09-18-25 Special Board of Education Meeting

001All right. Yeah, >> it's okay You can't you can Yeah. Okay. Right. Okay. I think we can move to the next slide. So, I just wanted to quickly review where we have um been with this improvement plan because I feel like it's possible that everyone doesn't have the same information. And so, starting with having the correct information may help us to better understand what we're actually voting for. So when we look at our capital improvement plan over time, uh this Edgewood roof replacement has been identified as a future project since 2012 2013. Uh in 201718 the project evolved into a full renovate as new plan and was moved to happen in the year 2019 2020 and then in 2019 2020 the project was split again to be a roof replacement in 2022 2023 and a

002renovation project in 2025 206. But during that time, COVID happened and so a lot of things that were planned were stalled and a lot of things that were stalled no longer had valid um projected amounts to do the job. So inflation impacted prices and so it stalled our ability to move forward with leveraging federal or state funding. If we look the next slide please. If we look at the history of the approved funding um in May of uh 2024 the joint board meeting the committee approved the CIP which included 1.3 and change for the Edgewood school board replacement in 2023 the joint board meeting the committee approved 16.8 8 for the Edgewood School targeted alteration renovation. There was creative um efforts to bring in additional funding and there was some reimbursement funding from a Southside

003school HVAC grant that was approved by the state in May of 2024 with an approximate reimbursement of up to 276839. that if we were to not move forward with anything, we would lose that money completely. That would just be money lost. Um, and the Edgewood pre preschool renovation was approved by the state of Connecticut on June 12th, 2024 for a reimburseable amount of 11.7 and change. But I have to say that Tara Landon has warned me to ever use the actual amounts because those are the best case scenarios. So when we move forward in the slides, she gives her conservative amounts because she wants to make sure that she's not overselling things because getting a 100% of a reimbursement isn't guaranteed. And we want to not mislead anyone on where we actually are in this

004process. Next slide. So in 2021, the school board supported a plan to reimagine Bristol and open Edgewood School as a preschool. no longer a comprehensive elementary school but a preschool program. The plan did not involve just a building renovation. It was a comprehensive plan. It was based on data and the strategy was to make a better Bristol public schools. We know that prek is mandated for our youngest and most vulnerable learners if they qualify for special education. We are mand mandated by state to provide daycare and we can't provide daycare in an isolated situation where we segregate kids. We have to put kids of their peers in their classrooms by state law. This plan I'm so sorry. childare reason. So it maximizes state resources and it reducers reduces the taxpayers's burden. Next slide, please. This

005was a two-phase redistricting plan. The process anticipated full utilization of classroom space. We never anticipated having school buildings that had empty classrooms as we moved into the next phase. We made sure that we looked at the data to show how many kids we were going to be serving and how many classrooms we need. So, Edgewood PreK Academy was never simply about filling extra space. It was about aligning programming, strengthening early childhood education, and maximizing efficiency of district resources. On 9:14 2022, we had a board meeting where SLAM, who is the firm who's doing our feasibility study in phase two, right? Currently, reported on our phase one. What they reported to the full board was why we should open preK Academy at Edgewood and why redistricting of Edgewood Elementary and PreK 8 students was the best

006plan for Bristol Public Schools. They aligned their plan to four goals. Renovate outdated schools, create parody and class size and demographics, standardize grade configurations and instructional models, and expand access to full day prek. Patrick Gallagher from SLAM Consulting presented a detailed presentation regarding the next steps of the redistricting plan. Next slide, please. Phase one enrollment was projected to increase. And so we were presented with and these are online. So if anyone would like to go back to that date, you can watch the video and see the full slide count. I just pulled out the slides that were most relevant to why I believe the full board supported this plan. Um they showed us three different um models and they made a re recommendation for the highest model which projected that K12 enrollment would increase by

0071.5% through 2031 2032. Next slide please. This slide highlights stable elementary enrollment. It shows that we would see over the next four years before stabilizing at about 7,640 kids in elementary school. that we would be rebounding back to almost 7,885 kids by 203132. Therefore, they made the recommendation that we didn't need to eliminate any of our schools when Northeast comes online next year because we have enough students where we need all of these classrooms. There are predicted classrooms that will sit empty. The study showed us that it was the opposite of that that we actually need every classroom that we have. Now, we have now engaged in another feasibility plan to confirm that this plan that happened in 2022 is accurate, which we will get more data on next month. But at this point, this

008is the data that we have to make decisions. So, in 2021, the full board voted to establish Edgewood as a prek academy, which was aligned with the five-year Oh, next slide, sorry. Which was aligned with the five-year facilities plan. And this chart will show you the five years of recommended capital improvement requests. And it lists through more than just Edgewood, but the central groove the which was also on the capital improvement plan multiple years and now not being completely replaced but fixed or put a band-aid on. And then Bristol Eastern High Schools as well. Those were projected for 7 million plus dollars in each of those years, 2022, 2023, and we're still not seeing them be replaced, but they were part of the 5-year plan. So, when we look at Edgewood that was on the

009plan in 2012, we're now looking at a roof that fell in. So, we don't want to be in these same situations. We want to make sure that when we're looking at the lifespan of a roof and we no longer have any ability to bring in resources if there's a problem. It's all out of pocket. We don't want to get to that point and we're at that point with many of our roofs right there. Next slide, please. So to date we have the city appropriated 1.3 million in 2122 for a roof project. In 2223 we needed an additional 2 million which the city appropriated for the targeted alteration of the school as well. We also have approved state grant funding, the Southside School HVAC targeted funding for only this project of 2.5 million, which would be

010added to that 1.3 and that 2 million to bring us to 5.8 million that we have of funding secured for this project regardless of which door we choose. So, if we go with just a roof or if we go with fully renovating to new, we have $5.8 million. And using that $5.8 million, we leveraged an additional state reimburseable amount of it's more than 11 million. It's 11.7, but Terra puts this amount to be conserved. Correct. Yes. So, okay. So, next slide. So if we were to go with a targeted roof only project which we currently all supported before we were told that the state gave us a priority additional reimbursement. Originally the projected cost was 6.8 million. The new approximate cost is more like I'm sorry the the projected cost was 16.8 million. The new

011app approximate cost is more like 18.8 million because things have changed and they don't once they because the roof failed there's additional issues and they need additional uh repairs but we don't have all of the numbers in but this is the best guess. Um and then at the state reimbursement level of 69.64% 64% Bristol would have to come up with 5.1 million or more because we don't know exactly but right now we have 5.8 million already secured. So that's not asking them for a different an additional 5.1. We've already secured 5.8. So but this plan leaves a broader facility need that's that will be unresolved. So, if we were to just replace the roof, I don't I uh Peter Fusco is much better at explaining this, but I know that for anyone who knows about

012this, you don't put a roof on and then drill into it and change the mechanicals after you do the roof. That's just not smart. So, if we were to just fix the roof, we'd still have to go back and rip the ceiling out again after we put it back in and drill holes in a brand new roof and then fix them all these replace all of these mechanicals, which wouldn't be efficient >> through the chair. >> Yes. Eric, >> just to clarify some of that because again, >> our original roof replacement plan back in 21 >> um we had a projected target cost I believe was less than a million because the the committee was going to act we didn't have to create a separate committee. Um price came in at 2.7 million time. Um,

013the problem was because the code differences between the original roof, which by the way was built in 1985, that roof was 1985. I know what I was like in 1985. I'm no longer the same. I'm no longer capable of handling what I could in 1985. So, needless to say, the rule fell apart. Um, patch leak, patch leak. It feels like my morning routine. Um but um so we ended up with needing to do a lot more and again that's where we've come up where we and and again our new approximate cost 18.8 8 million. That's after looking at those numbers again, which originally was projected 17 million of the three firms that uh looked at the project said um I believe one said we could do $17 million. We now know no, we need more.

