001before we all sit down we need to take a moment and remember three people that have been very instrumental to our educational system number one is Mrs Nikki Rose who was assistant principal at Broad View Middle School for 30 some OD years is Erica i w mess her last name who was a medior specialist for AIS and South Street school and last Mr Jr ridel who I served on this board with for over eight years and we want to keep all three families in our prayers go we just take a moment thank you [Music] R Al present Terry present Michelle here Kate here Lis here Dr Cronin Dr Cronin she's there laen here here W here Richard here Julie here thank you public participation the board welcomes public participation and ask that speakers please limit
002their comments 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 education personnel and students nor against any person connected with the Danbury public school system thank you um no one sign the she so I don't know if anyone in a hi um I'm Hayden Rogers and the vice president of B i' just like to start with a message from Mr Donan regarding the vision and mission statements for the newmy um it says good good evening board members we are excited to share with you the thoughtful and collaborative process that led to the creation of our School's new vision and mission statements a team of dedicated teachers pathway leads and administrators met periodically to lead
003this work the result is a set of statements that reflect our vision for the academies of Danbury aligned with the portrait of The Graduate and are deeply rooted in our District's mission and vision ensuring a unified and inspiring direction for our school Community our journey to crafting these statements began with our team reviewing exemplary vision and mission statements from other dist this in turn helped provide a lens for writing our own and helped highlight the type of language we might we felt might be important to include during the writing process in addition we spent time reviewing the national Career Academy Coalition rubric to ensure our language aligned with the recognized national standards together the team wrote a draft vision and mission statement Gathering input was the next step in the process surveys were created to
004gather valuable feedback from students teachers and families these surveys were tested with a small group of Faculty members prior to being distributed to the entire school and final weeks of the 2023 to 2024 school year the questions for all surveys were translated into both Spanish and Portuguese in acknowledgement of our large multilingual population after reconvening this school year the team reviewed the survey results with Administration and use the data to revise the draft vision and mission statements they focus closely on ensuring alignment between these statements and the overarching vision and mission statements of Danbury public schools this school year the team develop Flex lessons and conducted another survey to gather more feedback and ensure engagement from both students and staff regarding the updated vision and mission statements this thorough and inclusive process ensured that our
005new vision and mission statements embody the essence of the Academy andury High School align with the portrait of The Graduate and reflect our districts over achieve vision and Mission we are now proud to share the result of this collaborative effort our new vision and vision statements the vision statement theem of Danbury High School aspire to be a model community of empowered Learners positively imp impact the world mission statement The Academy of denur high school and partnership with students families and the community provide transformational learning experiences that Empower all students to embody the portrait of a graduate and pride in their future endeavors and then I just have some updates um from our school um so our semester ends Friday January 24th um students in the exploration Academy began the academy selection for process and that
006ends on the 31st all Academy directors provideed information sessions during flex and mran presented last night um on Virtual par night as well um winter sports are underway all of our teams are doing pretty well so far um we had two different uh we have two different Saturday sessions that will be starting soon um one is an SAT practice that runs from January 25th this Saturday to March 29th it's voluntary for stud students to sign up uh it's free sat tutoring the second session revolves around AP practice and tutoring which runs from March through May intending to provide tutoring for our AB students we also had in December our National Honor Society fall induction we had 29 new indues um we also had our career fair in the main gym on December 12th uh we
007had 60 corporate Partners rotated um through all freshmen giving them time to explore many different careers that are connected to our Academy Pathways Mr Donovan had his principal's breakfast uh where he asked uh where he answered questions from parents on February 1st we have our DHS robotics competition February 8th is our hter cheerfest for our cheerleading team and finally our DHS robotics team won their competition at WPI okay thank you for your information does anyone any board members have any questions no thank you very you thank you consent C I move the motion that the Board of Education approved consent calendar exhibit 25-7 and 25-8 as recommended and in accordance with minutes of 1825 sites facilities 25-7 and 1825 reg board meeting 25-8 motion made by juita could I hear second second second by Julie
