Cromwell Board of Education Meeting, April 8, 2025 7:00PM

001Good evening everyone. Like to call this meeting to order at 700 p.m. Lisa, would you please take roll call? She'll be absent. here. She'll be a little late. Here, Mr. Z here. Dr. M here. Mr. Ernesto here. Merry Mr. Bizano. Mrs. Bennington here. Mr. Butwell here. Mola here. Mrs. Dearo here. Mrs. Mr. Met here. Mrs. Olph. [Music] Okay. Thank you. Approval of agenda, additions, deletions, and chair's review. Do you have any additions or deletions? No. Okay. And looks like we have, knock on wood, a pretty light agenda for this evening. So, is there a motion to approve the agenda? Matt, is there a second? Alicia, all in favor? Opposed? Abstensions? Motion carries. The agenda is approved. Correspondence. Dr. Macker, I know you said you had a correspondence to share. I do. I just have a

002couple. Um, good evening everyone. We just wanted to share we got received a letter from Warm the Children and um this year Cromwell Public Schools donated 1,279 um to Warm the Children which helped um serve 270 families approximately $493 children from birth through age three during the holiday season. And so we received a thank you letter. We could pass this around if you'd like. And then also um a correspondence just a thank you. We received a small STEM grant but nothing is ever too small. This was very nice of a parent of ours um Tadeshi, Mrs. Tadeshi. She has children at CHS and CMS and she's a structural engineer with Bentley Systems and she applied for a grant for us and we were selected um and the $250 was given to the Cromwell Robotics um

003club at uh Cromwell High School. So, we just wanted to say thank you. Wow. Very nice. Thank you. All right. And we thank her as well. Public comments. Before I read the rules for public comments, is there anyone here who would like to make one? All right, then we'll go right to celebrating our faculty and staff. And for that, we are at Kreml High School this evening. And Mr. Koko, would you like to come on up? Good evening. I think is Cameron Hul the first one on there? Yes. Staff? Yes. All right, Cameron. Yeah. So, I I knew when I uh nominated and and selected Cameron that this would be quite an experience. Uh she does not like the limelight. does not like the spotlight. But when I uh talked with her about wanting to

004acknowledge her and recognize her here uh the reasons for it, you know, we just went through NIA. It was a very important process for us and Cameron was a instrumental part in that. Uh many folks uh behind the scenes or you know don't really recognize what she did to prepare us for this trip, for this visit. Uh there were a lot of accommodations, recommendations that we got on that visit that were a direct result of her tireless efforts. Whether it was designing our duty schedule to create two PL PLC's for teachers, whether it was her leader as a department facilitator where she continued to work with her department and and they crushed their curriculum work uh or whether it was the school spirit and the and the climate that she brings to the building. Uh

005the English department is notorious for how they are so close together, so tight-knit, and that's a testament to her leadership as a department facilitator. Uh they've pushed many initiatives like our school uh Halloween event, which we have students vote on in terms of which department has the best outfit. But again, it's things like that that she brings to the table uh and really makes Cromwell High School an exceptional place to be. Uh, and one of my favorite things about Cameron is is she will come to me without hesitation when I mess up. And she'll be the first one to tell me like, "Listen, you know, I respectfully disagree. This is what I think you need to do." Uh, but her feedback uh has made me a better uh leader and has made our school a

006better place and our students uh in the English classes uh are benefiting from her leadership that she brings to the table. And for that reason and all the others that I've listed here, I wanted to recognize Cameron Hulkcom as our staff member that we are celebrating here uh this evening. So, congrats. [Applause] I'm also the first one to come in and say nice job. You left that part out. Yeah, it's true. Okay. Uh, I just wanted to say that I feel valued in this building every day, not just tonight. Um, and Andrew and Kelly and Josh and Ramsay when she was here, uh, they are always willing to listen. They're always willing to answer questions, and I ask a lot of questions. Um, and they're always willing to have those difficult conversations that work to

007move teaching and learning to a better place. um they've given me a ton of opportunities to become better at as an educator and as a leader. So, I appreciate that. Thank you. Well, we thank you so much. We value your um we value your expertise, your experience, and anything extra teachers are willing to do at the end of the day is always amazing. And I love the honesty and the school spirit. I think I remember that Halloween um where the students were talking about it and bringing it home. So, thank you. They lost. They're salty about that. They are. Okay. So, next up for our students, if I could have El Masa Omaric, Anmarie Mueller, and Joshua Saga come on up. Make this as least awkward for you as possible. Come on up. In recognizing

008these three students, I I have a overview of each one. And it really was a celebration of the fine arts. uh here at Cromwell High School. And so I'll start with El Masa Omaric. So El Masa, come on up. El Masa uh was nominated for the Cass award for her dedication and exceptional talent in AP art. She consistently goes above and beyond with her portfolio pieces and has served as a teaching assistant in other art classes all year. In addition, Miss Obasi uh also wanted to bring everyone uh attention to a solo mural in the art wing uh that Alasa has been working on. And she's the designer and captain artist of the 2025 senior mural. And for those who are unfamiliar, that's when you come in for our gym uh for our basketball games

009or volleyball. That hallway, there's a senior mural each year uh going back to I believe 2015 was the first year we started it. So, we're now on year 10 of that. She has also been an active leader in the National Art Honor Society, serving as an executive board member and volunteering at any NAHS event to date. This year, Alasa has won the Silver Key award in the Solastic Art and Writing Exhibit, earning a $100,000 scholarship to the Hartford Art School. Wow. That's right. Congratulations. Big deal. and she plans to use this scholarship to double major and pursue her dream of becoming an art teacher. So, congratulations, Alasa. You've done phenomenal things and you're not done yet. We know that. So, congrats. Congratulations. That's amazing. And Marie, you're up. So, every year, so this is from

010Mr. Schmidt. Uh, every year students from CHS have the opportunity to participate in the Northern Regional and All State School Music Festivals. This year we had a number of students who were awarded the experience through a competitive audition process in which they compete with other high school students around the state of Connecticut. One of our students, Anarie Mueller, a CHS senior and three-time participant, made it into the all-state orchestra with a near-perfect score, losing only three points out of a total of 270. Anmirie managed to demonstrate her amazing musicianship, work ethic, and musical talents to the judges. Anmirie received perfect scores on two out of the three categories on the rubric that made up those 270 points. And she has raised the bar for future students who will try out for this prestigious ensemble. So

011essentially, by her earning this position, she earned what's called principal trombone. And for those of you who are maybe into athletics, let's say it is the equivalent to winning the state open, right? You are competing against the best in the state of Connecticut and and Marie was selected as the lead in all of those. So for that, congratul I know big deal. Congratulations. Congratulations. So impressive. And we have Joshua Stiga. So every year the Connecticut Association of Schools awards one senior from each high school for their hard work and dedication in the field of performing arts. This year Joshua Stiger received this award for his obvious passion and commitment to the music program. Along with talking and excelling in every music class offered at CHS, Josh has participated in all of our performing ensembles, the

012Northern Regional and All State Music Festivals, and our Tri Music Honor Society. Josh has had me multiple lead roles in our all school productions and even began his jersey journey as a music educator by writing, rehearsing, and conducting a piece of music with the concert band, which happened at a concert this fall. For these reasons, we felt Josh fit the criteria for the cast performing arts award, and we would like to congratulate him as well for all of his amazing work at Cromwell High School in the music and arts community. So there they're are our our best and brightest when it comes to the fine arts at Cromwell High School. Very impressive. Thank you so much for highlighting them. Thank you for being here and congratulations to all of you. Okay. Reports of liaison from

013town council, board of finance, building committee. Um we have reference A for a building committee report. Um I don't see anyone else here from the other committees. So, we'll move on to report of student representatives. And we have our middle school representatives here this evening, Ryan and Zenia here. Yes, she's here. So, if you'd like to begin. Across CMS, students are working hard to prepare for ESPback testing, which will begin on April 29th and conclude on May 12th at CMS. The eighth grade is hosting a pajama day on Friday, April 11th to help fund end of year activities. Sixth grade would like to invite you to an upcoming community event on Thursday, May 15th, between 4 to 5:30 p.m. Cromwell Middle School will host Butterfly Night, an evening of learning, community, and remembrance to conclude

014our unit on the Holocaust. We encourage all families and community members to join us for this event as the support of the community helps to recognize our learners talents and dedication throughout the unit. Our hope is that students walk away from this powerful experience with the deeper understanding of the Holocaust. Recognizing the ways that individuals remain silent while others were persecuted, thus allowing the Holocaust to continue. We hope that students will feel a strong connection and duty to participate in keeping any communities they are a part of in their lives inclusive, free of anti-semitism, discrimination, and any kind of bullying and and antagonistic behavior through standing up for their fellow community members. This presentation will include displays of students learning and is appropriate for all ages as it is self-guided and you can participate as

