BOE Regular Meeting - February 11, 2025

001good evening I would like to call this regular meeting of the Board of Education to order the next meeting the next regular Board of Education meeting is on Tuesday February 25th at 7:30 p.m here in the board meeting room I'll begin with the chairperson's report um while we're always excited to celebrate the beginning of the school year in August the budget process is another form of beginning tonight we talk about the dollars that support our students their learning dollars that support the staff who work with them and all of the many other items that together make the deran school system that we are so proud of tonight at the end of this meeting the Board of Education will vote on the budget for fiscal year 2026 for a little context as we begin this discussion

002the superintendent's budget contains a number of items the board hopes to see implemented in the coming year a look at the middle school and its facility play based learning additional professional learning for staff psychology work and teen talk at middle sex recently our priorities have included staff Recruitment and Retention our previous two contracts have had relatively High contractual stat settlements we're happy to support staff and their salaries Safety and Security we've added mental health and security personnel and services student services another longer term major focus in recent years this has included special education Personnel in tuition additional assistant principles additional psychologists and school counselors facilities we have a capital plan you see those numbers in the board ofed budget but the numbers you don't see are the ones are the The Debt Service in $260

003million in construction costs for oxridge and hinley homes en Royal and as I mentioned our Middle School will need renovation in the near- term recently there's been a lot of talk about inflation in reality the board of education budget is mostly driven by uh contractual settlements it is not largely driven by inflation there's a few numbers that are up and down it's certainly not exempt from inflation and inflation is embedded somewhat in those contractual settlements um there's an increase in transportation a lot of that has to do with driver shortages that's not so much inflation driven as postco a lot of drivers left the profession and there have been less um where we do really see inflation and where you saw it was in HHR uh those numbers went up because the cost of construction

004labor and materials went up quickly over the period of time between when we started uh the project and when we actually went out to bid our 10-year average for yearly budget increases is 2.72% about three years ago budget numbers started to Trend higher in the mid threes to low fours and last year our budgetary increase was 4.73% we also during that year applied to the board of Finance for three additional Appropriations 775,000 for vehicles so that we could lower our transportation costs at a rate of approximately a million dollars a year a million dollar for additional security enhancements to a number of our school buildings and 181 for fiscal year 24 for differences and special education costs and reimbursement so with costs up and a lot of different needs we continue to have conversations about

005how to best spend our dollars we know going into this year that our community and our board continue to Value High educational quality and a high level of service and support we are are experiencing a historical cost increases and this is not a one-year problem next year is projected to start at 511 the following 4.46 and the following 4.34 costs that have gone up are unlikely to come down over the next couple of years without external intervention such as state aid or regulation we as I mentioned last week are we are excited to hear that there's um hopefully some RIT coming in special education but that's not until fiscal year 27 additionally some of our cast cost categories are likely to continue to increase there's been limited room for investment for a number of years

006we've mostly invested in emergencies or things that are more limited in scope and Daren is not unique budgets and communities around us are impacted by the same or similar cost increases like us most other duray are reviewing budgets in the mid to high Force so with that as a backdrop we are endeavoring to best support the needs of all of our students all of our staff all of the things that they need to make that work and all of the buildings that they all work and live in or not permanently um okay with that I will move to public comment we've heard quite a bit from the public over the coming uh I guess about a month thank you to everyone who's engaged with us shared their thoughts and feelings we've heard from parents we've

007heard from a couple of students we've heard from uh various members of Faculty um we are listening we thank everyone for speaking there's been quite a bit of input that's been helpful to us as we been going through the deliberation process and that we will continue to go through this evening um Cass has the instructions if anybody in person or online would like to participate in public comment please approach the podium or use the raised hand icon and wait to be recognized once recognized please state your name and address for the record and note that you will have up to three minutes to comment good evening uh my name is Paula Blakeley and I'm the 13-y principal of Holmes Elementary School and the co-president of the Darian administrator Association I see it as my calling

008to advocate for the children and families with whom I work all of the principls assistant principls Department chairs and directors are also here due to this same calling we love the children and families we support and we want to ensure that there are no cuts to the positions or programs required to meet their needs we want to start by thanking you each of you for all of the support that you have provided to the children of Daran over the years Your Role requires a great deal of time studying the challenges faced by our district and working to find ways to overcome those challenges in order to ensure that the needs of our children imag if you were on the [Music] zoom as part of this work understand that you must look carefully at every aspect

009of the budget in order to ensure that we are being as efficient and fiscally responsible as possible yet the most essential responsibility of this board is to approve a budget that reflects the needs of the district as you are aware in order to Simply maintain the quality of services that current currently exist the Board of Education must send a budget to the board of finance that requires an increase over the suggested guidelines while we understand that this increas is above the guidelines that were developed as part of a tax strategy those are simply guidelines and they were developed prior to reviewing student needs through the budget process many parents students teachers staff members residents and even RTM members have spoken to at Board of Ed meetings and written a plethora of emails all asking you

010to fund the budget at the levels needed to maintain our current structures and services and not to cut positions or programs the town of Darian is not in a financial crisis and does have the ability to comfortably fund a budget that maintains the level of Excellence our children deserve your administrative team is here to support you in honoring the please of your constituencies as you advocate for the students of darianne we are collectively imploring you to vote to fully fund a budget that does not require any cuts to existing positions or programs our children and our community count on you to advocate for them and together as students parents community members Educators and the board we can make this happen we know that you share these same goals thank you for all that you do

011good evening my name is Scott McCarthy and I'm the proud I'm proud to be serving in my 10th year as a special education administrator here in Daran and as co-president of the Darian administrator Association in the winter of the 2016 2017 school year the Darian Board of Education reviewed a proposal to evolve an Antiquated and disjointed model of teacher curriculum leadership into a state-of-the-art model that could achieve 6 through 12 vertical curriculum alignment and the ability of curriculum experts to oversee the supervision and instruction of content Area Teachers the previous model which was evaluated not to be working by the administration utilized 12 teacher leaders of about half of which had minimal release time while distributed leadership models can be effective this model was far from effective the teacher leaders did not oversee the screening

012interviewing hiring coaching supervising evaluating or awarding of tenure to our teachers the teacher leaders could never actually engage in system system leadership strategic planning or curriculum alignment since they could not even meet together at the same time given their schedules and the need to be available to their own student students and they could not effectively support their own teachers or even reliably see every teacher within their Department actually Teach as they themselves were teaching a majority of the day the board considered this information carefully through numerous presentations in the end the board voted in 2017 to evolve these 12 positions into full-time curriculum Department chairs a vote that has allowed this District to stay ahead of the curriculum curve and maintain our status at the preeminent K12 educational institution in fairf County we understand that

013Rising Healthcare and Personnel costs in the context of an inflationary environment make your work extremely challenging we also understand that that our Collective obligation is to recommend a budget based on student need not a tax strategy as your District leaders we Embrace Innovation but not regression and we believe that the district will regret the decision to regress to an inferior model with inferior outcomes for students thus we imploy implore you not to make changes to the leadership structure of our district thank you thank you anyone else in person all right hello um Laura PES gray um I am just a concerned parent tonight I also have other titles like cdsp rep for the high school and um music for youth but I'm here tonight just speaking on behalf of a parent that's concerned when I

014tell people that I live in Darian Connecticut their first response is excellent schools most people in this town don't get involved don't come to Board of Ed meetings because they trust the system they trust Dr adley and all the members here that you will fight for what what's in place and the systems currently in place to make our schools excellent like the power professionals the idea program the team structure the small class size they also have faith in Dr adley's willingness to make the right decisions and fight for us um I've also met with the board of Finance people who I really appreciate their time and attention um they don't feel that the changes that are at stake right now are going to affect the integrity and the Excellence of our schools but I feel

015differently um I've also they also told me um if you want to pay higher taxes go to the board of Finance meeting and and state that um I think that many of us do and I also figured out that with the number of people in Daran and the number of households there's about 6,978 households in darianne it if each household paid $500 extra over the course of a year that would raise $3,489 th000 that's only $41.66 a month I'm I know that many people would be happy to pay that um and avoid um the cut of our teachers and the compromise of our school system the bottom line is that we need all of your support and um so that teachers and principles are not fighting for themselves at these meetings this is not only

016wrong but demoralizing and eroding the morale and confidence of our teachers our counselors our Paris and the entire school and parent Community let's make the tough decisions and fight for the benef benefit of our students our teachers our staff our schools and our home values thank you thank you would anybody else in person like to speak we have one raised hand at this time Miss Julia Schaefer you've been recognized and unmuted please note that you will have up to three minutes to comment hello my name is Julia schaer Miss schaer we cannot hear you very well perhaps you could turn your camera off 741 Hollow Tree Ridge Road uh during the one uh the January 28th Board of Education meeting Chris is that any better yes it's better is that working any better yes thank

