001stand for over [Music] oh where you that arms I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one [Music] nation order arms right face over why would you do W call how mayia present Teresa B present Michelle Coello here Kate canetta here vadis Cooper here Dr Mary Cronin AB Lauren Daly here myself Rich janelli here okay Julie Milano here Louisa Britain Louisa here okay thank you move on down uh Kate would you read the script for public participation the board welcomes public participation and ask that speakers please limit their comments to 3 minutes speakers may offer objective comments of school operations and programs that concern them the board will not permit any expression of personal complaints or defamatory comments about Board of Education personnel and students nor
002against any person connected with the Danbury public school system thank you Kate uh we had if anyone would like to speak and didn't uh sign the sign up sheet uh you have the opportunity to do it now do we have anyone that would like to speak okay get thank you thank you to evening I'm Janice Anderson and I'm here to speak on the agenda okay Janice you saw okay so we can hear you sorry about that uh good evening I'm Janna Sanderson I'm usually a little more prepared when I come uh to speak to you so I get close to my three minutes help me know uh I'm here to speak on the proposed cell phone policy for the district I had a chance to finally read it over this afternoon I had sat I
003was one of the parents that sat on the ad hoc committee um please to see that some of it seemed to be liking going be a little bit more strict than when we were talking uh because there a lot of different things um I do hope and encourage Dan and I will have that conversation directly with him and one of his principles breakfast that at the high school level that they really take it seriously not to have it in study hall that um I even would like to see it go further where they're not allowed to happen that at all during the day um the two things that I've read and see that are the most um Difficult about these policies well the one I see that's most to parents um um the two parents
004that sat on the adoc committee were both parents who think that there shouldn't be S phones in schools um she has managed for a long time to keep her children not having cell phones I found that was just so difficult with them everybody around them having them for them to feel like they' got fit in I'm also seeing know that my son who already struggles in school the idea that you know just using his cell phone during study hall when he could be doing other things like you know working on work would be there happy the whole time there could be some fun but that would be really beneficial so but I am glad to see that the district's moving forward there are so many studies out there um which I have shared I hope
005to email all of you but you didn't have links so I was going have to cut and paste so we'll get them later in the week um but there's so many studies out there that uh it what how good it is and how much better schools are doing without cellones and I'm sure I know there are teachers behind me and even at the El level when I sub it's crazy um and I know that the teachers I'm sure um the other thing I heard was Mr Don and also East princial the idea that kids bosses need to get in touch with them so they don't any more than I really need to get in touch with them it's easy to it's easy to say hope she's at lunch I can text her but I don't
006have to so thank you again and um I also encourage you all we have four amazing musicals coming up at our middle schools um Su this week um Beauty at Rogers um Beauty the Beast next week uh also at Rogers with by the Westside Middle School Musical Theater and then of course Hairspray the high school in early April and at the end of April I believe it's Shrek from so hope to see some are all you those reactions thank you thank you for bringing your concerns and activity to the board anyone else would like to come before the board seeing none we move on down the agenda Mar would you do the consent Calendar please I make a motion that the Board of Education approved consent calendar exhibits 25 through 28 25-28 through 25-32 in
007accordance with um with the accordance with the below sorry motion made by I second second second by Teresa any question concerning in St C seeing none all in favor could I hear I I motion so care okay do we have anybody from our educational staff that would like to um come before the [Music] board yeah [Music] don't I know Bridget's not here tonight we're talking about donation from the yeah okay but it was in the consent was yeah yeah I agree okay I think at some point we will have to either make that a separate item with the what you know instead of in telling the in the whole consent count we need to talk about that yeah to acknowledge we want to acknowledge the superintendent real a knowledge the dam be live be sorry
008for the confusion everyone we want to make sure we get this right right uh thank you so we do have a donation a very generous donation so we will accept a donation in the amount of 1,000 $235 from the friends of Danbury Museum and Historical Society to support the purchase of educational supplies needed for History Day and PBI pbl um Museum night at danbury's three middle schools uh in accordance with 25-32 so uh we thank the Danver Historical Museum and the friends of Dany for for this effort greatly oh hi J I didn't see you oh good on the Friends board at the danber Museum um I'm also an educator there I'm a former teacher and taught 38 years [Applause] phenomenal from the magnet school nice to see familiar faces but we want to thank
009you all for your cooperation and your uh assistance in getting History Day up been going in the three um middle schools and hope to co you know collaborate with y'all in the future so I know the money will go to good use absolutely it's so nice to see you Jetta I didn't know it was you who was associated with Jetta used to work for us she was phenomenal she was a tech leader and she was just all things danburry for so long so it was so nice teacher always always teacher thank you thank you so some pleasant CH we apologize if you want to accept all donations we don't we don't want walk over anyone or Miss say that someone is not here and we thank you thank you forgive us for our mistakes okay
010so educational staff okay we have students here no students here here okay come on up education um I'm ol from and we have a new board of ed because Ariana has graduated hi I'm Alex I'm currently a junior in Ace and I'm really um t for this new opportunity good evening Board of AD members cabinet and community members thank you for allowing me to represent and speak on behalf of the Alternative Center for excellence first we have Melissa in the Ace journalism class to invite you all to check out our first articles of the school year in the alternative times the alternative times can be as access at the ace alternative times.com and on Twitter as all times on Monday March 3rd 21A students from the children's literature class attended readed Across America at pen
011Elementary School in honor of Dr ch's birthday our students were guest readers in the students classrooms with students teachers and guest readers spend a morning sharing the loing the love of reading this group was led by danela Diana and Melissa Ashley is running a flex called take stock in your future this group is a collaboration with the Junior Achievement where 9A students have been using Flex time to prepare their for a competition against other schools in the area on March 13th these nine students will compete at Westcon to see if they can make enough in the trade in order to be the team to make the most money Ace welcom 16e students to Ace the our Ace ambassador program is L by danela Melissa CA and trainer is host during quarter 3 so we have