008any questions concerning consent count n all in favor can iar I motion so car we don't have any students rep here tonight you going to do presentation um no no presentation no presentation next thing is superintendent report that one I got okay so um obviously it's a light superintendent report tonight the single item that we really should just be focusing on is the superintendent's budget um so this um so yesterday we presented the uh superintendent's budget um I can go kind of over this a little bit about at a high level we offered a workshop last night for our board members where we went through a high Lev overview but then also um a dive into the details that comprise the the drivers and the line items um for the budget um this year we
009aligned our strategic plan along with the needs that we have in the school system I think it's no secrets that we have some serious needs around Staffing um our ability to support our schools effectively um climate and closing the achievement Gap um instead of going through the entire report tonight I under the under the superintendent report uh I would like just to talk about the high level drivers and then when we get to the discussion um section of the agenda open it up for conversation and questions um for the for staff members who um in the workshop but also those who receive materials um post Workshop so if you want to for those of you who have a packet in front of you um I'll be referring to page 13 under budget drivers so this
010year a large component of the budget is driven by the enrollment needs and the opening of a satellite campus sorry the new one I just came U that would be the new one that might hand out oh this beginning of the y y so ironic I don't have cop um so I'll I'll slow up thank you got it uh so the budget drivers the main budget driver a large budget driver in this year's budget is the opening of The Academy um on the ctis campus so that's the DH West and so the the what constitute that ask is the um the need to staff based on the enrollment moving um between 800 and, 1400 kids over in the next year and uh year and two years um the staff and benefits come to um six
011a little over 6 million maintenance and utilities um over 700,000 Transportation over 2.2 million technology 318,000 and school lunch 360 so that one driver alone in our budget is over $10 million so that's a that's a significant component the other main drivers in our budget are going to be in contractual increases so those are our obligations as we roll up our contracts um our labor contracts and then the cost of doing business um restoration of positions that were eliminated um last year from the budget a little over 3 million um other new positions that are not Academy related um that are special education or multi- language Learners and that is 1.1 uh over one 1.1 million the offering not competitive uh parent educator Staffing model and that number of 4 mil 9444 th000 is comprised
012of right sizing um and making a more competitive par contract but also the addition of par par Educators at the elementary level which is uh very much needed and was requested last year proposed in the um in the budget for last year so that need really does not go away um a little over 2.8 million for special education increase cost so we have a a slight uptick in the number of special education students in the district but also um increase in tuition cost at a district and just the cost of doing business um there um our multilingual learner needs um and the services that they are entitled to um are over a little over 1.1 million benefits for the staff above are a little over 4. for improvements to it and Security 233,000 Plus and
013then there's a whole list of of other and those other are coming from dozens of other incremental um increases across many many areas that total 1.87 um we went over items uh in the budget from custodial supplies to instructional supplies to um some building repair increases in building repair some non non-pb transport ation costs some security equipment um some of the some of the account line items are as little as $750 and some are as large as uh $400,000 so that total line is comprised of many many smaller incrementals that add up to 1.8 million which in of itself is also a driver um our total budget um the total requested budget uh for the superintendent is 194,195 46 that represents an increase of 34 million um and almost 35 I'm sorry 345 million for
01421% increase um what we discussed uh in the workshop and I'll go to um closer to the last page which I believe is Page 29 is that when we compare our budget requests there is a 21% increase of 5.2% is dedicated to the academy Alone um but had had our school system stayed on trajectory if we were fully funded last year which we know all the reasons why that was not possible um the increase would really only represent 7.2% of an increase and that includes the academy so um you know I think over the course of time if we were keeping Pace um the asks would not be as um astronomical um you know but we are digging out of of a hole um in terms of funding um Staffing Resources and coming off a
015pretty large cliff last year um you know we partnered with the city to um do everything possible to close our gaps we eliminated lots of positions we eliminated over 68 positions plus um we're trying to restore 29 of those because of the critical nature of those and the effects that it's had on the school system um and so in the workshop we talked a little bit about some comparisons on what Staffing levels look like in schools of comparable size and comparable makeup um in comparable cities and um our need to keep up so while the Assa shared is great um we think it's very important to make sure that our um our needs are articulated they're clarified um and they're they're Justified for for what we need um so we I was happy to present
