001going to ask Teresa or Kate if one of you would volunteer to to take the minutes. Have any volunteers? Oh, Kate, did you say yes? Yeah, she must be on mute. Oh, your voice is coming through like very high pitched like like Minnie Mouse like Yeah. I've never heard that before. Yeah. Yeah. That's a first. I've never heard that. Kate's just logging back on. So, we'll wait a few minutes. I was having a problem with my internet before and I called Kate to send me some information there. So, it seems like now she's having some of the problems. Maybe it's catching Um, I have multiple options. Is that better? Okay. Thanks so much. Sorry about that. Okay. It was unclear. Can you take the minute? Yes, I can take the minutes, Rich. No problem. Thank
002you. So, if you would, would you just call the attendance? Sure. Hang on just a second. Sorry. Uh, Teresa present. Uh, Wanita here. Um, Rich here. Julie, I don't see her on here. And I'm on here. Um, and Glattus. I also show that we have um Michelle, Louisa, um, Mike Weaver, Angela Walsh, Ken is on the call, and of course, Dr. Casemiro. Okay. So, let's just purely for this. Okay, before we start, I just like to make an announcement. Um, I've received some constructive criticism relative to um perhaps ways that I've conducted the meetings whereby u sometimes the dialogue dialogue I have with Mike Weaver gets too involved or too detailed and I lose the audience that as well as I'm talking to addition to my book my colleagues here. So, what I'm going to
003try to taking that into account, I'm going to try to to understand and know the audience that I'm talking to uh and and sort of simplify things. David mentioned an excellent suggestion and Mr. Cooper agrees that we should as a board have a workshop that gives us a a an orientation to financial statement. the generalities and maybe basic principles of accounting and things like that. Um I I think that's an excellent idea. Uh not sure we ever had it before, but I certainly think a workshop like that in conjunction with Mike Wever would certainly be helpful. In consideration to our calendar between now and the end of the year and its fullness, Mrs. proof of thought that sometime in September or shortly thereafter we could uh schedule this particular workshop. So just wanted everybody to
004know that we're always in a process of looking to further improve our knowledge as to what we're responsible for and and to communicate so that everybody can understand the subject matter. I often think when I remember when Carol would talk about curriculum, she would use acronyms and I would go crazy because I didn't know what they meant. So I I understand the feeling that that's being, you know, expressed and shared. The other comment I want to make is on the agenda I had a notation on an item called AIS financial reporting. I'd like to eliminate that tonight because uh Dr. Casame had talked about that the last meeting and I think there more information to discuss on that relative to when Kim is available. Uh and then further to that is an item not on
005the agenda that I'd just like briefly to to put on and that would be a budget update Dr. Kazamera as to possible potential dates um to the budget presentation and maybe a board workshop so that we understand the talking points and we're on the same page. Those are my only comments relative to the the meeting. And with that being said, I'll turn it over to Mike to go to the first item which would be the financial reporting for the month of February. Thanks, Rich. Um, Ken, do you have them or would you like me to pull them up? Sure. You go. Mark, Mike, start with the the narrative as you and I have talked about and the correction to the narrative so that we can get that out of the way to to begin with.
006Okay, I will pull them up now. Mr. Jelly, I just want to let you know that Julie's on the call with us now. Okay. Okay, great. Hi, Julie. How are you? Hi. My apologies for being late. No problem. Glad you could make it. Thank you. Hey, is the summary uh visible for everybody? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So, I I um we try our best to get these out the Friday before this meeting happens. So, I hope everyone had a a chance to um briefly take a look at this. But this month we're presenting the financials uh through the end of February uh of last month. Um for for this month uh ending February expenditures fell just where kind of where they have we were at 15.7. Um there were only two payrolls uh as there usually
007is. um in in this month um particularly toward um toward the end we've been working on identifying individuals that are being um charged incorrectly still. Um it was mentioned once before, but as we started to go through the the budget for this year and see who was charged where by location, we noticed that um many people are charged either in the incorrect job codes or the incorrect locations. and in some cases uh the the incorrect funds. So we've began to identify one by one each of the individuals that are not classified correctly and going through the process of um of actually getting them corrected in the system um both retroactively and prospectively. So that is it's a very large lift to go through all 2,000 employees and all the the various salary lines, but um
008it's something that uh that really needs to be done. Um and I just did want to say although some of the the folks are not um in the correct locations or the correct job code in a in total um in the grand total in the grand sum uh the numbers are correct. It's just the the allocation that we're we're working with. Um Rich, I I shared with you when when you came in a little bit about what that process looks like. Um there are several people involved, but just for the benefit of uh everyone on the call, um the way it works is after we identify um an individual that's charged incorrectly, um we work with the cabinet to find out where they should be charged, um Angela Walsh, who is uh who is here
009on this call, will then reclassify the previous salary expense uh and the incumbrance of their salary going forward to the correct location. um that puts uh a journal entry in Q for me in the system to review. Uh I then review and approve it and then it goes to our payroll department to rerun um behind the scenes the scripts to actually put them in the right place. Um so it takes um a few quite a few minutes um to run each person. Um and each of the each of the folks that we're looking at h have several salary lines. It's not just their base salary line, but that includes any supplementals that are charged as well. So, we're going through um daily and and identifying those and making the moves. Okay. So, in essence, you're