017you okay on the got it on the January 28th Board of Education meeting Chris manfredonia presented a prop osed gift from the Blue Wave booster club to the Daran public schools with which the Board of Education voted unanimously to accept this generous gift Mr manfredonia was asked how contemplated gifts are identified which he answered that the school typically makes makes requests of the booster club can you please clarify what types of school requests are allowed to be privately funded in making inquiries previously about funding school facilities or initiatives privately so from a booster club or concerned parents I was advised that this was not permitted but evidently this is not the case can you please clarify what the process is for schools to make additional requests moving forward that parent groups can fund thank you

018micher we'll follow up with you separately we have no more raised hands at this time Alan you'll do that followup thank you okay sorry um superintendent report evening every Everybody congratulations to Lauren s and bronan Fitzgerald both seniors at the high school they were selected as a candidate for 2025 United States presidential scholarship program which recognizes an academic project academic achievement and having store accepts only well on SA or the ACT uh the Middle School uh fifth grade and sixth grade uh parent orientation ccum uh event is tomorrow at the auditorium and all fifth and sixth grade parents are invited obviously through uh the Middle School administration and staff thank you uh thanks to the Daran music parents Association um and to those who are represented this evening for sponsoring the blues and Beyond event

019at the high school uh in M the nation of Black History Month uh beginning strange at a few uh Arts comments this evening but the beginning spring showcases are taking place this week at our elementary schools fam families have an opportunity to see our uh young musicians in action before their larger spring concerts I I am planning a uh superintendent there's our two students there that just just popped up learn and Bron so congratulations to them uh I'm planning a superintendent Community conversation on February 27th in part this will take place in Partnership uh with the time in the first elections office and the purpose that will be to discuss anti-Semitism and uh ha speech and that'll be facilitated by the anti defamation leag a notice will go to all parents inviting all parents anybody

020who's interested in participating in that thank you very much good luck to the boys and girls hockey teams he will be competing in the FCX playoffs after the winter break we also have uh the second this is the second ual tenor and base showcase an opportunity for our uh students in grades 4 through 12 uh to perform at the high school tickets are online and uh that should be a fun event for young people and just a we reminder that the 308 L Miz tickets are on sale already so get them while you can that's March 13th the committee at the high school continues to meet and developing cell phone protocols uh for the high school uh following up with some educational uh opportunities for parents and students and also planning for uh different events

021through the spring term uh just a reminder that schools are closed next week and um it closed on February 14th while staff engages in professional development there is a finance committee meeting uh on Thursday uh for those members of the finance committee thank you sorry February 14th or February 24th 24th did I say 14th you did thank you Joanna thank okay appreciate you listening student representative reports Brena good evening it's been uh very relaxed very enjoyable last few weeks of classes before we move into our February recess um as Dr adley mentioned tickets forly Miz are officially on sale be sure to keep your eyes peeled and get the best seats before they go um we wish Ryan the best of luck he is at the final regular season wrestling meet and we wish our

022Ling team best of luck and performance as well we will have our jazz jambur concert on February 28th um and we also want to um congratulate the pan Asian-American Student Union who just recently celebrated their first annual Korean New Year celebration thank you Brena okay approval of the minutes may have a motion to approve the following minutes of the special meeting held on January 28th 2025 minutes of the regular meeting held on January 28th 2025 and minutes of the special meeting held on February 4th 2025 uh Sarah seconded by John all those in favor that is unanimous thank you okay board committee reports any those I don't think we have any okay all right further discussion and action on the proposed Board of Education fiscal year 26 right as we begin this portion of the

023meeting will first address any outstanding board member questions from the list the Administration has been maintaining um Rich this format of doing the list has been really helpful thank you um following that we'll discuss any additions or subtractions to the superintendent's proposed budget we'll follow a similar Amendment and voting process as we did for the board of education budget last May specifically after addressing questions I will move the budget proposal as circulated and post we'll then consider amendments I'll walk through that in a little bit more detail first we'll go to the questions any questions on the memo uh that Allan and the administrative team have been working on yes Joanna I have a bunch um okay but let's start with question 25 um the uh what is the difference between a sign up and

024a participant we've had some emails from um parents and teachers about uh the the number of students that do attend the after school inter murals in Middle sex and then what does the $4,000 approximately cover that just teacher stiens or uh so according to Chris manfredonia we do get a lot of people who sign up and then ultimately don't show uh so there's a number of like inter murals so there's I think volleyball and things like that so it's about 20 per Sport and so the money is $2500 for things so like equipment and then the rest are salaries okay Robin just just to follow up to that what is the current enrollment in the middle sex Center murals program so it's about 20 participants 20 participants total uh per sport so there are some

025duplicate kids um who might play more than one but according to Chris it's about 20 per Sport and then is it seasonal is that why there's 109 in the no so 109 is who he had necessarily sign up but then again we don't have a lot of people who always show up and so it's like it might be 20 for sport one 204 uh sport two and then 204 sport three for example sorry are those Sports running concurrently or are they running seasonally so some are run concurrently and then some run seasonal um so it's not all let's say in the fall it is split between the spring but there's more than one sport per season okay go ahead Ju Just One follow up and year to date we've spent about $8,000 at least based

026on the what's in the budget book um but the budget for the full year for this coming year would be $42,000 can you explain are there just not a lot of fall sports that happen or is the bulk of the the cost in the spring historically we've spent close to that 40 it's fluctuated depending on the number of students who participate anywhere between 30 and sometimes a little over 40 um participation is lower this year compared to last year which is why the numbers are lower um but we do have more Sports in the spring thank you who else has questions Joanna um the uh question 70 number Jah question number 70 um these different Consultants that are listed are these listed as because they're the people that we use this year and they're like

027placeholders for next year or these people were already contractually obligated to have come back next year oh these are these are ones that we have planned for for next year okay but they're not contractually obligated or they are so it depends on the consultant so the medical adviser for example you have to have by state law um if for the Insurance Consultant if you want to go to market you have to have an insurance consultant um the ADL for example uh we did do this year and is in the budget for again next year um multisensory reading I think is for next year uh which is sure thank you okay Jo I no okay um can we expound upon what each of those Consultants do it sounds like some of them are requirements per state

028but what are the other what about the other ones so Amy can talk about the literacy consultants and uh barely about the multi sector um thank you for the question so the literacy consultant as indicated um in the response provided by Administration is to support our work with mtss tier one um also as you know we're thinking about our revision to curriculum next year we have significant work to do as we consider shifting um curricular resources and we see how all of that plays out so a literacy consultant would support um Administration and District staff in that work Ellen tuckner um has been also working um with the elementary level um doing similar work with mtss and thinking about uh assessment um and data collection and use of data with Stu uh for student outcomes

029Holly Clark um as listed she was actually um a speaker for convocation the year prior but she's also doing work in District on the AI front can you go back to Ellen you said collecting student data what's that like as web D Universal screeners that we collect anyway um academic data perform student performance data and she's working with us to analyze data and think about um supporting small groups in in the classroom and working with teams at each of the schools so school-based support to advance student learning outcomes I'll pick up on the um am way of data if that's okay and move on to the um the multisensory reading just to add to that Aman the um data for games web um also how it informs instructions so if we look at error analysis

030or look at logs of how students performed on those assessments it can inform instruction as well so looking at an error log as well and error data uh for the um for the multi- sensory reading for the $40,000 that's in our budget in in in on line rc24 um we spoke several times over the year of how we're looking at that we're looking at that with um looking at levels for both um paf and looking at Wilson Reading systems um as well as some OG work so we're in the process of interviewing different people who would work with us we don't have a candidate yet um they're very hard to come by in terms of especially fellows of looking at that so we're working with um some of our Consultants Kristen bman is one of

031them we've been working with um until we'll come to the board with who the actual consultant will be and how we'll be using those reading systems so the sorry the multisensory reading consultant is like a placeholder for someone that you're coming to start to develop maybe something like new Canan literacy Academy but our own version of what that looks like thank you but but so the role of that person it sounds like is sort of tied to curriculum is that way to think about it well tied to literacy I'm looking at multisensory reading so we're looking at our reading programs and how our reading programs meet the needs of our students so with in English s well we're looking at phology morphology orthography looking at the different aspects and acquisition of reading skills um especially

032focusing on K through five Robin um just to followup to that if if a consultant like this would be doing work on those skills for K through five would that work also be then available to general education students or is this only for the students that currently have IEPs that are served by the rc24 we're looking for starting with our special education teachers and training them in this methodology to have the opportunity similar to an academy which was um children within the academy also go maybe 45 minutes or 60 minutes a day but it's by highly skilled um we'll call them technicians but they're really reading um Specialists uh but also working with General Ed because the population also and Amy has been part of this conversation and looking and exploring it would also be