014So there's again 5.1 million as opposed to the original 4.7 I believe million. It it was it was lower. Um, so we basically found ourselves in a tight situation. We were not going to do it with the original projected cost, but QAM understood the school better than the committee did that we have to rebuild the whole thing and get a higher reimbursement. So that's where we're at. Um, unfortunately for the board of finance, who I have numerous times seen them turn down roof replacement for patching numerous times. Again, what could have been taken care of for a million dollars 15 years ago is now $28 million. That's what happens. >> But we're optimist and there is possibilities for reimbursement. >> Our reimbursements are much better. Um and and the thing is to do half the

015job is an issue because again there are 60-y old pipes in there that are going to break and leak everything in that school. Again, I'm not going to go beyond that, but I'm just going to say this is what we're at. >> Okay. So, if we were to renovate to new, which is where the Edgewood building committee that Commissioner Carlson sits on has brought us here today, the project cost would be 28.8 million, but the reimbursement would would be higher at 84.64% reimbursement because we are a preschool facility and the government put a priority on three school facilities. That gave us an extra 15% reimbursement. Now, Bristol's share is approximately $4.42 million, which is lower. Our share would be lower for our renovation to new than it would be to our targeted to roof only

016project. And we still have already leveraged the 5.8 million. So, we have a contingency built in in case it went higher. where we are right now, we wouldn't have to go back and ask the city for additional resources. This not only provides a long-term solution for safety, accessibility, and program delivery, but it doesn't leave us with broader facility needs unresolved in the future. Next slide, please. Now, Tara doesn't want to talk about this extra legislation that came through because she doesn't want to make promises that she can't keep. But being an optimist and understanding that sometimes you are the unicorn. And I feel like we are the unicorn right now with our building at Edgewood and this legislation that is becoming available. And the best part about this legislation is that it is unique to

017special ed programming reimbursement. And we will make this available um online and on our website so everyone can read the legislation and go in and find it and read it themselves. But I'll I'll go through the highlights. So you get an extra 15% if you renovate and you provide special education programming and services or you're eligible for I should say. So no guarantee but we're eligible to apply. Um, and one of the caveats is if that extra 15% pushed us over the total cost of the project, 100% of the project, we wouldn't be eligible, but it would push us to 99%. So, it's actually the perfect amount to keep us under but give us the most, right? It also is preliminary for in district specialed programs that also provide programs that serve general education students

018for non-special ed students. And all of our preschools are integrated where we have peer non-special ed students with special ed students. And so this is in my opinion, and of course there will be processes in place that determine how we reimburse, but we are about as well suited as someone could be to receive reimbursement for this. So, I just want to bring that up because even though it was less expensive to do the full to new renovation without this, if we were to get this, we would be in a complete surplus by millions of dollars. And so, I just think it's important for everyone to know the possibilities of doing this project. So, next slide, please. So, the full renovation proposal that Edgewood Building Committee supports and has put forth to our board, it's a

019$28.8 million project with a minimum reimbursement rate of 84% almost 85%. Which is going to cost us less money than if we only replace the roof. The maximum reimbursement rate is 99%. Which we are completely eligible for applying. Next slide please. So this board has engaged in careful planning. We had phase one of slam feasibility study done completed all the way through 2032. We looked at the capital improvement plan for five years. We also made sure that it fit into the reimagining Bristol plan, which is about more than classroom space, which is about more than population, but it's about what's best for our kids. Where is the best location for our kids? So the Edgewood Building Committee came forward and said, "We've made a fiscally responsible decision." We can get you up to 99% reimbursement

020on this plan, and it's aligned with the district longterm 5-year facilities plan, and we think that it really takes into consideration our taxpayers, our families, and our students. Next slide, please. So before we have the board discussion about what we think is best for Bristol taxpayers, students and families, I know that we have um a few people from the district who would like to also provide some information outside of what I've provided. And so I am going to ask Superintendent White to tell me who would who is going to present first. Thank you, Chair Pines. Good evening, everyone. Mr. Chalky, do you see Miss Martino, Mrs. Sugarman? So, I believe they were going to present together. >> Well, um, we're waiting for that. Terra, is there anything that I said that you need to correct

021for me? It's okay. I know I want you to come up. >> Can you hear me? >> So, we can hear you. >> Perfect. Thank you. I just wanted to correct a couple things. So, I want you to because I tried my best. >> You did great. So, the um renovate as the new request was for 28.8 8 million um and the city share would be the approximately 4.2 4.42 million which does include the additional 15%. The original targeted alterate which is a new and it would be limited to bringing what we put up to hold because once we go in there we would have to bring things up to hold which is why we pulled some other brains out of that. So there would still be degradation within the building that we would have

022to address if we continue with with that targeted opa and you had said 18.8 million and it was actually four actually four million dollars you know we're looking at but we have to go back >> four more than the 18 no four more than the 16.8 which is what we're at right now. >> So it be 20.8 8 and then we were at 5.1 million at that 16.8 but if we went up to 20.8 that would increase that that city share. >> So it actually just increases the share if we do roof only. >> Yeah. And when you say roof only I do want there are um other renovated. >> That's correct. And it's minimal because the majority of the work would have to be done with frame the building um the areas that we

023put up to code before really focus on >> it. It's a it's a roof mechanicals project that we're at right now code and again code was still a little bit vague at the last time at the meeting. Um, so yeah, there's there could be additional code issues that would come up when when stuff is torn out, ceilings are torn out, what's in that bill. That was the frightening thing to the committee. >> Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. >> That's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you. So basically I made an error in the $18 million for the roof project with other renovations that are not the Renault to new. So we're choosing between two and I underestimated it by 2 million. So now the Renault to new would cost us more than 3 million less than

024if we were to do the project that we're currently slated to do. Maybe the side >> Miss Martino, Mr. Sugarman, >> good evening. >> Are you ready here? >> Hi. Thank you. >> I'm just going to take a moment just so that um I'm sending a request to whomever is uh presenting so that we can share our slide deck. So, if you give us a moment, we'll be ready. Amy, are you sending it to Jeff Telki? >> I sent a request. I believe I have the availab availability now. >> Okay. I believe you should all be able to see our our screen at this point. Correct. >> I can see it. >> Yes. >> Okay, great. Uh, so Mrs. Sugarman and I wanted to share a couple of other updates. Um, thank you for kind

025of highlighting, chair pawn, some of the history. Um, I, um, was in the background during the redistricting planning, but I agree that Edgewood coming together was an intentional move so that we could begin to build preK and then even expand resources and uh, even revenue for the district moving beyond. There was never a discussion of dismantling the preschool academy. So, I do think that's important to say. A couple of things that I think we were hoping to highlight is, you know, over the past couple of weeks since the last board meeting, there have been a number of social media posts, recommendations, and questions. Um, I highlighted a few of them here because I think they're important for us to talk about. So, for instance, one of the comments or posts was that we will have

02626 extra classes at West Bristol and Green Hills once we redistrict. I do think it's important that um as mentioned, we had never discussed prek being part of filling the classes at West Bristol and Green Hills. There were conversations about other elementary schools, uh some students being reallocated as part of that redistricting. I couldn't speak of those details, but I think it's important to know that preschool in and of itself wasn't necessarily part of that plan. But trying to be neutral, I did reach out to both schools to see, you know, how much room do they actually have? Um, I think one of the things that's important and people may not be aware of is that preschool age children, kindergarten, and first grade students have to be on the bottom level of the school building.

027it would be very challenging to fit all of the preschool K and one students on the bottom ground even if moving the available classrooms to um other levels of the building. So I think that's important to know. Another thing regarding Edgewood is we are Nyak accredited and there are some stipulations behind even the environment and configurations of our classrooms. So, if the decision was that we would have to have preschool going back to uh either elementary schools or West Bristol or Green Hills, it would require a significant alteration to some of the environments. Um, another comment that has been brought up was, you know, the uh thinking about Edgewood becoming a special education school. Um, I think that the fact that we run an integrated preschool is amazing. We have about 300 students, 150 of

028which do receive special education services. Truthfully, we've outgrown our capacity. Um, Miss Sugarman and I had offers from three different districts asking to pay us tuition to have students move in. However, we're not at the um level that we can do that at this point. We do need to expand to have that happen. Um, we have really um centralized all of our resources. So disbanding them I think not only brings us backwards in the design for universal preschool which is a state um initiative but it also would require not only fiscal changes uh because of the facilities but then also changes in how we're going to have to reallocate the services across district. Um so on the right side it talks about you know if Edgewood were designed as a special school could we regionalize

029to be honest you know could we we could but even if we remained as a sole entity the fact that other districts are reaching out to us regularly ready to pay full tuition for seats in our preschool is uh amazing. If we were to dismantle that, we have no opportunity for further growth and we do not have opportunity for that revenue. So, as I mentioned earlier, there is some conversation around the the actual numbers of classrooms. There are 10 um if we moved everything upstairs. But I do think it's important that Miss Sugarman share what does preschool really look like because I think there might be some thoughts about well we can just move 14 classes maybe seven and seven to each of the schools. But there's some other things that exist in our preschools

030that folks might not be aware of that are important. Mrs. Sugarman, if it's okay with you, I'm going to turn it over to you. >> Yes. Thank you, Amy. Um good evening, commissioners. Um, I did just want to share a little bit about what our program has grown to to be. Um, as it exists today, we currently have 14 classrooms, 12 integrated classrooms, and two self-contained lead autism program classrooms. We house an evaluation team that evaluates students as they transition from birth to three in conjunction with their families, their birth to three providers, as well as community partners. Um we have specials classrooms. We house eight related service providers with treatment spaces to provide um really crucial direct services to our students. Um we are also developing a before and after school care program specific

031to serving prek students so that our families have a true full day that they are able to to work. Um we also provide direct services through the Wheeler Clinic. um as well as applied behavioral analysis um services with a partner um a brand new day and that really supports um students with more intensive needs in accessing programming that is really truly aligned um to what they need. Um the current Edgewood building um has space that would allow for necessary expansion in the near future. Um, we are currently at 47% students with IEPs across our building. And so for our classrooms to be considered general education classrooms serving students in the least restrictive environment, which is mandated by law, um we need to stay under um 50% students with IEPs. And so we are really um

