001okay but I'll just call it regularly I'd like to call for a roll call please sure here here we go to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which just has one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay first is public comment and we had a you know some potentially controversial issues this evening looking for public comment would you like someone and seeing none okay oh that's not Public Health Oh I thought there was correspondence perhaps oh okay but when we talk about budget considerations I'm happy to share a couple of public items sure that weren't intended for this one parents and stuff that I've spoken to in the last 12 hours actually okay then we will move on to the first item or third
002item which is review preschool tuition rates thank you Mr grippo um so basically we offer a couple of different programs preschool aid for preschool age children in Chester one of them is a half day program where students are solicited to support our intensive a preschool program we have students that are receiving special education services and we provide those supports by law as part of our extension of the birth to three program preschool program and we need peers to join that program we solicit people in the community there is constantly awaiting list for this I think in part because we offer a very good program with certified teachers part of this is because we have not changed our rates in 15 plus years I say 15 conservatively because I think it's significantly better but don't know
003um and so I'm just saying conservatively 15 plus years the current rate for the full year now keep in mind these are a two and a half hour per day programs so if you attend at the bottom of the page you'll see if you attend three days the current rate is 16.35. if you attend four days it's 21.90 if you attend five days it's twenty seven hundred dollars for a half day of Child Care slash instruction for the full Public School calendar year so it's it's beyond reasonable this is a year a year I thought this was a month oh that's full year cost what so that is for then and we want it to be attractive yeah because we need to make sure that we have typical peers to join this program um the
004I put down adjusted rates there for consideration and those adjusted rates uh are meant to continue to be competitive but also adjusted up to a degree now interestingly other towns I believe that we were kind of the trendsetter in terms of offering this program you know out of the Darcy schools very forward-thinking back in the day um other programs that exist there aren't a lot of other programs like this that exist but like Southington for four days they're charging 26.20 for the year so our rates are not um wildly less than theirs are they are less other some other districts like Simsbury charges 5200 for the year for the five-day program so you know there's I think there's room for us to um make an adjustment in terms of the the cost of this program
005uh to refresh your memory that that Revenue that we generate from this program goes to the town it doesn't go into our budget but when we present our budget in January we certainly present a revenue component to that that is taken into consideration by the top things that you know like our ECS money for example um is the greatest source of Revenue the educational cost sharing Grant is the greatest source of Revenue to the town related to education this would you be it a small uptick for us in terms of the the adjustment so it's out there for your consideration the the costs Bethany is 32.50 for five days on a three hour program or two and a half I think when you look at the proposal relative to other communities we're in that neighborhood
006but again we it's priced Dirt Cheap to continue to be enticing for families to enroll uh because it's a program that's plays an important part in the services for the special education in our community I imagine even with this adjustment we will continue to have um a waiting list I think this is I went back I think so yeah uh I'm just thinking like what before care is really why and that's I think three hundred dollars right yeah well used to yeah yeah it's yeah it's way more expensive yeah and that's just for a couple hours before school right before and after care yeah is really almost commensurate with full daycare if you're paying beforehand Aftercare together yeah and this is That's So This is a two and a half hour day program right so
007this isn't this isn't a full day program correct and that's it's it's like what eight to ten or something or is it is it standing throughout the day or is it we have an AM and p.m okay so uh it's roughly 8 45 to 11 15 or 11 30. so it must be 9 to 11 30 and then uh 12 30 to 3. okay um so it's just looking at that during our children place the other day so I guess I'll um how about at least make a motion so that we can discuss that sound good um move that the uh chess report of Education finance committee moved to the full board for consideration a tuition increase of the um would be the official part-time preschool program okay Park time preschool program um for let's
008see three days per week an increase from 1635 to 1735 annually um four days a week 21.90 increased to 23.50 annually and five days a week uh 2700 increased to twenty nine hundred dollars annually is there a second we have a second discussion any go ahead you know just a couple questions Jeff um this is going to just pretty much impact the general education peers only so what's because from your standpoint it looks like the smart program subsidizes some of this or so clarify the smarts a Start program is an entirely separate program only for students who have not been identified for special education services through this uh those rates are dictated at the state level on a sliding scale so we are already told what we can chart in a significantly more than this
009obviously we're Char we're told what the rates are for those we have also secured a grant for that program so the vast majority of all that is paid for Anyway by the state of Connecticut and that is a full day of pre-K yes five days full day I was actually expecting a little higher of an increase in families historically it has been the model for many of other districts and so I feel as though we been generous um yeah I mean like I said when you look at Simsbury they do have a uh well they have a two and a half hour program 51.90 for five days um you know we want to maintain it at a place that we think is enticing I think there's probably room if there was the appetite for that
010to adjust a little bit higher than where we are now you know um and those funds directly go to the town it doesn't go into payroll correct a question after a committee honestly I thought it would be higher that's okay I think we could certainly I think I think we're being um conservative is is definitely a fair criticism I appreciate that um I mean if uh maybe you guys want to continue discussion and then if you're comfortable to make it amended uh motion it's up to you if you wanted to make a further adjustment there so question go ahead this sort of costs this is not a revenue generators to cover the cost support in a program right so you mentioned waiting list so as soon as a certain number of seats that we can
