001Stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Do the roll of qualifications. Al, Teresa present. Michelle, Kate here, Glattus here. Mary, Lauren, Vanita here, Richard, Julie here. Thank you. We have a corner, so we can move ahead with our business. First thing I'm going to turn over to the superintendent. We have a recognition to give out tonight. Thank you, board chair Cooper. We have two wonderful recognitions to give out tonight. Um the first recognition um I'd like to call up Tina Moatra to the table. Tina is from Cape and um some of our board members if you can see this beautiful packet that we have at our at our
002table um Tina will be referencing um a wonderful award that our Jason is getting tonight on behalf of their efforts and the schools and state's effort to provide great communication. Tina, welcome and thank you. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Um good evening superintendent and members of the Danbury board of education. Um, as you just mentioned, my name is Tina Malhotra. I am representing CAVE. I'm an area co-director for five area five, but I'm also Richfield Board of Education chair. So, I know how much work goes in. So, thank you all of you for all the work that you do. Uh, I'm here to present you with these two awards. In order to receive a Bonnie B. Carney Award for Excellence for Educational Communications, entries must meet all of the following criteria. First is the general
003criteria which includes clarity of message image and consistency. Second, the specific guidelines of readability, editing, graphics, type, format, presentation, design and value of expect expenditure. I am very happy to present the Danry public schools with these awards for excellence in education communication for the district budget that is the board of education annual budget and a special project a welcome packet. CA has been honoring school districts with this award for excellence for education communication since 1975. In 2016 the award was renamed in honor of a longtime CA staff member Barney Bonnie B. Carney in recognition of her 47 years of dedication to education focused on communications. With this award, Cape's goal is to identify and honor the hardworking people in school districts for their continuing effort to communicate effectively. Congratulations. Amazing. Thank you. Call out Lori
004Barios and Grace Molina. And am I understanding because I I think I was a little confused. We also got one for the the budget book as well. Yes. That's awesome. I thought it was just I know. I was looking at our budget book. I'm like, we have to do better. That's wonderful. Okay. Yes. Yes. Can we um have our members come forward and we can kind of take some pictures up here in front of our board chair and be happy to jump in those. And Mikey and Mike, please come forward as well. very much part of this budget here. Hey Thank you. [Applause] Tina, thank you so much for coming. Thank you. Good luck. Yes, it does everyone. A pleasant surprise. I received two more. So, thank you. All right. So, the next recognition is
005a doozy. I can tell you that. So, um and it took it took us a couple of board meetings to get this scheduled. We have, and I think I've spoken many times in the in our board meetings, an absolute phenomenal VEX robotics team at Danbury High School. This team has been mopping up wins left and right, but in particular team 5150. And we received notification this year that once again our D our DPS team was headed to to Dallas and were um scheduled to to perform there. I get a kind of a really hectic craze link. Cara, what are you doing right now? You have to watch. they made it to the finals. You need to log in. So, we were I logged in, she logged in, we're on our computers. I sent immediately sent
006the link out to everybody who I could find um to log in and to watch the amazing excitement of our students competing on such an incredible stage um in in this championship. um 5150Z to come up to the table, but I'd also like to see um Eric uh Savoyski, the coach, dedicated teacher, and true champion. So, I'd like the students to come up and I'd like Eric to come up. And Eric, if you could just talk a little bit about this team in particular, their journey, and sort of a little bit about the program. I certainly been bragging a lot. By the way, you all look great on TV. All right, chairperson Cooper, Dr. Cara, and members of the board. Uh, we're still missing Eva. She is on route and root. Uh, but these are
007five out of the six members of 5150 senior team, and they are leaving me, but that's okay. They're leaving for really, really good places. Uh, this has been a three-year effort. three years in a row they have made it to the world stage in Dallas. This is the third year. And as seniors, we did know going into senior year that this was their last year. So if they're going to do anything as far as playing in the dome, this was the last chance they had. By the way, the dome is the 10,000 ft arena where all the division finalists or the division champions get to play. So it takes 820 teams, brings it down to 20. Those 20 are known as the top 20 in the world, and then they play against each other until
008they get to the world champions. And so they had their work cut out for them, but um like you said, Dr. and Casemiro, they were mopping up this year uh doing amazing work across the board and one of my colleagues or one of my counterparts from another town all of the tournament of champions this year. I said, "No, they're not." They almost did, but that's that's okay. So, they did very very well. found themselves down in Dallas and uh going through um the whole division and making it look easy up to the point where it wasn't easy and they almost lost was absolutely amazing because they were going to the dome. So that was the first thing they wanted to do. Then they get to the dome. It end up going they took the first