032approaching that threshold. We do anticipate exceeding that um this year given the space constraints that we currently have um at our leased facility. So despite the fact that we have over a 100 families um with their children on our wait list to come to our program, we're unable to take them in because we don't have the space to do so. And so, um, you know, moving us to, um, a space that would not allow for the expansion of additional classrooms is really going to have a direct impact on our ability to provide, um, not only pre-K services to a greater number of families across Bristol, but also our legally mandated um, services um, in that least restrictive environment. Um Amy, I think you wanted to speak to the other opportunities that exist um for the

033West Bristol and Green Hills classroom spaces. >> Sure. So again, when we talked about the redistricting, it was never an issue of filling seats. Um I do think some decisions need to be made about some of the elementary schools and how the redistricting will impact uh just the K through five seats. With that said, there are other opportunities to um calibrate some of our in district programs within our West Bristol and Green Hills. So, if space truly was of concern, which I don't believe that that's really what the problem is. But if that were, we have other opportunities that we could would could consider that would be helpful to our students in district and less impactful to us like decentralizing preschool base. Amy, could you be what other opportunities are uh what other opportunities are

034you thinking that could possibly be in addition to the soon to be former market? >> I couldn't quite hear the question. >> Sorry, I thought I was close enough. So, you mentioned that there could be some um opportunities for the soontobe open rooms at West Bristol and Green Hills. Do you have any ideas on what could possibly be done? What opportunity? >> So, there's many different options to be honest. Um, we have 32 classroom programs throughout the district and we do have some of our elementaryaries that are already struggling with the space that they have now. So there has been discussion, no decisions, but there have been some discussions if we should perhaps uh put some of our programs together and use some of the West Bristol or Green Hill space. We have had some

035conversations about how we could even have some of our alternative schooling options that we've discussed come to fruition using the spaces at West Bristol and Green Hills. At this time, we have not been able to to move forward with some of the innovative projects that we've had because of that. I think one of the most crucial things is really to find out how many other students from K through five in all of our elementary buildings will be moved to West Bristol and Green Hills because that is really what's going to tell us what space is left and then we have to remember there's laws around who has to be on the first floor etc etc. >> Thank you Amy. So, one of the things to really note is that we the phase 2 feasibility study

036that SLAM is currently doing for us is dependent on the October 1 enrollment data. And so, until we have the October 1 enrollment data, the best data we have is phase one. So, we we're all of the plans in place to date that this board has voted on have been based on phase one and we don't have outcomes for phase 2 and we cannot have outcomes until after after the October 1st enrollment data. So, I love that we have plan B, plan C, and that they include, you know, high areas of need that we're experiencing in the district. But at this point, we don't know that we don't need every classroom um that we currently have even when we open the new school. So with with that being our actual situation, we have to make

037the best decisions that we can based on the data that we have. And so are Amy and Courtney, are there any um further comments or should we move on? >> I think there's just a few other details that I think Courtney wanted to share just to kind of share the impact. So I'll turn it to her. >> Absolutely. So, I know there's been a heavy emphasis on our special education population. Um, but I think it is also important to consider um really the highquality prek program that we provide to all learners that come to our um come to our school regardless of whether they have an IEP or not. So, our centralized program allows for shared resources and materials reducing duplication across different sites. Um we have now a centralized leadership for both special education

038as well as our school readiness general education um students at Edgewood. The concern with decentralization is that it would impact our preschool grant allocations. So due to the really strong emphasis that the state is placing on prek education currently and in the near future through the early start funding grant um as well as the demonstrated um need for our program in our community we were able to secure an additional 13 seats this year which increased our state reimbursement by $88,500. So that money allowed us to hire an additional teacher um at no additional cost to the district um because we were able to demonstrate to the state that our community wanted our program um that there was a need and that we were going to fill that need at Edgewood PreK. um in reviewing data

039um from prior programming um when our school readiness classrooms were across multiple locations in the city. Um we were underenrolled. Um really at every location that we had prek at. Um under the new legislation, underenrollment will result in the loss of prek seats and the subsequent funding that comes with um filling those seats. It would also impact our ability, as Amy had mentioned earlier, to charge tuition to other districts. There is certainly a need here. Um, as as Amy shared, we've had multiple requests for um districts wanting to send their their prek children to our program and to um pay us tuition. Um it would also um require as Amy mentioned that multiple locations achieve individual NYAK accreditation um which is a mandate for state funding. So this has potential implications in regards to costs

040to ensure that each location meets the accreditation standards. And so I just wanted to ensure that really the board um had had a full picture of what we provide um to our you know to our youngest learners about the demand that the program really has. Um you know and I think it's also important to note um because I have heard um you know that providing prek in a K to 5 has a potential for um a smoother transition to kindergarten, right? And so while that might be true for the small group of children who have the benefit of transitioning on to that kindergarten, um I also just want to make it clear that prior to centralizing our prek program, um if a child was enrolled in a school readiness prek classroom, say at Mountain View,

041if they enrolled um and required it determined that they required special education services, they actually had to move schools to be able to access those services. And so, um, you know, really bringing all of our programs together ensures just a really cohesive program for for all of our children. And that's all I think I have to say. Thank you. >> Thank you, Courtney. I was looking at Maria when you were talking about bringing in $88 million extra to bring in a teacher at no cost and saying, "Wow, we have really good people who work in our district." Because that's phenomenal. Honestly, thank you so much for what you do. >> Can I ask one quick question? >> Sure. >> If Miss Sugarman's still on, um, prior to um getting moved into Giamati. So, uh, did

042did was there a wait list for the program for our students? There was a wait list for when you guys were at Edgewood. Yes, we we were able to um the wait list wasn't quite as long um because we were we just had more space. We were able to take in more um children in the Edgewood facility than we are um at this current time, but we did we did maintain a weight list which that data was presented to the state um and is the reason why we were able to secure that additional funding for additional seats. >> Well, which building had more space temporarily? the adult ed center or Giamati >> over at the senior center. >> Yes, I'm sorry. >> Oh, Giamati. Absolutely. >> So, when I spoke when I spoke to the

043increased space, I meant our Edgewood building. I apologize. No, we were really at that. >> No, I know that I know that you were increased at Edgewood, but I'm saying between the two temporary spaces. I didn't know which one was providing a better uh space for you to to serve more students. >> Giamati. Absolutely. By far. >> Oh, well that makes me feel better. >> Yes. Absolutely. >> We didn't really have a choice, but now that they're in a space that has more space, that's great. So, makes me feel better. >> Okay. So, thank you both. And now what I will do I'm sorry. >> I'm sorry. I uh through the chair, if I may, um Director Martino, um I I did have some uh at least a couple questions as far as uh you

044know, with Edgewood with um with the uh extended school year. All right. It said something about like um uh um impacting uh the extended school year program by decentralization. Can you explain a little bit more about like what would happen there or why that would uh um impact extended school year? >> I love that you asked. So, um some might not be aware, but with the before and afterare facility that we're really kind of uh about to initiate, we were just about to start when the roof collapsed. uh but we're re-engaging with them. One of the services that they can provide to us is summer programming and it could reduce the um the ESY budgetary constraints that we already have. So, Miss Sugarman and I have already been talking about not only are we providing

045our students with before and after care, which is being, you know, our families are needing at this point, but it gives us other opportunities for extended school year remaining in that centralized preschool area, and it's at no additional costs to us. >> Thank you. Another question that I have is um you know with with the with the prek and also with uh with the special needs programs. It seems like uh this wouldn't just be like a a renovate and new. It seems like this would be like a renovate and expand. Um, and I know we're looking to uh I know that's always been a goal for ours, at least as long as I' I've been on the board, that eventually we could um bring students that are currently being um being placed out in other

046districts um back to where we could provide them services here and perhaps even create like a a destination program. Um and I've seen the site. I know we have the room to do that. Is that what the goal is here with Edgewood? >> I wouldn't say it's our only goal. Oh, I apologize. I was muted. Um, I don't think that's our only goal. Um, we see just in our need that our community is needing preschool, right? With with almost a hundred students on a waiting list. That's pretty significant. With that though, meeting the needs of our district, we have received a pretty decent number of districts that want to pay a decent amount uh to send their students and we just can't do it. Um I think it would be wise for us to grow

047some of our in-dist programs not only for our students but also so that we can meet the needs of others while uh benefiting our district uh fiscally. >> Uh for for some of the parents that are maybe um that do have to have their uh their kids on on longer bus rides to get the services they need. Um what kind of services do you do you envision um being able to provide um at at Edgewood? So, I'll turn it over to Miss Mrs. Sugarman. At this point, we have not only the half-day program, but we have moved forward with having a full day program because it actually was a fiscal benefit to us to do that and it provided students what they needed. As Miss Sugarman said, we have two lead autism classrooms at this

048point. We do need to expand that further. Um, but Mrs. Sugarman, was there anything more you wanted to share in terms of that question? I think it's just important that, you know, to note that we really are trying to build out our continuum of services to support really all students. Um, general education students, special education students. We've always looked for our programming for students with intensive needs to match what we offer for um our students um that do not have special education needs. So, as an example, having the space and making the decision to um to bring in an agency to provide services um such as um ABA services for students with more intensive needs. That was really to to mirror the fact that um you know we were a part-day program and as an