011offer yeah and base that number if they're fully populated you're calculated and you know costs a day I'm sorry morning afternoon program staff resources and kind of came up with this number it is that not necessarily I think that would be a logical way to do it um but this was the rates in this were never meant to cover the cost of the program but meant to subsidize the program if we were covering the cost especially given the more intensive special needs that were uh and this it's hard to project because it could be a different population from year over year so you don't always have the same number of identified students who are moving into this program sometimes the needs are more significant sometimes they're less significant so it's not as simple as maybe
012we could budget for fifth grade based on a lot of historical data we can create numbers here but if we were to ask to pay for the entire thing the numbers would be astronomically higher here we want to um offer this because it it's a benefit for the student who attends uh certainly at this price is a very uh awesome benefit to receive a year of preschool education even at halftime for these rates but it's also you know really a necessity for the special ed program to be able to run so we desperately need the individuals to participate so where do you strike that customer sweet spot I think we're probably to Sam's Point South of where we could be but we don't want to go too far if you end up being north of
013where you you need to be then you're in trouble so we provide transportation to reasons um not for General and students to participate and this is only since 15 years since the rates uh were changed but in my reading that this will also support those students who turn five so there's a different program that we'll talk about when we do the budget considerations okay but that's certainly relevant in this whole conversation no doubt given the wait list Jeff I've seen the potential for expansion if we're going to increase rates that kind of justifies it too you know so you're saying there's wait list but yet we're not in this in this program because we're we're really offering it to support the special education program expansion would be a consideration if the special education numbers grew
014significantly and we needed to do that the idea of General Ed preschool expansion is certainly that's a whole nother story that we could also consider when the space is available unfortunately right now we just don't have stores available well that's exactly what I was thinking we're getting a new school soon right so that might you know if we said as a community hey you know what we want to take Darcy which would still need a whole lot of work and dedicate that as preschool space that would be a substantial investment for the community but it's a consideration um I think when I heard expansions more thinking if there was additional if there's going to be additional space sure that's cool you over Norton if that came because I thought we were taking Darcy offline so
015yeah right we are yeah we are in terms of the additional space that the North End school right now because we design it based on 10-year enrollment uh study that was done I can't foresee additional space being available yeah because we build it specifically to the max of that 10-year window and there's not a lot of variability in that 10-year window so you're going to fill it but at some point maybe after that or something crazy happens there there could be space available and also you know the the yeah again going back to my surprise when I was like oh that's an annual yeah right a monthly shock number yeah um and so uh a number of the students are Grant funded right only special education items are paid for by us right so if
016you consider it like you've got um different houses here one house is the intensified um and then the other is the Smart Start in terms of our Pre-K services so the Intensive Ed piece is only students that were identified and they have two half day sessions um and they have general education peers that join them in those that's what we're talking about here in this case right then we have the Smart Start group which people enter we basically have a lottery for people for two sections of additional Pre-K class so that's full day five days a week that's all the grant funded Staffing we still collect revenue on that um that comes through Smart Start that's a whole different program okay not related to this program we also it's because there's so many things going
017on up there there's a birth to three program those kids don't ever really come into the building we go to the home we provide services we build the state for that service we also have kindergarten so there's a lot going on up there so we have a kindergarten for kids that have matriculated age-wise out of these programs and into uh the five-year-old level program which you know we'll talk a little bit about the budget considerations too so those those are the two separate and how they're funded uh preschool programs and then even like you said the kindergarten program so I I guess what else uh thinking was is this uh program used as a match for any of those other Grant programs it's like the so you're saying you know this is a sub subsidized
018cost so it's the remaining or that cost applied to a match for those grants so the remainder is 100 grants only the Smart Start is the grant funded one for this program here um the only way you know sort of Revenue Source beyond our operating budget that would be applicable here is idea grant funding the special ed Grant fund ing okay so the sub so the the non we have to run this program right we have to run this we have to provide these special added Services we Cheshire Public Schools provides this in-house um it's cheaper more efficient and better for the kids generally speaking and so there's a cost to that right there would have been a cost if we out that's a normal budget line on it yeah exactly already baked into ours
019right so like it's not a it's not like a 70 30 grand we have to kick in 30 this is our there's no grant for this okay at all we operate this is a program that we just normally have correct and this is a tuition that we charge for yeah that we entice um you know model peers or or other peers to come in so the program is successful yeah right as intended yeah okay and I don't know if it came up but it's for every special ed student the goal is to have one General ed student so if there's a class of 10 you know total students five might be special ed and five might be Pre-K General ed students that would pay this rate and then Smart Start just to clarify there's two