009one 48 to 30. And I had strange people I didn't even know patting me on the back. Oh, they're going to do it. They're going to do it. They're going to do it. They're going to do like don't. And the second one they lost 43 to 44 and then end up not taking the sec or the third one. However, again, out of 9,535 teams across the world that played this game this season, our 5150Z is second in the world. Just quickly want to introduce uh my my team uh Jack. Okay, let me go through Jack's stats here. Jackie Kazaka is a senior. Obviously, he is ranked 30th out of the class of 765. [Applause] He is going to Renolier Polytenic Institute and he is going to study mechanical engineering. [Applause] Next, Isa is ranked number
010nine. out of 755. She is going to Cornell this year to study mechanical engineering. Cody Zu Cody's right there. He is ranked number six out of 765 students he is going to Purdue to study computer engineering. Uh Eva George, she is on route. She's probably somewhere trying to find her way in here. Ea is going to be she's ranked number three out of 765. and she is going to Yukon to study environmental engineering. [Applause] And there is Christopher Borges. This is rank number two out of 765. He is going down to Philly to Carnegie Melon to play. [Applause] And then there's Eric. Eric. Wow. He is ranked number one. [Applause] He is going to go to Purdue also to study [Applause] Eric before you go on. Okay. I do have citations and certificates. Do you
011want to do those before we do the demonstration? Absolutely. Okay. That would be wonderful. Should we pull them in? We can pull them in. So, I'd like for um is it Isa? Yeah. Yep. Isa, Nishan, Eric, come on forward. Jack, Cody, and Eva, come. Hopefully, she'll make it by the end here. We'd love to take a photo with you. We're so proud of your efforts. We are absolutely impressed with where you're going and you make Danbury Public Schools very proud right now. Thank you. Oh, we're going to do Oh, okay. Okay. Eva in the middle. Can you make room just to Yeah. So we can see Glattus. Oh, there you go. there too. Eric shot there. This is for you. What an impressive one. Holy moly. Very nice. Just going to slide over. We're going
012to get our board chair in there. She wants to show off because you're so smart. Wonderful. And she wants right in the middle of that. I'm still just a little taller than you. Okay. Next year, number one. Number one. Well, and you're going to come back and tell us all the amazing things that you've done accomplished in college, please. And come back and work for us on our campus. Congratulations. [Applause] Quick demo. Quick demo. a quick demo cuz I know you have an agenda so you can see what all the excitement is all about. I learned a lot by watching some of uh the competitions. I'm still confused on some of the scoring on the This is the division championship trophy and world finalists. Those are pretty cool. Okay, the name of this game was
013high stakes. Uh, picture this 12 by 12 and there were MOOs which are movable and then we had the other ones attached to the field and the idea was the you had to score. You were either on a red alliance or a blue alliance and you had to get rid of the red ones and pick up the blue one. This robot features color sensors about how many sensors? I don't know how many at least five. At least five sensors that sense color to shade. Uh, and what else is that? Distance inertial. Um, folks, I don't know if you know this. I am the MC and the referee for every one of the kinetic events. I do not build the robots. They don't they don't see me. When we get there, we arrive at 7:00. I
014go goodbye and then I go set up. And they are in charge. If it breaks, it's on them. If it doesn't work, it's on them. If it works, it's there. Does it do windows? It does not do windows. Just about everything else. You know, anytime I walk past, I know you stop in and I love that you stop in the kids tinkering with the robots, tweaking, building, replacing parts. Uh they come down during lunch, they come down on their breaks, they probably sneak out of class a few times to come and finish. No, never. Never. Um and never ever done that. You work 24/7 in that in your classroom because the kids are always in there because they want to keep building and working. So I just think it's so incredible. Um there was even
015a moment time a wheel that we couldn't order in time. And so our engineering kids next door Yep. put the wheel, found the size of the wheel and rebuilt it on our um on our printers on the on our 3D printers and produced the wheel that they needed in time for our competition. So, there's just a lot of really interesting cool things happening with incredible uh staff and students that are involved. So, I want to thank you for the demonstration. Thank you for coming and again, thank you so much [Applause] [Music] a glass wall. Yeah, there are so many. [Music] Did you want to give this to the Eric? Hey, that lost uh most of our crowd. The board welcomes public participation and asks that comments be limited to 3 minutes. The public may offer
016objective comments of school operations programs that concern them. The board will not permit any expression of personal complaints or defamatory comments about board of education personnel concern against any person connected with the school system. Thank you. Anyone sign up? Do we have signup sheet? Does anyone want to uh come before the board and speak since we are So many people in the audience. Okay, we'll move on down. Teresa, would you do the consent calendar? Sure. Consent calendar motion that the board of education approve consent calendar exhibits 25-104 and 25-106 in accordance with minutes. Is that right? 52125 finance committee 25-104 52825 regular board meeting 25-105 policy committee 25-10 the motion could I hear a second seconded by one any question concerning the state all in favor I hear I oppose eyes. We don't have anyone