016that to the board during the workshop um certainly happy to open things up and can move to discussion at the boards uh board chair's request or pleasure um for questions or comments from the larger board Mr car the new sheet revised sheet that we received just now for page 15 shows an additional 360,000 for the school launch does that change the total or is it just added C emission so it was actually a $700 adjustment that was made which um might reprinted the sheet because there was a um just a a small number error uh in the recording so that it's really it was a $700 adjustment $360,000 that's there with the under school lunch is part of the cost of opening of the academy um last night we talked about the school lunch has
017always been um self-sufficient so that bring in a revenue that supports the staff that needs to run it and however with the opening of a new satellite campus the scale has tipped a little bit um and so we're going to need an additional 360,000 to staff we cannot pull that staff from D high school that staff needs to remain there to run the operations and we need a hold new kitchen staff over at um at the the new site so that's the increase there for appreciate that when I do comparison to last night's page 13 and here last night didn't have it was in the it was in the total it was in the toal yeah I apologize there was a typo on last night the 360 for the for the school launch just wasn't
018listed it was a typo but that 10, 43496 that that number is the same it was just the composition of that that's thank you the other question I have is I think it's important that you mentioned and I'll phrase it this way does this particular presentation budget put us in the 21st century or is it something else is it you have made a high point last night y that this was a need budget this is a needs budget um even though the ask is great it it you know we are to to be perfectly honest I did articulate this in the in the workshop um Staffing is is imperative right now um the cuts that we made last year had a had a very detrimental effect across the system um but even more than that
019um we have to remain competitive with some of our contracts um the par professional um dilemma that we're facing right now is is real and it's very true so Care Professionals care educators are are the life blood in many of our schools they support multi lingal Learners they support special education they they support intervention that students desperately need and particularly post pandemic we need our pair of professionals um anybody who has ever had a good pair of professional in their classroom those of you Educators they are wor worth your weight and bold um they help deliver small group instruction ctive instruction um they help to uh students who need to be uh to be helped with self-regulation um and behavioral there are there oneon-one um they help to um help with our class size number
020so um in some cases that is the only thing that helps make some of our larger class size numbers more tolerable um but because of the pay rate right now uh that we are uh that we have with that contract wants with systems to retain and attract um those positions last year we had many many openings this year I think we have between 40 and 50 openings right now um when par educators are not in the class it makes the teaching and learning environment very challenging um which also feeds into some some climate issues that we have and so and and safety and so we've talked a lot about how the fixing that particular issue around um the par educator contract and the needs that we have there um are kind of a root caused
021to a lot of systemic issues that we have across buildings and in some buildings um it is tfold because of certain potion at are housed in those buildings so um it's something that we are um seeking to correct that we can um bring some more stability to the schools with these very important positions thank you J that news that has been and put de my question is regarding the budget because I know this was a question a few months ago um of your um teachers around and parents how do you what would be the worst case scenario if you don't get fully funded as one and how will this um how do teachers feel at this point how secure they feel they have jobs at this point for the new academies for those that have
022going so so uh last year the effects of the budget cuts and eliminations and not filling positions has had a very negative effect on culture morale climate um we've had people that turned us down right in the hiring process because they were afraid to come here no one wants to be the last person in um we've had some challenges with special areas we've had um certain groups that we announced that we were on the on the on the edge of elimination um it is very hard to attract bills groups now where is out um so so it has had a serious effect on people's uh want to come here so that's the the attraction teaching realm per se are are inlined and are are highly competitive I would say the issue for us has always