015much as you are comfortable with. We hope you will join us to participate participate in butterfly night on May 15th. Cromwell Middle School's Into the Woods Jr. closed on Sunday, March 16th, 2025. With almost 50 kids in the cast and almost 20 in the crew, all students had a memorable experience infused with professional standards and cemented in the foundation of kindness, respect, and community. We had four shows in total and entertain approximately 530 audience members. Looking forward to seeing you in the audience next year in our new theater and new school. Student Council sneaker donations continue to pour in for the student council. Thank you to the CMS community. We have collected and donated three large trash bags of shoes. The CMS student council reports a successful lucky grand promotion which raised over $100 from

016students who choose to show kindness by sending positive messages and trinkets to one another. The writing club is CMS's newest club. Young young authors gather to write and share their work. In the future, we would like to publish club members writings so the rest of the community can share in their excellent writing. The yearbook club is busy collecting yearbook quotations from eighth grade students. The third optional restaurant trip offered through this grade seven show oh my god social studies department met at Jamaican Kitchen in Rocky Hill on April 2nd. Over 30 kids joined for authentic jerk chicken fried plantains, beef patties. There will be one more trip this year. Select choir is well underway preparing for their spring concert on May 21st. They will be joining the jazz band and eighth grade band for fantastic

017festivals music competition and a trip to Lake Compounds on May 30th. Art Club's colorful murals continue to brighten the hallways hallways walls of CMS under the direction of Mr. Glow. The CMS jazz band is excited to perform at a spring concert on May 14th. The districtwide Jazz Festival on May 15th and the Fantastic Festival's adjudicated field trip on May 30th. Throughout rehearsals and performances, students are enhancing their skill sets in performing, responding, connecting, and creating music. As an ensemble, jazz band members are continuously refining their performance through self and peer evaluation with the addition of feedback from their from other professional musicians in the coming weeks. It'll be eye opening and inspiring for middle school students to see the high school jazz ensemble as well as hear the Infinity Band, a group featuring professional musicians

018at the districtwide jazz festival. Looking forward to an action-packed end of the school year. The Polar Blair Running Club concluded its season of running at the end of March. The baseball, softball, and track teams have concluded tryyous and began practicing this week. All three teams are excited for the upcoming season. Wow. Thank you both. That's a a lot going on at the middle school. It's like a race to the end of the year now. Um and I just want to mention that May 15th event. I thought um thank you for the invitation. And maybe that's something we want to extend to the senior centers and the um Covenant Living. I know they're interested in connecting with us. So maybe that's something we could do to help with that. Just an idea. All right. From there,

019we'll go to town collaboration updates. Um, and I just want to mention, I know Dr. MRI will get into this later in her update, but I just want to thank Dr. MRI and her team for the budget presentation. Mr. Baltwell, his first time officially presenting, although I know you've attended them in the past, and all the administration that was there last Thursday. Um, it's a long night and it's it's a lot. So, um, everyone handled themselves so beautifully and we're just really proud of you and everyone and the result was I thought it was a pretty good result. So, couldn't ask for better than that. That's the only thing I wanted to mention. And, um, anything else on Oh, and Claudia Bazano, I did want to, you know, he's not here tonight, but I mean,

020he's done so much for us to, you know, um, collaborate with the town on the capital expenses and the plan for next year. So, he's really done a ton of work this year and I just want to mention that. So, a lot of collaboration, lots of collaboration. And from here, we'll move on to superintendent's updates and responses to board of ed comments and any action items from our prior meeting. I um Clauddio Bazano was coming. I did give him the evening off because he has to go he and Mr. Butwell were at the meeting until about midnight last week and then tomorrow he has an evening meeting to talk about CNR projects. So, I said, "Don't worry. Don't come tonight. I'll answer any questions and hopefully there won't be any uh too many." Um, he

021has really been working tirelessly um and getting so much done for our district and it's just been a wonderful experience um for everyone. So, just quickly um as you all know uh we were um cut $81,494. Um we went in asking for 6.25 25 and we um were granted a 6.03% and that's um just the 81,494 which Mr. Butwell um will be taking out of the electricity line the utilities line as mentioned and hopefully um it will be less than predicted although this what we realized this month was that whises was higher than usual. So, um, all considering, I think we did very well. So, appreciative to, um, the board of finance, um, for them understanding, uh, that our students have needs and our buildings have needs. Um, our graduation date is the same. Our

022promotion for um, the middle school is June 11th, and the family should have received something by now if they have an eighth grader. and then we'll have our evening graduation um on the same day. It it was too it's too much. We're trying to figure out how to do it the day before, but then students would think they actually can't come to school at the middle school and then it goes against our um our attendance. So, they'll be on the same day. It'll be the morning and the in the evening. So, it shouldn't be that big of a deal, we hope. Um and we are preparing to move. We got all of our boxes. Um it's going to be fun. Uh but it's pretty uh I mean very organized and it should happen over a

023two-eek period and we are looking forward to um we're looking forward to to the move and a lot of people have uh put in a ton of work especially Mrs. Scooiola um into planning um for that move and we hope it goes off without a hitch. And that's pretty much it. Can I just confirm because I I might just have it wrong in my calendar, but I have the eighth grade graduation as the 11th and high school graduation as the 10th. Is that wrong? Am I wrong? Are they both on the 11th or is the high school? Mrs. Coiola, do you do you remember? Is it the 11th or the 10th for They're both the 11th. They're both the 11th. Okay. Okay. The last day of school is the 12th. 12th. Okay. Both on the

02411th. But is that question? Yeah. Go ahead. I I thought last year we discussed this and having it the same day and we were all against it. Um and we had the same issue last year where students had to go back to school after the eighth grade promotion. So what we did and we had we were all in agreement that it should not be on the same day. The only reason why it's extra stressful this year, we would have to do the middle school on June 10th, the high school on June 11th, and then the last day on June 12th because everybody has to be out. I can't have one soul in that building after June 13th. So, this is just because we're moving this year. It's a special situation. and it won't be something

025we'll be doing going forward. It shouldn't be. No, we just wanted to confirm that we we looked at so many different things and we're just stressed out about getting out of that building. So, um and they're half days now anyway, right? They're they're half days because um the middle school is going to be using those as packing days. So, the kids will leave and Yeah. So, yeah, we this will most likely just be a one-year thing. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Anything else? Any questions for Dr. MRI on that update? Okay, we'll move on to presentations and reports of administration. The 2024 2025 budget update reference be in your packets and we'll have our director of finance come on up, Mr. Butwell, to explain how things change so quickly. Yes, they do change quickly.

026Hi everyone. Um, so we're continuing to refine our projections as related to special ed reimbursements. Um, we're seeing increased confidence in our state's excess cost contributions. um some of which we've already received. Um and we're still working on um working on uh the amount for of reimbursement from our choice program students who receive special ed services. That's a little bit uncertain yet. We have a projected figure, but we're waiting either a partial payment or some kind of confirmation um to verify that actual amount. So, that's a little bit of a question mark for us. Um and as you know, special education needs can emerge um during at any point during the year. So, since our last update, um we've encumbered an additional $335,000 to meet uh new service and transportation needs um for some of

027our special ed students. Uh in addition, uh we've been collaborating with our district leadership and we've been um reviewing other unanticipated expenses such as those tied to instructional support, uh professional development, and necessary facility and equipment updates. So you may notice that uh in some lines we have additional incumbrance amounts um but purchases have not yet been finalized for those. Um this approach is allowing us to remain flexible and responsive as we monitor the remainder of the year and um from now till June we'll continue to take a measured approach and closely observe developments uh preparing for any additional needs. Any questions for Mr. Butwell? Katherine. So, at our last meeting, we um had a large excess that we were allowing teacher or different schools to go through and purchase things that have been put

028on hold and pushed to the side for the past several years. Um are and I see that our obviously our we're significantly down from that. Is that as a result of the schools purchasing things or are there changes in our special ed costs that have impacted this that we weren't anticipating or what exactly are they really? It's a combination of both. So, um a large amount of that um as I just mentioned is the um we had to encumber additional 335,000 for special ed services. Um but we've also been working with the directors and the principles to identify um you know other expenses and needs at each building and for each um department. So um under the encumbered column uh we have encumbered amounts but we haven't made those purchases yet because again we're waiting