017from our educational staff that want to come for us. No students that are getting ready for either graduation or they tired out for all the graduation that they have been uh superintendent report. Okay. Thank you. So, uh, just to reiterate the summer school dates, um, these were sent out, but just to make sure that we have them captured in the minutes if anybody wants to refer back. So, our regular summer school is, uh, starts June 30th and runs through July 17th, Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 12:30. Our ESY summer school is held at AIS. We're um really working through some of the parking for the staff and uh we're talking to STA about running shuttles because of the parking situation there. So, we're working through that. Um but it's one of our few available buildings
018with air conditioning. So, we're going to keep it there. We just have to amend uh do some a little bit uh some moderation to our plans. Um that will run June 30th through July 31st, Monday through Thursday 8 to 1. Um DHS credit recovery program will run June 30th to July 24th. And also this year we have the city um that is going to be utilizing our buildings in the summer. So our city summer programs will be at King Street Primary, Broaden Middle School in Rogers Park and we'll run Monday through Friday uh July 7th through August 8th from 8:30 to 4 p.m. Okay. Quite a quite a lineup in summer. Um our summer site work update. Um I've asked Mike to just kind of do a summary, high level summary of all the projects
019that we have. Um, so I will turn it over to him. Thank you. So, we have a busy Hello. We have a busy summer ahead of us. Uh, we shared some of this in the last week's board update, but I'll run through it sort of at a high level. So, uh, the the big picture items that everybody knows about. Um, the uh, Danbury High School West campus is nearing completion. We're very excited about that. We will be preparing for a lot of the movein. Um, it's not only moving people from the high school, moving teachers over there, but it's also going to be internal moves within the DHS main campus because we'll be reorganizing the main school now for uh to to fit into the academy. So, as teachers leave there and go over to
020West, we'll be reorganizing internally within uh the DHS main campus. Um, we're doing a big file consolidation, too, as we prepare to vacate this building. Uh, we'll be consolidating a lot of live and dead files over in our warehouse. We have a new secure filing system that we're installing over there to consolidate everything and just make sure everything is in the right place. We can always find things for whatever foyer requests or whatever comes our way. Um we're going to be doing some a lot of flooring actually. Uh the Broad View Middle School Counseling Center is going to be getting some new um LBT uh tile. We're doing more flooring at Mill Ridge and KSI. Uh we've been doing one pot at each school over the last two years. This is the third year of
021that process. So, those those projects will be completed and those schools will have all new flooring. Um, I mentioned this before, we're doing our voice over internet protocol, the VoIP change over from the analog copper phone lines. We're going to be adding more lines and moving that over into the digital realm. Um, as our new food service provider, Chartwells, comes on board, there's going to be some internal changes within the kitchens. Uh, we're working with them to figure out exactly how they want things set up. We have some meetings in the next week or two. Uh we'll be looking at some of the schools and telling they'll be telling us how they want things organized just to maximize the the the the efficiency and the flow in the kitchens. Um as everybody here knows from
022sites in our last meeting, uh we'll be doing repairs to the replacement of the Ellsworth roof um and installing an elevator at Haztown. Both of these projects originally were slated to be completed by the time school started. Uh but we learned from public buildings that as contractors uh went out to try to acquire materials, they were seeing some delays. So it looks like these projects will be largely done. A lot of the noisy parts will be done when school opens. Uh but things like the actual car for the elevator won't be installed probably until fall. Um and then the uh the roofing at Ellsworth, uh it it won't be fully completed until it'll probably go until about October, November as well. Um, so we'll be working with the city to make sure the materials are
023secured and there's no way that the kids can get into them and there's no safety issues. So, um, a couple other projects that are coming up through ARPA funding. Um, these were both mentioned in one of our early sites meetings when we were at the high school. Uh, there's going to be some new stadium lights put on the, uh, football stadium at Danbury High School. Um, and we'll also be getting new seating in the Danbury High School auditorium, which is very exciting. So, those were those were late added projects, uh, through some of the ARPA funding that we had. Now, there is uh there are a few additional things. We didn't think we had enough happening this summer, so we thought we'd add a few more few more projects. Uh truthfully, we were waiting to
024just see how uh how smoothly all of this was going before we added these in. And uh when we looked at just the way everything was lined up and the timelines, we we felt we could get these done. So, uh there are three u locations. The Pemrook gym floor that we'd like to replace. Um it's that old tile flooring and it will include an asbestos baitment. Uh, so we're going to replace it with that rubber flooring. It's a lot safer. It's it's uh, you know, fewer sprained ankles and skinned knees and all that kind of stuff. Um, we're going to be painting the Broadview Middle School auditorium and painting the Rogers Park Middle School auditorium. So, these last three projects, Pemrook, Broadview, and Rogers Park are going to be paid out of our rental fund.
