001Al to the repic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and jce you dooll Teresa present Michelle here k here Lis here Lauren here Jesse here Bridget here Julie here Ralph pres Albert Louisa last meeting I don't even get the mic to work don't confused poor chair nice okay all right so no recognitions anyone for public participation that didn't sign up on the sheet no even better so we'll move on to the consent calendar um okay can you make that motion I'll make a motion at the Board of Education approve the items on consent calendar is of 23130 as recommended second second by Mr Russo any discussion on that all in favor I any opposed any exensions okay motion carries let's see student Representatives oh I see hi I don't have my
002paper today so I have it on my phone today um testing can you hear me okay you oh there we go good evening Bo members cabinet and community members thank you for allowing me to represent speak on behalf of the Alternative Center for excellence during our class times the students at Ace are creating snowman of Hope to bring the pr this is the fourth Ace care school project the students have participated in the pr Center these snowman will have student written messages for the pr cancer patients and staff the Snowman will be delivered during this upcoming holay season and will decorate the waiting room our goal is to build 80 s Joan and the ace journal in class would also like to invite you all to check out our first articles of the school year
003in the alternative times the alternative times can be accessed at Ace alternative times.com and on Twitter as a times Ace would like to invite you all to our annual Ace Thanksgiving dinner which will be tomorrow on November 21st from 10:30 to 12:30 p.m. um 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. the E thinging is our way of saying thanks to the community for all the support that we've received over the years this event is made possible in collaboration with the Abit Tech culinary program and donations from student Min lastly AC is beginning preparations for annual breakfast with Santa this event will take place on Saturday December 13th from 8:30 to 12:00 the event will include breakfast holiday crafts and photos with Santa the event is hosted by the a students and staff thank you all for allowing
004us to share what is going on this holiday season at have a wonderful break and stay Thank you thank you break here SCH okay presentation superintendent propos 24 25 all right thank you mik you are you changing so good evening everyone um let me start one I've asked the team to make a slight update to the title of the packet I have super proposed budget um initially and this is preliminary budget instead um and the board Might Recall what we're doing this evening is typically about 2 months ahead of how we usually the all like the budget us not until January um so things are still changing kind of in real time as we continue to get feedback and clarifications from Department through around the district uh but I wanted to make sure that the
005board going into the break and really the city of Danbury going into the holiday break um had an opportunity to um have an idea of what the ask was ahead of our January and so going to the next page um the board Might Recall um I had previously shared a budget calendar um and ask for a review by the uh by the board in a finance meeting dating back to October um and so what you see here is really an illustration of where we've been and where we are going uh regarding the budget process um you will see in December there is significant activity from my office along with John getting out in the community uh whether that is with parents with families staff meeing our teachers our administrators um and we're still trying to
006line updates with Council and city leaders coming in on new leadership uh regarding the ask as well ahead of January so in uh in blue of board meetings um my office and the finance office will be busy getting out of the community um and one making making our community aware of the ask in how we got where we are um and so in everyone's position for for the 24 25 school year so I I want to start with some initial growth numbers um with the board and the folks watching at home and people were here this evening and so dating back to the 17 18 school year we had almost 11,500 students 11,483 students this was our October submission date and you might recall slides previously shared with the board um while the remainder of
007the state is continued to decline in enrollment uh we've had a steady increase um to date and um you'll see the difference between our 11,483 and 1718 and a projected enrollment uh for 2425 at 12,300 plus which is a A plus of 800 students um since 1718 and I think we did some quick math on this it's a little over 7% gain um since 1718 while again record remain of the state get continue to decrease in a um these numbers have increased so much in of course 800 students is the size of a middle school in our district um increased so much um that we have received and gained the support needed to open up a new build to of all sets this growth across the district the next slide I want to bring your
008attention to is growth from my ml population and special c um and this is really where we even further distinguish ourselves from the rest of the state with the highest percentage of ml students in state of Connecticut we grown by a staggering number of 40% since the 17 18th school year and these are the supports We are continuing to try to support Provide support in our classrooms and our schools across the district um these last couple of years particularly during while we've had Co relief monies uh we' worked really hard to try to provide additional Staffing to provide support the classroom teachers uh but also pull out classes uh for U multi language support as well and you will also notice that no the special ed involment has had increased certainly at the same rate
009uh but the needs have certainly increased over our last couple of years um and you know particularly with our PPS St need to provide social tion support for students across the [Music] district and this is a little bit different from your packet um and so the next slide on the on the floor it says requested versus actual and I would like to bring your attention to the 1718 school year um and again this is given some context and some background so that you understand why we are where we are as a district so go back to the 17 18th school year um our request um and at this time we had 11,483 students in the district our request was 131 million plus and we were funded at a number of 120 128 million plus and
010you will see the other column mean difference and that was the Gap versus our ask versus what we were afforded um uh locally here and you will see those numbers going down um and so every year was 135 we received 132 139 we received 135 U and then I want to bring your attention during the enrollment years when we really started to increase um particularly during the pandemic when we got up to 119 118 we went down um because during co uh we did not have a lot of movement just for that one year um but then we got another B moment again at 11,843 12,19 12,1 14 um this number is 631 up to this year with an anticipated increase for next year and that's where we landed on 800 plus number the reason
011why I'm pointing this out um there's a couple of things um one you will see in 2021 2022 school years in that significant Gap uh where we did not come close to receiving our ask uh we were fortunate in that over the years particularly since 178 18 uh my Administration uh the administration that I served under with Dr sa um there was an ask and the Gap was always filled with Alliance was filled with title one was filled with title two and that's how we were able to address the enrollment increases AC cost of District then when we started to receive even more students the quite frankly the S fathers came at a critical time um and really served as a life boat we had in our budget book last year if you recall the
012analogy um it came at a critical time to um address the multi language growth that we were experiencing in the district um address and provide the support to our um counseling department PPS staff for social motional growth but really just address overall enrollment growth across the district particularly at the 6 68 level and the 912 and so during the 2122 school year we were able to again address that Gap uh that needed to be filled with uh we articulated last year and the year before and the year before on the previous administration that this financial cliff was indeed coming without a significant investment locally and from the state as well um we've worked really hard when I sawe mean the cause um the Connecticut Alliance for urban superintendent um pushing and advocating for acceleration of
013funding uh from Alliance um that did not get get accelerated at the speed or rate that we were hoping for U but there are additional money's coming and I going to make sure I speak to that um at the close of our presentation this evening and so we have been able to the point being the address the Gap that exists in terms of money needed to for Staffing and to support student needs has been filled with Esser over the last three years and that Gap where you see 4 million 10 million 12 million 11 million S3 S2 and the initial Co relief monies fill those gaps those monies at the end of this year June 30th 2024 will be ending and so what this slide does is really articulates what I just mentioned right and