033for general education as well thank you additional questions I know I've made this comment during our curriculum meetings but I think it'd be helpful to understand maybe we don't have the right people to to figure this out but if we're if we're making an investment in that sort of stuff I would I would think that there's going to be some benefit on special ed side where there's not going to be as much maybe it solves some of the dyslexia Pro uh problems that we have that are pervasive throughout Elementary School is it going to solve some of that is there a return on that investment that we're actually getting maybe not next year but some point in the future I think understanding that would be really helpful and will be will be efficient and we'll

034be clear in informing the board as to um what we're doing and the population that we're addressing which would be all Learners um in the acquisition of rating Dave thank you um so a question7 I'd sent an email in back on Sunday the 2nd so I guess 9 days ago six working days ago asked for two Separate Tables uh one each for seal and one for Dei going by RC detailing the total costs for each of these items what I got back was an Amalgamated of bothal and Dei together uh shows we spend over $4 million in District on these two things but I can't tell which is tocl and which is to Dei so my question Alan is why in nine uh calendar days six business days were you want able to get this

035out to a board member who has to vote tonight so we did the best we can uh to be inclusive of all the categories uh that addresses seal um and Dei we actually read it as seal and Dei combined well if you read the email it's very clear that there's two separate things it's written out in two separate lines I don't know how it could be any more clear so is this willful or or is this just an accident you were unable to provide a board member information requested nine days before he had to vote I respectfully I'll answer your question no one's trying to be evasive or otherwise we're trying to be actually more inclusive inclusive of it um do you think this is acceptable Madam chair if you if this is the nature

036of where everyone start some of these question we we answered the question we're not starting the question now I asked asked it twice I had to go back and ask for clarification which two tables and what I received was not a response to that question not the start you received a response Mr br okay so the response is not responsive to what you were looking for that's correct understood okay I would point out though that this was here last week we we responded to it last week it was at the table last week and there if there was any questions this board was asked is there any questions and not one person spoke up this was answered in last week's uh table so this responded in time for you so so this is acceptable okay

037okay all right poting I have other questions but I actually did have a question on 117 yes um it's my understanding that when we so when I talk about Dei I think of it and schools I think of it in terms of like programming are they doing things in the classroom officially sent down by the district and it's my understanding that the only Dei that we have in schools right now are passport nights done by pto's so um you know I just wanted to also pull out that information so that you know it be when you say Dei you're talking about the inclusivity thing like making sure all kids know that there's a place for them to go and it would be help more helpful I think if we discuss Dei in terms of curriculum

038as opposed to this like etheral thing do you know what I mean same with same with you know social emotional learning so that was just you know a clarification that I was what we we want we want an environment where all kids feel welcome uh the the equity is really trying to provide which we have in our our strategic plan is just to provide all students which I think is what we want to do with whatever they need to succeed I mean that's essentially what what our definition in the district is for everybody to make sure all our students succeed and I think that would be a common goal that we all have um uh the S the seal part is um it's a part of what we do it's a part of how we

039how we do our work it's a part of how our staff in general interact uh with our students and support our students and the skills they need U essentially I would see uh the seal as as the skills that the students need to acquire in order to have good mental health does that answer your question Joanna yes yes okay Brena and then Greg um I think one of the reasons why um finding a finding discrepancies between di programs andal programs is because there's so much overlap and there's so much ambiguity between the two um because they both work towards a common goal and that is fostering a more positive learning envir environment for all students so I think maybe what would be helpful is if we could identify specific moments uh within or or surrounding

040the classroom where we're um working towards either of those programs because I think again like most of the time they're taught in conjunction with one another um foral you would have a lesson on empathy going throughout elementary school and you can't tell me that that doesn't apply to um diversity equity and inclusion programs so I think what would be most helpful is if we could specifically see what instructional time is devoted to let's say um towards these more empathy driven initiatives and that would help um point out where the finances are going to thank you brenon yeah I think I think that's actually a great idea we should find out exactly how much time is being taken in the schools away from academics to spend on each of seal and Dei so I appreciate that

041there's a there a concern about the budget vote and I understand that that's some of the trust of this but some of this is bigger than the the yeah and so I was actually going to propose that we should add this as an agenda item Master agenda item okay for full Deep dive discussion at the board level to understand exactly what's happening from each of these okay incling including related to finances Etc because right now I agree with Dave I got no idea what's including I just see a big $4 million number when we're having very challenging budget discussions okay yes um I it's important I think at the end of the budget process there's often a number of things that come up that aren't really budget questions so uh please make sure that you

042guys each keep track of we'll write this one down but keep track of of items that need to come up in the next Master agenda I can't remember if we have it on for the 25th um but uh if we don't we'll have it on for the first one in March okay who's next Joanna it's a theme um I just wanted clarification on um question 74 the department chair a teacher leader model I wasn't really uh involved when this happened when the switch over went so I was just looking at the numbers on one of the the inserts the click-throughs and I was wanted some clarification um on so it says sorry it's it says um Department chairs of teacher leaders I guess that's question 7 what I say 74 um I'm just wondering it

043says uh stiens for DHS for MMS and then per teacher stien I just wanted to understand what that meant so in the DEA contract there's language that provides supervisory stien for Teacher leaders so for example if you're a high school math teacher and let's say there are 15 teachers under you and you're a teacher leader uh it's a couple hundred dollars per teacher so that's part of the stien and then there's like a leadership stip in which is about $5,000 so the 20,000 where you see the four is that 5,000 by subject and then the other numbers that uh per teacher amount okay so the idea would be that there's four different additional teachers that get S so instead of having a department chair for English social studies math and science there's a teacher leader

044for English math social studies and Science and then each would get that stip in if it was a teacher leader model so each would get that $5,000 and then that $200 per teacher depending on the number of teachers they get both correct yeah okay thank you other questions can we ask questions on the spreadsheet as well or just to the Q&A um should have a clarification question on sure go ahead the um there's one of the software items that that's on the list is related to staff evaluation system I just want to understand like what is that currently being used if if it goes away does that mean there's no evaluation of the step or like what what is that what implication it is currently being used Mark if you want to just talk about

045the plan what we have yeah so we've been using um technique LLC for a staff evaluation system but we're piling a couple of um teachers administrators are piloting using the Google Suite which has been used successfully in another district and will come at no cost um Amy and Barry Palmer and I have watched a demo of it it seems to be very user friendly and will give us access to all the data we need but there's absolutely no diminution in the evaluation of Staff just to if I can just add on the um this is really a software program that is holding um The Narrative data that is composed by the administrator and reviewed with the administrator and teacher together after an observation of practice or um a reflection of practice so as March said

046there wouldn't be any change to our process um and and to be honest this is one of those things that with our PC committee is something that we were looking at to make um the technology more efficient for teachers anyway so that the work is becoming more efficient for both the administrator and the teacher other questions Joanna um number I have it written down as question 94 um it says that the special education substitute line is 140,000 I just wanted a clarification that um that it's my understanding currently does not include um School psychologists um and how much would that be if it did include School psychologists so our subs for psychologists have either been covered by the interns that we have or are considered long-term Subs so they're typically out for a while I

047don't believe we get daily subs um for psychologists so if the for instance the intern program was no longer in effect what would we do uh you're probably looking at someone at like $600 a day if you could find them um so it would be dependent on how long somebody's out so it would be a significant cost over and above the intern prog I would just add to I would just just add to that it's not typical that you would have psychologists unless it was a long-term absence um it's not a position typically fill because there's a relationship with students um and if it's for evaluations we would assign another person to do the evaluations or contract if we needed to do that so if you're Contracting out for evaluations do we have an idea

048of how much that usually cost well they have different they have different rates and fees um we've done it for long term typically not shortterm so from long term you're going to play a raate if we contracted with one provider um she actually came in to do a a long-term replacement it was doing the evow when we were short of token eque um I'm not quite sure what her daily was but I think it was 6 I don't know exactly but it was maybe 600 and could have been 25 or something but it was in the 600 range for a day thank you any other questions okay so following this we'll move to move on to the um am amendments of the budget um this NE in this next portion we look at the budget

049itself and discuss any additions or subtractions um as he said we'll follow a similar Amendment and voting process as we did for the board of education budget last May um I'm going to start the conversation by moving a budget proposal it's in front of you guys uh it's a paper in front of you it's posted online um amendments to amendments are permitted so I'll make an amendment if you'd like to change something about it you're welcome to do that um if whether that passes or fails then you're welcome to make other amendments either additions or subtractions to the budget this process allows us to prioritize um after all amendments have been considered we then move on to vote for the full budget and then the capital budget at that point the budget becomes the fiscal

