Board of Education Public Hearing followed by Budget Workshop #2 - March 26, 2025

001e for e e e now just test test got that's not for for good evening and calling this public hearing to order um it is Wednesday today's date is March the 26th thank you so very much and glad that we are here but let us first begin with a roll call please Charlotte Mr gagnan present Mr Goldman here Dr Harris here miss maramon here Mrs nazarella Dr Thomas farason here Mrs yagaloff present thank you very much so once again this is our public hearing this is an opportunity to hear from you your thoughts your questions your suggestions regarding the proposed budget for the school year 2025 2026 so again this public hearing in is with respect to the proposed school budget we very much look forward to hearing your thoughts your questions your suggestions and

002your concerns each individual is allowed 3 minutes to speak we ask when you go to the podium to please share your name and your town of residence please also be mindful of Charlotte who will hold up a yellow card when you have one minute remaining in your time and when your time is expired you will see a red card we ask for you please to conclude your sentence and respectfully take your seat at that time be mindful that we are attentively listening to what is being shared however it is policy that we do not respond to comments as they are being made we do have a list here and it's have to say it's good to see a full house here and so with that we have a list here I will start by those

003who have signed up on the list and once we've gone through the list we'll open it up to anyone who may not have had an opportunity to sign up let us first begin with Annabel Brooks and I will say as Annabelle comes to the podium any names that I may mispronounce please I do to apologize in advance hi my name is Annabelle and I'm here to speak about the proposed budget cuts for the quest program I have been a quest student for 5 years and it is my favorite part of my school day it has always been a place for creativity and a safe place to be yourself a big part of this has been the teachers my question teachers Miss Hadlock and Mr Lee have been supportive and kind throughout my years in the

004quest program they make time to focus on individual students and have always made me feel like my ideas and feelings matter they also give students the opportunity to participate in special programs like Odyssey of the mind and National History Day Mr Lee and Miss Hadlock even put in many hours after school to work individually with students on their Quest projects just last weekend I participated in Regional History Day Mr Lee was there the entire day to support students and help out six SED Quest students got first and second place in their categories and will be moving on to the state competition and we couldn't have done it without Mr Lee Quest teachers are already spread across 14 Schools and by cutting the quest program budget to only eight full-time employees they will be stretched even

005thinner this will mean that amazing teachers like Miss Hadlock and Mr Lee will have less time and resources to continue the wonderful work they do making sure each student has a place to feel supportive and be created thank you next we have Lizzie Brooks hi uh I'm Lizzie Brooks I live in West Hartford and as a parent and an educator I'm here to Advocate strong against the reduction of Elementary teaching positions proposed in the budget for next school year while these cuts are spread across the district I want to specifically address how they will impact our most vulnerable students and compromise their access to the high quality education the district promises to provide I am speaking about the the current third grade at Charter Oak there are currently four sections of up to 19 students

006and next year the proposal is to condense those four sections into three sections of up to 25 students an increase of nearly onethird of the current class size this dramatic increase in class size would have negative consequences in any educational environment but this would be especially detrimental for this particular group of students according to assessment data the current thirdd grade has sadly not made the same academic gains as other grade levels at the school with a significantly higher number of students who are below grade level in both reading and math in addition to the higher level of academic need this is also the grade of students who experienced a tragic and traumatic loss of one of their classmates in kindergarten which has undoubtedly exacerbated their social and emotional needs as well just a few months

007ago principal Rivera shared the school's plan to provide extra support and intervention for this grade which continues to struggle this was before we learned about the current budget proposal significantly increasing their class sizes will make it far more difficult for their fourth grade teachers to address the high level of student need and will set these students up for failure and set teachers up for Burnout in the proposed budget the school board takes pride in demonstrating excellent educational outcomes despite spending less per student than most other towns in Connecticut and yet there is evidence that not all of our students are achieving these outcomes and the board is proposing cutting funds precisely where they are needed most this is not Equitable our students need more and they deserve better thank you next we have Steph damello

008hi my name is Stephanie dominello and I live in West Harford I have three CH three children at Dey this year and my fourth child will be entering kindergarten next year thank you for providing this opportunity to voice our concerns over the proposed budget I am here to Advocate on behalf of our amazing West Harford Elementary School teachers I worry that the proposed budget will overburden our teachers due to large class sizes cuts to specialed resource teacher positions and cuts to enrichment programs in the classroom I'd like to say thank you Mr vus for your email on class sizes um I think you'll find my comments are still relevant at Duffy we once again have the highest class size average in the district at 22 students per class Duffy will have 16 more students next

009year with one less class section districtwide class sizes will be as high as 27 students per class in several schools currently Duffy Morley Webster Hill and whing Lane all have class sizes of 25 to 26 students per class as you make considerations for the budget I wonder have you visited any of these classrooms have you spoken to the teachers and students in these classes to hear about the challenges that they face every day at the first budget Workshop meeting a board member asked what the district guidelines were for class sizes in neighboring towns I was only able to find the class siiz guidelines for Farmington but they use a teacher to student ratio of 1 to 19.5 to create class sizes for grades K to four and 1 to 20 for grades 5 to six

010in West Harford we use 1 to 23 for for grades K to3 and 1 to 27 for grades four to 5 I also took a quick look at class siiz data in Avon Farmington Simsbury and Bloomfield at the elementary level in these four districts the largest class size was 25 students per class in Simsbury in just one class I worry that large class sizes will overburden our West Harford classroom teachers while I'm glad to see additional positions for the IIA program in town I am disappointed to see that this comes at the expense of our elementary specialed resource teachers where there will be two positions cut the specialed resource teachers support both students with accommodation ations and their regular Ed teachers I worry that these cuts to special ed will overburden our classroom teachers similarly

011I'm disappointed to see cuts to our Quest enrichment program our Quest teachers provide enrichment to the regular classrooms and provide accelerated learning to our gifted students in the first budget Workshop it was explained that the cut quests were simply efficiencies in scheduling that will provide savings which means that Quest teachers will no longer provide enrichment to the regular classrooms instead and I quote teachers will be given the tools to provide enrichment themselves I worry that these cuts to enrichment programs will overburden our wonderful classroom teachers I know that you have many factors to consider when creating and improving the budget I feel that investing in smaller class sizes will Pro will with proper teacher support in place is most beneficial to our school Community thank you thank you next we have Sonia last initial C

012thank you it's Sonia chadri I can barely say it um thank you for this opportunity to speak and I'm very grateful for all the Educators in the room I you truly have my heartfelt appreciation for your jobs and service and continuing it during this difficult time um I don't know anything about education I don't want to my head is full um but the the end result I can tell is amazing um my son is also enjoying the quest program um and even my daughter who is not yet in fourth grade to enjoy the program she enjoyed it by Mrs Hadlock visiting the classrooms providing early differentiation Mrs Highland meeting with Mrs Hadlock to get the resources to provide that early differentiation and that has meant the world to us um they also received excellent education

013at bror so I have the experience of the multiple West Harford schools being amazing and they do this despite the demands on them uh by many and even a majority of kids needing Extra Care and individualized plans which are also important um and I know they provide this outcome by pouring everything they have into it and maybe some things they don't have to spare um so I don't know about education but I do know about medicine and I know about constantly being asked to do more with less and expecting better outcomes and asking the impossible and I think that's what increasing the class sizes are doing and also reallocating the quest teachers time and I know about the moral injury that accompanies that and a shortage of skilled Workforce that is impossible to uh produce

014once it is lost um and I love the saying an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure it is more efficient to keep and increase the budget um and our staff rather than losing the workforce or hiring temporary staff or having kids not reach their full potential and maybe even needing more services that are very costly because the Baseline service is not able to be provided and the attention they're able to receive has fallen due to asking Educators to do the impossible which they're already doing so again thank you for everything and thank you for your consideration thank you next we have Mary hope Rutherford hi my name is Mary hope Rutherford I live in West Hartford and first I'd just like to say thank you we're so lucky so let

015me just start with gratitude I love our schools having said that I'm here to protest the proposed budget cuts specifically as they apply to teacher reductions I'll start with what my son aliser told me which about Quest specifically he said I think quest is important because it gives those who think differently a break from the traditional school day Quest and math Quest are the two things I look most forward to during a school day Quest as we know is about Equity giving our kids an equal opportunity to learn and just as importantly an equal opportunity to love learning and love school by the end of third grade Alistair was mysteriously sick every Friday he was bored I would get a call from the nurse it was fresh out of covid we were being extra cautious

016which meant aler because he's good at figing illness came home sick every Friday uh that ended in fourth grade when he was able to really start engaging and and loving School the way he does as I said we've been really lucky so my daughter went through morly too thank you Mr clear um and I've stood here before to thank you about the First Rate social emotional education curriculum I continue to thank you for that these budget cuts make me worry that the tide is turning right when we need Connecticut we in Connecticut need to feel reassured that we will stick to our values remain strong and resist a federal anti-education tide these threats these Cuts threaten to threaten what make to sorry threaten what makes us us and it's not just Quest the proposed class

017sizes are pushing our teachers too hard I've already watched my son's remarkable fifth grade teacher burn herself out trying to provide the same Rich education for him in a class of 26 that she was able to provide to my daughter in a class of 21 please do not burden our incredible morally fifth grade teachers with outrageous class sizes the fif that same fifth grade would go up to 27 one of the biggest class sizes in the district and please don't stretch our ful Quest teachers any thinner thank you so much thank you next we have safia con and Grave I believe it's a Duo coming up but with respect to two individuals you each have three minutes hello my name is Sofia Khan my name is Grace and we are both sixth grade Quest students

018in West Hartford it has helped us we enjoy Quest deeply it has helped us improve in many aspects researching and putting the information into projects the first part of our speech will be said by the Amazing Grace I have been in quest since fifth grade I got in because of my art and creative writing skills and it helps me and other students Embrace their creativity and express themselves through ART writing building and Performing losing one teacher would massively affect the entire Quest program I look forward to Quest without it school would not be the same Quest also gives Stu the student freedom to choose what they want to do the project subject is not chosen for them leading them to make decisions for themselves unlike sometimes in classrooms Quest also lets students choose if they

019want to do art building performing or writing for any of their projects leading to total freedom freedom of choice Quest is amazing but having an amazing teacher makes Quest even better and without even one of the teachers work as a quest teacher kids will be sad and Quest will be less amazing and it would put a higher burden on the teachers thank you no sopia hello Quest is very important for me I have been in the quest program since 4th grade it has helped me learn think and do Quest is an accelerated program that accepts gifted students no matter their race wealth status or and or cultural background and I think that's great there's no discrimination in helping students learn not only does Quest build academic success it also improves social and emotional learning which

020may not seem as important but we use these skills in everyday life while I speaking to you all I feel nervous of course but I still was able to build up the courage to speak up Grace is my best friend because of those skills she's also a very good best friend because I forced her to do this with me like the good best friend I am I have a question for you all raise your hand if you ever had to do all the work in a group project quest Quest helps reduce that happening Quest teaches teamwork and peer collaboration and not making one student do all the work while the rest relax Quest is amazing I thoroughly enjoy it I have quests on Mondays and Tuesdays raise your hand if you absolutely despise Mondays I

021hate Mondays and who doesn't but you know what makes my Mondays way better Quest without it I feel like not getting out of bed in the morning it makes students more excited and motivated to go to school according to the budget cut we will be losing one class teacher some teachers would have to work at multiple schools Mr Lee is my class teacher already he works at two schools Sedwick and brayburn this would lead to teachers overworking and having to spend less time with their Quest Kids Quest teachers already work so hard they would not be able to juggle many classes without having to cut fun and important subjects and trips out of quest like helping projects and field trips and that concludes our speech I hope you learned how Quest is important to us

022and how losing one teacher would affect the delicate and perfect balance of quest thank you for your time thank you both next we have Jen Lori my name is Jennifer long and my children attend mle elementary school thank you for your time tonight morle is a small un air conditioned school with an IB program that is underresourced as a longtime room parent I've had a chance to spend time in the school and witness how the disruptive behaviors of this population has impacted the morale of students who have to have regular problematic and sometimes dangerous Behavior normalized the strength of morle is that it attempts to create a sense of community community and I fully appreciate and support the need for this program however it only takes a few students with significant behavioral needs to disrupt

023the learning of an entire class 27 students per class for our fifth graders in an IB School is unacceptable also it is just this year that Morley is finally integrating the science of reading into the curriculum and as a professor of reading and rhetoric for over 20 years the optics for me are that this integration is happening at a glacial pace and that the whole language approach is very much the default in everyday practice through the site word time spelling test that our kids still have to endure to the mountains of Just Right text that are not decodable these are just two examples of the practices which are the exact opposite of the science of reading your own State Department of education's office of Dyslexia and reading disabilities has been telling you for years that

024underprepared readers who do not have their dyslexia remediated by 9 years old will have lifelong fluency problems I share this because it's precisely the fourth and fifth grade teachers who are pulling the weight of integrating the science of reading at moley and they are the ones getting punished with these proposed giant class sizes it is profoundly unacceptable that in an IB School with many underprepared readers that you are having our students move into tight classrooms with 27 students when sister schools who do not have to Grapple with the IB programs get smaller class sizes I have a high performing fifth grader in a class of 25 at Morley she is highly intrinsically motivated to learn but she is miserable in her classroom she states that she can't hear herself think and that she feels miserable