025And our rental fund is a special uh, fund that we use when we collect fees for people that will rent our gyms for, you know, basketball, special events, what have you. um that money goes into a fund and we can only use it to do work on these uh these uh special sites that generate revenue for the district. So currently that rental fund has a balance of about $510,000. Um and the total cost of these projects we've added in a small contingency just just in case is going to be about $234,500. So uh once we do these projects the balance in that rental fund will come down to about $276,000. So there'll be a motion coming up shortly u for approval of these funds. Anything over a very small amount requires board approval. So um
026that'll be coming up shortly. Does anybody have a question for us this evening? Thank you. Thanks Mike. There certainly are a lot of projects happening all at once. So I appreciate uh your effort. Um so um as part of that though about sites and facilities just a little bit. I do want to mention and I think I maybe in a board update at one point, but um we were just we did get some legislation approved for to repair the King Street um primary campus. As you know, the campus has open walls uh inside the school and that it's definitely uh something that's been a concern of ours around safety forever in terms of um just being able to have a nice safe space to for a lockdown or shelter in place. Um but also just
027uh the acoustics in the school are very difficult make learning environment a little bit more challenging uh with the open environments certainly from another era and different concept of learning. Um so we are very excited. We got about $7.1 million 7 or 7.1 um that work from our our delegates and and folks and our and our mayor was very instrumental in that. So we were very excited about that. Um, as we were talking about it today, we were thinking about the the plans that would have to go into place to actually execute the repair of the, you know, the comprehensive repair of the building and whether or not that would mean, you know, how do we uh think through the occupancy of the school while it would be under a major construction. Um we thought
028about for a second, you know, whether or not we can kind of section off one part of the building or not, but um it'll require like said a extensive HVAC upgrade as part of all of that when they rewire everything. So that'll be a a wonderful problem to solve, but definitely be something that we're going to have to think through is that that's going to be an extensive project uh when we get there. So uh we'll get more information as as those plans start to come to fruition. Um there are some applications that need to be filed with the state that require a lot of work on on everyone's part and with all the building projects going on right now, everyone's going to have to kind of focus in on that when the time comes.
029So we'll keep you updated um as as we cross certain roads um for that project. Okay. But we're really excited about that. That's huge. Yes. Sure. Um on the on the first page where it talks about the phone analog to digital and this is our um phase two. Yes. Um, will that improve the schools that continue to have um problems with phones and it will definitely and yeah, probably not the internet communication, contact. Yeah, it it won't impact internet as much, but definitely some of the phone lines where phones were cutting out or not ringing, things like that. It'll all be addressed um through this upgrade. We we still have issues with cell coverage in some areas of the te of the town across the city. That's something that we're you know we're continuing to
030to monitor. But this has certainly helped at least the direct line communications in in particular. Um I think it was King Street Primary. Um their their telephone system was um so old that they could not um communicate from the main office to another section in the school like the social work for they have to go and find will that be improved with this change over? Yes, those are exactly the types of problems we're looking to resolve. Yeah. Thank you, Teresa. Is this um fiber optic? Yes. Yeah. It's a good question. Okay. Okay. Great. Um the next item on the list is just a reiteration of the cell phone use changes for next year. Just another communication. Um K8, no cell phones. Students can transport them uh to and from school, but they must be away
031out of sight in a backpack or locker. Um and at the high school level, we will permit them during lunch only under adult supervision. Um they will be out of uh use for all instructional areas. Um media center, study halls, PE, you name it. Um and we'll be be working with the the staff to kind of go over the rules and expectations with that as well as the students in the fall. Um right now, Mr. Donovan, he had purchased some lockable storage containers. Um, we're buying um several more to make sure that there is an available locking container in every instructional space in the school so that uh students who choose to bring it into into class have a place to lock it up so that it's not a distraction. So, um, and we'll we'll
032look to see how this how this works. The the cases themselves are relatively inexpensive. Um, our problem is always scale, right? We have so many classrooms, so many teachers. So, we'll have enough across the campus and we'll we'll get some feedback on on how that works out in terms of the cases and the keys and and we'll monitor that. Um, I'd like to at least try that if we're going towards a more expensive yonder pouch and the installation that's required. Um, because there's pros and cons to that as well. So, we're going to see how the kids respond, how our staff responds, and we'll adjust as as necessary. But we certainly have our high expectations around appropriate use and um we're very excited that we we really think this is going to improve the learning
