[0:15] I declare the September 9th

[0:16] Board of Education meeting

[0:19] open at 7:13

[0:20] Kentucky time. Please

[0:21] stand for the

[0:22] flag salute. The

[0:27] flag of the United

[0:28] States of America and

[0:29] the republic it

[0:30] serves, one nation

[0:35] and justice for

[0:36] all. Good. It looks like

[0:42] we don't have

[0:43] any announcements today.

[0:45] True.

[0:46] Are

[0:47] there any additions

[0:48] to the agenda? I

[0:51] don't see any hands raised. We are currently awaiting

[0:55] approval of the minutes

[0:56] of

[0:57] August 26. I accept

[0:58] the offer.

[1:00] Yes, agreed.

[1:05] Are there any discussions?

[1:07] No. Good. Okay,

[1:08] I'll take a quick

[1:09] roll call vote

[1:10] . Jaden,

[1:11] for.

[1:12] Bill,

[1:12] for.

[1:13] JP,

[1:14] for.

[1:14] Mackenzie,

[1:19] and I'm in favor too. The protocol

[1:21] was approved.

[1:25] Let's move on to

[1:26] public participation. Members of the

[1:28] Teland Education Board invite

[1:29] members of

[1:30] the public

[1:30] to share their

[1:31] thoughts and ideas.

[1:32] If appropriate,

[1:33] board members and

[1:34] administration may

[1:35] respond to

[1:36] comments during

[1:36] briefings.

[1:38] However, out of respect for those

[1:39] present and to

[1:40] comply with the time

[1:41] frame, further

[1:42] discussions may be

[1:43] held outside the

[1:44] meeting.

[1:48] You have two minutes. Does

[1:49] anyone in the audience wish

[1:51] to speak? 63 Wooden

[2:00] Drive? Um, I saw

[2:02] this on

[2:02] the internet today,

[2:03] offered by

[2:05] Mansfield Youth Services. It's kind of like a

[2:07] new

[2:08] leadership program

[2:09] for quiet

[2:10] high school students. And as

[2:13] the mother of a quiet

[2:14] high school student who is

[2:15] also interested in

[2:16] the National

[2:17] Honor Society,

[2:18] I wondered if

[2:19] Teland offered something

[2:21] similar. I've never

[2:25] seen anything like this before. But I know this is

[2:27] my first

[2:28] child, which is actually — here

[2:30] I have a few

[2:31] copies if

[2:32] you want to give them away. Um,

[2:35] my first child is

[2:36] more interested in

[2:37] National

[2:38] Honor Society.

[2:40] So, um, yeah, I

[2:41] was just wondering

[2:43] if we offer something

[2:44] like that, and if so,

[2:45] could you let me

[2:46] know. If not, is there a

[2:52] way to

[2:53] work with

[2:54] Mansfield to

[2:55] offer this to

[2:56] our students who

[2:57] may also want to

[2:58] join the

[2:58] National

[2:59] Honor Society

[3:00] but are very quiet,

[3:02] reserved, and may

[3:03] not have that

[3:03] formal

[3:04] leadership experience.

[3:10] And I guess that would

[3:12] count as a

[3:13] leadership skill

[3:14] for the National

[3:15] Honor Society.

[3:17] I think this should have been

[3:18] brought to your

[3:19] attention. I would be grateful.

[3:21] Doctor, do you want

[3:23] to respond to

[3:24] this somehow?

[3:24] Of course. Um, yes, I'd be

[3:26] happy to explore this

[3:27] issue. I've actually never

[3:28] heard of this

[3:29] program for quiet

[3:30] high school students. So

[3:31] this will be useful. I

[3:33] will present this to our

[3:34] leadership group. I

[3:35] also noticed that it

[3:36] looks like it is

[3:37] sponsored by

[3:40] Ashford Youth and Social Services. So it's

[3:42] like our city

[3:43] social services with

[3:44] Teresa Kristoff, and

[3:45] the city has grants for

[3:47] these kinds of activities that are happening

[3:48] in the city and in the schools. So

[3:51] this could be a great

[3:52] opportunity for us to

[3:53] leverage some of

[3:54] that funding

[3:55] into one of those

[3:56] programs.

[3:57] Yes. Yes. I think it would be

[3:58] very...I know

[3:59] my child

[4:01] would most likely

[4:02] benefit from something

[4:03] like this with this

[4:04] application.

[4:06] Yes. So is this a city

[4:08] collaboration? This is

[4:09] actually a

[4:10] youth

[4:11] services talent program. Good. Yes.

[4:13] No. No. Do you know

[4:14] anyone in town?

[4:15] But there's a lot...a lot of

[4:17] overlap in,

[4:20] you know, like in these

[4:21] cities, we do

[4:23] a lot of property deals

[4:24] , so, you know, one of these

[4:25] days I'll tell

[4:27] her about it too.

[4:28] Good. I appreciate it.

[4:29] Maybe you want

[4:30] to send this to her too,

[4:31] Shane?

[4:32] Yes.

[4:32] As a city council member,

[4:33] Dr. Willett could

[4:34] work with her.

[4:35] Yes, do that too,

[4:37] anyway. They are

[4:38] both working on this

[4:39] together.

[4:39] Yes, of course. But thank you

[4:41] . This...this is great.

[4:42] Thank you very much.

[4:43] Yes. And I said, "Yeah,

[4:44] no problem." I wasn't

[4:45] sure if we already

[4:46] had something like that. So,

[4:47] we run

[4:48] programs in collaboration

[4:49] with our youth

[4:50] services. But...but this

[4:52] particular one, "The Silent

[4:53] Disciple," I have

[4:54] n't actually heard of it. So,

[4:55] yeah, I hadn't heard of it either until

[4:57] today, but it

[4:58] somehow came up.

[4:59] Of course. It is certainly

[5:00] worth studying this

[5:01] issue. Of course. And these are the

[5:02] kinds of programs that

[5:03] they consistently

[5:04] support and

[5:04] sponsor. So, that's

[5:06] right. That's right.

[5:07] Good. Thank you.

[5:09] Of course. Does

[5:09] anyone else want to

[5:10] speak now?

[5:12] I don't think we have

[5:14] anyone online.

[5:15] No. Okay, we can

[5:17] close the public

[5:18] discussion.

[5:21] Okay, that brings

[5:23] us to the

[5:23] correspondence.

[5:24] Jayden, you're

[5:25] filling in for Dana today.

[5:26] Yes. Um...And also, I have

[5:27] a lot of thoughts on where this

[5:29] could lead, but

[5:30] I like that

[5:31] you brought it to

[5:32] our attention. So thank you.

[5:34] Of course. Um, we had

[5:36] four between the last

[5:36] meeting and this one, we

[5:37] received four

[5:38] different

[5:39] emails. If I

[5:40] missed anything, feel

[5:40] free to correct

[5:41] me. One concerns the

[5:42] bus stop.

[5:44] The father of a

[5:44] high school student

[5:45] asked the council

[5:46] to reinstate the bus stop

[5:47] near his house. Their

[5:48] son now waits alone

[5:49] on the side of the road, and

[5:50] late combined flights

[5:51] often raise

[5:52] safety concerns, especially

[5:53] in winter. We have

[5:54] correspondence regarding

[5:55] the size of the

[5:56] first-year class

[5:57] at Birch Grove

[5:58] . Parents reasonably

[6:00] objected to the fact

[6:01] that 24 first-graders are studying in one

[6:02] classroom at Birch Grove

[6:04] and

[6:05] asked the district

[6:06] to explain this decision

[6:08] and refer to the

[6:09] relevant rules.

[6:11] They asked

[6:12] for a written

[6:13] response and, possibly,

[6:14] to discuss the

[6:15] issue at a

[6:16] council or city

[6:17] administration meeting.

[6:18] Teacher Appreciation Day. I

[6:20] believe this was about

[6:21] last

[6:22] week. One

[6:23] community member noted that

[6:25] Teacher Appreciation Day was at

[6:27] Talon Green Market and asked

[6:28] where they could send

[6:29] a card. I believe

[6:31] this again

[6:32] referred to last

[6:33] week, not this one.

[6:34] Maybe I'm wrong.

[6:36] And the last one is the

[6:37] 4x4 block schedule in

[6:39] high school.

[6:40] Parents of sixth-

[6:41] and second-graders are

[6:42] concerned that the

[6:43] 4x4 block schedule in

[6:44] middle school could

[6:45] disrupt the

[6:45] sequence of

[6:46] math learning

[6:47] for students who

[6:47] have studied advanced

[6:48] math in

[6:49] high school. So

[6:50] they asked the board

[6:51] to consider an

[6:52] AB schedule or another type of

[6:53] schedule that better

[6:55] supports such

[6:56] sequential courses and

[6:57] so on. These were four

[6:59] issues that I

[7:00] noticed and

[7:01] analyzed. That's

[7:03] all.

[7:04] Thank you, Dr. Will. I've

[7:06] seen answers to, it

[7:07] seems, every one of

[7:08] them. So, okay,

[7:10] now let's move on to

[7:12] informational issues

[7:13] . Does any

[7:15] council member wish to

[7:15] speak now?

[7:18] This is actually

[7:19] related to my

[7:20] question. I'm really

[7:21] glad you

[7:22] brought this up because it's

[7:22] related to something

[7:24] I wanted to ask

[7:25] the doctor about before we started

[7:26] . So now is the

[7:27] right time.

[7:28] There are programs that

[7:29] operate directly

[7:30] through Tallinn schools,

[7:31] such as an

[7:32] after-school program

[7:33] like DECA, right? I

[7:34] will always

[7:35] remember DECA. This is a

[7:36] very open

[7:37] club for communication. You

[7:38] are there

[7:39] with many

[7:40] other children or

[7:40] students, and there is a

[7:41] lot

[7:42] going on around you. You know,

[7:43] there's

[7:45] really no way to

[7:46] be in a quiet place

[7:47] during events like this

[7:48] . However, there are many

[7:50] different paths you

[7:51] can take. You can

[7:53] choose a leadership

[7:54] path, a competitive path,

[7:56] or other paths that

[7:57] determine how

[7:58] much chaos or

[7:59] interaction you will have to

[8:00] deal with

[8:01] each week. So I

[8:03] will always

[8:04] recommend DECA

[8:05] simply because that's what

[8:06] I promoted too.

[8:08] That's the thing. And, and

[8:09] , and I have no doubt that

[8:11] you did. This, this, is hard. It's hard to

[8:14] take a step and step

[8:16] outside of your

[8:17] comfort zone, especially in something

[8:18] you're not

[8:19] quite used to. So,

[8:21] um, well, at this

[8:22] point, I don't even

[8:24] know what the status is

[8:25] with DECA. So I want to

[8:27] draw attention and, as an

[8:28] informational request,

[8:29] ask something about

[8:30] general clubs at

[8:31] the beginning of the year.

[8:35] general club, uh, uh

[8:38] , leaders, do we have them

[8:39] for clubs

[8:41] and all that?

[8:42] Generally speaking,

[8:44] yes. Yes, we are having a

[8:45] meeting to

[8:46] update

[8:47] club information and

[8:47] communications

[8:48] next week. But

[8:49] yes, we are currently in the

[8:50] process of raising funds

[8:51] to start the

[8:53] clubs on

[8:54] September 28th.

[8:56] Of course.

