Cromwell Board of Education Meeting, November 11, 2025 7:00PM

001Hello everyone. Um, this is Katherine Russ and we are going to call to order this meeting at 7:01. Lisa, can you do roll call for us please? Oh, wait. Before you do that, Lisa, hold on one second. Um, per Cromwell policy 9120, the secretary shall perform the duties of the chairperson at board meetings in the absence of the chairperson and appoint an acting secretary. So the for the purposes of tonight's election, I will be serving as a moderator until we elect our new chairperson. Okay. All right. Perfect. Thank you. Go ahead, Lisa. here. >> Here >> Mr. Shepher. No. Okay. Thank you, Lisa. Um, this is exciting for our student reps because we just had an election, so we've had a lot of things change and we will be um putting in a new chairperson

002tonight. So, I am going to open and call for nominations for a new chairperson for the board of education. If anyone has any nominations, now is your time to nominate. Donna, >> can I nominate as a novice? >> Yes. >> Um, turn your mic. Turn your mic on. Oh my. >> Yeah, there you go. It's on. >> No one has has ever asked me to speak louder than [laughter] um >> we record so it has to be. >> Okay. Okay. And can I I mean it's a little Okay. Um [laughter] I'd like to nominate >> this nice lady whom I've been reading about. >> Can you say her name, please? >> Yes. Thank you. >> Alicia is the way you pronounce it. Um Gduti. >> Okay. Thank you. Are there any other nominations? >> No.

003Okay. I'm going to close the nominations for now and by a show of hands, can I please see who would like to approve Alicia Gadudi as a new chairperson for the board of education? One, two, three, four. So, that is unanimous. So, congratulations, Alicia. I will give you the seat and the gavl. You are our new chairperson. >> I'm leaving the mic for you. >> Thank you. I like to be Catherine. >> All right. Go ahead. >> Thank you. Thank you all. I appreciate it. Big shoes to fill. Um, okay. So, our next item of business is the election of the secretary of the board of education. And I will ask if there are any nominations for secretary. Miss Franklin, I would like to nominate Katherine Russ for secretary. Excellent. Are there any other nominations?

004I saw no. [laughter] Um, okay. That being said, nominations will be closed. All in favor of Katherine Russ serving as secretary, please indicate by saying I. Show of hands. >> Excellent. Anybody opposed or abstaining? Excellent. Congratulations and thank you, Mrs. Russ. [applause] >> I'm doing a decent job. [laughter] >> You do a good job. You never get to leave it. >> There you go. >> Okay. Everybody has in front of them the agenda. We are going to be spending some time tonight looking at financials, looking uh recognizing our faculty and staff at CMS. We're going to hear from the board of finance and talk a little bit about our process for approving our budget. Thank you, Mr. Ireland. And we have in your packets our new business and some policies that are going through first

005read. I hope everybody's had a chance to look at the agenda. Are there any additions or deletions on the agenda that >> Oh, for me. >> Okay. I don't have any additions or deletions. Um, >> so we need a motion to approve the agenda. Thank you, Mr. Schuman. >> Second by Lori. Thank you. All in favor? >> Opposed? Abstensions. Okay. Agenda is approved. >> Dr. Mery, do we have any correspondence? >> We do. So, Before we begin, um, before we move forward tonight, I'd like to take a moment to recognize someone whose leadership and partnership have meant so much to this district and to me personally. I want to extend our deepest gratitude to Selena Kellaher for her 10 years of dedicated service to the Cromwell Board of Education, including the past four years as

006our chairwoman. Selena led with compassion, integrity, and a steady hand. She always kept our students at the heart of every decision. Under her leadership, we accomplished so much together. From building our beautiful new middle school to improving student outcomes to strengthening our curriculum and maintaining strong financial stewardship for our community. What I admired most about Selena was her ability to actually bring people together. She built genuine relationships with administrators, with teachers, with staff, and with families. And she approached every conversation with respect and empathy. Selena believed that the best outcomes happen when we listen, collaborate, and keep our focus on what's best for our children. That belief has truly shaped the culture of our district. Being a board chair chair, I feel sorry for you, [laughter] is not easy work. It requires long hours, um,

007countless meetings and difficult conversations. Um, all time taken away from one's own family in service of the greater good. Selena gave that time freely, not because she sought recognition, but because she believed deeply in making a difference for all children. She never acted out of personal interest or agenda. Her compass was always what was right and fair, even when it wasn't easy or popular. That is the mark of a true leader. On a personal note, I feel incredibly fortunate to have worked alongside her. Selena's trust, guidance, and unwavering support, especially during challenging moments like COVID, meant more than I could possibly say. She believed in our work. She stood by difficult decisions and never lost sight of our shared purpose, doing what's best for students. On behalf of the entire Cuomo public schools community, I

008want to thank Selena for her service, her leadership, and her steadfast commitment to this district. Her impact will continue to be felt in the strong relationships and student centered culture that define who we are. We wish her all the best and hope she knows how deeply she is appreciated by the Cromwell public schools community. And we will obviously be purchasing Selena um an apple and a clock from the district. So I would love it if we um anyone who gives 10 years of their life to the board of education deserves a standing ovation. So, even though she's not here, um, [applause] and I and Lori is the only one standing up who hired me. [applause] So, big thank you to to Selena who's probably home with her family having dinner on a Tuesday. [gasps] And

009then obviously I have a letter from Selena um to everyone. So dear superintendent Machri, administration, staff, families, and fellow board members, serving as board chair and being part of this board for the past 10 years has truly been one of the greatest honors of my life. From the very beginning, my focus has always been simple. Our students, every late meeting, every tough decision, every deliber deliberation has always come back to them. We faced plenty of challenges along the way. More than a few honestly, but we faced them together with respectful conversations and open minds. We didn't always agree, but we always came back to the same goal, doing what's best for kids. I've been reflecting on moments that remind me of why this work matters. I've had the opportunity to welcome back our staff to

010the new school years at convocations. The most recent one being deeply personable, personal, and memorable. I've witnessed years of graduating classes at commencement and have had the honor of serving as board chair during the past four ceremonies, sharing words of congratulations. The pride I felt looking out at our entire graduating class, and that is the best moment. Um, and then shaking each graduate's hand as they receive their diploma will stay with me forever. I've also had the joy of welcoming the community to our brand new middle school and the pride of seeing our test score soar. Recently, I received an email from a veteran who expressed his gratitude for the impact our Cromwell High School seniors had on the veterans they met during their senior trip to Washington, DC. He was touched by our students,

011kindness, and respect. Qualities that meant so much to those who have endured so much and have not always received the appreciation they deserve. I couldn't be more proud of our students. Those are the moments that will stay with you because they show the kind of young people we're helping to shape. I'm incredibly proud of what we've accomplished together. Being building a new school, improving our processes, and making decisions that will carry this district forward for years. None of it was easy, but all of it was worth it. Along the way, I've had the privilege of working with incredible leaders, administrators, and board members who have inspired me with their dedication and their belief in public education. The relationships I've built here are something I'll always carry with me. We've learned from one another, leaned on

012one another, and led together through good times and hard ones. I've never been in this for the politics, and maybe that hurt me in the end, but I can honestly say I led with my heart and was always true to myself. I cared about doing what was right, not what was convenient or a reaction to public pressure. That's something I'll always stand by. As I step away from this role, I'm not focused on how it's ending. I'm remembering everything we did together. the teamwork, the laughter, the tough nights, sometimes sleepless nights, and the moments of pride that made it all worthwhile. To my fellow board members, our administrators, teachers, and staff in this amazing community, thank you. Thank you for trusting me, for working beside me, and for caring as deeply as you do about

013our kids. It's been a privilege to serve, and I'll always be proud of what we built together. with gratitude and fond memories. Selena Kellaher, Crownl Board of Education, 2021, 2022, really 2017. Okay. And that was from Selena. I just have to add an appreciation for 10 incredible years and 10 very difficult years as you remind us that working in schools and being a school administrator is probably the most challenging of your lives during COVID and being on the board of ed. Thank you to many of my colleagues who who were at the time not easy. So much appreciation to Mrs. Kellaher for her incredible service. Okay. And that's it for correspondence. Yes, >> that's it. >> Okay. [laughter] All right. Uh I will move us on to public comments. Does anybody have any public comments

014to offer? Okay. I'm going to read the rules for public comments before you speak if the Okay. >> Okay. [laughter] Well, these are long, so bear with me. >> I literally just spit my water out, Linda. [laughter] >> So am I. And Katherine told me I have to read this. So that's what we will be doing. Okay. Public comments at Cromwell Board of Education meetings. Individuals are welcome to address the board of education for up to three minutes each during the public comment portions of the meeting, but board members will not generally engage in dialogue. The board of education chair may at his or her discretion extend the time for public comments. Speakers must come to the podium and share their names and address. To facilitate efficient sharing of your comments, we encourage you to

015share any comments you may have about instruction, discipline, or learning materials first with your students, teacher, and then principal followed by superintendent before bringing them to the board of education. However, if you do not believe your comments have been addressed appropriately, or if you believe they should be shared with the board of education for any other reason, please feel free to do so. Any complaints or concerns about individual Cromwell Board of Education employees should be directed to the superintendent and the BOE in writing rather than in public comments at board of education meetings. All comments must not include personal attacks and comments cannot be discourteous, threatening, vulgar, or otherwise inappropriate. The board chairperson may at his or her discretion curtail any public comments or terminate any such individuals privilege of address at any time if

016they violate any of these rules, violate reasonable standards of decorum, are boisterous or repetitious. The board of education reserves the right to limit public comments to particular topics. Sorry, last piece. The Cromwell Board of Education values the well-being of our students and families. Those electing to make public comments at Cromwell Board of Education meetings are strongly discouraged from sharing identifiable information of their children in such comments, including but not limited to name, age, and learning ability and are reminded that any comments made during a Cromwell Board of Education meeting become a permanent matter of public record and may be accessible by individuals in the future. As such, any person making public comments during a Cromwell Board of Education meeting is solely responsible for the information they choose to share. We kindly ask that you consider

017the privacy of your family and your children while making comments. I know [laughter] that being said, thank you for coming to make a public comment. And if you would start with your name and address, please. And then you are free to go for three minutes. >> Hello. And make sure your mic is on, please. You just push the little button at the bottom. >> Okay. >> Yes. Because it's being recorded. >> Oh, okay. My name's Linda Demitri, 7 Bonnie Brier, Cromwell, Connecticut. Um, I'm the president of the local 1303-280. I represent over 70 par profofessionals in Cromwell public schools. Um, I just wanted to our new board of education members, we welcome you to the team and congratulate you on your election. I look forward to working with you alongside Dr. Mackey and her team