020classrooms of Smart Start and act I think every week 16 18 and 16 yeah to 18. outside cost because if I were a parent of one of those regular ed students saying that might pay the fee do I have to pay any like lunch supplement or anything like um no I don't think the kids don't they transport their own transport their trials there's no lunch because they might have a snack but yeah there are nothing that comes to mind that's like of any you know significant relatives or anything like that I'm comfortable with the increase I mean I'd like to see us revisit it once the new schools are open and maybe the potential of the expansion and I did and so forth but right now it's a generous increase well it's funny because we've
021never looked at it right and so I I think you know we're making this adjustment um and certainly we will put it in our particular file and commit to when we come back here next year what happened I don't I don't think we're gonna see changes in numbers to be honest especially with our growing enrollment yeah but we'll say hey what happened you know is there a room for another small adjustment up or not at that point when does it take effect though this would uh be for the beginning of the 25 four five four five school year next so July one still have plenty of time for messaging actually you know what we can't we um I had I excuse me I had um uh Kim kind of put things on hold so that
022we could implement it this year if we chose to do that um it is like I said it's pretty nominal increase and this isn't it's not a mandated program they don't have to so that and it's not you don't look at these numbers and go oh my God these are we're doubling at last year's cost I can't afford to do this so we we can't Implement that right now as soon as the board meets on uh what is it the 16th I think 18th I just wonder how disruptive it would be since families this hasn't been publicized and we did put on the website that you know the the rates are under review and when we published uh later this month so what's been charged so so no enough to have a bill yet um
023this is now I'm getting myself yeah I think Kim had a this is notified of state by October first so this is right yeah so this is yeah we have to notify the state for next year got it so thank you below so you mentioned websites uh has information in the review that that the parents with kids currently program get notifications on their review I'm just curious so this this group would matriculate um to kindergarten next year so the kids that are in now wouldn't necessarily feel that thank you but the monthly charge being calculated by eight months 10 typically right 10 10. okay sorry so it's not too bad all right yeah the worst case being 290 bucks a month yeah yeah for five days yeah on top that's why we have a wait
024list yeah yeah with certified staff and a para educator you're not going to really find that yeah any other questions or comments I'll call for a vote uh on the motion that I read before that is documented in the minutes yeah on videotape uh all in favor all right passes unanimously unanimously of those present okay thank you we'll move on to um preliminary review of the 24-25 operation operating budget variables so this is something we initiated last year request that hey can we take a look at some things that might be coming down the pike for January and kind of get an early opportunity to to wrap our heads around it to a degree the biggest one is obviously the expiration of the rfaster grant money right now that money funds in elementary principal assistant
025principal position which is split between Norton and Chapman it also uh pays for two math interventionists basically one at Cheshire High School one at Dodd Middle School and it also covers um an additional Elementary reading and math specialist at Highland um is we continue to evaluate this through the fall I think I could probably see based on enrollment the high school math Coach position going away the elementary positions would be harder for me right now as I sit here today on October third I think um to say like let's dissolve those but certainly the ram position at Highland that now that our enrollment is 900 students makes it a lot harder for me this you know say I don't I just can't see us dissolving that uh the administrative position really has been supportive of
026the intervention and data analysis of those buildings and helped us interestingly provide a I think a more consistent standard of operations between two elementary schools uh Chapman and Norton um and so we're definitely going to have to evaluate these things and that's why we're just consider you know putting these out there's points for consideration it's not an answer today but it's something that we're just going to have to evaluate and hopefully come to some decisions on when we get to work in January um then you want to talk a little bit about the wage increase piece yeah so the um we have three contracts that are going to expire to actually expired and the administrative contract expires at the end of this year we already know that the administrator contract increase the board approved that
027it's subject to Town Council approval for next year's three percent prior to this the administrators were two and a half percent we're also negotiating the secretaries and building maintainers we're not done with those negotiations but we know the average settlements are in the three percent range those contracts this year had 2.75 percent salary increases so we do expect you know the wage increases to be higher relative to this year in the next fiscal year so that's the point of that one it's it's not dramatic but you know certainly we always budget for wage increases it'll just be a little bit higher for 24.25 based on on what we know today the next ones you know something that we knew was coming for some time the increase in enrollment uh and how that will influence our
028Staffing that is required at the Elementary grades the one what I was going to say with that you know we we do our enrollment update is about 21st that that's due now we send that to NASDAQ they'll send us projections and then we'll build into the elementary Staffing model based on those projections are we going to increase keep the same number of elementary teachers or decrease and obviously we do that at the middle school as well so that'll be driven by when we actually get at the enrollment projections and we won't have them probably for another month or so the the I guess in this moment counterbalance to that is the current High School enrollment if you recall we went from six teaching periods to five uh one of the last districts to do so
029as part of a uh I think it saved us money in the contract negotiations but it was better for teacher planning and everything this is the third year of that so we have a real good sense of what is it doing to our course loads what is it doing to course options all these things class sizes uh and I think there's probably some room to maneuver at the high school level in terms of positions and we're currently evaluating that and what does that mean what are like what am I actually talking about we'll figure out for January but I'm looking to see given that adjustment that was made given the current enrollment is is that a place where you know we're looking at providing adequate Staffing are we maybe you know in a place to