029for you know we're we're going to go a little further through the year before we make decisions about final purchasing. So, the money's there and it's sort of um you know, we're scheduling what could potentially be purchased, but uh haven't made that final decision yet. Okay. So, our our unexpected um special cost are 300 and over $300,000. Okay. Thank you. Correct, Alicia. Uh Miss Brwell, I assume that's in and out tuition, but also in transportation costs. Uh yes. Okay. Yep. Matt and I were both at a recent public hearing and got into some discussion and there tends to be confusion at local boards, but also really from our state legislators about the cost of transportation and how much that really plays into special education outplace costs. So, we were talking about ways we could strategize

030and collaborate with other communities about how to really reduce those costs or work on pooling some of those transportation expenses. So something maybe for us to talk about in the future if we do that. I read actually read the memo. I read the memo that you guys were talking about. So um we have been working with surrounding districts with students to try to carpool um quite often. We do a lot of work with with Middletown. Um but we are getting the onetoone situations. We're we're we are just not having any luck with students students being able to share a bus has been the hugest problem more so the last two years than ever. So that's what and and the costs are just as you guys know astronomical and and we can't say no. They give

031us a number and we're like okay it's terrible actually. But I did read some of the letters of like you know once a student I was what Matt was talking to me about like once a student is ours can we keep that student so that we know what our project what we're going to end up with at the end of the year. Um that did get sent to us through frame uh ribowitz. So I was happy to see that it actually is being discussed so that was good. Yeah actually we were pretty happy because we I I brought that back in January actually to the legislative body. I shared it with a number of legislators and it looks like it it moved forward in some fashion. Yeah, I was really happy to see it. So,

032but when I I actually specifically mentioned that here in KMA we in my testimony boy that was only last week that feels like it was so long ago. Um I actually mentioned that in Crown I knew that there were situations where we were sharing transportation costs by having students from nearby um other you know other nearby districts. we were kind of carpulling essentially um to try and save and then I I would like to see the the state come up with some kind of a way to uh improve that process because we're, you know, you're doing it on your own and if there was, you know, some kind of of collaborative effort where districts could say, "Hey, I need to get a kid from here to there. Does anyone else have, you know, anyone else

033nearby need to do that without having to call everyone individually?" Stuff like that would be actually helpful. that would be so helpful if we worked with a resk and we can all work I mean if the risks can take it on um I was happy to see that come through I was elated because we come up with some really great ideas and then they just fall on deaf ears and that one is a really great idea and this is a great idea if we can get someone else like a resk to handle all those different because once we try two to three companies we're out of lock or or two to three towns and sometimes the companies won't tell us if they actually have someone going because they're going to make more money. So, you're

034better off working with directly with the towns because we're the ones trying to save. I pitched a number of of proposed bills uh this session to any number of legislators. I've met with a number of them this this year. Um, and the one thing that was the most wellreceived, I think actually universally wellreceived was the one that had to do with when a um student who uh is has outplaced special needs uh is moves relocates from one uh district to another that the sending district actually keeps uh providing the the funds for what was budgeted for through the remainder of that year. Yep. I saw it in there. So that districts can plan. That was that was a lot of that that received a lot of um really positive feedback and and because I think

035logically it makes sense. You know, we can't have budgets keep getting thrown apart and at the same time like we really want to care for these kids without you know running into these kinds of issues where it causes an issue districtwide. Right. Right. So that one that one I'm hopeful will just continue moving forward until it be until it in some way shape or form becomes me too uh becomes written into law. So let's hope keep our fingers crossed. was in there. That was a huge positive. It was in there. Anyone else who can speak on it will will absolutely help. The more voices, you know, how that works. Yep. Thank you both for your um advocacy. And next time if there is a memo, I didn't realize there was a memo that came out

036afterwards. Um feel free to send it to me so I could share it with the rest of the board. Be nice. I You're referencing the memo that came out from um Superintendent Association. Yes. Yeah. So if it's this No, only because it was specific to our board. Yeah. This session is the there's a select committee on special education. It's a brand new legislative committee that's really focused on broad, you know, how can we get the best services to our kids in the most efficient way possible. So, um I've been very engaged in some of that legislative work. Matt's been very engaged in some of that legislative work and hopefully we can come to some strategies that will impact cost savings for for our community. Yeah, we'll certainly keep you posted. Thanks, Selena. It's a good

037reminder. It's a cost savings and it's doing what's right for kids with special needs because at the end we're we are all struggling with the financial component. Let's just face it, every single town. But if you know what your struggle is going to be for that year, okay, then this year we may end up in what instead of and I have to say it's been wonderful. Um Siri can attest to it. a lot of districts, not all. We are one of those districts that we play nice and say, "Okay, it's let's split the cost for the rest of the year. Let's figure this out together because we don't want this the child to lose the services." So, we do the right thing. So, if everyone can just realize that one year, one year you might

038financially be a loser, but every year a kid the kid is going to be the winner um is the best. So, we've we've gotten somewhere with that this year. And I'm so I know they do not Siri is wonderful and she comes to me and I'm like what's good what's best for the kid. Um and some won't share with us and I'll happy to say that Middletown has been very reciprocal in sharing services and paying half and splitting. Some towns not so much. Well, there were there were by my last count there were 638 uh bills proposed specifically that would affect education. And of the 638, I think when I went through most of them, not all. I'm not that good. Um I I want to say there was approximately 150 that directly affected um

039boards of education budgets and students. Um and the rest of them had a lot to do with how other agencies interact with schools, for example, how um you know, local police would interact with a school in a situation and stuff like that. But there was there was over 150 that just had to do with how schools are operating. Yeah. You you guys saw my update a couple weeks ago when I said to you, I have been I think I spent most of my time just reading and understanding what is going on because we're keeping an eye on a federal level, right? But we cannot lose sight of the state level. It's huge and there's so much there's so much going on. So yeah, it's been fun. So can I just ask you a question? Sure.

040How do we as a board want to engage in some of that work? because I I didn't testify for Cromwell board of Ed and Matt testified for his, but if there are certain things that maybe part of it is sharing information, but if we want to engage, I think you and I talked about this once before. Um maybe just being we could share some of the things that are happening because we're involved in this every day. Sure. As in like an update at a meeting or or even in between because if we want to testify in a public hearing, you find out only 5 days before what the proposed legislative language is and then the hearing comes 5 days later. So you don't really have time to wait for a board meeting, but maybe we

041can share some of this stuff as it happens. So we So I know, for example, there's going to be bills released on special education from the select committee early next week for a public hearing probably early the following week if there's something in particular that impacts our work. I'm happy to share that with everyone and then we can decide if we want to say something like a a group letter you're saying on behalf or testimony from the district if we want to. The tough part is you find out that the hearing is coming and you have almost in some in many cases like 24 hours 24 hours to to write um to write testimony. So like I I found out about this one and wrote my testimonial letter which ended up being like two and

042a half pages long that night in like two hours to make sure I got it in. So it's um the problem is it's a quick process. So for us to try and handle on a month monthto-month basis would be very difficult to do. It's not the most conducive process to public engagement despite the fact that it is the public hearing process for any state laws. But the turnaround is makes it kind of challenging. But yeah, if you have other ideas, just connect with me and we can figure out a way to do it. So, um, so just on the transportation, we took a $240,000 hit this past month, right? Have we ever looked into possibly like purchasing vehicles and building our own transportation and maybe even subbing that out to other towns? Obviously, that would

043not fall under the superintendent's role, but I mean that's a lot of money. I mean, if we're talking what are we talking per student to transport? It could be. It It's We had one We had a particular situation. I won't say that was about $72,000. Just one particular situation. I wouldn't even know where to start with that, but I believe that's if we don't figure this out in legislation, that's the only way we're going to be able to save money. Um, we have the two small vans, but it's not Yeah, obviously this would be a whole undertaking and it wouldn't just happen overnight, but if legislation doesn't catch up here, we should start looking at other options. We Yeah, I look into this a couple years ago just to try and get some comparative numbers.

044And there is a It's hard to pin down exact numbers when you're doing this. um you're well aware you've done you've done stuff like that before, but um comparatively districts that have their own systems of transportation, there's there's an initial overhead, but there's a long-term savings. So, it's usually it's pricey. I mean, buses are expensive, right? You have to hire someone to run the show. There's a lot of expense associated with starting it up. Um but once you get it going by like year eight or nine year, Yeah. But if we're talking 70,000 to transport one student, you know, you can write off ve, you know, capital expense vehicles and Right. And some I know talking to talking to some folks who were in districts when this was going on, some districts started out with

045that not doing not dealing with buses, but just dealing with, you know, a small fleet of vans just to get it started and to see how it went. And then after it went well, which I think it did in nearly every case I looked at, which it was I only looked at five or six that I was aware of, but um like that's generally the the starting process is a small fleet of like five or six vans and trying to do it that way. But that's a huge undertaking. Yeah. I mean, we would definitely have to put someone in charge of it, but if it's going to save the district money, something we should look into, right? I do think that if we did invest in 10 passenger vans, about five of them, and put

046someone in charge of that under Chris, I do think that in five years we would see the benefit. I I truly do because the it's astronomical um of what we're paying um to because this is really transporting just one student, right? So, if it's $72,000 for one student and you can buy a van for about $50,000 right there, it's a savings and we and we own that van. Um, but that can change and then you don't have that student. But you're saying you could lease it out to another district, right? Like we would have to slow we would have to like do a slow roll out and find out all the specifics. But do we want to add this something to think about for the future? Subcontractors. Yeah. And sub it out. Go ahead, Catherine.