018as we move forward together to ensure that our students get the very best educational opportunities and our staff continue to be supported. Welcome. That's it. >> I know you you still have two minutes. It took me longer to read that. Linda, [laughter] >> thank you. >> Lori, she just Selena just used to read it in like super fast speed. I just don't read as fast as Selena. She goes really fast. Thank you for the nice welcome and I'm sorry we should have started with that. Welcome to our new members to Donna Matt Maddie and Jessica Lamb. Thank you for joining us and we're so glad to have you at our table and congratulations to those members that are returning that won their elections. So glad to have you here and I think congratulations Dr. McClean

019who's serving on a board of education in her community as well. >> [laughter] >> Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna move us on to celebrating our faculty and staff. And this is CMS's focus this month. So, thank you so much, Miss Coachiola, and we welcome you to the podium. Fig, I figured it out. Okay, great. Good evening, everyone. and and welcome. Um, it is my distinct honor to honor our support service staff at CMS. I do have two in the audience. Come on up. They're they're mortified. [laughter] Um, Dr. Tobin, Dr. Sue Tobin, and um, Joanna Webster. So, we wanted to take this opportunity to honor and thank our incredible student support services team. Our school psychologists, our school counselors, our social worker, our ESS and root clinicians. They truly are the heart of the district's

020mission to care for the whole child. They support our students emotional well-being. They help them overcome challenges and they guide them towards success both inside and outside the classroom. Whether it's offering a listening ear, helping a student navigate a crisis, or connect families with vital resources, their compassion and expertise make a profound difference every single day. They build bridges between home, school, and our community. And we definitely believe our schools are stronger, safer, and more caring places because of you. And we are deeply grateful for your unwavering commitment to our students and our families. And again, this shout out goes to Dr. Tobin, Joanna Webster, Shannera Christie, Alicia Cruz, Ethnol Montaigne, Daniellea Kaplan, and Liz McKinnon. And we couldn't we couldn't function without them. So, >> thank you. [applause] >> I would ask them to

021speak, but they would they would um not be happy with me. >> Okay. [laughter] Well, I was going to ask them, but they're running, so I guess. [laughter] >> Do you want to add anything? >> Oh, only thank you for the recognition, and it it's been an honor to >> work here for so many years with Sorry. >> It's been an honor to work in Cromwell for so many years with so many students and so many families and so many wonderful staff members and leaders. Um, so I appreciate the recognition. Thank you. >> Yeah. No, we I I would just echo what Joanna said. Thank you guys so much. It's such an honor to, you know, it's all about the kids, but it's such an honor to work with such a team. And that's what's

022really makes our student support team so strong is because we have each other and all of the teachers in the school, our administrators and our families, our parents. So like partnering together to support the students is like really where it's at. And um that those partnerships is what makes our job easier and rewarding. So thank you all. We appreciate it. Well, thank you to you and your colleagues. We all know that social and emotional well-being is vital to our student success. So, thank you for all that you do to take care of our students. Anybody else have any comments you want to add, Mr. Zabrowski? >> Um, I just My wife is a uh high school counselor as well. Um, I know and and you know, in in my role, I work very closely with

023our school psychologists and our counseling team. I I know that you see things that other people don't know are happening and will never know that are happening because you are uh that your jobs do involve a lot of uh issues of privacy. I also would guess that there are days when your office feels like a triage center. Um so I have a huge amount of respect for what you do and I just want to thank you because um those of us who who know some of the things that you deal with that most people don't aren't aware of, I have a huge appreciation for what you do. So Thank you. Anybody else? Mr. Heisman, >> I also want to echo that sentiment. Um, I have a student that or my son is a special needs

024student here in the district and without you guys providing these services to him daily, he wouldn't be where he is. So, I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody else? >> Okay. >> I feel bad not saying >> I love them. I mean, they already know it. We know, >> you all know, seven years ago, we didn't have social workers and look where we are today. Um, honestly, our kids are just better off and better, and we all are better and a little bit more normal ourselves. [laughter] Um, because we can come to you. So, thank you for offering your couch. Um, and I think the world's with you. [laughter] >> Thank you so much, Miss Coachill. We're on again with our student being recognized tonight. >> This is such a fun night. It

025just is. May I please ask Andrew Matrulo to please come up to the podium? >> I think some of you recognize that name, right? [laughter] >> I think he wants to be on the board again. Well, Andrew in a few years can be. So, right, Andrew? [laughter] So Andrew is that type of student who makes a huge impact in a very quiet and unassuming way. That's one of the reasons tonight we decided that he would be up here. He would be absolutely the student we want to recognize because he truly is the epitome of what of our soar program and which stands for shows compassion, overcomes with tenacity, acts responsibly and respects community. He was actually um acknowledged by a staff member which I'll give this to your folks tonight. We have positive office referrals

026and the staff member said he is a role model each day. That's that's pretty impressive coming from, you know, being recognized from a staff member and having those words said. He also um every morning I would read about our Cromwell um cross country and every morning it was Andrew Matrillo. I was like go Andrew. Um he consistently led the way. um finishing first for the team at every cross country. He placed overall in three league meets and earned a medal for finishing the top 10 at the midstate middle school. I mean, he's just he's just out there um really representing us and then without a doubt was the most valuable player and outstanding leader throughout the season. Not only does he do that, he plays band. So, he's involved with he's just an all-around wonderful

027student who um we wanted to recognize tonight and say thank you and um for, you know, having we we have him for three years. I don't know if I'm going to let him go to high school, but um he'll he's in eighth grade and so uh um we wish him, you know, of course, a great eighth grade year and then all the best for high school. So, yay. [applause] Want to say a few words? No, [laughter] Congratulations, Andrew. You don't want to say anything? >> Thank you. >> No, [laughter] >> thank you everyone. >> Thank you. We We appreciate that. And thank you, Andrew, for all that you do and for being a role model. That is not an easy job as a middle school student. So, thank you for doing that. >> I know

028he wants to just get out of here and have us stop looking at him. Sorry, Andrew. Anybody want to say anything before Andrew runs out the door? >> I will. >> Okay. Hey, wait. Mrs. Russ is still talking to you. Please wait. >> Oh, there. >> Yeah, we're just give us one more minute. >> So, just a quick second. Andrew, that is a huge accomplishment for an eighth grader. Um, I'm super impressed by to be recognized and called out for every day, all of your achievements, and congratulations on your running. Um, I know that you're a lot like your dad and you're the quiet type. So to have such a huge impact without a loud voice is really impressive and we're really excited to have you in our district. Thank you so much for everything.

029>> And Miss Matt Maddie wants to say something as well. >> There you go. >> Do I look familiar to you? >> Yes, you have. I want to tell you, Andrew, the qualities that everyone has talked about tonight, those are the best qualities any young person can have. And it's better than being the validictorian. It's better than anything else because it means you're a good person. And that's the highest accolade. But I think Andrew was the kid who one day when I went into the library, I signed up to have someone help me with it was maybe my phone or something and he was amazing. I looked at him and I I thought I was going to get an adult and I said, "Andrew, [laughter] are you gonna be?" And he was just wonderful. So,

030God bless you, Andrew. That's all I can say. >> So, it's been my >> Go for it. It's been my honor and privilege to watch you grow over the last seven years, Andrew. I just can't believe you're that same little boy. And I'm not going to look at your parents, especially not your dad. Um, and it's true. You It's really hard because I'm sure you hear all the time, you're just like your dad. And your mom's pretty awesome, too. But you are your own person, too. And to hear that you're a role model every day, that is that's amazing. And I just I love seeing you. So, when I see you, I get excited. I can only imagine how excited everyone else gets. So, thanks for just being you and being awesome. >> Okay, I

031think we can let this poor young man leave. Thank you, Andrew. [laughter] We won't make you stand anymore. >> Don't make him come back. [laughter and gasps] Okay, thank you. Thank you for bringing us so many great stories from CMS. Um on to our reports from the liaison of the town council, the board of finance, the CMS building committee. I will just point out the CMS building committee report is was attached. It's in your um packets. It's reference a from Rosanna Glenn. I don't know if there's anybody here from town council to provide a report, but I know Mr. Ireland is here from board of finance. So, welcome Mr. Ireland. >> Good evening. how are you? >> You know, we got to talk about this. Every time I come do this, I always got to

032follow these amazing people that you guys talk about first and then I get up here and it's like, you know, it's very disappointing. So, [laughter] um, first and foremost, congratulations are in order. Chairwoman, congratulations to you. To the new members here, look forward to working with you. To those who are reelected, congrats. And, um, you know, we'll uh we'll keep plugging here, right? So, um, all right. So, um, it's it's kind of been a little bit of a a tradition where after the election, I kind of come and give a little PowerPoint overview just on how the budget works because I'm sure when you ran for this, the first thing you want to talk about is money. So, um, hopefully that PowerPoint made it to you guys. >> Yes, >> I am being serious. >>

033I emailed it yesterday. >> Oh, no, John. Oh, no. Was it in our trash? Hold on. >> [laughter] >> John, that's terrible. >> I thought you were joking. No, >> spam. >> No, I sent that over. >> I'm looking in spam. Hold on. >> In front of me. I'm passing them. Oh my. Sorry, John. >> Yeah, we >> Yeah, >> it went to spam so you didn't have to endure having to hear this. That's That's probably what happened. So, should I just vamp for the next five minutes? You guys want me to try my standup routine here or what? >> Yeah. Well, no. If you guys want to move on to something else and I come, you know, that's fine. Right. If no one objects, I'm gonna let our let while they're eating cookies. So,

034I'll let the No, >> we just >> Okay, we're going to start with student reps so that you guys can stay. You don't get to hear Well, you're welcome to, but you don't have to hear the finance report, which might be of interest to you to leave after your reports. >> All right. So, I'm going to start with the high school representatives. So Marcel and Jacob, I am passing it to you for your updates and reports. Welcome. Glad to have you and we look forward to hearing all the great things that are happening at CMS or CHS, sorry. >> Uh yeah, I already got an introduction, but I'm Marcel and um so I go over the general announcements and uh October and November are flying by. Late October was a blast for all grades at

035the pep rally before the football game spotlight on channel 3. Although there have been a lot of rumors about the seniors rigging the games, which I definitely don't know anything about. On Halloween, teachers decked out their hallways and themes. The math hallway took home the win with their Wizard of Odds theme. My personal favorite was the 67 shirts. Shout out to Mr. Cuckle and Mr. Lame and the science department. Uh, November, or should I say no school November has been just as busy. Today we celebrated Veterans Day with events at the town hall uh honoring those who served. We also had a schoolwide celebration packed with activities including guest speakers, basic training, physical fitness challenges, and even the physics of para troopers with Dr. K. Um Thursday and Friday are busy with parent teacher conferences.