012host who can run spren visit for interesting students in quarter 4 on March 10th 11th grade students at a participated in the digital Readiness session for the SAT school day which they will take on March 26th during the session students prepared for the SAT by practicing with the digital tools exploring sample questions and exploring the official college sat preparation site the SAT at Ace is corated by kylea the cultural Alliance of Western Connecticut has awarded a grant to the bookfi cracking Center for a students to participate in two after school sessions session two has begun and includes Mony infused glass making embroidery and sash sing the second session began on March 5th a special thanks to Anthony Helman for leading this effort supporting the students in the Ace SP and participating in a session with
013the students thank you all for allowing us to share what is going on with our Ace a thank you young we move on down the agenda we have uh the superintend okay thank you good evening everyone even so uh before we get started under the superintendent report I just want to take a moment um to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our board members um this is board member appreciation month so you get an entire month not just a day which is great um and you know out of a we have about 166 Boards of Ed in Connecticut and so there's a lot of work happening behind the scenes with really dedicated people um I think you know when we come together two times a month um I don't think folks really know how
014much work goes in behind the scenes things that you know we have to do things that have to be read contracts that get negotiated so there's a lot of um time and effort um that's put into being a board member which is a volunteer position and um our boards are public servants and dedicate a lot of time energy and effort and uh most of all love to to our schools uh and to our staff so I just want to say on behalf of my cabinet team uh and the Dan Public Schools thank you very much for all your effort and time um that you put into our School District there's a little gift on the side for you just could never be enough but a little token um You probably display our our DPS emblem
015wherever you go so thank you so much thank you so we going to get a gift everye well let TBD TBT nothing wrong with smile so thank you very much okay all right so AIS update first I want to welcome the AIS staff in the back they're largely populated um you know we've been updating um on AIS for a while now and kind of reporting out some of the struggles around um continued enrollment from aition placements um we've talked to the staff we've been um you know I've been hanging out by the you know the the registrations and the the lottery process to try to see every day how that's going and we're not much better of a place than we were just a short time ago and so you know we do have to
016you know we're at Crossroads we mentioned that the last time that we were here uh in terms of what to do so um you know we receive uh funding in the form of a magnet tuition grant for the school and so we get a reimbursement rate it's it's I wouldn't call it a reimbursement we receive our allocation in the form of the the Grant and so for every student that we get that's out of District um we get a particular allocation um and this year we'll tell you what that is um it changes a little bit every year based on an enrollment um which is the concern but um the the magnet operating Grant is 1,5 $883 32 is the T tuition Revenue that we get which is the additional amount that this surrounding the
017participating towns send us for the number of kids um is around 97,000 in change so in total um what's not supported by the school system is about 1, 685,000 598 um what the total operating cost of the school is salaries benefits purchase Services supplies property equipment everything that's kind of affiliated with the school itself um is about 4,380 uh 4, 383,899 so about $4.3 million almost 4.4 so we contribute as a school system 2.6 million right about 2.6 million so if we um you know that's that's a number that we need to kind of keep in mind that that's the number that we currently already spend out of sort of General fund for the school and the and the state and tuition is about 1.6 is so the question is in the face of a
018declining out of District enrollment right some of those numbers will continue to go down last year the state of Connecticut um through legislation told us that we had to reduce the uh the fees that we can charge participating districts um I believe it was we could only charge 56% of that so we only get sent Mike what's the number $1,250 it's like $1,200 per student so it's a it's a very small amount that we receive from the participating districts per per student um the bigger amount is what we get in the operating Grant to Su school um we're currently under enrolled at the school um we went down at kindergarten class last year that affects that moves up to first grade it's very hard to repopulate those numbers once that happens and so if this
019pattern continues we'll be down a grade every year and we need to get our arms around that very quickly um that would reduce the number in terms of reimbursement um but also you know holding seats for Danberry students that we could be populating in in this school um we have a very large list of people wanting to get in and who have applied our schools are a little overcrowded any of the other schools and so you know we have to ask ourselves at what point do we need to make a decision around what to do um I did contact the State of Connecticut um because I had heard at some point and I remember remember Dr s saying you know it's a certain point in time when you can take the school and so I
020didn't really understand what that means so here's what it means call the state and after on 20 years um after 20 years of the data construction we do not have to opery um as a as a magnet school we could take it back as a as a danber public school system and so it in my calculations it would appear to me that we could take the school back and take on on you know right now the 1.6 1,685 598 number that's what it would cost us at this moment um there's a process for all of this though I have a meeting coming up in like a week and a half um set up with another person um because if we did take the school back as a Danbury public school system school um there's a
021whole order of operation that we have to engage in for um participate with participating town uh agreements that we'd have to you know undo we'd have to communicate that to families so um I want to be clear we're not closing AIS and that was kind of a little bit of a a rumor that whipped whipped around that we were going to be closing the school and that's far from the truth um if anything we want to fill the school with as many students as possible and scale the good work that that team is doing because it's a wonderful school um you know staff is naturally concerned about the future of the school which is why they're here we've gotten some wonderful suggestions about all the different things we could could do and try um and
022so there are definitely some possibilities to do that um we would have to potentially you know think about a phase out this wouldn't be an overnight situation we'd have to consider how we would recoup the funding or or make an adjustments for the for the revenue loss on the magnet um school um so it's it's a complicated process but um one that we're engaging in now with the state to learn more about what we would have to do so it is possible that's what I know at this point in time and I have a meeting set up to really go over Logistics if it was something that we were interested in so that's kind of where we're at I know it's a lot to digest all at once but this is sort of a um
023you know something that we've seen coming and we're at we're at of Crossroads sorry to so 20 years is this year oh thank you for saying that the 20 year date ironically is April 5th 2025 we are right here we are right here so we can we have options at this point it's amazing I when I called I didn't expect her to say that Michelle yeah yeah so what is the threshold how many students do we need sure it's a it's a 7030 ratio so you have to have at least you can't have more than 70% of danburry kids and and so it's 30% on the other side for the out of district and what what we're experiencing is this like right on the line every year and then what happens is to not go