014so again you will see the columns school year 1718 the this was at the end of your packet initially but was better to Grant Revenue subtotal I'm sorry it's the very last page reshuffled it so you'll see the columns at school year Grant Revenue sub total the city amounts and the total District budget and when I say total District budget we are referring to all the collective grants um that are um used to help support and provide uh funding for our staff across the district so that includes Alliance uh that includes title one two and three um and during these certain years it also included es and you will see um we enjoyed the additional monies uh for a couple years at 187 mil 192 million 205 million 218 million 224 million and you'll see
015these last 3 years those monies beginning to decline uh because that is reflective of our eser monies uh that are declining and as you'll also see articulated in the graph um it is the eso monies that will help it to fill the Gap and at the time so this is and this is gone back to the slide it says The Cliff it's like this table here and now everything stays in that's the second page should be right there you and so on this slide in our budget book from last year it was really important for us as we were in the middle of an ask for the 2223 I'm sorry for the 2324 school year um and at the same time um using revenue from our S2 and S3 grants we thought it was also
016important to articulate um and find a way to articulate for the community um what our reality project projections and what those projections look like for the next couple of years um this is where we are now so looking at the 2324 school year um we are in the last year of our S3 Grant and that um is represented at the top of 11 11.4 million um and I will just stay in this column S 2 has since expired cares act expired in 2122 um you will see Alliance 21.9 it did come in at 22 million this year um Title One at 3.8 ID a 2.8 other Grands totaling 34 million and the 150 million funding need that we had um asked for to get to 223 million. n for the 23 24 school year that's
017where we are now uh for next year and at this this time last year around January we put our budget book uh these were our projections at that time and so I want to bring your attention to um the column 2425 where it says city funding 169 so at in January of 2023 we anticipated um the 150 million moving to a need City need of 169 uh and let me just articulate it in this way um and the board might recall the 150 million we saying that 4 million we can prepay and so we saw 154 million be in the budget but we were asking for 150 because we felt like we were in position to prepay things for the the next school year so hold that for a second the 154 million with no
018additional staff was coming very close to and you will see in subsequent slides 154 million with no additional staff and just turning over contract for the next year would turn into $163 million and then with John as part of the projections um the salaries from S3 would help to lead up to a ballpark of 169 so again these were ballpark numbers as of January 2023 around this time last year again these were Forward Thinking projections at that time and now I'd like to bring your attention to the next slide this slide titled ongoing budget drivers and mandates so first I'd like to start with um it upgrades and supports during the pandemic every District um across the state of Connecticut was afforded a grant and grants multiple grants actually uh to provide to make sure
019that U number one districts had the capacity to provide onetoone support to every student during the pandemic um so we were able to leverage those grants to purchase Chromebooks we were able to leverage those grants to get um devices to make sure um our kids and our families were able to get access at home um and we were also able to leverage those grants to help build up our infrastructure our it infrastructure those grants have expired um our needs however have remained and it's almost like legislation without having a legis legislation um I think we've had discussions in this room okay well Kevin maybe our 5year olds and sixy olds and even seveny olds maybe they don't need to bring devices home once to one now we have since made that adjustment uh but 912
020certainly is We Are One to One District 68 We Are One to One district U 45 we are pretty much a one toone District in K3 uh we're asking our staff to share computers sort of a laptop car simar to what we have over here um and we found some efficiencies so that we're not asking our kids to take up home that is also true in middle school as well because frankly we couldn't afford the maintenance on the um on the laptops and Chromebooks uh because we find they were just too damaged and we couldn't fix them and turn them back over to students in time with fash show but the point being the uh it's a new cost given where we are as a district the 25 cred is to graduate and although I
021I I'm assuming sometime soon this is something we will not continue to mention but it was not very long ago that we just moved from 21 credits to graduate to 25 that comes at a cost it's for additional credits for um our students to graduate which requires more staff um at our 912 level and uh that has certainly been added on in addition to enrollment growth at the high school and so we further exac it's so we further exacerbated the issue with enrollment plus additional credit the graduation the scl supports and staff needed should I switch this one up is making it way down thank you and soal supports and staff this is another I think as a district we will always need guidance counselors and support staff to help our students um provide social
022emotional support for students uh I think this is even more true post pandemic I think this is something that we have realized across the system um and we were struggling of course at the high school just to maintain our normal ratios uh not to mention the social workers and psychologist and gu hous Leed across our other builds across the district school safety enhancements and when I say safety en enhancement certainly I want to start with Advocates and certainly we've made some increases over the last couple of years uh but there's also been U infrastructure that we've had to invest in as well um and so that infrastructure um which has included some um many construction across the district um as well as some opportunities to pursue some grants obviously that was not um that was
023not covered by the general budget especially population increases um multi language population increases we talked about both the new AR program and certainly our initial investment in that at Big investment we will not need the same type of investment again uh but it will require ongoing maintenance as we have to uh replace periodicals for over the years and we want to of course continue to invest in professional development that will not necessarily mean professional development for the company but it's an internal PD that's going to continue to DVD for St and then of course our big driver which I I don't know when this will stop and that will be the ongoing enrollment growth that I think this wonderful Community will continue to experience and John is going to bring you through the next three
024slides uh which are budget drivers for the 24 25 school I think thank you Kevin um so you know every budget really has a every year has its own story own message and um really are two messages this year as you've heard uh the decline in the the co grant money that's the big story and also the um the continued growth R growth especially uh the overcrowding at B high school and um I thought we thought uh the best way to demonstrate that um to strip those other things away just for a minute and show you the basic budget the operating budget you've heard us call that um keep the lights on budget kind of thing I like to describe it as uh the current Year's programs and services next year without perhaps these extra
025things so what you see there up on the chart in the first um what we did was we locked in so to speak the budget that was adopted hereby Us in February and amended uh in July when we realize the savings weren going to be what we thought they were so you can see that there's 150 million that's what the city council approved now the only thing that's different about that First Column from what the same is uh the bottom three numbers and that's what we did when we realized the 4.7 million wasn't going to materialize um we did three things uh some of the staff positions uh we moved to the alliance Grant $919,000 because we by then we knew it was going to be more than it had been the year before the