036Be on the lookout for student co student council's bake sale and French national honor society hope for Haiti fundraiser. Um, and mark your calendars. Um, homecoming is next Friday, the 21st with a theme, a Hollywood theme. The student council executive board had a blast creating promotional promotional videos for the spirit week. Check them out on the Chroml student council Instagram. Um, it's a great start to the month with lots of fun to look forward to. Hello, I'm Jacob. I do the sports although I'm not an athlete at all. So, I have great updates on sports all around. The boys soccer team made it to the postseason. They recently beat the aerospace academy 10 to zero and Canton 1 to zero and they're playing at Summers today. Although, I did hear they unfortunately lost, but we'll

037keep the vibes good here. So, they're not far away from a championship. For the first time in a long time, the girls volleyball team made it to the playoffs. They outperformed North Brford 3 to1 last Wednesday, but fell short to East Hampton on Friday. The girls cross country team finished second in the shoring conference and were state runners up for class SS. The boys team also finished at a very respectable seventh place. The football team is still undefeated with an incredible 8-0 record. They played at Trinity College and defeated SMSA co-op 51 to 18. Their last regular season home game is this Friday against Rockville as they look to continue their winning streak right to the end. The first basketball scrimmages for both the boys and girls teams are on December 9th and indoor track

038begins the week after. I'll be here next time to update you guys on the wrap-up of the fall season and the beginning of the winter season. >> Thank you, Marcel and Jacob. Does anyone have any questions for our spirited and entertaining reporters from Cromwell High School? >> All right, thank you so much. All right, are we ready to move on to Cromwell Middle School? >> Summer kicking us off. >> Yes, he was delicious. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> Um, but getting right into it, on November 17th, Scott Dress, oh my goodness, last names, Scott Driscoll will speak to students in seventh and eighth grade about the dangers of today's technologies and how to be safe while using it. Scott has also co-authored two books, Danger and You Can Trust Me. Steven Hull of Speak sobriety

039addressed eighth grade students on November 7th. Mr. Hill describes himself as a young person in recovery, best-selling author, recovery coach, and defense attorney. He is a renowned national speaker on substance use prevention and mental health with a truly inspiring comeback story. The speaker later held breakout sessions with students. Today, community veterans joined our middle school students to discuss their experiences as veterans and as well as the importance of service to our country. We are sending our thanks to Mr. Chabowski, Mr. Sage, Miss Pavick, and Miss Cunningham for organizing this event. The student council is also hosting a holiday food drive through November 1st to support those in need. Uh, starting with the robotics club. Uh, the club is popping off. I say this because we concluded the first meeting with the tradition of eating three

040bags of popcorn that was gone be that was it took longer to make the popcorn than it took for us to eat it. Um the first meetings were held on the 7th and 10th of November. Everyone in the club is excited for the upcoming robot building to be done. Rehearsals for the CMS production of Alice in Wonderland have have begun. Miss Sales and Miss West Terszog are excited to begin working towards the performances which will be in late February. Students took action photographs of the soccer team for the year for yearbook club for the conclusion of the season. This is how I contribute to the sports season. I cannot play so I take photos of people who are playing. Uh speaking of sports, which I don't know why I always end up reporting on this

041because I again can't play. That's her job. Um, for girls soccer, Coach Humphrey and Coach Willis's team finished the season on a high note, absolutely crushing their last two games with shutouts against Rocky Hill in Middletown. The team was led by star players Elelliana Vulpi, Kayla Moresy, Alexa Striker, and Sophia Shields. For the boys soccer team, Mr. led the boys to a notable two loss season uh behind Jesse Tangga, Calvin Forest, Alex Hearns Van, and Ryan Brax being some noteworthy players. The CMS cross country season was definitely in the books. The team the team competed in the 32nd annual Connecticut Cross Country State Championship at Wickham Park. Congratulations to all the runners including Julia Fisino, Kylie Lera, Julia O' Connor, Gabby Fernandez, Andrew Matrulo, Dr. Stenowitz, Keegan Bowler, David Tedeshi, Nikki Mayo, Michael Morgan, Benjamin

042Corb, and of course, Summer Stinkowitz, who led the girls team. Finally, tryyous for the boys and girls basketball teams began this the week of November 3rd led by under coach Bosworth and coach Budsk. Oh my god, last names. Um, everyone is looking forward to the season. Well done all of you. This is the the best part of the night is hearing from all of you all the exciting things that are happening in your school. So, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Anybody have any questions for our student representatives? So, you guys got lucky because you don't have to hear the finance committee report if you don't want to, but you are welcome to if you would like, if it's of interest to you. >> Derry, [laughter] [gasps] >> Mr. Ireland, I hope you don't take

043offense. [laughter] >> Thank you. So, we're welcoming back Mr. Ireland for the report from the board of finance on our budget process. >> Thank you guys. Nice job. >> I'll just someone give me stuff to throw. I'll just every change we'll do it that way. No, not a problem. So, listen. So, what what I'm looking to really do is is obviously give an overview for those of you that are already familiar with this just to kind of give a little refresher course and then for those that might be new to the process, kind of give a it's it's very 101, very 30,000 foot view. And, you know, believe it or not, it's middle of November, but you guys will be talking budgets in six, seven weeks, something like that. So, notice what I did there.

044So, um if uh if we want to go to the the uh the first slide. All right. So, here's again just what we're going to go through real quick. the three different kind of major budgets we have in town, how those budgets are are sourced and and the different revenues that come in in order to take care of those, the kind of key factors and considerations that go onto it. Uh some information around the board of finance and then obviously any questions you may have, we can we can go. And if you have any questions as I'm going through this, just throw something at me. Um all right. Oh, you got the clicker now? >> No. It is on. >> All right. So, we are currently in fiscal year 2026. So, our our budgets run

045July 1 to June 30. Okay. There are three kind of different buckets that we look at from a budgetary standpoint. There's the board of education side here. It takes up about 61% of all the tax revenue that we collect in town to to fund that. Okay. Your total operating budget for this year is $40,600,000. Okay. One thing that um we always try to consider and keep in mind is that the state requires that once you set a budget number for the board of education outside of some certain circumstances that I won't get into, but for the most part um once we hit that number, you really don't go backwards. So that 40.6 number will be the baseline as we move forward into looking at fiscal year 27. Okay. Next, we have the general government piece,

046which is about 34 35% of it. Oh, now we can we go back. Thank you. Um, and this is going to have to do with all the other services the town provides. Okay, that's about $23 million or so. And that includes our uh capital projects that we do once a year, larger items, dump trucks, and equipment, things like that that we have to do on a one-off basis or items that we have to replace. and uh you see the different services that encompasses the police department, public works, recreation, etc. The last bucket is more of the bonded debt. This is going to be for our very large projects that we have to go out to bond for. Um that current figure is about 2.8 million. As you can imagine, that is actually going to see

047an increase because we secured the funding for the middle school uh last month, October. Yep. And so we will start to see that um really have an impact on on budgets going forward. And so uh that will uh that will increase a bit. But um thankfully we are in great financial health as a town. And so because of that we're able to secure some very favorable terms um for that bond. So we're we're in a good spot there. Just as a side note, Cromwell has a a different setup where the fire district is its own entity and they have their own mill rate, their own budget, their own, you know, uh, you know, basically way of operating and we don't have any say or any impact on on that piece of it. So, the fire

048district operates as its own entity. So, any questions on those three kind of buckets? No. All right. Next. So, the revenue sources. All right. So, if you combine everything together, we need about $66 million to run the town for the year. Okay. The vast majority of it, as you can imagine, gets paid for by local property taxes. Okay. How do we determine who pays what? It's based upon the town's grand list. Okay. So, what we do is there there's a town assessor's office. They go through and they evaluate and look at all the different things that you can tax property-wise in the town, whether it's a commercial business, whether it's your home, your auto, whatever the case is. And then you go through the different rules that the uh the state has in order to

049to evaluate it. And typically, it's 70% of the fair market value. And then after that, that is the amount that you will be assessed on based upon uh the item that you own. Okay? And so for again for motor vehicles, the assessment is 70% of the original MSRP. That has actually changed a bit. The state put out some new and and different ways of looking at autos, but that's pretty much the way that we're taking care of it here in town. And then again for business personal property, uh sets to 70%. Um and all of these are as of October 1. So the grand list gets set and then we use that for the following for the following year. Okay, any questions there? Okay. Next. Okay. So, the mill rate, this is the key part

050that we always try to go into and look at uh once we pass all the different budgets because this is going to be basically the multiplier. This is how we're going to back into, okay, we need $66 million. We've got a grand list of 1.9 billion or whatever the case is. So that multiplier piece is going to be how we end up basically dividing up that $66 million pie amongst all the different um amongst all the different uh places that we have to tax. So as an example, a property with an assessed value of $50,000, okay, located with a municipality of the mill rate of 20, just to keep it easy, would have a property tax bill of $1,000. Okay, just so you guys all know, our current mill rate is 27.33. And again, that

051does not include the fire district. Okay. So, if you go back and look at your bill and you see it's a little higher, that's that may be why. Okay. We had to up it from 26.67 from the previous fiscal year. Okay. And then um so there's basically two different ways that we can grow revenue for the town. The the way we like to look at it hopefully is expanding the grand list, right? If you look at the tax base is kind of like a rectangle, right? You can expand it two ways. You can have more things to tax or you got to tax those items more, right? And so we're always looking for try to find ways to attract businesses into town and try to find more ways to uh to expand the tax base

052that way. Otherwise, we have to uh ask for more of a demand from the current taxpayers in order to fund um in order to fund the town as as budgets increase. So as a quick example, if our grand list right now is about 1.9 billion, the current mill rate is 2733. If we need approximately 52 million, but let's say that the next year we need another $2 million just to keep it easy. It represents a 3.83% increase. And for this example, the grand list, the additional revenue services, everything else stays as is. Okay. So, in order to generate that additional 2 million, the mill rate would have to increase from 2733 to 2838. Okay? So, you take that 2838 in the very bottom, multiply by everything on the grand list. That's how you're going to

053get that 54.28 million that we now need. All right. Next. So how does this imp impact homeowners? So if we use a home again just random assessed at a4 million but valued at 357 so it's at that 70%. So we're actually taxing it at the 250. The expiring mill rate of 22 26.67 their current tax bill should be around 6,668. For the next fiscal year if we have to increase the mill rate that tax bill goes up to 6833 and it's $165 increase. So extrapolate that 250 and go to all the different size properties everything else you see that you know obviously they'll get and feel that that increase even more. So that's how we spread it around. All right revenue sources. So there is money that we typically get in from the state. It's

054a it's a huge help. Um right now it's about 6.6 million in revenue about 10% of our budget. It's it's unfortunately not always guaranteed. God forbid some sort of emergency or something, they can you know uh make a change there. But it has been uh it has been coming through in the past without too much problem. Grants obviously if we find opportunities to take care of projects through different grants or different funding sources, we we go after those. And then the bottom are just some examples of some miscellaneous fees, you know, uh building inspection, police department, um health department, just different ways the town generates revenue and helps with the budget from that standpoint, too. So next okay uh grand list has remained steady over the past few years. Um in a non uh re-evaluation

055year an expanded grand list would provide additional revenue without impacting the mill rate. So obviously if our grand list goes up 4% the budget goes up 4%. Guess what? Everyone's tax bill stays where it was right. Okay. If the grand list somehow shrinks then even before we do anything we're already in the hole. Okay. Um, in case of emergency, our our standard is we try to keep two months of expenditures in our savings so that god forbid something happens, we have some resources to be able to take care of it. And then again, something that we're very proud of is is as we went out for bond for the middle school, we had a uh reconfirmation of our S&P AAA bond rating, which is the best from a municipality standpoint you can you can obtain.