025because of the crowding I can't imagine what will happen when my profoundly disabled third grader gets into a classroom of 27 please give morly students and teachers a break and provide them with class sizes comparable to the classes of the other schools in our district thank you thank you next we have Michelle Jay again please uh I apologize for not wanting to mispronounce anyone's name oh it's okay hi um my name is whoa I was going to make a joke but I won't do that um my name is Michelle janowitz and I am a resident of West Hartford um I'm a horrible public speaker so I'm G to make this really short um I really came to support my opposition to stretching teachers thin with the proposed budget and also cutting the quest program which

026my daughter who's in fourth grade at Morley takes advantage of um I I'm sad to know that next year in fifth grade she's going to have to be in a class of 27 and she's also facing a quest program that's already obviously stretch thin um this year her class size is pretty small I think it's under 20 and um she seems to be learning and growing and you know again I'm just worried what that's going to look like in fifth grade if she's in a class of 27 during a really critical time making that transition from elementary to Middle School um again I think everyone all the children that have spoke they've been so impressive and the adults before me um this is barely eloquent but I basically just wanted to come and show support

027that I'm in opposition of the cuts to the school schools see I told you I can't speak publicly I'm actually a writer so public speaking is not my jam sorry but I'm just here to support everyone thank you next we have John lions uh thank you John Lions West Hartford Connecticut I don't to give the street address huh I thought I'd give the street address but um anyway um I want I'm going to go off comments a little bit here because a couple of thoughts have popped in mind watching all these uh great speakers um I do want to take a moment to thank the administration and the unpaid volunteers of the Board of Education um these are unprecedented unprecedented times with the end of arpa funding uh wage increases incurred that were rightfully earned

028by Educators um and uh state budget shortfalls and I'm going to go off on a tangent on that in a second uh West Hartford is facing a budget shortfall likes of which we haven't seen in uh several years uh 6 8 10 years um talking about the state shortfall watching particularly the kids speak I mean I just think it's so cool all the parents are out here they're so passionate and I agree with everything they're saying my kids went through the West Harford school system and um we there were times when we fac similar concerns and I spoke before you know many generations ago uh bard of Ed uh with the same concerns um you have a voice and you're showing it tonight um but the ones that really pull up my heartstrings are the

029kids listening to the kids speak so I want to encourage all of the parents and the kids to write your state representatives write your Senator and write the governor they listen and they especially listen to the kids and ask them to help with this budget shortfall they're capable of doing it but you got to let them know now um it's a great way for the kids to learn and it's a great way to have your voice heard at the state level because we are I don't want to speak for the board I apologize the town is facing this a big part because of state cuts or or shortages in state spending when the money is possibly there um many communities oh I go off tangent one more time I spent today making some calls calling

030some friends around the state um and I ran into two towns I don't want to say the towns because I'm but where they are actually laying off not just not hiring vacancies but actually laying off non tenure teachers and laying off parents which killed me I mean that's just awful uh when you hear about peros getting laid off I have a dear friend of mine who was laid off from her job uh two weeks ago because of these cuts um so many communities are facing huge layoffs State funding shortfalls class size is nearing 30 kids per class even in grade school other communities and while I know things aren't ideal here in West Hartford I commend the administration and the board of ed for really working hard to try to do what they can to

031help this situation um and to the Board of Education I just want to further salute you for doing this as unpaid volunteers and solely for the betterment of our town I know this isn't easy and I know this is really rough this year um and my heart goes out to all of you guys um thank you for your time and effort in helping West Hartford uh be the the top rated Town it is and keep keep reaching out to our state senator our our uh our uh state legislator and and the governors everybody please that's the way we that's the way we can make progress on this thanks everyone thank you thank you next we have Harper Lynch and Cara Loveland another Duo hi my name is Cara and I live in West Hartford and

032go to Cedric middle school I have been in quest since fourth grade and participated in Odyssey of the Mind in fifth grade Quest gave me the most amazing experiences ever I do not know what I would do without Quest hi my name is Harper and I live in westart for and go to Cedric Middle School I've also been in quest since fourth grade along with being an OM World finalist in fifth grade Quest has been the most fun I've had through school in a long time and we're here to talk about what quest means to us raise your hand if you have ever wanted to put your head on on your desk or table in class and just fall asleep well Quest makes you want to wake up in the morning and no one is

033bored in quest because we are too busy brainstorming ideas Thinking Out Loud creating designs and building way more but Quest is more Quest is a place where everyone looks forward to everyone is a whole new person in quest Quest gave us an opportunity to go places where we would have never imagined like Iowa in a world of Endless Possibilities Quest taught us that when there are challenges you still push through and to do your best with what you have we understand that it may be necessary to cut parts of quest but for the students in quest it's like taking away a pot of gold or a hot glue guns some people may think that Quest is just another class where we just do a lot of extra projects but Quest is more Quest is that

034but Quest is also a place where ideas are born and where people learn to go we both went to Iowa with other Quest Kids Quest gave us the opportunity to get fifth in the world of an odyssey of the Mind project one competition but that was also gave us the opportunity to trade State pins with kids from around the world in the closing ceremony it felt like we won fifth in the Olympics Quest gave us so much so we want to give back Quest is more than anyone knows Quest is bigger than the universe Quest is probably what gets me out of bed in the morning my motive in the morning is Quest why did I eat that giant pite of Ben and Jerry's last night I don't know but at least I have Quest

035knth period what I'm trying to say is the quest has been so fun it would be so unfortunate that the kids that have that do quests can't have as much fun as we did because of budget cuffs that's why me and car will do anything to keep Quest even if that means um my bowl of ice cream at home is melting Quest is my life just this Monday I ran to the bus through the rain trying to keep my press Quest project dry I love quest Quest has taught me perseverance to keep going when things are hard and try my best I have been learning those things since before school but Quest has given me the real word opportunity of those things I have learned so much from Quest and so I will not give

036up on making sure I've Quest all of Middle School Quest makes me look forward to learning lab and I want to stay in quest in the quest room forever please think about this and understand Quest is more in simple words in our words Quest is our purpose in life and what we live for thank you both next we have Chris husband hi good evening uh thank you uh Chris husband from West Hartford uh just want to be get in front of you today to speak uh both in support of the quest program I have three children all morly a fifth grader a third grader and a second grader very fortunate our fifth graders currently enjoying the quest program and uh like the girls just said you know that I truly believe that is what gets

037him out of bed in the morning uh outside of maybe lunch in PE um so giving him that opportunity was met with uh Miss Hadlock uh at a minimum two days a week um to really kind of unlock his brain and how his brain operates is uh is really rewarding to see um it's something that we don't take likely lightly um like other parents have said you know there have been times in the past when it is difficult to get him kind of out of bed out of bed and get going and getting into the math Quest program here in fifth grade has been extremely rewarding you know for him and I think has really helped him grow in other parts of his learning that maybe not weren't necessarily Quest related but kind of unlocked

038his brain and frankly unlocked his energy so hearing that the enrichment programs which are mostly for the third and fourth graders which my third grader loves and the fact that that's brought into their classrooms and frankly brought in from maybe a face they're not as familiar with if they're not necessarily in the quest program I think is great exposure and also allows those kids to see things maybe they wouldn't think of and also frankly gives their regular teachers who are already as we can see by the classroom sizes really stretched gives them a breather um to allow uh the children of their classroom to be taught by someone else for just even just a few minutes with something that's really engaging and really interesting um so I'm I'm very disappointed to see what's happening here

039with the budget with regards to Quest and then just secondarily you know looking having three kids in morly um seeing that we currently have 17 sections this school year looking at what we're projected for next year we're looking at 16 so the fact that we are losing a section but then also having as others have mentioned some of the biggest class sizes uh within the district at 27 projected 27 for our fifth grade which is basically having all the kids who are here uh for this school year plus one which is perfectly reasonable um it just doesn't totally jive with me doesn't make any sense and it doesn't make sense that we're going from having three fourth grade classrooms and two fifth grade classrooms in this current school year then down to two each it

040concerns me that we are potentially then losing a very capable and respected member of our staff the fourth and fifth grade teachers are fantastic the fifth grade teachers again this year with the amount of students they have have gone Totally Above and Beyond and those fourth grade teachers if you look at the size of the quest program within Morley it is a credit to them especially at the fifth grade level it is a credit to them and the hard work that they're doing so the idea that one of them could possibly be lost to these budget cuts uh I find reprehensible um so I really appreciate the time for you all so thank you all very much and thanks thank you next we have Crystal gabrian Crystal G that was a great attempt at my

041last name thank you um my name is Crystal gabrian I'm a Duffy mom um I did not prepare statements for tonight I actually thought I was signing in um but um I I was signing up so I'm just going to use that as an opportunity to share my point of view I did send an email to the board of education and um and Paul and a side note um you were my husband's math teacher in high school a gabrian and he said you were the best he's ever had um i e i Echo everything that was said before me in short I don't think the budget cuts and proposed class sizes are commensurate with the high standards and expectations of this town and I don't think they set us up for continued success specifically I'm

042here to express concern about the large difference in class sizes for the same grade between schools and the district my son is a kindergartener at Duffy and will be a first grader next year as it's proposed he'll be in a class with 22 students where his friends at bugby and walut will enjoy class sizes of 15 to 16 that's almost a 50% increase in the difference between the those class sizes 50% these ratio discrepancies will likely continue throughout his Elementary School years I can't help but think of the difference in learning growth and development that these students will see couple questions I'll keep it short why is such a difference between class sizes between Schools allowed and have flexx neighborhoods been cons considered to address the large difference in class sizes thank you thank you

043next we have sear Patel hello good evening my name is sagur Patel um I had some uh prepared remarks um but I'll kind of I think um a lot of us have spoke on behalf of quest and that was my goal um so I'll actually I think a lot of points have already been mentioned so I'll mention something that maybe has not been and it kind of may help us put some of these things in perspective so I'm a uh physician I'm a psychiatrist uh I'm an addiction medicine specialist I work for the state of Connecticut and I'm also uh a quest parent and I'm pretty proud of that um so the the one perspective that I want to mention is that when we look at gifted and talented folks if you could do L

044function Mr uh fmri meaning if you could scan their brains you would see that the neurons fire in a different pattern um in a pattern that may be different than the norm and it's important that we address this type of functioning so we address their needs okay so it's you know we think of gift and talented as something that um maybe is uh beneficial but it can actually be a problem if it's not appropriately addressed and it can cause problems with addiction for example and there's some data on this later on in life so it is very imperative that we really pay attention to the to the subject of funding Quest adequately um you know it's kind of like if you don't use it you lose it but in this case you may end up

045picking different habits uh or different other things so you know this is this is a a quite an important topic um you know West Hartford is known for its schools um you know I'm a big believer in public education and I think um you know hopefully we're able to fund quests um at the level that it really needs to be funded at um thank you very much and thank you board for being here and thank you for the for the West Harford Community for for being here as well thank you next we have Melissa Morales good evening uh thank you for giving us me and my husband the time to speak um to you today so um my name is Dr Melissa Morales and I'm a morally parent and a parent of a quest student

046um and I became aware that recent budget cuts me affect the quest program and of course I wanted to show my wholehearted support to the program and to share um our story with you so my son was in third grade when I knew something was horribly wrong he no longer wanted to go to school um he was no longer wanting to complete his mathk homework he was making careless mistakes on his assignments in school two years prior my son had participated in Virtual learning at first grade uh as a first grader due to the covid pandemic and my husband and I supplemented his learning according to his interest in his ability level I observed his voracious appetite for knowledge and his amazing curiosity um his reading ability and math skills were at least two grades

047above his grade level um second grade was spent adjusting to an in-person Mass classroom and he did well but then he started third grade there was a noticeable stall in his enthusiasm toward school which deeply saddened me what had occurred after speaking with my son and his teacher we determined that he was simply not being challenged to meet his skills and ability level it was difficult for him to hold interest in a uh on an assignment that was too two great levels below his level he spent a lot of time reading on his own because he finished so much before everybody else and he felt disconnected with his classmates his teacher although great simply did not have the resources to create and teach a parallel curriculum for my son she did however have one tool

048in her toolbox she was able to nominate my son for the quest program my son is now in the quest uh Quest and math Quest program in the evening when I ask him what his favorite part of the day is he always without fail says Quest he his curiosity and his enthusiasm for school has returned he thoroughly enjoys working in collaboration with other students in the program to develop his critical thinking and problemsolving skills all students in the west Harford Public School System deserve to be educated according to to their skill level and their ability the educational needs of the 503 children who take part in the quest program should not be disregarded reducing funding to this program would no doubt reduce the quality of the program and may affect its execution I sincerely hope