026second thing we did was we actually cut some of the themselves we call cut utilities uh we cut some of the supply program budgets that the principles had the program leaders had that's the middle number that was 764 th000 and the third thing we did was we asked the city to release some reserves for 3,44 th000 those three things that's the 4.7 if you looked at the book from last year that's the number we've seen so that's logged in on this chart here the middle column is what we expect to spend this year now in the financial reports you've heard each month uh the messages were on target we're doing what we plan to do uh the staff we have the staff and programs and services so you can see there that what we expect
027to spend uh is pretty much it's right on target with the budget except we have those uh three things uh going on particularly the the city money so you can see that we expect to spend this year 153 million if nothing else changes now uh the point here is in the in the slide in the column on the far right if we take that $153 million spending plan and what will that cost next year we know what many of our Sal are for collective bargaining uh we have a good recommendation on our health and dental insurance from our consultant you know what that should come in at uh you know what the bus contract is uh we have a good idea on the inflation and the cost the supplies so this year's program of 153
028is estimated to cost 163 next year now that that seems like a a big in well it is a big in 10 million but on a percentage basis it's 6.3% so that that's what our operating budget is um expected to go up by next year 6.3% so we wanted to show that first and then I'll show you in a second what we think has to be added in what's changing for next year and um just a couple things to note here um the way the bu was put together a year ago so to make a point to demonstrate um what's going on next year the uh it's projected the same way so for example for many years here the salaries for our TS have been shown in the line purchase Professional Services there's about 44.5
029million uh there for tutors like there has been for many years and just look at salaries you need to add that in in both years this year and next year um and the other thing we did differently uh last year was to keep track of the changes remember we asked for a large number of new positions or more than 30 new positions primarily we grow but also because were losing sr2 at the time and most of those positions were in the high school in the classrooms we isolated those requests for new positions on that line that says enrollment impact that's what mostly that was so to demonstrate the 6.3% increase I kept that in the same line going forward into next year so it's on each of those lines it's apples and apples that's what
030we're doing this year what we think it will cost next year so next Mike so that's U um yeser three the co last Co gr um you can see U what we expect to spend this year 10.5 million that's the Cliff that's what you saw it's not the 11 million we thought we'd have last year because we still have some vacant positions in the in the that were assigned to the grant um so we don't need to carry those forward into the operating budget but you can see there's salaries there and services and that's a big number so when I say uh there's a couple stories in every budget this is the main sport this is the main driver this is the uh biggest reason why things are are going on next and so what
031what this page though uh shows is we put everything together so what you see [Music] there we um as we looked at things a little closer we don't think um par settlement is really a budget driver the way we thought it it may have been this year but not next year but um the the change in the special ed laws up until age 22 we've talked about that a couple times um we think we will need some staffing uh not only for that mandate but also for the uh increase in special ed students we expect in the preschool program if not the element program generally K5 so uh you'll see there when you add those together about the same amount of money we're asking the city to release this year what $400,000 and then um
032what we uh plan to do is uh occupy the cartis building uh at the beginning of April a year from now what we we've heard so far is that we'll be ready by uh we don't think um it's smart to wait till July to move in there's just too many things you have to think about when you're starting a an academy program like that or a high school operation middle school with 1,400 kids um and so what I've put in there is um one of the one or two of the administrators coming on early with some support staff to help with those plans um and help with the planning get everything ready so they they would come in April according to this budget uh the benefits um that they they would need as well uh
033and also the cost to operate uh the physical plant the electricity the um uh air conditioning um all of that um taking care of it we think uh it will start to I think about 400,000 uh will be the cost that's our first estimate that's going to be looked at a lot closer in the next uh couple weeks um it's kind of hard to to tell as many of you were on on the tour a couple weeks ago that's just a shell of a building or was when we were there the heating system wasn't there any of that so it's that's a number we're going to have to look at closer as we move along um and then um some supplies as well uh just to get things going uh there's a appropriation for that
034um we also uh continue to uh see the need for technology and security and some of our operations um we've uh we're asking for uh additional safety Advocates uh next year uh some Grant seed money uh to allow us to um get some grants um but we also need more uh technology as we just become more technological K12 uh things have to be replaced um as technology marches on uh and you'll hear more about that as we get into it but um that's becoming a bigger part of everyday experience for for students and and staff uh but the second biggest driver after the eser uh is the overcrowding at gur High School the original plan was to um have that ready uh this this September not next September uh but that doesn't mean the kids
035haven't come aren't and many of them are here now uh as you talk with principal Donovan and I'm sure we'll have him come in uh to speak more about it um he he needs things like uh student desks and chairs U we need more materials for the kids if you uh he will tell you that if you add simply the number of Juniors sophomores freshman and eighth graders today uh which would be our high school next year that that's 3900 kids so things for that more staff to teach those kids um we also need more buses uh to bring those kids to school every day now eventually those buses will help with the cars uh in Academy move but um we need things now and we'll have more information exactly what that is but you
036can see there's salaries uh benefits the services number that is uh for school more school buses uh go up there um some supplies as well that I mentioned we will be the first to tell you many of the uh textbooks and word books and things like that are now digital there is a CA to that also for some more traditional consumables um and then finally on the list there um it's probably not the best name CRC academic support staff uh but most of those is to meet the the needs that the superintendent descri with the uh really tremendous grow growth we've had in the English language Learners um over the last few years um number of our Bal positions there both teaching um and some par as well um some moreal language teachers there too
037that have come in and we'll have a list for you of exactly what that was as well uh but you can see when you start to add all those other things um that's when we we total it down there 16 million um that that begins to add up and that's why I wanted to show the operating budget this year next year I want to isolate that I'll show you so you can see really what's impacting our our increase of these new items I have so before I summarize John's slides this this will be the last slide of the presentation I I just want to make the board aware the packet that you have there are it's one of three budet driver slide that John presented this even and on the budget driver 103 which is
038numbered yours is not numbered uh and this we thought it was best that you knew that it was adding up and so that's why it was important that we did one of three but you also notice um that one row has disappeared from the original because there were no numbers at all and we made sure that the the final column was also accurate just want to bring your attention to page two um page two after looking at our most recent payroll uh we noticed that our in our Esser pay roll it was not at 85 sorry 8,500 it was closer to 79 and so if my can you go back to page 203 you have the slide it's not titled 203 but you have this SL it's the one on declining C relief monies and
039um this one initially said proposed 85 8.5 million and then expected 8.5 million we made that adjustment to be more consistent with our current payroll right and so we had vacancies that were sitting in the S3 Grant and so because they were vacancies we decided it was probably best to try to get closer to what the real numbers are today um but those same salaries tomorrow would be an 8.2 and so that's why you see that adjustment there then M can we go to page three or three then last but not least before we get to the summary slide um the Paris settlement um we looked at our projections for next year with rolling over salaries um it felt like we had already captured the par salaries and so that's why we crossed that out