010cleaning up a lot of issues that would make the report a little bit more meaningful. Yes. So, absolutely. Um it will make I I will say that as we move people um and we do uh have finally when we do have a set of financials that are um correct and accurate it will be difficult to compare um cost center to cost center just because of prior years people were in the incorrect spot but um over the course of time that will go away. All right. The other thing that we had talked about just want to call the attention on your second bullet point where it says year to date I think maybe third the fifth line down you make a comment that you're looking for the balance of year end to be a break even
011which would not necessarily as I understand it and we talked about be the chase because of the amount of open positions currently available to to supply and to demand. So, um I just want to Yeah. Yeah. That that is uh that is a typographical graphical error, Rich. You picked up on it. Um my apologies. I missed that before it went out. Um it there there is looking as of right now to be a favorable variance toward the end of the year. Um that is due two to two things. One is the relocation as I just spoke about of staff um in and out of grants. Um we we moved several folks out of the general fund into alliance this year um which will create a positive variance at the end of the year. Um additionally,
012as you mentioned, Rich, we're we're working with human resources to identify um all of the open positions and the rates um that are driving that. And um as you may or may not suspect, when we budget for salaries for for open positions, we also budget for those benefits, right? It would be silly for us to benefit for salaries and not the benefits if we believe we're going to hire them. So we should see uh the trend uh if it's favorable in salaries due to open positions there should be um a favorable component to um health dental and vision as well for those positions that are uh are not open I mean that are not filled at at a later date when Kim is available I would like to request the number that you feel at
013the date we discussed this uh that is still in the budget that is available for open position and then have Kim talk about the the the situation currently nationally in terms of the supply and demand and and the the hiring and retention stuff like that. So we'll put that off you know in terms of number discussions at a time when you could agree on and could be here to discuss that. Rich, I see that Teresa has her hand up. Hi, Teresa. Hi. Uh quite I just want to point out uh when we had the ESER grant and we we were allowed to charge positions to that grant. So calling it so bringing them back to the correct place, I find it kind of um almost insulting. Uh I think it would be a better word
014to maybe back to the original place. uh but a lot of the monies were transferred because of that uh the COVID relief funds. So I just want to point out it wasn't uh any monkey business. It was uh essentially the monies we got from Esser that we had a right to charge to. So and now we're charging other positions to the alliance grant. So you know what happens down the line if that changes? So I I would like a better terminology. That's all. Yeah. No, that that is 100% um correct and thank you for pointing that out. The the um area on this particular uh uh summary where I call out Esser um refers specifically to um I'm I'm not sure I'm going to test your memory a little bit, but in the beginning of
015the year, we had a line. It was a salary line. Um and the the line was part-time printing. And for for better or worse when people came um out of the esser and as you pointed out put correctly back into the general fund um I guess John didn't know exactly where to stick them so he put them in this part-time or PT printing um as kind of a placeholder until we figured out where they belonged. Um Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. No 100% right. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. It's not a matter of assuming funny business. It's just a matter of cleaning things up so it I understand. I I I'm sorry for the terminology. No problem. And the last thing, Mike, is I think on the last paragraph you you had where you you went through
016and explained the the the expenses. You and I understand it. And again, you know, without getting too too nerdy, um, if you can briefly help me out and try to interpret what what the the expenses are here that are not recorded, but have potential liability for. Yes. So, a as we um as we receive um expenses in that that we're obligated to pay, um we then um and only once we're obligated to pay, we'll put um a purchase order or the system automatically does it, I should say, but that a system will put in a purchase order um and that will be in our uh line that we often see as incumbrances. Um there are expenses that will um most likely um come down to uh come coming down the line that will impact us,
017but we're not currently obligated to them. So we can't quite encumber them, if that makes sense. Um uh one of the examples that's frequently used is um graduation. So we know that there's going to be a graduating class. um we don't know exactly what that's going to look like as far as perhaps tent rentals and things like that. So, we know that there's going to be an expense for graduation, but we don't know exactly what it is and we're not legally obligated to it yet. Um so, I kind of just put that that last sentence in there just to say that there are going to be expenses down the road in addition to what we see um that aren't quite reflected yet, if that makes sense. And as a PS to that, but we'll be
018reflected in the appropriate accounting year when that obligation is is incurred. Yes. Okay. So that that's fine. Okay. All right. That basically was some of my comments on from on from on the narrative and thank you for cleaning it up. If you now want to go to the operating statement and point out any anything in that that you'd like to discuss or any topics or items there that you find are the watch items uh that we should be looking for. Rich, I'm sorry to interrupt. Uh Oneanita has her hand up. Okay, Oneita, go ahead. Okay. Um thanks Mike. Um I just I didn't see it on the agenda, so I hope this is the place to ask the question. Um the non-lapsing account right now um we're not planning on contributing to that. Is that
019correct? Um for the first year that we were um allowed to that the legislation kicked in was uh fiscal year 24. Um, and there was at year end at the time we presented the financial there there was about a 2 point um Rich correct me if I'm wrong a $2.1 million favorable variance at the year end right um and we wanted to move that in. we had the ability to do 2% which would have been up to um 3 million um and I asked that we just wait until the financial audit was uh complete because as we saw um in fiscal year 23 those numbers are extremely volatile. So um there is going to be um a surplus for fiscal year 2024. So we will be contributing to that. Um the exact amount um I'm