023been conditions we talked about that in the workshop class size the the learner profile that teachers are are working with so um teacher has to teach 8th grade mathematics for example could have um students in the classroom with anywhere from a second grade or third grade mathematical ability to eth grade or nth grade and have to has to diversify what they're doing and stratify with large class sizes so so conditions for teachers here have been challenging um you know if we don't get our full ask we're going to have to go through and scale safety security and highest leverage needs we have legal mandates that we have to follow there are certain things in here where um I'm not quite sure what we're going to do you know there are certain things where that have
024to be covered we have IEPs I force we've got language needs and service needs we have Safety and Security um know at the door people want to make sure when they drop their children off that they know that they're safe um and that they're a good hands so we we have we'll have quite a bit of a of a challenge um and certainly we'll have to to make do and and figure that out um one of the other things that we're going to have to figure out is in the face of um potential some of our grants federal grants could potentially be changing um with different a different landscape um enrollment um can fluctuate those grants so when we have a better sense of the grants that we'll have available to us or not available
025um when we have a sense of what the city can do to provide whatever it is that they can provide we recognize that they are also in a situation that that they're working through um then we'll have to come back to the Joint board and scale through our highest priorities teres J do you have I'm sorry my apologies um thomon um I know that you mentioned mentioned about contracts when we can start seeing like review when new contracts for Paris and overall and review to see incase and how can that affect us future so um because we have so many un certified contracts coming up this spring they all expire all of those onee agreements we entered into expire on June 30th um of this year because we have so many of them typically on
026the time frame would be mid spring we would get a demand to bargain from the union leadership um I've encouraged all of them to push that timeline up a little bit so that um because if you figure you know you need multiple sessions with each one of those groups so we're talking about a lot of time to get through the process um so we're now in the process of picking for all of those five unions trying to pick some dates so we can start a little bit earlier um I will tell you that it is more often the case that some of these are settled after July 1 and in those cases unlike the teachers they work under their existing contract and they'll look at you'll see we'll do retroactive Rees or something like that
027so you're not going to know with any certainty as you lock down this budget what those numbers are going to look like which is why you see us trying to approximate kind of a larger number for for personnel and because it's so many contracts we have to guess a little more than otherwise um the other group that we will negotiate with this summer while it doesn't impact this budget it impacts your next one is the teachers so and that's your largest group and that is your most influential group in terms of of moving the needle in terms of wages and costs that group will have a good sense as we hit I I want to say it's July time you're going to get a real good sense of what the next year's contract is going
028to look like but that's also going to really inform kind of some of some of how we allocate that's a long way of saying you're not I just realized looking at that um the list for theems I don't see anything about furniture no the furniture is mainly incorporated into the the package in the build for the bond okay yeah okay thank you okay um just a point of note we we sent out a uh this is kind of hot off the press and we're still going to leave the survey open but as of today um and thank you Mike for for printing this out we asked um our our parents what their priorities are we try to solicit some feedback um from across different groups um I've been out talking to some other groups in
029the schools as well um but in terms of our parents and their budget priorities we asked uh we had 600 respondents of the parent uh parent survey that we sent out um asking what their top budget priorities were for uh the coming year and the top three were supporting supports arts and extracurricular opportunities for students in smaller that was number three uh and upgrading School upgrading school facilities so those are the top four um of the respondents kind of categoric of what parents wanted to see um the board did also send out their staff their climate survey as well and um while that's still largely open if you skimmed it very quickly you can see many of the same things that I talked about in the workshop as well as tonight that um Staffing and
030resources and substitutes and smaller class sizes and the supports needed in the classroom um are all over that survey for the results that are coming in um which has an effect on climate and so um we sort of expected to see some of those things for sure but um you know really listening to what our staff has to say about those issues is also very important and again the budget um that's presented reflects um those needs and those priorities not just my own personal but that of the cabinet that of those of the principles um that we spent a lot of time working with oneon-one to understand their needs um and to make sure that we have Staffing that addresses their legal obligations or compliance obligations um but also some ability to close the achievement