049example um a ch a par a a family might elect to send their child to Edgewood PreK in the morning and then to a local community childare program in the afternoon to really supplement for a full day. Um students with more intensive needs are not successful in a in a community child care program. So we said, well, let's bring in the services um that will support those families in accessing a full day. And so because we had the space to do that, we were able to support families in that way. So we really aim to be really creative um with the the not only the space but the services, the partnerships that we do have to support um the range of needs um for families and for students across Bristol. Um either Miss Lennon or

050Mr. Fusco, I I had a question for you regarding the site. Um you know, I know we talked about like um about renovate and expand um and I know we're not talking about that tonight, but what would that look like if we were to be able to if we were able to grow the uh this, you know, the special needs program at Edgewood? >> Uh good evening. Uh to answer that question, with the project that we're talking about this evening, the full renovation is new. Uh there is a potential for some expanding of classrooms in the space that's been identified to 40,000 square feet. Perhaps we wouldn't have a library. Again, I don't know how that meets the program. As far as additional space, that would be something that you would have to look into

051in the future. >> But it has been explored though, hasn't it not? Uh there was a there was a a discussion as one of the options that they were looking at an additional 4,000 square ft. >> However, the cost share went way up to have that extra square footage. You were not going to benefit from the full 84%. >> Yeah. But it's something that could be done in the future if the specialties program uh needed to expand. Could it not? >> Absolutely. It would >> could it go beyond 4,000 square ft? >> Well, that would have to be looked at. We'd have to obviously look at a site plan, zoning, all the different considerations, our property lines. It's not a one-word answer tonight, but but it be explored absolutely. >> Um, but it would be

052a topic probably for a future CIP project. >> I know you like to look at things like, you know, like if you're going to be like doing a renovation or a repair of it, you know, plan ahead to try to so you don't have to worry about it in the future, >> right? This is a comprehensive plan that we've talked about with the building committee. This is something that would hopefully make the existing structure good for 20 to 25 years which it comprehensively site work um door hardware all of the things. I mean I have a list of things the differences between what was originally thought to be done. Remember as you look at the numbers up there and I I can only say this because Edgewood's been mine for 19 years to look after.

053So when I first got in the district, it was a school that had needs, but it was pushed off and there was always discussions that it would maybe get closed, maybe it would stay open, maybe we would do this, maybe we would do that. In 2010, we put a new switch care in that store because we couldn't support the electrical breakers, but we did not deal with the transformer in the back. There's a transformer room on the back side of it that most people don't know about. It's under locking key that needed to be updated in 2010. The thought was someday we'll do a renovation and we'll include that because that's a pretty big you have to engage with every source of there's a lot that goes into it and I don't want to I

054don't mean to touch up already been done. >> No, it has not been done. >> Okay. >> That's part of this renovation as new. So, you'll start with your switch gear and work your way right out to the classroom. >> We did some things, some updates using municipal money as we've gone along. Even the $2 million that targeted operation, I could tell you what that really is. That was going after heating pipes and tunnels because we've had a lot of failures. If you know what a mega press fitting is, that's a black iron pipe repair. We've done countless repairs over the last 5 years in that school. No one knows because we do them out of hours or on the weekends in the winter. We've had surveillance on those boilers. If the pressure on the

055boiler is down and we go in there, we know we have a leak somewhere in that 40,000 square feet. then we have to start to mobilize. So the repairs have not always been easy but we didn't know we would have this opportunity 5 years ago that this funding would avail itself and it was always asking the municipality we have more money we have more money even when we asked for the roof money co hit escalation uh prices went up numbers that used to carry didn't carry with co so we tabled it we gambled and we ended up losing in February of last year changed the entire scope of the project with all of the the law of damage that we have. That's just the way it is. That's it. It's cool and the other questions

056walk you through timelines in 2006 today. >> And I can tell you that he this is his baby and when the when the roof fell in and I went to the building and he was in the building looking at the damage, you could see that it was like a parent with their child. I mean, it was awful. Um, but the one question that I have before Commissioner Carlson, because I'm going to move it to him quickly, when we think about the new 15% that we don't know about, but we're a unicorn to apply for, that would bring us to the 99%, the 99% can be whatever of whatever amount. And I know tonight we're not going to vote on this, but when Commissioner Anderson talks about grow, right, like could we expand, expanding is part

057of that that legislation. And so if we did take that next number and put the 4,000 square feet, we'd still be eligible for 99% of that. And so I don't want to change what we're doing tonight, but maybe there is an opportunity to quote that out to see. >> Yeah. Yes. Absolutely. I mean, from a facilities person standpoint, this is a one in a lifetime opportunity considering I've advocated with the CIP year after year after year, always looking for municipal funding because I've never been able to bundle it with state reimbursement. So to have something like this, it's an opportunity that doesn't present itself all the time. Now whether it's the right opportunity for this committee, that's you folks to decide, but it's definitely not something that that comes along. And I I've been here

058for 19 years when we've never had this type of finance financing available, real estate or reimbursement, whatever you want to call it. Any other questions from anybody about I had one and I do apologize. I appreciate your patience here. >> I just wanted to point out something uh as the committee we looked at the possibility and again I brought it up expanding beyond the original footprint of the school. Um but we were looking at the 85% reimbursement rate and literally looked at is it going to cost us more money? So they were considering the taxpayer, you know, situation and said, "No, let's not look beyond that yet." And so if we're and again, if this 99% well then we have a an opportunity, but in the meantime, the committee did look at it as let's

059look at the footprint. We have not expand it yet because we're at 85% reimbursement rate and we're not going to it's not going to cost the taxpayers additional funds. And that was the that was pretty much consensus as far as I could tell the consensus of committee >> did have I appreciate that um I did have like just two other questions. There was um something that was mentioned about a surplus, but also I had a question regarding um contingencies as far as and I know you when I talked about it briefly um you know projects you know especially big projects like this don't always you can't always have a crystal ball things can go over you know what what is that contingency look like you know what is that planned contingency look like >> we

060would go in with a typical construction contingency at this stage where you're looking at existing conditions and you have a conceptual design. So, you're going to carry a higher number owing into the project. As you start to go through the phases of a project and it develops and your contingency obviously will drop down with until you go out the bid and then you'll you'll hold the contingency. But a contingency is always something that you have to deal with whether it's today, whether it's a year from now, 10 years from now, 10 years ago. Contingency is a contingency. Construction is a wild card. That's why you try to do what you can do when you have some stability because again we went in with the best uh hopes when we came up when we when I

061finally got the money for the roof in 2019. We had the best of intentions to move quickly and we had plenty of contingency only to find out COVID hit and all bets were off. So the professionals that are giving us the numbers obviously account for the contingency. We're professionals. We know what contingencies look like. You know, obviously if there's something weird, we're going to question it. Uh but as far as 6 months from now, you can't predict. But right now, supply chain seems to be working. We're not having issues with I mean, switch care, I think, is one of the hardest things to get right now. So, you have to you have to start thinking about that. Transformers to to go back to the original problem in that building. We'd have to get Eversource to

062get us a transformer. But rooftop mechanicals, duck work, all the other components seem to be readily available. >> I'm still seeing issues with supply chain, but now it's due to just volume. We're just just can't keep uh can't keep up with demand. Um I I there was a mention of a of a surplus too. Can would you be able explain what you know where the sur where a surplus would be derived from from the construction of this? >> Where I I I think I missed that. >> Was that Yeah. Or maybe um >> if uh yeah, I can go back to the slide. Let's find which number for Jeff to pull up. >> So if you go to slide um number 11. Okay. So my error that that Tara pointed out was in targeted roof

063only project which isn't roof only. There are other things other than the roof but that is what we called it. Um I thought it was 18809 was the approximate but uh Tara had said more 20 terara approximately 4 million more than the 168 so we'd be at 20.8 8. Right. So, with a 6964 reimbursement, um, and we have currently 5.8 million that we could use to support the city side of this project. So, if you go down to the renovate to new, the 4.42 42 is what we need from the city side for the current projected cost at 84.64 reimbursement and that doesn't include if we apply and receive an additional 15% which would then put us even in a better place. But we're going to stay with Terara's conservative number and say 84.64 reimbursement

064would mean the city only needed to spend 4.422 422 million on a $28 million project and we already have 5.8 million leveraged. So the contingency was the difference between the 4.42 and the 5.8. >> So in terms of cost difference, we're only we're looking at like roughly like another $8 million from from a roof repair to new. you're actually if your contribution is going to be 4.42 million. >> I'm talking about the total total price of the budget. >> Actually, >> the difference between like repairing the roof or doing a um repair new >> renovate as new is is a $28 million project, but that's including your reimbursement. >> But the roof but the roof repair would be like 20 million, wouldn't it not? >> The roof repair itself. >> So, it's about an $8