020not sure of yet, but um the finance committee will know as soon as we do and I believe the board will vote on that prior to that um being done. Um for fiscal year 20 five, which we're in right now, um as of February, we're showing a um $9 million favorable um variance. As I said, we're moving people in and out of uh the grants to get them in the correct place. So that since um a as of today as of March is going to be coming down uh a little bit but there um to the extent that there is a surplus we'll be able to put uh up to 2% which for this fiscal year would be on the 160. So there would be a maximum of 3.2 2 million um available um if
021there is a surplus to put into the 2% account and and so in either the accounts have been established that the movement of cash hasn't been done and Kim had pointed out um that there were a lot of legal restrictions in terms of this account. So right, I thought it was simple. You open it, he opened a technical account, he moved the monies in, but it was more complicated than that. So there was So you're right. We haven't moved the funds in here, but we do have the capability of utilizing those funds, right? And so we have the capability of using that account, but um number it's not mandatory. And if we do have additional funds, then they might be um used elsewhere before putting into that account. Is that a possibility? I don't think
022so. But yeah. Yeah. I I would certainly think though that that's our our prerogative so long as within the scope of utilizing the funds that are applicable to to the expenditure in that year. So yeah, thank you. Okay. So, we will we will see um these these numbers uh move as we move people um in and out of of the grants. Um Carara, myself um as well as Angela and Wanita will be meeting shortly to just review every um every grant we have and and every person and make sure that the salary lines and the benefit lines um are are correct in all of funds. I thought it was important that in light of the recent favorable adjustment that was found within the 23 audit uh that we're showing experience here at at this particular
023time a favorable variant but yes to to be further adjusted and explain that part of this is just because of certain practices or certain conditions in the marketplace. So I I I think it's important that at least we we understand that we're going to have all things being considered they equal a a surplus of x number of dollars because we can't build these positions. Yeah, there will be um a favorable surplus, favorable variance at year end for um salaries and benefits even if we were to be able to um fill the positions 100% being that we're midyear um you know not 100% of their salary is going to be able to reflect. So if we hire someone at a fictitious salary of 80,000 only 40,000 of that would reflect since we're already halfway through the
024year if that makes sense. Yeah. Um, are there any other questions that anybody would have relative to the financial statements as we're discussing? Rich, I did just want to make one comment after the board um the committee members have a chance to ask questions. Um, c can I the transportation is negative at this time. Um yeah there there is um there is a small unfavorable variance in um transportation for the year. Um that is um likely due to the incumbrance if you see the incumbrance line. Um so that is not not only the transportation that we have for um our our regular buses. It's also for um our Mckin Vento falls in that. Um there are other other purchase services in that but a large majority of that is um is transportation. So in essence,
025if I understand what Mike is saying, this is another one of those issues where the the timeliness of issuing the report versus the the clarity as to how to allocate those costs to where they belong sort of lags behind. Would that be correct? Yes. Yeah. Okay. So it it's a timing issue. Uh Teresa, you know, it this points here, we're trying to do so much at once, and I don't think our system or our staff can keep up with furnishing something that is is I want to use the word, but don't get me to think it the wrong way, accurate because there are yet entries to to be made, you know. Yeah, we could at a certain point if we want to eliminate this, we can decide to hold off on statements for a period
026of of another month and do two months behind and by that time come up with more accurate and defined charges. But that could be a conversation for another time. But right now, unfortunately, with the what Mike has to do, what Andrew has to do, it's really a timing issue of trying to see what they can get out and then to define certain items that would require further adjustments. And there's for some reason I can't hear you, Rich. I'm sorry. Okay. What what I was saying is is I I think this is more of a timing issue that in the future the reports and and the systems would be a lot cleaner so that the charges when they're the the statements when presented to us would be accurate with all of the corrected allocations as opposed
027to having a bill from the bus company coming in and charged against one line where it should be charged against special education or it should be charged against a grant account or something else. So that's what I'm saying. So Mike, you know, always talks about going through and cleaning these things up. It's just a matter of the the amount of time they they have to do it. um uh and as opposed the time they have to do this uh in relationship to where they're trying to present the statements and justify to the numbers just so you know one of the drivers in the in the new budget was an increase in the transportation because of you know some rising costs and the and the number of students and the types of transportation that that some
028of our students need. So some of that, you know, we know that that's on the rise and it seems to be, you know, it's reflected here, but also that that's why it became a driver for next year. So that so that it would be part of a budgeted, you know, more a little bit more budgeted based on where we're projecting out where we think we might be. So that one's a moving target because um you know, just just yesterday, you know, we had a student who required very specialized busting busing, very expensive between now and the end of the year, which is fine. It's just that, you know, these things come roll in, you know, on a regular basis and they they're a little less predict predictable than some of the other some of the