056And it very much helped and saved the taxpayers money when we went out to take care of the school. So, Okay. Our current uh board of finance members, uh myself, Steve Wagonowski, Matt Blanchett, Dan Kelly and Mey, and Jamie Fidelli. Jamie uh joins us now. Uh he was just elected um a few weeks ago. Our meetings are the last Thursday of the month um except for November, December um over in council chambers. And we typically just get updates from the town manager and the finance director. Um get updated financial reports just to see where things are going for the current fiscal year. and then obviously take action on items as they go on during the course of the year if something were to come up. Um, but we typically like to try to take care

057of all the major spending items during our budget process which will start early April until we get into May and the uh the referendum that goes out to the town. Okay. So, yeah, here's the timeline here. So, we get our our budget books for all three of those different budgets I talked about earlier in the middle of March. Um, the board of education will come out and give a presentation to us. the town will come out and give a presentation to us sometime end of March, beginning of April. We'll then try to finalize and go through everything and finish that up early to mid uh mid April. The first Tuesday in May will be the referendum to the town. So, we'll go and we'll present the numbers that we have passed to to the town

058and hopefully get a a yes uh majority there. If not, the board of finance meets, we make some changes, we go back to the town, we do the referendum again until it passes. Um once it passes, we typically have 10 days to set the mill rate. We typically do it that night. We just kind of get the results. Hopefully, it's in the positive. We meet. We set the mill rate and and go from there. And then the tax bills are set and generated for July 1st for the next fiscal year. Uh that's our just kind of main um uh email uh if you ever have any questions or any reach out to to any of us. Um, but I mean you guys all know how to get in touch with myself or anyone else on

059the board and um you know always here to to answer any questions and obviously you guys always know you can come to um to me with uh with any concerns or anything that may come up. So um I know it wasn't exciting as the people that spoke before me but hopefully you stayed awake. So any especially for our our new joining folks any questions? Anything? >> I think m I think Mr. Zabraki was first with his hand up and then we can go to anybody else. >> Kind of I guess a a procedural question more or less. Do you check the spam folder of the Cromwell Board of Finance Gmail address? >> You know what? I I I probably should make a better habit of that because it looks like it happens more often than

060uh >> I couldn't pass it. >> I I know. Hey, listen. We got through, right? We figured it out. We got it through. Anyway, very important question. Thank you. >> Anybody else have any questions for Mr. Ireland? Miss Slam? Just a thank you. It was absolutely fascinating. I didn't realize I was going to [laughter] get such a treat this evening on my first night. >> Well, listen. I can come back and give this anytime you guys want. You do like once a month. What do you want? >> No, but really, thank you for the overview. I appreciate it. It's It's nice to see how it all fits together. >> You got it. >> Oh, I think Miss Maddie has a question. >> I'm going to defer to the chair here. >> Go for it, Miss

061Maddie. >> This may be a foolish question, but I'm going to ask it. Do you have money that is some kind of surplus money or money that is in escrow for the town that you invest? >> So there is there are there are certainly instances where there is investment income but it's typically comes from standpoint where like when we were putting up the middle school >> Yeah. year to year we would have to get just a a a note before we went out and got the bond done before the school got done and sometimes that'll generate like interest income and sometimes we do have some investment income from different um funds and different things we do so yes there is there is it's it's not a it's not something that we look at and go

062okay we're looking to make millions and millions of dollars you know what I mean it's it's more so guided I think a lot by state um guidance and that kind of thing and I don't want to make it sound like I'm trying to to to push off the question, but the finance director would would have a little bit more detail as far as how that kind of works and operates. We we check in on it and take a look at it, but it's not something that we, you know, actively try to go, hey, you know, let's let's try to make so and so here. It's it's more so uh certain projects and certain funds that that we're involved with. >> All right. Absolutely. >> And there's a liaison from the board of finance that can

063come to our meetings and offer reports. Same thing with the town council. So we get regular town collaboration updates. >> Yes. >> Okay. Any other questions for Mr. Ireland? >> A comment. Lori. >> Yeah. John, thank you for doing that, especially for the new people, but I think it's a good refresher for all of us. Um I always learn, you know, because of Yeah. Well, for those of us who don't, >> you know, do that every day. It's it's just a good refresher. So, thank you. >> Listen, uh, happy to do it. I appreciate it. And, you know, listen, at the end of the day, it it makes my and my board's job a lot easier when you guys have a good, you know, feeling and understanding of the decisions we've got to look at,

064right? Because we don't, that slide up that talked about, you know, people's household value and stuff. That's stuff that we have to look at when we're making our decisions because that's where it hits the road, right? And that's where it hits people's bank accounts and mailboxes. So that's where it gets, you know, that's where it gets uh it gets tough. >> John, quick question on the the budget or the for the school. What what was the financial pack finance package for that? How long what do we borrow? How much we take and what rate? >> We ended up borrowing I'm trying to do the top of my head. The rate was just over I think 4%. Uh we had to borrow we had to borrow about 42 million I believe because there's a hold back

065from the state and so we have to borrow enough to kind of hang on to that until they do the audit and then some of that money then gets released. There's there's a whole timing mechanism piece that that goes along with it. Um but no it's uh and we went with 30 years with 30 years. So >> thank you. >> Y >> we appreciate it. Oh, Mr. Heisman has a question. Um, as far as the process for reviewing the budget, right, we do the board of ed, then the town goes, then the CNR for the board of ed goes, have you guys considered maybe revamping and having like the board of ed one night and the town another night for that meeting? Because I know that went into two nights and Claudia was there pretty

066late one night with the CNR. So the way we have to do it is we have we pick a night for a public hearing and the public hearing is is the night when those presentations then take place. It's actually at the board of finances discretion after the the public hearing goes as far as the order of what we want to take up and and consider. We typically go with looking at the board of education piece first just because all the players are there, right? like you know if we can pre prevent you having to come back and do another night where we're kicking it around um that's that's been the the goal. Um we then after the board of ed piece and this is the part two that so those CNR projects those capital non-recurring

067projects the way I believe we've got it set up is that if they are related to the board of education they still fall under the purview of the town. So the town is taking on those projects in addition to their own needs and then kind of a priority list and a set list that goes the way that we have been doing it again because we have the audience after the board of that operating piece gets done is we go through those projects again because just so we have the right people in the room and yes it goes very late. It goes very late. Um but at the same time too if I can try to or we can try to prevent you know folks again from having to come back and carve out more time

068out of their schedules. That's the way it's been. I'm always open to hearing if there's a better way to to do this or a better mousetrap. I mean, I I'm I'm open to discussing it. That's that's never a problem. But it's it seems to be if we've got everybody in the room going with it, that's just been the the the way we've been doing it. But if there's a better way, another way to look at it, we can still do that. >> It was just new last year, so I was curious if that was going to be the same. >> And then after that, the town, we set a second night. Uh actually, we set three nights. We set a second night. That's typically when uh the town will will come forward. We'll have the

069police chief there. We'll have the public works director there go through the town side and then those capital projects that aren't related to the board of education, we'll get those through. And then a third night if everything does roll over or goes late, we'll we'll pick a third night and stuff as well. So, um that piece of it we can certainly look at and discuss. >> Thank you, Mr. Ireland. >> Good. Okay. Thanks so much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Along the lines of collaboration, we move on to town collaboration updates. And Dr. Macker, I'm turning that one to you. >> Um, we did have a meeting and actually it's it's in your packet as well. I could jump to it, but it is in new business as well. Um, with um um Mayor

070Demetriis, um, Chair Ireland was there as well. We had Steve Heisman, Matt Zabrowski, um, myself, Claudio, Lynn, Mr. about well trying to think who else was there. I don't know if did I miss anyone? Sharon and Tony. Yes, a town manager and um Sharon. Um so it was a good meeting. Uh we talked about [clears throat] what is this facility committee standing facility committee going to look like and that's actually in your packet just for for information which is everyone needs to see it. We will need a member of the board of education. Um and that is reference E. so we can skip over it later. And and then um we just talked about the projects that we have and the priorities that um we we looked at all of our projects and we prioritized

071what the projects were um and it was a good discussion, a healthy discussion on all the work that has to be done um and then how do we move forward. So, um this evening even in our facilities committee meeting um we talked again about what what can this um standing facilities committee do for the town. But I of course I just look at it from the board perspective. Um there's so many things that could be done and and it's just so much more efficient when we have grant opportunities to to be able to have a committee that we come to. Um because the grant opportunities from the state department of education are not just here apply for this and you get you get it. You have to have a something like a building committee um

072to to run these projects. So if it's a standing one um then we something that we can really do easily. So we met it was a it was a good night and then um I know uh Clauddio Bazano met with um Steve Wagenowski and they talked about um the priorities. They went back through the chart and prioritized everything. So I think that's it for town collaboration. If I anybody have any questions on that one? Okay. So your honorable you're next was superintendent updates. Okay. Thanks. Um so first happy veterans day to anyone all of our veterans. Um truly I as uh a family who you know my parents weren't born here. um my brother and sister were not. Uh and I still have family in Italy. And I always have feel so blessed to be

073part of this country. So just a huge thank you to all of our veterans who um put their lives out there and had their lives taken and sacrificed so much for us. So happy veterans to them. Uh happy Veterans Day to them. Our kids did some awesome things that you're going to hear about later um when our principles come up. And I would just like to welcome Jessica Lamb and Donna Maddie to uh the board of education and say um we do a lot of great things. I'm sure you've watched and I know you've attended and I'm just very um happy to be working by your side. And then also to our um well those of you that have been on the board for four years already and you came back for more um congratulations

074to to to you as well and of course I can look forward to working with you um as well. Um and budget setting. So [clears throat] that's what we're we are working on. U Mr. Butwell and myself um working with our administrators. All of the administrators are at the point of where they're turning in their budgets and then we've set up our meetings to meet with them in um the first and second week of December and those are set. Um we also after that then we start putting together our presentation. U Mr. Butwell and I will meet quite often. Um we have been thinking and looking at ways where we can improve, give you more information, change the information. Um so we've been doing that. at Nauseium. Poor Mr. Butwell, sick of me. Um, and