065million difference, >> right? Exactly. it from the the alteration, the original alteration, right? Which did not include many of what the renovate is new, much of that work, >> and we're only eligible for the additional percentage if we renovate as new. So, if we don't renovate as new, we don't get the extra 15% on the 69.64 as was reported in the news. That is not true. I if that were true that would be a different setup. So I made sure to ask those questions because we want to make sure that we do we make a decision that puts our taxpayers, our students, and our families in mind when we do what's best for our students. And if we pick renovate to new, it's less expensive and we leave nothing left to be done versus if

066we go to roof only, we pay more to get less. And so that's why I thought it was important for us to just have this conversation >> and understand that in a few years if you don't do a renovate as new be back in the CIP for the things that have failed that we knew were going to fail. You want to stay when you do real estate life cycle, right? So 20 25 year comprehension, then you worry about doing it again in 20 25 years. If you do a partial in 5 years in, you're looking at going right back to the property and identifying the things you didn't do the first time. Oil tanks. City of Bristol before I got here had grant money. Oil tanks in ' 88, I believe it was. 30 years

067had to get them done. Now we have got like nine of them in the schools that all had to be done the same year. They were done in 88 and 89. I didn't do them all in one year because if I take that in front of the CIP, I'm going to overwhelm them with eight oil tank replacements. So I started to parse them out and do I did a few of them a little bit earlier at year 27 so that you stagger them. So you you're you don't throw off your life cycle on a piece of property. And that cuts the line because I might have done an oil tank at Stafford, but I didn't do something else at Stafford. Stafford needs, you know, buildings need and you This is the best way to do

068it in my opinion. Life cycle 20 25 years. You don't look back. That's that's somebody else's problem 25 years from now. More than likely, we won't be here doing this. But maybe we will. Some of us will be. I won't be here. But uh so the thing of it is that's that's just a consideration. >> Any other questions? >> No, you've been uh you've been very helpful. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> If you could bring us to the last slide. So at this point, I'm going to go around once and we will have a discussion for anyone who would like to discuss what has just happened within our board. >> I'd like to make a motion. >> Oh, that happens. >> Second. Hang on. No, >> he's going to

069read it. I >> I just want to make a motion that the board of education approves the Edgewood project to renovate as new. Um, what else to say on that? Um, renovate is new. I'm not going to use the numbers. That's it. We move this project forward as re renovate as new as opposed to uh targeted repairs. >> I second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. Now I will open the floor to discussion. We'll start with Commissioner Anderson. We'll move around everyone. >> I've talked enough. I want to let some other people. >> Okay. So, Commissioner Osenowski. >> No, I just want to say thank you um for the presentations. It was very helpful and um there was a lot of information that maybe I didn't think of prior to. So, I appreciate it. >>

070Commissioner Gonia, >> I have a lot of questions I didn't get to ask it. So I might it might involve some of those that have presented um during the original um reimagining Bristol public schools. Some of us were here when that plan was um put forward. I I do think at that point in time part of CO that there was a lot of thought that the state would um increase their funding for universal prek. And I wanted to know if we actually ever did get any increase in funding for universal prek um throughout these years and if it's gone up as much as we needed to kind of keep this concept alive. Um I don't know if that's readily available tonight, but if somebody could give that to me, that'd be good. I don't I

071don't need that answer in this right now, but I I would like to know that. Um, you mentioned that we're um putting out another feasibility study, but we won't have that data until next month. I feel that I need to know if there is room across the district, the feasibility data would be the best way to call that information out. And the reason why I'm saying this, I understand the options before us. My concern is that both of them cost money whether we redo the roof or we renovate as new and is there a way that the programming and I have other questions um could be supported in either the majority of it in two schools or the other schools. I've heard the um the cons against doing that. Um there are some other considerations

072and cons but we don't what the data we don't have yet is whether it would be possible or not and then you weigh that against the other reasons why there's not a preference for doing that. Okay. So, I just was wondering why are we moving this tonight and not waiting for that? Because if there's a third option, which is desegregate to the minimalist point possible, the prek program, do we even know if that's a possibility? I know some people don't like it. I know some people prefer it not to happen. I just need to know, is it possible? Um, so that was a question more for our board to think about about why we wouldn't wait to vote on this until after we have more data. Um, the NYAK certification, I had a couple questions

073about that if I could. Um, the NYAK certification, did we ever have NYAK certification for our preK prior to in one location? >> Courtney, are you able to answer that? or maybe um Amy Martino, >> I I am Yes, we did. >> So, I'm trying to understand why decentralizing it would prevent us from attaining NYX certification when we had Nyak certification when it was decentralized. >> Well, wouldn't necessarily prevent us. Um I I had kind of shared that there would be other additional considerations that we would need to think about. Um and we would need to think about that across multiple locations rather than in one place. >> So I have confidence in the staff that was able I mean I I think I think you guys are up for the challenge either way. I

074mean you've done it before. um you're you're proving that your program is NYAK, you know, certifiable no matter where it is. And I think that's a testament to the staff and, you know, your your ambition to making sure that we have high quality programming whether it's in one building or more than one building. I get the efficiencies, but I also think about um I also think about some of the other points about transitions, less transitions, more transitions. There was another question I had about least restrictive environment. I know you're defining a single school to be least restrictive environment but I know that in the department of education the guidance from special education that primarily the first tier least restrictive uh environment would be their child's neighborhood school and when we can't provide the least restrictive

075environment there where is the next place to provide least restrictive right >> is that re is that research He said if they're in their neighborhood school, it's the least rest. I've never heard that. Least restrictive environment is your neighborhood school. I thought least restricted revi environment meant the environment where the kid was in school and you prefer to do that because um I'm not sure if I should answer uh any of the questions, but I am taking note. Do would you like me to answer this one? >> Sure, Amy. >> So, uh Commissioner G. Antonio is right that when we look at like the least restrictive environment checklist, it does say have is the child being educated within their home school. With that said, it's with same age and grade peers. So, um, Edgewood would

076be considered their homeschool while they're with uh, preschool age children. Now, if there were other preschool age children in an elementary, then they have access to other preschool age children at their then home school. If we had one class per school, um that would not then meet the threshold. >> Does that make sense? >> When we had at least we had when we had the preks in the neighborhood schools um for some of the programming in some of the students, it was their least restrictive environment. So, we've been able to I was going to say, yes, you're absolutely correct because they have access to their preschool peers within that school. It wasn't as a result of them being in their home school. >> And I'm not arguing that edge doesn't provide least restrictive environment. I'm

077just for those that don't understand the terminology, there is some benefit for programming being provided in their neighborhood school because then they're with their peers from their neighborhood. They're growing up and they're going to the next school with them and then they're going to the next school. So if all things were normalized, time, money, funds, people, and you could create the best programming in every single local school, that would be ideal because then the student is in their neighborhood, they're not traveling as far and and all that. Um, so I just wanted a little bit of clarification on that. It doesn't have to be a single school for it to meet least restrictive environment because we would create a least restrictive environment. Um the uh I had so many questions here, but I'm just trying

078to skip to some of them. Um, is there currently an overrun cost at NEPs? And I So, right now the budget for Northeast is 102 million and we're sitting at about 89 million um for expenditures. So, we're actually under budget almost $12 million for that project. >> Contractor. Um, so it's the same architect. >> Same architect. >> Yeah. So, QAM is working is working was the the chosen architect design team for Edwood Preschool. How are we expected to maintain? >> We're holding strong. And how much how much is left of the U phases? >> So we are working on our final phase which is the FFN phase. We're looking to go to the state with that um in early November. So I'll be actually coming to the committee for um approvals for those uh like

079regulated approvals that I have to get for those and we'll be going to the state for those um in early November. and our change orders have been at a minimum and we have like I said we've been holding strong with the eight we 89 million is is where we're at about that time. >> Is there anticipation that there savings in that project that could be then leveraged for either of these projects? >> I I will look on the bright side of this. I don't see anything that would push us up to $102 million. So I can um 99.9% guarantee that we will be able to give some of that money back. >> Um another thank you. I think we can think if um the legislation that you shared with us, Cher is that perspective legislation

080or that's current legislation something that we can apply for right now. Have we applied for it? And when >> that for you? >> Okay. Sorry, I didn't know that was your question. Well, I I could give you an answer, but I would prefer to have Terry give me the answer. >> Are we talking about the 15% special ed >> 15% that you don't want to promise? >> So, I definitely don't want to promise that it's something that was written in 2025 and we did get approved for this project prior to. So, it is going to have to go into special legislation and there's some gray area in it still that we're not sure how much if any of the school is going to be eligible. So they're they're not very specific about um what the

081special education is. So it it um so it would be like our lead classrooms are self-contained. I believe the lead is self-contained. So the self-contained classrooms would be eligible. I'm not sure how much of the um classrooms would be eligible. So we are still doing research on that and I am hopeful that I will be able to come back with good news but I just didn't want to oversell that. >> Okay. So for for our perspective I think it's best that we focus on the 84% and not the 99% potential because >> that's Tara's recommendation. Yeah. >> The best news about this is that you have to have fully special ed and you have to have classrooms that are not fully specialed. And so we have both. So there's no promises, but when I read