033conditions of the school. So happy to report that. Um the next item on the list is DHS West occupancy. Just a reminder, I a couple of questions around how many students are actually going over in the fall. um right now is just going to be 10th and 11th graders and a select pathway which is our CNA uh students who are going to be in their uh rising seniors. For the most part, all of our seniors will stay back at DHS campus and finish up their time on the main campus. Um except for CNA, they'll complete their program because the new CNA program is going to travel over to that particular campus. So um we will we will be a little more than half uh half full. So it'll be about 800 to 850 depending on
034the final numbers movement over the summer um between the campuses um necessitating about 19 more buses that we'll be bringing on uh to our tiers um and an additional four or five uh mini buses as well. So I just wanted to clarify we've had some questions on that. Um, I'll be issuing a little bit of a memo so that uh Antonio, their folks at the city hall also know uh the parameters of how many students will be there because they need that information uh for for our state partners who will be uh oversee the construction. So, we'll let them know um about that. So, just to be clear, Dr. Kasmmer, when we go 26 27, we're we're looking at potentially adding some more bus. Uh that is correct. Okay. Yes, maybe. Now, it depends. You
035know, when we uh right now we're the SDA partners are working feverishly to continue to program the runs, right? Um and those change, our runs change right up until the last minute before school starts. It's very very volatile because we publish very close to to when school starts to give a parents a sense of when the pickup times are. Um, now because this is new, we're going to be traversing the city and and you know, hopefully economizing the runs as we go, as we learn what works and what doesn't work. So, we might fluctuate a bus or two, you know, maybe three. I three, I doubt three, but we might fluctuate um some of our transportation um and the patterns of the runs and of course who comes over as 12th graders and then who
036comes in as 10th graders. It's going to require an annual analysis of those addresses and and buses. So, it's definitely going to be a comp complex, uh, you know, uh, process every year. Um, but we'll know a little bit more after we get through this year and we get the names of the students coming in for next year. Uh, where those buses need to go across the city how we can keep the runs under an hour. That's the the guidepost. Um, and and make sure that our students get here safely, there's none of the buses are too overcrowded or or not or underutilized. I noticed in Nashville they had city buses that helped accommodate their students. Are we going to be working with our city buses with any runs for to help students who want
037to go in place else? I would love to have our heart uh transportation run students to internships or uh other possible opportunities. We have talked about that. We're not quite there yet, but it's a fantastic idea. One that we have seen other places. Um, basically the we give the students a bus pass and they're able to get around and uh it's just really a matter of of making it happen, but I think it's very doable. And then the last thing on the list um oh, two more things on the list. So I um very happy to announce that we have some new administrative hires. So, um, for the 2526 school year, we are proud to announce that Mr. Michael Flynn will be the permanent principal over at Westside Academy. Um, Michael was the current interim
038principal. If you remember, he was our former vice principal who slid into the role. He's done an outstanding job leading the school through a very challenging transition, and we have full confidence in his ability to guide the school and enhance the current programming. Um, so we're very excited there. Um, at Broad View Middle School, as you know, um, Mr. David Kimble is is leaving and we have selected through many panels and conversations Mr. Andrew Lambo as the next principal to lead Broadview Middle School. Mr. Lambo is currently si serving as an assistant principal at Danbury High School. He is the director of the art engineering and design academy. He's done some wonderful work helping to develop our our pathways and leading our PLC's. um he's been participating um in the last couple years in many
039district initiatives um and very instrumental in leading transformational conversations kind of really pushing the Embry to the next level. So we're very excited about that. And the last uh appointment that we have is um a a sweet coming home. Mrs. Jenny Lopez who is currently the principal at Reach and Endeavor will return to Stanley Rock as the elementary assistant principal for the 2526 school year. Um, Jenny has been with us for just a few short years, but she's made an impact on many people. Uh, and she was a natural fit to slide back into that position when it became available in the budget. So, we're very excited about all three candidates. Um, and actually now principal, assistant principal, and we look forward to getting getting the school year underway with under the leadership of the