049that you will reconsider reducing funding to this wonderful program thank you thank you next we have Jeff K Jeff klin West Harford here tonight to speak about class sizes budget cuts the whole works we were here last year fighting for a lot of these same issues not much happened one or two sections added here or there but still Cuts back here this year again facing the same obstacles but it's getting worse and it's got to stop I graduated from Hall my wife graduated from Hall not going to list the years because it was many eons ago but West Hartford and everything that we all love about West Harford was built on this education system years and years in history of how great of the school system West Harford was it's why a lot of people

050left College started their professional careers and moved back to West Harford to raise a family firstand knowledge when my wife finished her residency in Fellowship she could have gotten a job anywhere in this country we have family in Connecticut we said let's go back to Connecticut we could have chosen any of the surrounding towns not a problem but we wanted West Harford for our family these class sizes Duffy 22 kindergarteners next year in a class 5-year-olds 22 of them I challenge any of you you think that's appropriate to spend a week not as a parah not as a teacher assist but as the teacher in that classroom and see how much hair you have left at the end of that week I speak firsthand my son wanted to do chess last year as a kindergarten

051we went to the little after school library and there was about 15 kids ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade my wife went first she's a surgeon she can handle stress life and death when she walked out she would not talk to me for three hours locked herself in our bedroom and said I cannot deal with people and that was just 15 of them across all the ages 22 kindergarteners is not acceptable it's not what we pay our taxes for in West Hartford I understand we're facing unprecedented times and budget shortcom John brought up a great Point write your state legislators challenge them millions of dollars are being left off the table for West Harford every year during a time of budget surpluses in the billions of dollars at the state level why are we not

052being reimbursed and that is the direct result of our state legislators challenge them change your vote if you need to primary them whatever but they owe us a lot of money also at the Town level you guys are here to try and do the best that you can for our children for Education there are limitations MoneyWise absolutely but ask for a little more if we're going to pay an extra 7.35% in taxes next year we might as well go to 7.5 and get what we all really want it's pennies and when we're speaking of pennies every dollar that we spend today to actually educate our children properly is $4 saved trying to remediate kids that did not learn it cost four times more to catch them up at grade four than in grade one thank

053[Music] you thank you next we have Loretta hi I'm here in support of the quest program my name is Loretta Young wors I'm a West Harford mom of a Bristo sixth grader in quest I know money doesn't grow on trees and there are limits to how far you can stretch a dollar but I want to make sure that in your budget considerations Quest is considered necessary and to ask you not to cut any further Quest positions because the quest program is a solution to the learning issues that gifted and talented children have which is as necessary as any other individualized accommodation before my family moved here a few years ago my daughter was at a magnet school with no such program she was frustrated with the school and unable to reach her potential but not

054anymore Quest has been a remarkable program for her I hope you will consider all Quest positions to be necessary positions and not make any further Cuts thank you thank you next we have Kate eeko hi good evening Kate eel West Harford resident and parent of three children the West Harford Public Schools I'm here also at the budget cuts and um echoing a lot of the statements that have made already I particularly want to highlight the impact of cuts at um Charter o school as my friend um and fellow parent at Charter o Lizzie mentioned um the current third graders who will be moving to fourth grade next year will be having a major increase in their class size in the highest one at Charter Oak School for a class that's already undergone the trauma of

055losing a classmate and have the academic challenges that Lizzie outlined I further noticed other cuts at Charter roke including the loss of a fifth grade teacher and fifth grade teachers as chardo parents know have an extra burden to take on with exhibition um and the prek Mandarin teacher all cutting away at the essence of chok and the magnet program we've been magnet parents for um nearly nine years and um know it's an important part of our cultural fabric here in the community um but taking away supports from Charter Oak and Smith which have the highest number of free reduced price lunch children in the district um threatens to damage that magnet program and its impact in the school finally I'm also a quest parent and I want to speak directly about the cuts and Quest

056and the comments that were made at the last Workshop about the loss of quest enrichment in the element elementary school program and aside from the actual Quest program um we had our full-time Quest teacher U Miss Hadlock cut two years ago and we know that that did not work as intended um the extra enrichment that the teachers were supposed to provide um it was not done consistently and it's no wonder they have many other needs to make and the needs and enrichment that the quest teacher provided were essential and really brought the class together I would say observing the children in quest um it's not just all the great things that you've heard tonight but I just want to highlight that the idea of children learning to identify their own strengths and work together in

057projects is essential working with peers who may think different from you from you is a strength that we need to amplify in our schools and society and not diminish finally I just have a question and a comment about Bristo as yesterday I learned that the assistant principal of Bristo is also a position that may be eliminated next year and I am shocked to find out that there will be a middle school without any assistant principal and that leadership that's not true okay that was a question that came up about it but anyway those are my two points about please remember the needs of char Charter OA magnet families U or magnet students and also the quest program thank you thank you next we have Gary Brown thank you very much I theity thank you next

058we have Aran [Music] Patel hello I am Arman Patel I am the disinterest disinterested Bright Child that my parents were talking [Music] about so I am speaking on behalf of quest I have found out that you are cutting the funds for the quest program and I wanted to share with you why you should reconsider that action I was delighted when in May of third grade I got my letter letter inviting me to Quest since then I have been filled with so much fun and joy not only that but I've also learned many things I'm in fifth grade and so when I graduate I will miss miss Hadlock very much she has taught me many things like expand my vocabulary and writing with passion like I'm doing right now now she has taught me advanced math

059and math Quest and if you decided to cut the funding many bright kids will not have so much um of a chance to be nurtured thank you thank you next we have Lindsay English and Tyler Anderson is it a duo or is I thought we had to sign both of us in sorry that's all right so it's just me um good evening my name is Lindsay English and I have spent the last 14 years as an elementary school educator um but tonight I'm not speaking as an educator I'm here as a mom my own child a third grader at Morley will be directly impacted by the decisions made in this room and I'm hoping that we do not take a step backwards when it comes to our children's education right now at morle in third

060grade class sizes are manageable and that really does make a difference teachers can give students the attention they need struggling Learners can get this the support they deserve classrooms are places of Engagement and connection but if class sizes increase that will change dramatically I know firsthand what happens when classrooms become overcrowded students fall through the cracks behavioral issues Rise Learning suffers no matter how skilled or dedicated a teacher is there's really a limit to how many students they can effectively support in a large class in the communities that I've worked in students are already facing significant challenges which are compounded by the two large class sizes they're in increasing class sizes here in West Hartford will have the same effect and make it so much harder for children to succeed as a mom I just

061can't accept that my child and any child in this District should have to struggle because we chose to ignore what we know works we have the chance to protect what's right for our kids we have the opportunity to ensure they continue to receive the individualized attention they need with high quality instruction here in West Hartford please do not undo this progress that we have made our kids are not just numbers they're the future and we should really fight for them thank you thank you next we have Martin Sylvie hi my name is Martin and I'm a fifth grader at norfeld school I've been a quest student since fourth grade I participate in quest math Quest and art Quest at norfeld um and I don't know why you would want to cut its budget I knew

062from the second I stepped into the quest room for the first time I knew this is where I belonged and from that day on every day was an adventure from building challenges to poems to performing to type three projects everything was fresh and new and interesting finally a time where me and my peers could show off our talents and be creative and imaginative we could dig deeper my teacher Mrs Cory is supportive and awesome she works at two schools and is 100% there for every single one of her students she keeps us challenged and meets us where we are our small class is a big advantage to getting work done all of the quest teachers work so hard switching from school to school each week it wouldn't be fair for them or to their students

063to have them stretched even thinner ask any Quest student and they will say that they love the program and their teacher it's not fair to qu cut Quest budget and I'm not going to pout and say it's not fair it's not fair but let me tell you what would happen if we did not have Quest gifted and smart kids would get really bored in class and then ansy and they would perhaps act up um and I just think that trimming the funds for Quest is trimming the funds for gifted curious kids and their enrichment in school thank you next we have Carol Carol I noticed you stopped before my name um hi um my name is Carol otpa I am a West Hartford mom that was my daughter um and I'm here to support the

064quest program and the impressive Quest teachers um I'm sort of a little emotional when I heard her talking so I apologize um my daughter is a fifth grader in at norfeld she's in Quest math Quest and art Quest and I'm so proud of everything that she's done over the last two years she absolutely loves her Quest classes and it has entirely enriched her experience of school she's she's different on the days that she has Quest or math Quest she's excited she's upbeat she's enthusiastic and she looks forward to the school day knowing it'll hold something special she's always prepared because she knows how fleeting her Quest class time is she will only get sick on a Wednesday because there is no Quest happening that day being in quest has allowed her to move at a

065faster Pace one way more appropriate for her brain and it gives her a place where she can absorb quickly think critically expand creatively and explore new avenues it has literally opened up her world she can get bored by the multi-day repetition in regular class this spring her participation in type three projects has absolutely lit her up she gets home in the evening and without any prompting she turns on her computer she gets to work on her group project she is so dedicated to making this project a big success for all the kids involved this type of ongoing open-ended collaborative work has been a positive change for her and an absolutely vital source of confidence which is particularly important for a girl heading into middle school next year the small Quest class size has created connections

066with her other classmates and has bonded them on the days when they do their Quest work independently yet together in the regular class most importantly this more intimate setting has created a really unique connection with her teacher Mrs corsy She is martine's safe person and her primary trusted adult in her school for my daughter that Bond and connection has been integral to her learning and in order to create those types of relationships teachers need to be in the schools with regularity and at this point she's only there three days much of the unique value of quests will be lost if the budget is cut and class sizes swell or class meetings are reduced to fewer times per week I've noticed a big difference this year when her fifth grade Quest class doubled she felt that

067students were more scattered less connected and just less focused overall in my opinion as a quest parent this program is vital to my daughter's needs it is a time for her to understand how to approach her learning with depth and bread it's the time to imagine her future as a high school or college student and see herself as a scholar it would be a deep cut to the quality of West Hartford schools and its students if its budget were cut thank you for your time thank you that is all who we have who've signed up on the list however we'll ask if there's anyone in the audience who cares to make a public comment yes again please come to the podium and share your name and town of residence good evening my name is paa

068veralon I am a resident of West Harford and I am here as a parent of two children at braburn elementary school my son jack currently is in third grade and he will be entering four grade next year one of the grades facing the most severe impacts under the proposed 2025 26 budget this proposal doesn't just worry me it keeps me up at night next year Jack's class is expected to grow from 18 students to 27 that's a 50% increase and well that might just look like a number on a paper we parents know these are in numbers they are children each one of them with their own learning Pace emotional needs and Social Challenges that kind of increase stretches our teachers thingin limits their ability to teach effectively and increases the likehood that struggling students

069will fall through the cracks at braver the situation is even more complex we are one of only two elementary schools in the district that houses the Intensive behavioral Support Program since kindergarten Jack has had at least one classmate in that program every year in first grade a desk was thrown across the room during several classes this year police have already being called twice due to crisis involving a fifth grader and sincerely every Brave burn family I know has a story like this it comes with a territory of having such an important and needen program in our school in our district but that's exactly why this budget with its teacher cuts and ballooning class sizes is not just counterintuitive it's unacceptable and even Danger dangerous for the kids we canot support students with intensive behavioral needs

070or any student for that matter in overcrowded classrooms with shrinking resources inclusion without support is not inclusion it's failure waiting to happen and it affects everyone I urge you to reject this version of the budget protect the quality safety and Equity across all our schools please reconsider this har ful cuts and prioritize what happens inside the classroom when it matters the most thank you for your time thank you I saw a hand yes please my name is Graham uh I'm I've been in quest since fourth grade and I'm new to math Quest this year I'm in fifth grade um the moment I walked into the quest room I felt that I belonged there and uh without Quest I would feel like something was missing um and my my a my average class fth grade class

071has uh 26 kids and it's the biggest class I think in the district not not uh in the western starford Public Schools I think it has the pretty sure has the biggest class um H having more kids I can't imagine that it's already really chaotic as it is and Quest gives me a way to escape the Escape that and imagining a future without uh with people who could be in quest but uh wouldn't have a chance to do that because of the budget loss um I can't imagine it makes me sad to imagine that thank you thank you is there any I saw hand in the middle and then on the right to my right but in the middle please yes I saw your hand first yes sir thank you good evening I'm Mike Lynch

072from West Hartford um I was just peer pressured into doing this by my daughter um who is Harper who spoke earlier and she does actually consume almost a pint of B at Jerry's every night I have no idea where it goes you cannot do that when you're 47 years old just take note of that so um I thank you for the time I I just want to touch on a couple of things tonight um first I want to say how proud I am to be a member of this community having come here tonight I've never been to a public hearing here I think that's probably shame on me um but it's amazing to see everybody come out to see the children come out and to participate in this process and such a civil way and

073really as a community that it's like really touching to me so um thank you for everybody who came out to do that I also want to say Obviously as a quest parent how much that program has meant to to my child my family the interaction with Miss Hadlock the opportunity to go to Iowa um where I've never been so I could see how that would be a big deal um and what that provides to the children of West Hartford is really uh incredible I also want to say full disclosure on a personal note I have known Mr Vias for many years um I've had the honor of serving with him uh I've trusted him with my life um I trust him implicitly uh I know in my soul and in my heart that he has