024over the threshold um you know we've been on a corrective AC action plan for this um you have to make maintain those one of the things I'm concerned about right now is that we're we're on the bubble again we were not going to be able to open up you know three kindergartens across but in addition to that with the students who applied now um people back out in August so what happens is um unfortunately um kindergarten kids preschool kids get together at the playground over the summer and they make a friend uh in their Hometown and all of a sudden they go I I think my child's going to stay in Brookfield or my child's going to stay in New Fairfield or whatever so sometimes that happens and at the last minute we get a
025few that kind of pullback so it's a very fragile situation and so are we looking at like 10 student like I don't know what 30% represents what is our goal if we're far or close and then is this a trend that you see happening across the state of connec or is this specifically kind of happening in Dam yeah so it's a good question so when we called you know last year we're placed on that corrective action plan um so we did a lot I did a lot of asking questions about you know how are other people doing this and they said well there's there's 30 other magnets on the corrective plan action so we're not the only ones experiencing this um I you know I had I talked to the superintendent in Waterbury and they're
026like they're going through the same thing there's a lot of um schools U that are on corrective action plans right now um so I don't know what the future where this is going but um you know in in our town in particular you know we we have an issue but we're not the only ones there are 30 people across the 30 districts I should say or at least 30 schools I'll correct myself and say schools not districts yeah yeah thank you sure and I can mail out the charts on where we're out with numbers and stuff too and they haven't changed since the last time we presented and I think those numbers the chart is pretty much the same you sure you so Dro I have a question so which means if we go in
027order to maintain the MS we have to stay under the 70 or at least on the 70 so we're not covering the 30% that is um the rest of the towns right so 30% um have to be from out a district they have to the whole point is to mix and um integrate so we have to have 30% of the population from an out of District out of District means um Fairfield um so our participating towns right so exact so so New Milford New Fairfield Brookfield new town that is is has sens kid um participating districts we have Brookfield and Milford Newtown Beth we have new Fairfield we have students from Waterberry Woodberry reading Stanford trumbl and ngat we have official agreements with the districts that are that surround us right here in and we
028serve what from what from what um scale from from first to fourth so we're with kindergarten through fifth grade kindergarten yes and we're not able to cover the 30% um thank you yeah well we we have to maintain the 30% but to do that we can't accept more Danberry students in so we always have to maintain the ratio so on the same question sure does have we share this information with every other I mean with on the rest of the district they are aware that they have open and I mean we have doing public promoted all this off that we have to um the rest of town because if we go I mean my question is because when we go to know the schools out out of Dy um some of them all we have
029an increase of the students so um in some of them all we almost um getting up to the transort so maybe it might be that we might need to put more effort but you just said that it has being promoted officially for the last what first one or two years we we had a great run where the you know it was heavily promoted we got kids and they were coming right they were coming the kids were coming um the last couple of years have been very challenging we we noticed I would say a tank off unfortunately um kind of post pandemic we had a hard time getting back in to school if you remember that we lost kids then who were like I'm going back to my home home District because they have inperson learning
030and I think I don't think in the the staff is shaking their head that it has not been the same since then my only concern is if we open and go back and forth I mean we pre pandemic it has been published that we would have an increase of kids coming out like in one or two years going to kindergarten I mean those are senseless um I mean numbers that are coming up so if we put in perspective that if we I mean what are the steps that we taking and in the future if this is going to affect us I mean it's like I'm not quite sure if it's something that we should do now or we should wait that's my only so so my meeting next week I double check the dates but
031it'll be clear to me if it's really complex and and it's going to take more than what we can do between now and the end of the year to make that decision um or to put steps in place to do make a decision and do it well to roll out something um then it would be um you know we'll have to we'll have to make that determination but if it's if it's as easy as you just have to sign on the dotted line and communicate with everybody and and then develop a phase out plan if you wanted to do phase out well we would never I would never recommend abandoning the the families and the children that are in that school now um but I would consider a phase out model over time and honor
032the commitment that we've had with those families and and phase out it also allows that Revenue stream to continue to come in from the state so that it's not a 1.6 overnight it would be we'd have to look at the financial of what a phase out of a of a slow reduction looks like over time yeah but that also means that we're going to have another another 70% increase on our public systems which if we put if we put kids if we if we backfilled so we have to I I need more information to know what our the complexity of our commitment is in unwinding what we have in place now okay and I'm not quite there yet but I didn't want to wait much longer to say cuz we are rounding to the final
033third of the year yeah sure thank you one so I just wanted to add um I remember um all of the um marketing campaigns that went now I remember saying to you gee I saw it on TV I saw it in the newspaper I saw um an in speaking with the uh principal at the school she made every effort to go out and speak um to the communities where uh students could come in you know we solicited dayare centers thinking you know as kids were leaving daycare and coming in and um I I think the word is sustaining the 30% so we may start out but we just can't uh let that number drop okay and um so as we move forward I I'm waiting to hear a lot of good information also um and
034if it would require when you come back with the report um if it would require any reg dist right right thank you that's all that's all tied to a larger plan had go that direction yeah I'm sorry oh that's you're fine so to add to what Lita said um with I know we're early and we don't know what's going to happen but the thought of it being a lottery school or just a neighborhood school would also help make a decision like you know however that works out would help I think some board members have an opinion either way okay just my suggestion is uh you know we hear bits and pieces until the superintendent get all information and it's clear information we can't make a judgment nor can she make a judgment and I think