[8:57] But we are in the fundraising phase

[8:59] .

[9:00] Of course.

[9:00] So

[9:01] we also have an online

[9:02] system.

[9:03] We have an online

[9:03] system called “my school books,”

[9:05] similar to the one

[9:06] parents

[9:06] use for

[9:07] sports clubs.

[9:08] Do we think it's

[9:09] better than last

[9:11] time? I guess, given that

[9:12] I haven't heard

[9:13] many dissatisfied

[9:15] people, it seems like it is

[9:16] . I think I've

[9:17] only heard of some

[9:18] people getting confused about how to

[9:19] use it,

[9:21] but that usually

[9:21] happens when they

[9:23] first

[9:23] use it

[9:24] for sports or

[9:25] anything else. But

[9:27] the payments are coming in;

[9:28] people register;

[9:29] People are using the

[9:30] online payment method,

[9:31] although it costs

[9:33] a little extra,

[9:34] but as far as I can

[9:35] tell, it's going

[9:36] pretty well.

[9:37] okay so

[9:38] I won't

[9:39] ask about the

[9:39] details but the other

[9:40] part of my question

[9:41] was are there

[9:42] enough managers

[9:43] for these clubs? Because

[9:44] obviously

[9:45] retirement can affect

[9:46] who does what

[9:47] and all

[9:48] these things.

[9:49] Yes, we do not currently

[9:50] expect a shortage of

[9:51] managers.

[9:51] Perfectly.

[9:52] I think Jane wants

[9:53] to ask if there is a

[9:54] designated leader

[9:56] for DECA yet?

[9:56] Oh, yes, there is a person who

[9:58] we hope

[9:59] will take on this.

[10:02] Yes, that answered

[10:03] my question.

[10:05] You can be

[10:05] specific about

[10:06] things like that.

[10:07] Yes. Yes.

[10:08] We hope so.

[10:10] Yes. Yes. But the chances are

[10:11] high.

[10:12] OK.

[10:12] But don't forget that

[10:14] we have to raise

[10:14] funds before

[10:15] we can appoint a

[10:16] leader. So

[10:17] this applies to everyone,

[10:19] this is a

[10:19] small

[10:20] part too.

[10:21] Yes. Yes. OK. I'll

[10:23] ask you again

[10:24] in two weeks.

[10:25] Would you like to, would

[10:25] you like to be a

[10:26] manager for

[10:27] believe me, I've been

[10:28] through, I get

[10:29] paid

[10:29] I've been through the stages of how

[10:30] I can

[10:31] make this possible and unfortunately

[10:32] it's just not possible.

[10:33] But then again, there

[10:34] is a lot of personal

[10:35] investment in DECA. That's why I

[10:36] always recommend it.

[10:38] That's why I always

[10:39] ask about it, and, um,

[10:40] yes.

[10:43] Good. Of course.

[10:45] Thank you.

[10:47] Anyone else?

[10:48] Um, can I

[10:49] ask, we have

[10:51] Peter Savo with us tonight. So I

[10:52] just wanted

[10:53] to know if

[10:54] we could address the

[10:55] new issues first.

[10:57] With pleasure.

[10:58] And we will move on to

[10:59] new issues after the

[11:00] chairman's report. We

[11:01] can skip

[11:02] the superintendent's question and

[11:03] go straight to

[11:03] the capital ones to

[11:04] talk to him, and

[11:05] then...

[11:05] Glad to do that. Do

[11:06] I need to

[11:07] put this to a

[11:08] vote? I

[11:08] don't think so, I

[11:09] mean, we can

[11:10] just go ahead and

[11:11] say we're

[11:12] going to go to L1 and

[11:14] backtrack a little bit.

[11:14] OK.

[11:15] And so we can,

[11:16] you know, let them

[11:17] leave here at some

[11:19] point. That

[11:19] sounds good. Um,

[11:21] okay. So, as for my

[11:23] information

[11:24] points, I was just

[11:25] going to, you know what?

[11:26] Yes. So, just

[11:28] welcome

[11:29] back to school. I

[11:30] look forward to the

[11:31] report from our

[11:32] student representative. Although without

[11:34] pressure. Um, but so far

[11:37] so good. I

[11:39] mean, it's weird to

[11:40] only have one student

[11:42] in the city's public schools right now

[11:43] , but um,

[11:44] everything seems to be going

[11:45] great from what

[11:47] I've heard. So thank you for a

[11:48] great start to the

[11:49] school year.

[11:51] Dr. Willie,

[11:52] we will now move on to the

[11:54] student representative's report. Are

[11:55] you going to

[11:56] paint the

[11:57] parking space? Uh

[11:58] , yes. We saw

[12:00] some photos.

[12:01] They are amazing just the way

[12:02] they are. on Friday. Uh,

[12:10] this week,

[12:11] Friday, September 11,

[12:13] 2026, we're having our

[12:14] first Nest, where we're

[12:15] doing a

[12:16] basketball

[12:17] knockout, as well as a

[12:18] hula hoop challenge

[12:20] and a Houston challenge,

[12:21] which has a drum beat and a

[12:23] part of a poem. and

[12:29] we will also have WFSB

[12:33] covering

[12:35] our football

[12:36] team as the football

[12:38] game of the week, and "Mog tall" and

[12:40] "mock child"

[12:41] will also start on

[12:42] September 14, 2026.

[12:45] This is great. Thank you. Uh,

[12:48] moving on to

[12:49] the committee and communications.

[12:51] We had a policy that

[12:52] dated back to when

[12:53] we

[12:53] last met.

[12:55] Um, and I actually, oh,

[12:56] yeah. Jay, can you

[12:57] provide a final

[12:58] update on this?

[12:59] OK. Um, Bill, do you

[13:02] want to talk about

[13:04] negotiations?

[13:05] Yes, we are still in the

[13:06] process with

[13:06] assistants and

[13:07] teachers.

[13:11] Um, Dana is gone. Uh,

[13:12] but we didn't have

[13:13] enough FFC, right? It's

[13:15] September.

[13:15] Yes. FFC didn't exist yet.

[13:17] And Joel is not here, but

[13:18] he provided an update

[13:19] on the

[13:19] curriculum last

[13:20] time. And Brian is away,

[13:21] but I believe the

[13:22] communications meeting

[13:23] you just mentioned

[13:24] is

[13:25] next week, right

[13:26] , Dr. Willett?

[13:27] Yes, that's right.

[13:28] Good. So, that

[13:29] concludes the

[13:30] public reports. Um, the

[13:31] chairman's report. I just

[13:33] wanted to say hello to everyone

[13:34] at school. I already

[13:36] did it. And now we'll

[13:37] move on to L1, new

[13:39] issues, and talk

[13:40] about the August

[13:41] capital expenditure report.

[13:43] Good. As you may

[13:44] recall, around

[13:45] this time of year we

[13:46] conduct our first

[13:47] round of

[13:48] capital investment reviews.

[13:51] The capital budget

[13:52] has two readings at the

[13:53] board of

[13:54] education level, and then the board

[13:55] traditionally

[13:56] authorizes

[13:56] the superintendent

[13:57] to forward the

[13:59] capital investment request from the

[14:00] board to the city. From this

[14:03] point on, the city

[14:04] is considering it among

[14:05] other

[14:06] capital investment requests

[14:07] within the process that

[14:08] you are familiar with. Normally

[14:10] this time of year—I

[14:11] called it

[14:12] August because we

[14:13] usually have an

[14:14] August meeting where

[14:15] we discuss this, but

[14:16] this year the schedule is

[14:18] different. Therefore, this

[14:19] issue

[14:19] is being considered at

[14:20] two September

[14:21] council meetings and

[14:23] one FFC meeting.

[14:24] So, you have this

[14:25] meeting to

[14:25] learn about

[14:26] capital investments.

[14:28] Then there will be an FFC meeting

[14:29] where we will discuss this in a

[14:31] more narrow circle

[14:32] and then come back

[14:33] to it at the second

[14:34] council meeting in

[14:35] September. At that point

[14:38] we will have to

[14:39] push this further. This is a

[14:42] list of facilities, and

[14:43] traditionally every year—and the

[14:45] capital investment plan is

[14:46] usually

[14:46] designed for five

[14:48] years—there are many projects happening within this

[14:49] plan

[14:51] over a period of

[14:52] time. We must

[14:55] logically align these

[14:57] projects with the

[14:57] financial

[14:58] capabilities of

[14:59] the bonds, as well as with the

[15:01] implementation timeframe. As you

[15:02] know, we have an

[15:03] extremely

[15:03] hardworking Director

[15:04] of

[15:05] Infrastructure, but

[15:06] he can't be

[15:07] everywhere at once. So

[15:08] even

[15:09] project management

[15:10] requires certain boundaries,

[15:11] consistency, and a

[15:12] schedule. You will notice

[15:15] that new requests are added each year

[15:16] , but they

[15:18] are part of an

[15:18] overall

[15:19] five-year plan. The

[15:25] yellow sheet here is the

[15:26] general

[15:27] five-year plan, and that's

[15:28] all that was asked.

[15:32] Then, in a color that

[15:33] , I don't know, is somehow

[15:34] greenish-blue

[15:35] . These are the requests from the

[15:39] September 8th Board of Education meeting that we are

[15:40] talking about now. And there's also

[15:41] WOAS, which stands for "

[15:45] when opportunity arises." These are the ones that

[15:46] have been postponed indefinitely

[15:48] .

[15:49] They were once asked,

[15:51] but the city council

[15:52] never allocated funds for them

[15:53] through

[15:54] bonds. Therefore, they

[15:55] were placed in

[15:56] the "when

[15:57] the opportunity arises

[15:58] " category. So, in this

[15:59] document, there are a number of

[16:00] links and

[16:01] information about what the

[16:03] five-year plan is

[16:03] now, as well as what is

[16:05] recommended for

[16:06] this year. One last thing I

[16:08] want to point out

[16:09] : if you

[16:11] go to the website,

[16:12] go to the

[16:13] superintendent section,

[16:14] click on

[16:15] Superintendent

[16:16] Will's page, and go to the

[16:18] capital

[16:19] investment plan, you will see

[16:20] all the documents from

[16:21] previous years. So you

[16:24] can see how

[16:25] this five-year plan

[16:27] evolved over

[16:28] several iterations.

[16:30] OK. Also, keep

[16:33] in mind that what

[16:34] lies before you

[16:35] tonight is

[16:36] not yet posted here,

[16:37] as we do not

[16:38] publish it until

[16:39] the board approves

[16:40] the document. Once

[16:45] you say it's

[16:46] okay, I'll update it with the

[16:47] approval date, and

[16:48] then this five-year

[16:50] "yellow sheet," so

[16:51] to speak... you can

[16:52] just call it that

[16:53] , will appear

[16:54] here, and all the

[16:55] capital plan documents

[16:57] that make up the request for

[16:58] that year will be

[16:59] added to this page

[17:00] . If you scroll

[17:03] down, you will see all the

[17:04] documents from many, years ago. And,

[17:06] you know, Mr. Zava

[17:07] does a great

[17:08] job. I'll just

[17:10] click on any one at

[17:11] random. You can

[17:13] see that there is

[17:14] information here about

[17:15] priority,

[17:17] project type, year, details,

[17:18] cost—all of that.