029other items. Thank you. Y, are there any other questions from the board members on this? Cara wants to make a comment if they were. No, they're not mine. You're okay. Julie Julie said she Sorry, China. Julie, do you have a question? She does not. Rich. Oh, okay. Cara, did you want to make your comment? Yeah, just a comment around the staffing. Kim's gonna Kim's going to uh talk about staffing next Wednesday. She couldn't come tonight. Um, but she is going to do a little presentation on the staffing. We have we have over a hundred positions um that are open probably closer upward like maybe 1:30ish. I go back and check the list, but you know, tremendous amount of paraprofessionals and tutors, um persistent vacancies around science classes, um special education openings, um some coaches, some
030media specialists that we didn't backfill because we weren't quite sure where where the year was going to land. So, there's there's quite a list of open positions. Some of those have been backfilled with uh with, you know, uh providing period coverage. Some of those have been backfilled with overages and some we have agency staff. But you know there are a lot of salaries and benefits that um you know are are not going to be utilized this year. So that's something that when Mike was talking about the favorable balance that that's part of it. So, and we, you know, keeping an eye on it, but that's something that, you know, at least we know and, you know, we are we're aware of it, right? And and to that point, I don't want to throw a fly
031into the ointment, but the the knowing that and putting that in the budget is something that we need because these positions are absolutely necessary and we're currently working at a handicap which then prevents our kids from being, you know, properly educated. But, you know, to play devil's advocate, somebody can say, "Well, we're funding you for this money and you haven't spent it." um therefore you know it's like a prepayment but there may be different solutions to this which I don't want to get into now but you know it does create some some issues which going forward we you know have answers for may be able to tackle but you know it's just something that is on a horizon that we're aware and look to I guess negotiate Mike if you would go to the grant
032schedule and I want to thank Angela for the if there's anybody I can't see the hands yeah there is uh oh my gosh there we go just then you know call out your question if you got your hand up oh my gosh I can't find my I can't seem to get on. Rich, I have one quick question, please. I know Michelle's looking for some information, it sounds like. Um, sorry. Yeah, if I'm unmuted. I can just ask. For some reason, my my photo's gone off my screen. Rich, thank you. Just quickly, um I know that when we were trying to um when we had the shortage of the 10 million and we kind of redesigned the whole district to accommodate for that $10 million, you know, squeeze with the budget. Um and we had found
033positions, I think it was like 120 or something that were not filled, but we were paying. I think 51 were staff and teachers. So, how far back are we trying to figure out the management of the personnel and where they should be allocated? Cuz I thought that was part of the recent um you know redesign I'm going to call it for the district. Um so is this something that you know on an average we're going to expect this much or because it just seems that we've gone back and we had found those monies, we kind of repositioned everyone. I'm thinking that takes, you know, looking into their status of where they are and what grant. So, I'm just, you know, maybe you could give us a little bit more information on that. Sure. I'm not
034Maybe I missed it. I'm not on finance, but I'd appreciate that. Thank you. No, of course not. No, it's a good question. And we did, we found some duplicates and things where uh the same position had two job codes, for example, and so that was more back-end cleanup that we did and and then we found savings there. Um, so that part was great. And there were some positions that had been posted that we said we no longer need these, right? We we either had a new position or a new person took over some part of the responsibilities or they were spread across uh different different people and and things like that. So we're able to clean that up. the um what we have right now is you know from the topsyturvy of er funds right
035we went through several years don't forget the last couple of years over you know I think we were given over 30 22 million and then another esser grant um and every time those grants kind of phased out you have staff that have to come back and be moved and um get put back into the system and then you have to refind a new grant or a new home or general fund and I think you know in the last couple of years Michelle that's It's um it was a whirlwind and so I don't know that a lot of things were uh when I actually took the time I sat with Mike and I was watching with Angela what it takes to move one person in a system they have to align correctly in HR they have
036to align correctly in EGMS which is a grant system that that that pulls and then the funding source on the back end and then if they have you know they could be a coach at the high school they could be they could have longevity they could uh maybe they were out and they had a long-term sub that also also gets tagged to their account. And what we were finding is that, you know, over time, all of these different little line items were coming from different places. And we're trying to bring everything home to a location and nail this down and and just get back to a place of stability because um things don't move easily in the in the back ends of these system. It's very cumbersome. Requires somebody who really knows the the system
037inside and out. Like really intricate. It's not intuitive. I look at it and I get dizzy and I I have to sit with someone from the finance office to do it. So, uh it's very tedious. So, um you know, this this team and I'm going to give the team so much credit because they the minute that they first Mike started the year off um with no help. We were thankful to bring on Angela Walsh. We were thankful to bring on Wanja. Um he's still a little bit short. We're working on that. But all they did, all these folks have been doing since the time they stepped in Beaverbrook in their roles as all new has been audit, audit, audit, audit. A fury of audit. And so, um, as you know, there was a small break