035when we talk about 30% we talking about what 20 years ago I was sitting on the board when we started this program and uh it was because Chef versus o' and this is how the surrounding towns became a part of it because they didn't have any diversity in their school so now those those times have sort of going away because Brookfield and you know they not building new schools and blah blah and so now you know diversity is not their goal to get their kids out of their school to come to Dan that's not their goal so 20 years makes a different we know from Co how it has affected us individually so I would say unto the superintendent uh gets full information and bring it for the board we need to understand that we
036can't go out and say we've closed in the school until she brings all information to us any other questions yes um I also remember when they were opening that school I tried the lottery big time it was really exciting um and I you know just want to say I I know we have to maintain I think you said 30 I thought we had said5 25 it's 7525 and and we're at 7030 so I'm sorry about that no that's good because I know we had a cushion just in case we can't fall so in our minds it's 30 but you're correct um and then I just you know for me it's a public school and it's choice so you know I know that they've done such a fantastic job I always get so excited to go
037over there and be a judge or participate so you know I just think it's a fantastic school and yeah it's a great school try to that choice I'm not not understanding the concept that after 20 years the state says we can have the school is that what they're trying to Yeah so basically the state built that the state built the school and we um you know so it wasn't it's not it's officially state owned we we maintenance it and we have to treat it like a different Public School System but the state kind of owns the school once they're you know kind of the value of that investment over I guess 20 years is the period that deem where you could make S your own decisions at that point as to how you want to
038operate the school if you want to operate as a magnet or not 20 years was the from the date of construction is is uh we get to change that that Dynamic so I mean I'm going support still keeping the the Magnus School of you know with the surrounding towns but I think that if that's the case that we after 20 years we can own the building I I think I would think that the 7030 7 5 25 would go out the window oh 100% yes that would be exactly you know so instead of getting the 30% from out of town we we we pay you back with our stud with our kids right and then we I just want to make I understand okay thank you forication um could I ask our people that's on
039Zoom do they have any question Mr janelli no not question Louisa no I'm okay right now gladus thank you okay janelli no no thank you I'm going to take my question for the finance Mee thank you okay Julie can we get Dr once you get your report can we get what has been the impact um based on the last 5 those um children's coming out of their back to school versus um whatever the public school system off like how um what has been the progressions versus one and another because we got into America for a reason so I just want to see how how impactful has been in the last couple of like two years five years people putting apples to apples are in terms of student achievement or attendance the number the minimum um
040difference in curriculum and so on but they have been like um when they go out of um the they go usually into Dade regular no not the out not the out of town students just just our DPS but for example all the in they going into our system right right if you attended yes as a DPS student in your K5 you're see what has been the big impact that has that mag has created into a child I mean coming from Magnus versus coming from our system right you you you definitely compare data DPS school to school 100% And and AIS is a very high performing school because that's what like I really want to see the 70% that has been impacted through the MS how impactful has been it to from the kids that have
041been falling into our system because something that we have to put in perspective is once we go back into our traditional are we going to lower are we going to try to keep up with their standards I can tell you that if we fill that school with DPS 100% DPS school that the magic is sitting over there in those seats and magnet no magnet it's the it's what's happening it's the belief system of the staff it's the investment level of the teachers um it's leadership it's all of that tied tied together and they've done a great they've done a great job in that there's there's a there's a spirit there for sure um as I have no doubt that we put our DPS kids in there fill that up 100% that we would we would
042get pretty close results thank you yeah any other question okay check up my paperwork here okay Middle School enrollment we have a lot of lot of topics meting topics toight just grab that out okay so um you know over the last couple of years um you know Broadview middle school has been over subscribed they have a very full student enrollment there and um our Rogers Park Middle School has I wouldn't say that they're under subscribed but they're certainly lower uh than Brun so right now um let's see here the building total we had over a th000 like I think the current one was 1,59 at Broad View um and then we had about 85069 at uh rers Park um so we're trying to divert some students en roll them in as sixth graders into Rogers
043Park to to help balance off and even our our numbers coming in um the current trends it doesn't look like there's very much relief for Broad View and they're bursting at the seams there right now and so without doing full-blown districting um which is a very complex thing to do and takes uh probably two years to do it really well and at least minimum a year to to get it done um we would like to or we are I should say um moving a few streets in The Shelter Rock area to help divert um you know that follow along with this with bus lines and bus routes and make sure that we have the ability to transport student and it's efficient and effective um about 30 about 30 students um so we'll be in the
044process of contacting about 30 students and their families uh with that change um we've been crisscross this plays into a larger issue we've been crisscrossing students across town um because we have places where we're over subscribed and some places that have a little more room and so when one grade level fills up um and there is no room at the end we have to bust them across town and it's far more expensive um and uh it's it's complicates things very much so at some point in down the road we we should look at redistricting we should look at um you know a deeper dive into uh where students are traversing across the city and how we're meeting the enrollment needs you know have we been kept up with that Trend there's no superintendent in the
045world that I know of that likes to redistrict um Boards of EDS don't like to have to redistrict it's you know causes a lot of consternation in the community people get upset um so it's something that right now um we can do in a small pocket to help bring some relief to broadb middle school without doing anything major um but we need to look at the whole system we need to look at all the schools and how they play um and probably redraw those lines in in at least you know a couple years fairly soon right now we can make some small adjustments and we've been doing that on smaller scales with individual grades that have filled up in schools so um we'll be sending letters out shortly um families who do have um a
046sibling there are four families that we noticed have siblings so they might have an eighth grader at Broadview and um they would have an incoming student in Rogers Park in sixth grade we'll give that family the choice choice to continue to stay or um bring both children together so they'll have that that option and it looks like now it only affects it about po M thank you so so there was the 400 students from the uh career in the we're going to be doing over by the new Career Academy the original 400 in the Middle School oh yes where did they go did they go to Broad View is that why the number is so high and how did you where did you locate the 400 is that so the 400 was to plan for