040these three new folks. Um, our chief of schools uh interview is on the 16th and we're hoping to run uh the associate superintendent interviews on the 20th. So more information will be coming out about that panel uh and potentially your participation. So schedule absolutely for the Oh, I'm sorry. So with um Miss Lopez moving to staff, what are we doing about an administrator at region? Yes. So the that posting will go up uh as soon as tomorrow uh and we'll be uh casting a wide a wide net on that. But I also know that we have some folks internally who are also interested in that position who I think um you know among many candidates internal external would have a wonderful shot at potentially securing that position and we'll be able to take a look
041at that through an interview process that will involve stakeholders for the school. Jenny certainly did a great job while she was there. Um but is wants to return to her her elementary roots where she came from uh initially when we first hired her. Okay. And then just the last comment I'll make um is really about oh well you want to make a mention about this about the bus times. Um so we did get a chance to meet uh with some of our Westside PTO parents. They were phenomenal. We had a good discussion about the bus change times. Um naturally there's some uh reassurances needed for combined run for 6 through 12 uh students uh which will happen next year as a result of bringing on 19 new buses and having to reenter our routes. Um
042so Westside Middle School the drop will start will drop at school be at 7:10 the school start time will be at 7:25 and at DHS West Campus students will ride together their drop will be 6:55 and their start time for the school day will be 7:10. So uh because these students are coming from all over the city in the same areas, they're combining the runs for efficiency, but also um to to in order to prevent um rate disruption across the whole school system with changing everybody's start and end time. So um the parents really were mostly concerned about the earlier I think the initial concern was around combining the the two age groups and I think it kind of shifted more into about the earlier start time and and uh the challenge that that may
043present. Um, but we did talk through those, we worked through those and we'll be monitoring the runs very closely in the fall and keeping a really close eye on that. My concern is always about how long students are on the bus. Um, so we'll be watching that and staying in close contact with STA. If there's any issues, we'll address them as we do with any other transportation issue. I have to say we've had very few major transportation issues. Our students are fairly well uh behaved on on our our buses. Um, so I think we we will uh look forward to the fall and again we'll monitor and adjust for anything that should come up as a result of that that change. Yes. Okay. With the bossing your dog. Yeah. So I I'm sorry. Sure. I
044just wanted to go back to the opening sort of Mr. about moving to Broad School that I use an opening at Deberry High School. Yes. And when is that open? Yes. And thank you for saying that. So all of our opening so we will have to be we'll be posting positions for any openings where where these candidates have left or vacated. So now that the announcement the public announcement has made, those postings will go up as early as tomorrow. So is that an assistant principal of for the high school? Yep. So that's a backfill, right? So we started calling our assistant principles directors of themies and so that posting will go up to replace Mr. Lambo to back Mr. Lambo. Um and the same is true for Miss Lopez at the region endeavor site and
045we're still discussing uh the Westside uh middle school posting. We had Mr. Clark in there supporting. So we're gonna have a conversation a little about back filling and seeing um how our interview process goes this summer because it's we are it's a little late in the year. So, we're hoping to to um to make a decision about that poster. The assistant for the assistant cuz Mike Flynn was the assistant. He slid up and became the interim. So, we could not fill back fill his position right away. So, we brought in a retired principal, Mr. Mike Clark, who's been very helpful in that role. And so, now we have to go back and back fill that position. Thank you for asking. Uh tours. I'm going to kick it to Mike. What's our latest? We're still waiting
046on a green light day from public buildings. So, TBD, is it still far out, do you think? I I'm I'm hoping I honestly think it's probably going to be once we take the building in August, once it becomes ours, we'll schedule a time before everybody gets in there and the board can have a sneak peek. There's so much equipment that's out up out there right now and I think the concern is is bringing a large group through and having to pack all of that up. Um there's OSHA um kind of you know potential conflict. So yeah maybe if I can get Oh I am I am right with you. I'm right with you. So um we we hopefully we'll get some a group in soon but they are working feverishly to get a lot of
047a lot of that done. So, okay. And the last thing I just want to mention a little bit about the the middle school promotions. Uh, we had some unfortunate rain really dampen uh the day that was scheduled to run all three middle schools. We had a window. Um, we worked with our weather uh our weather forecaster and a little mist and drizzle was what we were expecting. Um I was actually more worried about the last ceremony than I was the first ceremony and and lo and behold uh the skies opened up just as we were getting started and so our broadview uh family was was quite dredged. Uh we you know kind of moved to the ceremony very quickly um and uh certainly you know we were upset that that happened uh for them. Uh