031Gap um and so you know we could certainly add in dozens more staff here to help with that um this is a responsible budget um to the greatest extent possible um even though the ask is large but our needs are great we have many years to to play catch up this is a a step in that direction Sor I my out of that which one to do out of the four critical which one you think is the most critical how are we going to what's the plan to address in order to keep M and make them feel that those feel out feel that they have be so I think you know for parents you know every every parent wants to make sure that their child is involved in something that they love and is passionate
032about um but uh but internally um you know there's an assumption that our schools are safe they're still well staffed and that we're you know that we have everything that we need and so um in on the set so the first one that the parents had to say was obviously about the having access to extracurriculars um but the very second one is about increasing safety measures um that is very important class size is very important so I would agree that the parents nailed it um when it came down to some of these priorities because um teaching and learning and student outcomes are directly affected that we able to get done in the classroom and our teachers need help and support in the classroom um post pandemic the needs of students um have have doubled uh
033some cases tripled um the academic stretch if you will and closing the achievement Gap has become greater therefore the effort must must match um that that you know that that divide um we have large class sizes here larger than um we would want to have uh this particularly given the learner the stratification and learner profiles that we have in the classroom the pair of professionals why they're such a great ask is not just about um right sizing that contract to make sure that we retain and attract high quality par Educators to support our work but also increasing the number that we do have it would make absolutely no sense for me to throw in another 45 par Educators that we need at the K5 level if we were not going to correct the um create
034a competitive W for because I wouldn't get them so we have 40 to 50 openings now we cannot get those staff members because we cannot offer a competitive wage um that's in line with area other area school systems um or even the mall for that matter I'm happy to take any other questions okay so um the question then I think for the board for the chair is sort of next steps with this budget there are a couple of options um ahead we can continue to have another Workshop um and we would can set a date for that we can move forward um tonight if the board felt ready with um supporting superintendent budget and passing um there are there are a couple of options and I welcome discussion on that and certainly flexible and you're
035welcome option to accept the bud today there can there can be I have a motion prepared if the board chooses M what is What is your question yes Dr C when you going no go ahead she her um at our Workshop there were a couple of it's there were a couple of areas um that we had that I particularly had asked we have a number of um buildings that we lease and um looking for the cost of that and any other Alternatives yes that was one and the the other was where in the budget can we find for the um yearly the oneyear contracts the non um they were all grouped last year um with an across the board increase and where is that in our financial budget report now sure so um Mike do
036you have a copy uh we're still U working on getting the final numbers for the exemp today we can't hear have to R we can't hear you is it uh we just read the report today for uh the exempt staff we just have to review it uh before it goes out just to double check the numbers uh but the the where as far as where the numbers exist in the budget that you see it's in the salary Lin um with all the budget so that um the 25 bug where the 90 million is that's everybody that that's an all but we wanted to see it broken out Teresa he's trying to answer her okay right and then then you can come in okay yes we're preparing a schedule to have the exempt salaries broken out
037can I just clarify that because um we don't ex we don't apply um you know the the the number all the salary increase they are rolled up into that $4.5 Million number the actual percentages don't get applied until later in the year after the budget settled um and that is done um you negotiating multiple contracts we're things land where we land with the budget where we land with prevailing wages so the allocation of the 4.5 million is what rolls forward at the end of the process when the budget Settles um we have to reallocate um within the allocation within the total overall allocation if that makes sense um and with the exempt staff you know where we have contracts that are um fixed um teachers union they have a fixed rate the professionals custodians um
038the exempt um wage if you will that that sheet um can have different numbers on it but not over the allocation that was set aside when the budget settles you have to stay within superintendent has to stay within the allocation but we'll provide that for you m will soon as they finish printing that out but it's but it'll be a schedule of the the current salaries of everybody in that group Teresa I know she answered my question thank you okay yes Mr I like to make a suggestion all we can't hear you please use your microphone I I'd like to make a suggestion that we vote on this budget thank you we vote on this budget this evening with the understanding that the additional information supplemental information that we requested would be forthcoming I don't