047this kind of roll up that's coming up and it's it's spers it's dispersed out but um you know across across schools but we have um you know an overabundance at Broadview that will continue particularly with what's coming up so if we don't move a few streets now um you know the the sixth grade move is to also roll into seventh and roll into eth and to accommodate um some of that um too disruptive to be like everybody in this neighborhood is now you know going to switch from Broadview and go to Rogers Park we're not doing that we're trying to do it slowly and responsibly and and make as little wave as possible on this um but the 400 um are really across across all and it's not 400 at once it's 400 um and
048it was 360 students for that that site divided by the three grade levels so it's not a huge number um but we're trying to tackle some of that through these efforts y any other question okay good on the list okay uh PTO and parent recruitment so um I've been attending the Citywide PTO and um you know I know that there has been some concern around um by heads of PTO um just you know overall I would say the numbers have not been where we want them to be and so we I'm just giving an all call out I'll be sending a letter out to the community you know in a couple of weeks to encourage all of our families if you have been thinking about participating or joining the PTO or even if you just
049want to volunteer on a on a smaller level you can still contact the PTO they have episodic um events that happen throughout the year and fundraising their ways to contribute um but but all of our PTO um you know are kind of varying stages of uh robust uh numbers and each of the schools and we're hoping to Garner a little more um parent engagement and connectivity in the schools so that they are that is waning in many of our schools again post pandemic a little drop off there um and we you know a lot of Working Families people are working multiple jobs but um it is my ask that if um for folks out there not just sitting in the audience because most of you are already already working here uh but the parents and
050looking mainly at the the camera here uh that the parents at home if you were thinking about getting involved or you have even a DAT to is fair and you want to want to join um we highly encourage you to contact the school get more information about the leadership um that's in place at the school for PTO um and to and to become active so we really want to increase our parent engagement and we need all of our parents to be part of that um it and bilingual You Name It We need everybody and sometimes there's a stigma around will I fit in is this going to be um you know is this is this a group that I'm going to be a part of and we need everybody we need representation um across the
051board and we need our families to engage and we'll take any and all help that we can and the PTO folks that are working in the schools would really appreciate having some more U members on their team so just a little public service announcement for that okay and the last uh the last update is on our alliance allocation update so we have um we've been going by the published number of 5.7 million for our next scheduled increase if you remember me talking last year at all around budget time um that we were going to eventually tap out and even off in terms of our allocation from for the alliance Grant which causes concern because contractual increases continue to go up benefits continue to rise and when you utilize the grants to house those things um
052you you cannot control some of those costs but the grants are fixed so we were scheduled heading into this year 25 26 to receive about 5.7 million um in a portion of that Al would just be used to cover those contractual increases and then the cost of everything that we have in there goods and services going up potentially um so uh it was it's a nice amount but it's not it it was you know something that we have to keep our eye on and not compound our current issues with over Staffing some of these grants um our new number was published we realize now that we are getting there was there was an enrollment I'm still trying to get the if there was a formula change they said it was based on enrollment and some
053other information at $9.1 million so that is our new number and I just confirmed that with um some of our reps um to hunt that information down so we'll get 9.1 um which is great and so that certainly changes a few things um we think that there are some things in our budget now we'll see how things go um with allocations and all that stuff from the city um but we um can definitely fit some of the strategies that we have listed in our drivers such as um instructional Paris and things like that are a very worthy strategy in Alliance because it's about closing the achievement Gap um and Innovation so um we think we can bring down some of some of the ass that we have there um and now we're also working hard
054to analyze the current our current funding um general fund now and and we're going to be looking at you know where are we and is there is it possible that we um with this new number that we work with the the city team to bring that number down a little bit um which I think would be a welcome um addition the Cur and ask we certainly have a large ask on the table so um to be responsible to make sure that we were adjusting in and uh in real time to that to that request so um we need a probably a couple more weeks to to make sure we're not overestimating or underestimating but we'll get that clearly soon okay and that is it on my end any questions to the superintend and I want
055to thank Janice for actually for updating on all the the great plays that are happening that was actually a you know I had the Beauty and the Beast here but I didn't have all of the flyers in front of me so you saved me a little bit so thank you for the update yeah board standing committee Commander relations Kate uh We've not had a board meetings uh sorry a community relations meeting since the last board meeting so our next meeting is currently scheduled for March 26th and there was some conversation about whether that might also uh be converted to um a presentation of the bu depends on some got some Y is March 26 a regular board meeting I yes yes yes okay okay uh curriculum R our next curriculum meeting is April 9th okay
056thank you Lauren um the presentation for AI I really enjoy great and I hope that we can have him back again yeah okay thank you finance committee uh Mr janelli or Kate or who who's we have nothing since our last meeting and the new schedule meeting for this month would be March 19th we're just not sure whether it's going to be virtual or in person okay thank you Mike you have anything to add to that uh no ma okay thank you policy okay we had our March meeting last week um and you will see there are two different sets of policies on here some are for a second read including the cell phone policy so I do hope everybody had an opportunity to really look that over because it's going to be um substantial as
057far as uh the changes it's going to create across the system um and then there going to be a bunch of uh first read policies that are continuing in the 5,000 series um and I guess when we get to it we'll knowe that there is a potential um policy up for being revoked so we'll talk about that house our next meeting is April 2 okay sites and Facilities um I would try to briefly rund down sa and facility committee meeting because um Louisa is not feeling well tonight and we had the sites and facility committee on uh February uh the 24th and out of that discussion uh jabber talked about items that have been that had been broken and that had been fixed at Dan high school and at the um the M yeah uhhuh