050year 26 board of education budget I look forward to a productive discussion Administration is ready to address any remaining board member questions before we vote I'm proposing a budgetary Amendment with two goals the first is to prioritize classroom student classroom experience particularly for our youngest Learners it maintains two pair Professionals in each Elementary School and supplements them with one intern to support substitute coverage the intent is to more fully support teachers and Pa professionals by enabling the two PA professionals to focus on their classrooms and the intern to support the necessary substitute coverage identified during the budget process additionally it keeps the same number of adults in each Elementary School building the second goal is to remove the additional fees for the non seak sports the budgetary adjustment does so by reducing services in other

051areas that are not directly delivered to students in the classroom it also attemps to spread the impact of any efficiencies thinly and broadly thank you to the members of administration and the board who have looked for these additional options as we've moved through the process here in the boardroom so with that I'll move to uh amend the budget as follows I'm increasing rc5 RC's 5 through1 Elementary Schools 21603 teacher aids by 43932 40 thank you decreasing our 5's Elementary School 21317 student interns by 87,500 that's two putting two Paras back in and then leaving only one intern per School per school thank you increasing rc25 fixed expenses 82003 health insurance by $44,000 $589 and increasing RC 25 fixed expenses 842 FICA by 33,000 607 those are tied to the par the employe those are benefits

052next I'm decreasing rc11 Athletics 101005 inter murals MMS by $442,000 and 50 $ 42,50 decreasing rc11 Athletics 10 10008 inals Elementary by $1,330 decreasing rc1 Athletics 1010 9 intramurals DHS by 4,000 and decreasing rc11 Athletics 101002 intramurals MMS by 2500 I'm increasing rc11 Athletics 102014 advertising Revenue by 8,000 decreasing rc11 Athletics 102015 participation fees by 64,0 2,444 that removes the nonak fees decreasing rc12 maintenance 102020 Food Service subsidy by 4800000 48,000 goodness gracious decreasing rc25 fixed expenses 521 regular student transportation by $ 48,3 increasing rc2 maintenance 102009 use of fields Revenue by 96,4 120 several items in technology decreasing rc15 technology 13035 software by 32,000 decreasing rc15 technology 10335 software by 16915 decreasing rc15 technology 13035 software by 12,250 decreasing rc15 technology 73400 equipment by 23,7 750 decreasing rc15 technology 73400 equipment by 150,000 decreasing

053rc15 technology 13035 software by 17561 decreasing rc15 technology 13035 software by 21799 decreasing rc16 Administration 1303 other Boe expenses by 2500 actually I'm decreased there's two light items there again by another 2500 for a total of 5,000 and decreasing rc16 13003 other Bo expenses by another thousand decrease those are the board of aded expenses decreasing rc18 Personnel 25029 staff development by 5500 decreasing rc18 Personnel 21501 principal director secretary by 56,500 decreasing rc24 special education 21501 principal director secretary by 27,825 decreasing rc25 fixed expenses 82003 health insurance by 12599 decreasing rc25 fixed expenses 842 FICA by 6,451 decreasing rc19 curriculum 21312 curriculum development by 30,000 decreasing rc19 curriculum 250003 professional development by 15,068 decreasing rc19 curriculum 253 professional development by another 32850 and rc24 special education 25003 professional development by 10,000 decreasing rc25 fixed expenses 6,400

054electricity by 44,000 that's to accommodate the um Revenue we're expect or the what they're they're returning to us in that's what we're doing consistently with the town increasing rc26 Early Learning Program 143 003 ELP tuition Revenue by 29475 decreasing rc27 security 21602 campus monitors by 43817 decreasing 25 rc25 fixed expenses 820 3 health insurance by 14,926 decreasing rc25 fixed expenses 842 FICA by 3,352 sorry I have a pointed yes clarification just the process yes um well the motion's on the table so we have a second second okay all right Sarah okay now it opens for discussion okay so you've presented this package yes now we can make Amendment to this package you can what if I want to make uh like my own package you can you can do that too you can see if

055this passes or fails and then you can do your own okay let's say this passes but there's things that we never discussed in this package do I still have the opportunity yeah absolutely on them afterwards absolutely so if you have something that's related to this package then I would discuss it here I would make an amendment here but if it's something independent um then following this you absolutely have the right to make or should amend the budget by either adding or subtracting what we're the the the ad cut process is functionally amendments to the budget so basically you're just setting a new starting point well I just basically added in two Paras left one intern and uh adjusted for the uh nonak fees assuming that those were those are all things that we heard from

056the community or board members and then i' I've also provided the offsets pardon two pairs per school yes yes Katie um so it sounds like you're proposing um to block vote this um as opposed to going line by line yes I am so your idea is that we would not be discussing each of these that you mentioned it would just be a block up or down well now it's open to discussion so now would be the time to discuss any one of these if there are questions or comments um yes Sarah go ahead I have a question I have no voice I'm sorry um the software pieces it would it effectively what we have done is is put or what I what I see is a 10% cut of the software line um would it

057be more helpful to Administration to do it that way instead of the individual programs what were the pros and cons of that well the pros and cons are just basically on the actual specifics of the software that was chosen the reason the reasoning around that the u the choice for it whether it's Zoom uh which we may not be able to do these board meetings and different things may not be able to I'm not saying we can't um and then Brin pop I'm not quite sure the what why we focusing on that one because that's one of our most most popular ones across the district a lot teachers are here that probably recognize that um so it would be more does I guess does it give you more flexibility if we say to do a

05810% cut or $100,000 yes it def does yes well technically you have it anyway right maybe you could transfer whatever but yeah I just was following what was identified in the sheet but yes if I can just if I can just add Dr adley um that would be helpful to provide the flexibility because we should be selecting computer software not only by looking at utilization rates but looking at alignment to curriculum and assessments um so that that would be helpful to us so I'll make a motion to decrease the software line by 10% of what it is or what would the dollar amount be roughly um I I think that all those adds up to 100, 1525 I did my math right can you check the math Rich so Jill's motion was 100, 525 uh

05910% cuts 10,730 okay so that's an additional 10,000 so I would I would propose 15 well hold on there's figure with the motion second that second just a straight A straight amendment to change change it to a flat 10% cut okay now now that there's now it's open for discussion and it can it can this can succeed or fail yes Katie are we discussing this amendment within the amendment yes we are okay so I want to just finish the comments that I was going to say before I am not in favor of this process um I think we have been able to see quite quickly how messy it can get we can have multiple sub amendments within amendments and trying to discuss them in between is going to be very confusing for everyone um additionally

060I I don't think that this puts our priorities in the right place um by by talking about these blocks as if they are all the top priority when really they were brought by one at Best brought by one person and at worst you know done in a non-public way um by multiple board members um I want to come back to the responsibility of the board to have line item review and I don't think that this package is discussing Things based on Merit but simply negotiating to reach a number um and the board has a responsibility to adopt a budget that needs student and District needs not to back into impossible guidance based on a tax strategy and anyone who's been watching our meetings knows that there's not anything frivolous in this budget there's nothing irresponsible

061the board has gone through cutting catering cutting speaking speakers you know not having new initiatives and frankly the district is operating for the second year at a in a row at a deficit and I feel that everything is in triage and I feel very strongly that we need to return our Focus to the impact on classrooms teaching and learning and that we need to do our responsibility of going line by line so that it's based on Merit as opposed to negotiating and triaging a a package or backing into a ceiling well I disagree um if board members don't want to do it this way then we can quickly call a vote and it can succeed or fail um but I think what we found last year was that the uh and we found in previous

062years frankly that the adut process didn't allow board members to talk about what their priorities are were in against one another so this is an attempt to say that based on the conversation that I've heard and what I've heard at the board from the public and from the uh board table that these are two priorities ities that the board shares and that these would probably offsets that the board would be willing to make and so it's a starting point for us to figure out um what our priorities are I do believe that we have a responsibility to think about um our overall impact I don't think that's the same thing as backing into a number but I do think we need to understand how much um what our budgetary increases are year-over-year and think responsibly

063I think we're elected for that purpose to think about how much uh how many dollars we charge and how we use them I that is embedded in our responsibility uh to pretend that we can only build bottom up doesn't work if we want to do that then we should have three teachers per classroom we should have a lot of different technology we should have significant professional development we should run school year round um so I think we have to be very careful uh not to just build bottom up I think there's a a a happy medium so I'm looking for a hybrid that puts us at a responsible budget number and gives us an opportunity to talk about priorities point of clarification Jill um you said a lot of very drastic things that I want