047I'd have to Yeah, we I'd have to like really find someone who's expertise. That's my my own personal opinion. After all the money as a superintendent, an assistant superintendent who oversaw transportation, I'm like, there's got to be a better way. And if we know some contacts, I'd be happy to reach out for some information. That's a good thought. Let me get to Katherine first. Do you don't we have to um be concerned about what's equipped inside of these vans because there are some kids um that have special needs for the vans and transportation and limits them. So that that is very exorbitant costs that go into adapting and adjusting. Um and then we have to look at insurance costs that go on top of all of that which I'm assuming would be very high if

048we're transporting. So there's a lot to look at if but it it might be something worth exploring if legislation doesn't change. But there there are going to be large ongoing costs. I don't know the size of the districts you looked at, but we also have to keep in mind we're not a large district. And looking at the history of maybe the past 5 to 10 years of what our special ed costs have been related to transportation and what what type of vehicles were required to transport these students is a big piece of it. That's huge. And I would say that in the beginning we would be transporting students with special needs that are more uh that are not medically fragile um because of exactly what you're saying. It it would be astronomical and you there's

049so many laws because right now we transport students um with special needs but not exorbitant you know. Yes. everything you just said has to be taken into consideration because this is something that would have to be really researched and studied and like how would we make this happen and what would we think about um because if they don't do anything with legislation I don't think we're going to be alone with having to think about when do we expect to have an idea June June okay so let's talk about it again after that drop it or we'll do an update after that that's what I'm saying or do they study for it okay Alicia you want at Edelbrook we started our transportation service because we had five children that could not get access to transportation. They

050couldn't get to school and districts just couldn't afford to pay it. So, we did this not that long ago for a very small cohort. So, I'm happy to share the information that we gathered, but it's not just the specialized equipment. It's finding folks that are willing to drive vehicles because we know regular bus drivers there there's a shortage and then u many of the individuals if they have particular medical needs or if they have behavioral needs you need to staff the vehicles with also a bus a bus aid or a monitor to be able to provide that support. Sometimes you have students that can't be in a vehicle with another student. So it it is complicated and just staffing that and managing that is a whole other animal that we would really have to gather

051data, think about cost, think about risk, think about all the regulatory factors that need to go into it before we make any decisions because on paper it may look like it's a cost savings but it may not be worth the insurance or the long term. That's a good point and that's probably the reason that they charge so much for for these services. But I'm happy to share what we can share with us if Chris and I can come and sit down with you one day. Siri, that would be great. Good, good ideas. I'd be happy to help out wherever I can as well. So, are you going to drive the buses? Uh, if they want to get there 6 a.m., sure, I'll drive. I' I've seen him drive. My kids not going on. So, let's

052circle back on this later on after we know more. But thanks. Good ideas, good input. Any other questions for Mr. about will on the budget update? No. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. From here, we'll move on to new business. We have an action item. Mr. Cuckled, I don't know if you need to come up for this. Is every year, but um approval of the crown uh sorry, class of 2026 Washington DC senior class trip reference senior packets. Do we have any questions on that? Go ahead, Katherine. Did we drop the additional trip? Um because I know a couple years ago we used to go to Philadelphia, then we stopped at New York City on the way back. Are we removing that piece of it and shortening the trip a little bit? We

053are removing that piece. We are not exactly shortening the trip. We're spending more time in DC. Okay. Uh and part of that too was the quote we did get back this year including uh a stop in New York City was I think the our quote right now is like $900 to $1,100 per student to go to DC. Uh with New York City it would have been excess of 1,500. Um, and so the other part being too that students by that point in the trip they're they're pretty well spent. Um, where Philly was kind of like just a pit stop. It didn't really work out well. Yeah. And we and we are too just u so everyone knows, you know, this is a trip that's attended by 60 to 70% of the senior class. But we

054are hoping next year and actually we're hoping to get something before the board uh this year as well to do a full all-encompassing senior class day trip to Six Flags. Something to that some type of bonding event so that way everyone can access that. we can cover that easily because this is the reality here is we do cover costs for kids but at the end of the day there's still a huge chunk that can't attend for whether it's a sport conflict, family obligations, um or just don't feel comfortable asking the district for financial assistance. So, just something that always bothers me and I hope the athletic director doesn't get too upset, but I I just always wish that students that participate in sports would have the opportunity to go cuz it's really such a, you

055know, once in a lifetime experience to go with your senior class and then it's sad that some would have to, I assume October miss soccer or whatever it is that's going on at that time. It's disappointing that they get penalized for not being there because they go on a class trip. That's what's the most disappointing is some coaches do penalize the kids for not being there on their senior class trip. Yeah. So it dissuades other students from going when they come up to be seniors and and we haven't done the whole class trip before with um we used that's all we used to do was the whole class trip to Six Flags. We did that for a very long time. 95% of the grade would go because it's a day trip. Uh they would have

056a good time. We do it in usually late late May. Uh and then I want to say in 2015 2016 or so was the first time they started doing DC uh because there was a push to do something different than Six Flags. But the reality of the senior trip, I would use that term loosely because again to have 60 to 70% is is the best percentage that you have going. Uh and in terms of athletics, we've moved everything. Uh we've come up to an issue with cross country of late because of they have their tournament at a neutral sight location, their Shoreline Conference tournament, which causes a conflict for us. Uh we're trying to resolve that for future years, but we've kind of been stuck up against that for a few years now, uh because

057we're able to move everything else off that. Um other districts just say, "Hey, we're going and we're not moving a soccer game. We're not moving a volleyball game." Which we might consider doing as well uh down the road and just saying, "Hey, if you can make it, you can make it." Um but it's it's a challenge. But isn't it I mean students getting penalized for not being at practices that they miss as a result of going on this class trip that's extremely you mean as in playing time in the next Yeah. Yeah. They get docked playing time because it's a choice right? I mean well I mean it's a senior class trip. It shouldn't they shouldn't be held. Yeah. Disappointment. Yeah. That's that's the first time hearing of it. I'm not you know it's the

058first time you bringing it up, Katherine. It's the first time I've heard about it. So, um I do know coaches are told they're not supposed to. Yep. Yep. Mr. Lame looks like he has some words to say about this. Yeah, we're good. Oh, okay. I mean, unless there's nothing I mean that we do we tell coaches that not to Okay. penalize. So, if there if someone brought that forward, we would address that. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Oh, Alicia, could you just share a thank you to Mrs. Turner and the chaperones that organized this trip? This is a lot of responsibility and a huge amount of work that goes into it. My husband just got back from organizing his class trip in his district and I just know how much time, effort, heart they put into

059making this happen and it's it's not part of their jobs. It's above and beyond. So, just please um extend a thank you to Miss Turner and everybody else that makes this happen for the kids. Yeah, we'll do. Thank you, Alicia. Agree. We'll do. All right. With that being said, is there a motion to approve the trip? Motion. McCatherine, second by Allan. All in favor? Opposed. Extensions. Motion carries. The trip is approved. Thank you. All right. From here, we'll go on to the departmental update for grades three, four, and five. And for that, we have Mrs. Bennington. So, before Miss Bingington begins, we um have been looking at ways to increase student engagement and performance. um in grades four and five. Um we are trying something different, something that other districts have tried. Uh Cromwell has

060not done it. Um we won't know if something works unless we give it a try. Um there's research that supports this, there's research that doesn't, but the way um uh Dr. McClean and Miss Bingington and Miss Barry have really worked hard at laying this out in a way in which it looks pretty different the way than I've seen it happen in the past including myself being a teacher in departmentalization in elementary school. Um we have high hopes. So um Miss Bingington's been they've been working on this for months. So, it's time to uh let you know about it and then we're going to give you a plan of how we're going to inform our students and our parents. Uh thank you, Dr. Murray. You're right. So, um as I moved into my new role this