075then really the only other thing I'd like to mention is um on January 14th, so save the date and I will be sending something out um is we're going to have the Michael Cameli dedication ceremony for the auditorium. So that is going to be Megan Cameli, his daughter's first um winter concert and the first concert in the new auditorium. So it'll be really nice. So if you can attend, that would be great. Um, and I think that's all I have unless you have any questions for me. Thank you. Any questions for Dr. McCary? Okay, we're going to move on to budget update and monthly budget. And Mr. Butwell, I think that is you. And everybody should have that um in their packet. It is reference B and C. Hi everyone and welcome to our new

076board members. I look forward to working with you. Um so in your packet you have the budget summary. Um I'll talk about that first then I'll just talk about the table that I included in my memo. Um just to follow up from last month's meeting. So um in general the budget uh we're in good shape. uh continuing as always to look at the same areas each year. Uh our special ed tuition and special ed uh service lines and our pupil transportation lines. Um those are the the big ones that can change, you know, quickly and of course are very costly. Um all other areas at this point though looking good. It's still early in the year so um feeling comfortable um with all of our other areas. Um, regarding the table on the in the

077memo, I think at the last month the board had just was someone asked a question about um remaining uh balances uh or open surplus balances uh for each month. I went was able to go back and find the data for the last uh for four years and uh October through December. So you can see I've included uh in that table just the amount and the corresponding percentage of the budget. Thank you for doing that. Anybody have any questions, Mrs. Canwell? >> Any luck with the milk? Uh, the milk the lunch. I have milk on the lunch money. The lunch [laughter] I know. >> I already feel crazy. >> The lunch accounts. You know what I'm talking about. [laughter] the deficit. >> Um are you referring to colle collecting on the deficits? Um I would say

078sort of mixed success. Um we continue to send out weekly emails to families who have a lunch account -10 or lower. Um, I just last week sent out a memo to um directly to all families that had a balance of $50 or more um and reviewed with them um you know our process for applying for free and reduced lunch to please reach out to our food services department if you have any questions or uh need any help in any way with that process. And so um that always kind of facilitates a little bit of a little bit of payment. Um, but you know, generally I think we're still we're still trending downward. Yeah. Or upward, whichever way you want to look at it. [laughter] >> Thank you. Mr. Heisman, did you have your hand up?

079>> Yeah. Uh, I just had a question. So, the surplus from last year doesn't show up on this report, right? Are we Is there somewhere that we're tracking those funds separately as far as spending and allocating and forecasting? Obviously, we have to set aside some money for the track project. >> Yeah. Right now, um they've the the town has uh put them into the the account at the town and we haven't touched we haven't made any uh done anything with them yet. So, >> Okay. So, do we have to go back to the town for those funds or is that >> No, no, they're they're just in the in the general account, but we have complete control over >> what we do with them. So once we start um you know with the track and

080any other use of that money of course we'll definitely be >> earliest updates. >> That's a good suggestion. I'll make a note of that. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else >> Mrs. Russ? >> Um Mr. Pwell we've sat here for some of us multiple years and a lot of questions we people you could even see people asking John Ireland of them. Government accounting is a new concept for a lot of people. Um, do you have any recommendations of like a quick and not to put you on the spot if you want to send them out later? Sure. Of like a quick read because government accounting is very very very different from any other type of corporate or business accounting methods. Um, do you have any recommendations on what people can do as a quick read

081or just a brief overview of how government accounting does work? Because I understand it's different. and I had to learn it. Um, but it it's it's it's >> it's very confusing for a lot of people why money flows a certain way, why it's tracked a certain way. So, if there's a recommendation that our board members might want to read up on and get a better understanding of, please feel free to share that with us. >> Sure. >> I see the board of finance go through it every month when I go to their meetings. They grill our poor finance director and she's like, "This is what we're supposed to do." And they don't understand and it's because it's government accounting. So, >> sure. Um, I don't have any recommend recommendations off the top of my head

082right now, but let me take a look and see if I can find something for you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. I don't want to add anything to your plate, but your question, Mrs. Russ, sparked a conversation. I'm wondering because we do get orientation on all the legal responsibilities of being a member of BOE. I wonder if there's anything that we could add to that which is kind of a primer for us on how to read your budgets, how to understand them, and just be prepped for those conversations that we're going to move into. >> Um, again, yeah, let me take a look and see if there's something that I could send you or, you know, if there's if there's specific information that you're hoping to find out that I could provide for you or

083do a little uh mini lesson for you. >> 30 minute like >> Sure. I'd be happy. >> All you need to know, >> can you teach us? Can you teach us? >> Do I get to use the >> whiteboard like Mr. just did on the budget process? >> Sure. Yeah. >> I I have a suggestion for them. Um Cab is a good resource. They run a when they run their annual course, they run a course on >> school finances. So there's a contact there. Patrice, I believe her name. >> Yeah, that's actually a great course. >> Yeah, she she does a good job. So just a suggestion. >> Thank you. That's a great idea. Sometimes we forget that the Connecticut Association of Boards of Ed has all these resources available to us. Thank you. >>

084We'll add um Jessica and Donna so that you'll get the updates too from cave and then you'll see when there's training and available and you can attend those trainings and anyone can attend them. Yeah. >> They're good. Okay. >> That just made me think I don't know if they've gotten the notice because they have Cab has that workshop, you know, for incoming board of ed members who just got recently elected, but it's >> soon. >> That is soon. >> It's It's December 9th. It's in Rocky Hill. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interject over you, Lori. I wrote it down. >> Follow Robert's rule. >> I was g I know. I'm sorry. Do you want me to continue? I can stop. Um, I wrote it down because I was going to put it in my

085um, comments and updates at the end. Oh, yeah. But it's a new member board training and a new meter lead board leadership training. You can take either track. Um, obviously you two would take the new board member training. Um, it's in Rocky Hill on December 9th and it's from 8:30 to 5:00 p.m. It's at I believe the Sheridan. Correct me if I'm wrong, Dr. Mackery, but I believe we pay the cost for that. I did the training. I know others in the room have done it. It's a fantastic training. They really really do a good job and um they have little panels and stuff. So I I think Steve did the training. I thought they did a really excellent job on it. So I highly recommend on December 9th you block that date out >>

086for the new board member training by Cabe. >> Yeah. >> It's a long day but it's worth it. >> Yeah. >> Lisa will sign you up. She's great at that. [laughter] >> And then even asking for big big discounts, too. I've taught her. Well, >> thank you for raising that. >> Can I just ask a question? >> Wait, hold on one second. Lori, are you done? >> It's fine. It's fine. >> You want to finish? >> Oh, sorry, Lori. >> She tells you. >> Okay. [laughter] How do I do, >> Miss Maddie? You're good. >> Just raise your hand and then I'll call you. You're good. >> I just have one quick question. Um, Dr. Mack keeps mentioning packets. You're You have this in your packet. This is okay. >> But I I don't think

087I have the only thing I >> I I printed this out myself. >> So the Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. >> I'm going to go back to Lori. Did you have something else you want to add? >> Okay. Okay. I think Mr. Butwell, seeing no other questions for you, thank you very much for your very helpful report. >> Thank you. >> Okay. All right, I'm gonna move us on to our new >> Did you ask? >> Oh, I'm sorry. He can just stay up because >> Sorry. The new the new Sorry, I just I said you were all set and you're really not. Um, under new business A is an action item on the tuition rate. It is reference D in your packet. I will turn it to Mr.

088Butwell to tell us what we're looking at so that we can take action. >> Sure. So the tuition rate um is a calculation um for how much the district uh expends per per pupil. So um it's a very simple formula as you can see on your paper of what is the budget amount for this year which is 40,600,000 and then what was the enrollment and we use the very official October 1st um date and at that time there were 1766 students in district. you divide the total amount of money by the number of students and you get 22,990. So that's a um a number which represents our per pupil cost each year um to provide education for the students of Cromwell. So if um a student wishes to come into Cromwell from outside of district

089and they um need to pay tuition to do so um that would be the amount that we would charge them. >> Excellent. Thank you for the explanation. >> My pleasure. >> Uh unless anyone has any questions, I'm going to ask for a motion to approve the tuition rate as presented in reference D. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you, Miss Franklin. Second, Mr. Schuman. All in favor? >> I. >> Anybody opposed? Abstensions. Okay. Tuition rate passes. Excellent. Thank you. >> Now, can you sit down? >> Yes. Now, >> all right. [laughter] Thank you, Mr. Butwwell. I'm sorry. >> Okay. Next in your packet is the review of the public asset and facilities proposal. That is reference E. Um this is the committee that Dr. Macker spoke of the the tri group committee that is

090up for public hearing. So in your packet there's the notice of public hearing November 12th at 6:45 which is tomorrow at 6:45 in the town hall chambers and the details of the um committee proposal are in the second page of reference E. If you have thoughts comments please take the opportunity to attend the public hearing. Um as you'll note we do have one of the seven seats that's a board of ed seat which is great. Uh any questions on that? Okay. Uh next is act uh is number C is letter C. It is an action item. It is appointment of the board chair and committee members. And I'm going to ask that we defer that until the next meeting given I've not had chance to talk to everybody about that yet. And um I'd rather

091do that at the next meeting. >> So can I do that? >> Yes, you can. I think we have to do it in a a special way just because we didn't amend the agenda. So can how do so how do we amend the agenda in the middle of the meeting? [laughter] >> Can I make a motion? >> Hold on, please. >> Can I make a motion to defer it? >> No, because we already approved the agenda. >> We approved the agenda. It's okay. We're learning. I I just emotions. You would think I read I read this book 20 times. You think I know >> discharge >> to adopt in the first place. Okay. So let's see if this will changing something the assembly already adopted requires more than than what was necessary to adopt in

092the first place. Okay, we already know that. So I think someone can make a motion to postpone. Yeah, in the middle of the agenda. So have someone make a motion. >> I'll make a motion to uh move to the next meeting the appointment by board chair of committee members. Is there a second? Thank you, Mrs. Lamb. All in favor? >> Opposed? Extensions. Thank you all. I appreciate that. Okay. Next is review of Veterans Day. >> Is that you? >> Yeah. Um we can um we'll start with Mr. Cuckle at the high school and then we'll work our way down to ECS um and let you know what our students um and staff did today. >> Okay. Hey. Uh, at Cromwell High School, uh, Veterans Day every year, we do start with a breakfast here, right