064to make sure is noted that you said them that I did not that I was very clear that this board has really scrubbed this budget and removed things down to catering down to Consultants eliminate an initiative so I want to reiterate when I'm saying that I think that this board has tried very hard to be very conservative and I believe that we are potentially at risk of impacting students additionally I want to qualify your comments that you think that this amendment put forth what the board wanted I do not want to eliminate any Paras so that is not putting forth something that I there are multiple things in this package that I take issues with and I think we need to discuss them all based on Merit then please talk about them so I think

065we have right now A a motion Ono which is which is the the amendment so do we want this this this motion has a second the motion is mend uh to decrease rc15 technology 10305 software by 10% by 11,350 yes okay 731 sorry so in place of the specified yes we just be specific about which just software just in general just I just I'm proposing a 10% cut she's removing the level of specificity that was in the cut list point of clarification yes Kay so we've never done this before um so I'm not in favor of the amendment and this is an amendment within the amendment so I might be in favor of switching from cutting specific software accounts I might I might be in favor of the 10% I am in favor of that

066over picking these specific ones but I'm not in favor of this amendment so how do I proceed when there is a sub Amendment within a larger amendment that I do not support well this is just Parliament procedure there's a motion on the floor so so so Jill how how do I proceed amendment that I don't support you support this particular motion the 10% decrease then you vote for this this is not we are not voting on this line item as a piece of the budget we're only voting on this as a piece of an amendment cor correct so then you'll vote against the entire amendment when it goes up for a vote so um and then you can decide so for anyone who is not interested in this entire Amendment we could waste a lot

067of time going through detailed sub amendments only for the entire Amendment not to pass good we could okay so I'll I'll call is there any further discussion on this specific Amendment otherwise I'll call it for a vote all those in favor okay that is one two three four so that's seni parent Mamon Nelson and Dennis all right all those opposed that's Walsh scrambling Brown llin all right that's five the motion passes okay any other amendments to this yes Joanna so I've had a lot of I've been thinking about this a lot since you called last night yes um and like Katie I don't think this is the appropriate way to do this and I've expressed that to you um and like Katie I get stuck because there are things maybe in this package that I

068want or don't want um but by buying into the process alog together I feel that I am um perpetuating work that was not done in public and um abdicating my responsibility to vote on things in a line item way there is nothing in this that was not raised publicly as part of the overall process of putting for the way that you've put it together and made decisions about what are our priorities and aren't our priorities was not done publicly well I'm putting forward a proposal you have it in front of you and if you don't like it you can vote it down but this is the public this is the deliberation process you can do work on your computer at home this particular proposal wasn't made by one individual this was built in collaboration outside

069of the table well the executive team worked together on it yes which is three people okay all right any further amendments to this package can you just clarify what's happening with the cak fees or non- fees what what's so we've removed the nonak fees there will be no fees charged um subse subsequent to fees have been removed all fees have been removed so if we were to use any sort of fee that would have to be a subsequent discussion but okay okay yes Greg I would just make one other observation as it relates to the proposal and and maybe this goes to what we do after there's a vote on it which is the proposal doesn't address something that I brought up a year last year's uh budget process which is our admin cost versus

070the Durk being ex much higher significantly higher and I think that the proposal has nothing in there that addresses that that is something that I think we as a district need to address whether it's part of this budget process or in the future it is a continued uh sore thumb in my view in terms of the way we are budgeting versus the rest of the district and I think that we need to do a comprehensive review of that um either as part of this or going forward okay I haven't recommended as part of this um I do think that is the point is taken um my personal recommendation is that that be an item that we look for I think there's a couple of things we want to do that we've identified we need to

071look at over the next couple of years some of them are investment related um like some of the work on literacy that that was just talked about um some of of them are and other types of programs that we might want to build some like the bus depot some of those things other them of the things might be more efficiency related and we've talked about some of that here so um I do think we want to be talking a couple years at a time uh going forward so I I am not recommending changes to Administration right now right any other discussion on this amendment all right without I'll take a motion or sorry I'll call it for a vote I made a I made a motion I need to call it for a vote all

072those in favor that is John Sarah Jill Robin Dennis okay all those opposed that is Katie Joanna all those abstaining that is Greg and Dave the motion passes okay all right thank you now if there are any further amendments to the budget please propose them uh Jo um I'd like to propose putting five more pars back in the budget okay second all right um is there any further discussion yes Katie thank you um we've heard a lot of public comment and we've received a lot of emails about PA professionals but we haven't had a discussion at the board table and this is this is really important um admin is suggesting that there is a problem with class coverage and that I feel that Paris are taking the blame and we do not seem to have

073a problem with a par professional model or performance and I think that is really important to State it has been made very clear for anyone who didn't know prior to this budget season that our PA professionals are a wealth of knowledge and experience and truly invaluable to our district um I've said this before and I'll say it again I do not believe that we should be making operational changes during budget season and I certainly don't believe that we should be cutting invaluable professionals um in order to hit a Target um you know as I said we've received more emails and public comment than I could possibly even estimate and it's important to notice that every single one has implored us to maintain instructional AIDS in the elementary schools we have not received even a single

074one in opposition additionally I want to say that interns are uncertain and must be replaced every single year that's why we currently don't have them not to mention that they are students and they require supervision from our teachers interns could be a great return to our district but this is not a substitute for instructional AIDS we need to think about what we are asking of our teachers how instructional AIDS support them reduce burnout and therefore Aid retention rting additionally we need to ask ourselves how education in darianne has changed in recent years and how we expect it might continue to change in future years this has not been discussed at the board table but it's important for the public to know I shared a document with the board yesterday that I created and compared instructional

075AIDS in darianne starting in the 27 2018 school year which is when Elementary class eyeses guidelines were implemented at current guidelines we had 23.5 Paras allocated across Five Element countries based on student populations with ratios across the five buildings ranging from 1 to 86 to 1 to 97 this year we only have 15 pair of professionals and it's three out each building regardless of student population roya's pair to student ratio based on expected enrollment at the time the budget was adopted is 1 to 112 Ox ridge's current is 1 to 172 reducing instructional aids to 10 next year would leave Ox Ridge with a ratio of 1 to 264 how is this Equitable how is this the model that we want to be moving forward how is this giving at all our elementary students the

076same experience that our current high school students had when they were in elementary school once again we've had no discussion outside of budget we have had no flaws found with the current param model and yet here we are casting blame and elim elating a vital resource in our elementary school March do we assign uh Paras based on ratio anymore or do we now use sections no we decided not to do that because really Paras were not meant to be in grades three four and five so using those students as part of the ratio didn't make sense you okay um any other discussion of this item I just want to make the point that we're not cast in blame like if my prior professionals are here I value what they do and that was part of

077the original superintendance budget I recognize that uh to get down to the guideline that or get down to a guideline that the board provided but I am no way casting blame on pirate Professionals for anything there some of as you say Katy they are some of our most dedicated hardworking loyal people okay Joanna and then Robin I just wanted to point out that also we not only received from parents and uh pairs themselves we also received emails from a significant number of teachers four out of the five buildings wrote us letters signed by the majority of the Educators in that building supporting keeping the model as it is now um and also I would like to just I kids that are in high school right now had the benefit of instructional Paras in a much

078more fluid environment than they do now and and I think even going down one more is is chipping away at something that's been chipped away at for the past uh six or seven years which is why that year-over-year Outlook really matters because I think one of the things we've tended to do as a board is ADD staff but not talk about the impact the overall Staffing mix so we've added ssos we've added psychologists we've added um uh assistant principles we've added what psychology yeah so I think that's one thing we need to get better at is because it does impact um overall pressure on on the the budget when we when we just add up and don't talk about what we want our mix to be go ahead Robin um I I do want to

079clarify that the original budget was taking out 15 peras uh and this proposal keeps 10 Paras instead of cutting 15 and then adding five interns so it's still a total of 15 adults that would be in the schools and part of the um I think part of the intent was um based on what the administration had told us that there was about 25% of the Paris time that was currently being used for Teacher coverage and with a 10 per model and five interns across all five schools that approximates about a 25% um FTE basically numbers of people that could help with coverage to allow the Paras to actually do do the instructional Aid work in the classrooms that is intended for them with that role and so I I would hope that this could be

080an effective compromise to allow the pars to really fully function in that role as opposed to covering for teachers which really was not intended for them to do and the student interns would be qualified to do that I appreciate that but what we I am arguing is that the substitute issue should not be solved by eliminating the number of pairs we have that are in the building to do what they are supposed to do if we want to talk about giving more support to our substitutes I would add back in the interns and keep the 15 Paras okay any further discussion what's the keep the cost of adding the five what's the cost of adding the five whoever made the motion um I mean I have it down as 339,000 something 300 $ 39,000 700