061summer, um and Mr. But is your Can you just double check your mic? I'm sorry. Maybe but maybe I'm not close enough. Is that better? That's better. Yes. Thanks. Um so, as I transitioned to my new role this summer and Mr. Butwell helped and Mrs. Barry helped, we really started diving into those conversations. the further we move away from the pandemic, we expected to see our state scores increase uh specifically that on the aspect and we haven't seen that pivot yet. Um so we have spent a lot of time this year really taking a look at how can we maximize what we have going on for us right now because we know without a doubt um that our teachers are working as hard as they possibly can to give their best to the students. We

062know that our students are um bright. we know they're thriving, they're learning, but for whatever reason, we're not seeing that marriage between the state scores and what we're seeing on a day-to-day in our classroom. Um, so we started talking to other districts, we started talking to colleagues, um, and something that a lot of districts are shifting towards in the grades four and five, because I do want to just clarify, this is not something that we want to see happen in our third grade classrooms. We really feel like our third grade classrooms, it's a transition from ECS to Woodside, and that's enough of a change for our younger students. Um we also recognize that um what we're doing in third grade is working. We see those scores making a steady increase. So if it's not broken,

063let's not fix it. Um but in our four and five, there's a lot of research behind that natural transition to a middle school environment where we do one change during the day for our students. So the idea began that we would have our students splitting their day. So the first three hours of the day would be with one teacher. And in that setting, we would be doing uh grammar, vocabulary, the readaloud, and all of the math instruction. And then the students have their recess and lunch switch. And then they go to a second teacher in the afternoon. And the second teacher would be doing all of the writing and all of the reading. So our fourth and fifth graders would have two teachers, one primarily hosting the math, one primarily hosting the reading and the

064writing. That also allows our coaches to really spend undivided attention and time in specific classrooms with reading and writing or with math, which means we're doubling the opportunities for our teachers to be getting expert support um and extra PLC time in those subject areas in addition to them really becoming dialed into the instruction that they're providing for their students. Again, trying to bring forth that even more top-notch instruction than we're seeing right now. Um, we also like the fact that for our students, it gives them two opportunities to have connections with staff members. Our goal is always to have our students have a connection with a staff member. And as much time and effort as we put into those classroom placements over the summer, sometimes the fit is just not quite right. And giving a

065student the opportunity to have two teachers in their life on an everyday thing just sort of gives us that extra edge of making sure that student has a connection with a staff member during that day. Um, this model also allows us to incorporate what we're referring to as a PLT time, which is a personalized learning time. So, what's happening right now is student service, if they're receiving MTSS, formerly known as SRBI, um, or a special education service. They might be pulled out during their block at any time during the block. So, unfortunately, they could be missing whole class instruction. they could be missing um targeted instruction, small groupoup instruction, independent time. This model allows us to build in a 30 minute block into both their math block and their reading block where all students who

066receive services under an MTSS model or a special education model are leaving at the same time. That leaves our students who are able to gain instruction through a tier one model in the classroom where they would get their small group instruction while other students are receiving additional support. Then when our students who receive additional supports outside the classroom come back in, they get that guaranteed second dose of instruction, which is really what the MTSS and special education model is about. So we also really strongly believe that this model will give all of our students access to an equalized education that is difficult to navigate when you don't have that block built into the day. Um, and then again talking about that transition, just having one transition during the day in fourth and fifth grade is

067getting them just that much more prepared to be organized. sixth graders at the middle school making more steady transitions throughout the day. We wanted to make sure that we shared this theory or plan rather with all of you before we shared it with the community in general. So by the end of the week, we'll be sending a communication to our families letting them know about the new model. Um and we are also still deciding which teachers will be teaching which subject areas. Um, we want to make sure that we have just the right staff teaching in each department and we want to make sure we have balanced teams um, as well. Any questions? Matt, just a couple things kind of kind of come to mind when when looking at this. I sounds like actually a

068pretty cool idea honestly for a lot of the reasons you stated. Um, the the just and I'm sure you're thinking about this. I'm just kind of curious to see what your thoughts are, but um if you're having, you know, you have one class that has one one teacher in the morning and a different teacher in the afternoon, um have you have you and maybe it's something you haven't gotten to yet, but have you thought about how those two teachers are going to how you're going to facilitate uh regular communication between the two teachers? Because I'm assuming that if the ELA teacher who's there in the morning in the afternoon, that same ELA teacher is in a different class in the afternoon, right? That's that's going to be so they'll swap, right? We'll have an A

069teacher and a B teacher and they swap mornings and afternoons. So, for example, you we we have students who are on um you know, behavior plans that that last the length of the day where there it's a it's a behavior modification plan. There might be rewards in place, that sort of thing. So, there's going to have to be communication between the morning teacher and the afternoon teacher to do that. Um, I would assume and then so I'm just I'm just wondering about how how is that communication going to be facilitated? Where facilitated? Where's that time going to come from in the day? Um, that would just be one question. And if you don't have an answer, that's fine. Just things to maybe think about. Um then you already answered that you know the teachers kind

070of swapped in the morning afternoon but I guess the the other thing is have um how's how have the teachers responded to this idea? Are they on board? Are they nervous about it? Are they excited about it? Just just out of curiosity. Um so I'll answer your second question first if that's okay. Sure. Um I think they're feeling all the things you're feeling. The teachers are definitely ready for change. They have a lot of new curriculum coming down the pike and so they're really excited about being able to specialize in terms of that curriculum. um and really improve their skills in some very specific subject areas. They're also super excited. Uh Sarah Galadia and Erica Ballas who are our literacy and numeracy coaches at Woodside are uh time with them is highly coveted. So to

071tell the teachers they're going to get twice the amount of time with those fantastic coaches is something they're super super excited about. Um but definitely it is a change and I think change is always something that we're a little apprehensive until we get there, but they are ready for this change. Um, as far as the behavior intervention plans that you had mentioned, that's absolutely a piece we always um, like I talked about, I think a a big piece of this drive for us is making sure that all of our students feel supported and valued and part of the tier one classroom. Um, so typically we spend a lot of time making sure that students with behavior plans, that their case manager, their classroom teachers, and any para educator that's involved in the student has the

072opportunity to to meet. And then uh we have a fantastic BCBA at Woodside, Janine Martin, who is constantly connecting with teachers coming into classrooms above and beyond student service hours just to make sure we're always servicing our students to the best of our ability. Um behavior plans typically travel with the student um either with them an individual or if they have a onetoone para educator, it goes with that person as well. Uh we'll also have shared. So our goal is in terms of those PLC's that professional learning community, we typically have four in a month. So, our ideal plan right now is that the first two PLC's in a month will be specialized to your curriculum area. Um, and then the third week, everybody will go to their alternate area. So, if I specialize in

073ELA during that third week, I'm going to a math PLC because it's important for me to know what curriculum is being brought up. And it's important that I continue to develop my skills in all subject areas. So, embedded in those PLC times would be time to talk about our our BIPS, any IEPs, because that's going to be an important piece, too. Um, and then we'll be certainly careful when we schedule PPTs to make sure that either depending on the students goals and objectives because not all of our special education students have goals in reading, writing, and math to make sure the appropriate teacher for that subject area is available. Um, I think our our biggest piece that we're still working on right now are conferences. That's actually my my biggest question right now is trying

074to make that work because I think it's super important uh for parents to have the opportunity to sit with the people that are educating their students um and hear specifically about their goals. So I'm I'm really more looking at it from from the point of view of the two the two teachers working in those classrooms having opportunities during the day to communicate only because you know you've been doing this a while like I have you understand that a student can start the day fine and things can break down during the day and that needs if there's going to be a switch in teachers there needs to be some way to effectively communicate that what's been done so far in the day you know what might what suggestions they have to continue working towards in the

075day um I mean you know kids kids, things can change pretty quickly. So, I'm just I'm just So, I apologize. Maybe I misunderstood your question. I was just using there's some conversation happening right now in terms of locations of classrooms and considering whether or not we need to have AB teachers housed next to each other for just that purpose. Um, allowing for that quick conversation. And then, uh, shared teachers, AB, and then CD and then EF teams would have a shared lunch, um, shared recess. Um, and we're looking to make some changes to those blocks as well because um, I think we all know when we're dealing with students at this age level, we want them to have as much movement during their day as possible. It really helps to do their um, learning. So,

076we're making some shifts in terms of extending recess time and then shortening the lunch time just a little bit to give our students extra movement. Um, we're finding that most of our students are done with lunch within 15 minutes. So, to manage them for the additional 15 minutes is is not to their best interest. Um, so making sure what we would do is switch it off so the teachers had that extra time together. But to your point, it there will be a learning curve here and we are open to all feedback and suggestions because there are little nuances that we want to make sure we're catching. So the last the last piece I had and I apologize I'm taking a lot of time. Don't hurt me, Catherine. Um, ha, has there been any discussion around