093where you're, uh, sitting, and we had, um, veterans from Cromwell and the surrounding region came in. Uh, so we had a wonderful Veterans Day breakfast, and then, uh, for the 11:00 ceremony at town hall, we had our, um, our band, our select choir. Uh, we had a student sing the national anthem. One of our students spoke at the, uh, Veterans Day ceremony at town hall as well. Uh, so it was a a great ceremony. always wonderful to go and attend that. Uh and then in the afternoon we did patriot games which is a new thing for us uh where one of our teachers Cam Hulcom really took the bull by the horns with veterans day and trying to provide a different experience. So students were able to make care packages for veterans. We had some

094guest speakers come in uh who were veterans. Uh we had um as Marcel told you we had Dr. Kersbomb did the physics of paratrooping. I mean there was 25 different options for students to pick from in the afternoon multiple sessions. Uh tomorrow for us it's like a two-day affair this year. So tomorrow we have our assembly which is a whole school assembly where again we'll have some guest speakers. Our band will perform uh where we will bring Veterans Day into day two. Uh and that is the Croml High School experience for Veterans Day. >> Great. Thank you Miss Coachola. What did we do at the middle school? >> So our process began with Mr. Mr. St. An, Mr. Chabowski, Mrs. Pavick, and Miss Cunningham started a while back um kind of sending out through parent

095square, please um we would love to have any um veterans to come in and talk with our students and um very fortunate that we had six veterans volunteered. They came in, the teachers created um a schedule and they all our students were able to hear um a veteran story, experiences um about their life. And um the kids um had questions that they asked the veterans um and then um afterwards and of course our our teachers wanted students again there was a learning op opportunity here. They had to take guided notes on the questions. [laughter] So they they were prepared to talk about it and also our sixth graders created on our new TVs uh Veterans Day slides so you know to welcome the veterans and say thank you and so forth. So um we were

096very fortunate. We had grandparents, uncles, and then we had one um one um dad who came in and they were a variety Vietnam, US Army, Marines. So, it was really wonderful for our students to be able to see a variety of folks from the branches and then our students will um be writing thank you notes, our whole school writing thank you notes to the veterans for coming in and sharing their stories. So, it was a great day and then we also honor them with lunch at the end. So, it was a it was a wonderful day. Thank you. >> Thank you for sharing. Tell us what happened at Woodside Spinningington. Hi everybody. Uh so despite our greatest efforts to have veterans come visit Woodside, we didn't have a lot of luck. Um we ended up

097with three veterans. We were so so excited. So some of our students had that experience and an opportunity to speak to veterans, not all of them. Um the half day seemed to be the biggest struggle for us when we reached out to the veterans community. Um and it sounds like a lot of them were at the high school. Um but that's okay. Our kids are going to get that experience eventually. Uh so we kind of did some very simple things to make sure that we acknowledge the day. We had our students um we had colors assigned. So grade three was red, grade four was white, grade five was blue just to show that patriotic spirit. Um we always do the picture books. This year we changed our fourth grade book just to kind of mix

098it up. And it was about um the tomb of the unknown soldier and really talking about the importance of that which really brought in um you know those that stood guard and how that was originally um not really looked on as something that was highly favorable and now is one of the most important positions. Um we are art teacher and librarian came together. They shared the story of the poppy lady which is how poppies became such an important part of the military history and the significance of them. And so they read the story and uh when Mrs. Han and library and then in our Shannon Shuquin had them create poppies. So we have a whole bulletin board of poppies and little messages for our veterans. Um some of our families even though veterans couldn't come

099in sent pictures of their loved ones who have experiences um within the military. And then we always have our students write thank you notes to our veterans which we will be dropping off um to some of our favorite veterans. And it was just a really great day. The kids enjoyed it. Um, I think actually that half day kind of worked in our favor because it allowed really the whole day to focus on this rather than making it a piece. Um, so we were really thankful for that. >> Thank you for sharing. Mrs. Tatuno. Hi everyone. All right. So at Edna C. Stevens School, Mrs. Chapman, our music teacher, is a huge part of the the whole day. Um, this is one of her favorite events. She films students and she creates a ceremony whereby 14

100second grade students represented each class and the video was viewed by all the students and sent home to the families. All the students in the school learned the protocols of the ceremony, a patriotic song, and the significance of the day in music class. Um students created letters and cards for the veterans. These greetings were placed in decorative patriotic bo a patriotic box which I will deliver to the veterans tomorrow. Um we have a tribute hall and I welcome you all to come see it. The entire front hall um honors our family members and relatives who are veterans. There's over 130 photographs. They're all laminated. They're all labeled. Um they're in the showcases. There are many veterans that are parents of our students as well as spouses and children of our staff. Today, several veterans, about

101eight, visited classrooms, shared their experiences about their service. One of our veterans is the husband of one of our kindergarten teachers. And I have to tell you, this is really unique. He created a Veterans Day confidence course in the classroom for kindergarten students. He utilized the um the furniture in the room. He set up an obstacle course which was designed to help to strengthen the body and the brain providing problem solving, teamwork, listening, effort, kindness, and bravery. So the students um they lined up a long table and the students practiced crawling under the bravery tunnel, doing jumping jacks and balancing exercises. It was a really great experience for them and it was shared by other classrooms as well. Thank you. >> Thank you. That is so cool. Anybody have any comments? Oh, Mrs. Ross. >>

102Um I I love that we go to school on Veterans Day now. I know it all started as a result of the Halloween snowstorm or the big snowstorm that knocked out our power and my kids um have always enjoyed it and the um tribute wall that's at ECS. they still remember that so- and so's uncle or so and so's father serves. Oh, this one's mother served. Um, my brother came in and spoke. He was a guest speaker when my son was in second grade. And I hope that someday when my son is done serving, he'll be able to come in and speak to the classes. I think that would be great. I think it's the best way to celebrate Veterans Day and they really get a much better understanding of it. So, I'm glad we've

103continued this tradition and at Mrs. Bennington, I'm really excited you guys had the whole day to spend on it. It's such an important part of um of our our community and our life. So, thank you so much. Anybody else? Okay. Well, thank you all for all of your efforts and for really making this day so special for our students. Okay. We have NGS NGSS accountability performance report card. It is reference F in your packet. I'm hoping someone's going to explain this to us, but I was so impressed at so much upward mobility of our scores in many categories. So, congratulations. Is this Dr. Mlan? >> I know she gets >> Okay, Dr. Mlan, thank you. >> I'm thrilled to report on this. Um, this is really an extension. Oh, and if you look in your

104packet, so the change column got cut off on the Kroml versus state. So, we just gave you a copy with the change column. it just didn't come out in the copies. Um, but I'm going to focus first on how we did compared compared to ourselves last year. Um, this data is really an extension of the amazing data that I showed you earlier where we saw increases um pretty much across the board um significant increases in some cases across the board in um reading, math and science. Um and so here we're seeing it um as our accountability index. So what that means is the state gives us a report card every year and they measure our growth on these indicators. So if you look at all of the ones, it goes from one A to one

105F. That's talking about how we how many students met goal. So and then they split them out between high need students. The high needs groups are our special ed, our ELE, and our free and reduced lunch students. So that that's what um that group is made up of. So, they split those out just so that we can see comparatively how they're doing. But you can see that even in ELA, um, our high need students grew more than our regular students, which is what you always want to see in closing gaps, um, for students. Um, and we scored in the green on every single indicator. If you look at 2 A through F. No, I'm sorry. E, no, no, I'm just going to D actually. Um, that's our growth measure. So, what that does is the

106state sets a goal for each student based on their score from the previous year. So, if those students make that goal, then they get 100% of those points. There also is a a sort of a how far did you get if you didn't meet it and so then they get like partial credit towards meeting that goal. Um so you can see we are and this is the one that we really are most concerned about because you know not all of them have to be profess proficient but we want to make sure that our kids are all growing um from wherever they started to wherever we're taking them. So if you take a look at so now we're down to 2E um and this is where this is where we struggled a little. Our ML students

107multilingual students struggled a little bit this year and this is obviously a focus area for us. Um this population is relatively small comparatively and it is does fluctuate. So once a student, you know, meets proficiency according to ML standards, then they sort of fall out of the group and anyone new coming in comes into the group. So this is a very it's really like a three-year kind of group. Um and so we know that we have some some work to do with our multilingual learners. Um and that's really where we'll put a lot of our energy um this year. Um the one that is also really great news is five uh preparation for college and career. Um if you look, we have maxed out the amount of points that we can possibly get for kids

108that are taking um college and career readiness courses. Um and we've increased um you can't do any better than that. [laughter] So um that was great. And not only that, but our if you just like number six, if you look at the percent passing, we increase by almost 14% of kids that are not only taking but passing those courses. So, we've got a lot of kids taking, you know, highly academic classes or uh career focused classes. And we've got a significant portion of those students that are passing those exams at the end so that they get college credit when they're going into their their college classes. Um, on track to graduation, we have 98.7. It's down a little bit. Um, fouryear graduation rate, it's how many as freshmen graduated as seniors, right? So, and that's

109the 24 cohort. So, it's a year behind. Six-year graduation is how many kids started as freshman and graduated in six years. So, sometimes we have students that take a little bit longer. Sometimes they need a little bit more time. So they they also measure of the students that didn't how many made it in six years. >> Jack. Yeah. This remember we own all of our students. So this counts all of our students who are perhaps outpaced. Yes. So as well. >> Yep. So some of these students we don't physically have on campus. Um post-secondary entrance we are still holding strong at 100% rating from the state of connect from the state in terms of post-secary entrance. Um physical fitness this is another one that I feel like we can do some work on. [laughter] >>

110Mr. Kle's like not me. >> This is this is something where we can do some work on. We've talked about a lot of strategies to um not only increase the participation rate but also the >> embarrass you to make it work. you know, kids can take this assessment multiple times. So, we've I did talk with Mr. Cuckle about um you know, having them take the assessment multiple times. Um and getting our students to pass this state assessment. So, that will also be a focus for us. >> Um get doctors to stop writing notes that excuse our kids for a long period of time from physical fitness. We do have a lot of that as well. >> Yeah, that does happen more. I lit and then another situation I asked I mean I was a principal

111so I said how many kids do you guys have on crutches a week or how many wheel I couldn't believe it I'm like okay why what's going you know what's going on so so many more injuries than there were when I was a principal I'm like we were lucky you know I mean obviously we had kids on crutches once in a while but not much so yes so Mr. Cuckle, you know, we absolutely love you and adore you, but this is the only way we're going to get that participation rate. [laughter] Um, yeah, and it's a fairly easy fix hopefully. Um, arts access, we stood strong at 90.4. Um, we stayed exactly the same. I think that, so this is a year behind. We're talking about last year's data. And I think this year, once

112we get the report card for this year, we will see an increase because we did add three additional three additional courses, right, in the art department this year. Um, and some of them are are co-seated with different classes. Some AP classes are co-seated. So, um, meaning that they're getting credit for >> you looking at I'm sorry. I just want to make sure we're looking on the right. >> Right now, I'm under 12 and I'm Cromwell to Cromwell >> and you're doing okay. >> Yep. >> Hours. Okay. So, some people >> No, on the other one is a state I haven't gotten there yet. That one I haven't gotten to yet. >> Okay. So, I'm thinking that some people might be missing the Cromwell to Crownwell one. Oh, may not have got one. >> I know.