038in the audits for a moment. And we're really digging into some of the systems that we're that we have and how we're working those things together, but also how we're classifying folks. there's a lot of um will to have a location budget so we can see how much we're spending by a school or by a location and we've been unable to do that um to produce that in a way that we felt really good about um but because as we reset for 2526 the goal was to build that for 2526 but our current system is still based on the old kind of scramble of of where these positions have been docked to and so right now over the next couple of months the goal is to rebuild everything and and that's the it's a slow
039process of retagging every single person all their little stipens that they get their longevity things they're due from a contract four years ago to line those up in the system and to say this person works at Danbury High School and but their funding source is Alliance this person works at Danbury High School but their funding source is title two or it's title four so and because we've kind of forced over time to really rely over rely on grants um it's not easy for us I would love if everybody just came out general fund. That'd be so much easier uh in the system, but we really have to reclassify every year and the grants change every year. So, next year Alliance is going to go up. So, now we've got to take once we once we
040build the budget, now we're going to take more staff and slide those in to different grants that will absorb staff as we have over time. So, for us, it's a it's a really tough moving target because of the financial maybe tumultuousness that we've experienced. and that I think we're going to continue to experience for a little bit longer. But, um, the goal is to make sure that this team is on the same page and that they're training together on how to do this because they're all, like I said, they're all new in their roles. This is a complicated financial system. Um, we've been talking a lot about training and bringing this team did not have the benefit of Tyler training that we did when we first rolled over to the conversion. So, that's another thing
041we want to do. So, as soon as they can come up for air, which they have not been able to, um, a few of us are going to be staying over the April break to work on some things, but soon as they come up for air, that whole team needs and wants and has been asking for training, and we're going to get that for them. So, there's a lot to this. It's it's pretty complicated. It's a great question. Um, but the goal is, you know, to to build the 2526 budget in the system. Once we get our allocation from the city, we'll have kind of a a little clearer road map of what we have to do and where people have to go. Otherwise, we're doing everything two and three times uh again and it
042it's very timeconuming. But I I appreciate the question because I feel like I've been waiting to say this for a little bit. May I ask one more question? The size district that we are obviously we you know we've had to you know pay for additional help in the finance department. Clearly, that is, as far as I'm concerned, the priority. So, we know where we stand because we keep having surpluses, but yet we can't, you know, we don't pay enough, right? We don't have enough. So, how do we get that? How do we get over that? Um, yep. And is there a uh is the system that we currently have, it's an in-house um like the all of the payroll and everything is done inhouse. Is that customary for a district our size? Where is the
043advantage? I've heard several times over the last few years that we've had some payroll issues or glitches, possibly new systems and new so many that I can't even keep up with. But um I guess that's my question. Are we again trying to bandaid a situation? Are there other systems that can, you know, quickly, you know, differentiate what you've got going on? You know what I mean? Just in today's day. I'm Thank you for that. Yeah. Yeah. No, we could definitely use more staff. We're working on that. Um where's I don't see Mike on my screen. I got to scroll to his face. But laugh when I say this. I said, you know, Mike needs to get he's in the process of hiring an assistant, a secretary because he has been without um one. Um, and
044the you know what I'm saying to him, you got to put your o oxygen mask on first here so we can continue to do this work, right? Because because that that office has been stretched. A lot of offices have been stretched. I won't say that that's the only one. The same is true. So so we've got to get the finance rounded out um so that we don't end up in this position. Um it's actually more costly if we don't staff appropriately. And that's that operational efficiency thing that you guys have heard me say from time to time. The same thing with with HR, you know, in terms of the ability to recruit and be responsive and and on board in a in a way that keeps up with our the turnover that we're experiencing. We
045haven't right-sized some different offices around. And last year, um, you know, when we tried to kind of balance out where the cuts came from, we, you know, we we dipped into central office and it and it hurt hurt tremendously. So, you know, we it's one of those things. It's pay now, pay later. And yeah, we closed the budget, made it balanced, but in the in the back end, we're we we're less efficient. Um people are quite frankly very stressed out and um you know, we're trying to retain retain people. And when you invest a lot of time and energy like when I invest in this finance team to have all that, you know, very high quality but expensive training, I want to make sure that they stay with us, you know. So, and that's that
046we have to make sure that that office can handle what what's being asked of them and as well as the other offices that are that are doing similar high volume work right now. If I could just jump in to to add on to that. Um Michelle, you you know I I came from outside of education and um one of the first things that um John had tasked me with was to look at payroll because as you mentioned um it was a little bumpy when I first uh came on. Um and you know wearing my typical industry hat I said I'll roll up my sleeves. I'll fix this. I'll bring in you know an outside payroll. Um we did I went to um three or four different vendors um paychecks UKG um ADP and I think
047one other one. I had in-depth conversations with them about about how we work in our systems and how they interface um and how they might be able to offer solutions to us. Um I think it is customary for um districts to use um their own in-house. Um, and I think that's a function of the software that we use. We we use Tyler Tech. Um, and that that Tyler Technologies is a huge publicly traded company. Um, they have many different products and they're all throughout municipalities and that's kind of how they're built. Um, so I I met with these companies and I took the top two or three and I brought them to Carara and I said, "Hey, can we just at least give them an opportunity to see what an outside company could do for