077um, and I I I know that this is kind of like a buzzword recently, but um, around incorporating some basic early on executive functioning skills um, with, you know, with this with this new model only because I know that we're seeing at, you know, sixth, seventh, eighth grade and up there there's there is kind of a deficit in students being able to manage their own materials, manage their own studying, a lack of study skills in general, which I think, you know, I hate to blame things on the pandemic. I think a lot of that came from being out of class for so so much time that those skills that were kind of normally just, you know, inherently taught kind of fell by the wayside. Um, but is there has there been any discussion about incorporating

078some more of those skills into the into the class with this changeover? And if there hasn't, fine. I'm just thinking maybe something to consider. Um, absolutely. And it'll be an integral part of this because students will be going between two classrooms. So, it'll actually be embedded in that transition, right? Making Yeah. Because it'll also be necessary having two different teachers at that point. Correct. Um, so the specifics of that have not been navigated in terms of lessons. Uh, but the awareness that that will be an important part of making sure this is a successful transition is absolutely something we're talking about. Thanks. I I definitely look forward to hearing more about the ideas. Okay, we have some more questions. Katherine, go ahead. Thanks, Matt. Um, I'm just going to start with two because other people

079have questions. Um, one is are we are we having the teachers move or are we having the students move from one classroom to another? Uh, students will move from one classroom to another, which kind of builds off of the executive functioning piece that Matt was just talking about. Okay. And my second question is, is this going to be implemented for next year or Okay, but we're rolling it out at the end of this that we're we're rolling it out to parents for this at the end. Yes, we're looking for a a fall 2025 start, but just want to make sure we're giving parents heads up so that when those class lists come out, parents are already asking for classroom teacher assignments for next year. Seriously, it's beginning of April. It's too early. Start of September.

080We will start doing class lists right after April vacation because it just does take so long to navigate and make sure we have all of the pieces right. Um, but yes, so as they're asking for teachers, we're thinking in the back of our head, I will actually surprise you're probably going to have two next year. Um, so we definitely want to make sure we're as transparent with parents as possible because this will be a change not only for students but also for parents. And maybe do you plan on if needed having an information session depending upon how many questions come firing back at you with with this? Um, I our our goal is and Friday is is my best case scenario. Um, but I might be using some time over April vacation to organize something.

081Um, I I think if we have frequently asked questions that get sent out with the information, uh, will be helpful because then we can be a little bit more proactive. So, actually, some of the questions that you are all asking me tonight, things that have just sort of been engraved in every decision I'm making that I'm not even really cognizant of are kind of great jumpoff points for me to consider in terms of how I share that information with families. And Kelly Clutier, go ahead. So, my question is since with the multi-age, how does that affect them? because they already switched for math. We will not be touching the multi-age classrooms. Um they actually this is part of what I think makes the multi-age so successful is they function to a very similar model. So

082we see no reason again sort of that mentality if it's not broken don't fix it. Um that's a model that's worked really well for a lot of our students. So we won't be touching the multi-age classroom. And my other question is having all the kids go for their support all at the same time. Is the staff able to accommodate for all the kids going at the same time instead of staggered throughout the day? So, um, on paper it looks good. Um, part of what we're doing is also looking at our special education groupings for next year. Typically, we have all teachers do third grade, all teachers do, sorry, we have one teacher who will service all of our third grade students with IEPs. We have one teacher that will service all of our fourth grade

083and all of our fifth grade. It doesn't work that way. So, um, our case managers, we've already sat and talked and troubleshooted this. So we have one case manager who will service all of third grade because they won't be doing the departmentalization. So that just makes sense to leave them. Um so then we have three other special education teachers who will have case loads that are split between fourth grade and fifth grade. So that way we have three case managers who are able to service students at the same time um as opposed to one person trying to manage an entire grade full of students. I think you um just have a couple questions myself. you um seem very excited about it and I'm sure you've done all of your research. Just a couple of things

084um that came to mind for me were the materials. I I work in a school where we switch for one subject. Okay. And it can be challenging of course getting everything there and then there's always the issue of don't touch anything in my desk. So that will be one challenge is having the students move into someone else's space. Um but and for the whole afternoon um parent teacher conferences that will be tricky I think. So it sounds just like a and specials too. So it'll be a lot to coordinate. So um it will be a shift in mentality more towards the way this the seating is in the multi-age classrooms that students will might be assigned a seat but they wouldn't be assigned a desk per se because to your point then we're sort of

085removing that terri territorialization that might occur. Um conferences are definitely something that I'm being very honest with you about. I'm still working that through in my mind how how we can make that piece work to benefit everybody. And I'm sorry Selena, what was your third question? um specials. Just specials. Yeah. Yeah. So, um the scheduling piece is definitely very very tricky, but um Lauren has been a tremendous help and and we've been troubleshooting this and I I think we have it down. Fortunately, I spent three years at the high school working on scheduling ad nauseium. So, I I think I that skill set is is definitely helping me with this piece. Um we're we're just about there. And subs, that'll be the other issue. a substitute would have to then manage two classrooms. But other

086than that, I think it's worth a shot and it it'll probably, you know, rejuvenate the team and mix things up. And I think the kids will be really excited about it. They they always want to switch classes. So, I think so, too. So, wish us luck because we're we're definitely excited. Um, and please, if as you're thinking of other things, don't hesitate to email me because like I said, there could absolutely be little pieces of this that are getting lost. So, I appreciate all the support and help you can provide. Thank you for sharing. Um, Stephen, one quick one. Um are there any other districts doing this that you know of this? Yes. So um two districts that we have actually um visited um Essex and uh North Brford um and and they are finding

087a tremendous amount of success. Um like we said the the the data is split, but we're definitely thinking that we need to shake things up a little bit to maybe see some changes because what we're doing isn't as effective as we would like it to be. But we had schools full of people working so hard. So when we started talking to other districts and and they were having positive outcomes, we thought, you know what, maybe let's give it a shot. Small enough to How does that work with half day? How does that work with half day? Does that So it would be the same thing in terms of we would split the day. So if if we came in for a half day and our day is let's say like 9 to 12 hypothetically, they

088would do an hour and a half in their ELA setting and then an hour and a half in their numeracy setting. we would split the day the same way. That's a good question though. So, just to let you all know, we have been talking about this for a whole year and like Ramsay said, I'm very proud of you for admitting it. Um, the research is split. Um, however, a lot of the things that you mentioned, I was a principal, I was a teacher, I did this. Um, I saw a lot of pitfalls and I saw a lot of positives. So, those were the things that I reviewed with Carrie and Ramsay at the beginning of the year of what about this, what about this, what about this, what about this, and they are still working

089on a lot of the whatifs, but we will meet regularly, look at the data, look at how it's going. The biggest piece is um there's there's pros and cons to this. Um, but some districts are seeing greater results when they're thinking it through as much as Ramsay and Lauren and Carrie have thought this through. So, um, I tease them and say, you have two years to make this work. Um, but in teasingly, I I say it teasingly, but we will be monitoring this very very closely to see what are the pros, what are the cons, what are our students getting out of. And I I asked um Miss Bingington and Dr. Mlan and Miss Barry to not be married to this in any which way, shape or form and to make sure that the teachers

090are not married to this because if it does not work, we will not skip a beat and go back to doing what we need to do. So, with that being said, I think there are a lot of things that we haven't been discussed in the past when we put this together that are being discussed now. Um, and things are different. Our coaching procedures are so much different than they used to be back 20 years when I taught. Um, so I think we have thought of almost everything. There's going to be growing pains. Um but if it's not working to the advantage of our children and that doesn't mean there are sometimes it's you know there'll be certain days where it doesn't and there's certain weeks that it will and and whatever it is but overall

091we need to be able to see that the data and um both uh quantitative and qualitative data data showing is that this is good for the kids in Cromwell in grades four and five. So we're keeping a close eye on this and knock on wood everything will work out really well. We need to try something different. We know we definitely know that. Um Lori had a question. Yeah, it sounds interesting. I just I'm looking at it through the lens of um for a student on IEP who requires team meetings with parents. You know, just touching on kind of what Matt said with the teachers collaborating. I'm also looking at it through the lens of a parent who may have several PPTs during the year, monthly team meetings. um both teachers would need to be available