113[laughter] I'm thinking some people may I have it. >> It's in It's We just recopied this one because this column is cut off. >> Yeah, I was say take >> Yep. Does everyone have the change? >> It doesn't have the change. So, I printed it. If you go get Let me see. Down or up? One of the two. Yeah, it's the next one. Isl It's hard to see >> 23 24 to 24 25. Yes, it just has the change column cut off. It's the one that you have copied with the change column. But the one that you reprinted >> is the same exact one that I had printed out. There's no >> difference in them. >> Must have printed the wrong. >> So to print it because it's Excel, [laughter] >> but the one that

114was the one that was left for us is the same one that I had printed out. There's no changes between the two. >> I don't know. I thought we I thought we fixed this today, but >> the same. >> No, I'm not. the crumbled that crumbl it is but just without the change >> not the change column so you can't see I mean you could see but you'd have to do the math see >> the state versus kl one >> is the one that has a change column and I printed exactly what they printed >> so she must have she printed this >> correct >> so pay attention to >> so the wrong thing was printed for us Yes. >> Listen, she can't be perfect at everything. She's pretty perfect. >> It's okay. We're following

115your your verbal presentation and we'll fix the paperwork. Don't worry about it. Keep going. We got it. >> All right. So, where was I? Um talking about arts access, which we should see. We stayed flat. We should see an increase because we have additional courses that we're offering. That was something that we focused on last year because I think we saw a little bit of a dip. So, that was one of our focus areas for last year. and we have an amazing art teacher um that has brought a lot of energy to the department at particularly at the high school. So, um it's been it's been great working with her and she's she's done a lot of great things to add um to the department. So, we should see some some growth there. All right.

116Now, I'm going to the state. Well, I we can look at the bottom on that one first. And >> hold on, if you don't mind one second, I think Mrs. Russ has a question before you move on. Just because there's so much confusion before you move on, can I ask you a quick question because I believe you skipped over >> the chronic absenteeism is dropping. >> Oh, yes. >> And what are we >> No, no, it's not dropping. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Yeah, it is. >> It is. >> So, what are are we doing >> to address that issue? >> I know we talked about the um proficiency in English, the ELA, and the oral part. You talked about those um the progress towards English proficiency, but we didn't talk about chronic absenteeism. And

117are we doing anything to improve in that area? >> Yeah, we have attendance committees and we also have um brand new culture and climate committees in each of the buildings that are going to look at some data and attendance data in particular is a is a focus of the data that they're going to look at to try to make plans to have kids be sure that they're attending school every day. >> Can I also I just want to interject without letting out um confidential information. Remember again um this includes our students who are outplaced. So we have run into some issues with truency. Um and the state does not let us and nor should they right let us off the hook that easily if we have someone that's absent for a whole year and not

118attending. Um so unfortunately we did have a couple of those issues last year. Still we do everything that we possibly can to help these families and help these students but it's really hard when they're not even attending our school. So it's difficult >> and they're included in those numbers. >> Mrs. >> Sorry, >> go for it, Mr. Caitlyn. >> Thank you. If if we have a student outplaced and they're not attending the school, how does that I mean, if they're out, >> we're still on the hook for >> a whole year. >> At what point would we in I mean, what time at what point does that get addressed like with the PPT? always all the time ongoing and there are um other factors as well. Um there are other agencies in the state of

119Connecticut that support the schools and the families. >> Yeah. Yeah, I know that. I'm just wondering like >> when does it ever get fixed? It doesn't sometimes and then you end up with chronic absenteeism this way. So you may have Oh jeez. I'm trying to like I'm talking about ju just educating you generally, right? So if we have students that are outplaced and the students are truent and they don't attend school, we as the right the receiving district are responsible to making sure that they get to school. So we're setting up PPTs. We are setting up more PPTs. We are um we have other agencies involved. DCF, youth services. Am I missing? I'm sure I'm missing plenty. Um but if we cannot get the child to come to school and D with DCF's involvement as

120well um it could take two to three years to actually address a truent issue and make it better. Um or the student may turn a certain age where the parent could then withdraw them and we could have them >> which then impacts our graduation >> our graduation rate. So it's it's not as easy as we think. We we literally make home visits like we go to the students homes. We do everything that we can. Um but sadly, unfortunately, we do have students that are uh really struggling with going to school and which is why we don't like to outplace kids because when we outplace them, there's even a greater chance of them than not attending a school. Um but everything that we have to do, we do. We just can't. >> Yeah, we have attendance

121committees. We review attendance during MTSS meetings. We have a really strong support system here. Um, and our new culture and climate committees will also be looking at attendance data. >> Go ahead. It's okay. Sarah, >> I tried to do it the best I could. >> Question. Finish first that that that book that What were you saying, Robert? Rules of order. >> Yeah, but you so you can't you can't [laughter] you can't just jump in and ask a question. So, hold on one second because I had a comment and then Mr. Sowski and then I will be glad to recognize you. Okay. So, my comment is in um just for everybody's knowledge is an approved private special ed program. There are certain standards and the standards do address absenteeism and one of the requirements is that

122that approved private special ed program has to address and so we do home visits to families to kids try to assess what it is that is the impediment for the child to get to school and if it's sometimes it's behavioral, sometimes it's emotional, sometimes it's you know an issue of economic insecurity or transportation. So the approved private schools are required to work in collaboration and if a child is absent more than 10 days there's a required there's laws that require communication and collaboration with the home district. So it there's a lot of services that are put into place to try to address that and despite best efforts of everybody involved and and it being potentially educational neglect that it's a DCF call sometimes that still becomes a challenge and it doesn't Yes. And you could

123call in educational neglect to the DCF Caroline and sometimes it gets picked up and sometimes it doesn't get picked up for investigation, but there's a lot of services available if this becomes an issue. It is a real challenge. It's a challenge across systems and Mr. Zabroski had his hand up first. >> I was actually I'm glad that you said that from the a private provider point of view. from someone who's who's taught in public schools for 20 some odd years now. Um I I have you know had had to to kind of address as a team actually uh address students who are true and there are limits to how far the school can go. Um you know our power is limited. There are outside agencies such as DCF and different social services. Some are town

124based, some are state based that, you know, when we hit certain points of of truency, they be they get involved. And then when that happens, it's once they're once those entities get involved, it it actually kind of cuts back on on the school's involvement. It's kind of turned over to those agencies. And so if they're not successful, then sometimes it bounces back. Um, I mean ultimately it's we're always, you know, the school is always kind of responsible for for um wanting to get this the student there, but when we use other agencies for help, they kind of end up taking the lead and it kind of goes that way. Um, but I can I mean I can tell you in my experience every I've worked in more than one district and every district when they're

125we are dealing with a a student who's not showing up to school, it becomes a pretty big priority. Um there is a lot of effort. Uh you actually we celebrated two people who who tend to be heavily involved in those efforts and it takes up a lot of their time and energy and a lot of times their time and energy winds up not coming to fruition which is frustrating and unfortunate but that's kind of how it plays out >> in supporting as well. It's just it's it's gotten worse instead of of better. Yeah. Um we're not the only ones and And truly when I say like we own like you know we we own all the students. They're they're ours even if we don't necessarily we may not have seen some of these kids since

126second third. We may have not seen some of these students at all. Um but we do own the data >> and it's not a good thing that chronic absenteeism is trending down. Are we reading it wrong? >> That's why I was saying no. So when it's not going, >> this is the only indicator that when chronic absenteeism goes down, our points go up. >> Got it. >> So you don't So that's why I said it's not going >> down. It's going up and we're losing points for that particular Mrs. >> It's going down, but that's that means our credits that means it's getting worse for us. >> Yeah. So yes, if you the more points you get means that you have a lower chronic absentee rate. >> Okay, >> I did look that up specifically.

127>> It's confusing, but I do want to say we have a lot of success stories, especially in our ESS meetings that we've been having um at the high school. We had >> um a few cases in the past that students were really not coming to school and we've had a lot of success and happy conversations in our morning Wednesday morning meetings at the high school. So, I want to say we've worked really hard on some of some of these students and it's working. So, we're we take those as gains even though, you know, the data might not always show. Um, so just wanted to note that. Thank you. Very helpful. >> We do have a lot of um internal supports in place and sometimes, you know, sometimes things are outside of our control. Um but

128despite all of those um losses, we did see an increase in our overall score um which went up almost a percentage point. Um on the next page, I this is just Cromwell this year compared to how the state of Connecticut did overall. I just like to give you that as a touch base. Um we are doing fabulous in relation to how the state of Connecticut is. that physical fitness and art access continue to still be a focus area for us. Um and we will work on that along with our um ML students in chronic absentism. >> Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Any other questions before we Mr. Zaski? >> It's okay. You don't have to look stupid. >> Just I have a lot of questions. Um just a question on number six, the preparation

129for um for CCR percenting exams. that went up 14.3%. Which is pretty significant and that is that has to do with like taking college college credit courses. Correct. >> Right. Do you so like when I showed you our AP scores and we saw not only an increase in the amount of students that are taking the assessments but a significant increase in the amount of students that are >> is it no you're on um getting college credit for those courses. So kids are more kids are taking it and they're doing better which is all the good news you want to hear. So I guess my question is is that an indicator to us that we should actually be looking to increase our offerings for those >> we always try to increase our offerings. We're really legitimately

130always looking for a way like just with the arts you approved three arts classes last that our AP courses. So again that will hit our arts access and this particular indicator as well next year. Okay. So, is it three? >> Two. >> There's three courses, but two were AP. >> I just I just want to make sure that we're we're looking at this as, you know, it sounds like more students are signing up for these and seeing success in them. That's kind of an indicator that we should be, you know, offering more and more as we go forward because if there's an interest and the kids are are are more kids are doing it and doing well at it, >> this is obviously something we should be looking to grow. >> Okay. Thank you. >>

131Normal High School does AP very very well. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Mlean. Everybody go. Oh, Mrs. Franklin, >> I just wanted to thank you for laying it out against the state of Connecticut, too. It's a really good kind of benchmark to see. So, I appreciated seeing it like that and congratulations and huge appreciation to everybody involved in helping to see so many test scores in so many areas increase. Okay, we're good with that. So, let's move on. We've got some pretty simple, I think, quick approvals that we can do. Um, action item F is approval of our board of education meeting schedule. That's reference G in your packet. Is there a motion to approve? >> Motion, Mrs. Russ. >> Second, Mrs. Franklin. All in favor? >> Opposed? Extensions. Excellent. Next one. Simple board of

132education committee meeting schedules reference H. Is there a motion? >> Thank you, Mrs. Canwell. Is there a second? Thank you, Mr. Schuman. All in favor? >> Uh, opposed? Abstensions? Great. Dr. McLean, your mic is on. >> You didn't say anything. [laughter] >> I'll put it off for you. [laughter] >> Um, action and approval on minutes. We have the October 7th special meeting minutes in our packets. That is reference I. Oh, I should um for these we'll have to have anybody that was not there abstain. But is there a motion to approve the October 7th special meeting minutes? Thank you, Mrs. Russ. Second, Mr. Zrowski. All all um Kelly and Steve were absent. >> Yes. Um all in favor. Okay. Any any abstensions? Four of us. Lisa, you've got that. Okay. And no one's opposed. Okay.