030reduce their uh we're gonna have to add it at the Elementary grades given the growing enrollment there so we're evaluating it I don't have a answer definitive but that's a consideration in our budget process um the Tony had mentioned new kindergarten star age so it used to be that you would have to turn five before January 1st and then you'd enroll in kindergarten if you didn't if you were in preschool the legislature rolled that back from January 1 to September first so you know there are a lot of parents who kind of relatively 11th hour ago what I thought my Child Care bills were coming to an end this year and for us historically we'd be looking at about 60 students that fall into that birth range curriculum is going to take up um a
031proposal an idea for like a transition K program uh preschool still preschool with our certified staff the ramifications of of bubble year where you have 60 less kids if those if none of those 60 kids go to kindergarten that's probably you know two to three sections of teachers two to three classroom teachers that I no longer would need there which is really problematic in a lot of ways um because I now I'd have to reduce our staffing by three maybe not three because I'm thinking with their enrollment gain in other areas so even if I have to cut a couple of teachers one or two that's not anything we really want to do unless we we have to um the other thing that's a reality is we have a number of parents who are saying
032well you know my daycare provider wasn't planning on me being here they were planning on me being in kindergarten and they've taken enrollment for the that circumstance where do I go um other people say you know my child is is gifted and should be in kindergarten other people say um my child wants to be the star of the basketball team I think they should be not in kindergarten I want them back so they're the oldest kid and they're great not a lot of people don't think that far out but I've heard it um those are all you know wild examples but these are all considerations that we're gonna talk about when we get together with curriculum and the idea of do we potentially offer a transition pre-k program for one year where it's a fee
033for service let's say you know anywhere from seven to nine thousand dollars for the year that's still very reasonable it offsets the cost that we would have to incur from taking from keeping these teachers um and then you know the subsequent year we don't offer that anymore it's always going to be a little bit of a bubble group um but this this kindergarten class next year will be significantly smaller than anticipated based on this you know the state law changing the subsequent kindergarten class will be bigger than we anticipated based on and then if it should you know straight itself out after that but actually no it should be normal size of the subsequent here um because the camera we're trying to figure in my head why that is good or why the legislature decided
034to do that developmentally I mean it does make sense yeah the research around kindergarten start date is uh leaning significantly toward being older is better if five years old is better when we start kindergarten and there was a lot of push from the state teachers union and the office of early childhood education to make this change I think the change is probably not the problem it's the way it was implemented is the problem so just do one year I mean we had suggested things like well what about a month by month sat down for three years that will smooth the Curve um you know there are some things that were problematic you know the idea that it was written into the well we have to offer parents a screening assessment can go if they were
035born in that way can they go in except there's no guidance on a four-year-old screening assessment for school systems that don't do a lot of that you know in the state is struggling to still do the reading program let alone a new kindergarten program so hopefully we'll get some guidance we'll meet him State later this week actually we'll see what's up there we may have to come up with something on our own that wouldn't be shocked if that was the case but it's uh it's a new nugget that has been dropped on districts that we have to try and figure out so that'll be the topic for conversation at the curriculum committee meeting coming up and there may or may not be Financial considerations with that the science of reading as I just mentioned um
036before we move on can I just ask um for a teacher to teach kindergarten is that a general Elementary skill set or is it a specific skill set is it like teacher teach third fourth or fifth grade uh you know what I mean it depends where you were sort of it depends what your certification is so some are more encompassing Pre-K is definitely unto itself which creates another problem so Pre-K right if we do a transition program we'd have to make sure we have enough people that are certified in pre-k to teaching and we do have that you know as if it were today I know a lot of people um we held the meeting here actually a couple of Fridays ago with 34 representatives from schools all over the South Central Connecticut basically New
037Haven County and they were all saying well you know I don't have the Pre-K people to be able to do this like I would need a waiver from the state on a certification to teach Pre-K we don't we agree that it's probably not a great idea for five-year-olds to be starting um at you know they should be fine before they start kindergarten we agree with that but uh what do we do in this year in the interim and so there really hasn't been much in the way of guidance and we're hopeful that'll be imminent obviously but the certifications are starting next year that's starting this upcoming school year yeah yeah 24 25. yeah so it's going to impact that 24-5 budget gotcha um the science of reading waiver the states I think you had to
038have basically a very program based uh reading program uh very phonetically based uh we don't have an off-the-shelf program for reading we use uh really our own home-baked reading program that's reflective of the various elements of reading we applied for a waiver from the state uh initially we were told that we would hear things all through last spring all through the summer still haven't heard anything we were just recently invited to a webinar this week for districts that had applied for the waiver to hopefully tell us what we're doing the problem is you know the later that this drives on with the state there are fiscal ramifications if they tell you you must have X program or white program I don't know how communities are going to Pivot and put you know that's it's wicked