048us um and how they might interact with um with not only the finance payroll part, but we're plugged into the Tyler part that's human resources and recruiting and all that." Um and at the end of it it's we came to the conclusion that it may very well be something that's um costwise break even perhaps a little bit more expensive um but it would completely tear apart the entire system that we had and in the end they the payroll system said we can only guarantee you accuracy of the files that you give us and that's kind of where we were struggling. So, okay. Garbage in, garbage out kind of situation. So, we um we went back to the drawing board and I'm proud to say since at least um July, don't say it. I I don't
049have any wood to knock on, but um since July um we've been much better. Yeah. Okay. Good. Thank you, Mike. Thank you very much. To add to that, Michelle, a big part of what we're going through and have going through uh is the the issue that we've had a lack of consistency or continuity in our finance department. Created this this issue where every time we get a new finance person is, they're coming in cold not knowing what the previous person has done and it's creating the issues. as you can you know hear and as you remember a couple of years ago I forget the timing the horrendous problems we had in payroll so the decision was to go with Tyler Mike explained the relationship between that what Mike has done too the Tyler system is
050good it's powerful but it's not all perfect to case in point Mike has made it a lot better by these account codes which can break outside of patient codes department etc etc But one of the the idiosyncrasies are that if Rich Janelli is a teacher in school A and two days a week he teaches in school B and you want to keep the records straight then they got to charge school B that requires some sort of a manual intervention to move it from A to B. You know we're not at at the point at this point period where that's automated. So a lot of that minutiae, but we're trying to to build to a better record keeping situation is is not done. So we know the limitations and we're looking to to to work around
051them. Uh but it's it has to be prioritized. I'll I'll just add one last thing and then I won't I talked a lot tonight but you know Michelle and for all everybody on here just our our finance group and our our board we we have to do a lot of work to restore the confidence in the taxpayers. Um we know that and I can tell you right now we're having some great conversations about really looking at our systems and and digging deep to say where else can we improve? How can we do this? How do we build build this team up together so that the communication you know is is strong? How do we um you know what are the red flags? You know, how do we not miss something again? Like how do we
052you know even though we went through four CFOs for Mike is our fifth in a very short period of time, you know, what are the questions that we need to ask and what are the things that I need to do and everyone else so that we don't end up in this situation in this situation again. So, um, we're putting ourselves through the paces on this, um, to make sure that that, you know, we get the training and that the and that the things that we're doing on the back end, we're doing them well and right, and we're not just trying to, you know, throw it together to get through another financial year. Like, we we have to set this a strong foundation so that every year it's more tweaking as a instead of like blowing
053up the house and starting over again. So, that's kind of just, you know, that's something that we're working on. And and the other thing too is is so that Mike doesn't repeat the the revolving wheel of the hamster that he did last year is to get him more professional help so that he can direct them to to resolve the issues that we have and those issues being cleaning up these accounts and looking at the current budget consensus. So, you know, we're I I think we're making progress. It it's uh it's going to take some time, but I think we're on the right track. I think we know what we're we're doing. It's just a matter now of having the manpower within and doing that within an accelerated period of time so that we all can
054feel comfortable that we're starting at ground zero to to move forward. I hope that you know it's a good it was a good question, Michelle. I hope that you know. Yes, thank you. Yeah, I appreciate it and I'm excited to hear about the payroll and the adjustments. I from you know I have a good friend who works in the system and has complained about every you know this person's getting paid. So the fact that we are addressing it and we're having this conversation is exciting because I know that that conversation is taking place in the community in our district. So you know we're moving forward that's very important. So thank you for all the effort. That's the important thing on the grants that are part of the financials. I do want to thank Angela uh
055for the the two types of reporting. Uh to my my preference would be the second type which I say the second type I think would be pages 7 through 10 which breaks these grants down by classification. It gives a tremendous amount of information relative to expiration, who handles it, etc., etc. So, I would, you know, make a recommendation to to, you know, perhaps at the next board meeting if the the board for the finance people would let me know which of these um reports they prefer to have. uh whether it be one or the other or still a combination of both. Um that that certainly would uh be helpful. The only thing I'd like to ask Angela is um at that point in time and maybe at the next board meetings if on those items
056that show federal grants if you can just aster those and come up with a subtotal or put a little footnote in to how much money that is because one of the agenda items is prepar to talk about grants and in totality. I just like to see how much money or federal grants. Mike, if you could just move that up a little. Um, I'm not even sure what you is this new format. Yes, sir. If you can bring it up a little bit more right here 10,7 that's current year plus the carryover. No, that's No, that's the total for federal. Oh, yes. for federal. I'm sorry. Yep. Oh, okay. State is above it and miscellaneous is uh on the next page. I got Okay, I missed it. That's great. We we're trying to do some revisions.