074the best interests of this town and the best interest of the kids Forefront and and the teachers that he leads and the staff Forefront of his mind and everything that he does so I just wanted to bring that out tonight because we've heard a lot of people with I think legitimate issues with this budget um but I want to thank you for your leadership Mr vicus and to the school board um for the time you take volunteering with that I would say please go back you are stakeholders here I understand the size of the budget the school budget and and the overall Town budget but please go back and bring back what you heard here tonight people who are willing to pay a little bit more people who came to West Harbord specifically for the

075education I used to live in Georgia my property taxes were $900 a year they are not $900 a year right now my wife and I remind us that of each other every morning and we say it's okay because of what we get here but as I drive by apartment buildings being put up on every corner I wonder in this sort of false Narrative of scarcity that we have with the state budget that and the in the situation it's at right with the rainy day fund capped at the maximum amount Allowed by [Music] Statute go back and let it be known we're here saying don't take this away from our kids thank you thanks for your leadership thank you yes please hello I'm Heather bino of West Harford I'm speaking tonight on behalf of hundreds of

076elementary school students and the teachers who are serving them both of whom deserve to work in the safest most effective environments possible those environments are more likely to occur with smaller class sizes in the March 12th board meeting it was noted that maximum class sizes were decided by the West Hartford board of education a decade ago take a moment and consider the last 10 years have you noticed a difference in student language actions safety academic or emotional needs I'm certain you have and I can tell you having experienced them in school that class size Matters in some classes anywhere from a third to a half of the children we serve receive specialized support whether through instruction um in a 504 a behavior plan ESO or an IEP while students do have Services provided to them

077through push in and pull out instruction the teacher must differentiate for support Challenge and deescalate emotional situations the rest of the day alone smaller class sizes are a must for meeting these needs as well as the teachers needs data is Central to our work as teachers just last week in professional development we continued our study of the science of reading which focuses on data driven shifts that we've made in Reading instruction and in today's PLC we talked about building thinking classrooms in math using a different model than we did even a few years ago data leads to change and it should lead to guidelines shifts too I reviewed several different studies between 2010 and 2020 that confirm research that smaller class sizes have a positive or significantly positive impact on student achievement one in 2020

078noted that teachers in smaller classes reported feeling better able to manage students and offer more individualized support to that end let's consider the impact of five fewer students using a revised guideline five fewer students in a classroom means a quieter class in which students have an easier time focusing a close-knit community where all students can fit comfortably on the rug for morning meeting an entire group for reading and math a whole pod of desks that can be removed to allow for freedom in movement group work and more space to create the very needed calm down Corner more one-on-one time and increased feedback for teachers it means more one-on-one time with students building relationships individual materials instead of having to share with colleagues less overwhelm fewer hours in SS meetings at least 5 hours fewer during

079conference time and we can't even guess how many by way of each day grading planning communicating and preparing report cards based on the data that these studies shows as well as the experiences noted above it is clear that class sizes and their policy from 10 years ago does not meet the needs of the students today this requires an urgent conversation about changing class guidelines and it is an urgent matter thank you thank you yes hi um my name is Sam Warren um I live in West Hartford I'm in e8th grade at Cedric and I've been in quest since fourth grade including math Quest um I see a lot lot of concerned parents and Educators coming up to the stand and talking about um how class sizes are going to increase very much and I can't

080help but remember in sixth grade in my accelerated math class when I had 31 kids in my class um with a teacher who was put on maternity bed rest um one month into the school year and we had substitutes for the rest of the year who didn't teach us anything um so that is quite the jump from elementary school to Middle School um I have a little brother who will go to Sedwick next year I worry for his ability to work with a larger class um stretched with a teacher who is stretched thinner than they already are um although I will not be in quest next year and in high school my life has been impacted very positively by its curriculum and I not only ask you the school board but implore you to change

081your decisions about the budget cuts because not only will it impact kids um ability to learn and grow from the quest program but it will also hinder their ability to be able to express their individuality and creativity in class thank you thank you yes hi my name is Jackie I go to Bristo and I went to Charter Oak for my elementary school um the budget cuts for quests is just not reasonable because I already know my quest teacher Miss ripstick right now she spends her own money on supplies for us and she spends a lot of money and in Charter Oak we had Miss Hadlock she was split between us and Morley and Miss Hardy was also moved schools it was really sad when Miss Hadlock was moved because we had her all the time

082and we just didn't have her anymore and like I know the other day in quest almost all the kids in my quest class were saying that they wanted to stay there for the rest of the day because we we all love quests and it definitely gets us up in the morning and we want to stay there we want to go to Quest in the morning and stay there for the rest of the day and in quest it's like we're all accepted and we can all speak our mind no matter what we think as long as it's appropriate um and today I was going to go to Quests for a learning lab until I found out I had to go to choir but it was I love choir but Quest is just like where we're all

083free and we get to do whatever we want for our projects and work on whatever we want as long as it's like school work but it's really fun and I don't think you guys should cut the budget because our teachers are already stretch really thin so thank you thank you is there yes hello good evening my name is Destiny Curry I am a West Harford mom um I represent the Charter Oak Elementary School I did already send an email so thank you for your response um I planned on speaking earlier um but I was just so moved by all of the comments that I've heard I wanted to make make sure I had the opportunity to hear all of the children all of the parents um I know I speak for my entire Charter Oak

084family when I say the budget cuts when it comes to the classroom sizes is severely detrimental I have a third grade daughter who was a part of that kindergarten group who did suffer from that passing of a a student and I can assure you that she is still struggling academically and social emotionally she's pulled for enrichment for Math and enrichment for reading and those programs although she's not old enough for Quest I do have two children going to college who are graduating from Connor this year who did participate in quest they had Mrs hunt we did not get to have Miss Hadlock um and I can assure you that they are both academically inclined because of that Quest program my my two sons are both getting ready to go one is going to Howard University

085one is going to Syracuse University and I 1,00% attest that to the education they received in West Harford I unfortunately grew in the Bronx New York nothing compared to a West Harford education I stand by our staff our students and I do understand that the budget is what the budget is however I agree with increasing I'm willing to pay a little extra to ensure that our Quest program stays our teachers stay and our students get the appropriate education in this a smaller classroom setting I've been in the fifth grade classrooms and I can guarantee you they could not fit one more student in those classrooms not only will it impact their education but the sheer Logistics of the classroom size and where those desks and students will fit as a part of the PTO I

086I have the unique opportunity to participate in a lot of the uh classroom activities and being in those classrooms they have an opportunity to have small inner a small group time where students can participate in two or three students in different areas in different subjects that is not going to be possible if there are 26 27 students in a single classroom so I ask like everyone else that you reconsider thank you thank you yes please thank you uh I wasn't planning on speaking but I just heard all of these parents and I felt uh the need to say something I I think it is always inappropriate to B balance budgets on the backs of our children and I think it's incumbent on this board to find a way to find the the funds in some

087way or make move money around I don't know I'm not exactly sure I'm living my life I'm not paying attention to the budget of Connecticut's budgets or what the pfalls are but I can tell you as a uh Connor alumni uh my wife and I both uh graduated from Connor and we moved back to West Harford because we love the schools here uh we really do think that West Harford offers amazing education both my son and daughter uh well my daughter goes to brayburn and my son is in sedick where I met my wife um it's it's an amazing school system and I don't think that budget cuts and education are two concepts that should ever be put together uh our children deserve the education that my wife and I received here the quality of

088the teachers uh the class sizes they all matter and when you increase class sizes we all know what happens U my parents were both teachers in Hartford um just Connecticut and I was a teacher in Arizona and I've seen the difference in quality of Education between these two states uh Connecticut should not be balancing its budgets on the backs of our children that's all I have to say also I see some of my uh classmates here tonight and I have also you know I know a bunch of my classmates that have moved back here from places like New York City uh the realtor the uh one of the Realtors uh when I bought my house here was a classmate uh who was Oliver in the sixth grade [Music] musical uh this is a special town

089and has a very very um beautiful education system and I really hope that this budget will be reconsidered um if that means that we should write to our state senators then I believe everyone in this room should do that and I will be thank you your name sir please oh uh Robert kamacha thank you thank you thank you yes please I guess I'm among uh my name is Aaron balduck I'm a West Harford resident as well as a business owner in West Harford uh and I am obviously one of these people who is wasn't planning on speaking but compelled after hearing all this stuff some great obviously the kids uh I am a parent of a Fourth Grade Quest um student at norfeld and I spoke at briefly at one of the side meeting at

090like the uh um Community Center in West Harford one of the things that really hits home and I just want to mention a couple things about my son uh you know the gifted and talented program to me is like kind of a weird name right A lot of these kids are gifted and talented in a lot of different ways and I don't know that my son in particular falls into a bucket of somebody that you would consider gifted and talented people tell me all the time how smart he is but if you have a conversation with him he's a little different right and i' bring that up to say that if it weren't for Quest and if it weren't for the amazing school system and the teachers I would say that he would potentially fall

091into or even if we don't pay attention to him down the road I think Mr Patel Dr Patel may have mentioned this he might fall into a different bucket that I thought I heard at that meeting a couple weeks ago is increasing dramatically which is in the special needs area so it I find it really fascinating um I don't want to sit up here I want to offer a potential solution instead of just you know I don't know what goes on in the meetings that you guys have but one of the things that I did notice in looking at the entire budget was in an expense of about $9 million to outpatient or outplacement I think it's called right so and I do know with the help of I don't know Dr Patel but I'll

092use him as an example and some other people like my friend Matt Gallow who owns Pentacle Health there are ways to not have outplacement and not spend $9 million going out of town where we can make that number more of like three or four potentially million dollars and take that $5 million and go back into a program like we're talking about here tonight so I think that going back to the drawing board or maybe looking at some of the other ways that we can we could uh move money as the last gentleman had just mentioned thank you thank you is there anyone else who would like to make a comment I'll ask a second time is there anyone else who would like to make a comment and one last time is there anyone who would

093like to make a comment during this public hearing all uh good evening my name is Danny Hicks I'm a resident of West Hartford uh we moved here a few years ago because the schools were great and my uh my partner had grown up in West Hartford she went to uh graduated from Hall and we were very excited to bring our very young children here to be to go through the school district um while we have encountered some really incredible Educators a couple of whom are here tonight um overall we we see a decline we see a trend of declination in the system and it's disturbing you know everyone in this room here is listening to the fact that we're going to pay more in taxes and we're going to receive Less in education and that's

094why we're here you know didn't move here because there are three Starbucks you know I moved here because I want my children to get a better education than the one that I got and I'm very disappointed to see that that may not be the case thank you thank you is there anyone who would like to make a public comment yes please come to the podium hi there Ben Loveland West Harford resident I'll go super quick um I know we're get wrapping up to the end here I've also been peer pressured by my daughter um but if she can get up here I can get up here as well um she can get up here because she's been through this amazing Quest program and she's had such a good experience we um just this past weekend

095um were speaking with our neighbors and um they were pepper and her with questions about elementary school and all she could say was all of her answers revolved around Quest it was what a good experience it was being able to go to Iowa um she just you know couldn't couldn't say enough about it so that has really um impacted her development and who she is and I know it's going to keep carrying forward so um you know personally my wife and I we chose this town because um of the great education system we've heard that time and time again from all all these people so um hopefully that will that will be considered because I think we'll really be slipping if if we allow this budget to go forward as it is so if we

096you could take that into consideration that would be appreciated thank you thank you is there anyone who would like to make a public comment ask a second time anyone who would like to make a public comment and what one last time is there anyone who would like to make a public comment during this public hearing all right with that we shall pause and conclude our public hearing for this evening before we transition to our board Workshop number two and I will ask us to take a five minute recess before doing so without objection I want to say how proud I'm going to speak for the team so if I'm speaking out of turn please let me know how proud We Are of all of you who have come here to speak up and speak out

097and advocate for our children so that's a wide brush proud of all of you but now I'm going to use a narrower brush and I'm looking at all of the young people who spoke and want to say how proud We Are of each and every one of you the fact that you came up here and you spoke before all of these adults you spoke before us you advocated for yourself and you did so with confidence and conviction and I don't think the adults will disagree with me when I say there's some adults that have a difficult time doing that but you did that and you continue to make us proud of you in all that you do and all that we know that you will continue to do so thank you so very much for

098coming here speaking up speaking out we heard each and every one of you now I use a wider brush again again all of you thank you so very much for coming here speaking up speaking out this concludes our public hearing we'll take a 5 minute recess unless there's objection and then we'll come back together to proceed to our Workshop number two e e e e e e disc all all right let us resume good evening once again now we will officially begin our board Workshop number two we say number two because we had board Workshop number one where each of you shared and presented more granular details of the budget and so with with that you gave us a lot to think about a lot to process and we know questions were garnered from that

099discussion and have been shared and we've received some preliminary responses and so this is an opportunity for us to continue to ask questions and gain more insight into the process of how you all came to propose what you have proposed and so with that teammates again this is our opportunity to ask questions with respect to the proposed budget for the academic school year 2025 2026 and so with that let us begin Claire oh pardon before you begin pardon Mr vus is there anything blanket statement you would like to make before we begin um well I'd like to begin if I may with a point of privilege that uh is unrelated to the workshop um and I'll repeat this at our next scheduled board meeting but I did it is timely I did send out a