058and he talked about um we we got into a long discussions as to uh when the uh invoices is places and how long do it take the invo to be recognized within uh to make sure that the items that uh on the invoice is taken care of and it was sort of a long discussion uh and I'm not going to go through all of it but there were certain things that um we completed uh up at the uh danille High School Ellsworth Avenue and and um then um the approval of the board um was the administration requirement up at um Ellsworth Avenue um and then we talked about the billing repairs and U Mike do you want to dive in and talk about what happened on that sure we we talked a bit about the
059work order system uh alongside the need for a capital master plan um at the next meeting we'll provide some high level data about the work quar system number process that sort of thing and then we'll continue our discussion um in light of the ad hoc meeting that we have coming up I think in a week or two about uh working towards a sort of larger facilities plan um something more of like a 10-year facilities master plan that would help us figure out exactly what we're going to need how long certain things will be before they expire when new roofs are going to be needed and then we'll have this full Outlook of uh of what the buildings here in the district need so that's that's really what we're working towards with that adoc and we
060hope be able to do that as we said those are really expensive projects so um you know we'll see where this budget lands and um we can work out with the city getting towards a plan like that thank you and we don't have um a committee meeting for March and not correct correct okay thank you okay so there's um any question concerning the um s and fail Comm okay so now our action items Kate will you do action item a I'll make a motion that the Board of Education except for second reading and adoption policy 5112 student stages of attendance Admissions and placement as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with exhibit 25-33 motion made by Kate could I hear a second second seconded by Al and a question concerning inter that policy
061all in favor could I hear I I okay uh policy B alarm I make a motion that the Board of Education accept for second reading and adoption policy um 5,113 attendance and excuses as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 25-34 motion made by Lauren could I hear a second it second second It by L any question concerning that policy see none all in favor could I hear I I hi Julie could you do action item C I'll make a motion that theard loation for second reading and adoption policy 51132 as recommended by policy committee and in accordance with 2535 motion made by Julie I hear second second second it by Kate any question concerning that policy seeing none all in favor could I hear I I I I I motion so uh
062Teresa would you do items d d policy 5131 d81 electronic devices motion that the Board of Education accept for second reading and adoption policy 5131 d81 electronic devices as recommended by the policy committee and accordance with 25-36 motion made by Teresa can I hear second second secondment by Al and a questions seeing none all in favor could I you I I I motion so Carri uh W could you do policy e make a motion that the Board of Education except for first reading policy 5114 students suspension and expulsion SL du process as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 25-37 motion made by Wanita could I hear a second second I hear two seconds who would Julie Julie Julie motion made second by Julie any question concerning policy I do yeah yes Mr
063Janelle Mr C got two questions is it possible in this policy to consider adding the word code of conduct specifically in there because it comes up so much during our expulsion meetings and I was just wondering if it could be specific highlighted in here that these are one of the documents and conditions that U that you know people should pay attention to my second question is in the list of offenses like firearm Vehicles narcotics Etc could we add or should we add the word bullying whether it be physical or cyber social uh to that this is for first reading right this is for first reading so if we're going to make changes it can go back to committee am I right so we can send it back to the committee okay and those changes would
064be made if Telly and think that's necessary yes okay yes J thank you okay a motion On's a stat defeat that motion and make a second motion to it's I have to well we made a motion second all the person have to do I think it will draw the motion and we sent back to committee yes yeah it's just easy am I correct yes we take the motion you can send back toe if you have more discussion if you want to propose if from the floor you want to propose a change you can do that here and use discussion time here and then the next reading approve it you don't necessarily have to go back to the policy committee to do that we can make that's why we have two readings here so we make
065a change here and then and then just accept the motion as it came through and then make the changes okay at our second reading a more protracted conversation where if there are objections or something like that you can always send it back to the policy committee to have that LE conversation okay so motion stands and we can uh make the changes here Kelly okay then we bring it back to I'm sorry you I can't hear you we're just trying to understand the process so well Kim just told you to process I'm not sure everybody's clear about it that's so so if you want you you have it on for first read this policy um you have a question or a suggestion about an amendment you can have that discussion in your discussion on the first
066read somebody can make the proposed amendment and when you get to the next reading the second reading you can vote on that as amended or if you'd like to have a larger discussion about it do more research find out any more you can decide here that you want to send it back to policy to explore it further to make a recommendation back to the board how do we do that after a motion's been made for the policy why don't youw the motion start thank you so am I clear the motion went through okay and and we answer the question that Mr delli answer I think we want to withdraw make a motion make the motion to Broad a motion okay one need second we have to do one need policy e the policy okay I
067make a motion that we withdraw the original motion for policy yes okay second and who can we get a second a second and Michelle okay all in favor okay oppose thank you thank you Kim for your input thank you thank you and and the reason I you know I don't want to look frightened because I have have everyone answering and trying to come at me one time you know so I need to be clear as to what I hear okay Michelle did I call you to do okay my next is that f f so motion that the board of education is set the first reading policy 5117 students School attendance areas as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with 25-38 okay Michelle made the motion but I hear a second second seconded by
068who Julie Julie Julie any question concerning that policy all in favor could I hear I I so car K do policy G I'll make a motion at the Board of Education except for first reading policy 5118 students nonresident attendance as recommended by the policy committee and in accordance with exhibit 25-39 Kate made a motion can I hear second second second it by Lauren any question concerning that policy done all in favor could I hear I I I any oppos okay motion so Carri okay Mr Janell can you make a motion motion eight action item8 H H motion the Board of Education accept for the first reading policy 5118 point1 um uh students as recommended by the policy committee uh and in ACC the exhibit 25 motion made by Mr janelli any question concerning that motion
069I'll second um I'll second it by Kate all in favor could I hear I motion so care okay Louisa can you make a motion I want to leave you out no that's okay glad can you do uh action the item I uh yeah hang on okay ready Louis yeah which one did you I I the last one thank you policy 5114 51 14.21 students extracurricular activities academic eligibility motion that the Board of Education revoke policy 5114 point21 students extracurricular activities academic eligibility as recommended by the policy Committee in accordance with 25-41 motion made by Louisa could I hear a second second second it by a any questions yes so there was some discussion U by the policy committee about this particular policy um because I don't think it's very often that we revoke a policy