057We have till like May 1st. That's another big project. You know, we have a lot of staff in in the grants that some of which some of those staff members that are that are vacant are also in the in the grants. So, you know, it's hard to um you know, once you set a grant, you have to kind of spend it according to the plan, then you got to get approval for revision. So, we're we're you know, we don't have a lot of manhel on this uh end as as well. I'm trying to also do do these as well as some of the other folks that are listed. But um trying to go through to, you know, to see what lines have been spent already and unpack that in each one of these and then
058um see if we can get approval for revisions so we don't lose the salary and benefits that go with those grants for the people that we that were not uh that are not coming out. Right. You know what it was, Angela? When I picked up the hard copies in the office, I didn't have all the schedules available. So that's why I missed, you know, I asked for that was in front of me, but that's Yeah, no problem. Yeah, thank you. Angela, thank you for including the page numbers, too. Yeah, this looks great, Angela. Yeah, the page numbers help. That was a difficult one. And this is such a quick turnaround time from the discussions that the committee members had relative to the comments they had on the grants wanting to see who's responsible the time
059period and stuff like that. So I think it was a worthy discussion. The turnaround time to fulfill the information for the committee members was terrific. So uh I I I thank you again. It's really good. Do any of the committee members have any comments on a brand? You were saying you wanted us to choose the format between this and what and the other one the last time. Well, there were two types. One was a general one and the other was classified by by the category. Oh, okay. Yeah. Subtotal. But like this one here doesn't really, you know, this was like the original one, but from this we got a little bit more creative and say could we get this, this, and this. So it evolved to the the next type of format that we had.
060I like Yeah, I like the last one. Yeah, I I concur. And maybe if maybe if we can just take an a quick consensus now. Do most of the committee members agree that the schedule that's on the the screen now is the one that we'd like to have? I do. I do. I do. Okay, great. Is Julie, I do. Okay. Thank you. So, makes it easy and in the future then eliminate the other one and just stay with this. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So moving to the uh next uh agenda item was the issue of the the federal funds and what I meant by that was Carrick can pretty much give us an update. I know she explained a little bit at at the board meeting but things change daily as to
061what her feeling is at this point here. Is anything been decisive that federal government is is going to penalize us or take away any funding from us? Sorry, Richard. I didn't mean to cut you off. So, my meeting with the state is uh Friday is this Friday. Okay. So, yeah, I'll know more. Um I did happen to reach out to a couple superintendents. I talked to the superintendent in Stamford. they are in a sim similar crossroad and um you know they the way that she approached it and you have to get permission I guess but that school she kept them on she's just on a corrective action plan they have reduced revenue from the from the the number of students that they're able to get and she started to just let in the Stamford students
062uh because she was in the same boat she's like how can I justify having under an underenrolled school and so they they take they took the hit on the reimbursement um and I think They're kind of gradually just going year to year on it. So my conversation Friday is really going to be what does you know if we do do an off off road come off you know how do we on offramp ourselves from the model or can we stay on it and have a slow burn and continue continue but still maintain some of the revenue that's coming in. Um so uh and and then you know are there penalties associated with that if we do that do it that way. Um and then you know one way or another whatever we do it has
063to be gradual. we cannot just flick the school um send students back uh to their home. You know, we have a commitment to those students um to see them through that we've had we have agreements participating town agreements andus that we need to honor um and you know if we ever do anything in the future those towns will not likely do business with us uh if we don't you know treat treat folks fairly in this process. So um and also we need to be able to um add the lost revenue in would actually be a driver in subsequent uh future you know budgets to come. So we would have to gradually uh absorb that. Now could we could we you know absorb that with some things next year? Yes. Um we're going to have to
064but um we also have space issues in other schools and things. So there, you know, some some of our problems in other places can be solved with um, you know, with with with the potential open space at AIS. So we're exploring that. I'll know more after Friday. Okay. And so you were talking about specifically AIS situation. Correct. Just AIS. Yeah. Okay. My my question was related to the federal government and the DEI. I'm so sorry. No, they were both related. Uh, and and Yeah. So, Jim, maybe we could hold that up until next week until you come back with the the state, but it it's just to me you hear so much and you get confused on it on the national level what they're doing with federal funding, etc. And it changes every day. Something
065gets issued and then two days later somebody claps back with nope, that's not correct. We're gonna, you know, there's or have a stay, you know, in executing this. So, it's it's hard to keep up with. Yeah. Um, you know, we were riding the roller coaster. I I I'm sitting back a little bit and just like, let's wait for some of this to flesh itself out. Um, without knee-jerking. Um, you know, we have 10 million in federal grants is our exposure. Um, you know, and and I think, you know, there are a couple things on there that I think, you know, they're actually more at the state level that are red flaggy for some of the things like our increasing educator diversity grant. Um, which is I think we have two of those for like 240
066something, thousand. Those those are kind of the question mark ones where we're like is, you know, should we be spending this money? Do we have, you know, should we keep going forward with this? We're just moving forward. Um, you know, and and the the other questions around some of our other grants is we don't really see anything in there that's that says that we are making decisions based on race. So, we think we're we think we're good. I mean, you know, we have a policy around equity that we might need to, you know, tweak some language and and but, you know, we we can talk about that in policy next time we get together. I I you know, if we ride this wave too much of the changes, you know, it'll drive everybody nuts. So,
067we're just trying to breathe through it as it comes and um you know, just at least know where our exposures are. Great. So, in that when it becomes more of a deep breath, correct? Okay. Thank you. The next item that we don't have on the agenda, but I wanted to add was a quick update from Dr. Casemra on the the budget. uh as to the budget update which may meant what timetable or what date we have to make presentations perhaps the possibility of a board workshop to to understand her presentation now and to have more talking points about us as board you talk a little bit about that character sure so um so we have you know at the board's pleasure we have a date that's tentative for March 26th is still a hold date.