100message uh and wanted to give a formal acknowledgement to Miss Sarah ISAC who has been formerly named the permanent principal for Hall High School very very excited for Hall very proud for her um could not be more um could not be more pleased uh to see her emerge uh at the absolute unanimous top of a pack of a very highly qualified uh and compet and competitive candidate pool so pleased about that um I want to I want to thank and acknowledge um not just uh the the district leaders that are here but some of the parents that have stayed and those those who had to go I respect the hour and the the small children at home and bed times um but uh very very much uh respect everything that was shared um I know

101that the you know the criticisms that are related to the budget that is recommended that you are debating this evening are um are really in support for uh for what we do for our mission and and seeking you know as we clearly heard seeking opportunity to to um to to even add to what what is um you know heavier than than typical financial burden relative to the increased cost that we face and uh I do appreciate uh the the public uh coming out to the to the public hearing um we've had uh quite a volume of of emails I am I'm doing uh my Earnest best to be able to provide um anyone who has written in with at least an acknowledgement and some you know some information um and I've done so for certainly

102for the um folks who have written in about the quest so and I'm sure we'll talk a little bit or at least I hope we'll talk a little bit about that tonight relative to the volume of comments just so that that I can again try to clarify um what is being proposed and uh really the uh what I expect to not be the dramatic impact on the program um which seems to be in the mind of of of some so I I would love the opportunity for us to be able to uh provide greater detail for the public to try to uh to try to answer that that question um and sort of correct that perception and also so um did did SP send out an email that I've been working on uh for quite

103a while and really just sort of uh collecting all the different names of folks who wrote in about class size and um I've said this you know I'm not I'm not here trying to defend larger class sizes and I'm certainly not here trying to uh promote any over taxation on our on our teachers um but uh you know the budget that's coming forward Ward before you um respects the class siiz guidelines that are currently in place um it has been uh a period of time I would say the entirety of our elementary school parents you know had kids that grew up through covid and so they have not experienced um class sizes that are that are that bridge on you know the the edges of the of the higher uh end of the class siiz

104guidelines and uh this would be a year where we would essentially be fully back from that um but it is far from unprecedented um and while I would love to advocate for um more staff um I I would also want to share with you honestly and transparently um kind of where we've been historically and how we've done um and so it's it's not so much uh it is not a defense of larger class sizes that's not what I'm here to promote it is more so a defense of the budget itself as a whole with the uh with the hopes of doing everything that we can to have a budget that gets passed at the Town level um beyond our our families our families have sent us a strong message about uh their willingness to support

105this budget to support greater than this budget and and also their expectations and their expectations are um are definitely heard and felt um but uh but in general um I am more so worried about um ensuring that that that support for our budget um is is something that the town itself can carry at large and that that's my larger concern so I open with that um I do not envy you I will thank you again uh for your Collective work as a board on this this is uh a very significant ific issue to Grapple with uh but the team here is assembled I'm thankful to them um and we are we are poised to try to provide more insights into any questions and any topics thank you and with that questions comments Claire your hand

106was raised um thank you everybody um I know this has been about five months and you probably even started before October 1st um it it's a lot to go through um and we've been bombarded with very well-written letters very concerned and all the students and families here today it's great to see so many people um representing themselves their families and and using the government the way they should to share their feelings um I was very happy to see this um class size form I mean reduction and and and the magic that's been done but I'm wondering is this something that is going to be published on the website because there have been some class shifts and some reductions in grade levels and increases because this is now five months later um and that sheet today

107are you going to be able to share that or it because this is not what the public saw yes so let me provide some illumination to that so the board um received and and for the public that is here uh what the board has received is on the table um and I alluded to it in a communication that I made that I just referenced that I made to parents I I sent out some notes uh to hopefully try to provide some perspective on class size um and so in the data supplement uh many parents have seen and certainly comment on the projected enrollments for October of 2025 and and that that's not apologize One clarification that's not five Monon old projection that projection Liz is probably um was made uh probably in late February for

108the March uh unveiling um and it is it is a projection for October of next year what we have done given the volume of inquiry in and around class size guidelines um I worked with Liz and I'll I'll let her talk a little more to this but um we we wanted to come in tonight with an with an update to see if there were any changes to our class siiz guidelines and there are two VAR two major variables that would that would create change one would be notification of any new enrollments or new departures from the district so just your your ordinary day-to-day folks who have let us know uh planning to move in and registering versus those who have perhaps absence left in the in the week since the first budget but the more

109significant variable is the outcome of our current lottery for our magnet schools Charter o and Smith and so those lotteries have recently closed um and letters have been sent out to families um letting them know that hey you applied for this Lottery you have been accepted um what remains is for those parents to accept so they would have to say yep I still plan to uh to occupy that seat that I requested so if 100% of the lottery applicants who have been notified of a seat do in fact accept the seat that they were awarded then the projections could look as they do on the second page um which is marked projections for October 2025 as of today's date and that would be the second page that you see in the packet that we provided

110and what Liz did was she highlighted in red kind of any of the more significant changes that would um either do one of two things they would either create a new section because there were there was an increase to the enrollments where they were kind of already up there at the maximums um near a 27 say in fourth or fifth grade or near a 23 in K through three or students left a particular grade at a particular building uh where where they were very small class sizes and then it collapsed so so I and and so now there would be fewer sections at a grade level and those sections would be closer to those maximums where previously they were more roomy so I fully recognize that there may be some folks uh who have come

111here that if these projections held true would be very very happy and then there will be some folks who if these projections hold true will suddenly be very very disappointed because uh things shifted perhaps in their minds not necessarily in their favor and two things I want to mention it it sort of reflects the very fluid nature of these projections these are this is not a contract as to what what will definitely be offered this is a projection uh at this moment in time uh for the for the best and express purpose of trying to pass a budget and trying to know how many sections we will need and in each of these projection and so I'll I'll just comment on that fluidity for a moment these projections will change weekly if not daily and

112we look at them daily uh over the course of the summer and we hope especially if there appears to be some fluctuation or we feel like we have a SE still to give uh based on an allocation in the budget that's yet unassigned or if there's a situation that we're just simply worried about and not ready to make a call on uh we'll we'll hold off as long as is prudent up until such time that the that the parents expect to get their notification letters of their teachers and their class assignments for their children and at that point we make that essentially the contract with with the community these are the sections that we'll have um and it is still possible because they're usually a couple of weeks uh before school starts when those letters

113go out and then of course there are moves movein that happen so there's some late breaking fluctuation that we have to adjust to but what's true in both of these that I don't think has been spoken about enough or maybe it's just not realized by the public that down in the lower right hand corner it identifies that we've budgeted for a total of 196 Elementary sections and even under this updated projection we do feel that 196 classroom sections 196 elementary teachers K through 5 is an appropriate um fiscally prudent number of hires the original document the one that is up on the web right now projects the assignment of 193 out of the 19 6 leaving three sections to be assigned so if these numbers held and if nothing changed and if this is what

114it looked like in late August I'd would I'd assign those three sections and and one of the parents who wrote in asked where do you think you might assign it would you prioritize it at the upper grades or at the lower grades based on where things were and and I'm going to give you a fast answer which is not necessarily well thought out with conversations with all my elementary principles conversations with Melissa about the density of special ed or need at a particular building and taking all the other factors that we do take into consideration but is it unreasonable to think that I might not given that I have only three sections on the page cresting 27 that I might provide those three sections to those schools and those grade levels with 27 that would

115be something that I would be significantly thinking about which would which would break us at even on the updated page there are four sections to give because we've demonstrated that there could be a collapse for instance and you see them highlighted uh but the this is going to create a lot of emails tomorrow um the second grade at Webster Hill for instance um could collapse to two sections of 23 or the first grade at bugby um could collapse to two sections of 22 um and so on and so forth so in that scenario you know I would look at that Webster Hill with 23 I'd look at that woolcut uh with two in first grade with two sections of 23 and in all honesty I'd then probably start to look at where the 26s are

116but again that's very fast answer uninformed the last thing I want to say this very long-winded answer is that when we break those extra sections in late August and we do so we do so equitably and we do so in response to our best effort to apply our resources where there are needs and sometimes the needs based on enrollment or other factors exceed the allocations in the budget that you'll decide on in the next couple of weeks in fact that's where we are today so I'll remind not so much the board but the public that we are three Elementary sections above what this board passed a year ago and that is license that I take at risk to my evaluation with you in June um in the interests of the families and the school you

117the students in the school and and we will always operate with that interest in mind so I [Music] am I am okay with publishing to answer your question Claire um the updated projections as well um at the risk of you know potential confusion I I'm I'm not volunteering to publish weekly updates to our projections I you know the this is this is a matter of routine business as to how we um monitor the enrollment projections um from before the Public Presentation of the budget to well after all the way into the summer um until such time that the final projections are made and communication does happen um through our principles who will Who will at times have to you know talk to a grade level and and say you know hey second grade you're on

118the bubble we might break an extra section or we might need to collapse um and I am you know principal is typically advocating the superintendent's office uh and we're letting that we're listening and balancing probably needs at across a couple of places until we're able to make a final decision so that's a long answer and I I stole a lot of Thunder but if I missed anything please chime in no I think that really covered it I guess really the only thing I'd like to reiterate is um this wasn't a change in class siiz guidelines it was just based on our enrollment as of today and that's fluent it as Paul says it changes every single day you know starting in the beginning of April I will monitor it every week by the time we

119get to June it's not an exaggeration to say that I'm looking at it pretty much every day to see you know how many kindergarteners are coming in did we have more Magnet acceptances or do we have a family that moved in that's affecting our first grade and so this is fluid um and it will continually change uh thank thank you for that explanation because I think it's really important to just understand what a moving uh needle this can be and that um it seems like there's a lot of built-in flexibilities to allow for the adjustments that would be needed when the time comes that aren't sacrificing the quality of instruction and experience for students and I think that's just I mean I I think we've heard so much from the community that we don't want

120to sound like we have our head in the sand but it also I think um somehow pulling out how much thought that goes into um the projections and the adaptability that's baked into your planning so that you don't leave a classroom in a situation where a teacher is going to ultimately be stretched too thin or it's not manageable I'm curious just with that with respect especially to the younger grade levels K uh kindergarten and first grade as you think about instructional Paras and Tas I'm assuming they're part of the equation too as you think about deploying additional capacity in those classes so how do do you like is there sufficient flexibility with how those individuals are assigned as well as all this settles sure I can I can throw I'll take a stab in an

121answer I'll ask Julio to follow up um but I know that um in working with Julio we've we've really tried to standardize what used to be called K Paris they're now called instructional Pairs and they primarily work I would say um primarily across kindergarten in first grade um and there's a standard number uh that that we would typically assign to most schools based on the the number of sections of enrollment in those grades for that school and it's typically three if I have that correct julo there are some differences if there's a smaller school that has only two sections of kindergarten and two sections of first grade we've had that uh where where there might only be two instructional Pairs and then at larger School such as a Charter Oak um and a Duffy you

122know there may there may be there may be an additional when we run into those situations uh where we've already sent out the class lists we've already finalized the hiring like all the kids are settled and they know who they're getting for a teacher and we typically we don't try to say oops just kidding you thought you had Mrs Smith now you're going to have Mr Jones uh we we don't we don't do that so if we get a very late breaking um addition to to a class that's the time where we would typically authorize um an additional instructional pair to provide support um but I don't know if you want to add anything no I think that's that's a a real nice way to explain that and you know one of the things that

123we do too is we're constantly looking at that as we get students and their IEPs change right that may require a reallocation or just a new allocation of that so I know Kelly browon she works with Josie McCormack and my office they are constantly looking at that and constantly trying to monitor those pieces you know Liz and I I think two three years ago really looked at trying to for our teaching assistant trying to look at almost more of a formula so we came up with uh for every 175 students buildings would get one ta um at the elementary and at um Bristo and then it's for every 200 students at the other middle schools and the high school and those really serve as building subs and can be there as well to support student

124needs and you know we really monitor that care really hold to that line um and when sometimes principles will come again because they've got a new student or a new situation or perhaps a class that's changed you know we'll go back and we'll look we'll have that conversation uh Kelly will look at it and then ultimately approve it um you know one of the things we've been working really hard too is to just make sure that we've got folks in that pipeline that are ready to come and fill those jobs because sometimes those are some of our harder ones to fill um you know and again if you remember we presented uh a few weeks ago maybe now our new agreement with teaching assistance and truthfully we've seen already that uptick um and even just

125the agreement to sort of give priority hiring to our taas for the per roles we're already hearing folks that have gotten that and are really thrilled with that so you know some those are some of the things that again I I appreciated the board's support when we made that commitment here and and certainly Paul's um but we're seeing and reaping the benefits of that now in the buildings uh Claire you had think you a part two and then Jason so um this was a nice surprise one of the things that um there's a lot of people involved and trying to understand that aren't in education and so some of the language and some of the the clarification of this second plan it might be good to say based on the lottery if all people accept