070um you'll see that this is 5114 point21 which is also aligned with um policy 5114 which we've just um sent back to committee so I actually think maybe we should take this one back to committee as well and have a complete conversation since those two policies are connected is that a motion the the policies are connected um the rationale for the revoking of 5114 point21 this motion is because the content of this policy is now incl uded in the other policy um so I think you could you could bring them back collectively to the policy committee or um you're going to adopt some version with some modifications of five sorry 5114 um I think you could do it either way but I just wanted to share that that was the reasoning behind um revoking a
071policy is it's duplicative as it's already covered in the the baster policy Teresa um my feeling was is to have it separate uh to keep it separate uh to be more specific uh that was my main concern yes so what do you want to do the motion on this was the policy that was very similar and we took some of the wording from the 21 and we changed so that it would be inclusive and this was kind of feeling like it was repetitive right okay just want to make sure that's thank you second so you want to take it back to the committee or we can make the I'm okay either way I just wanted to throw that out there as an option um so if the board wants to take a vote on it
072yeah but I I also agreed that this is again first reading right so we still can if we have it from for revoking I believe we only vote one cont act it's only a first and second read if it's policy or keeping or a new policy that we're adding so if if everyone is comfortable with it the way it is except the we we can move on so that can we have the yeah I don't think how motion so the motion was made by Louisa okay and it was seconded [Music] by all in favor of the motion could I hear iOS I okay so okay okay motion so Care thank you all for getting us through these policies next on the agenda is uh do um any board members have um PTO reports that's one
073thing that we've really gotten through and I know we have been so busy this year when school started we have we visit our PTO that we were assigned to you know no I I can say as chairperson no because I have so many me meetings that you don't have and then I couldn't find out when my school was having the PTO so there anyone else that were signed to schools going and at [Music] P I read I know that I did look at the schedule at the beginning of the school year and I think twice we had meetings the same night like scheduled so I guess I need to reach out and figure out how I can speak to them if I I can't make those meetings so maybe before the school year ends we
074need to think as a board this is not sort of working because we used to go be very faithful going and I don't know what happened so we can start back as a board participating in in the PTO meetings and you go there to find out what they need us to assist them with okay so you know maybe we need to sit down as a group and think about what else we can do and that won't conflict with the time that that we meeting and the time that they're having their PTO everybody sort of think that's idea or you got something new can I make a recomendation rich yeah go ahead Mr Cooper can I suggest that this subject be given to the community relations so that we could take this up as a a
075committee and get the feedback of the individual board members and then we can assess the differences or the recommendations and then come back and make a recommendation to the board based on the individuals on the board who have issues or suggestions they want to promote fit into go that's not my I just want to say for the Dey high school PTO uh the last meeting was in February and I think the next one is in April so they're not meeting every month but they do meet on a Monday which was is is more convenient obviously and Wednesday for us just let's just have an observation just because I've I've been attending these meetings for a very very long time and I've been here for quite a bit but you know the number of meetings night
076meetings the time that we're here committee subcommittees all of that has has really increased and um you know nobody wants to say another meeting but it you know there comes a point where and I'll be quite honest I need to get to school events during the week you guys need need and want to get to school events um it's been you know we I know a lot of folks have noticed you know the meetings and trying to either you know getting the work done or having you know some prep time but I think maybe we should consider something you perhaps it's community relations but um how we can get to some of those a little bit more by maybe streamlining how we how we meet why we meet um stacking meetings it's just an idea
077but I I would love to myself to be able to get to more school school events in the evening and and I'm here in the PTO thing and I'm thinking back that was a real like pretty robust you know that board members were attached to the schools and they attended everything that schools uh that they're affiliated with um they were attending a lot of those events too so just an observation that we spend a lot of time here around the table in a lot of meetings and if we could think about ways we can engage more in schools myself included I put myself in that bucket too because we we are all in the same meetings together so many nights a week just a thought well I like the suggestion but I also like the
078idea of having board members and I you know I just don't want to throw it to the community relation committee I think we could come at a meeting um off meeting and say you know look at what we want as a board member as to why we are going into the schools and and if we don't have the time to participate we can sign up with the school that's different so I think we need to look at our structure and what we have signed up for and say okay that school is not working for me on this particular day and see see what else we can do it might not be might not be able to be a rep for the school but do uh do it in another way so you know I just
079want to leave that okay I just wondering if there is a database that does the city PTO get the dates from all the other schools if they do why is it not shared with with the board well what my go City PTO we so we I do attend Citywide PTO I don't attend individual school pto's but but that is because you know attendance has waned waned uh the when their meeting has dropped off um a lot of things have moved to zoom right we want to get connect with somebody it's far more convenient to zoom in the car unfortunately while you're picking your kid up from soccer practice and so people are having all different types of uh methodologies for the way that they're meeting but unfortunately you know when there it does happen on
080a Tuesday at 7:00 once a month everybody knows that that's when it is um you you lose the ability to you know have that you know kind of spontaneous attendance like I think I'm going to show up at PTO because there's something going on so I think that they and I'm not say this happens everywhere but I that's my hunch that um you know where and when and and the method that that the few people who are hanging on and those PTO are doing they're kind of trying to make it as flexible as possible to accomodate the remaining people who are are doing it so you know that's part of the that was the ask tonight was how can we make the PTO more robust and if and if feedback is that you know we