[17:21] Moreover, with

[17:22] images. This is

[17:23] just an example

[17:25] I chose. If you

[17:26] want to see

[17:27] something from the past, that's

[17:28] one thing, but if you're

[17:29] looking for what's before

[17:31] us today, what

[17:32] we're being presented with and what

[17:33] we hope to

[17:34] convey to the city, this is

[17:36] it. So, Mr. Stav is

[17:38] here. I'll just quickly

[17:39] read this list.

[17:40] These are all links that

[17:42] can be activated and

[17:43] opened so you

[17:44] can see them too

[17:44] . They

[17:46] will also be on the

[17:46] dashboard

[17:48] . They can also

[17:49] be accessed via the

[17:50] link below. And

[17:52] this is also in the package of

[17:53] documents for the council.

[17:55] I hope if you have it

[17:56] you can

[17:57] access it. So

[17:58] , we have projects for

[17:59] laying the coating in

[18:01] TMS in phases. These are phases one,

[18:03] two and three,

[18:05] council office roof replacement, kitchen stove,

[18:07] replacement of external

[18:08] benches at THS, replacement of

[18:09] external doors at THS,

[18:11] energy

[18:12] and technology,

[18:14] ramp railing along

[18:15] front loading

[18:17] platform, internal

[18:18] Wi-Fi

[18:19] clock system at TIS,

[18:20] replacement of

[18:21] public address system at TIS and

[18:22] replacement of

[18:23] public address system at TMS. And

[18:26] they are also accompanied by

[18:27] corresponding sheets with

[18:28] descriptions. So, I am

[18:30] ready to answer

[18:31] any questions

[18:32] , and Mr. Stav is also here

[18:34] to help with

[18:35] explanations. You will also

[18:36] see on the right the

[18:37] year the

[18:38] project is scheduled for

[18:39] and its cost in

[18:40] this table. This gives

[18:42] you a general

[18:43] idea, and details

[18:44] can be found in the

[18:45] links.

[18:48] I will intervene because there

[18:50] may be

[18:51] questions about what

[18:52] exactly I am proposing. I would

[18:55] like to add, um...

[18:59] our one-

[19:00] to-one program and any

[19:01] other

[19:02] technological

[19:05] equipment to the

[19:06] capital plan.

[19:09] In short, we

[19:10] have discussed this

[19:11] over the last

[19:12] few years during

[19:14] budget periods.

[19:15] Um, our...our

[19:20] policy is outdated

[19:21] because it deals with

[19:23] time slots,

[19:24] not specific

[19:25] equipment.

[19:28] Technology

[19:29] equipment has always

[19:30] been a capital

[19:31] expense, but we

[19:32] used it

[19:33] mostly in

[19:34] computer classes and

[19:35] so on. It is obvious that

[19:37] we now

[19:38] use

[19:39] portable devices

[19:40] for many of our

[19:41] needs and the needs of

[19:42] our students. So,

[19:44] I hope our board

[19:45] will consider

[19:46] updating this

[19:47] policy. But to

[19:50] be specific, at the

[19:51] budget meeting

[19:53] last year, the

[19:54] minutes state

[19:55] that Mr. Foley explained:

[19:57] even though the technology doesn't

[19:58] last 8-10 years, it's still a

[19:59] capital

[20:00] expense. The city

[20:02] is incorporating technology

[20:03] into the capital

[20:04] plan, and it is ready to

[20:05] do the same for the

[20:06] Department of Education. The

[20:07] superintendent

[20:08] already has the technology in the

[20:09] capital plan.

[20:10] Mr. Foley noted.

[20:11] The plan is flexible and

[20:12] items in it can

[20:13] be changed. Mr. Naran

[20:14] reviewed the

[20:16] Office of the State

[20:17] Comptroller's Property Control Guide for

[20:18] large-scale

[20:19] technology purchases. These are

[20:20] acceptable expenses.

[20:22] However, he noted

[20:22] that the council may

[20:23] have to

[20:23] consider

[20:24] extending the life of

[20:25] some

[20:26] technologies if

[20:26] the city agrees to

[20:27] include them in the

[20:27] capital plan.

[20:28] As Bill reminded me

[20:29] earlier, we've already

[20:30] postponed upgrading

[20:31] our Chromebooks for a year. We

[20:33] could certainly

[20:34] discuss whether it's possible to

[20:35] postpone

[20:36] laptop upgrades for a year. But

[20:38] I think, aside from the

[20:39] lifespan issue

[20:41] , it's appropriate.

[20:43] So I would like to see that

[20:45] added. I would also

[20:48] like, as we

[20:49] discussed publicly during the

[20:50] budget debate

[20:51] a couple of years ago, I

[20:52] actually requested a

[20:54] second joint

[20:54] meeting with the last

[20:55] city council after a

[20:57] failed

[20:57] referendum, or

[20:58] maybe even two

[20:59] failed

[21:00] referendums, when we

[21:01] found ourselves in a difficult

[21:02] situation, forced

[21:03] to cut even

[21:04] more staff. So

[21:07] we met with the

[21:08] city council to

[21:09] see if

[21:11] they could help us with

[21:12] funding. We

[21:14] thought that asking to

[21:15] make the technical

[21:16] costs capitalized

[21:17] at that time might be an

[21:18] acceptable option

[21:20] , and also taking on

[21:21] security would be

[21:22] acceptable, as

[21:23] both of these options

[21:24] are practiced in

[21:25] many other

[21:26] counties and businesses.

[21:28] This was not possible,

[21:31] probably due to the deadlines

[21:32] at that time. Then we

[21:33] asked if

[21:34] we could get help

[21:36] from the general fund,

[21:37] but we were denied.

[21:40] So, we agreed that

[21:41] we had a

[21:43] capital cost

[21:44] for repairs, to replace the

[21:46] seats in the

[21:47] TMS auditorium for $188,000. We

[21:52] said we would take it

[21:53] upon ourselves. We will

[21:56] put this in our ERF,

[21:57] that is, our reserve

[21:59] fund, and take it

[22:00] from there as soon as that

[22:01] fund is available

[22:04] as soon as it

[22:04] happens. Yes.

[22:07] Once this fund

[22:08] is renewed, and it

[22:09] is formed from the annual

[22:11] surplus, and if

[22:12] the city allocates 188

[22:13] thousand for technology,

[22:15] then this is what they

[22:16] agreed to. However,

[22:19] given that we

[22:20] had a deeper discussion

[22:22] about technology

[22:23] being in the

[22:24] capital plan, and

[22:25] we have a city

[22:26] council record saying

[22:28] it should be...I

[22:28] really think that this

[22:30] should not have been

[22:31] an agreement

[22:36] that was agreed to in the first

[22:37] place. We

[22:38] did it as a council

[22:40] because we had to,

[22:41] it was the only thing the council

[22:42] was willing to give us.

[22:44] It was the best

[22:44] decision we could have

[22:46] made at the time. I

[22:47] wish...we couldn't

[22:48] do the seating

[22:49] this summer because

[22:50] the company couldn't

[22:51] do it. We didn't

[22:53] spend this money. I would

[22:54] like the city to

[22:55] consider

[22:56] putting this back into the

[22:57] capital plan.

[22:58] These are capital

[22:59] expenditures. I believe

[23:00] both of these items

[23:00] should be

[23:01] capital

[23:02] expenditures. So, I would

[23:03] like them to be

[23:04] added to the

[23:07] capital plan request.

[23:08] So you want to

[23:09] include

[23:10] TMS auditorium seating and

[23:11] technology positions

[23:12] , specifically educational

[23:13] technology positions

[23:14] , like phones and

[23:15] laptops, as well as,

[23:16] you know,

[23:17] desktops that are

[23:18] needed, any

[23:19] equipment; I understand

[23:20] that software is

[23:21] not typically

[23:22] considered

[23:23] capital

[23:23] expenditure, but

[23:24] technology

[23:25] equipment

[23:26] is considered

[23:26] educational

[23:27] technology

[23:28] initiative devices, like

[23:29] phones

[23:30] yes, but also, but

[23:31] not like, like I mean

[23:35] , these are

[23:36] not typically educational things

[23:38] . Of course. But we

[23:39] had a

[23:40] desktop replacement that we

[23:41] also had to

[23:42] do. Right.

[23:44] Yes. There aren't many of

[23:45] them. No, these are much

[23:46] higher costs.

[23:48] I understand.

[23:49] But anything that is an

[23:50] equipment expense that might

[23:52] fall under that

[23:54] definition should be

[23:55] there for the

[23:56] city council to consider.

[23:58] Good.

[24:01] So, we are

[24:02] any technical

[24:04] equipment

[24:06] that falls under this

[24:07] definition. Uh,

[24:10] this will be considered in the

[24:12] FFC, and then we will also

[24:13] have another

[24:14] final reading in the

[24:15] council. We are actually

[24:16] voting to

[24:17] refer this request to the

[24:19] city council. So in the meantime,

[24:20] I'll try to

[24:21] gather more

[24:21] information. You know

[24:23] , I have some

[24:24] information, I think

[24:25] Bristol schools

[24:26] have included this in 2025.

[24:27] Norwalk Schools

[24:28] included this in 2025, uh

[24:29] , in

[24:30] last year's budget. I

[24:31] gave examples of

[24:32] several cities that have

[24:33] incorporated technology

[24:34] and safety. So, I'll

[24:36] go back to that and

[24:37] try, you know, it's

[24:38] not easy data to

[24:39] get from other

[24:40] areas. Not everyone has their

[24:41] capital budget

[24:42] laid out perfectly

[24:44] for viewing online,

[24:45] but I will try to gather

[24:46] more information

[24:47] for discussion

[24:48] before the vote

[24:49] in a couple of weeks.

[24:51] But that's all I have

[24:52] prepared

[24:53] for this meeting at this time.

[24:55] Good. So, having said

[24:57] that, do you have any

[24:58] questions about the

[24:59] capital

[25:00] expenditure request for Dr.

[25:02] Willett, Mr. Stava,

[25:03] or anyone else?

[25:05] And these links

[25:06] are also on your

[25:07] dashboard

[25:08] . Question.

[25:10] It seems like, uh,

[25:14] every time I

[25:15] look at it every year,

[25:17] TMS is always a year

[25:18] ahead. I wonder

[25:22] why

[25:24] Mantra is ready. The main trap

[25:25] is ready,

[25:26] except for some

[25:27] furniture that is a little

[25:28] late but

[25:29] should arrive.

[25:30] So, there is a main trap.

[25:31] It's done.

[25:32] Yes.

[25:33] So it really should be

[25:34] removed

[25:35] from fiscal year 2027

[25:36] .

[25:38] Uh, there is one

[25:39] unpaid invoice

[25:40] that the contractor hasn't

[25:42] submitted yet.

[25:43] So this is it this

[25:46] year.

[25:47] Good.

[25:48] Yes.

[25:48] So it's essentially

[25:49] done.

[25:50] We are in this. That's

[25:51] right.

[25:52] Yes. Because you are already 27

[25:54] now. Yes, on the

[25:55] 26th I leave the past

[25:56] there just so

[25:57] you can see it.

[25:59] But we, the technology,

[26:00] you know, everything you

[26:01] see in the 27th is

[26:02] happening

[26:03] or is being

[26:04] completed now.

[26:06] Good.