092for those meetings. It wouldn't be okay just for one to attend. So just looking at it like that, the importance of having both teachers there in this setting at this age is really critical. So just wanted to point that out. I'm sure you already thought about that. Without a doubt, I couldn't agree more. And uh Lori, you know, my heart has always been deeply embedded in special education. So that is always at um the front of my thoughts as we're we're planning. Just thinking like if there was a PPT, you need to get coverage for two teachers, you know, that kind of thing. I think that's going to come up. Yes. Absolutely. Not a deterrence to do it. I'm just thinking about possibilities. Yeah. Yes. And one just one more thought I had. I think

093it'll be really great for teachers especially if if maybe some are stronger in reading than they are in math. So they don't necessarily have to teach the one that they're not strong in. On the other hand, if we wait two years and then change it back, then that's why part of the deal is they still have to that third PLC is every teacher has to know what's happening in ELA if you're teaching science and math because part of this is we're teaching the whole child. That's part of elementary education. And and in a lot of other countries, they start sooner with switching. Um we wait, but you have to know what's going on in the other classroom. I never want a teacher to say you have to wait to get that question answered when you

094go see your ELA teacher. You have to be able to answer these questions and you still have to know what's going on and you still have to receive that professional development. So that um if someone was to leave and we have too many teachers teaching ELA and we need you now to move and teach math, you need to be able to do that. So that's another uh thing that we've talked a lot about. Sure. Go ahead. Um and also wondering what we would do if we had an uneven number of teachers. Um Oh yeah. So um as Dr. Mackey mentioned, we are on a two-year pilot. Um so right now um as we've looked out for the next two years, we are in good shape for maintaining six fourth grades and six fifth grades. Um

095those first two years as we've talked about there are definitely going to be some learning curves and we'll have a better idea of where we're going from there. But even all the way down to kindergarten we have small enough numbers in classrooms that I don't anticipating us in even the next four years needing more than six classrooms per grade level. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Alicia, are there budget implications to this? As I'm thinking about Lor's question of two teachers needing class coverage, is that additional substitutes you're anticipating or do you think it's cost neutral? I I believe it's costneutral, but honestly, only time will tell. The PPT thing might be a little but not much. All right, Matt, I promise this is the last one. I promise I might break that promise.

096His last series of questions. I I'm very intrigued by this. I'm sorry. It's my going. I was too. That's why we landed here today. Just I mean again I'm just throwing it out there to make sure sure it's under consideration. Um you know as as Dr. Mackey mentioned um you know it's going to be it's going to have to be kind of flexible because there's going to be a lot of whatifs that we that are not answered yet. Um just making sure that there is consideration to regularly um and honestly receive feedback from the teachers, right? not having like, you know, one person kind of represent a group of teachers and then share feedback is not necessarily as effective as being able to have, you know, we have a 20-minute meeting where let's just talk

097things through. What are you experiencing? What's what are the difficulties you're seeing? And the kind of group problem solving because that tends to, you know, we arrive at at solutions more quickly when there's, you know, more of the more of the stakeholders involved all at once. So, just making sure that that's under consideration, too. I do I think this is a fun idea. Um, I think it could be a really good idea, but I it's it's going to take a lot of work and organization from everyone involved. I think so. And and you're right, taking the temperature of the climate as we move through this will be important. We want our teachers to feel supported. We want them to feel safe and heard. Well, thank you so much for sharing and um good luck rolling

098this out with the parents. Thank you everyone. Okay. Um update 2025 2026 district calendar reference D. So, what was the change there? I know you are all sick of looking at we're mortified that we keep bringing it to you. Um, we wanted a little time, a more time to talk about parent teacher conferences with our leadership team and we're we are constantly trying to improve this. This may not be the answer, but we want to try it for next year. We just want to try um to have parent teacher conferences all in one week. We would start with November 5th um 6 to the we've right we've done it I'm sorry from the 5th 6th to the 12th and 13th 11th 12th and 13th and 14th we want to change it so that it's not

099two weeks it's just one whole week um of conferences for the whole district. So, we like to give this a shot and see how it works out. Um, instead of a week before and a week after. And that's the only change for today. Questions? Alicia? No, I was going to make a motion to approve if you don't. Okay. I just had a I just one thought I guess is I guess who it would really affect as parents that have kids in all the schools which won't affect that many but that's a lot of conferencing for one week but yeah it's like you're out you're out one week we talked about that you may be out one week twice for two kids or it won't matter if you have two kids in the same school because

100you're there you know most likely you'll have planned to do that but it's really if you have two or three in secondary and elementary. Yeah, agreed. It'll be tricky. Okay. It falls um it falls better with splitting up of the time of when the um material is taught. So, we want to give it a try. Okay. Any questions? No. Is there a motion to approve the calendar again? Alicia, is there a second? Matt, all in favor? Opposed? Extensions? Motion carries. Calendar is approved. And we have our mo uh minutes and motions from our our minutes from our March 11th regular meeting. Sorry. Reference E. Is there a motion to approve those? Um Kelly, is there a second? Allen. All in favor? Opposed? Extensions. Alicia. Any other abstensions? Okay. Motion carries. They're approved. Stipen approval. You

101have reference F in your packet. Any questions there? Okay, we'll move on to informationational human resources personnel activity reference G. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. You know what I was thinking? Since there were no new stipens being offered, so we don't need to take action, right? Okay. So, that's just a mistake. It does say that. You're right. Okay. So, no action needed. Okay. So, personnel activity reference G. Any questions there? I do have one correction. It just looks like when one resignation says first grade at whis, obviously it's ECS, right? Just one little typo. Um, first grade. Yes. Okay. So, it's ECS. Okay. Any other questions, comments? Alicia, we have someone retiring after 32 years. So, I think it's worth a mention. That's It was on her last month, too. already recognized, but I missed but

102last month's meeting. So, he's so wonderful. I'll recognize him again. Ended up on here again um by accident. Um Mike Ensign. He's awesome. We definitely appreciate everything he's done for Cromwell Public Schools. We're going to miss him. He just has an incredible personality and love for what he does. He's kind of he's really funny. Um uh so we appreciate him very much. So, yeah, it just ended up on this one. I I acknowledged last month, but he's worth acknowledging twice. All right. Principal reports, informational principal reports. Any questions on those? All right. Then we have a bunch of policies on for No, we don't. We don't have any policies on for second read. We have some on for first read. Um, any questions on policies A through Well, we're repealing some. So, A through F.

103No questions on those. So, we can move those to second reading at the next meeting. And then the repealed, we don't have to do anything on those, right? They're just repealed. Do we have to vote on that? Okay. All right. Is there a motion to repeal items G through X? No, it's on the second page, too. Double A. Oh, so yeah, sorry. Double A. Thank you for catching that. Is there a second? So, it's Lori. Is there a second, Katherine? All in favor? Opposed? Extensions. Motion carries. Those are repealed. Board committee reports policy met tonight and there's also reference R which are I assume the minutes from the last meeting. Any questions or did you want to add anything from policy tonight? Yeah. So what we had done was we were supposed to do policy

104on May 13th. We we swapped and did it tonight and swapped with facilities. However, there was an issue that came up. Um, there was something that was missing from the packet and it can't wait. So, just so everybody knows, but still going to have facilities unless you decide to change it um from 6:00 to 6:45 and then policy will meet at 6:45 on May 13th just to review the one item that was not in the packet. So, um Okay. and it couldn't be changed just for clarification because it was a special meeting because we moved it. So maybe you already said that but that was why and we already made sure uh that there's I can I know what you're saying. Yeah, there's coverage. I'm just being just being proactive because that was the whole

105reason we swapped it is because we didn't have quorum. So um Selena's going to fill in just to do that one item that will take like 10 minutes. So um Okay. Yeah, sure. That's it. All right. Thank you. and facilities and technology. Nothing there. All right. Topics for future agendas. Um, we did talk about circling back on the transportation issue after we know more. I don't know. Do you want to wait until after legislation? Yes, definitely. I just don't want it to fall off my I wrote it on my Okay. And we should probably also talk about whatever comes out of this special education legislation post session as well because some of it may impact the work that we do. All right. So, do you want to just include that in an update after the

106fact? Um, yeah. I after this legislative session, we're gonna have to talk um because we really don't know what's going to happen with all the with all the changes between the federal funding and there's going to be a lot of I believe there's going to be a lot of switching of funding and I don't how it exactly uh affects us. I I have no idea yet. There's just it's just way too early. So, I'll keep you up posted and likely we won't know until the budget. Well, the session ends beginning in June, but then they do all sorts of narratives and information about the budget which probably won't come out until July or August. So, and then they'll change it again in September. October and then they'll go into special session as updated as I