126this is the new you know just some disclaimer because these numbers are based on on the lottery that was run and then the way the lottery Works isn't something All Families really understand so the the the fact that um families can opt by Lottery to go to Smith or Charter Oak why they might do that how many people apply how many people get in that kind of information helps people understand why this can fluctuate so much from a lottery run and and the one last thing the four for possible breaks I know that's language that you know but I would like it to be written out to say if enrollment increases in anyone's school we have put in these four potential teacher positions that would be address addressing that because I know that teachers have

127actually been hired as late as August because of an increase certainly no I I think the point um I I appreciate your point and I would want to put um some text in um it could just be you know in some of the white space on the page or just a separate page in the same way that we have a narrative in our budget book to say that any projection page that that lives um is is a static moment in time in the same way that any enrollment report that we put forward um I get a monthly enrollment report that uh Liz Liz provides and there are always fluctuations in our enrollment throughout the course of the Year based on students who move in students who move out different things that happen um so all

128all of these um you know graphic displays are are nothing more than uh they're only as precise as the moment in time in which they were they were designed and uh you know happy as as you said happy to to be able to put that even with a little paragraph of explanation um because some of the kids that came today might want to look at the data and try to understand it and it it'd be great if there was that paragraph I think help to your point I know there was a comment made that at one of the schools we were cutting a a fifth grade teacher and I had you know that gave me a little pause I had to go look and I just saw it's just enrollment there are the the the

129fifth grade that is leaving the school this year is larger than the fourth grade that's behind it and so as the fourth grade transitions to fifth grade it's not that the teacher was cut it is simply that the enrollment uh you know you you stay with the cohort the only time that you really often see the big changes I think what we've heard about where the class size guidelines themselves shift in grade three to four um that's where you will frequently see uh the potential for a reduction of a number of the number of sections because the class size got guidelines are higher in fourth grade currently so obviously that that is a lot of who we're hearing from uh understandably so uh especially if it's you know your first child going through the district

130you may not have been aware of that and uh once it happens to you you know or you may be aware of it in your head but it's different once it happens and and I can appreciate that other questions Jason yes you were part of me yes so Paul you actually preempted kind of one of my questions which was noting that you know we budgeted for 198 sections we ended up with 21 sections when that happens where does that money come from and and I think it what is it $100,000 roughly a section you are correct it's about 100,000 per section is what we assume um and it comes from various areas you know obviously this is um a budget it's our expectation uh we develop the budget based on our existing staff uh we

131certainly have knowledge as to some teachers that may be retiring but you know we we do have attrition just like any other organization and so some of that savings can come from if you have a teacher who has been with the district for a long time and retires uh they're clearly at the perhaps the top of the range um of their salary Lane we bring a new teacher in that teacher is lower in the range and so there's a savings with that position and so those types of things you know we have those variances um constantly particularly when we're looking at you know a staff of approximately 900 teachers uh there's just going to be that movement and so you know while we do our best to estimate what we think it will be there

132are changes in every line item and we look at those we manage those and make sure that we cover what we need for our students and our teachers Gail yeah thank you um I just want to piggyback on what Jason asked because that was my question as well uh because last time we also um learned that you have had um two teachers in the teacher residency program where we had only budgeted for one and um now we know that there we budgeted for three extra um teachers I guess than we had budgeted for so I'm just curious um I understand variances in budget but how much if we pass a budget that has an actual dollar amount on it do we go above that or do you take the money from some place else and

133put it where you need it so we have the ability to move between lines but the appropriation that we have from the town our total amount cannot be exceeded and so um you know as our needs change we might focus more you know in this case on Elementary sections and perhaps if we have another vacancy we might keep that open for a while um we had the opportunity as you um alluded to to have another um teacher in the teacher Residency program um and I believe the decision was made to to pursue that um uh both of those teachers are working in our special education uh Department this year and and doing very well so that was a decision that was made and we're offsetting that with Savings in other areas but to answer your

134direct question no we cannot go over the total appropriation that is um authorized by the Town Council and I'll piggyback just a couple other examples that you know I think will they're going to be different from what Liz said but they're just they're just specific so we we did have in this current year in this existing budget for instance um I know that we had a position um that was unfilled um that we held unfilled we did we chose not to fill it at a certain point in time and we ended up it's one of the uh turned into a proposed cut here uh for us but that that's an opportunity that's money uh that we weren't spending that where we were um over budget for a teaching position and then again as as Liz

135an you know mentioned you know we're we're projecting 100,000 that's you know an average salary of 75,000 for a teacher with benefits at 25 so once in a while when we're able to catch someone on the younger end or at the lower end of the salary scale we need a couple of those people maybe more than we thought um that adds up to the savings where we can um potentially uh take you know if we have to take on an extra teacher somewhere based on need that we're able to afford it without cutting into other things I can tell you in my tenure in the district we've also had years where it becomes uh March and April and there are some budget freezes that happen in the building there are hiring freezes and for those

136same things that we've had we've got some expenditures that are just coming close numbers are getting just a little too tight and so we have to kind of uh tighten the belt a little bit uh in order to ensure that we're going to make it um make the number that we cannot exceed Ethan I got res set of questions so um if you bear with me the first one wasn't is not original because it came up from one of the parents is there such a thing as uh Flex neighborhoods or allowing parent I believe in neighborhood schools but if somebody wants to switch because there's a smaller group in the adjacent school is that a possibility yeah I'll let Andy talk to it I I don't know that we've had that as a practice we

137have done some spot redistricting in the past but that was that was that was more permanent that's it's not really a practice to to go ahead and and flex different neighborhoods what we have done in the past was we had a situation two years ago where we had two uh neighboring schools one uh had an excess amount of kindergarteners one had a lack of kindergarteners and we made the offer for the students from one school If the parents wanted to enroll that we that they could they could go to the other one again both both were within walking distance of one another and uh we had I think three or four parents who took us up on that offer and then we were we were able to not add a section at the one school

138and we're able to keep a section at the other school so we do little things like that when we can but it's not an established practice that we have no I understand but to give parents the option if they're concerned about the size of the class not across the board because again remember that in a lot of districts or in a lot of schools then you're coming into Transportation issues you're also coming into issues where a lot of neighboring schools may go to different middle schools and so if I'm switching from one school to another and then I'm switching from going to KP and Sedwick uh you and or into Bristo or into hall or conduit so I may be switching lanes for the secondary schools as well so it's really not a practice that

139we can we can offer across the board let me move to number two the when I took the average student per class size across in for the whole school it was 19.7 for this year 19.5 for last year is it possible to look back like a with a 10-year just because it didn't change much in total and I'd also be interested to see it between kindergarten the third grade and fourth and fifth grade if you could do it um that information has been presented I know we did it in our enrollment report um I can pull that and um and look at that I believe um there's similar information in the data supplement look backass compon so there's a fiveyear comparison on page two of the data supplement so it you know it look looks

140at the 19.3 for the current year 19.4 for last year and then our years of the pandemic at a lower level below 19 P two I was looking for the average student size that's what it it says average section size that's what it is section got it all right thank you the third question and part of it is having just gone through what projected for year to date is there a couple line items that I was wondering just look and I'm not sure the right process oh so like teacher Subs the budget of 25 was a mil 531 the budget for 26 thanks it's a million 531 yet we're tracking million 20101 it just there's a 330,000 savings my question is why are we going back up you know that was one there was a

141couple of those certainly I'm happy to address that um you know we uh as we talked about this morning in our financial examiners meeting that uh line item is trending under budget this year it's related to two factors one is the number of students who have or uh teachers rather who have gone out on short-term leave and are need to get in long-term sub for them the other is the number of daily substitutes that we need and our ability to fill those vacancies pardon me that number um fluctuates throughout the year as far as our ability to cover those um I think it's important though that we keep the appropriate funding to make sure that we are able to cover those classrooms as Julio mentioned what we're having to do now because we're having trouble

142filling them um is to use teaching assistance um and we certainly can do do that and that works but I I think we really need to look at that a little more globally before we make a reduction to that line I don't know if you have other thoughts on that Julia no I think that that's spot on and we really looked at you know just how the teaching assistants are utilized and and really trying to get a consistent practice across the district which has I think also led to some of those pieces and and just overall class coverage rather than being a scied to specific me I'm looking at it and just saying I look at the track how it's turning this year realizing there circumstances but there were a couple line items was teacher

143sub teacher assistance and the big one to me was the um everyone's favorite line item tuition and I know that we were dealing with the state but that's got a 3 mil7 increase if I'm reading it right and that's based upon I mean we're right now I believe we're tracking to 9 million3 if we get the state money yes and as you may recall the state had to pay uh pass emergency legislation this year in order to provide additional funding to districts and because of that we're receiving an additional 1.3 million this year we will not be receiving that next year that is not in the budget the funding does not come in again to the state budget until fiscal year 27 and at that time it is still only 40 million I understand but

144the Gap is more than it's 3 mil7 I mean the increase is 3 million 7 it is and and that's what the amount the amount is that's really that's really the increase that that yeah that's what we've been saying he's 100% that that's no I just and that's the uh just for the folks at home that are you know we' we've talked about it but um that's that's pretty close to the amount of the shortfall that we're seeing um this this current year if I have it correct um so we're getting 1.3 in and and we're making everything else work but uh we don't have that money you know we're not going to be able to find that money next year we have to program for it and we anticipate we have an increase in

145in number of students who may require outplay services and we also anticipate um annual increased costs in tuition that's been a trend that we're watching with these private uh providers and you know with all the students there'll be increased Transportation costs because the the contract itself whether it's an increase in students or the increase in the contract so there are a number of variables that then go into that um but you're absolutely correct that it stems from um the lack of funding at the state level uh that's and and that that lack of funding at the state level becomes the driver of uh you know the significant budget increase that we see but I got the 1.3 there was a 400 350 400 for I believe utilities or there was a reserve that you guys

146were able to access so I guess if we just want to look at the 3.7 million it's made up really of four items uh the first is that we're expecting our expenditures to increase for the reasons that Paul just went through um you know tuition increases the number of students we're assuming Etc um in the current year we're using 350,000 that we discussed this morning um of a reserve that we have in special programs fund we will not be receiving the additional money this year that we're getting the 1.3 million that was um allocated and appropriated at a state level through emergency certification and then again at a state level next year the total appropriation for this grant is being held flat so while this year we were originally supposed to get 62% of what

147we should next year it will probably drop down to around 57 to 58% so it's not only that we're not getting the emergency appropriation for this year the actual overall percentage of a higher base is dropping probably by at least four to 5% just so I level set is the dollars the same or is the percentage the dollars are the same dollars the same so and you know not only our district is experiencing increased cost that's happening across the state so everyone's percentage increase drops no I understand or percentage reimbursement drops it seems like a high I age trying to get the components no definitely it is a very high number and that's why I really wanted to be able to explain the four components that make that up other qu Claire and then Jason

148yeah I just wanted to tag on um these adjustments that you make in the year when you need to break have more section breaks or the substitutes or all those things um if I recall at all the financial examiner meetings those are shared with the Republicans and Democrats from the board so that we can see how you're adjusting and then at the final meeting you meet your budget or or under budget but that was something that we were posted about every month correct correct we go through it every month and we actually oh thank you we actually do yeah went the wrong way there we actually um bring a report um to the board every month so that you can review that and approve that and so that we're all aware of the most recent

149financial information um and then one of the things um the the outplacement and the cost of that and the four and a half times um typical student expenditure that that whole Parts very hard for people to understand um but in reality the cost of the transportation can sometimes equal the tuition and many of the kids that are outplaced are for serious disabilities that are medically necessary um but I also I feel that we do an an incredible job with the special needs students inhouse and one of the the things that I don't know if we do well enough is tell that story but there's a fine line between telling the story and then getting more people interested in moving into town and then but but the point I guess I'm making is um when you

150can be taught in school and mainstreamed and and taught in the building rather than outplaced I really believe you get the skill base that will help you in the future when you're out of public school and and navigating the world um I know that it's necessary for some kids but I really um think there's a very big benefit to being um in school if that's reasonable so I I applaud you guys for all that you do with the bookstore the postsecondary everything um to meet those unique needs thank you I don't know if there was a question you know a specific question but I think it gives me the opportunity just to highlight some of the public speakers who did mention um you know the importance of getting involved at the state level around the

151funding around special education because as Claire mentioned not only are we being underfunded for excess costs I think is just important for the general public to understand that there's no weight given to our actual formula per pupil EXP expenditure for special education students so special education is is ultimately an unfunded mandate in the state of Connecticut and it's underfunded pretty significantly and and the shortfalls that we're seeing are greatly impactful across the state so it's it's just important for people to to be knowledgeable and be aware um that there is advocacy um from the senior leadership in this District to really be involved with the initiatives around funding and having our voices heard we have a really strong um parent community and so I you know implore them to also be educated on these topics