[26:07] So then if that's the case

[26:10] , what's the

[26:11] delay with the

[26:13] high school roof? Because

[26:14] it hasn't been

[26:15] done yet.

[26:16] Referendum question

[26:20] .

[26:20] I believe there are city

[26:21] hearings on this

[26:22] . Was that last

[26:24] night?

[26:24] No, that's not true.

[26:26] That was about

[26:27] a week ago. They

[26:28] had hearings there about

[26:29] this.

[26:30] Yes, they should

[26:31] do that before

[26:32] putting it to a

[26:33] referendum. That's

[26:34] all. I'm done.

[26:36] Good. Anyone else? Oh,

[26:37] Mackenzie, I'm sorry.

[26:41] Yes, thank you, Jen. Uh, I

[26:46] just wanted to, uh,

[26:47] say that I think

[26:48] that, uh, it's really

[26:50] after our conversations

[26:51] during budget

[26:52] season that we

[26:53] make sure that all the

[26:54] technical equipment

[26:56] is on that list. Me, I

[27:01] also support

[27:02] the need

[27:02] to include this here so that

[27:04] it doesn't go

[27:05] beyond our

[27:06] operating budget

[27:07] . Um, and I also agree

[27:11] about the

[27:12] high school audience. I, I

[27:15] know I wasn't

[27:17] on the council when

[27:18] some of

[27:19] these deals were made. Um, I think

[27:24] the situation with this and the

[27:25] transition to another

[27:26] budget year gives

[27:27] us an opportunity

[27:28] to discuss this with the

[27:29] city council, and I would

[27:30] like to bring it up for

[27:31] their consideration.

[27:37] Mackenzie, does anyone else

[27:39] want to speak? J.

[27:41] Hmm, I think I agree with

[27:43] you. Hmm, this

[27:44] feels very

[27:45] fresh. It's like this

[27:46] conversation feels

[27:47] very fresh. And

[27:48] maybe it's because

[27:49] it was when, in

[27:50] April, or when we were

[27:51] talking about...

[27:52] Yes, it was in April.

[27:53] Yes. My position on

[27:56] this has not changed in

[27:57] either respect. If

[28:02] we can, firstly, from the

[28:03] perspective of

[28:03] precedents, when this

[28:05] was capital

[28:06] expenditures by the

[28:07] city in other districts

[28:08] , other regions, etc.

[28:12] There is such an aspect. If

[28:15] there is a precedent and it makes sense for us

[28:16] to move to

[28:17] this model, I see no

[28:18] reason why we

[28:19] shouldn't do it.

[28:22] Um, a big burden

[28:23] all the time, I was talking

[28:24] about unscheduled

[28:25] maintenance before the

[28:26] meeting. It's like a

[28:28] domino effect: what the

[28:29] city council doesn't do,

[28:31] we have to do. And who, who

[28:33] gets blamed

[28:34] for rising costs and

[28:36] all that? I

[28:37] mean, it's constant. And that's why

[28:38] , you know, the

[28:39] board of

[28:41] education budget is so high

[28:42] because, well, if you

[28:43] cut seats,

[28:44] cut technology

[28:46] , a lot of things are going to be

[28:47] cut. So the

[28:49] overall impact, I

[28:50] think, would be

[28:52] less if the city

[28:53] somehow

[28:54] mathematically

[28:54] coordinated the way it

[28:56] did what

[28:57] I think is the

[28:58] city's responsibility. Um,

[29:00] so there's that aspect, but

[29:02] there's also the safety aspect,

[29:03] right, combined

[29:04] with technical safety,

[29:06] keeping

[29:07] our children safe, and

[29:08] so on. It

[29:09] seems so

[29:10] obvious to me that I don't

[29:11] understand why the city

[29:12] doesn't want to take it on

[29:13] . This is obvious to me

[29:16] , and it is something the

[29:17] council should

[29:17] address to the city

[29:19] year after year until it

[29:20] becomes a reality.

[29:22] The same goes for

[29:23] technology. I work

[29:25] with fifth and

[29:26] sixth grade students.

[29:27] As I gain more

[29:28] experience in this area, I am

[29:29] beginning to understand

[29:30] people's positions on the

[29:31] need for

[29:32] less technology. I

[29:33] understand where

[29:34] such

[29:35] views come from. At the same time, I'm

[29:37] putting my

[29:38] students or

[29:39] any of these kids at a

[29:40] huge

[29:41] disadvantage if I don't

[29:42] offer at least

[29:43] some of the resources to keep up

[29:46] with Coventry,

[29:47] Ellington, you know,

[29:48] Hartford, or

[29:49] whoever is right next to

[29:50] us. So, again

[29:52] , there are two

[29:54] factors at play here. First,

[29:55] there is precedent, and I

[29:56] know I've said this a

[29:57] million times,

[29:58] precedent for

[29:59] cities covering these

[30:00] costs. Then there's the

[30:02] other aspect: "Why do

[30:03] n't we do this for

[30:05] kids in the 21st century?"

[30:06] Especially in 2026,

[30:08] when they

[30:09] question everything—whether

[30:10] it's worth doing is

[30:11] another story—but

[30:13] they

[30:14] question everything, they

[30:15] want to know more, they

[30:16] want to be able to

[30:17] do more, etc.

[30:19] So I think I agree

[30:20] with you, Jim, my

[30:22] position on this

[30:22] hasn't changed

[30:24] since April, and I don't see

[30:25] it necessarily

[30:26] changing, but I'm

[30:27] open to new

[30:29] information. I am

[30:29] open to

[30:30] additional

[30:31] information from

[30:32] anyone who can

[30:33] provide it to us. I will be happy to

[30:36] listen. But

[30:38] okay, thank you.

[30:39] That's what I was saying,

[30:40] you're welcome, JP,

[30:42] if you have any

[30:42] questions before I

[30:44] go to round two.

[30:47] Okay, Mackenzie,

[30:48] your hand is still

[30:49] up. Is this the second

[30:50] question or is it

[30:51] left over from the

[30:51] previous one?

[30:52] No, it's because of not knowing how

[30:54] to use Zoom.

[30:56] You're

[30:56] doing great,

[30:57] Mackenzie. You are here.

[31:00] OK. Uh, does

[31:01] anyone have anything else?

[31:06] I know when Jen

[31:07] does it,

[31:08] God. Just

[31:10] remember,

[31:12] we're not voting on any of

[31:13] this. No.

[31:14] So, you know, it will be

[31:15] at the next

[31:16] meeting or so

[31:17] when we

[31:18] discuss and

[31:18] vote.

[31:19] Right. So, this is not the

[31:21] only opportunity

[31:22] to discuss anything on

[31:23] this list.

[31:24] No. And I think that's

[31:25] helpful because there are

[31:26] a lot of points here that

[31:27] you think, I

[31:28] feel, we've already

[31:29] seen

[31:31] rehashed. But to

[31:33] Mr. Sava's words about us

[31:35] now being in

[31:36] fiscal year 27, right

[31:37] ? So I'm trying to

[31:38] adapt, even

[31:40] in my job, I'm still

[31:41] trying

[31:42] to adjust to

[31:43] this new

[31:43] fiscal year, and

[31:45] everything is new. So I

[31:46] just need to get my

[31:47] bearings,

[31:48] look at it again,

[31:49] and better understand

[31:50] where my position is on

[31:52] this. Yes, Nick,

[31:54] I have another question

[31:55] while Pete is here. Yes.

[31:57] You know, I know

[31:59] we'll get

[31:59] an update on

[32:00] solar energy later in the meeting. Um,

[32:01] but one of the things in the

[32:03] solar plan was

[32:04] consoles in high

[32:05] school. And I see that

[32:07] the asphalting of the

[32:08] high school is

[32:10] scheduled for 29, 30, and

[32:12] 31. If these

[32:14] consoles are

[32:15] installed, will they

[32:16] have to be done

[32:17] earlier, before

[32:18] paving? So, the

[32:22] second phase, I think

[32:24] your fiscal

[32:25] year 30—that's the period that

[32:27] these

[32:28] consoles are about, sorry.

[32:31] I made a note to the

[32:33] request that we will

[32:33] probably have to

[32:35] come back to this

[32:36] next year when

[32:37] we

[32:38] look at

[32:39] capital expenditures again

[32:40] to see where

[32:41] this

[32:42] solar project fits in, because

[32:43] they may eventually

[32:44] pave

[32:45] some of this area.

[32:47] In any case, we

[32:48] may be forced to

[32:49] asphalt the rest,

[32:50] as it may be

[32:51] necessary to patch the

[32:52] holes rather than

[32:53] resurfacing the entire

[32:54] surface. So you'll

[32:59] have to

[32:59] review that, but

[33:00] it falls under

[33:02] phase two, as we

[33:02] planned, because we still

[33:04] have to consider

[33:05] things like summer

[33:06] school. You still

[33:09] need to have

[33:10] parking spaces and

[33:11] provide access. And

[33:14] I just want to add

[33:15] to what

[33:16] Jaden said, we share

[33:17] a lot of things with the

[33:18] city. So if

[33:22] you look at the first

[33:23] phase of paving,

[33:25] this is the access road to the

[33:26] high school, Eagle

[33:28] Hill, 1. Technically, it's a

[33:31] city road. I'm

[33:32] just pointing that out.

[33:35] Okay, this falls

[33:36] under our budget for

[33:37] repairing the city

[33:38] road, essentially,

[33:39] because it

[33:40] provides us with

[33:40] access to the school. There are

[33:44] things we

[33:45] encounter every day, such as

[33:46] artificial

[33:47] turf fields, sports

[33:49] equipment, and

[33:50] fields and territory in general.

[33:53] So, whether it's

[33:54] on our side of the

[33:55] fence or

[33:56] theirs, it still

[33:58] has to be done at

[33:59] some point.

[34:03] Thank you very much for that, Pete.

[34:05] After all, this is one

[34:06] city, and it's one

[34:07] big budget of

[34:08] taxpayer money

[34:09] .

[34:12] I also wanted to

[34:13] note, looking

[34:14] at this,

[34:16] that apart from the 188 thousand that

[34:18] we have set for 2026, there is

[34:20] nothing on this list

[34:22] related to

[34:23] technology. And I

[34:25] remember when we

[34:26] were looking at city

[34:27] plans, there were

[34:28] technology facilities

[34:29] for the city in their

[34:30] capital budget

[34:31] . It seems the fire

[34:32] department had

[34:33] technology costs

[34:34] in their

[34:34] capital budget

[34:35] . We have

[34:36] nothing in ours. I see

[34:39] that on occasion we have

[34:40] upgrades to the

[34:41] computer

[34:42] lab,

[34:43] art and music labs,

[34:45] science labs

[34:46] ,

[34:47] technical education lab,

[34:49] TIS computer lab,

[34:51] TIS keyboard lab, and

[34:52] TIS library. So

[34:56] it seems that even with

[34:56] the updating of our

[34:57] labs, the

[34:58] small number

[35:00] that still exist in schools are

[35:01] also not being updated.

[35:02] They fall into

[35:03] the "if

[35:04] possible

[35:05] " category. So I think

[35:07] our request for

[35:08] technology is quite

[35:09] fair,

[35:10] given what's

[35:11] not here yet.

[35:15] What happened, you know,

[35:16] when councils made

[35:17] such requests, that's where they

[35:18] ended up.