039expensive to buy some of these programs and so um were we we're in a wait and see approach Thursday I think is the webinar that Marlene Kevin and I are attending um to try and figure this out but this is definitely going to be a a potential area for impact on us if I think I remember reading an article and I don't know if it was sent to us or not about phonics based uh phonics based reading versus like relational reading or something like that and how one of them was a whole language yeah is that New York City or the New York state was going to abandon phonics so basically I think the the moral of the story is when you put all of your eggs into one basket it doesn't work for all
040students and if there was a program that was this Panacea that worked every time for all kids everybody would be using it by now but teaching students children to read is more complex than that um and there are a lot of variables you have to consider and sometimes the perfect prescription for you is not the perfect most times the perfect prescription for you to learn is not the same prescription for me and that's the sophistication of teaching kids to be strong readers that you have to understand their needs and provide them the diversity of skills to be successful um this most recent push really killed um uh Lucy Calkins and Columbia had a reading program and you know a lot of work was done around providing these mini conferences to kids on skills to develop
041and then you know re watching those in practice and that you know people thought that was two whole language based as opposed to the phonics based and I just sounded out and teaching kids letter sounds and then combination sounds so the the emphasis that we have is on a broad swath of these skills and bringing these to kids and our reading scores have been very strong so we applied for the waiver as did a lot of other places that haven't heard back yet and so we're we're waiting we'll learn more Thursday how this came to be is very eye-opening um it was it was done mincing words it was forced upon the state department ahead without consultation School District so there was a lot of backlash this this past year and I think that's the
042uh heard that because they put a extension to to the waiver and all that there's still issues and okay when we do our legislative session in November we're going to push back on this again so we'll see what happens I'd be surprised if uh the state here is back and they extend this because the ramifications for financial it needs a revisit but yeah until you're otherwise yeah but it's also very politically charged it is there's a lot of that going on too and that's yeah it's unfortunate because you know I think when Cade uh in caps worked together to create these uh reading programs these are called master classes for reading it they've been wildly popular across Connecticut and Incredibly valuable for educators in terms of uh best practices and reading instruction that's an example
043of collaboration that worked really well to support reading growth and I think the urban centers and the politicians from Urban centers are alarmed that there hasn't been greater reading growth as everybody should be particularly in those communities and I think they the politicians seem to feel that it was a function of not teaching enough phonics based reading because that was a strategy that was effective I think originally in Mississippi and that's great but it's we want to build there's a lot there you weren't at SD conference call earlier this year or to explain how this came to be yeah it was very yeah um it kind of that's what we're looking for it was politically you know no but but it wasn't just a I'll get off in a second but how it started it
044was well known as they talked about how it started it's political but that insult the injury there were some staffers at the department had that blatantly said you know boards don't know what they're doing with Finance would you talk to right forget about the board the school district so more to come by I assuming we have to Pivot I uh I would plan for that yeah it was a nice one um and then it's definitely want to give it away from a successful program so what we're arguing that we shouldn't you know because it is working for our students but we need to you know there's just something we need to consider and so the cost for that is what additional ones so new teaching materials and new training for our you know that's part
045of it too is that we 've articulated for the state it's not just the cost of the program the time and money that you sink into PD to teach people programs is really you know the top of all the other stuff for teachers already yeah and if it was if it was home run then absolutely sign us up we are there um but absent that data uh unfortunately like when you look at the the communities that uh had adopted one of the initial five specific reading programs that the state said would work they weren't you know scoring very well and so it was you know it was tough pill to swallow for a lot of folks including some of the people in those districts who wanted to change and so cost is unknown and impact
046would occur 24 25 potentially right okay yeah so I sit on the opposite end of this conversation because we are going through this the impact Isis the casualties to the districts that are performing like us is because there were just lack of thoughtfulness within the programs that were implemented in other districts where we did who put too much of our eggs into the Caulkins program we didn't consider a balanced approach where there may be Finance necessary for certain students but it wasn't available so we are kind of the casualty of this reading Wars though in a sense but I I do think there's positive stuff coming out of it because we're part of the master class and we're looking and seeing well those districts that committed to those programs what did they do wrong implementation
047wise too because Jeff's right there's not one silver Ebola if you will in any of this so it's a commitment upon us to look at our program and see what are we missing what are the components of reading that our kids should have access to so yeah they're pretty successful I you know appreciate your point too about the Silver Lining at least being that a lot of people are talking about reading and that's great yeah you know that's that's good it's a good start but how do we support more students and um in their reading growth that's but I don't want math to take a back seats but um you know kind of quasi-related we invested the board knows a fair amount of money through Peck Jones into updating our Elementary classroom libraries that desperately
048needed it uh we're still in that process uh we want to continue to do some of that work next year uh a change in legislation has coincided with a significant increase in school lunch that I projected deficit at the end of this year that comes out of our operating budget and not Food Services is 75 000 if we continue the pace that we're on but we're going to work not to have that that high right there was a message that came out today or is it yes did I just get it because you're a chronic offender we um yeah I mean we've got a number of initiatives around this you know the balance right now and it's only the first month of school is about nine thousand dollars and if you look the highest balance