152and um you know continue to partner in voicing their concern about the unfunded mandates and special education that impact all of the important work that we do for our students Jason so forgive me but I'm going to pull in Ethan and I've got three but it's two it's it's two questions and and one opportunity it I'm a lawyer so it'll probably turn to four so don't don't encourage me um so the first question is so essentially and picking up on what Melissa said but for the significant and and I can't emphasize enough the significant aspect of the state shortfall would we in all likelihood have more sections in our budget I I don't know that I would I would automatically say yes because where we are with the number of sections in our budget is

153really an application of our class siiz guidelines as they exist um the the strictness of that application is um is always a you know is always a question but we have been uh moving back you know we didn't when when the eser funding went away um we didn't say okay now everything's back to 23s and 27s we we did that in gradual steps corresponding to First the phase out of the Esser funding over the three-year period in which in which it went away and then it was a two-year Gap in between Liz um where we incrementally you know tried to step closer even this even this most recent year um in fourth and fifth grade while the class siiz guidelines are at 27 uh we did our best to hold things at 25 um without

154you know we didn't bring this as a as a we didn't set this as a policy change so we did try to really um communicate the fact that our that our that our guidelines themselves have not changed we've simply been trying to um return to what had been more of a normal occurrence um realistically when you look at a long period of time and I believe you know I I sent out in my communication to families you know I shared that I did a you know I I shouldn't say I did Liz helped with a 16-year look back um at the number of classroom sections that were 25 or greater and uh it was if if I have my recollection it was an average of 11 or 12 classroom sections uh per year over a

15516year period there were some years where it was more there were some years where where it was significantly less um the median number then to kind of deal with that was 10 um in the original projection that we had before we took out the magnets uh we were looking at I think it was 11 uh 11 sections kind of right on there with with what had been our historical average if things play out um with these uh magnet lotteries the way that uh they look today and if there are no significant number of movein um it would be appear it would appear that we could be significantly lower than average next year uh but that you know there's give and take with that then there's a difference between well are some of our some of

156our lower grades closer at 23 and would we would we make adjustments for that I think long range you know the the question is not would we have a greater number of sections or not it is it's the long range question of um are we comfortable as a board of education with the class siiz guidelines as they exist or is there sufficient interest and sufficient appetite at both the board and town level to adjust those sections with the understanding of the financial implications that come with that so question onea so the if we did have that funding from the state if the state stepped up we would have greater flexibility to actually do what you just described absolutely much greater flexibility right uh so taking us away from numbers and and you know the the

157financials of this all um can you guys speak to you know this group of students that is you know impact that we've heard from their parents how are they doing academically I mean this is kind of that covid cohort right so how are they rebounding academically how are they rebounding behaviorally you know we talked a lot about disregulation during the covid period if you could just kind of give us a sense of who these kids are and how they're doing thank you so much well um we've been reporting through the year that we are seeing on the academic side um a rebound certainly um in our elementary math we've gained everything back from preco period and at the middle school math we were very close I think 99% I'd have to go back to the

158report um reading has been more of a struggle Nationwide Connecticut wide um it's really an interesting phenomenon to see math come back the way it's coming and to see reading struggle so um academically in most of our categories we are definitely seeing improvements even sometimes you know we've edged up our class sizes too the children are coming out of these covid periods but um I we have some very strong uh numbers in in math um uh we have more work to do to figure out the literacy issues um I think there's a lot of um factors that we're trying to get our hands around um and I don't want to speculate completely but we work on a lot of different Committees of working just with Early Childhood people today about promoting more about uh screen-free

159childhoods and how can we help children do some of the things that I think we think are more healthy which I think in the past and again I'm speculating a little included reading when you went home you know U that was always something that you know people talked about that children should be reading before bed and um so we have a lot of work to do and a lot of different efforts irons in the fire on on that but I was pleased today for instance to work with Irene garno and others actually it was yesterday sorry I'm getting my days mixed up um to talk about um how can we start communicating as early as possible and our prek orientations and our k orientations um about things that we think can affect a lot of

160factors behavior self-regulation and I'd like to say literacy but um I think that um with the cons concerted effort we have around uh plc's that have really been a primary focus of our work because we know teacher Collective e ethicacy is is probably the highest factor in student outcomes um and that is Teachers coming together and looking at student work and student behaviors and making plans together um using their expertise so um I have you know good hope that we are very much on the right track in math and we uh will will continue to work on the literacy collectively to figure out our next moves and I'm sorry I have to piggyback because I everything in an said is accurate but I I I need to cheerlead it even more because when when an

161mentions that we're back to our pre-pandemic LEL levels fully in math um the oomph behind that is the fact that our Benchmark was the 201819 school year where we had the highest performance that we've ever had um and we are fully back to to and in fact slightly above that highest performance that we've ever had in mathematics um in in our need um and I you know I've got taken the privilege of playing with my computer to try to have some ready access to some data um some of the variable with uh the sluggish return on some of the reading certainly we're worried about the amount of independent reading that's happening at home certainly we're worried about the amount of screen time that our youngest children are getting even before they're in our schools but

162in you know in the younger grades um but we're also quite aware that we've seen a dramatic increase in um our students who have who who are qualified as high need students students who are strug you know who are who are not struggling with English proficiency but have not yet mastered English uh they're they're multilanguage Learners um our students with disabilities and our students um who are socioecon ically challenged when when you disaggregate for that and you look across all three grade levels um for our non- high need students we're in very very good shape um so it's the growing size of that population that in the aggregate um you know shows that uh that our reading continues to struggle what's amazing is in the aggregate our math uh we're already all the way back

163even with our high needs and that's because the mathematics transcends some of the language pieces that that we're struggling with um and we're having good growth with our high need students too it's just that the weight as we as that population becomes larger the the impact of it and the weight in the aggregate um you know skews the overall picture um but very very very very pleased academically how are they doing um I would I would not say that you know we're not without our challenges um you know behaviorally mentally I don't know if Melissa you want to talk you've given reports about you know the number of RIS R assessments that we see and the types of support what your folks are seeing so I think overall um what we see is a couple

164years ago we really talked about uh our kindergarten population was kind of a national level really saw a lot of disregulation difficulties accessing coping skills um you know managing um disappointments and you know following a group plan you know things that we really saw as an impact from from covid and not being able to have peer interactions preschool experiences that were disrupted we're really seeing a major decrease in our behavioral disregulation with our youngest Learners we still see some um but it's it's nowhere near the levels we saw when we came back from the pandemic we continue to see an impact on student mental health that has been area of focus in the district you know well before the time of covid and our data really showed that those numbers were climbing before the pandemic

165hit and really you know the impacts of the pandemic exacerbated the trend that we were seeing previous to that um our risk assessment data continues to be pretty stable um last year we were at a stable number this year um the most recent time that I took a look at that data and compared it to other years we were on trend for where we were last year at this time um historically though what we had seen um in years past is that the spring in particular we saw a pretty sharp increase you know whether that was related to things like um you know the stressors of final exams or you know the end of marking periods we haven't seen that um going to last year and I haven't noticed that in the data this year

166so those are things we'll continue to monitor but we see a sustained need in the mental health realm do you have a followup all right thank you thank you Council um just curious if you can extend that then to the class SI discussion relative to differences or discrepancies in outcomes for students relative to class size because your email also talked about how that wasn't really impacting in fact some of the highest performing students were in some of the larger class siiz situations that was my TW oh sorry absolutely I G I did give an example of that to families um and it's not again I don't want it to sound as if it's in defense of or or or attempting to promote a larger class size nor do I nor do I hope to sound

167like I'm promoting an over taxation on our teachers because I'm I'm a firm believer that um there's plenty of good things that can come from from a lower class size but a lot of the research that is cited you know really is talking about class sizes um in around that 15 against the 25 that's a lot of what the research uh measures and if if we're able to make those sweeping um differences in our class size then um then all the better um I just uh it's it's it's it's a tall order uh though in this in this current budget and and what I did was I did look back at our high water mark which was our 201819 school year and I went back and I found a enrollment document that said as of

168uh whether it was October September 10th or October 1st and there was really one school that had a cluster of uh classrooms at a partic at a and it was at a fifth grade level that were all at uh 25 and um their math achievement was uh 71.4% at goal which was I believe like the highest in the district it was above the district average and that was our high watermark for math a achievement in general so um those were our largest classes they were exceeding the district at whole at the time that the district was doing the best that it ever did as as an mentioned this past year we slightly uh beat out our best District scores ever um that same school had average class size or or had average class sizes in

169around 23 and they edged out that performance by 1 percentage point so it was roughly equivalent 72.6 um and what's interesting in the reading um that that most current year of students this most current year of students was only at 60% whereas in that high water Market it was at 78% they beat out the English language arts with that larger class by 18 points and and likewise with the district that was our highest year in that class again beat out the entirety of the district so um it does sort of reaffirm what the research says not so much that class Size Doesn't Matter I would say it does but what matters more and what matters four times more five times more is the quality of the teachers and the quality of teachers in West Harford

170is absolutely Second To None um I heard some folks say you know they feel that things are falling off um I can appreciate they might feel that budgets are tighter uh I don't know you know when they were students how aware they were but I would say that the quality of our teachers has not lessened um our teachers are exceptional our results are exceptional we continue you know we had six schools of Distinction this year this past year more so than I'm aware of uh at any previous time our our our high schools which rest on the foundation of the K12 continue to be in the top 3% nationally continue to earn goals so um it is and it is all thanks to our teachers um and while I'm not trying to balance a budget

171on their backs either um I just recognize that uh that they do make a difference um and and they make a a significant one so I've been slowly clearing out the room so uh so uh for the the opportunities uh you had mentioned when when we first started the workshop tonight that you had wanted to take some time to I think really clarify the narrative around um what's being proposed with respect to Quest so i' I'd like to give you the floor to do that and then the other thing I I think i' I'd like to hear you speak on and I think that would be important for parents to hear is I think you've seen in some of the correspondence there's this Narrative of oh well why can't we just cut from you know

172the the district level staff and and I think there's not necessarily an appreciation for all that great programming that sets West Harford apart really starts there and provides the teachers who have to ex it with the resources to be able to do that thank you very much no and um I'm glad to talk about Quest because I'm I'm I'm equally moved by the students who came forward and the parents and the testimonials and um you know I wanted to reiterate some things uh you know we've had a history with inquest we we sweep States at History Day competition um like every year that's just like that we own it uh the Odyssey of the mind uh you know making World Finals um the uh the quote from a student that Quest is amazing uh I

173just want to Quest is amazing the quest teachers are amazing uh the program art General Quest and math um very much and and what I have stated is our goal within this budget is to preserve that so if I think about what that means um you know I looked up in our book to verify uh what's written in there uh at the elementary a lot of our a lot of our speakers today were from the elementary level um and I know that General Quest is two hours a week so in this budget proposal my expectation is that quest uh next year could be two hours per week math Quest currently is three hours per week and my expectation for next year would be to allow math quest to be 3 hours per week um art

174Quest is 30 hours hours uh over a certain week period and and my expectation would be the same that it's that it's there currently they you know the kids talked about it the average class size in quest at the elementary level is less than eight students and so under these modifications my expectation and hope would be that the average class size in quest would be less than eight students so what I'm trying to very painfully reinforce is that I do not see these dramatic programmatic changes that I know that people are concerned about and and I would be equally concerned if that was The Proposal um but it is not um we you know where I do see some potential we have a disconnect in a couple of our middle schools class sizes uh one

175school are somewhere between six and 8 and at another school are closer to 12 to 15 and we could find an efficiency there uh to make them both 12 to 15 and have some small amount of savings without any uh and and I don't think a 12 to 15 would would would Rob from the opportunities at that age level that kids were suggesting uh they did talk about spreading the teachers thin and I thoroughly respect that and one of the speakers did talk about you know the potential for a lack of enrichment as a concern but the the thinking is that you know your average Quest teacher at a at an elementary school um is shared between two buildings and they do kind of half a day at one building doing that hour at fourth

176grade um alternating days between General and math and they do an hour at fifth grade alternating days between General and math and in between uh because there may be some time gaps in between they're doing enrichment with other grades and then they go repeat that at another school that that is not expected to change um I'm not looking to have Quest teachers across three buildings or anything like that it is not uh one of the students spoke about how many teachers there are in the program and the number of schools it is not looking to cut the number of teachers in half or anything dramatic to that nature um and and it is an absolute it's an absolute Gem of the district you know you you're hearing me say it you heard them say it

177much more eloquently and passionately um not looking to change that I don't know if I answered your question and you had a second question and I've since forgotten you did so thank you for that um and I also as I understand it it's it's matching the kind of declining enrollment inquest as well not so much I mean yes and yes and no in quest it's sort of uh the larger explanation and I did uh send out a note to anyone who had written in any of the quest families who had written in I had I wrote them back and and sort of tried to explain that if you look at the decline in the elementary enrollments over uh I don't remember what year period I I used but even if I took a 10year period

178we we didn't have um any real big cuts and Quests for for a long time they were they were in and around nine FTE for a long time um until fairly recently uh when we said okay now you know as a small program we didn't want to disrupt it um but there there came a point where the specifically at the elementary the the enrollment had slowed enough that we could we could afford to um to have a reduction there and and that's where we got down into the uh into the eights I think and uh and and that's what we're kind of looking to do now is is again a small trim as we see the enrollments dip again for this coming year and and with the projections that Liz shared I think there's there's