040and so at the bottom you have a 5 million number we reduce that by 500,000 and then the next two lines which says special education um and for our legislative um that was a typo That was supposed to read special education prek and then special education K12 the numbers are the same uh because we're anticipating four four to five positions depending on where we land with kindergarten in moment and so that one says budget drivers new that should have been right after your budget drivers C and now bring your attention to the final slide which is budget drivers totals and so John had mentioned previously carry forward increases uh with be a plus $13 million and has taken us from 150 million to 163 this is not if we do not have one more student
041I mean this is really just moving our salaries forward the S absorption which is a similar strategy when the budget was adopted last year all the salaries that were to two as part of the enrollment growth we are asking for the same this year to make sure our schools um districtwide we are continue to uh be supported um and so absorption meaning these the new staff during the last couple years during Co that is 10.2 billion um and then a new items in the budget addresses enrollment grow um so you saw two different as one specifically from the high school um and then the other one for CRC and this is a support sta across the district so that brings us to 178 um. 733 which is down from the initial number that you saw
042at 179 so the increase of 28 mil7 and a 19.2% increase and so again I'm sure there's going to be a lot of questions happy to discuss um I just want to also add before we finish um and I know John had mentioned um you know we had initially anticipated that the new the new school for the high school would be open in 2425 it is now opening in 2526 and so yes as a community we had a bond effort to open up a new school um we do what we did not have is a plan to educate all of the kids that are coming in right and so yes we have a bond to open up a new building um but I everything is converging at the same time right and I I think
043we've been talking about this for some time now um number one expiring relief monies so we are here enrollment growth that we have not had to address with local monies and state monies because we used the relief Monies to pay for it that's our reality uh but the new reality and one we have not addressed also is how are we paying for the enrollment growth for a new building so that's 2526 but also address the growth that we have now um and so that's that last last piece the third slide of three where we're talk about also the enrollment gr um and so I understand there's a lot of work ahead for us uh we are beginning to get a little bit more clarity around the additional revenues coming into the district in 2425 and
0442526 um typically for Alliance um we typically see about a $2 million increase year over year um as I had pointed out earlier um there's been strong for advocacy for um accelerating fly funding of Alliance we're almost there um has not really been accelerated um but next year uh we will be look to receive a $7 billion increase in Alliance funding um and um in addition to that um we are also mindful of the two leap grants that we have that we hope will not be expiring anytime soon um so those Le grants is a 1.0 and a 2.0 that add up to a little over $1.1 million uh which will continue to help provide supports for learning engagement in tendance program and so any staff um that that are eligible under there also helps
045our bottom line um and those two major grants uh will help chip away at this ask of $29 million and also want the board to be reminded of we still have monies in our reserves um and so whether we are um whether we have the opportunity to tap those reserves now or later um from our latest calculation um it is our understanding that we have $5 million eligible to be reimbursed back reimburse might not be the right word u but that we can tap at least up to $5 million um again during the pandemic these were monies that were not exhausted during the pandemic because our staff could not and did not go to the hospital and so we didn't we had a significant reduction in claims that's the reason why the reserves were built
046up during the pandemic um and so from our perspective it's time now particularly given this critical time to go back to tap those same reserves that built up um and so again we see an increase of $7 million in Alliance um a little over $1 million in leap and $5 million that we will certainly um figure to be part of our strategy um in terms of our ask when we finally have a finalized request uh for the 2425 school year um so know when there are questions um I just want to leave it on that note a lot of a lot certainly unpack um and so understand for chair there may be a lot of questions so we're ready to answer sure we'll go around thank you question you said there are some budget cuts
047in those budget cuts are there any significant positions that are eliminated okay so when you talking about budget cut you talking about the slide that John was referring to so Mike can you go back to that slide and that's that's page one3 right so John can you review that again when talk about the budget cuts so when we came in front of you in July the $919,000 of Staff cost we move those positions into the alliance gr and that's where they remain that's where where where they will be next year as well so there are no budget cuts next year that for staff but um the 700,000 you see up there U it was I believe 60 or 70,000 were utilities and the others were 30% reduction for pupil discretionary mods with the exception of
048the high school and I think adult education for supplies anyone else Lisa can we get um updated slides with the correct numbers yes sure and um and also the5 million additional reserves that that's not including the 4 million that we're currently asking to draw down on that's an addition to that no we the clarification that we received is there is $5 million without touching anything else there's at least 5 million available for us right 3 million now we're asking for it so there's additional 2 million after that so however you look at it's 5 million total okay that's whenever we receive it okay thank you trying to betim question on uh question on DHS overflow um are those full-time positions and I'm I'm thinking the Overflow work was we were paying overtime to come to
049that so I I think it's just a terminology um overflow meaning um addressing the enrollment growth at Danbury High School uh and so so it's that 1.1 that sorry that 1,50,000 is reflective of the new ask for enrollment growth for D high school that's what that's for full time yes okay I'll get back to um I just want to clarify something Grant so that's a grant that we're currently getting in the district is that right and you're are you saying that we're going to see an additional monies coming from from that Grant potentially so um a couple of years ago we received our first iteration of leap uh there was a second one and that started this year and and so when we initially put together the budget both last year we had one was
050not sure if this was going to be a sustainable Grant um it appears to be a focus for the governor and uh the commission of education and given out it this A 1.0 and 2.0 version we are optimistically thinking we can now start to count on these monies for the fful future so that's the only reason why I mentioned it we Ser I think for the foreseeable future I think we're okay to start counting on positions to address these strategies um but there's a lot of Staff that's eligible to address these strategies um and we can I think we can coun on putting them those critical positions in those grants right now okay thank you and then ask more please um are there any positions covered in the new positions that are being added um
051you know the new expenditures being added that are going to be rolled up to the open to the second high school campus other words are we starting to strategize staff yes um so and I don't remember the exact number of Staff um but there are considerable effic to be found when the new school the physical new school opens we will be moving over I don't remember the number know someone can look up on the Comm they can find the slide so we can Circle back in this meeting um but there any teacher that we're hiring today will still be able to address our bottom line when the day comes when we can open up the doors for the new building um but you know our reality is Dan has a projection of 3900 now you
052we need to make sure we address those needs we just reviewed a formula as a team this afternoon and just trying to find if there's any room whether 912 68 K5 um all of our schools are at capacity and when I say formul I mean the Staffing formula um which is kind of used across districts across the country um just trying to see if there's any opportunity and um Dan quite frankly is right at that door and I think you can argue at a school with 3,900 kids in the building he probably should have more um and we're trying to make sure he has what he needs and U I know this board has had an opportunity to be at graduations in June um and that's an amazing and lovely day in every regard um