049the old is 95 dollars it's not like one person is a thousand these are a lot of small balances across the district Not Unusual for districts like us we're all struggling with it but the highest year we've ever had since I've been here is about five thousand you know so this is substantially high and we've been as low as hundreds of dollars um we did turn on the auto parent notice when there's you know a negative balance apparently when it got turned on today some parents were getting notices every four hours oh um is that working for us but you know obviously we're not trying to to Badger people but we we do need to collect on these balances where they're owed and there are some some families that just miss out on the freedom
050reduced lunch which the threshold's fifty thousand dollars so if you're off by a little bit and you miss it you got nothing so you know we always message that if you you know think you qualify or you've applied and you've been rejected we will talk to those families so that they can you know potentially qualify for free and reduced and then we will start making phone calls which we've done in the past you know just where those balances are not being paid so I hope not to be come to the board at the end of the year and say it's 75 000. we'll keep you posted but it is um something that we are aware of and working on and in addition to the legislation changes which there's no lunch shaming and not that we
051ever did that but I think there's been a lot of confusion with the state saying meals are free meals are not free a lot of meals are free again we went through that last year and this year breakfast is free but lunch isn't free so there's a confusion Factor associated with this as well so just put that out there that's really more of an issue for this year but you know if we don't have 75 000 like extrapolated as if the runway house continues to increase and no one pays if we can that is worse yeah yeah you would end up 75 grand okay or obviously we're recognizing this on sorry we're making changes to really mitigate the impact and hopefully you never get close to that but you know it's it's a number that
052if it were to continue on that track that I think we would have to like almost set aside a budget lying to cover that next year uh it's a it's significant enough but we're monitoring and I'm by June or by January we'll be able to tell you you know where where I think so it's just consideration I think you said this before what's what's our typical Trend with these debts at the end of the year cost you mean not 75 000 no it's like last year was about four thousand yeah yeah and but the 4000 was based on one month where lunch wasn't free right because we we started out there paying then they they changed their mind and then we made it free the rest of the year so that was relatively high balance
053for a short period of time you know so it's a it's an odd thing that's happening you know for for districts like us there are districts you know like Meriden all meals are free for all students we don't qualify for that um so it's um it's something that will will continue to work I'm confident we'll get the balance down I just don't know how low that will will get it and we'll we'll keep working at it and it is a an issue for also the school nutrition Association and the school business officials Association we have a conference and um next Friday and I'm on a panel where this is one of the topics that we'll be talking about as well there is a real dearth of interns out there we used to have a boatload
054uh two to three in a building and now you know we're close to two or three in the district of two to three in the building it's it's uh for me a canary in the coal mine as it relates to our profession but uh knowing that we rely pretty significantly on subs and interns to provide particularly at the Elementary grades uh meeting times to discuss grade level uh data and things like that it's a concern uh we either have to find a different way to get that time which I'm sure would come at one cost or look at Subs the scary thing and the subs is not like they're falling out of the trees either so you know we're we're just looking at that right now as a consideration how do we how do we
055tackle that with raising the pay rate for Subs bring in more candidates so we've raised the pay rate for Subs we've done some marketing and you know held fairs and things that have been pretty successful for us in terms of filling positions um you know there there have been points over the last couple of coveted years where I know that I could have paid 500 bucks a day and and probably still not got enough Subs I don't think it's that place anymore economically but uh yeah there's nothing that we wouldn't consider with the increases in the minimum wage we are paying more um it's just not you know have you looked at like yeah we use Kelly Services but we used to do it all on our own and what three four years ago we
056searched before covet and I switched to Kelly um and to Ben's credits we've been working with that renegotiated rates that help our bottom line but don't always necessarily produce more substitutes but the substitute fill rate is so far this year is we're a little over 90 percent so we've got a good pool of Subs they're working they're covering but you know comes at at a price you know so I've been you can't avoid it because you do want to have the instructional time the collaboration time so you need subs to cover that you know we are working at Marlene you know has taken the lead on trying to work on the you know last minute absences you know to reduce that because that cost us some time as well um you know we've used building
057Subs you know they're assigned permanently in lieu of not having the interns um so I would say that the subprogram is working for the teachers but there is a price associated with it and that we did renegotiate with Kelly at the beginning of this year so they dropped us from 35 to 29 so that's that was a good pickup that's a big number over the course of the year so you know that was we appreciate Kelly's flexibility and Ben's persistence so I'll make that happen um you know it's just I've had another thing that we're monitoring in terms of what the influence on our budget next year might be you know we sustained that 29 and that's a benefit that wasn't calculated into this budget but we'll see in the next budget um can I
058just ask um so even though we have a shortage of interns when we have a teaching teacher opening I I'm guessing we still have many applicants it depends on the position so um we did a great job this year of getting out real early uh Marlene uh spearheaded the elementary hiring with our elementary principals we were posting anticipated openings at all the schools back in like March and getting kids before they even graduated college to apply it wasn't always first-year people that we were hiring but there's a deeper pool in March that would include more people that are coming out of school than um you know you're going to get other times of the year so we we jumped on that hired a lot of great people uh the top people that we feel like