082the legislation, and you should read the everyone should read the legislation. And when you look at the building that we're applying for, >> we're a unicorn. >> Do we have a um do we have a legal opinion on the status of the legislation right now as to whether or not >> there aren't any because it hasn't been put out in an RFP yet. So there is no way to apply yet. So you can't have a legal opinion until there is a process. >> So how many times do we think that they the legislation the legislators have approved this kind of funding for this level of learning? Because what what I'm a little bit uncertain about and only just reading what I saw presented here tonight is that the focus may be on more K through

08312 requirements and not our prek environments because we we we must deliver for our identified learners in preK3 and preK4 but we um are not mandated to uh provide full day prek for every prek3 and prek4 student in the entire district but we have to provide a um a peer type style program for the ones that we must provide both for so we do need both I'm just worried that the legis legislation would restrict it from um prek special education classrooms. I just don't know because and I'm I'm just proposing and you don't know either because finalized so I just wouldn't want to rely on that. Um, is there a cost for renovate when if we go to the renovate as new? Is there a cost for um where the kids go during the whole

084timeline is renovate as new? Like what is the buildout plan? How many years? >> So, under the renovate is new um schedule, it was we were able to reel the schedule in and and be able to get those kids into that uh Edgewood in 27. So, we already are slated to stay at Giamati for the remainder of this year and next year, which is at a cost. Um, but the the intent is to um stay on schedule, which would require a vote, and move it forward as a renovation and then we would be able to get in there on um for August the 27. >> So, literally less than two years, you're going to do a build as new project on Edgewood. >> Well, it's a renovate as new. So, we would go in and

085gut the building and renovate it, which is a little bit faster than going from the ground up. Do you have many more questions because we're going to move through? >> Oh, wait. Yeah, some people can ask. >> Well, no, we're just going to each one per commissioner and then we're moving down because we want to get we still have executive session and many other things. So, if you have more questions, we could do it. I'm just wondering how many more. Well, I have four pages worth. So, I think maybe >> are there questions that you need tonight before you vote or are there questions here that you can send and we can get you the answers to that are because you want to know, but they don't have impact the vote. >> Yeah, I think

086they impact the vote. Um I, you know, I don't want to take up all of the time. I think a discussion like this, to be honest, uh needs to have thorough questions answered. And I don't understand why we'd only let commissioners talk once. Um, you know, we still don't have all the data that we're asking for that's coming in next month. I think it's shortsighted to make a vote tonight without the final feasibility study data. That alone, period. I mean, I have other questions to ask because if the information there was a lot of information to present to us, so there should have been an expectation that there'd be a lot of questions. >> Okay. But I I'll >> No, I I would like you to finish answer ask all of the questions you need

087to ask. I was just wondering if we were close to where we needed to be with answering questions and if there were any that we could provide to you because we did have a vote last week and so if there was more information that needed to be provided, we would have been happy to provide it before the meeting. >> Yeah. I don't need to share publicly why I wasn't here last week, but I did share it with with you and and I that wasn't possible. No, I mean since the vote like if like we could have provided things to anyone that anyone, you know, we we are very open. Anyone has questions between meetings, we'd be happy to provide the information, but please continue asking questions. >> Okay. So the um about it being a

088destination school, the some of the um and this might be for Miss Martine um the renovate or um yeah, renovate is new is on the existing footprint. You're saying you have some capacity to absorb the current weight list that we have in the existing building at Ed, but not where you are at um GMI because you're restricting the space there. If you're planning on staying at Giamati for the two years that you're going to renovate as new, how are you going to accommodate those that are either weight listed weight listed or mandatory to be in this program across the district if you also don't have room at GMI? >> How does this how does this inform your decision to vote on the project, Kristen? because I want to know what the cost and how the

089programming is going to be managed and what the plan is during the construction phase for maintaining the programming across the district if we choose to renovate a new because the kids can't be in that building >> regardless of which renovation plan we go with uh Mr. Fesco, regardless, are we in a 2-year GMAT plan? >> The plan was for two years at GMA that this alteration or renovation. Do you have the space to absorb those that require the program over the next two years if you only are staying in Giamati or will we have to provide some of that mandated programming in our other schools because we don't have the room in GMAT? I think in a perfect world we'd have the October 1st data today but we don't. So right this minute what we

090have is GMAT and if after October 1st we have space and we have need then that plan B becomes available. But for today what we know is the feasibility study that goes through 30 uh 2032 and until October one data comes out that's what we have but we have to move forward with a plan. If I may think the chair has had a question to ask and this is for the people that might be watching too. What are the goal? This is really for the for the people that might be watching. What are the goals or what are we looking to get out of the feasibility study? Um >> if you could answer that for the for the people watching. >> Okay. And after that we're going to stick to the let's just go through

091one commission at a time but the feasibility study needs the enrollment data as of October 1st. So, we are highly mobile and I don't know if you remember, but last year we we had 100 students move into district within the month of September and close to 90% of them qualified for special education. And so, our ability to know how many classrooms we need is not feasible until October 1. That's the data the state uses to determine where we are as a district in class size. After October one, it doesn't show up. It doesn't count. So, until October one, we don't have the data. And we always knew phase 2 would depend on October one of this year's numbers for enrollment. So, until we get those, we don't know. >> So, there's no way to project

092where we might be. >> We we have the projection. It's 1.5% higher until 2031. So the projection that was given to us by SLAM, who is the firm that did phase one is what we're using today, and they'll give us phase two after October 1. it through the chair just on the enrollment point that you've made. Um, >> yes, we do fluctuate, but I do want to remind people that we did receive an enrollment number during our budget season as of February 1st. That number was 8,084 students and that actually exceeded the target capacity number that we used when we looked at three different options for this particular uh phase 2. And so I know that people are skirting around and asking about a feasibility study, but we do have an idea of where we

093have been at as a district. And when we look at this particular item for phase two, even if we lost 100 kids between now and 5 years from now, that really doesn't change the outcome and how we've actually made decisions >> in the in the past. We looked at this particular data. We I mean again this this was all studied in a very comprehensive manner looking at each school looking at the target capacity looking at the functional um percentage which is a percentage of total seats that you utilize to develop your utilization numbers. So again it if you look at I mean you're you're showing a slide here. I don't know if everyone's looking at it but >> I'm yeah I'm showing you the slide because the high model which was uh the first bullet

094was projected and and actually recommended to us which says by 203132 we'd be at 7,885 and you're saying the February numbers >> that's exactly my point is that we are asking for a revised feasibility study to tell us enrollment numbers when as of February 1st 2025 we are already above the high model that we used to make this decision to enter into phase two. That's my point is that it seems that there's every excuse on the table not to do this and there was the same last week except the facts are even more in favor than they were when we looked at this in 21 and 23. >> Thank you. So, we're going to move on. Uh, Commissioner Danton, do you have any more questions? Just to verifi um just to um verify that if

095the renovate is new as the existing footprint there is some space there will be some space there for the students but not enough space to expand programming. >> We couldn't know that until October 1st. But even um when I think about like the the question the slide that you put up where there was questions about whether or not we would attract um other students from other communities or >> I didn't have a slide on that. >> No, I'm um there was the Facebook whatever question. >> Oh, that was um Amy Martino. I didn't talk about Facebook. >> Okay. So Amy, um, being able to provide that for a destination school would still only be whatever room we had left for prek enrollment only. Right? This, you're not saying that you would put other programs in

096Edgewood, other special education programs in Edgewood that were beyond what's being offered for our preK three and four students that need those programs. Correct. >> Through the chair. Yes. Okay. Um, no, you're correct. We would not be having any other program outfitted in the preschool. The challenge is is, you know, we have a number of school readiness seats um of students on the waiting list in order for us to create new classrooms. We need the ability for the room. So, we can't take the out of tuition, out of district tuition students. We can't create new classrooms, etc. Now, do we have wiggle room to include more students in our existing classrooms? Yes. Do we have a little bit of wiggle room? Yes, we do. So, we would never ever get to the point that we

097would not be able to service the students who require that. We just couldn't expand to really support all of our school readiness nor any out of district requests. I just thought that maybe there was some confusion that when we say a specialized special education school that it wasn't for any of our other programs in district that we do for K through 12. This would only be for those prek pro programs. >> Yes. Thank you for clarifying. Yes, only preschool. Thank you, >> Miss Martino. I'm sorry. >> Oh, wait. Next we have Commissioner Van Gorder. >> I just had one question. >> Well, well, we're we're sorry, Ross. I'm sorry. We moved. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Commissioner Gant Antonio. This were a lot of um questions that I had had. Um I guess the only

098other followup is with the Southside school HVAC system. So, is that repair no longer needed? Two and a half million dollar. >> It's a reimbursement that we received, but Tara can explain it. >> That project was done um I think it was completed about three years ago now. So, after we had done the project, there was an HVAC IAQ state grant that had come through. Um we had applied for it the first round. We didn't get it. we applied for for the second round and we were just approved this past um June of 2024 and there's an approximate reimbursement of 2.7 million. So I don't know if any of you remember but I had come back to the committee we kind of did some back backlogging um and I had come back to the committee