[35:21] Yes. So they can't be

[35:22] in the

[35:24] "if

[35:24] possible

[35:26] " category if we want

[35:27] our students to be able to

[35:28] perform the way

[35:29] Jayden pointed out, the way

[35:30] other districts

[35:31] around us are performing,

[35:32] competing for the

[35:33] same colleges

[35:34] and the same

[35:35] jobs.

[35:36] What did you say?

[35:37] It is said that this is the place

[35:39] where inquiries go to die.

[35:40] You know when it's like

[35:41] Yes. We cannot

[35:42] let these

[35:43] requests die.

[35:45] I won't do it

[35:46] this year.

[35:47] OK. Ahem.

[35:48] inappropriate

[35:49] requests.

[35:50] Yes. Right. There is

[35:51] no island of

[35:52] irrelevant

[35:53] queries. Um, okay,

[35:53] Pete, I want to

[35:54] let you go, but also

[35:55] thank you very much for

[35:56] coming.

[35:57] Ask as many

[35:58] questions as you

[35:58] need. I am here. Is there

[36:00] anything you

[36:01] would like to bring to our

[36:02] attention? Is there anything

[36:03] you think we

[36:04] should know or that

[36:05] you think should have a

[36:06] different priority here?

[36:07] I mean, is there

[36:08] anything the board should

[36:09] know based on your

[36:10] experience? No, I

[36:12] tried to be

[36:13] honest about some of the

[36:14] years where I put

[36:16] certain things in because,

[36:17] you know, obviously

[36:18] over the next

[36:19] two or three years, you're going

[36:20] to spend a lot of

[36:22] money from a

[36:23] city perspective. Well, while a roof on a

[36:26] high school, an

[36:28] artificial turf field, a

[36:29] running track—these are

[36:30] big, big

[36:31] expense items, right? Yes.

[36:33] That's right. You'll

[36:35] spend over

[36:36] $6.5 million on

[36:38] all of this together,

[36:39] probably, uh, or

[36:40] thereabouts. Um,

[36:44] you have, you know, there's

[36:46] still debt, obviously,

[36:47] for Birch Grove and

[36:49] some other properties.

[36:53] So, um, I was trying

[36:54] to look at years where the

[36:55] paving would be

[36:56] phased in so that we wouldn't

[36:58] exhaust ourselves in

[36:59] one year. So you

[37:02] still have access to the

[37:04] school board roof.

[37:06] Um, the last time this

[37:07] was done was around 2000

[37:09] . So, we're

[37:11] looking at, you know, 30

[37:12] years ago for that

[37:14] roof, plus more.

[37:15] this does not

[37:16] affect

[37:17] insurance in any way.

[37:17] What? does

[37:18] this in no way

[37:19] affect

[37:19] insurance, as in the

[37:20] case of a

[37:21] house roof?

[37:22] No. Eh, that shouldn't

[37:23] have any impact

[37:24] on it. The flat part of

[37:27] the roof is the main

[37:28] cost factor,

[37:29] as the flat

[37:30] part is the smallest

[37:31] section of the roof and also the

[37:32] cheapest compared

[37:34] to the covered tiles.

[37:38] But it is impossible to

[37:39] effectively remodel

[37:40] this roof to be

[37:41] completely covered in

[37:42] tiles without adding

[37:43] huge costs,

[37:45] as the

[37:46] air conditioning units

[37:47] serving the school

[37:48] are located right on the

[37:49] roof. Besides, there is

[37:52] limited space on the ground there

[37:54] , as you

[37:55] understand, in these

[37:56] conditions. Some things we

[37:58] do ourselves,

[37:59] for example, we can install the benches for the

[38:00] high school

[38:03] ourselves, but they

[38:04] have to be bought. And

[38:06] my budget is very

[38:07] limited. Many

[38:10] of you probably don't

[38:11] know, but my budget

[38:13] that I submitted to Dr.

[38:14] Willett and that was

[38:15] approved for

[38:17] FY2027,

[38:19] excluding HR salaries and

[38:21] insurance, was

[38:23] actually 3.5%

[38:24] less than the first

[38:26] budget I put together in

[38:28] 2017. This is

[38:32] taking into account inflation

[38:33] , so...I congratulate my

[38:38] team and...We

[38:39] did everything

[38:40] as

[38:41] efficiently as

[38:42] possible. So, without a

[38:47] doubt,

[38:48] when we consider the

[38:49] same benches, the main

[38:51] question is their

[38:51] purchase, because we

[38:52] no longer see

[38:53] the balance of funds at

[38:54] the end of the year. Um...regarding

[39:00] ...the issue of the

[39:08] notification system is related

[39:09] to the fact that the company Bogan,

[39:10] which manufactured the systems

[39:12] for TIS and the high

[39:13] school—both

[39:14] Multicom 2000 models...

[39:15] starting this

[39:17] year, they are stopping

[39:18] any

[39:19] repair or

[39:20] spare parts support

[39:22] for 5 years. So

[39:28] , with that in mind, I

[39:29] scheduled the replacement for

[39:31] fiscal years '31 and '30,

[39:32] because if we find ourselves

[39:33] in a situation where we can't

[39:35] get

[39:36] parts, our

[39:37] alert system will

[39:38] simply fail.

[39:39] Sounds like our

[39:41] situation with Microsoft. So

[39:43] , these are just things to take

[39:44] into consideration.

[39:47] Well, actually, I don't have

[39:49] anything else to add. For

[39:53] many of you who

[39:54] were in high school:

[39:55] we are seeing

[39:56] a problem from the

[39:57] energy and

[39:58] technology side with

[39:59] exterior doors—

[40:00] they are

[40:01] rusting badly, the door

[40:02] frames and the bottoms of the

[40:03] doors are rotting.

[40:08] Unlike the rest of

[40:09] the school, where the doors to the

[40:10] loading dock

[40:11] on the right are

[40:12] aluminum, the doors

[40:13] to the left, in the

[40:14] energy and

[40:15] technology section, are all

[40:16] steel. So they didn't

[40:21] withstand the

[40:22] effects of salt and other

[40:23] similar factors as well. We've

[40:28] actually

[40:28] repainted these

[40:30] doors, sanded them, and

[40:31] caulked some of

[40:32] them several times in the 11

[40:33] years I've been here

[40:35] , but we're getting to the point where

[40:36] they're becoming difficult

[40:37] to open and close.

[40:39] They have to be

[40:40] hammered in.

[40:41] They have to be

[40:42] undermined. You should

[40:43] do everything possible to ensure that

[40:44] exterior doors

[40:45] open and

[40:46] close. This becomes a

[40:47] security issue;

[40:49] of course, this affects

[40:50] the environment,

[40:50] energy efficiency,

[40:52] rodents,

[40:53] pest control—the list goes

[40:54] on.

[40:57] So this is something to

[40:58] look out for at

[40:59] some point. That's

[41:02] why I added them to

[41:03] this list, because we're

[41:04] running out of paint,

[41:05] putty, and other

[41:07] things needed to

[41:08] work on these doors

[41:09] . We do

[41:12] scheduled

[41:12] maintenance

[41:13] as much as we can, but

[41:14] if you look at the

[41:15] time frame. You

[41:17] have 25 years of

[41:18] use for this

[41:20] door. I mean,

[41:21] for steel

[41:22] doors, that's not bad.

[41:24] Well, your other doors

[41:26] should last 40–50

[41:28] years. Here, in fact, is the

[41:31] whole list. If

[41:34] you have any other

[41:35] questions, don't

[41:36] hesitate to ask

[41:38] . Are

[41:39] there any more questions for

[41:40] Pete?

[41:41] Quite a bit.

[41:42] Let's go back a moment

[41:44] . The fact that the

[41:45] budget you just

[41:46] submitted was what?

[41:47] Say it again.

[41:48] The budget you just

[41:49] submitted was less than the

[41:50] first budget

[41:50] you... by

[41:51] more than 3%

[41:52] that I ever

[41:53] wrote. Yes.

[41:54] 10 years ago.

[41:55] More than 3%

[41:56] that I've

[41:57] been working on for months to...

[41:58] and Dr. Willett

[41:59] probably still remembers

[42:01] my comment. I

[42:02] said I would spend

[42:03] a lot of time and create a

[42:05] budget so that you

[42:06] could keep that

[42:07] figure for many, many

[42:08] years.

[42:08] Yes. Did

[42:09] n't I say that,

[42:10] Doctor? Yes. Yes.

[42:12] So I did everything I could

[42:13] . It's just that some of the

[42:15] things there are, you know,

[42:16] completely crazy.

[42:17] And my opinion on this

[42:18] matter is—you did a

[42:19] great job. And that's

[42:20] my argument,

[42:21] going back to what

[42:22] we just

[42:23] talked about. I am not

[42:24] ashamed to ask to include

[42:25] some of these

[42:26] items in the city

[42:27] budget. Yes. I

[42:28] look forward to

[42:29] this discussion

[42:31] because I find what we

[42:32] put people

[42:33] through year after year

[42:34] absurd. And

[42:35] this whole security

[42:37] aspect is

[42:38] just about the door, right?

[42:39] Rusty door, you can

[42:41] barely...what is it?

[42:43] Steel toe,

[42:44] you know, if you dig

[42:45] hard enough,

[42:46] God knows what could

[42:47] happen to the safety of

[42:49] the buildings and, more

[42:50] importantly, the students. And

[42:51] yes, a lot of what

[42:52] you just said

[42:54] concerns me that

[42:55] this shouldn't be

[42:56] delayed until 2031

[42:58] , even though the service life

[42:59] is until then, so it

[43:00] makes sense and we can

[43:01] hold out while

[43:03] we address this

[43:03] pressing issue. So

[43:05] yes, this, this, this, this is

[43:07] needed. Yes.

[43:10] Well, while that budget

[43:11] is being cut, we've

[43:12] also taken on

[43:14] more of the things that the

[43:15] city used to do,

[43:16] more

[43:17] building maintenance, more

[43:18] field meetings, and

[43:19] so on.

[43:22] Yes.

[43:22] We have taken on

[43:23] more than has ever

[43:24] been done in the past.

[43:26] Yes. So it's, you know,

[43:28] less money and even

[43:29] more work.

[43:30] Well, there is a certain

[43:31] trend. It's a trend,

[43:34] and one of my

[43:36] firefighter friends won't

[43:37] approve of me saying this

[43:38] , but other

[43:39] departments

[43:39] get so much

[43:41] attention that the units

[43:42] within the Board of

[43:43] Education get, to

[43:44] my mind, zero attention from the

[43:46] city. And I'm not

[43:50] talking about our city

[43:51] councils, I didn't...I

[43:52] made it clear what I was talking about

[43:53] , so, um...yeah,

[44:01] I...That's it. This puts

[44:03] me in such a situation,

[44:04] you know, I'm

[44:05] speechless, because to me it's

[44:07] common sense that we

[44:08] have to address these

[44:09] issues. And if there is an

[44:10] opportunity in

[44:11] the discussion to approach the

[44:12] city council and

[44:13] say, "Let's

[44:14] take this off the

[44:16] agenda of the Board of

[44:17] Education so it can be

[44:18] done separately."