053but I invite you to go to the cafeteria um and see what 900 kids in our cafeteria looks like throughing lunch um so Dan his administrative team his teachers anyone supervising in that building um it's a struggle every single day um and you know it's across our district obviously um but we need to make sure that our building that building our staff our kids get what they need um and so this this ask is reflected with that as much as we can but we will need more when it Building open that's 25 26 buget yes scer um Mr wson thank you uh and John I think this information is very clear anyone re can read it and digest it my question being not so much a question I think when we talk about how much
054funding we need we we spoke about the grow from one year to the other we talk about the dollars that we received from one one period to another and how much that money was and where it left the school system so I say I don't know how this going to be put into our budget coming in January but I hope that some part of this will be injected in it so people can see and don't rely on other people giving them the information about the school board but but to me this is very what the number is going to come out big number going to come out we don't know that but we talk about um I guess what I'm sort of want to get down to and I think we talked about this at
055Finance Comm me the grants and how certain grants are embedded in the line items and so those grants can be sort of separate instead of just embedded in the other numbers with the budget and some of the people you know especially new people don't understand that so I I just want to say I I really appreciate it and the pages that you corrected those numbers on tonight if you can make sure that we get it out to board members as soon as possible and correct those numbers I don't want someone to be eating turkey and talk about the numbers they got them and then there's different number thank you thank you Jesse so obviously you guys have been working hard at this so we appreciate it you um we we talked briefly at one of
056the meetings as far as our Academy goes I see you guys put some numbers together is moving equipment included in in these numbers it is not yet it is not okay I I didn't think so and and I'm smiling Jesse because it's we know it's going to be a there yeah and then I know we spoke about um possible tents for the high school is that something that that is also not included so but we are working on um in real time is trying to collect the data for this cost and I failed to mention earlier um we thought it' be really important to try to uh set up a meeting with our local delegation around the special cost associated with this Gap year um and so you know the board is aware of um
057looking at alternative spaces or venues uh for potentially our high school students to go go to that nothing ever really materialized from that um but the point being with that also meant some type of funding would have needed to be secure to make that happen um I think what we're trying to put together now is identify exactly what these different kind of costs because these are not typical costs associated with educating our kids tents heating the tents wait a minute the tents are closed we need supervision inside of the tents um we're moving offices from this building oh waake we have to move every we have to move a quarter of the teachers at Danbury High School and for the board members who recall what it looked like when we moved our kindergarten teachers from
058our three schools this that's nothing compared to what it would look like moving teachers and sta out of the high school um we we just haven't had time to put those projected cost together yet um so we just need a little bit of time but we're hoping to put together some for preliminary cost quickly um and draft something for our local delegation to see if we can't drum up some even more support for monies CU outside of these apps we feel like there are different ads that we need to be requesting from the state uh regarding this really challenging Hing right thank you but but just want to say this is kind of the the pattern right when like we added on the west side we added on to the high school and now with
059the new building it's easy to go out the bond and get the money cuz money's cheap with the reimbursement but Staffing it and filling it with stuff never gets figured into that number oh the building $50 million oh great but you got to staff it you got to fill it with equipment I mean it that that's what really that that's what really hurts us in in the long run because like I said go out to bond and get reimburse it easy cheap money to to get it but all the other stuff and this is feels like the pattern of uh you know I've been I've been around for a little while and I was long as in Cooper obviously but you know it's do from 2013 with with Westside and then the the new addition
060to the the high school and now this it's like the same I don't know I have 11 days left and who knows we're going to learn from our things but it's the same thing that goes on on every year whether it's 2013 or 2023 so I mean uh the task at hand is is a big one for you uh see some newly elected members out there in the uh in the audience and the reelected members here so uh this is this is a big one coming forward but anyway it's off on tangent bridg yeah I just wanted to clarify that so there are significant onetime expenses next year that are not yet included in the projected expens correct that's correct do you have a ballark I do not I'm looking at John but we've we've
061been racing trying to get this ready um John talking about the need for tents primarily to serve meals um that could be a school lunch fund part of the we're hoping and um also the move itself you know we really can't do that until school is over in late June so maybe that could be a July activity as well in the following project we'll have to talk School person and and Briget to your question some things we were looking at as late as last week um during the 2122 school year when we were challenged with uh trying to find trying to be really creative with social distancing and so one of the things we were looking to at that time they were in high school or tents were outside and and then now what will
062happen if if the weather is too cold to send kids outside so then we explore the idea of heating the tents and so this cost which we had included in our grant at that time um was $300,000 um for I think that was 2 years um and so those are some initial numbers that we were looking at and that was just to heat tents um that that had nothing to do once the ttin closed you need additional Supervision in every 10 um and so those are some initial numbers that we were looking at but that was a couple years ago go and then the team and I were discussing well why wouldn't we buy the tents so then of course well we might need some additional staff to maintain the tents um there'll be some
063liability associated with the tents s of exploring what that would look like etc etc so we still trying to figure out what the best approach is on this but I I think what's regardless of what we do I think we're going to need an outlet to feed students uh because it's unhealthy unsafe with the ex conditions we have right now and if you go to den high school tomorrow um you'll you're going to see kids inside and outside and Dan said even during the cold weather they'll go outside just because they just want to go outside but we don't want kids going outside when it's 40 30 and 20° to go eat just because they don't have a place to sit down so that that time is coming we need to make some decision so
064what demographic are you expecting to the increase I assume you have the ESL staff additional staff you're hiring you must know what demographic you're getting um so we are I I will start with the vast majority of the increase at the high school is coming up that bubble that we've had um fourth and fifth grade and now middle school so you might recall Rogers Park was over a th000 last year over a th000 the year before um and now that Bub at Broadview Middle School uh and certainly and now we have 1100 at Broadview middle school and so it's really a demographic that's already in the district um and that's moving up to the high school and it's really just the demographers um numbers that are our I'm sorry let me back up our requests
065are for the existing kids that we have to make sure we can support new kids coming up to the high school but it's not as we're losing so many at the middle school that we don't also need that ml staff at the middle school as well um so you're right in that we have multi language staff in that number that million doll ask from the CRC um but that's for students moving up to the high school that we don't have supports for we we will not have supports for for those kids in grow so you already know the demographics right because this is just reflective of what we have right now um and yes slam's projections are an additional a couple hundred kids but I don't have the exact demographics that we're trying to address