039believe anything that we've requested is going to change any of these numbers so it's more informational factual for us for discussion I say that because I think the faster we adopt this and get this show on a road to get this out to to those concerned that we want to educate and tell them what we're doing to get support is is is important the you know as I said the other stuff is information that we can discuss but I don't think anything is going to change these numbers or is any Mike does have the leases thank you I hands up sois just to to speak a little bit to the leases I I have last year's list and I wanted to update it with this year's numbers before I sent it over but I can
040give you a pretty close number on on where they are are so there's six different properties um two of them are used for district offices two of them are prek sites we have our adult ed site and then we have our curriculum building at 46 Bieber Brook so all together that's about $740,000 annually that we spend on those leases so You' probably heard of these sites refer to as 43 be 46 be Brook Grandville where the preschool is um Sacred Heart which is uh called Cottage Street where the other preschool program is uh we race Adult Ed over on Crosby Street um where we also have the beach and D building and then uh we have another section at 43 Brook uh where we have a district office space as well Michelle Michelle yeah I
041just have a quick question no we're talking about the budget and that we be talked about how the Board of Ed has worked hand inand with the city and so can you tell me a little bit about how that is being infused in with this budget um do we have any kind of information from the city from the mayor himself or you know regarding this budget because I know that was a big point of communication working together wondering how they kind of are falling in line with what you're proposing here sure so just to clarify U what I was referencing earlier was our work together with with the city so we spent a lot of time once our needs are lay down the table and of course we had a new mayor new mayor and
042a new inurance superintendent so we worked very closely last year um to talk about the need um we did have some discussion today um because we released our superintendent Budget on what those needs were to understand um the components of the budget and so there's an understanding of what our needs are as well um you know know this is a a great ask um you know I have confidence that our city leaders will do everything possible to help um meet the need to the best of their ability so um we I have monthly meetings set up from this point forward for the rest of the year so as everybody's working on the budgets um you know the education budget is one budget of many budgets that the city deals with and as the mayor Works
043through all of the budgets um will be in contact um it's a it's it takes several months it's a several month process to for everybody to understand where they're where they're at where they land and what's available to to us on both sides okay Richard to follow up on Michelle's point I think I mentioned it the other day once the budgets officially adopted would you consider contacting I believe her name is Holly Robinson who's part of the the Committee Against Finance or education at hoc and some of the other legislative people so that uh you can make this presentation to the I'm going to call it the the officials relative to to Danbury so um we can get them informed as to what's happening absolutely that's 100% the intention is to make sure that our
044delegates are really well aware of what our needs are we've already started that conversation so and and I'm thankful for theog any other questions so do we want to adop the budget I would like that if that certainly understanding that there's some other information that's that standing that's we'll make sure we get that out we're not to do it right okay finish with we're going to have those in in action so we're going to come down superintendent finish her report so we're going to go to the standing committee we shouldn't take about a few minutes to do this community relations our next meeting is sched for 12 um we may try to call a meeting again now we have the bud us um so we can discuss the strategy for sharing this information with the
045public correctly um we have we have our next meeting in February and it's a discussion on AI in the schools what day um we had a meeting on January 15th mik we were presented you guys still not talking into your mic we can't hear you when you turn to the side start talking into your mic and the audience can't hear you okay we had a meeting on January 15th uh the the finance committee Mike Weaver presented the financial statements as attached to the package for the period six-month period ending December of uh 2024 uh Mike had um taken out his his comments were he took out that $7.5 million arate that initially was listed as part of budget so we took that out to reflect the budget uh truly of the appropriation for the $160
046million um keep went on to indicate that the available positive fund balance at this point here was um 5.4 million uh we also thank Mike for his work and his assistant for his work relative to the the audit um the audits plural uh getting work with the the budgets and on the the reports the financial reports we talked about in the near future soon as we get through the bud process that these variances will be looked at and talked over C thank you Mr J our next um our next meeting is scheduled for February 24 have we cleared all our meetings this extra meeting with who the necessary people we supposed to clear one both meeting policy thank you now we need to add a action item on the agenda if there's no other question