059we're in the class but also you know we did hire some people that had experience in other places when you look at something like a physics teacher however or I think there's like seven certified physics teachers left in Connecticut it feels like some days you know if that person retires and you post that job you know Bill Nye Science Guy is not walking through the door you know and it I will never forget it Cheshire high school when I was the principal and seriously considered a woman who applied for a Latin job only because she was a secretary who worked in a church that that had the Latin Mass like that was the best I could even get a sniff up and that was like for a hot second I was like well maybe that's
060not it's sobered up at that point and said no we're not going there but you know the the it depends on the job depends on the opening um science math languages notoriously difficult to fill and are only becoming more difficult to fill in this way you see all these openings and then the other thing that's happening is uh the the flow of jobs I was stunned last year to talk to a colleague who hired 29 teachers 29 new teachers for that school year District about the size of ours all of them were from one city in Connecticut all 29 of them now he hired there were more people than that that were hired at 129 from one urban center like that's it and so though that Center had a lot of openings you know a
061lot and it scares me that the kids in Connecticut who if you look at socioeconomic conditions have the greatest needs have the most staff turnover and that is really a terrible formula for Connecticut and our future and Beyond but um we don't solve that problem at this table tonight but it's a reality a long-winded response to your rather straightforward question sorry um consideration for Budget adjustments related to professional development and keeping with the keyboards it's our favorite time of the year where we get to talk about the cave Awards um Carol and I went through the various elements on the cave Awards one of the things that they ask about is professional development you know when we look at all the criteria the board continues to meet that level one recognition standard we'll share more
062at the next board meeting but um one of the things that it talks about to to uh you know first of all you need to be level one for two years before you can even apply to level two and so we'll talk at the board meeting about you know well we've applied for level one if we received a new word where would we go from here but the the other thing is it does talk about you know board training and we want to make sure that's adequately fine I asked we'll look at the costs of that before we get together back again in January um and it's it's nominal at the most we're exploring an adjustment to preschool tuition um you've already done that tonight so we're good there the only thing I would add
063you know Adam you asked about uh correspondence earlier this evening I was at the coffee hour at Norton for our new school uh you know just drop in talk about whatever you want uh and the parent was excited to see the design but also asked me about the prospect of seventh grade Sports and why we don't have a specific seventh grade team at Dodd um I don't know of many school systems that have two middle school interscholastic teams uh and maybe intramurals might be an option but um I was explaining to 32 yeah she because she said a number of students try out and unfortunately you know for something like dot basketball where you have maybe 12 kids on the team um there are a number of kids inevitably who don't make that team and
064that's disappointing you know we do have some intramural options but I was explaining that the facilities it'd be difficult to have two teams in that facility uh now you're booking double the time it's also double the cost in essence because we'd have two coaches now for every sport so it's financially and logistically very challenging but I I asked her to send me an email you know I'm sure we'll have other community questions and requests that come up before our meeting in January and we'll share those and discuss those later too but just figured I'd pass along tonight because we had that conversation with that parent so uh a couple items very old business rentals or um oh geez yeah you know because of the influx of our enrollment Canada and then I suspect there's going
065to be an influx building use building use because we never really resolved prior to covet the challenges with the scheduling demand and paying not paying I think maybe for a future financial planning committee talk about that I don't know there's anything to do budget-wise I'm just you know we'll show the year goes might be surprised if uh we're not going to get inundated which is probably a good thing with rental of our existing not to mention the new um schools in a few years but just something about and it's it's actually on my list I did have a conversation we have a meeting related to building up field use with yeah you know our internal group John Cawley and talked about hey you know I need to get together to talk about fees and and
066building use and so it's on my list but I haven't done anything with this information is gone at me as we're talking about projections yeah we really haven't dealt with them parks and recs is a change in leadership right as far as yeah I mean and building this is taking place basketball you know and all the other sports that it is because we haven't heard anything in three years it's being managed this is just listen well it's well just because you didn't hear about it I feel like yes I'm finished yeah I spent a lot of time we're in a good place right now we did have some issues that we had to deal with we straightened them out um so we're good and then I the other thing I I don't think you know
067the board uh but I mentioned Jeff you know if possible not they like addressing this budget just curious to know if we can what our teachers are raising for school supplies classic supplies that's not going to have a budget you know I'm talking about yeah just get it just get a ballpark I I don't know if there's an issue I don't know if people should have pocket obviously ptapia just kind of curious because that's one of those budget items that's not in the budget anywhere because there may be personally happening uh to be a shame if we don't necessarily trying to get that in the future but I just don't know what that looks like so um I connected with a couple of different PTO presidents on this and uh talked about the fact that
