeoffs that exist this is a trade-off that I disagree with right now at least with regard to the North End that's it and and the I
068think the real concern is as you as we transition into the design the actual drafting work uh to Pivot um it will cost substantial money and the committee decided not to go down that road at this time um but the for those that are interested are on our website too you can link to the NG the ne nextg School uh building committee videos the last meeting as I said really touched upon this so people can go back and what was discussed in in great detail if they choose I think Mr gripple and then Mr per um I obviously feel differently than Mr White uh I think that at least the hybrid system is a a better compromise considering that you get to save $2 million per project and it sounded like you had did you
069when so it sounded like the the designs were when they were done was 10 million over per location or total using rough numbers yes per location per location um uh so I guess the next question is the for the other eight million per location uh has has that shortfall been overcome and was that done at one particular meeting or has that just been done over a series of meetings it's been done over a series of meetings and the the construct this process is grouped into phases right and so this initial phase there's a certain tolerance of the budget that uh our um representative would is comfortable with arcadas and then there's om as our construction firm there's another tolerance level they're comfortable with and then the Architects have their own perspective on things we really
070are listening to om and arcadis they work collaboratively to kind of design where that threshold is we had to make significant reductions to get under that threshold and um the committee did that and made a lot of difficult decisions I think the geothermal to hybrid was one of those difficult decisions there are other things like using a chiller beam system to raise the height of the ceiling tiles a certain saves this much money or drop the ceiling if you will put the same ceiling tile height you know saves you know a lot of money in construction over two large buildings like that so things like that or tazzo floors versus a different style floor went through a painstaking process at both buildings to drop those costs within that threshold that I was talking about so
071we're okay right now I don't want people to walk away thinking oh my God we're eight million over budget we're on budget right as of today um but had to make a lot of difficult decisions to get to that place and I'm sure after the design phase and we go out to bid we'll learn more um but you know it's important to us to stay at each uh checkpoint on budget and that's where we're at um at the uh Town Hall meetings that we had there was a gentleman at the Norton meeting that made uh very convincing arguments about having sensible exterior finishes and was that part of the um cost-saving measures or has that even been broached yet at that sort of choices in and you know you know wood because there was a
072lot of woodl looking things yeah and this gentleman made a very strong argument against those types of accents yeah we don't have a cedar finish right right Norton and and I think I want to say in places I don't think it was Cedar but it was something like it um that had been proposed and correct me if I'm wrong V but I think all that's been washed out I mean we yeah it has been so um yeah that that was addressed because you know we always talk about our maintenance budget every year and if we're having to repaint stuff those are pretty big buildings in point you know about life costs versus initial cost and as good as it looks will this add substantial lifetime costs and you know that was consideration and been adjusted
073and uh just lastly one last comment the your presentation last night on our uh reading uh curriculum the data you Pres presented I felt was overwhelming uh overwhelmingly against the proposals that the department of Ed is is I essentially forcing upon us um and I hope that a solution will be found either legislatively or as we discussed briefly uh to uh sort of have an open revolt against them I would certainly support that so that's my last comment we're not looking to go nuclear but uh we we reserve the right right sounded it last night Mr P thank you I so I pck back on something Tim and Adam said but I do want to commend you Dr Solen for the presentation last night uh I happen to have uh the presentation hand out um
074when I got home and uh my wife friend is like they rejected this I like I I'm just so it was to the point and fual and I I appreciate the work that you and your team put into it so thank you again it was well received yeah I want to you know obviously give U Marlene and Kevin handling a lot of credit for doing a lot of that work and um I think we were in the enviable position where any reasonable person would wonder what the heck is going on so it does happen to make us look a lot e better but it the reason that we look better is because of the work as I said to Kevin and Marlene last night that you know our people with their leadership do on a
075daily basis to support our students in their reading achievement so um thank you for that on their behalf as well yeah I I just want to say I I understand where Tim's coming from but you know it's it's a game of compromises right and I guess you know was it the best deal uh everyone walks away unsatisfied is a good deal so I just want to remind the board that this project has been years in the making and and I go back some time to get to something I don't want to see this side railed at this point um it seems that one fast of this just does not want to compromise and I don't want this being held hostage because of that I trust nsgc I follow the meetings uh we all handpick these
076folks lots of talent so um I hope when folks do go there they're not speaking on behalf of the board personal um so let's just be careful with that because at this point we got less than three years to get a school building two of them up and running it's a massive dual project I'm happy that they found a hybrid option uh but I I appw them for not revisiting this we got to move on G again yeah I just want to very quickly um shout out big thanks to our Representatives who were here last night for that legislative meeting I've been doing those legislative meetings for eight years and that was the most productive one we've ever held um I'm not sure why I don't think it was necessarily the topic but um really