081typically during ad cut night Rich will provide that is that an option for tonight well I think it's correct right um okay with that oh Greg do you want to add something yeah just U just a general comment as relates to Paris which is a bit more geared towards the the general education teachers that we have and I I know I sent this via email but just to make sure that other folks hear it is I do think we need need to at some point in the future spend some time looking at what time our our general population teachers are actually spending in the classroom they're spending a lot of time with professional development with Administration meetings with special education with professional development Etc and I think that we need to really understand how much

082time is being taken away from the classroom and I think that the Paras my concern with taking the Paras outside of the classroom is that it's going to leave a big Blank Spot where our teachers are already being stretched very thin just the dub tail I'd also like to understand the absenteeism issue as well amongst the teachers but again in the future okay all right uh with that I'll call uh all those in favor that is Walsh and lelin all those opposed I'm sorry Sarah all those opposed Dennis CI uh Nelson all those abstaining Brown and gremley okay the motion fails okay any other motions amendments to the budget people would like to make this evening Joanna do you want to go first you go um I would like to uh add back in the

083middle sex and chural program I believe that was 40 something thousand or make a motion to add it back in add that back in okay all right a second Katie okay is that just middle sex just middle sex yes okay any discussion so um we've also heard from a lot of teachers and some parents that this is a well-utilized program um I we talk a lot here about mental health and what is important to give kids uh to help them with their mental health we talk about the if we the fact that we don't have a policy on adding cutting to Varsity Sports uh because some sports the kids really need want to go and do it and the the coaches agree to to um to do that this program allows kids who haven't specialized

084in sports starting in kindergarten first second third grade to decide to find out if they have an interest in it it is inclusive of anybody whether you do play a sport or you don't I know there's other uh there's other I don't know if it's like a Fairfield County thing but other schools in the state of Connecticut their middle schools do have sports so there's another opportunity there where they can go and they can see if they like a sport or if they're good at it or meeting other people um we don't have that model here I've been told it's because we do a lot of club sports and there wouldn't be enough people to serve on the teams in middle school maybe it's something that's just not done in the county I don't know

085but the fact that we do have this opportunity for kids who don't otherwise H you know have a chance to go play sports move their bodies meet new people I think taking it away would be uh signaling that we only support some some some ways of um some Athletics and not all Athletics okay yes Robin um I I agree I I think it it it does add a lot of value to our middle school students um that might not even have an after school sport I do have a question though for Rich um given that currently we have less participation this year um around what you were saying maybe 20 students were forward and it's a budget of 42,000 if um the number of people that sign up if we kept it and the number

086that sign up is less than what the 42,000 would be would that end up just being a um potentially unused funds that would be a transfer correct or okay and I know the past few years it was running more at about 7 37,000 per year roughly on an annual basis so over the last five years it's gone from 45 to as low of 20 the 20 was during covid um so obviously a little skewed but typically in that 30 to $40,000 range but we have to fully fund it in the budget at the 42,000 level and then depending on participation it could end up being lower correct okay thank you Sarah is there anything precluding um a private company like during after school or whatever doing this doing a similar thing at the middle school

087they they could they could yeah it's not there's nothing precluding per se um I know there there there stien for people in the in the contract so that's probably the that would be a discussion point at least but other well can't say other than that that's obvious I heard if this reduction did go through there would be potentially ways that there could be after school programming through private Partnerships depending they would like to do it certainly and if they did do it we'd certainly utilize our our staff would be uh I would think offered a lot of the positions if that was the case but that remains undetermined thank you Katie um just a point of clarification to Sarah's question um I believe that during and after school runs by charging students fees and one

088of the things that is special about this program is that it operates at no cost to students which creates it to be a unique environment where students can come and go as they please without um fear of missing a deadline without fear of missing a practice for something else it it truly I almost think that this program could be categorized under our mental health and and physical health um well-being here um we've talked to the board for a while when it comes to things that are extracurricular about not wanting to limit participation and I think this is an exact example of that what is so special about this is that it gives kids the opportunity to participate and in such a casual way that it could be the type of thing where someone gets partnered

089with someone new in a classroom and is like hey you should come and stay for volleyball after school and then they do like there are not many opportunities where there are low stakes athletic and environments social all of that for students in this town um I think it would be a real travesty to remove this um we've heard some really inspiring stories for how it is provided exactly that where confidence is grown um for students in deren um additionally I I feel the need to again highlight the the very low cost of of this program it is a very nominal amount in the grand scheme of this large budget um and and I would be willing to continue with the theme today and make a submotion within a subo motion if we need to um

090reduce the amount budgeted for it based on Lower enrollment and if that helps make it more palatable to to make it you know whether it's a $30,000 or a $40,000 line item so be it is that possible rich I mean we would talk to Chris ban Fon in terms of which sports in the session wouldn't run um but I mean there's no requirement that you run let's say six a season you can run one a season two a season three a season whatever it know I wasn't I wasn't suggesting that we would reduce the program I my understanding was that the conversation at the table was that it's not always as expensive to run it as is budgeted for yeah budg right because there's less participant it's based on partici right on fees so again

091then we're budgeting this 40,000 as if it's going to be have twice as many kids next year uh well not quite twice as many but we're we budget it the same way we budget Elementary intermurals for example so Elementary intermurals we budget as if all five schools were run typically homes is the only one that has run um so with middle school intermurals we budget assuming um kind of like that high point and we fluctuated anywhere between like I said 20 and $45,000 so how would you budget it for next year if you were basing it off of this Year's level of enrollment well we don't have this year's full level of enrollment because there's no spring if you were going to budget it B based on let's say last year's enrollment you're probably looking

092at about like $35,000 or so instead of the 402 great so you want to make a motion I would motion to amend to reinstate inter murals but at a $35,000 a second all right any discussion of that I would be more interested in um I I too read the comments um I think we're at a position where we're making choices um I would be more interested if we were willing to make some other reductions like perhaps the incremental cost in the psychology interns I've got more I've got more C to come I know I know just point of order we got got an amendment and a sub okay so amend is to the 35,000 it would be for 35,000 it's not5 35 would be the new budgeted number that we'd be discussing so all those

093in favor I'm just discussing 35,000 just discussing yeah so that's Sarah Jill Robin Katie yeah this is a vote this is a vote on the amendment yes to make it 35,5 yes yeah correct I'm I'm count telling and Greg and Joanna all those opposed John all those abstaining Dave and Dennis were you opposed or you were opposed okay okay so now we're talking about a $35,000 line item Uhn yes so going back to to Sarah's point about private can can this be done by the Blue Wave booster club or other athletic supporting vehicles I have same answer yeah I haven't reached out to them they may or may not but I haven't I honestly haven't reach out to them I don't it's more it's it's more of a question not not would they but could

094they I would have potentially but I would actually have to ask if they have the capacity to do that I think they probably would because there's used sports in the afternoon but that's an that's a we bit of an assumption I'm making but Dennis point of clarification you just named them but there's other any other group I'm understood but but it's just a question of can you know Sarah said private I guess they're private as well but I guess the question for me is is this a contractual part where where outside groups can't donate or can any can because it's extracurricular can an outside group donate donate like technically can they fund it fund fund fund fund well we still have to work through some uh uh some contractual matters to to make a determination

095if that all played out they could with the board's approval they could do that but we certainly would have to work through some contractual matters first any other comments yes Katie um I would just say that um Dennis while I'm certainly not opposed to partnering with the community to ensure opportunities for students um I would just say that given the timeliness of this I hope that we're able to retain this program um tonight and and look for future Partnerships that take more time to develop as we go all right Dennis sorry just this is not really a point on this but it's just a point on the overall budget just so I can follow along I think it would help me from being remote that I don't see can't see the screen um so I

096have a an increase of 4.90 currently and and I think we should kind of talk as to where what percentages these things bring to the budget as well but that's the screen's not Dynamic we're seeing the same it's not being updated here okay it's just the but maybe we should kind of talk in this term of where we are and what these add to or not or take away from the budget just my point Richard are you do live there um so you're still at 4.9 um if the motion for the $35,000 um budget you'd still be at 4.9 4.90 yep yeah because I reduced that software a little bit more back okay oh okay all right yes Craig I'd like to propose to eliminate brain POP Hold on finish on the uh on the

097inals yeah Oh I thought we were done call call the vote for the 35 5,000 amended all right so all those all those in favor of funding this at 35,000 which keeps it out of 5 which keeps us set of 4.0 4.90 Joanna Greg Katie Robin Jill Sarah and Dennis Dennis staying at 4.9 opposed John is too are you opposed or yes I'm opposed opposed did I get everyone yep okay all right no any other amendments Greg you're up sorry I thought we had already voted uh I'd like to propose to eliminate brain bomor okay any discussion did did we okay I'm confused because I didn't vote on the amendment that Sarah made to the amendment but did we already decide to reduce the our that that line item by 10% yes so this be