099and we had to treat it as if it was a a state project versus just a general funds or a CIP project. Um, so we had gone through all of our steps that we had to do with all of the committees and then brought it to the state and now the application for payment has been sent to the state. So it's up there waiting for reimbursement from them. >> So we haven't received the reimbursement. >> The reimbursement has not been received yet. It was just granted to us that we were able to uh that we were able to receive it and apply for it as in June of last year. So we I the paperwork was finalized that I believe it was April of this year. So that reimbursement is guaranteed to us of >>

100So there's an approximate reimbursement of about $2.7 million that we're waiting on. Yes. So we have the state um letter approving that with the amount that with the state grant amount allotted >> and we can take take that and move it into another project. It's a reimbursement. >> It is a reimbursement for that Southside project. And the way that this project was um originally approved through the city council and joint board was assuming that $2.5 million was going to offset some costs >> for Edgewood specific. >> Targeted approved. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> So it's targeted. So, well, it was when we were approved when the Edgewood Prepay project went through, that was how the funding was approved over at the city side with that um strategic financing um was that $2.5 million from the

101Southside HVAC grant was going to be used specific for this project. And two, I guess my only other comment would be uh as I mentioned at our September 10th meeting, uh I would have liked to have the feasibility study prior to this, it's only a couple weeks away would have been helpful. This meeting's been informative um and I appreciate thorough detail that we were given. >> Thank you. Uh, next we have Commissioner Simmons B. Well, I really appreciate um all of the thoughtful points made tonight. It certainly helped expand my thinking. Um, it that didn't change my position. Uh I I have personal experience with that program as it was when my uh son was there and having all the resources was allocated one specific school um I think supported his growth assisted him with

102transitioning um more successfully into kindergarten. I had opportunities to connect with all of the amazing staff at one place. Um it I think it was really pivotal for the preparation and closing the gap that I saw in my son. So I do have that um anecdotal information to share. Some of the other concerns for me are um there are collateral consequences to moving these resources throughout the district that is sort of hard for me to mitigate this potential cost savings of not bringing our resources to to their full renovation. So, I just have a concern that um we're looking at this nebulous cost savings that really isn't there and we have to consider the impacts to the students um if we don't invest the whole um the full support into the into this conversation tonight.

103The other thing I'm going towards and I'm debating whether or not I want to say this, so I think I'm just going to say it. When we met with mayor's office some time ago, there was conversation about how as a district we could bring uh revenue into the district, we thought about ways to bring um money into the district essentially. And I think going back to what Dr. Martino said to what said, how we do have an opportunity to expand and bring in enrollment and to commissioner Anderson's point about what could we do to bring more of our students more of our students in the district. Um, I really that resonates with me and I think if there's a way for us to not have to send our students out, I keep as many students

104as possible in but also be this um north star where outside districts are looking to us and want to bring our bring their students the programs that we have. Um, that that is a win-win. So looking at how do we maximize this opportunity for funding support um that has not been available based on what Fusco and others have said that this is a really unique opportunity. How do we become um a a district that realizes opportunities um for funding support, but also how do we keep our students, our highest need students, some of our most vulnerable students in one place, but all of the resources are centralized? Um instead of thinking about potential I I'm worried about the impacts to other to our other schools um when we don't really know how uh it will

105play out in October 1st. I understand that that's that crisis freeze and we get to look at that those numbers and enrollment possibilities, but based on um our our current student count um the projected enrollment already exceeds what the studies were projecting. I just I just worry that miss an opportunity. Commissioner Carlson. Thank you. >> Okay. I want to say that u when the original proposal was brought forward to create a preschool out of Edgewood, I was against it. I had reasons to believe that it was a silly idea. Again, I was against it. Um, talking to some parents and some of the professionals here, I now see that that was the right move. It's absolutely the right move. It's been a benefit for this for the kids of this city. um in dealing with

106the um the problems that we ran into with the leaky roof and the building falling apart, which has been again the city has throughout my experience dealing with the city. We're this poor when it comes to handling maintenance and we let go and it's been a problem forever. When I first got on the city council, the first thing we had to deal with was doubling up road repairs because previous administrations had decided we can't afford to put tar down on the road, so we're going to put that off. and they put it off. And sure enough, when it came round time to deal with, hey, we've got to fix our roads, make sure the potholes are all done, price of asphalt had doubled. It really cost the city money. Well, we now have a school

107which again, the 1985 roof cost us dearly, was a disaster. We have to maintain our buildings. We have to do the best. Our facilities have to be up to snuff. Otherwise, they fall apart and the taxpayers get hurt in the long run, which is what happened here. This roof problem could have been solved for $700,000 eight or 10 years ago. We're now at $34 million or $30 million, whatever it's going to be. We have got to put our efforts into making sure we have facilities that are up to snuff that work. We can't do half repairs, which is what we're at right now. We're at a repair the roof, do some of the stuff. In the meantime, stuff is going to break down and it's going to cost us a lot. With the reimbursements that

108we're looking at, it is not going to hurt the taxpayers of the city. Eventually, it's not even actually going to hurt the taxpayer of the state because we're always going to be coming back looking for money from the state. These repairs have to be done. Now, what's our reimbursement rate now? We can choose. We can leave it where it is. 70% every million dollar cost overruns costing us $300,000. In this case, we're looking at 85% reimbursement. The initial cost to the city is the same and less. We are going to save money. We need to maintain our facilities. The program as it is, again, I don't have I have one grandchild in the school system. Um, what I'm hearing from the people involved in this program is it works. And that's what I want to

109see happen. I want to see this building up to snuff. Nice new rebuilt and basically a little gem. I think we will do well. >> Thank you. Online I have uh Commissioner Fimons Bula. >> Thank you, Chair Pon. Can you guys hear me? Okay. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, I just want to say thank you for all of the information tonight. Um, I really appreciate the presentation. Uh, my position honestly remains consistent with my position from our last meeting. Um, I'm in so in support of pursuing the renovation. I believe that in making this decision, it's it's essential, honestly, it's it's critical to prioritize the long-term sustainable solutions for all of our students. Um, so my position remains the same. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Tagriello. >> Thank you. Um, I appreciate everyone's comments and

110I I do want to say, you know, I I do appreciate when thorough questions are asked. Um, I I think I struggle when um people come to meetings and make claims that perhaps they don't have enough information or information isn't made available to them. Um because just from talking about the mere enrollment data and looking at presentations that were given in the past, including a presentation when I wasn't even on the board, um they're all available online. They're available in our emails. this information isn't uh not out there and we do have snippets of information since adopting this plan in 2021 and being presented it and current information as we have gone along. So it the fact is the information is readily available and can be asked for if it can't be found. Um, I

111do like the word nebulous that was used earlier by I think it was Commissioner Piro Simmons and I think the two words tonight are nebulous and tenuous and that comes to the question on enrollment data and needing another study. The feasibility study is for the board to take the next steps to decide how it will go about its redistricting plan. not there to decide whether we are going to scrap a prek program that we promise to offer in this district. And I do think that, you know, Commissioner Carlson said that when he was first given the information about this plan, he opposed it. And so did I. It was one of the first votes that I took which um was in opposition to this. But when the board elects to go down a path as

112part of its strategic plan and as part of rebuilding its infrastructure, I believe as a commissioner, real leaders follow through. Not following through, tanking this building, not voting in favor to continue it when even this own the city's own building committee unanimously agreed to do this. I think that is the absence of leadership. And you know there were there were a couple comments made um with respect to u the presentation that was made regarding decentralization. Um one of those comments was about accreditation. And yes, I do think our staff is capable of accrediting programs if we had to decentralize. But I'm also listening to them when they say that that is not the best option forward. I'm listening to the professional staff who tell us that that centralizing this program is what is best for

113kids. It is what is best for the district. And the word purposeful was used more than once because it was purposeful to do this. Um, and so I I I will end with this because I I the fact that we're we didn't get this uh voted on last week the right way uh was very disappointing and shocking. And I I have to say the the irony is not lost on me here. A a few months ago or not that long ago, I should say, city leadership came to a board meeting and threatened to rip away the Edgewood funding. Subsequent to that, we had to slash our budget, lay off or repurpose quite a few staff members that have impacted us. And then all of the sudden there is this reversal of position on Edgewood that

114has been thoughtfully provided to us over a period of a few years. So I I I the irony is not lost on me and I don't think it's lost on a lot of people who are listening tonight. So I support this project. I look forward to voting in the affirmative. And that concludes my comments. Thank you. >> Thank you. And I don't have much to say. The one thing I will say that I learned tonight that I wasn't aware of was that I knew that if we didn't move forward with this program, this project, we would have to give back uh the money that the city had allocated to us to renovate the building. I mean, that was obvious, but I didn't know that the 2.5 billion that was reimbursed from HVAC is already with

115the city and that if we didn't do the project that we would have to give the money back to the city. I thought it was state reimburseable funding. So, learning that makes me understand that this decision or anyone's decision to get rid of the building would mean $5.8 million. And so it makes sense why anybody who wanted $5.8 million back would be fighting so hard. But we need roofs on multiple buildings and we need our preschool to be operating for our most vulnerable students. That's all I will say and I will take a roll call vote. Commissioner Anderson. We already did discussion. We're just doing yes or no at this point. >> Say yes. >> Thank you. Commissioner Ozenowski. >> Yes. >> Commissioner G Antonio. >> Yes. >> Commissioner Van Gorder. >> Yes. >> Amay.