107can and then um so I get that we're going to the legislation stuff we're going to add to I'm assuming sometime in June or whatever but should we also do maybe an update on because the the whis the changes at WHIS are pretty significant and you know once it goes out to families they're going to be getting a lot of feedback should we maybe throw in an update on that doesn't have to be lengthy but just kind of aware on the response from families just how how what the reception is if anything's come up that's required some changes just or are we just going to include that kind of as a normal course anyway I think should we just we just wait until they roll it out at the start of the school year and

108see how I think that's a good idea how it happens I mean fine with that I'm just wondering if there's not be any changes it's not like it'll be changed based on reaction so um yeah maybe we'll just wait until next year unless anyone else has thoughts Steve um as far We discussed um board self- evaluations. I reached out to Nick Caruso with Cabe and he's going to get back to me with some dates and I'll share that for future when he's available and we could get on the agenda. Let him come in just explain it and he'll come in. You mean? Yeah, he can come in explain it and then we can decide if it's something we want to move forward with as a board. Okay. Let me know. Anything else? All right. Comments,

109updates, and announcements from board members. Um we'll start at this end. Steve, if you have anything. Um, so, uh, several of us attended the board of finance meeting. I thought overall went well. There was some confusion on how we presented some of the numbers. Um, Enz and I spoke briefly at the meeting about it. Um, I'd like to possibly propose this like just a sidebar kind of debrief meeting with some of the board of finance members and some of our members and just see if there's things we can do on the next go round just to make it easier for everyone involved. So just something again maybe we'll put on an agenda and talk about it or if we're willing to you know small group meet with small group of board of finance involve Chris

110Enzo whoever we'd like to involve. I think it would go a long way. Okay. Well, we do do the meetings ahead of time every year and and so those do happen. Um how do you feel about a debrief meeting? You need a break, don't you? I I guess give it some space. I'm nothing but honest. I am honest to a fault. Um, so we have been budgeting the education and I don't mean Cromwell, I mean education nationally. It is incredibly difficult to explain to anyone because because you actually can't believe that this is how we budget but we have really no other way to do it and it has been working. Um, I'm not p patting myself on the back, but in six years, I've done a pretty damn good job at keeping us afloat

111and through a pandemic. Uh, I have superintendent friends who have gone in with a 10% increase. I have superintendent friends that are $9 million in the hole. Um, I believe what I know about budgeting and education is what it is. And it's so complicated for anybody to understand. And I believe what happened last week was what people were trying to understand is the formula for reimbursement rates for special education. And I think it comes across as if we are not being honest because it is so ridiculous the way that it is done that you really truly think that someone's lying because that's how ridiculous it is. I think they're also trying to look at the trends, right? We don't have trends of this year we receive this percentage, this year we received this percentage. So,

112it's just simple things like that that we could provide to the board of finance to see the trends of what we actually get reimbursed for and if we're sticking to those trends or if we're estimating way outside those trends. Yeah. I think that's what they're asking for and those are the things I'd like to explore and just provide some feedback. Yeah. And that honestly at the end of the day you the board of education you dictate to me what you want to see in that presentation. I provide so much information, but if there is something that you would like to see differently, added and perhaps done slightly differently, we will we will do it. Some of the things that I believe um are being asked of us, we don't have the cap the the capacity

113to do. Um nor is it useful of our time. Um because as Steve said, Stephen and I spoke, the numbers are the numbers. The numbers work out there. I you know, at one point I was like, wait a second. Um, please ask questions, but as far as questioning the integrity of the process and our numbers, um, it's not that it's insulting, it's scary when someone, you were talking about $40 million. Um, and I have my eyeball on that number every single I walk into Chris's room every single day and we talk about everything that we're doing. So I think part of it is trying to explain a formula that is so complicated to explain even to the educators and then actually believing that that's the formula the state uses and then it changing like there's

114a lot that plays into this and then it changing it and changing so quickly. If there are ways that you believe as the board that you feel that you think I should add into the slides, and I'll be honest with you, gosh, this is going to take like forever to do when we don't have the I'll tell you. Um, that you think will help that meeting go more smoothly. Um, but I I I am more than happy to do it. And it might be cutting some of the slides you already have that they're not finding to be a benefit that you're spending time on. So, there might be a little bit of give and take here, right? is not to try to add more work. It's try to make it more efficient. Yeah. What you

115So that's all I'm trying to to look at from my perspective in dealing with budgets and things all the time. You know, it's I think there's way we could be more efficient with our presentation and provide more valuable information. And we're asking questions here. They're asking the same questions in those meetings and it's a lot of time. It's the same thing over and over again. So if we could figure out how to get those questions answered in a presentation, it would save everybody time. Yeah. I I mean whatever at the end of the day, you are the board of education. I follow your directive and whatever you want me to do. And I think I that I made that clear that evening that I don't make some of the decisions that we're going to end

116up having to make at the end of the at this year. Um I'll be running by you. Um I'm not just going to make decisions about a lot of money without without your input. So, so what I'd like to propose is I'd like to propose that I would lead a let's call it a subcommittee of anyone else that wants to join on the board of ed meet with the board of finance and put a list of suggestions forward to the board of ed on my own time. I would suggest anyone here that has suggestions, especially those that attended and saw the whole process, um, email me with your, I guess, suggestions, recommendations, and then I'll forward them along. They'll take a look at it and then we could discuss it at a future meeting. Any

117of the points that you Yeah, I would like to talk it out with all of you first. Yeah, I think Dr. Mackey wants it to come from us, not because I want it to be something that you that you all want um in in moving forward. Sure, that's fair. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. So, if anyone has any suggestions, recommendations, feel free to email me and I'll pass them along. Um Alicia First, just a congratulations because I think that's pretty great that we got the budget through at um 6% and I know it's sad to see any money cut, but I think that really good process. So, um kudos to you and to Chris and to everybody else involved. Um I just wanted to share this is autism acceptance month this month and I wanted to

118make sure we recognized it here. It's a really big deal. moved in 2020 from autism awareness to autism acceptance because it's not just about being aware of people with autism, but it's about celebrating the uniqueness and um we keep saying what makes us different makes us special. So that's what we're really celebrating this month and I'll invite everybody. Adelbrook is hosting a big walk to celebrate autism acceptance on Saturday just down the street on our campus in Hicksville Road. supposed to be outside, but I think it is gonna absolutely pour. So, uh, we will figure out how best to fit three to 400 people in our gym and in our school, but everybody could get to see our school. So, that's the plus side. And we're still going to have fun. And all of our

119individuals come and participate and our students come and their families. And everybody is welcome to join us. Well, thank you. It starts at registration at 9:00. The event starts at 10:00. Okay. Best of luck with that. You can't come watch Fox 61 because it will be they'll be broadcasting from there. Nice. Kelly, nothing. Katherine, did you have something you wanted to add? No. Okay. Um, and I just wanted to say thanks for sending the message out about the referendum because Oh, yeah. I've been wanting that to happen for a long time now and you got it out and I followed every rule. I read every rule, but at least I drove Lisa nuts because I want to make sure that I'm speaking within my So, it's just informationational. No, it's justformational. People can vote however

120they want to vote. We just need people to come out and vote. And then the quiet period, I'm finding out when that is so that maybe we could do a reminder, too. Oh, yeah. Let me know. Uh, it's it's been pretty confusing at the right quiet period. Um, May 6th, uh, between 12:00 and 8:00 p.m. here. Um, so there's, uh, the regular budget referendum for the town, for the board of ed, and then there'll also be a question about the solar panels. Um, so if you live in Cromwell and you are a registered voter, if you're not, we give you the link on how to get registered. Um, and we're going to try to look into helping register our students who have turned 18. Um, so they can practice their vote to write, the right

121to vote. That too, their vote to write too. They don't want to vote on writing. All right. Thank you. Anything else you want to add? No, that's it. I thank you all for your support with the budget process and everything else. Of course. Nothing. Lori Alan, as of yesterday, we reached a tenative agreement with the cafeterias workers union. So, I think they have Thanks for representing us. They have a little group meeting. Then they'll hopefully see that next month. Okay. Yep. Thank you. And Matt, just Mr. Bwell, just you crushed it uh with your with your presentation. Um, and you took a lot of fire and a lot of heat and you were an absolute professional uh under fire in that meeting at the at the moment you were under fire. I just I was

122really impressed with the way you conducted yourself and answered those questions. So, thank you. What about me? You were you were too, but he This isn't your first rodeo, right? You've done it before. The funniest thing was what I heard. You could tell by my feet. I might have shared that. I I listen very true. My family will agree. My area of expertise is behavior. So yes, I I noticed those little things, but no, it was it was his first shot at it and he and he absolutely destroyed it. I'm not teasing you. He did a great job. [Applause] All right, and with that meeting adjourned at 8:32. Enjoy your night.