098addition to that yes why brain pop or is that or maybe the question is there a couple things that are specific that I think you should be in there can you speak into the microphone please I think there's a couple items well but we'll start with brain pop here so okay because in their questions they did say that the reason they use it because if they didn't they would have it would incur more expenses to back bill in what you take away and you take away that program so there would be other expenses incurred I don't know if it would be an even swap but is that correct could you just talk about that sure than so um there would be potentially curriculum writing expenses um incurred that's why we referen that in the response

099administrative response the other thing I would just point out is um these instructional software pieces and that um resources that our staff use they are aligned to the curriculum and this is one of the most utilized resources in the district so I think it's very important that we rely upon the expertise of our teachers also in their planning and implementation of instruction to decide what resources we need to help students achieve learning outcomes so that's just something that's really important to think about we're hearing from our teachers that this is a heavily utilized support we see it in usage rates we know where it's aligned to the curriculum and those things are all very important to consider in this conversation may I may I just ask just just like specifically why it is that one

100Greg just BR like why why you pick that one yeah sure my understanding is that there's a lot of like political messaging within Brain Pop for elementary school kids right now okay um brand pop is Tim and Mobi a robot and uh an unnamed protagonist um and a lot of it deals with Science and Mathematics and sometimes history um in my experience sometimes the content could have been older but I'm not really sure where the fallacies are within BrainPOP if we're using it as a tool to supplement science or history um but perhaps there could be ways that teachers could Outsource that same Brain Pop content um I mean I'm sure it's been re-uploaded in a ways and I'm sure it's been made more accessible and perhaps more affordable thank you okay all those in

101favor what are we voting for bra Brain Pop C elimination all right that's Greg and Dave all those opposed that's uh Joanna Katie Robin Jill Sarah John okay Dennis and Dennis all right what else eliminate Zoom okay and that's covered inside of that same category but you want to do it specifically yeah it's incrementally fully duplicative with Microsoft teams but it could get done with the with 110 that we already did right potentially okay saying you just you just want to add to it what's the cost of so what's do we have a second are you seconding that Dave yes the zoom was on here yeah I got rich do you have it 175 175 175 thank you and then there were you could do Zoom there's Zoom that's used in the schools and there's

102Zoom that's used here is that right Rich yep I mean you could keep one license for Zoom for the Board Room uh for board meetings I should say and then use Microsoft teams or Google meet for like district meetings what's that cost of that one license uh for the large license it'd be about $2,000 so you could reduce it by 15 instead yeah I'd be fine with that okay all right yes Dave well I just uh point of clarification is that the reduction doesn't have a second so are we doing a sub within a sub do we need a second for that to move we need a second for that to move forward yes a second to reduce it by 2,000 I think you said two it would go to 2,000 so it would be

103oh just to just to do the board of a license we need a second for that mean I'll second keeping in mind we've already caught it 10% yeah so this is on top of% okay okay so Robin seconded that any discussion any further discussion all right all those in favor that is Greg Robin all those opposed that is Joanna Dave Katie Jill Dennis John Sarah motion fails okay what else you got so now we're 175s on the table yep now 175 on the table okay thank you for that all those in favor favor okay Greg Dave Robin same all those opposed Joanna Katie Dennis Jill John Sarah okay what else uh Katie thank you I would like to motion that we reduce convocation catering from 6,000 to 3,000 okay do I have a second Joanna

104right all those in favor oh sorry discussion if you want to talk about that y I just wanted to say that um I am supportive of um welcoming our staff um with excitement to a new year um catering has been a a cost across this budget that we're really trying to eliminate um so I really hope that um you know with 3,000 you know everyone can enjoy bagels and coffee and and be excited for the school year and also reduce that line item by half what's that line item Katie please it's uh other board expenses thank you okay all right do we have a we have a second all those in favor okay uh Joanna Katie John all those opposed Robin Dave Jill Sarah anyone else Dennis all those obain aing Greg okay all right

105what else Dave so I know we're going to have this on uh once we get on the agenda so just following this 10center uh I'm going to propose a cut of 413 568 which is to the items listed in uh Allen's response to 117 because I don't have precise data 413 168 correct 4968 sorry $ 43,560 and this is responsive to what this is the various line items laid out in the response to question 117 sorry I mean I can read them all up and probably vote for the match um 10% I think you'll need to read what you mean yes because there's more items in that yeah what are you referring to 20% of that no no 10 10 10% okay do I have a second Greg okay discussion okay oh uh all those

106in favor okay that is Dave and Greg and Dennis all those opposed Joanna Katie Robin Jill John Sarah okay motion fails right what else do we have Joanna um I'd like to make a motion to cut the convocation speaker for 7,000 okay do I have a second Katie okay discussion you did talk to us about what that is what it is no it's person who comes you told us well the person who's come has spoken on different things um AI St student assessment uh ruler right so we have a different we have a different uh speakers over over the years that's that's basically what it is is that you're talking about yes okay any further discussion do we I don't know how you know how you qualify but do we get a sense from our

107staff that it's worthwhile and that you have the feedback is good I won't take a survey here but but but they probably like somebody else more than me but that's a um that's an open discussion I would say that um I think I can say confident that the last couple that we've had have been responsive to prek right through 12 um and informative and there board members you go to that convocation so you have a we sense uh yourself of it's presented okay all those in favor go ahead oh I was just going to say so I've been to some of these and I still found that the time I was found the discussion or the speaker most dynamic was when Dr Aly was speaking um I think it's appropriate that your superintendent that leads

108your uh district is leading your District in the very first day and welcoming them back um and this is a way to save a little bit of money for trying to do that as much as possible okay oh I will always participate like so just the record for free all those in favor go ahead Katie yeah I just wanted to um Echo Joanna's comment you know having attended these as well um and seeing the the talents of our staff on display also is kind of invigorating you know we have we have musicians amongst our staff and T teachers we have drama and um I think that with some creativity we could really develop a nice kind of showcase of our internal Talent M asked the da president to present for us sorry about that yeah

109yeah um I actually think that you this is probably something yeah yes bar you ready for some tap dancing um might be a good thing to talk to the re fund or the um Harington funds about if that's something the board wants to pursue so um all right all those in favor uh Joanna Greg Dave Katie Jill Sarah John all those opposed all those abstaining Robin and Dennis okay all right yes Dave oh I was G to put one up go ahead so uh restoring the cut to the half school security officer various three different line items total okay okay do I have a second no second okay yes Joanna oh I'm sorry was that okay yeah um restoring wait was the campus monitor taken out of the package so I'd like was in the

110package it was in the so it's no longer it's cut it's cut okay I would like to propose adding that back in or make a motion to add that back in I um would at least like to have a discussion about it second second um so I think that we're down like this would make the third campus monitor were down over the past several years um and I just wanted to really understand how that affects the uh day-to-day Safety and Security of the school I know there's an SRO there but one of the reasons that we put ssos in at the elementary schools was because SRO can be called away and it's also my understanding they have like curriculum and programs that they also work on as well so what is the real impact of

111you know also the oval is a uh open public road you have a lot of new drivers there I just want to get the full sense of what the real impact is now that we would be down three from where we started a couple years ago well I feel this one particularly at the high school You' be You' be a bit thinner on the ground that that's true because you're splitting less people right um and uh that particular campus is an open campus as you know um so we would be deferring to some of the administration and so on to be out and about more and coverage um this uh at the request that was made this was a recommendation coming from uh the director of security who's supp who's supporting this um so I

112wouldn't do it if he if he wasn't supporting it um I don't feel it's compromising the safety of our students I don't feel that at all and making that the recommendation yes it's a we bit thinner and we have to do different coverages and uh reassign some people and do it a little bit differently but but we still have people at the front door we still have people who can cover the various uh areas uh so that that I that's a description we still have we still have don't forget we we still have the mod place the campus monitors at the front doors and I feel that that our schools are safe as as safe as uh any other schools for sure I mean the campus monitor that you we removed from middle sex I

113have to say drop off at least in the morning because I dropped off my own child every day last year and this year and it is significantly more treacherous than it was last you know with one less person because there's no one that's necessarily standing out there every day the whole time um so you know knowing how crazy um the oval can get that's why I was asking this question aome okay all those in favor Joanna all those opposed that is uh John Sarah Jill Dennis Robin uh Dave Greg all those abstaining Katie okay motion fails okay any other changes yes Katie I'd like to make a motion to um eliminate from professional development um account 25003 in the amount of $7,100 um Holly Clark um as a consultant is there a second Greg hey

114discussion can I just get clarification what Holly clerk does she she's an AI she does AI um actually she has been she's actually been working most recently with all of our talent and gifted teachers this was their professional development uh our kids in the in The Talented gifted program are the kids who should be utilizing this and so on so um she's been working with them directly on lesson development uh and instruction as classroom I mean we want to be on I won't get into defend lot but you want to be on the cut edge of some of this stuff and but I recognize what we're faced with but those are some of the implications all those in favor uh Greg Dave Katie all those opposed John Sarah Jill Dennis Robin all those abstaining Joanna