179going to be some additional decline uh across Elementary for a couple of years but the the Staffing at the elementary would remain you know unless we change the model which would be a different discussion uh Staffing it you know half half day in a school and half day in another school is is is the way that seems to work for what we're providing currently and again I'm not suggesting that we're changing what we're providing currently just finding some efficiencies and how we staff it and so the the other part was just giving you the Forum to to respond to kind of this I think one of the themes you see in in some of the correspondance is why don't we just find the cuts at the district level Personnel so um we have found a

180number of cuts at the district level um one of the things I um I responded to um some questions we've kind of looked at what what are uh what are some of the leadership positions uh whether they're teacher leader positions or whether they're administrative positions we have um I'm recalling I know we have cut uh one full-time administrative position we are um looking at some uh teaching that that may not feel like it's a cut in the uh adopted budget because we had plan for it then we had flexibility now we're going back so so what was it what's been actually happening I think it's a 0246 overall is that right Liz uh for the with some of the DS positions that are teaching um and then last year during our administrative restructure um we

181cut out a total uh last year we cut out a total of 2.1 um positions overall through the administrative restructure at a cost savings um which enabled us the the creation of the um Elementary assistant principles as well as the assistant director for pupil Services both of which um in my mind have have been um a very positive step for us and helped us with uh certainly within pupil Services helped uh to provide Melissa with some much needed relief uh and the ability to do more than um kind of keep up but start to be able to do some of that programmatic evaluation um in this current budget uh there are another I got to think of the number two5 I think positions from central office that we we were looking uh to adjust that

182uh one of those is uh an instructional coaching position uh that we would painfully uh let go of in this climate despite uh you know we're we're showing uh great positive promise with what instructional coaching has been doing for us as a district I feel that we do have the right model um and our our math scores uh reflect that um we transferred um a position into a grant fund to take the burden out of uh the general fund and then there was a portion of a position that we cut that is escaping me at the moment uh I think it was related to the best uh facilitation which we moved from being part of a teacher assignment and and costing um an FTE to to a stipend which was actually um also at a

183cost savings for us so we've you know at the end of the day I guess I would want to say we've in the last two budgets we've we've really taken a look um it's not a question I know you know I I think I shared at the last Workshop um I got a comment from a from a World Language teacher I've had comments from classroom teachers I've had comments from uh quester the Arts everyone feels that when when when there's a a piece that they're shouldering that they're the first Target um in all reality the effort has been to look across um all the different facets and and there's been there's been a a portion of the load to Bear by uh by everyone um and so that's that's that's what I got on that

184thank you other Gail Gil then Ethan um I wanted to just follow up on the quest issue for a minute um you said that there's declining enrollment in quest I I think that's what you said oh that's what Jason's said okay is that true um I I'm sure it is if Jason said it but yeah no no in all honesty I I I don't know that I've done like airm analysis of of the of the quest enrollment itself because Quest is an identification um and so when I go back to like the current average class size in elementary is is just under it's 7.85 or something like that if you if you add up all the kids being serviced um and and not individual kids because I'm in that count like if a student's attending

185math Quest I'm counting them and if that same student goes to General Quest on a different day they're in a different class so I'm counting them again so the average class size uh currently 7.85 I don't know off the top of my head if that's grown or or decreased um with the declining enrollments in general and I don't know if that holds up perfectly because at any one given school and we've seen this in certain years sometimes it's just an anomaly because uh Claire and I were calculating the quest population is about 12% of the grade level that they service but in any one given year you can have a classroom at school a that's got an above average number of quest students identified in a classroom at school B that has a slightly below

186number and we and we've seen that we've seen that with some fluctuations especially when they raise eyebrows if there's not a lot um I will say that you know uh our director Quest Mary Thompson she's done a great job over the last couple of years really looking at the identification process and uh you know we've asked her to uh you know to to check that process to make sure that it's not unbiased you know we've had speakers in The Last 5 Years who've talked about the male female right so we've we've tried to take a close look at that I I don't have a like a growth number or decline in my head but uh at the end of the day our intent is to service all students who are identified and I think that

187we have a model that can flexibly uh that can flexibly do that should the enrollment grow and you know I don't want to see the enrollment decline yeah I mean I I think that considering how much people love that program it would seem a little odd to me um that the you know it potentially is decreasing um when people seem to and students seem to love it um I do have some of that information so what I have is that you're right Paul that it's been a consistent percentage of the enrollment for eligible students so when we look at our enrollment of students who are in the fourth fifth grade or in Middle School who are eligible that's declined over the past 10 years so for example if you go back and look 10 years

188ago at 201516 school year we had 478 students partic individual students participating in quest um out of a total of you know about 3700 so that was right around 12% uh this current year um we also have 12% but there's only 49 students this year a decrease of 60 students just based on the fact that our overall student enrollment in those grades has declined what I was kind of wondering if yeah so it seems to be you know a consistent percent of total students but with the overall decline that we've seen there has been a marked decrease over those years and different years have you know as Paul had alluded to have have dipped and and uh risen a little bit based on the individual students um but you know for a few years we

189actually dipped under 400 and now we're just at about an even 400 okay I'm then my other question about the quest program is we are decreasing um I don't remember the exact I think it's is it 0.7 ftas okay um and when you were answering Jason's question it sounded like nothing was changing which is basically what you said nothing's changing but I just for my own understanding how can nothing change if we're decreasing 0.7t yeah FTS so there there are some spots you know I talked about the Middle School a little bit and there are some other spots where we have um some shared staff maybe between an elementary school and a middle school and and uh you know we don't feel that they're scheduled is necessarily they're doing more enrichment to fill out their

190uh more than a typical enrichment to fill out to fill out their ft and so if we if we look at some of those pairings of schools um and if we look at how we're scheduling and make some of our scheduling more consistent at the middle school we do feel that we can shave some um some FTE without any programmatic um any programmatic shift that would uh that would provide some cost savings so you're saying it just an issue of efficiency correct Ethan and then Claire two questions um first is you said or was said about 10 years ago the model changed from how many students in a class per teacher did it go up did it go down 10 years ago or whenever the change happened or does anyone remember that's the last time

191it says look at the the the the um the guideline it says it was reviewed in 2012 I think speak the policy Ethan okay yeah no I'm sorry I I don't I don't know if I mentioned that I know that was mentioned in an email by a parent um the policy for our class siiz guidelines I believe it dates back to the late ' 80s and it was reviewed most recently revised in the same way that the policy subcommittee gets together and they review and revise policies that was last reviewed and Revis with any potential revisions that occurred at that time about 10 years ago okay thanks that's helpful the second it's more a comment is it probably would be helpful to understand the assumptions for Quest because based on what everybody was saying is

192much different than what you all are saying which is what you've consistently said so I'm not arguing but my assumptions or their assumtions there's a perception out there that it seems like the whole Quest program is being and I no I I'm picking up on that same interpretation and that's why I'm I'm trying to really be labor my intent so that my intent is crystal clear because it seems that it it seems that folks um you know have a misunderstanding of my intention or they've made some assumptions about what might happen um so but in terms of you know in terms of our assumptions the only assumptions that we have relative to Quest itself I'll I'll I'll speak to you know what I know about the identification process it identifies kids typically that are um

193is it they're always twice exceptional um or no they only need be one time exceptional they do have a lot of twoe kids they talk about it um but they use um they use you know not just not just uh High academic scores but you know they look at kids and measure them on their creativity and and and these other things but those are the assumptions that we build into who gets identified I think you're really asking about what were the assumptions people were coming in with no what I'm saying is there's a disconnect between the assumptions behind the numbers and what people perception what the what the at least people who spoke up or written the emails think is happening they think let me be clear then I don't I don't have assumptions behind

194my numbers my I'm I'm trying to be transparent with everyone this is what I'm planning to do no but it's helpful for us to have no I I appreciate there's a disconnect um yeah I'm trying to clarify it as well so I I appreciate you're adding emphasis to it so um so during our small break we did calculate that about 12% of our students in uh fourth through 8th grade benefit from Quest once they get into high school there's a lot of accelerated classes and um advanced placement so they they get that um and then we have about 18% of our kids are identified with special needs and I guess I want to talk a little bit to that 60 that is not gifted doesn't have special needs and and one of the things that

195I think people don't understand about teachers in West Harford with all the foundation grants that they apply for with all the professional learning and and the work that they're given to differentiate and meet the needs of everyone in their class teachers are offering project-based learning they're offering differentiation you know when we did the service learning project I was a teacher in the district and when we were working with mapping fire hydrants in the district and working with the fire department some of my math Quest kids didn't want to leave the room you know they wanted us to freeze while they were gone because teachers in the regular classroom with General Ed kids are doing amazing projects and amazing things and I I appreciate all the kids coming to share I know that we are mandated

196by the state to identify we are not mandated to have a program but our program is bar nun we wipe out Odyssey of the Mind competitions this even the seven out of seven kids six won major honors with the History Fair so it's a great program but I really think that it you get the impression that only 12% of our kids get this enrichment and I know that the teachers in West Harford are doing really amazing things that aren't Quest considered Quest or the enrichment so um I really think you know our job is to meet the needs of all kids but we hear a lot about that 18% that has the special needs and we hear a lot about the quest but that group in the middle um they're doing great they're working hard

197and and um I just think the teachers the general education teachers need to be given credit for what they do yes any other questions or comments I just a there was kind of a brief reference to in a couple emails the um AP position at Bristo and I was hoping you could provided a little more update on that oh thank you thanks and I know um I I was able to whisper to the person um at the podium I I wasn't aware of a of a rumor of a of a cut of the position um so as you all know um we have uh identified um the AP position at Bristo as like a as a split having some split responsibilities and so I think I made mention of it briefly whether it was at

198the first first BG Workshop or the presentation of the budget you know we've had we've utilized that position three of it at times to do um evaluation at the elementary school that uh we changed it this year with the Advent of the assistant principles at the elementary school we were doing reach supervision and um the the movement out of Bristo over to reach um it it's problem atic for Bristo and for reach because the person the person is you know has to leave the building um and and ideally there are things going on or inevitably I should say there are things going on at either campus that that impacts the effectiveness of the supervision that's delivered so uh I mentioned briefly in my overview that uh one of the things I'm looking to do is

199a restructure of how we support reach supervision um that would include um re-evaluating the additional responsibilities for Bristo so that the Bristo assistant principal could remain at Bristo um they technically their FTE assignment in the budget would not be they would still be a a full-time employee per se but their but their FTE is you know is still going to be partially to Bristo and partially to additional duties and then I would look to have um a something like akin to a department supervisor who would be at the at the each uh building with teaching responsibilities costs of that being offset by less you know dollars needed for that um so that it's a generally cost neutral uh proposal that would keep the Bristo uh assistant principal at Bristo and keep the re and provide

200consistent reach supervision at reach um if that answers your question other questions I'll pan again and one last time Claire stop asking sorry but my my question is I I if maybe someone here understands but if we have a proposed budget increase of 7.2 and the town has a proposed increase in the sixes how does that end up being a 7.35 I okay I can take that sure thank you so when we talk about what our budget increase is on the town on the board side we're looking at 7.2% the town is looking at 6.5% what they're quoting is our expenditure increase so that on both sides that information is correct that's our overall expenditure increase what then we then need to look at is how are we funding that budget and so um when

201you look at the Town side they have different sources of funding they have grants that come in they have um property taxes that come in they may have interest income Etc and so if there's any fluctuation in the funding sources it can create a different tax increase so for example if we received um a much larger ECS Grant it would reduce the amount of taxes that we would need to cover these expenditures and our tax increase could be less than the 6 and2 average expenditure increase in this case what's happening is that the other funding sources so the grants the interest income the building permit Revenue all of those are decreasing a little bit so the tax increase that you need is higher than the overall expenditure increase does that make sense so basically you

202need you know let's just say for you need $10 million more just to use a number um and so you would think that if all of that came just from property taxes that the property taxes would go up by that same percentage but that's not what happens there's fluctuations in the other funding sources so maybe you're getting less Grant revenues so maybe you need 11 million more in taxes and so that percentage is different it also is affected by um Grand lless growth um and so you are yep Vehicles vers the type of property that you're taxing so vehicles have a different mill rate applied to them than real property um and so you know you can be quoting the overall property taxes that you need or you could be quoting the increase in the

203mill rate itself so it's not a one toone but the the excess cost Grant is education Ed excess cost but it doesn't go to the board of bed it goes to the town the education cost sharing one does the excess cost comes to us no that's okay they're very similar right but but it goes the town but it doesn't have to go to education it does have to go to education so our our ECS Grant right now is approximately I believe 25 million or so and certainly our overall budget is more than that so the first 25 million or whatever ECS is goes to our budget and then tax dollars fund the rest so but the budget we're proposing is 7.2 it doesn't get dropped by any additional education funds from the state correct any

204other questions I dare to ask because the way you all reacted before Oh My all right well with that we'll pause on the workshop number two thank each and every one of you so very much thank each and every one of you so very much and we'll come together again on Tuesday e