133I did that backwards. All right. Those pass. We got it done. All right. We're moving on. Approval of the October 14th regular meeting minutes. That's reference J. Is there a motion to approve those minutes? Motion, Mrs. Franklin. Is there a second, Mr. Schuman? All in favor? >> Yes. Oh, abstensions first. Abstensions. Okay. Got it, Lisa. Okay. All in favor? >> Jessica and Donna. Yep. Okay. Anybody opposed? All right. Those pass. Um, where are we? Stipent approvals is the last action item. Stipen approvals are in your packet. It is reference K. There were only a couple. Is there a motion to approve the two stipens? They're both for track indoor track assistance. Is there a motion to approve? Motion, Mr. Zowski. Is there a second? Second, Mrs. Lamb. All in favor? Anybody opposed? Anybody abstaining? Excellent.

134Those pass. That was good. We got a lot done. All right. In your packets, you have the human resource personnel activity report. That isformational. There are any questions, we can entertain them now. Otherwise, it's there for your information. Excellent. Uh, the principal reports are also in your packets. Reference MN OP. Any questions on those reports? Great. We're going to move on to policies. These are first read policies. I don't I won't um read them all to you, but they're in your agenda. And just for purposes of explanation to our new members, the way that we approve policies, they all have a first read and then a second read. So they get and they go through go through the policy committee and maybe Mrs. Kentwell can explain that when we get to the policy committee update,

135just the process. So here we're asking for these first read policies to get moved to a second read, which means they get reviewed one more time before they are formally approved. Yes. Did I explain that? Well, Lori, I'm good. >> Yeah, just just for the history, we used to do two reads each. We used to do it read it a first and a second read at policy level, then it would come to the full board and we do the same thing again, but we changed it because it was just taking a long time for things to get through. So now we review it once at the policy committee, then we refer it to the board, and then it'll get two reads at the board level. so that just so that the board everyone on the

136board has a t a good opportunity to read it and ask questions. >> Thank you. So I am looking for a motion to move the policies listed on the agenda from a first read to a second read. >> Motion Mrs. Russ, is there a second? >> Second, Mrs. Matty. Thank you. All u all in favor. >> Anybody abstaining or opposed? Excellent. Okay. Board committee reports, policy committee. Can I send it over to you, Lori? You give a written report, too. >> Yeah, we didn't meet tonight. Um, so I don't really have anything since last meeting. Our next meeting will be in December, and that'll be the last one of the year of the calendar year. Yeah. >> Thank you. And facilities and technology committee met this evening prior to our board meeting. So, Mrs. Frank,

137do you have anything to update us on? >> Yeah, we went over um the five-year uh we went over um Claudio gave us an overview of the different projects that we're currently working on for the 25 and 26 year uh ones that have been completed and a timeline um and budget information on ones that are scheduled to be completed by the end of the fiscal year. Um, we did make an ask uh that in our January meeting for us to take a look at the 5-year capital improvement plan as it stands. Um, as well as just updates on any work that was completed between now and January. Um, and also take into consideration what comes of the facilities committee that James is proposing to be put together. So, we should have um a lot of

138information presented at our January meeting. >> Thank you. And I will for our next meeting just ask everybody where you think your skills are best um put to use in either of the two committees, but also trying to make sure that we have good representation on both committees and they're both they're both great. So either one of them is is wonderful. Uh we have next on your agenda is topics for future agendas and possible action item to approve additional topics. So we've listed proposed topics. Are there any additional agenda topics that people would like to propose be added to this list? Okay. Oh, Mr. Heisman, I'm sorry. I didn't see your hand up. >> When When will we have that training? Usually we have that board of ed training, right? So, >> I don't know.

139I don't know if it's typically the next meeting or >> Yep. So, we typically have done the board orientation training. I was going to talk about it in my announcements, but I can talk about it now. We typically done it in December. >> Uh that's where our attorneys from Shipman, Jessica Ritter represents the board of ed, will come and talk about board roles, responsibilities, what we can do, what we can't do. She's it's a phenomenal, very um usually pretty condensed hour, hour and a half presentation, but incredibly helpful. Uh, I was going to suggest that we come up with a date and offer to anybody on the board, not just our new board members. The refresher is always helpful. So, um, Dr. McCrian, >> tomorrow I will ask Jessica. >> I should know by it

140now. Um, I will ask Jessica Ritter if she's available for the December meeting. I I have it as a question for you. Is that okay? If she can't make that meeting, then my suggestion um we don't want to do it on January 20th because that's our budget presentation. So, we'll have to have a special meeting. So, hopefully she can do it and um otherwise we could have another attorney from Shipment, but Jess has so much history with the district. So, I'll make her cancel anything. [laughter] >> Hopefully, it'll work. So, we'll get back to everybody with if she can't do it that day, then we'll have to give a couple of dates and see when we can get people that want to participate there. Um, Mrs. Campwell. >> Yeah, I think last time we did

141a separate meeting instead of having her for that particular training, she came and we just did that instead of adding on to a regular board meeting. >> We also Mark, tell me if I'm wrong because we've hit we've been doing so excellent with policy. Do we have anything that is mandated that we absolutely have to get through or can we have Jessica come cancel policy for December because we >> we can't cancel policy for December because all shipments updates >> are still on that one. So that's what I wanted to make sure >> we have work to do. >> Okay. So I was just thinking if we could do that but we can't. >> sorry. >> No, it's okay. No, it's I you've taken it over. So I'm I have to ask you. I couldn't

142remember. So, so let's try for our next meeting if we can do it. I know it's a lot because it then becomes a long evening. If she can't do it, we'll work on a special date separate from, but then we'll we'll try maybe we can just keep trying for Tuesday night since we know Tuesday night's a often a board meeting night. >> And do you I just for because we do it in January as well. Do you want us to just hold we could hold on celebrating of staff for December? Um I know it's hard. It's it's a hard decision. It just we could hold on. >> How about if if I make a commitment that I will help try to figure out how we can have a relatively light agenda for the date that

143Jessica comes so that we can all maybe Katherine can help. We can try to have a lighter agenda so that we can move it quickly >> because I don't want to squish it into just an hour and that limits people's ability to ask her questions. >> I think that's I mean we could do that. Okay. I'm sorry, Donna. >> Could we possibly um do start our board meeting at six the way? No. >> Okay. >> We have the committee meeting right before. That's the challenge. >> Okay. >> Every meeting we either have typically have committee or facilities before. So that makes before. >> Well, and that's why I was thinking because the facilities meeting was at six. Yeah. >> But I didn't realize. So, every time you have a board meeting, there's a a >>

144either policy or facilities typically for a regularly scheduled board meeting. >> Thank you. >> We're just going to have to bring caffeine with the cookies. That's all. [laughter] >> It's the only way to do it. >> It'll work. Okay. So, we will more to come on that. We will communicate what we find out once we check Jessica Ritter's schedule. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And and the assess update won't be long. We've been working with them on just the most touching upon the most important things. >> Excellent. Okay. Thank you. All right. Now we are on unless anyone had any other agenda items, comments, updates, announcements from board members. Just for our new board members, we just go around and share anything that we think is important that is related to schools. Something great that

145we observed in a school or um I don't know. You'll see because I'm going to ask Mr. Rowski to start and so he'll you'll get it by the time it gets to you. >> I got nothing right now. >> I just wanted to say welcome to Donna and Jessica and congratulations to Alicia um on chair and Katherine on secretary. >> I'll go last. Um, I just wanted to say new board members, learn from me because I totally broke Robert's rules of order and interjected over Lori, but I did write down for this piece the new training that I do strongly recommend you go to and welcome new board members. And I'm super excited the three of you are back in action. So, yay. And I just wanted to say um that we do thank Selena

146not just for her board work. She has had 14 years of service to our schools, which is absolutely incredible. She volunteered in classrooms. Um, she did PTO work. Wherever there was something happening, you could call her and count on her to get something done. So, um, but yeah, I'm super excited for this new board to move forward. And congratulations, Alicia. I simply want to say I think this is after all the years that I've been out of school. I've never seen so much transparency about board of ed meetings. When I was teaching, you sort of had to find you sort of had to find out from so were you at the board meeting last night? What was said at the board meeting? But I mean it's it's online. The minutes are online. It's just incredible

147and it was a huge help for me. So, thank you very much and I'm really excited about being here. But I do want to know what BSS there were some of these maybe. >> Okay, the AC >> actually that's a good point. So, if we have acronyms in our agenda, we should probably spell them out because if you don't know, then anybody else looking at the agenda doesn't know either. >> All right. Um, I also am really excited to be here and work with all of you. I've witnessed this team working together over the years as well. So, I'm really excited to be a part of it and serve our students in a new way. So, thank you. >> Just welcome to both of you and uh look forward to working with you and let's

148move forward. >> All right. So, I dug out because I save everything. I don't know if you know that about me, but I dug out these letters that came from our students last year. So, this one says, "Boe rocks." I just thought I would share that just especially for you. Thank you for your service on behalf of our schools. These came from our students when they were doing board of ed appreciation. We save all of I'm sorry, but I saved these. So, I'll save my but we save all of these cards that your students make that our students make for us. This one was, "Thank you for giving us really great teachers." I thought these were so exciting. This one was uh I love this one. Thank you for keeping our buildings safe. Pretty cool.

149All right, let's see. Got one more. I won't read them all. Thank you for making important decisions about our learning. Isn't that cool? So, I wanted to share these because I just am so honored to get to be with such amazing people and get to be on this board and get to work with such phenomenal administrators and help these awesome students achieve what they want to achieve. >> They're they are the best and they deserve the best and we've got the best. So, thank you all for James. James James James got me last night when he was talking about why we serve and how we serve and how important public service is. And this work is not easy. And I know everybody does this on top of a thousand other things. And I'm just so

150grateful that everyone steps up to to do it. And boy, I've learned so much from all of you. And I'm excited to keep working with you. Thank you. Anybody else? Are we good? Okay. Motion to adjurnn >> at 9:04. >> So moved. Oh, Mr. Slam, Mr. as Rasi.