115okay all right anything else okay just yes Rob question um where do we stand right now what is the number we're at Rich so we are slightly higher it's uh 4.92 or 125 mil 760 223 how did it go up uh I had 30 instead of the 35 for intermal it was it was a cell error when uh scho intermal was put back okay so what's the number uh 4.92 or 125 million 76 223 762 all right any other Greg um just propose in a similar V just for discussion puros Ellen Tucker tuck tuck ner the consultant okay do have a second Dave okay discussion can we just get a little bit more clarification on what what she does so again she's working with school-based teams one of the things she's working with is um

116our school-based teams as we think about K3 literacy and strategies to support the fact that we need all students reading and being really um really strong decoders by the end of second grade um she's also supporting the mtss process as we make a shift from srbi to mtss is that is that something that there because there's also a consultant in here for multi-sensory reading it seems like there's some no you know her work is not in the area of multisensory rating meaning that they're two separate things yes and that's a separate line item that's the 40,000 we've asked for the rc24 anything else is that oh I'm sorry I'm so sorry thank you for clarifying okay all those in favor all those opposed that's unanimous thank you um anything else yes Katie um thank you

117I just I have one more that's um similar in nature where I I have a couple of questions um I wanted to talk about the psychology interns um in light of understanding today um the the substitution rate and the difficulty there um I I understood tonight that there's a benefit because they're in the building because they know the people they they can step in in a way that that we can't find or people even to be capable of on a day by day so I appreciate that um however I am curious as to what the need is for that type of coverage the frequency and then additionally just the program I um have never quite been able to to feel comfor able in my understanding of whether this was a ice to have and you

118know maybe a pet project that potentially could pay dividends down the road in terms of recruitment or whether This was um this was driven by student need um so if someone could speak a bit to those couple of issues I'd appreciate it thank you I I think we spoke last time about they have filled in from attorney leaves they've also filled in for a leave replacement when we were short colleges so they do that but that's not the primary function of them um that's an added benefit of them and and they can step in because they know the students they know the teachers they know the families I think um they also are conducting ELP screenings I think we mentioned that last time also which is something that really supports our youngest Learners um they're

119also counseling Miss counseling sessions so in the number of sessions we would have had as other sorry sh I didn't catch that because you just say it again uh they're also covering missed sessions or what would be missed sessions so when our psycholog are either in 504 meetings or PBT meetings they're able to continue with groups and work with students um both students with IPS with 504 plans and general education so I think that's a that's um something that we really value and it stops the interruption of of Miss sessions or or sessions that would have been missed because of those meetings and the number of meetings that are conducted um there also doctoral level candidates um so they come highly qualified so in addition to helping with evaluations and conducting those EV valuations I

120I think they also um share in their current um college experience and what they're learning so they also help with with current understanding for other psychologists who are here some of our new psychologists also have the opportunity to really learn from them as peer learning um I think just because of their doctoral level status that really helps um to support all our our psychologists in the district um again the number of we've showed on an elementary especially of initial evaluations that are conducted of reeval that are done and and three-year triennials they really helped to support that so we're able to really be current with the number of evaluations we need to conduct could you just remind me sorry Shirley could you just remind me that it's for two interns and I see that the

121um numerical amount in the spreadsheet is 68,000 so they are paid 34 for the entire school year and there and there are no health benefits or anything because they are student interns and 12 months so they're 12 months not 10 but no benefits because they're students and okay thank you thank you Rob just a quick question so how many the 68,000 is a cost for how many interns two interns okay but the the past Year's budget included um I think it was 50 $55,000 so did we have this program last year because my understanding from the budget document is that we were adding an additional to interns for an increase of 13,000 is that not correct so you have two in the current Year's budget at 55 the cost of the program is going to

12268 for two two different interns so we still have two interns the cost is increasing and we did have this program in place but it began last year is that correct okay thank you okay all right any other questions okay if not I will take a motion to approve an operating budget of 125 m760 223 representing a 4.92% increase for the 20125 2026 school year do I have a second that is John all of those in favor that is John Sarah Jill Dennis Robin Katie Dave Greg and Joan it's unanimous thank you all everyone for the time yes now we need to move on to the capital budget um if people would like to amend that budget they can sorry amend it from the additions and the ones we so if you want to do

123an addition well I don't think we do any additions but if you want to subtract um from the capital budget so there are three things from the capital budget that are on the cut list is that correct and if you want to move any of those as a as a reduction to the budget you're welcome to do that okay yes I'd like to make a motion to remove uh the replacement of the sidewalk from our budget okay do I have a second Katie okay opening for discussion Sarah talk about why we're doing it not the town oh Kevin's not here we do repeat it why are we do why are we why is this in the school budget not the town budget uh so Kevin did reach out to the town to see if they

124would do it and the answer was not is it technically their Pro I mean yes yes yes it is technically so why are we covering for them well so the sidewalk has tripping hazards okay um it's been listed in the board's budget for a couple years um yes can I make an alternate proposal yes which is Rich if we split this out the sidewalk versus the drain or is this just the drain here oh here my bad that's why line belov says to this one yes D um Rich could you just remind me what the line item cost was for this 42,000 th000 yeah I'm in favor of keeping the responsibility where it lies yeah I can appreciate that but at this point we're ready to go um but um for a bigger number I

125think it's worth a longer term there may need to be a longer term discussion um okay all those in favor of the reduction Sarah uh Katie and Joanna all those opposed Robin Jill Dennis Greg Dave John um motion fails okay I'll certainly take that as an item for further discussion we we can bring it to the board of finance and they can they can move it to the other spot if they want to yes they can um all right any other amendments to the capital plan no okay um Rich would you please confirm the dollar amount uh so there's no change so 1, 13915 okay with that may I have a motion to approve a capital budget of 1,391 15 Dennis seconded by John all those in favor uh that is unanimous okay all right

126thank you all it's a lot of work time and lost sleep um each of us cares deeply about all of these decisions um so thank you everyone and as I said in the beginning we look forward to celebrating F fiscal year or school year 2026 when it comes um follow-up action items we have we have a couple of agenda items that we'll look at that were mentioned this meeting and we'll bring back the agenda I think we have a full meeting on the 25th we'll bring back the agenda on the first meeting in March anything else that we are missing on the action items okay public comment good evening if anybody in person or online would like to participate in public comment please apprach the podium or use the raised hand icon please state your

127name and address for the record and note that you have up to three minutes to comment uh Crystal Hill 300 Brookside Road cdsp chair we want to thank Dr adley and his team and this board of education for all the time and energy they have given to this budget process this year I know that you have received a high volume of parent input this season both via email and public comment thank you for giving our community members the opportunity to express their viewpoints thank you also for passing a budget that was responsive to the concerns of parents and the larger Community thank you for maintaining the idea program for not increasing class sizes for keeping some structure of PA profession profal at our elementary schools although in full disclosure I think there are still real

128concerns on our end about reducing par Educators from 3 to 2 and the negative impact that may have on staff and students and we will certainly be paying close attention to how that plays out at our schools next year thank you for understanding the importance of the mental health initiatives in place at MMS and DHS and for maintaining department chair leadership while there's still may be elements of this budget that raise concerns within our school communities thank you for the effort put forth to balanced Financial constraints with passing a budget that largely meets the needs of our students and staff however with an overall increase of 4.92 4.92% this budget exceeds the board of finances guidance of a 3 to 4% increase pto's and many parents who have ad advocated for this budget are prepared

129to continue their efforts to ensure the necessary funding is secured from both the board of finance and RTM and preserve the staff and programming they fought for not every aspect of this budget may have received unan unanimous support from this board but at this stage it is the official board of education budget just as parents are ready to advocate for it we hope that the administration and the Board of Education will also defend and fight for it the work is not done please continue to Champion a budget that upholds the high standard of Education we expect in Daran thank you thank you if anybody else in person Laura PES gray 11 Parson walk um I know the team structure has been not touched and not cut but um many several years ago um I was

130told that there's another type of Team model that's that might be much less expensive it's called the house model and it's very in line with what we do um actually it it has students in different houses so it sounds like a very I have no idea it I looked this up today um I know it was proposed many years ago but I never really UND you know I was I was not here when that was proposed to the two principles ago um surely um for MMS and I just thought if we could look at this model and bring the Paris back I know you voted on this already but if this is similar and less expensive maybe we can um re-evaluate the five Paris thank you thank you we have no raised hands at this

131time okay with that I will take a motion to adjourn is Joan seconded by Greg