[44:20] Not to mention that

[44:21] it will free up

[44:21] the budget so we can

[44:22] retain staff and

[44:24] provide students with the

[44:25] resources they need. This is a

[44:26] multifaceted conversation

[44:27] that I think we

[44:28] need to have

[44:29] urgently, and I

[44:30] look forward to having

[44:31] it not only with the council, but

[44:32] hopefully with the

[44:33] city council, because it's a

[44:34] profound discussion.

[44:36] So, and I appreciate

[44:37] both of you being here

[44:38] to hear this.

[44:40] Yes. And I think, you

[44:43] know, even though we're not

[44:44] enemies, we

[44:44] discuss it on the

[44:45] city council and the board of

[44:47] education, but

[44:48] really we're one

[44:49] city. this, this, this district

[44:55] , the school district is

[44:56] part of the city. Um,

[44:58] hey, that's why, you know,

[44:59] our city worked so hard

[45:00] to

[45:01] get an

[45:03] AAA credit rating. This is so that

[45:05] , you know, we

[45:06] can cover such

[45:07] capital costs.

[45:11] Moreover, it seems,

[45:12] if I recall, the city is

[45:13] now so

[45:14] financially stable

[45:15] that you even

[45:16] make payments on the

[45:18] spot instead of

[45:19] issuing

[45:20] bonds. So, I think

[45:24] we're doing very

[45:25] well, and at the end of the day, this is

[45:26] also a kind of business

[45:28] , and different

[45:29] spending baskets exist for a reason

[45:30] . There are

[45:33] capital expenditures, there are

[45:35] operating expenditures, and

[45:36] , you know, when Jaden

[45:37] talks about the Board of

[45:38] Education, I

[45:39] think he's

[45:40] referring to the

[45:42] Board's operating budget, and

[45:42] allocating things to the

[45:43] appropriate

[45:44] budget lines

[45:45] during planning—

[45:47] that's what we have to

[45:48] do.

[45:49] Ahem. So yes.

[45:53] I just want to mention

[45:55] something about the roof of the Board of

[45:56] Education.

[45:57] This is not usually

[45:58] considered a school

[45:59] building. So you

[46:01] will not be eligible for

[46:02] any

[46:03] grants for this. The only time

[46:04] they

[46:05] usually cover

[46:07] the cost of office

[46:08] space with

[46:09] roof repairs is

[46:10] if your office is

[46:11] part of a school. But

[46:12] this is not our case. You

[46:15] have a separate,

[46:16] independent building where

[46:17] no

[46:18] training is conducted. If that

[46:19] building, excuse me,

[46:20] if that building was

[46:22] part of this one,

[46:23] for example, right? So

[46:24] if, if, if.

[46:25] This is a low grant.

[46:26] No, but if it were

[46:28] part of BGP,

[46:28] for example. Yes.

[46:29] Got it. But I'm

[46:30] more talking about the fact that

[46:32] if the school, if the

[46:33] Board of Education office

[46:34] was in this building,

[46:35] then the Board wouldn't have to

[46:36] worry about

[46:37] replacing the roof for that

[46:39] , and that...

[46:39] could be a

[46:40] shared expense

[46:41] or something like that,

[46:42] right? Okay. So,

[46:43] okay. Good. So,

[46:45] this

[46:46] has been studied in the past,

[46:48] right? But the staff didn't

[46:51] want to—not our

[46:52] staff, and to

[46:53] do that, the probate court would have to

[46:55] move into that

[46:56] building, and they

[46:57] looked at it and showed no

[46:58] interest.

[47:02] And there's not that much

[47:03] money per year that

[47:04] you're

[47:05] giving up.

[47:06] Yes. I just think

[47:09] it opens up

[47:10] a lot of new avenues

[47:11] for discussion, so

[47:12] thank you, my brain is already

[47:13] melting. I

[47:16] guess I'll just add

[47:17] something that I couldn't

[47:19] find the words for before, because

[47:20] I feel like as a member of the

[47:21] Board of Education,

[47:22] we work with the

[47:23] city council, and I'm not

[47:24] necessarily here to

[47:25] criticize other people's

[47:27] budgets or anything

[47:28] like that. But I think it's

[47:34] important for people

[47:35] to remember and understand

[47:36] how well, in

[47:37] terms of the

[47:39] funds remaining at the end of

[47:40] the year,

[47:41] our budgets were managed in the

[47:42] Board of Education.

[47:47] and there simply is not. And,

[47:49] frankly, I don't

[47:50] think there should be a bunch of unclaimed money left at the end of the

[47:51] year

[47:53] . I think

[47:55] part of our job is to make sure

[47:56] that we

[47:57] spend

[47:58] our Board of Education funds

[47:59] on what we planned

[48:01] and stated. Is

[48:02] n't that right? So, we

[48:05] come to the question of

[48:06] whether we have

[48:07] precedents in other

[48:08] cities? Do we have

[48:12] the financial, uh, right to

[48:13] legally, uh,

[48:14] go to the

[48:15] city council and

[48:16] say, "Look, we're

[48:17] doing our, we're

[48:19] doing our

[48:20] job. We think

[48:22] we're doing a very good job

[48:23] of

[48:23] managing the funds

[48:25] that we've been allocated. These are

[48:26] things that we

[48:27] think are necessary, that are

[48:29] not getting

[48:29] funded, and that are

[48:30] legally part of the

[48:32] capital

[48:33] expenditure regime." I fully

[48:37] support, uh,

[48:38] having this

[48:39] conversation with the city

[48:40] council and pushing

[48:41] you in that direction

[48:42] as much as we can.

[48:44] Very aptly said.

[48:45] I really

[48:46] like the phrase that

[48:47] we are doing a great

[48:48] job with the

[48:49] funds allocated to us. Yes, that was

[48:51] really apt. Thank you

[48:52] .

[48:52] And I think, I think

[48:53] people are losing

[48:54] sight of that. It's easy to

[48:55] lose sight of that

[48:56] because we have

[48:57] so many issues

[48:57] that we're trying

[48:58] to cover, and I think we do

[48:59] n't, which is why I wanted to

[49:00] make this comment

[49:01] here. I think it's

[49:02] worth voicing,

[49:03] you know.

[49:03] Yes. And when we

[49:04] look at, you know, the

[49:05] surplus at the end of

[49:05] the year, sometimes people

[49:06] just look at the

[49:07] dollar amounts

[49:08] instead of

[49:08] understanding that it's

[49:09] less than 1%, which is the

[49:09] best indicator

[49:10] . I mean, the

[49:12] business is targeting

[49:13] 5%.

[49:14] And we, we have less than 1%.

[49:16] So, yes. Thank you.

[49:19] Anyone else? Well, Mr.

[49:20] Sta, thank you for

[49:21] joining us tonight

[49:23] .

[49:24] Thank you for everything you

[49:25] do on Saturday. I

[49:28] think every

[49:29] time I'm in

[49:30] any of these schools I

[49:31] see you walking around and

[49:32] looking at some

[49:33] wall or something like that

[49:35] , like this morning at

[49:36] Bergshire Grove,

[49:37] doing some wiring

[49:38] .

[49:41] And we know that you and

[49:42] your staff are doing a

[49:44] lot to

[49:45] really reduce

[49:46] costs for us. So

[49:48] please know how

[49:49] much we appreciate this

[49:50] and your hard

[49:51] work.

[49:52] No, thank you.

[49:54] I appreciate it. OK. So

[49:58] , we'll go back, I

[50:00] think, to

[50:00] the superintendent.

[50:06] Hey, Jay. Okay,

[50:07] back to K,

[50:09] the superintendent's report. K1

[50:10] is a monthly

[50:11] financial

[50:16] report. He spoke just in

[50:20] time. So, the

[50:24] first one here doesn't

[50:30] load, wait

[50:31] a second. OK.

[50:34] Actually, you could

[50:35] provide an update

[50:36] on

[50:36] solar while this is

[50:37] loading if

[50:38] you want. I don't know,

[50:39] forever.

[50:40] No, it doesn't matter.

[50:41] So, I'll do that

[50:42] while I figure it out. So

[50:46] , the report on solar

[50:48] projects is currently

[50:49] under

[50:50] evaluation by the utility

[50:51] company. So, the

[50:54] official process for

[50:56] this is called the

[50:58] interconnection verification process. And

[51:01] if you think about it, that

[51:02] means connecting

[51:03] to the network. This is a

[51:06] formal process where the

[51:07] local

[51:08] utility

[51:09] company evaluates a

[51:10] solar

[51:11] power system in

[51:12] preparation for

[51:14] grid connection, as they

[51:15] want to check whether

[51:17] such a

[51:18] surge in power will cause

[51:19] problems, or whether

[51:20] something will explode,

[51:21] damage

[51:22] transformers, etc.

[51:25] So, when this

[51:26] IIA process is completed, an

[51:27] IIA implementation agreement is put in place

[51:29] , and it's a

[51:30] tripartite agreement

[51:31] between the TRA, the city,

[51:32] Green Skies, the company that

[51:34] implements it, and the

[51:36] utility. And for now,

[51:40] engineering

[51:41] work is ongoing while they

[51:43] receive final

[51:44] IIA approvals.

[51:45] IA approval is a

[51:46] bureaucratic affair.

[51:48] It just takes

[51:49] some time. The

[51:50] utility company

[51:51] has a queue of such

[51:52] cases. They are doing

[51:54] everything they can, and this is where

[51:55] we

[51:57] are now. But

[51:59] once this part

[52:00] is complete, we

[52:01] can move on to the

[52:03] implementation phase. It's

[52:05] not interesting in Thailand

[52:07] really, some

[52:08] interesting electric

[52:11] dynamics. There is an area with

[52:16] unstable

[52:17] power supply there that

[52:18] may

[52:19] need to be addressed at some point.

[52:24] OK. Do you have any

[52:25] questions for Dr.

[52:26] Willett regarding the

[52:27] solar

[52:28] project update? Is

[52:30] there any time

[52:31] frame

[52:33] for IAS? I would say

[52:35] we probably

[52:36] measure in months. I

[52:39] don't think anyone

[52:40] can say

[52:41] how quickly

[52:42] they'll do it, but

[52:43] I don't see it

[52:44] taking a year or anything

[52:46] like that. I think we're

[52:47] talking about months.

[52:51] So, what...because I

[52:52] think the savings

[52:54] that were presented to us

[52:55] when the

[52:56] solar plan came in

[52:57] was about

[52:58] $100,000 a year

[52:59] combined with all the

[53:00] solar

[53:01] generation.

[53:05] Ahem. Do

[53:08] you anticipate that we

[53:10] could potentially get those

[53:12] savings in

[53:14] fiscal year '27-28 or

[53:17] '28-29? I mean, if

[53:18] I'm being careful, I'd

[53:19] say 28-29, just

[53:20] because I think if

[53:21] I say something, if I'm

[53:22] wrong and it

[53:23] happens sooner, everyone

[53:24] will be happy. If

[53:26] I'm wrong and

[53:27] I hear you.

[53:28] So, I think that,

[53:29] especially with the

[53:30] cost of fuel and

[53:31] everything else that's

[53:32] going on right now, we'll

[53:33] at least get

[53:35] that benefit. There are

[53:36] a lot of "buts" here,

[53:37] but I would

[53:38] focus on 20,

[53:40] you know, maybe 29 years

[53:41] .

[53:42] installation and everything

[53:43] else.

[53:43] Yes. But I think it will at least

[53:46] partially come true for them

[53:48] . Cantilever

[53:51] structures are

[53:52] more complex, you know, and

[53:53] they don't leave

[53:54] chaos behind.