048we canled the remaining two ceremonies Rogers Park and Westside uh and rescheduled those. But as you can imagine, rescheduling is extraordinarily complicated this time of year. One of the reasons that they move to an outdoor ceremony is because we can accommodate our very large families uh that come for our very large middle schools. Um but we do not really have an adequate place uh to properly hold uh a full ceremony um at scale with to be able to invite all the families. So it's something that we started to talk about. Uh we moved uh we used to when I was teaching and I was actually having a reflective conversation with a few folks. Uh when I was teaching I was an eighth grade teacher. We we held individual ceremonies at the school. It was a
049much smaller more intimate setting. Some folks uh graduated by teams. Some were able some of the smaller schools uh were smaller class were able to graduate the entire class. Um but uh we did reschedule. So Rogers Park is running multiple ceremonies across their eighth grade teams and they'll be doing that tomorrow. And then uh Westside Academy, who is the smaller of the the three schools, will have theirs still at the stadium. We had a 1:00 slot that was open. And uh should there be rain, that school is smaller, small enough to pivot inside to the auditorium with a max of three parents. So, we're hoping no more rain. Um naturally, we've had some parents who who are upset with the disruption and taking days off from work. So, certainly we sorry about that. Um but
050the mother nature was not not working with us. Um in fact when I called the the weatherman uh literally from the DHS turf and he says, "You know, you were everywhere else it's missing and and drizzling." He goes, "But I got to tell you, I'm zooming in on Danbury High School. There's a cloud sitting right over you right now letting loose." I said, "Yeah, I know. I'm wondering." So, uh it's just our luck. Um but it was uh it's it was something. Um, Kelly uh had her son uh graduate or was promoted in eighth grade and they they trudged through the ceremony in the rain. So, this we were not the only ones. This is kind of happening happening uh kind of arewide. Um I will mention I'll embarrass Kelly was son was the recipient
051of the presidential uh presidential award. Um so she she got to go to a big ceremony and see that happen. uh we are going to replace the uh offer to replace the certificates for our presidential scholars and also the the promotion certificates. We're going to reprint those. So anybody who got their certificate wet and got a little drippy um we've offered to reprint those and so that the team at Broad is is working on that now. So I just wanted to provide that that update. We use the best con. So the O'Neal Center or the performing arts center we have sizes. Yeah. So, so, so we have um you know the the O'Neal Center has come up from time to time. There's no air conditioning in the O'Neal Center, but also the expense of renting
052the O'Neal Center is quite quite high. And when uh we set the end of the year graduation dates, we really don't know that until late March, sometimes even early April with the weather. So, it's very hard to to nail those those venues down over multiple over multiple days. Um, so that that's kind of how our our ceremonies evolved to to where they're at. I can't remember in I don't know 15 years, Kelly, if you remember a time when it rained. Um, maybe once and we were able to use the rain day, but never in my time here have we had two, you know, two dates including the rain day be be problematic. So, it was just the the luck of the draw this week. So, um, should not take away from the wonderful ceremonies and
053promotions and all the accomplishments that are of our students. So, I just wanted to put that out there. Okay. And that's it. Moving down the agenda. Do we have any standing committees that want to give a report now? None. So, we're all clear with our standing. I'm sort of concerned about our finance because we have a finance meeting I think on the 18th. Next Wednesday. Next Wednesday. Yes. Uh Mike, do you have anything that's a little bit different? I know Mr. Janella sent out an agenda and we abiding by that agenda. We're going to keep it at five items. I hope they hope they don't get to be uh 10 items. So, you know, do you have anything muted? Yeah, at at 6:00 on the 18th, there will be a finance committee meeting. Uh the
054agenda that went out has two items listed on it. Um one of uh the most important is the review of the May financials. Um that's um the first and and foremost and the second is um the the committee and the board will have to um adopt the fiscal year 20 uh fiscal year 2026 budget. I think that's more just a formality but that that will be addressed in our finance committee as well. Um I think uh I I personally will not be there but Angela will be in my place um in mystead. Um she's also going to give a very brief um outline of where we stand on the 24 fiscal year audit. Thank you. Um so we we were notified I had a meeting with the commissioner every third Friday uh superintendent meet with
055the commissioner to get updates and from what we understand um it's always a little bit of a dance in kind of finalizing the last minute um kind of budget decisions as we head into the school year. Um we we were told that title one allocations, title four and and some of our major grant allocations will be coming out the week of the 16th. Um so that we'll get an indication of how those numbers have changed if at all. Um so it helps us with with programming and and that that is wonderful news because I don't think you've ever gotten that information that this early before. Um certainly alliance were well aware of our increase our ECS increase of 9.1. So we we know that that's a fixed number that we have to work with. Um,