081need to know published when they're actually meeting and that people can access and engage uh in a reliable way because they know when and where it's happening and there's an agenda or there's some topics on there I think we would you know it's good feedback for for all for that group and they're looking for some feedback um you know they they've reached out and said how can how can we do some things differently to get more more folks I know you have this on your agenda with the PTO stuff right uh I'm just again I'm just praying stor right here I thought in a thought process is to try to get try to do more events in those particular schools to draw the parents in and I'm not sure if that's happening I know that
082we had a bad winter and I know a lot of people uh are starting to uh come out of the hibernation process and I was wondering you know maybe maybe um you know the administrators at the school can and try to brainstorm some kind of a events to try to get you know more of the parents involved you know um again just just a thought process I think everybody with the PTO is having problem every district has the same problem you know and now it's getting to a point where a lot of a lot of our parents are are working two jobs that's another problem you know and you like you said you know they got have to probably Drive Jane to soccer practice in one place and then drive John to across town for
083the other Pro for the other practice so um but I think that again just brainstorming maybe we need to figure out ideas to uh events that make you know brings the kids in if you bring the kids in the parents will come but also I I I think the the principles uh need to whoever's is is the head of the school which is the principal is to say you know when someone or the the administration or the SEC the superintendent secretary inform you that uh Mary John is here to represent um um School a and you know they need to make contact when that person comes there so you know I'm telling you I went a whole year and try to contact a particular school to find out when they were having their PTO and
084no one never got back to me and we used to always the the secretary and this is why I thought was very important to have our elections and have people in place in January so they would know and welcome you so I went all last year and I I couldn't get in contact with anyone yes Lord so did I understand we're frustrated that we have a hard time getting the information from PTO minutes for the PTO for their meetings and stuff but as a PTO mom who's been that one mom on the PTO who's running teacher appreciation who's making sure the teachers have what they need and who's getting this for the principal and who's doing that the last thing I'm worried about is making sure that Lauren Daly knows Tuesday night at 7:00 we're
085going to have a PTO meeting because honestly I'm glad the board is here but I don't care that Lauren Dy shows up because I need to go get the stop for R to cross America day because I need to make sure Mary cronin's happy and if Mary cronin's not happy you're in trouble you know what I mean as the principal of MRI so I understand we're frustrated but we need to also remember the PTO people are volunteers and we're the last on their line of who they got to please so we just need to be thankful that that one mom is there or those two moms are running it and there may even be a language barrier with the people that aren running it so we I understand what we're all saying but it's frustrating
086when I'm thinking about it as like right now I'm running a high school PTO all by myself congratulations thank you done but you know what I mean like it's just it's hard for them too so it's not like they're not telling you on purpose yeah but for me along it's it's the the principle if you are representing that school someone should at least let you know when they are having their PTO meetings it's not whether I'm there or not it's if January come and school a know that I'm representing their PTO someone should contact me and say this is when if we're not having a meeting every month every two months at least letting me know that I'm having a meeting every two months cuz Ace don't have a a PTO me every month and
087you know we used to go twice uh twice a year so you know just letting people know or your representative know that we are scared to have a PTO meeting at a certain time and if it's cancel it's cancel okay so enough of that yes J I just want to say maybe if um it could be a spread out like the whole um calendar for those that you might have available so maybe we can choose um to go some time um on those days that we already know they are available to any of we we've almost yeah we're going to continue to give feedback to to to Citywide looking for like how can we how can we just change the the dynamic and get more people out so they're actively talking about it and um
088you know as Lauren described this is this is the scenario um that is was where you know where we do even have a Lauren um some places don't even have a Lauren so that's why there is no meeting and there's nothing posted so we're trying to work to to bolster the rank so it's definitely something we're trying to feed into right now I think she saidage definitely okay my superintendent new T the superintendent no a my report is I've had a a try in two weeks um don't forget our evaluation committee for the superintendent on the 25th and I hope that you you respond so we can have a quum okay and if you did not please do so okay so we can have a quum okay um I won't be here for that meeting
089I did respond already okay thank you okay um I went and I great plane I think it was great plan I went to the black history poam and it was beautiful uh Kate also was there and uh those kids just showed off it was really beautiful I stole some of their thing that I want to use at my Dr my Luther King for next year and it was just beautiful it was just beautiful so you know and I think all of us go to different Affairs at school and we all can't be to the same Affair and I just appreciate those that can and uh let us know when things are happening so that you can go okay Teresa I have to report I signed up for that National History judging I didn't realize how
090much that was involved all the paperwork I got to read so that's coming up is there's a zoom directional meeting this Saturday and then the following Saturday it's up for our just area durington it's in Burlington Burlington yeah so they're going to be very appreciative yeah they said they need 200 judges so at least you know the proc process when you get Julie I would like to report that I went to read to um Park Avenue and mbridge school first and fourth grad okay cute okay anybody else doing the reading Lauren you did I did milridge AIS Shelter Rock dadly Ru girl wait where else did I go she gets the go Avenue and I went to one [Applause] other thank you if there's nothing else yeah yes one oh thank you for um just
091a reporting that um chair Cooper and myself attended the Citywide PTO meeting um this month and there one of their goals as we were talking about is looking at um how to bring more of the schools together because a lot of the issues are the same and one of the uh schools was saying she likes to hear what's going on at the other schools and how they're handling it and um really wanting to meet with the superintendent to see how they can further support um the district and um focus on some of the issues that they could bring to the Citywide PTO so that the schools could know what's going on and how they can support the district thank you on k um Dr Cel and I went up to uh Harford today for the
092cave downhill um and it was um a good event they there were quite a few uh other board members from across the state there um and we had an opportunity to sit down with some legislators um on the uh up he I'm forgetting the words now uh the H high thank you the high committee thank you um and share some information about what we're doing uh with our high school model um so that we hope to gain some support for that work so I just want to thank him for being a thank you Kate thank you Dr SE okay uh can I have a motion to adjourn if there's not oh yeah oh yeah you have no motion motion made by second good night good night have a good night everybody