[53:55] That is, if they

[53:56] install them, they also

[53:57] perform

[53:57] asphalting and

[53:58] similar work. We

[53:59] just need to

[54:00] connect to it.

[54:03] I think most of the

[54:04] work

[54:04] will take place

[54:05] during the summer, you know

[54:07] , next summer, the

[54:09] summer of '27. This will be a

[54:14] very busy

[54:15] place if we

[54:16] plan to repair the roof

[54:18] and install an

[54:19] artificial turf field

[54:20] that same summer.

[54:22] Well, remember, yes, it's

[54:23] true.

[54:24] Perhaps.

[54:25] We do not install

[54:26] solar panels on the

[54:27] roof.

[54:28] Yes.

[54:30] But it's going to take a

[54:31] lot of coordination, and that's why

[54:32] , you know, it

[54:34] might happen in

[54:35] pieces. I don't

[54:39] expect, you know, I

[54:41] don't have a crystal

[54:42] ball, but I don't think

[54:43] it's going to last forever

[54:45] . And

[54:47] will the

[54:48] cantilever

[54:48] structures reduce

[54:49] the number of

[54:51] student parking spaces behind? They

[54:52] shouldn't. Usually

[54:54] not. You might

[54:58] only lose a few

[54:59] spots here and there, but there are

[55:00] areas with islands where

[55:02] you can place

[55:03] support structures.

[55:09] Also, you know, with the

[55:10] number of

[55:11] students in the high school

[55:12] now, there's

[55:13] a lot of parking out back

[55:14] . You know, even

[55:18] compared to

[55:20] when my

[55:21] oldest daughter, who is

[55:22] now 22, was studying there, that

[55:23] playground in the back was

[55:24] almost full. But

[55:29] I don't expect, you know,

[55:30] the project will be

[55:31] aimed at

[55:32] preserving as

[55:33] many places as possible

[55:34] while ensuring

[55:35] traffic flow.

[55:39] By the way, there is a

[55:41] high school in Stafford: if

[55:42] you go up the hill and

[55:43] go behind the building, there

[55:45] are cantilevered

[55:46] canopies there too. You can

[55:47] get an idea

[55:48] of what it looks like

[55:50] in the parking lot. Just like

[55:50] Genie Tech.

[55:52] Yes. I don't think they

[55:54] will eliminate a large

[55:55] number of places.

[55:56] Some of them you will simply

[55:58] mark as spaces

[55:59] for compact cars.

[56:01] You know, if there's a

[56:03] supporting structure there,

[56:05] then yes.

[56:05] we always

[56:08] I expect

[56:09] it will take Ever Source two or three

[56:10] months, you know,

[56:11] probably by Thanksgiving

[56:13] they will have their

[56:14] part completed. And then we will

[56:18] need to

[56:18] consider the

[56:19] architectural and

[56:20] structural aspects of

[56:21] the issue. But they

[56:25] need to do some

[56:26] calculations on

[56:27] our projects, which

[56:28] include solar

[56:29] panels in almost all of

[56:30] our schools, on

[56:31] the amount of generation and

[56:33] what

[56:35] the grid can actually handle.

[56:38] And so as not to blow up

[56:39] the transformer, but,

[56:44] you know, it shouldn't

[56:45] last forever. We

[56:47] expect it will be

[56:48] several months before

[56:49] we pass this

[56:50] stage.

[56:51] Yes. Most of them

[56:54] will try not to

[56:55] install

[56:56] solar panels on their

[56:57] roofs in December, January,

[56:58] and February because of the

[56:59] threat of snow,

[57:00] weather conditions, and so on

[57:01] .

[57:06] So you'll probably see them

[57:07] closer to

[57:08] April.

[57:13] Thank you.

[57:13] Sorry, I

[57:14] only stayed here for the

[57:15] part about solar

[57:16] panels.

[57:17] Yes, that's great.

[57:18] Thank you very much. Not surprised.

[57:20] Thank you

[57:21] Doctor, do you want to

[57:22] go back to the

[57:23] financial report?

[57:24] Of course. Thank you.

[57:26] So, this is your

[57:27] standard

[57:27] monthly

[57:28] financial report. As

[57:30] we know, we

[57:30] get it once a

[57:32] month. It is in the

[57:33] board document package

[57:35] on the control panel.

[57:42] So, we ended

[57:43] last month with an

[57:45] indicator of 1.85, 85, and

[57:51] salaries under article

[57:53] 110 exceed the budget

[57:54] by 232, but this is typical

[57:56] for this time of year. IT

[57:59] staff is working until

[58:01] September. Teacher positions

[58:05] are being filled at the

[58:06] highest level,

[58:07] the six-grade

[58:07] teacher positions

[58:08] are being retained,

[58:10] after they have received

[58:11] some adjustments,

[58:12] as

[58:13] we had

[58:14] higher levels at the time of filling than

[58:15] before. ESY budget, not

[58:18] before, but as people

[58:19] leave, sometimes

[58:20] retire or

[58:21] get fired, those

[58:22] who are hired can

[58:24] be at a higher level.

[58:26] ESY staff budget,

[58:28] this program

[58:29] mainly covers

[58:30] special needs students and

[58:31] special education. And

[58:34] so there was an overspend this year

[58:36] because the IEP required

[58:37] us

[58:38] to invest more in some

[58:40] elements of the program.

[58:41] So, we had to

[58:42] spend more on it

[58:43] than we

[58:44] expected.

[58:45] Overtime under

[58:46] Article 130 is currently

[58:47] over

[58:48] budget by approximately

[58:50] 871 due to a 10-month

[58:51] administrator who

[58:53] worked

[58:54] additional hours.

[58:55] Again, this is also

[58:56] a burden as

[58:58] we factor them in to

[58:59] make sure

[59:00] we have enough funds

[59:01] for the end of the year. We

[59:02] do this at the very

[59:03] beginning so we don't

[59:05] run out of money.

[59:07] But sometimes, if

[59:08] expenses are slightly

[59:09] higher than projected

[59:10] , it results in a

[59:11] small

[59:11] budget overrun.

[59:15] um, the 150 scholarships

[59:16] are over budget by

[59:18] about 38,000, but

[59:19] that's because we haven't

[59:21] received most of

[59:22] those

[59:23] scholarships yet. You'll

[59:25] notice that this

[59:26] happens, and it

[59:27] did last year

[59:29] almost right up until the end

[59:30] , because some of

[59:31] the scholarships are tied

[59:32] to classes and

[59:34] things, and that usually gets

[59:35] resolved sometime

[59:36] towards the end of the year, when

[59:37] we ended last

[59:39] year, I think, at 10,000.

[59:43] Um, legal services

[59:44] has been involved in

[59:46] a number of issues, as

[59:47] Mr. Bode mentioned, with

[59:48] regard to educators

[59:49] and teachers, and

[59:51] other actions. So, we

[59:54] really spend

[59:55] a lot on legal

[59:56] fees. We expect a

[59:58] budget overrun

[59:59] for this item.

[1:00:00] TE negotiations may be

[1:00:02] going into

[1:00:03] mediation,

[1:00:04] hopefully not,

[1:00:05] but it could happen, and

[1:00:07] PAR education is already

[1:00:09] in mediation. So this

[1:00:11] may increase

[1:00:12] costs somewhat. 350 technical

[1:00:14] services

[1:00:14] are underutilized, but

[1:00:16] you understand that

[1:00:17] this is to be expected

[1:00:18] at this time of year. We are

[1:00:20] not yet at the stage where we

[1:00:21] have purchased everything you

[1:00:22] could buy with

[1:00:23] that money. Um, and some

[1:00:26] purchase orders are for

[1:00:28] online services

[1:00:29] that are due at a

[1:00:30] certain time. Ahem. 350,

[1:00:33] sorry, 610

[1:00:34] educational office

[1:00:35] supplies

[1:00:36] are underused, but that's

[1:00:37] logical because we did

[1:00:39] n't spend all of it.

[1:00:40] Last year,

[1:00:41] sorry, last

[1:00:42] month it was 85,000.

[1:00:43] This month—68.

[1:00:45] Um, 690 student

[1:00:47] activities and

[1:00:48] miscellaneous

[1:00:49] materials

[1:00:50] underutilized at 43.

[1:00:52] That makes sense too. You have

[1:00:54] n't spent it all yet

[1:00:55] . Um, last

[1:00:57] month it was 71. And now

[1:01:00] it's obviously

[1:01:01] going to continue

[1:01:02] to decline, but we

[1:01:03] expect that

[1:01:04] balance

[1:01:05] to continue to

[1:01:06] decline

[1:01:06] throughout the year. So,

[1:01:08] those are just a few

[1:01:09] highlights.

[1:01:10] Obviously there's a lot going on here

[1:01:12] , and the FC meeting is

[1:01:13] next week. We will

[1:01:15] also

[1:01:16] cover this in detail in a

[1:01:17] multi-page

[1:01:18] report. So, at

[1:01:21] the beginning of the year, we

[1:01:22] are where

[1:01:23] you would expect to

[1:01:24] see us, about 62% of

[1:01:26] the budget remaining

[1:01:27] at this point. And so it's

[1:01:30] sometimes funny when

[1:01:32] people ask, what's

[1:01:33] your forecast for the end of the

[1:01:34] year? Technically,

[1:01:35] you

[1:01:35] get a

[1:01:37] year-end forecast every month. Now,

[1:01:38] if we had to

[1:01:39] predict, it would be the same

[1:01:41] 62%. Here's what we

[1:01:42] have. Um, but it

[1:01:45] changes a lot

[1:01:47] throughout the year, because

[1:01:48] when

[1:01:49] grants come in and through field

[1:01:50] placements, you

[1:01:51] noticed that it

[1:01:52] fluctuates all the time

[1:01:53] . So, we are where we

[1:01:58] expected to be at this

[1:01:59] point in the year.

[1:02:01] Good. Thank you. Are there any

[1:02:03] questions for Dr.

[1:02:04] Willett about the

[1:02:05] financial report?

[1:02:08] Good. No questions

[1:02:10] . Doctor, I was wondering

[1:02:13] if you would like to

[1:02:14] briefly talk

[1:02:15] about SRO since we have

[1:02:16] made some

[1:02:17] progress. Well, we almost

[1:02:20] made progress

[1:02:22] last week.

[1:02:24] It seems...I

[1:02:25] mean, how

[1:02:26] detailed do you want it?

[1:02:28] appears the city plans

[1:02:30] to partner with the SRO in FY27

[1:02:31] .

[1:02:34] Yes. We are working on

[1:02:35] finalizing the

[1:02:37] contract.

[1:02:37] Yes. So I am now making

[1:02:39] the changes that were

[1:02:41] finally agreed upon,

[1:02:42] namely: there will be no

[1:02:44] provisions for

[1:02:45] the future 28th or 29th

[1:02:46] fiscal years, only

[1:02:48] for the 27th.

[1:02:50] Yes.

[1:02:52] And this part...there are

[1:02:53] about five or six

[1:02:54] clauses in the contract

[1:02:56] that we have to

[1:02:57] remove. So we are

[1:03:00] now completing the

[1:03:01] process of removing them.