066outside of the 40% increase that we had talked about but a ml students so there's no additional coming from outside the commun we don't have those project exactly yet we will have them during registration and we we will know in real time as they come in the new ones um certainly over the last C of year couple of years um we continue to get um students from other countries and continue to get students from New York area um as they come to Connecticut and enjoy their lower taxes um and we're an entry point into the state and we continue to get get folks from outside of Connecticut mostly coming from Over the border from New York whether that's Brewster or lower Westchester or New York City we continue to see that I'll do a couple
067more questions Mr wson did I understand correctly presently we are ml students are 34 to 36% and so we are going to increase 40% of that 34 or 36% I'm sorry no so the the 40% number I was referring to it's going back to uh 20178 uh We've grown by 40% this specific population has grown by 40% since 1718 uh which by far we have the highest percentage in the state of Connecticut which is your number the 36% um I'm sorry right we have the highest percent in the state of Connecticut um and then our over 4,000 ml students even though we're nowhere near as big as Waterberry and New Haven and Bridgeport we still have the most multilanguage learning students in state of Connecticut which is I think says a lot about how unique
068we are as a district in state of Connecticut thank you thank you Melle um I have some confusion on sorry I some confusion on the enrollment numbers I I went back and I looked at the February as 20 you know 2023 and it said that our current enrollment at that time was 12,210 we had a meeting on November 8th that we were provided an enrollment of 1288 with several students that were waiting to finalize registration and we were looking at something around 12,198 so now I'm looking at this document says we're at 12,114 how many students did we add last year right and I'm looking for that because we we allocated 2.6 million for that growth it looks like we are under the number that we actually were at last year yet we are was
069the number I wasn't here at the finance commit Mee was like 1.9 million or you had mentioned another number today it's not on document so I'm a little confused uh 2.6 million for how many students last year and I think we're looking at like 96 students or 100 for this year and we're adding so I'm just confused with the enrollment and numbers they've been fluctuating in the paper everywhere and that 100 students is significant as well as when you look at the um second Lage Lear you're going from 17,000 to 51,000 to 76,000 or so first student depending on their need so 100 you know students and 40% are you know second language Learners I'm a little confused and I can't really decipher where we are okay um so one I think you described our
070enrollment um movement in its District perfectly um the these numbers reflect our October 1 submission to the state and so at the time year over year um what you're seeing are numbers and and it's in a grave bar right now 12,114 is the number submitted to the state of Connecticut as of October 1st um but typically we will see right after October 1st we're continuing to get enrollment um more kids are continuing to come in um in January we will have another wave as we always do uh particularly from other countries um so that number will increase and Inter just so October 1st can you just explain the significance of that and and and for Michelle but Michelle knows this because she's been in these discussions as well but for everyone um there is a
071date and particularly for districts like us it's really important um that the state of Connecticut they need a number they need a number for your enrollment knowing that it always fluctuates at different points in the year um and so October 1st is the date for this across the state of Connecticut where we have to submit a number for enrollment in a district um our reality however when as we're trying to Michelle like try to but what is the date um some other districts it more than likely doesn't move as much as ours um but we will have typically have from October to December one number it will go up in January typically uh in then in June we will clean up data because we will find maybe 30 or 40 families have left d schools
072um but maybe 50 families have just been added in over July and August so like we will have this up and down you know fluctuating enrollment um and the October number is the number that we have to submit to the state and that's what you're seeing here so I I was looking into that because we had an at meeting where it we were told that a thousand students had entered the school system last year and 460 were after that October that's a significant burden on the district I looked into to find out sorry 1,000 new students uh we had a th000 new students enter this last year and 460 according to city council at ha meeting were after the October 1st date which is what you're saying that the state doesn't capture anybody coming after
073oober I I just sorry when I just interject we did not have a th000 new students we've only had 8 no we didn't we didn't have a th new students in the district so I just wanted to make sure last year I guess the registration my understand was at 460 came after or enrolled after October 1st is that accurate that was provided by uh city council that's what I'm working off of that led me to inquire as to when does the district actually stop capturing our students they changed the law this year and it actually extends I believe to Jan so we will at least capture any kind of students that register after October 1st not really seeing anything after that January through June time frame oops time frame um so we will or the
074state should pick up some of the students that you're talking about at least for our benefit of the taxpayer but I guess that's these numbers are really important I didn't know I know you were looking for Dem Dem I don't know if those numbers came in and that's why they got adjusted in the last two weeks as far as what the enrollment is but um no we we did adjust the enrollment num in the last the ones that we looked at on this document here of November 8th was only 12,000 mucher number that's what I'm saying they CH 1288 it's going but that's my point it's going to change these are October one submission so this is a static number the that's the number we were showing you in real time what the DAT it
075was as of that date when we made the presentation all right so the number that you had last year that had 12,210 currently that was submitted in February that documentation was created because that was real time dat at that time but October 1 submission was 12,19 but there was fluctuating enrollment whenever we may have made that presentation Okay so I I think that's what's confusing cuz this document here says we have 12,210 students last year that makes sense we are that that means at that point of the presentation that's how many students we had in District at that time yeah I know all right I'm just wondering how literally if we could have a solid number how many students enrolled last year for that 2.6 million that we extended and then this year is it
07696 students and what is that number is it 1.9 that we're looking at I can give you a solid number if you give me a solid date so if it's October to October 1 then I can give you a number if it's January 1 to January 1 I can give you a number but but I can't promise that number is not going to go up and down because it is could I could I just add something to the question um because it came up at the end of the finance committee meeting uh last week it's a good question question not sure what the answer is um but it was pointed out that the people that were asking to add this year are already here they're in the S brand we're asking to add them into
077the operating project last year the 2.6 million most of that was because the sr2 brand was expiring weren't adding all those people for the increase in enrollment and it's the same [Music] have we made any I don't know if there's been any progress in the potentiality of working with our Cooperative school districts at to Dy in order to move some of our students into those districts for next year I know you had mentioned before that reading is a possibility and that there was an agreement signed with them is there any way to Partnerships so that we can some of the school yes yes and so the partnership with reading was about um the open choice and U that would be a very different conversation from what we're talking about this evening and if we think
078that's a strategy that can help um I would have no problem reaching out to superintendent who of course would need agreement by the local Boards of Ed and of course that would come at a number at a cost it's certainly something that we can explore um I but I do want to also share and update the board the open Choice program um they are looking at offsetting um at kindergarten like Elementary grade levels um and starting with the cohort of about I believe it was 10 to 12 students a year um and the idea would be they would be in one or two schools so Michelle Teresa Al Lisa and I will be friends and we would move up together but not in a way where they're going to take a significant number of elementary