056and then just finalization of our end of year, how we've done with spending and how much we've used on subs and how we're going to plan for next year. And then the finalization of our busing, uh, busing runs and contract. So everything kind of comes together uh, late, but also um, to me this year, I think more than ever, I have a stronger sense and accurate picture of how those things build into our budget uh, with more detail and more finite detail so that we have a stronger planning for as we head into the school year. So, uh, we'll be sharing that out towards the end of June, uh, on where we landed and and I think as Mike said in the last, uh, meeting, we have to finalize that, uh, final number allocation for
057our budget, um, to open the year and our general fund for next year. We do that last meeting. Ready for the action item? Julie, would you do action item A? Motion um action item A policy 3320 purchasing procedures. Motion that the board of education accept for the first reading policy 3320 purchasing and procedures as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 25 107 motion made by Julie. Could I hear a second? Second by Teresa. Any questions? We should not have any question about motion because we sit in committee and we discussed them and if you have any question you should have them before we get right to it. So with that all in favor of the motion I hear I I oppose. Motion self carried. Uh Wita D B I'm sorry B. [Music]
058Policy 3323, soliciting prices/bidding requirements. Motion that the board of education accept for first reading policy 3323 soliciting prices bidding requirements as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with exhibit 25-108. Motion made by Vanita. Can I hear a second? Dr. Lesa. Any questions? Seeing none, all in favor could I say I. I. Motion so car. KC. I'll make a motion that the board of education approve the use of $234,543 from rental funds for repairs and refurbishments to the following sites. Broadview Auditorium, Rogers Park Auditorium, and Pemroke Gymnasium in accordance with exhibit 25-109. Motion made by K. Could I get a second? Second by Julie. All any questions? Seeing none, all in favor of the motion, could I? I motion so carry. Next on the agenda is the board chairperson report. Very short. Uh when
059you receive emails from um people and if they I feel like they have uh copied the superintendent uh on that email, just delete your email. Don't forget them email her. Okay? she has enough work to do to greet all these, you know, from 11 board members. So, let's get rid of this. Uh, I want to thank all the people, uh, the board members that attended the graduation, no matter what graduation it was, as long as someone was there to represent the court. Uh, that's what the partnership is, for us to be there to support, not just one person taking a stand on. Um, I want to put before the board and I have talked about this last year sometime and I want you to think about if we are happy doing what we're doing then
060we continue to do that. I was thinking about raising our meeting from 7:00 to 6:00 and only because of the winter months. We never had such a bad winter and you know everybody don't live 10 15 minutes around us. So if you wanted to stay at 7:00 it's okay. You want to raise to 6:00 that's your decision. I'm happy either way. So, how does that affect um some of the committees that meet prior to our board meetings? It just, you know, on that committee and going, we just have to adjust some if the committees, you know, if it's your decision if the committees, most of our committee meets at 5:30, right? I I'm just giving the idea if you want to think we can stay 7:00. So just think about it. What's I was just
061going to mention maybe too early. Yeah. So, so it's something that we can study. We don't have to make a decision. If we're comfortable staying at seven and it's not just us coming here at 7, we have to think about our students who come and represent and bring a report. Parents come out. Everybody get on and work. And some of you don't get out of work until 5:30. Okay. So it was just a suggestion. So just take that uh speaking of emails that same race. Is that Yeah. So I did I did send a reply on that and that is something that um that we are currently working on in terms of a of a more formal response but there has been communication on it. um just maybe not to the satisfaction of of uh
062of many. So uh but there has been communication on it and there's we shouldn't reply. No, we'll take we'll take care of that on our end. Thank you. Can I mention I got a very nice cry? You just I am happy. I'm just so impressed with the uh student from the art show that we went to see that time at the Grove Art Center. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for showing up. I want to thank the uh superintendent evaluation committee. Um we worked hard and had our meeting scheduled. We completed the superintendent evaluation and it's all complete. Okay. So, um you know, everybody can understand what the final project was and what we discussed and if you want to find any additional information concerning the superintendent contract, that information is online. Okay? You
063guys know what we voted on and discussed at the meeting. So, I'm just telling you, uh I had a a great committee uh to work with, which I have did every year that I've been on this board. uh we all don't see eye to eye but we realize um the educational things that we need to put forth for our district and that's to make it better. Okay. So, thank you evaluation committee. Seeing none, I know everybody's excited to get out there and all their pain. I need a motion to adjourn. I'm happy. I'm sorry. I'm I'm glad to see you, Rachel. Thank you for coming and sitting in our audience and we miss you. Okay. Okay. I need a motion to adjourn. Motion made by Teresa, seconded