116Yes. >> Yes. >> And >> yes. >> Commissioner Fitz Simons Bula. >> Yes. and Commissioner Tagriello. >> Yes. >> The vote passes unanimously. Thank you. >> Next item on the agenda. Uh we have the superintendent's discussion on the role of the student representatives. If if are we all okay to just go right into this or do people need a two-minute break? Okay. >> I like a break. Wait everybody, we're going to take a five minute break for those who need to leave and those who need to use the bathroom. Uh we will be right back. >> Are we going to room 36 or are we staying? >> Well, no, we have to do this part here and then we'll go. So, okay. >> Can we go upstairs then if you want? >> I Well, I

117think we're going to take a five minute break and then we'll come right back. Thank you. It's been >> a long day. Yeah. Okay, five minute break is over and now we are back and we are moving into superintendent discussion on role of student representatives. >> Thank you chair ponds. Given the lateness of the hour, I will um try to be as brief as possible, but I did want to um alert the board that it is the time of the year where we send out the um applications for the junior um juniors to apply to become board of education student representatives. Next slide. We're actually a little bit behind because usually we have the juniors um present at the October board meeting, but I wanted to give um you all an opportunity. I wanted to

118review the eligibility requirements and the timeline with you um to give you an opportunity to provide some feedback before um I send the application out to the schools. I know there were some questions last year. Obviously, it was my first year doing it and I know that I got a couple of phone calls from a couple of commissioners, but just some questions about the process. So, um I wanted to give you an opportunity to share any feedback, any questions. Commissioner Simmons, I know that you've been um working on some ideas with Cave and having some conversations with the high school principles about how maybe we could change the process. Um, our timeline is a little off um because we have to get the applications out now, but um there might be an opportunity uh at

119policy, maybe bringing some of our ideas to policy and then maybe next year at this time we'll have a more um inclusive process. So any questions, feedback on eligibility requirements? Anything anyone would like to share? current um the current health requirements as as they exist now in the public schools. >> Yes, this is taken um verbatim from last year's application and my understanding is that it's been um this way for a number of years. I just had one question that last bullet to monthly meetings for is that people like it's been different >> open to suggestions. So >> very open to suggestions. It's the way it's been worded, but I'm open to the way that they're not either that they >> the last bullet. We've never had them come to subcommittee, but this just doesn't

120man that mandate them to have to come. Right. So, >> but it doesn't preclude that if they want. Right. >> Right. >> Um except for I think um it says as a because there's some some committees that it would not do for >> Yeah. >> And we're working with um K. They are they have some pilot programs going in Artford. Um, we're not sure how many districts. You were working more with Joe than I was. >> There are a few districts where they're actively involved. Harvard is one of the the uh main districts because of how expansive their program is. They have their student representatives actually sitting at the door table with the superintendent. Um, it's just a very inclusive process. Um, and it's it's probably um a very different process than you would see

121in most districts. So, that's why it's maybe most notable. Um, and we've had some conversations just within the community partnerships and also sort of at the board table at large um just about how we wanted possibly student representatives to uh to be included in having a voice. We talked a little bit about nothing about us without us. Um and looked at what was happening nationally. Um and we just had some conversations. It just opened up conversation about how um we want to empower student representatives and how it might align with um district mission values. >> And it doesn't change the bylaws. They if even if we allowed them to vote at a board meeting, it wouldn't be a vote that counted in our one of nine. it would just be a vote that informed our

122vote. So if we said, you know, in Hartford their pilot allows the student representatives to vote before the board, uh it doesn't count, but it informs the board. So the board is fully aware of how the students feel about things. And so with that, board members still get to make their decision, but they have that information. And um when we met with different with with the last cohort, they were really excited about the opportunity to have a voice. Um we talked a lot about how all the rules in their school still apply. Their principles are still in charge. They wouldn't have any kind of authority to change policy within their own school, but they could they could have a voice at our table. we could listen to their opinions on the things that we were

123doing and then ultimately we would take or leave their feedback each one of us and still have the same authority that the board uh in their elected role has. But it was just a way to be closer to the pulse of what's happening in each of in in each of the high schools and not just get the they won the football game, right? because we could read that in a new newsletter. But they really wanted to tell us more than who won the football game. They wanted to tell us about what's going well, what's not going well, and how they think things should change. And I'm here for that. Like I think we're not as we're not we are not strong if we don't know what our kids are thinking, how it's working for them.

124And so any opportunity that we can provide to strengthen that process to have student voice in this process, I'm for it. >> Just so the other >> this is just anformational because this is an operational decision. So, this isn't a decision of ours uh by vote, but um the superintendent just really wanted to engage us in the discussion and how she was thinking about changing things and you know hear your feedback if you were in support or not uh so that she can move forward with the process. >> So, are you giving us a presentation about what you're changing? It's um it's really what's currently in the application and if you see anything that you think we might want to consider change I can say that on this particular side of the eligibility requirements I

125have been giving some thought about um the B+ average and I think that part of that is because of conversations I've had um with the two principles about superintendent an advisory council and how do we get feedback from students who are not the highest achieving always attending school regularly who are engaged and feel connected to the school. Do we maybe want input or hear from students who may not be as engaged? >> So my my thought I I like that um I like that we're broadening the horizon of the potential candidates. I could think of a couple other subsets of demographics of students that would fit there. Um I guess just off the top of my head right now thinking about um a like a and this I'm just using this word because it just

126popped in my head. It's not an official term. I'm not you know I just for lack of being able to describe it any other way instead of maybe two student reps. What about a youth advisory? So that it's not just two, it's a small uh group of students that um you know represent a broader demographic at the high school level which would include um you know both the or the eligibility that we had previously uh reinforced plus some different parts of that eligibility like you mentioned with the with the grades and maybe some other um you know uh special populations representation in there as Well, um because their perception about what is happening in the school might be very different than a top diploma who has a lot of access to a lot of other

127things. So maybe they brought it even more into like a youth advisory council instead of just two representatives from the high school and they collectively can put together their feedback on on key issues that we would ask them to focus on. Maybe they don't have to focus on every issue we focus on. you know, >> you do have some form of that at both of the schools. And I think, you know, there's an opportunity. What might be really useful is if you, you know, if everyone who has feedback about this wants to send it to Superintendent White and then she can, you know, share it with the two principles and provide feedback on what exists and uh, you know, we can have input on how this all moves forward. Um, I only know that that

128exists because I think in one of the earliest meetings when we met with the senior representatives last year, they were talking about how they meet with the student uh leaders of each of the classes and they have a leadership like meeting once a month and they call it something different at each school. I'm going to murder it if I try to say it. So, I I don't want to even attempt, but I think if you um I like the idea and I think it's amazing to engage as many of our kids as we can. So, I think maybe if everyone could agree to maybe send something by midweek next week. Um and we'll share uh superintendent way can share with principles, get some feedback and come back out with maybe a tentative plan for feedback.

129Um and then she can move forward. Does that sound good? Can I just do a followup quick what Yeah, Antonio was mentioning to your I think to your point that sort of vision. um the student representatives at least the way that we receive the information from the principles speaking representatives that idea of their voice being representative of like the entire big uh number of students at each school is to expand and to try to get as many um students diversity and like what's really happening at the school and I mean I maybe we could even propose to calling something by advisory council or student advisory council or something to show that the student representatives are are being advised maybe they don't fit into the student council or the whether the clubs are there but is

130there a way to on a regular basis get that have that feedback mechanism try to reach all students and where are the gaps what students might be missing I think that's also part of why that B+ average could be a little restrictive. Um, you're limiting students who may be really great voices for the students at large. Um, so that idea of advisory, I like that word because it it integrates like we're being advised by the kids who are living it every day, not just the ones who have or right. So we're missing some some students. We even talked about like how could we tier it where you've got your student representatives and maybe there are those subsets and those subsets um advisory council, student council, whatever are reporting certain things to the student representatives and

131those are the things that we hear about potentially monthly. Like it's great to hear about the the gains from them. That's really great. That's a good thing. But are we being advised really in any way? and how is that information informing us that we make these really good decisions for the people that serve. So yeah, I think that's that's okay. So next item on the agenda is to vote vote to convene into executive session for the purpose of discussing of a discussion concerning the superintendent's evaluation and goal setting. I have a motion. >> Second. Motions have been made and seconded. All in favor? >> I I um uh Commissioner Ponds, I just wasn't able to hear who made the motion. >> Oh. Um Commissioner Carlson and then >> second >> Russ seconded it. We all

132voted yes. And do you want us to call you on our phone if you want to like hear like be a part of it? >> Yes, please. >> Okay, we'll call you. >> Thank you.