079kids from kindergarten first grade second grade third grade and help with our enrollment you know crowding issues um from their perspective it's more about unity and um incorporating students from danburry to help with that initiative um but really a small C of time one question do we have any other unreflected costs that we haven't discussed anything on the horizon that might impact I I think the biggest additional drivers are the cost associated with the move that we've still trying to finalize um and make some projections on um which would be one time cost to the budget um we don't anticipate any thing major outside of that we have gotten feedback from all the Departments um and Phil to good about where we okay I'll do one more question i' like to move on to the
080action it I just have a question the these number of the budget reflect the 3 million I think it was in um one toone computers that we were looking to possibly put in the capital Improvement budget normally we would do that in the operating budget so I'm just I know you have mentioned one to one and how we you know utilizing it and then we obviously revised it but if you could speak to that as to that original proposal that's kind of new to Bo inital Improvement right so it's um unpack that a little bit if you can speak to the capital Improv so the slide on ongoing budget drivers and mandates can you go to that slide this one and it upgrades and supports pre pandemic and I don't know exactly what the number
081is on Staffing um but you can be assured that we have additional staff um post pandemic um that no longer can be paid for by grants um and we have additional computers technology in a district that also no longer could be paid for by grants and so in real time we're paying for those additional staff um and additional technology now however there is um I think Melle this would be referring to as part of the capital improvement work um that will be different from our maintenance annual budget M can you speak to the difference sure so the what this slide points out here the it upgrades and supports this is really things that came out of the challenges we had over the summer additional security measures but it also accounts for that large army of
082staff that it takes to maintain those devices so this really isn't devices a lot of those devices were put into Capital um so that's that's our hope for for sustaining those devices moving forward but maintaining you know over 13,000 devices for staff students um you know everything from your projectors to your smartboards to your whiteboards that's that's you know in maintaining just the all the software that goes into them making sure that that training is available to Future that's a lot of what uh what this bullet is referring to there so currently those devices are in the capital budget yeah is that a common practice that other districts are utilizing I just I hadn't heard that prior to being put under a capital imprison and John can speak more too about standard standard practice my
083understanding is yes it's it's rather Comm yeah you know just because something's in a capital budget doesn't mean it necessarily has to last for years could be a shorter estimated use for life so it is a place um some cities and towns go to AFF technology thank you Mr chair we're going to discuss this whole thing capital budget on a motion either accepted or rejected yeah so I ask if you mind reading that first action action HS science lab Improvement specifications motion the Board of Education authorizes the chairperson of the Board of Education and the superintendent of schools to approve the final plans specifications and cost estimate for phase one of the danber high school science lab improvements project and sign the sg- 042 forms for submission to the state of Connecticut office of school
084Construction Grants and review for approval motion made by Lisa second by brid there I ask any discussion all those in favor oh sorry it's really okay let's let's make that note thank you Kate those in favor oppos okay now how about you read the next one action item B October 2023 financial report motion and I make the motion that the Board of Education accept the October financial report in accordance with exhibit 23-1 than okay motion made by Al second second Maes any discussion all those in favor any opposed any exensions okay motion cares how C brid 2024 capital budget motion that the Board of Education approved the 2024-25 request in the amount of 12, 680,000 as recomended by the science and Facilities committee on November 1st 2023 and in accordance with 23-13 motion made by
085Bridget second by Kate any discussion discussion I don't entirely agree with with the capital budget number uh it is my opinion that especially student phone books that's a reoccurring expense we have to ref fresh SE in that 1.2 million should be in an operating budget along with uh tablets and devices for Advocates and a raptor share so that is my descending opinion okay anyone else I didn't hear what you said Mr chair what's that he he was just making a statement that he doesn't approve of it but he can can reading the statement I'm sorry read I didn't hear what he was saying I yeah could I hear it yes please it is my opinion that uh putting the refresh of a student tablets into the capital budget in my opinion it's not appropriate because
086it is a reoccurring expense um student tablets Advocate tablets and uh the technology for Raptor program I I believe that belongs in our operating budget rather than in a capital Improvement thank you n i I can thank you thank you okay let's go to the vote all those in favor any opposed bro opposed any extensions okay car thank you superintendent report excellent and good evening again everyone um and I want to take this opportunity start with this oury of danburry um I know I included this in the board update last Friday uh but we had an absolute amazing day last Thursday in the school district uh we had 900 students uh participate in our career exploration Fair they came uh they went to the uh sports dome uh in two waves and they were greeted
087and welcomed uh by Danberry um administrative team um Danberry staff all staff but available staff uh in over 60 plus Community organizations and partnered businesses across the danburry community um at the tables they provided oh and by the way one of those Community organizations was de public schools and our HR department and um Lauren daily representing the organization that she works with at Texas Roadhouse so it was really well represented that that that day um over 60 plus organizations represented um and at every table so there were 60 tables across uh the turfield at the and our kids walked into this space um prepared um prepared by their teachers a career exploration teacher um every student had a detailed um questionnaire that they were supposed to ask uh the people on the other side of
088the table um the folks on the other side of the table talked about their businesses talked about um what employees do with their respective companies um and it was an absolute amazing day almost every regard um our companies and I think I also articulated this in the letter to you on Friday uh but we just overwhelmingly um companies and organizations shared how um much they appreciated um our kids engagement throughout the day um how much they appreciated how um engaged they were throughout the day uh it was it was really something special to see and we had banners every where you walked in and it looked like our Super Bowl it really did it looked like our Super Bowl and that's really what it was for danburry public schools um it's it's November now I
089our students will now the expectation was they took notes from all their interviews everything they learn everything that they learned from their respective organizations um and then go back to their career exploration class and Report out in their respective classes um and then um this will soon inform what pathway and Academy our kids will apply for in the lottery for the 24 25 school year um so really excited those decisions and that selection process will start um in the spring I believe it's March or April and then students will learn about what Academy of pathway they've been selected in uh we will be working really hard to make sure students no students do not get at least their first second or third choice um and Dan seems to be very confident that will indeed happen
090he's able to um honor those requests for electives now and sees no sees no reason why they can't also be honored have CS so we're really excited about where we are right now um it really was an amazing day second um on Wednesday evening last week and I know we have found an opportunity already to celebrate and applaud um our danburry 2024 Danberry teacher of the year U but I I think it's worth repeating I had an opportunity and honor um the opportunity to escort Miss Christine Miller um to the teacher of the year ceremony at Hartford last week uh where all of the um respected um honores were honored at this event in Hartford uh by the governor and by the commissioner of Education and the board chair for the State Board of Ed