077nice to have four legislators here and have a really good back and forth conversation with them so thank you Representatives Lenahan and zupkus and Senators hell and Samson to that earlier point you know any reasonable person could look at this when Republicans and Democrats are high-fiving each other literally and holding hands I walked out and saw cats and dogs hugging in the streets it it was uh it's pretty evident what needs to happen here any other comments for the superintendent I I do have to say um I sentiments exactly I thought it was really productive it you know it's nice to have that type of discourse and wish that we could have it more frequently um and to Tony's Point uh we did sit here and select some really Stellar High Caliber individuals on that
078committee so I think I I'm based on what you're saying we're right on SCH so I really hope we don't derail this at all but I do I do get what you're saying Tim I just hope that side research doesn't throw us off of our timeline as originally scheduled so okay thank you Dr Solen um old business there are no old business it looks like yes sir uh so curriculum is there I I I know the be being are we planning the curriculum meeting in January due to the waiver anything to talk about that or is that be later just curious you want to have a curriculum meeting we Monday okay I didn't see it here yeah I didn't see it either so it is on the on our calendar January do that no I
079I didn't say didn't check my I see hand there are only two items on the agenda a couple of field trips and an overview of the multilingual learner situation I'm good thank you okay so just point of clarification there is a meeting this coming Monday December 11th at 7 o'clock great awesome thank you and then we move on to new business and um I guess it's my my turn so I do want to take a moment uh just for a point of personal privilege if you will indulge me I do have some words um to say and I do have to read it because I will get emotional if I don't so on the first night of Hanukkah I begin my first meeting as your new board chair and to those of you here and
080not here and at home that celebrate I wish you peace love and a happy Festival of Lights it's not lost on me the significance and the responsibility of being selected as chairwoman of the Board of Education if my research and historical understanding of treasure serve me correctly to be the first female person of color as chair is a momentous event as I know how much representation matters consequently I like most people um in such a situation have the compelling urge to say something first I would like to thank my colleagues on the board for this expression of confidence in me I have but one goal and that is to serve to the best of my ability to achieve this goal during the period that I serve is to continue the respectful collegial and collaborative relationship
081that we have which has aided in moving the work forward in support of the district mission and vision the evidence is clear in the consecutive years acknowledgement by cave as being a board of Distinction I want also acknowledge and thank my predecessor Mr perini for leading the pack well we're Ram so it's a herd especially through such difficult times to obtain that recognition second and also on behalf of my newly elected and reelected colleagues Timmy you're back I want to assure the community that chesher public schools is and continues to be in good hands the volunteer members that you have elected have demonstrated the utmost professionalism and each of my colleagues on the board is an intelligent and reasonable and rational adult who is is immensely passionate and concerned about the welfare of our district
082and all of our students furthermore within the district we have a group of talented dedicated professionals and support persons the kind of persons who will Faithfully care out the board's policy and will work with the board in molding each component of the professional and support staff into a highly effective and efficient team I also believe that the board the administration teachers and students working together in a mutually supportive manner will make this District the model for the state if not the nation as I look towards the future I and all of us here recognize that we have a lot to celebrate about our challenges continue to be great though but the potential for meeting them exists hence success is attainable let us the board the professionals and support Personnel of the district the students the
083parents and the community pledge to work together and meeting these challenges if we truly commit ourselves to such a pledge history will show that we in our day met the demands which our times required of us so on this first night of Hanukkah I end with this excerpt from Amanda Gorman's inaugural poem the hill we climb the new dawn blooms as we free it for there is always light if only we're brave enough to see it if only we're brave enough to be it so please continue to be the light for our town thank you and then I have to call the meeting into record the dates meeting dates into record you don't have to help so um happy Holidays happy New Year we'll be back in session on January 11th 2024 at Town council
084chambers with the highly expected presentation of the superintendent's budget then we move to January 16th 2024 at dad middle school for 7 o'clock public budget viiew administrative review of accounts moving forward to January 18th 2024 Town council chambers at 7:30 the Board of Ed business meeting and then January 23rd 2024 back at do middle school for 7 pm another public budget review administrative review of accounts and then January 25th 2024 dad Middle School 7 PM more public information meeting board members responses to the superintendent's budget possible adoption of the Board of Education budget and then January 30th if we need it we will be at dot at 7:30 it's a special meeting with the Board of Education to adopt a board of ed budget and then the uh cheser Public Schools does have a break
085which I'm sure all you kids know out there December 25th to January 1st will be our winter break so we are closed and then January 15th we will be honoring Martin Luther King Day schools and and central office will be closed and that's it for new business um is there a motion to adjourn Mr White second miss cullinen all in favor to adjourn it is unanimous we are adjourned