068teachers and I notify that every member of our staff too that the preferred method if you're a teacher is not to publicize my wish list on donors shoes and just have people buy Amazon is a super popular like I guess you can populate a wish list crank it out to your parents and they'll buy all the items on the wish list which I in some respects I appreciate I certainly appreciate our parents being so generous to do that what I think the challenge that we've tried to resolve when I talked to our administrators and sent this to our staff is that sometimes you're asking for things that we have 42 of in a closet down the hall which is a waste of parent money sometimes you're asking for books that we just threw out 16
069copies of those because they don't meet our reading standards if you talk to Pat Castle our reading specialist sometimes it's you know something that your your neighbor has sometimes it's you know there are a myriad so what we said is put your wish list together talk to your show it to your administrator so one we can catalog the things that maybe you're looking for that we don't sometimes it's the gold standard of tissues right so we're not buying the Puffs top but I wasn't going to say a brand but Kleenex top Ultra brand or whatever and you know and if you want to put that on the list great but we know what you were looking for and we can especially if there's something not the same that I don't know what the request all
070are I remember my kids were going through Atlanta schools I know what the pdas were helping with but if there is something that's valuable that need a whole dish could benefit from I would imagine at this or has greater buying power and buying both or something like that though but I just it's just like we cover with student fees cover almost every year you know sometimes I hear you know teachers paint out of pocket I'm like well literally what is it what does that look like right don't know but it's one of those things that maybe yeah I'm speculating maybe not fully funded which is not a bad thing but it's I think it's an expense that we probably should that's right yeah we're trying to wrap our hands which could be you know hard
071to do again I'm just curious that's nothing it goes anywhere or not I don't know but at least someone asked me or asking board member you know hey what are you guys doing with school supplies list we have some background talk about and why it's kind of well even having gone through the system Jeff with my own kids it was kind of annoying to have to pay or even be peer pressured into having to pay for a certain package of folders and you know finders and so forth I feel if we go back to the basics what are the essentials and that's that I get teachers have creative ideas and they want to do projects and so forth but that could be supplemented via PTA right yeah some of these things are your basic supplies
072right if it's a basic Supply you know I mean so most families are buying it you know for the teacher who wants their room to be the like the Pinterest classroom of the month or whatever I don't know that we need to be hitting up our parents for that either so that's something that we're trying to wrap our hands around um to better know what is it that our teachers are asking for how do we better support them yeah and is there something that comes through the budget or is it something that is we just tell them that this isn't really what we're doing I I want to I believe this is not the case but again I would hate that teachers are paying out of pocket for something that should be in the budget
073which right hopefully doesn't happen but I agree Anthony was they got enough going on to worry about without you know yeah it's more information the world's changed and now you know you have this ability to just go out bypass kind of what we do internally when you need to buy something and I mean I'll tell you this the principals are in charge of determining how to spend that budget there's nothing that I like have ever turned a teacher right request for that came directly to me through a principle I mean we would figure out how to adjust and move money from one school to another and I I think I don't think anybody's doing it maliciously but it is odd to tell you we have Trish red Foundation who of course the typical so there
074are a lot of avenues and we just I think what we're looking to do is get better and a lot of the information so that we can budget better uh meet student and teacher needs better and and hopefully you know things the parents are buying are things that are of real need and value not to stretch this out a little a little longer but um as this also in reference to like kids get a list of suggested so it doesn't feel like suggested supplies but almost like mandatory supplies where it's like you have to have like three different size of composition books that's what I'm drawing within like 20 pencils and five erasers and a special bag to keep it all in and that kind of stuff is that what we're talking about here why
075do you need all this stuff for you had stuff from last year and it's part of it why do you have to buy a composition book can't you just buy line a Trapper Keeper or something yeah line paper and throw it in there and walk around with it yeah you can still buy those yeah cool absolutely yeah Renaissance I guess yeah Renaissance for the Trapper Keeper yeah it's right next to the Smurfs lunch box yeah definitely yeah anyway my first lunchbox so that's what we're talking about yeah everything is Compass because like it's that because it seems like it like uh for the great that my sons and it seemed like it was like a like a standardized list that didn't come from a particular teacher it was like went out to everyone in the
076grade this is what you need yeah what is that like is that and I think that's that's kind of commonplace to say you know because we'll get parents that are really upset if we don't provide a list of things that we would typically buy um and so you know here here's a list of typical supplies that kids would have I think having a reasonable list uh is important as opposed to you know you need only an off purple Trapper yeah it felt oddly specifically it's an air Eagle yeah pad size yeah you know what yeah I had the hell of a time finding them because like composition books couldn't we get a better price buying them in bulk for the entire School than to pay because they weren't cheap yeah we do buy some of
077that stuff and we do buy some of that stuff yeah uh you know not every yeah you know we talk about folders for kids and stuff I mean I also appreciate that most of our families really want to personalize their Fuller you know sure of all the things that we deal with this isn't something I hear a lot of concerns about in the community no but I think the impact on kids soja I mean come on if my kid doesn't have that particular book or folder yeah yeah what's the emotional impact here yeah no it's not the budget right yeah I uh I was struggling because I I'm gonna say I don't see anything related to solar energy geothermal statements I knew something was there that's 25 6. you know I had a question about
078that but I guess that's nothing appropriate time are we done uh I think we're done here so let's adjourn uh all in favor aye all right it is approved we are adjourned we have a 746.