091um so every uh recipient got a picture with the commissioner um and state board B board chair um and yours truy for Christine Miller uh so it was really a great day and um true to who Christine is as a person as a teacher and as a um someone who continues to give back in this community um I really had to talk this lady out of going to an event where she was volunteering that night and I said Christine I I just need you to take this one night and just it be about you and she thanked me in an email the next day for encouraging her to go and participate um her husband was there her two boys were there and I think they all went out afterwards um so it was a really
092a wonderful evening it was really nice to see some of our own folks get um U applauded at Statewide where everyone was being honored that evening um so I just wanted to make sure I had an opportunity to share that wonderful evening and see our home get um get Applause from everybody in the audience at and um two more items quick updates for you annual meeting um is the same date next week I'm sorry in December um but it has been moved to 700 p.m. so I just wanted to make sure on December 6th um everyone did have that adjustment on their calendar and then last but last but not least um I'd like to take this opportunity to thank a number of board members where this will be their last official meeting we will
093be taking action uh for the 2223 school year um I I did not anticipate this much turnover um in this election um so I will just start there U but I also want to say I appreciate the service um and a dedication from every board member in this room this evening um and I particularly want to extend a heartfelt thank you on behalf of the cabinet um to our board members who are going to be us um after tonight and so we have left a little on behalf of the cabinet um and I and the remaining board members left the token of appreciation for um Jesse who has been with us um now and just as we were getting to know you um and uh and frankly Jesse I really appreciate everything that you've done
094uh for the district in working with the board and working with with us um it's been truly appreciated by the team and I um Bridget I want to thank you for um coming in and filling in like Jesse um and back filling a seat that had been vacant um you've truly been received well by the team and I I really appreciate um everything that you've done also uh for the board for the Danberry community and Julie I I know I've had an opportunity to say this to you already uh we we really really appreciate everything that you've done in the short time you've been on the board um I know you were really quiet in the beginning um but in your own way uh you found many ways to support this board and support initiatives
095in this District we you will be missed um like Bridget and like Jesse I just want to thank you again and you don't want me to say Mr Russo is that right okay and Al I yeah I've had an opportunity um to know you're a little bit longer than the other people I just mentioned um and dating back and you handed in your Chromebook this evening and handed in your um your pass this evening your ID badge um and it kind of took me by surprise quite frankly because I wasn't prepared for it um and it kind of brought a little finality to like you're really going to be leaving us I I will miss you um I I will miss working with you on the finance committee uh I'll miss seeing you at graduation
096um and and I will miss your collaborative nature in these meetings and outside of these meetings well um and appreciate your service um and dedication to the boards of nature thank you sir and last but not least I'm going to say this and try not to cry tears of joy you won't be the first to Cry tears so your chair essor I I I want to take this opportunity to to thank you um and I know this position is in many ways a thankless position um because I I know how hard you must work to make sure we all continue to work together as a team um and uh when you stepped into this seat as the board chair um I think uh my team and I had a side relief because we know you
097and there's some comfort in working with someone certainly that you know um but I think what I also learned as a superintendent working with you the first time at this level um is that you're supportive in every way um and and it's okay that it's your way like I'm no and I and I and I mean that genuinely I mean that genuinely um because everyone's different so whether who whoever the board chair is I recognize and appreciate as superintendent that person is going to be different um but it didn't take long to also realize that ultimately you care about this District you care about the teachers and staff who support kids you care about our kids you care about our families and as much as you give us a hard time I know you also
098care about us um and so I I appreciate you um the board appreciates everything that you've done um but as as your superintendent I want you to know I also appreciate everything you've done for me and my office thank you um outside of um thanking everyone with these thanks um and I hope everyone finds some time to recharge during this Thanksgiving break um and and just be reminded to be thankful for all the blessings that we have as a community as a board um and the people that we serve so so thank you so much thank you Kevin appreciate that so the final board chairperson's report of uh yeah oh yeah I'll get my thing up so first off I just want to say congratulations to the newly elected people um going to be serving
099on the board good luck you guys will need it um and congratulations to the members that were reelected um you're going to need some luck too uh so I just want and also say that like I said been been on a couple different boards but um you know one thing I will miss and I say this every time I'm back on and back back off it it's the people sometimes the process is a little difficult and the politics get get get in the way but genuinely I feel this group and groups I've served with before genuinely care about the overall goal of of the district and and as a chairperson it was uh a little easier this time around uh dealing with people because I think that you know the experience and and it was
100more of a team um effort that has been in the past and I just like to say thank you all and it was a great pleasure to work with all of you and the cabinet um look you you guys have a hard job uh and you know you guys do the best you know you can with what you have and we appreciate that and as a as a board you know we're volunteers and you know so we we appreciate the you know time you spend on the later meetings after working the whole day in in this thing and you know gen I genuinely feel that this group here as well as a cabinet and and Mr wson thank you for the kind words and you could cry with the tears of joy when you get
101in the car after this um but I mean I I think o overall there you know it's it's a job for you guys but there is a a caring about it that you guys um you know show when when you when you're do this work so I like to say I appreciate that and um that's about it for for me I just want to say thank you all all the way around thank you any other reports from the floor Teresa this is what you get when you send me to the cape convention uh we were reminded about a March 15th report due to the state about the uh a plan for diversity hiring uh is that in the works or has it been done you're going to say how much you were going to miss
102me it is very much in the works um husb um you see it in the referenced in the Strategic plan I'm also in the superintendent schools it's very much in the works um in years past we've been working on it but we have not had the legislative requirement to turn it into the commissioner so we will be on track to have that done um and right now we're working on folding some Grant um applications in with that plan as well so hopefully um after the turn of the new year we'll be able to report on some additional grant funding but also keeping with it in terms of our increasing diversity thank you all right anybody else have anything M Cooper I would just like to say get this on the mic I would just like
103to say I will miss you hope I get the opportunity to have some type of conversation with you once you leave office and I really appreciate OPP time working together um and it wasn't all good time so I just thank you the best and I want to thank you Administration to this is about you and the team that's leaving us I want to thank you than you for the reception that you guys try to sneak under me together and I really appreciate that but lastly I want to say because you're leaving and to me it's very important especially our young people that somehow we could draft up a letter and you sign it thanking all our student reps that come here week at the week and well well once a month to our meetings and
104then do their reports and then they go back home and I think it would be very appreciative this is this is your last signing for you to sign it so they can see make that happen we'll [Music] talk so that's my final motion to adjourn second so move who's that M Cooper and now all right all those in favor all right Happy Thanksgiving is