068We have a board meeting at 7 o'clock and we have a tenative hold which is a community conversation um at six o'clock beforehand. If we wanted to continue to utilize that to do a presentation in the community perhaps maybe a broad view might be a great location. Um then maybe we could have the board meeting um you know have the board meeting at Broadview in the library. We've done that before convenient site and we can invite the public in for um to hear the presentation, you know, in a live format. We've certainly done um we've done that live in in a board meeting. We've done a couple of um some video. We did to do a PTO. So, there's a video that has been circulating around. So, um we could certainly do one um on
069the 26th at the board's pleasure. Uh we also um oh just for timeline sake that would be just prior to the mayor releasing his his his overall numbers for for the entire city and then we would be presenting at ad hoc uh I think the third week of April. So timing wise um I think you know we would be presenting before the mayor presents his budget which would be probably one of the last opportunities to do so. You know I thank you. I'll leave that to you. I'm glad to and we're going to talk about that in community conversations I believe. Okay, great. Uh, thank you. That being the case, that concludes the items that were up were on my amended agenda. Are there any to the committee members? Are there any questions that the
070committee members had for any of the administration report? If not, are there any questions from any of the non-committee members that want to make a comment or have any questions? Uh, I just have a question and it's either for superintendent or Angela or Mike. Uh and going through this um the documents that were sent out uh could you explain to me the difference between uh looking at page two, page four, and page seven. The difference in the those three accounts that's as identified as curriculum development. Yes. Are those are those same are those the same accounts? Page two. Page two. Okay. I think it's up at the top. Page four. Okay. And page seven. We have curriculum development. Pull it up. Yes. So, um, let me share my screen. And I'm anticipating I thought curriculum
071just came up under one umbrella and that that's why I need you to enlighten me. Yes. So this is uh page two curriculum development um is right here. You'll see this f um maybe you can't see it. It's very small. Yeah, I have the copy at home. Okay. F uh 51021. Um this the wording curriculum development is something that we put in there. Um that's just kind of a description. The 51 indicates that um this particular account is a salary account. Okay. So there must be a position um that at the time that they set the system up, they wanted to call that position curriculum development. Okay. Um, if I go to page four, I think you said it was. Yeah, page four. At the top, the first one, you'll see um 53. So, um,
072this is curriculum development as it relates to a professional service. Um, so perhaps we pay um um a third-party vendor for some curriculum development. Um, so it's not really a a W2 employee, but it's a person that we hire as maybe a 1099. Um, they would fall in this 53 category. Okay. Okay. And then you said page seven. Page seven. Good thing they're numbered. So page seven, um, curriculum development. This this list is a summary. So um curriculum development you'll see again this is the 51. So this refers to the salary of curriculum development. Uh the double0 is indicating that it's um a summary across all district. So this is um for the entire district. It's kind of just restating it. Okay. And you'll see that that so this should be also you should see
073the 53 if you go further down. You'll see it again. This so this is the summary for curriculum development by so this report is just a different report. This is showing it by month as opposed to total. But the 51 is salaries and the 53s are professional services. Okay. Thank you very much. Yes. Thank you Mike Cooper. Just before I I call a motion to to adjurnn, I just want to say how good of a job I did because I'm four minutes over the one hour mark. Rich, can I just add one thing quickly? Sure. You're going to ruin my my record. Go ahead. I I'll keep it under 59 seconds. Um so a as we go through the financials and we're trying to determine um what our our positive and negative variances are, we
074are um looking very closely at our purchase orders. So our um our accounts payable system. Um Teresa, this is something that you've brought up um at least twice. Um and I I couldn't agree more. Um as we were going through the audit, in fact, we found that $1.4 4 million. That was a purchase order that should have been looked at and closed. So we are now going through the exercise um I believe for the first time um in in the district where we are looking at um all open purchase orders making sure that um one that they're um that they're valid um and if they're open standing purchase orders that um the the amount that's in there is still the best estimate that we have. Um we're going through that now. Um and any purchase
075orders that um can be closed are going to be closed. And we're gonna we're starting that right now. Um Dr. Casemiro has given everyone by the April break to get that done. And following the April break, then I get to I get to drop my hammer and go through the list and make sure everyone did it. And we're going to do that then on a rolling basis perhaps quarterly to start. Wonderful news. Thank you. Thank you, Teresa. That's something that has been, you know, practice that has been loosey goosey. So, we're put we're tightening that right up. Yeah. And it goes to express the point that we know in the past there have been some differences, but as we learn the these particular issues, we look to correct them so that we are moving in
076the right in the right direction. I I I realized the last couple years, you know, I came in on co everything was topsy tur and I understand it's getting back to normal now. Good. So, thank you. Can I get a motion to adjourn? So, moved. Second. Oh, wait. Hang on a second. Before we move that that motion, can we make a motion to recommend the February finance report uh to the full board? Second. Okay. All in favor? Hi. Hi. Hi. Thank you. And now the motion to adjourn. I make the motion to adjurnn.