047concerning budget and the Committees we're going to add the action item to the agenda sorry uh motion that the Board of Education add an action item to the agenda to adopt the superintendent's proposed 2025 2026 budget motion made by Louisa second seconded by Kate on in favor to I all people that are in Zoom Michelle Dr Cronin hello okay okay yeah okay okay so read motion that the Board of Education adopt the superintendent's proposed 2025 2026 budget in the amount of 9 [Music] 4,464 64 as presented for submission to the mayor as required by City Charter and accordance with 25-11 motion made by Louisa second and second second second by Julie any questions all in favor could I hear I I I oppos I motion so carful action item a I'll make a motion that
048the Board of Education approved for 2024 2025 Board of Education goals in accordance with exhibit 25 motion made by Kate second second by one any question concerning the goals I would just like to thank the bo for participating and putting those goals together and at some point I'm quite sure that we can always add to those goals but it's the first time that I've been on the board that we've had board go so I I really want to thank those information with the the group and putting this to making sure that it happens action item B motion that the Board of Education approve the November December Financial reports as recommended by the finance committee and in accordance with exhibit 45-10 second I'm sorry before I go back I was moving along to Fair on action
049item 8 he I didn't call for the vote and I thought I did all in favor of the motion could I hear I I oppos motion's okay um Mr janeva did I cut you off second second half seconded yes okay any question concerning action item B I messed up I messed up Louisa you did the a you did a action item no no then what did you do I did nothing she did she did prea of the budget yeah I okay all right fine I got you didn't have you have this is add on motion bu oh I didn't that's where we at I don't hear that one so good here Teresa thank you thank you sorry about that I thought I was losing it too I carry the motion Rich made the motion ask
050second the motion are there any question concerning the motion all in favor other motion could I hear I I motion car thank you okay next on the agenda is it any information at this time that board members want to bring uh to the board at this particular time education issue why why you okay what um I just wanted to um mention that I attended the legislative breakfast sponsored by uh ke yesterday um it was held in Bridgefield uh Dr was there um Julie was there as well um and there was some robust conversation about upcoming legislative priorities and sort of um you know what what other districts are also interested in seeing go forward this this legislative session and the top U the top Senate bill that was proposed um centers around student individual student
051um performance for specializ students and how how that funding works so I just want to share that with the board thank you I make sure that the board was represent thank you J yes I just want to thank all the members of the board um for supporting the budget um that was proposed I know that's was a big nugget um you know as we push that forward we do so as a team and um you know when the results of how we're funded from back we'll also do that as a team as well and I I want to to say I appreciate your support um and for those of you can a workshop for digging in and asking some really good questions so thank thank you thank you um board chairperson report um I would
052just like to ask uh board members that have signed up for committees if you please if you're not going to be able to attend the meeting just please let Caren know or the chairperson of that committee know that you won't be here okay uh you know we know that everybody can't be in a place 100% okay so um and Carol does a lot of telephone call and trying to get make sure that when she sets up the meeting we have a so just respond my um the the other item I'm going to take care another time but uh again I hope that we continue to work together as a board and uh you know try to make this District what we say that we would like it to be the best District it is in
053in Connecticut okay so um at our expulsion hearers that's what I want to do we need to pick up and everybody that can get involved in exposion hearing we shouldn't have the same one or two or three people always doing exposion hearing we have 11 people on the board okay and we can take turn we had changed the hours instead of 3:30 4:00 we are doing some of the exposion hearing at 6:30 so it shouldn't be the same people all the time doing exposion okay thank you that's my report there nothing else that needs to be said um entertain a motion can I ask one question yes to Dr kber I keep looking at the the the drawing the rendition is that actually two buildings for this new high school if so what's the difference
054between the two buildings is that just a conceptual so there's a it looks a there's a bridge there's another building on the other side but this is one one building it's just the way that it's leveled that it looks like it's to but there's a entrance from the kind of there's a logic I think wellogic isic is I me it's a pretty Rive building it's a very good size building so it looks like two because of the way that it's broken up but um one side has a lower level the back side of see entertain a motion to adjourn made by Kate second by Julie all them