[1:03:03] So, the agreement allows the

[1:03:06] SRO to stay at

[1:03:07] the school for a

[1:03:09] certain amount of time. However,

[1:03:11] it only applies to

[1:03:13] funding for this

[1:03:14] year.

[1:03:15] But the deal will still be,

[1:03:16] well, the city, it's

[1:03:17] about

[1:03:18] funding going forward,

[1:03:19] because you know, the council is

[1:03:20] paying for it. Yes.

[1:03:23] But this year, these are

[1:03:24] separate formulations

[1:03:25] that relate specifically to

[1:03:27] city funding this year,

[1:03:28] and in the future, to

[1:03:29] funding by the council.

[1:03:31] Well, the city council

[1:03:32] will have a chance

[1:03:33] to discuss this during the

[1:03:34] budget,

[1:03:35] right?

[1:03:37] But the text would be

[1:03:39] that the council

[1:03:39] transfers the funds for

[1:03:41] SRO funding purposes,

[1:03:42] and if the city council

[1:03:43] says, “Hey, don’t

[1:03:44] worry about

[1:03:45] paying this year,”

[1:03:46] that’s the city

[1:03:48] council’s decision,

[1:03:50] right?

[1:03:51] And then we wouldn't pay

[1:03:52] . But this part of

[1:03:53] the contract—it's just what

[1:03:55] we do if

[1:03:56] ...and there's nothing that

[1:03:57] the city council is

[1:03:58] obligated or not

[1:04:00] obligated to do, other than

[1:04:01] that one year. So

[1:04:02] you know, after

[1:04:03] that they could

[1:04:04] if they wanted to, but it's

[1:04:06] not hidden in the text

[1:04:07] that they're going to.

[1:04:08] But

[1:04:08] this contract, I guess

[1:04:10] I meant to say,

[1:04:11] was a double one. This

[1:04:12] was a renewed

[1:04:13] contract for the SRO to be

[1:04:14] at the school

[1:04:15] per the city

[1:04:16] -council agreement, and it also

[1:04:17] addresses

[1:04:18] funding for this

[1:04:19] year from the city.

[1:04:20] Yes. Yes. What is

[1:04:23] delaying the process a bit is the

[1:04:24] financial part.

[1:04:27] Yes. It was because of the

[1:04:28] financial part that it all

[1:04:30] dragged on a bit.

[1:04:34] But we have created, as you

[1:04:36] know, a great

[1:04:36] system in the agreement that

[1:04:38] has parallel

[1:04:39] evaluation processes

[1:04:40] and things like that. This is a

[1:04:44] very, very thorough

[1:04:45] and excellent document.

[1:04:48] So, getting that

[1:04:50] last element, uh,

[1:04:51] you know, uh,

[1:04:53] funding stream—that's the

[1:04:57] last part of it.

[1:05:01] But uh, we should

[1:05:02] get a redaction

[1:05:04] from Shipwin on this in

[1:05:05] the next few

[1:05:06] days, and I'll pass that

[1:05:07] redaction on, and if

[1:05:08] all goes well, we can

[1:05:10] proceed.

[1:05:13] Perfectly. Thank you. Any

[1:05:14] questions, Dave? This is

[1:05:17] more of a general

[1:05:18] observation, but I would

[1:05:19] like to get

[1:05:20] more information on

[1:05:21] this. I don't

[1:05:23] understand, and I also

[1:05:24] remember conversations

[1:05:25] that took place a long time ago

[1:05:26] . Uh,

[1:05:29] that's how long it's been

[1:05:30] going on.

[1:05:32] Well, I know, but if we

[1:05:34] support the idea of

[1:05:35] covering

[1:05:36] security costs in 2027,

[1:05:38] why did we, why did we, why did

[1:05:39] we agree to only

[1:05:41] one year of

[1:05:41] security for

[1:05:43] our school? I don't

[1:05:46] understand this

[1:05:47] aspect. The

[1:05:48] city administration

[1:05:49] was unsure. Uh, the

[1:05:51] reason they

[1:05:52] agreed to provide this,

[1:05:54] if "agreed"

[1:05:55] is the right word,

[1:05:56] uh, to provide it for one

[1:05:57] year is because

[1:05:59] they had, you know, a

[1:06:00] salary difference

[1:06:01] when the officer

[1:06:02] retired.

[1:06:03] That's right.

[1:06:04] So, they had this, you

[1:06:06] know, surplus,

[1:06:08] I think, 84-86 thousand

[1:06:09] because of this, which they, uh

[1:06:11] , were willing to

[1:06:13] put towards this.

[1:06:16] However, uh, I think

[1:06:18] they're, you know, not thrilled about

[1:06:21] including it in

[1:06:22] their budget. However,

[1:06:25] uh, it will all depend

[1:06:27] on the city council. It

[1:06:28] will all depend on

[1:06:30] which city council is

[1:06:31] in power each year

[1:06:32] during the budget

[1:06:33] period whether

[1:06:34] they want to do this. Yes, there

[1:06:35] is no policy

[1:06:37] that would obligate the

[1:06:38] city to provide

[1:06:39] this. It was a request

[1:06:41] and we got approval

[1:06:42] for one year, but that's

[1:06:44] all we have at the

[1:06:45] moment. But we

[1:06:46] also needed to

[1:06:47] renew that contract

[1:06:48] so, you know, it was a

[1:06:49] long process with

[1:06:50] converting our

[1:06:51] two part-time positions

[1:06:53] to full-time and

[1:06:54] negotiating the current

[1:06:55] city agreement. So

[1:06:56] we needed

[1:06:57] this part too.

[1:06:58] So, we got

[1:06:59] what Dr.

[1:07:00] Willett said, he spent

[1:07:01] a lot of time. There are legal

[1:07:02] costs that the

[1:07:03] board of

[1:07:04] education has borne. Dr. Willet

[1:07:05] worked with lawyers.

[1:07:06] He worked with the city

[1:07:07] . He worked with, uh,

[1:07:09] city employees

[1:07:10] ,

[1:07:10] city employees

[1:07:11] . He worked with the

[1:07:12] council members. He

[1:07:13] worked with, uh, the

[1:07:14] police, you know, the

[1:07:16] Connecticut State Police. Uh,

[1:07:17] so we thank you

[1:07:18] for that, Dr. Willett.

[1:07:19] But yeah, this, this is what

[1:07:21] we stopped at.

[1:07:22] So we are still

[1:07:23] trying to

[1:07:24] dot the

[1:07:25] i's and close all the

[1:07:26] questions.

[1:07:27] Good. So, 2028 will

[1:07:29] just pass, you know,

[1:07:31] but I will do it. Yes.

[1:07:33] Perhaps.

[1:07:34] I don't want to devalue

[1:07:35] , okay? This shouldn't

[1:07:36] devalue all the work

[1:07:37] you just

[1:07:38] asked for, right? It's

[1:07:39] more of a one-off

[1:07:40] ,

[1:07:41] believe me, if it were

[1:07:42] up to us, we would have

[1:07:43] included it, but at

[1:07:44] some point we

[1:07:45] needed to

[1:07:46] sign a deal. So

[1:07:47] ,

[1:07:47] we will decide this

[1:07:48] year by year with our

[1:07:49] city council.

[1:07:50] When does the

[1:07:51] next discussion

[1:07:52] about

[1:07:52] 2028, 2029 begin? You

[1:07:55] know, that's what it

[1:07:56] means for

[1:07:57] financing.

[1:07:58] Yes. Yes. There will

[1:08:00] be no further discussion on how it will be written.

[1:08:02] It's just going to be, well

[1:08:03] , it's not that I don't have it

[1:08:05] in the

[1:08:06] contract to

[1:08:07] discuss,

[1:08:09] but the contract doesn't

[1:08:10] prohibit the city

[1:08:11] council,

[1:08:12] I mean from a

[1:08:13] contract perspective,

[1:08:15] Jayden is just

[1:08:16] asking when should we

[1:08:17] approach the

[1:08:18] city council about

[1:08:19] paying for next

[1:08:20] year, do we wait, does

[1:08:21] it have to happen during the

[1:08:23] budget

[1:08:23] process,

[1:08:26] your budget has to be

[1:08:27] created and

[1:08:28] submitted by February 14th,

[1:08:29] so you should probably

[1:08:30] approach at

[1:08:31] that point because you

[1:08:33] need to know whether it's

[1:08:34] budgeted or not.

[1:08:37] Okay.

[1:08:37] Yes.

[1:08:39] So we can

[1:08:40] do it.

[1:08:41] I can make the request

[1:08:42] again.

[1:08:43] Yes.

[1:08:43] But, uh, this

[1:08:44] budget cycle, and

[1:08:45] after that it

[1:08:46] will be up to the

[1:08:47] council.

[1:08:47] Well, no, it will be up

[1:08:48] to the board of

[1:08:49] education whether

[1:08:49] to proceed with this

[1:08:50] request to the board.

[1:08:51] Got it. Got it.

[1:08:52] Thank you.

[1:08:53] But I would happily

[1:08:54] do it again this year

[1:08:55] .

[1:08:56] Are there any more questions? OK.

[1:09:02] Then

[1:09:03] we move on to

[1:09:08] uh, council action No. 1:

[1:09:09] obsolete and

[1:09:10] redundant

[1:09:11] equipment.

[1:09:13] Everyone's favorite spot. Outdated

[1:09:15] surplus

[1:09:16] equipment. We have an

[1:09:20] old-fashioned

[1:09:20] portable projector

[1:09:22] , and please. He is already on his way

[1:09:25] to you.

[1:09:27] Yes. We declare

[1:09:28] it obsolete and

[1:09:29] then hand it over to

[1:09:30] the city. A

[1:09:32] Canon portable mini scanner that

[1:09:33] doesn't work. Sharp tape recorder

[1:09:36] . You can

[1:09:37] see here,

[1:09:38] the antenna is missing.

[1:09:41] Three pairs of portable

[1:09:42] desktop speakers

[1:09:43] that don't work very

[1:09:45] well. The Woodcock-

[1:09:47] Johnson tests that

[1:09:48] no one wants to take.

[1:09:51] They are old,

[1:09:52] no one

[1:09:52] uses them, we have

[1:09:53] updated replacements. So that's it

[1:09:56] . But under

[1:09:58] policy protocol

[1:09:59] 3040, everything we're

[1:10:00] going to

[1:10:00] recycle, we don't

[1:10:02] just throw it in

[1:10:03] the trash because people

[1:10:04] see it, look

[1:10:05] in the trash, and say, "

[1:10:07] Look, it works,

[1:10:08] this great

[1:10:09] Sharp tape recorder from 1983.

[1:10:15] You could probably

[1:10:16] replace the antenna."

[1:10:18] Yes. Uh

[1:10:20] , yes. So, it looks like

[1:10:22] we have a proposed

[1:10:23] solution. To

[1:10:25] resolve to declare

[1:10:26] all items

[1:10:27] included in this

[1:10:28] report obsolete and

[1:10:29] /or unusable, and

[1:10:30] to transfer the

[1:10:31] identified items to

[1:10:33] the city in accordance with

[1:10:33] Council Policy 3040.

[1:10:35] I support.

[1:10:36] Are there any discussions?

[1:10:39] Jaden.

[1:10:40] By.

[1:10:41] Bill.

[1:10:41] By.

[1:10:42] JP.

[1:10:42] By.

[1:10:43] Mackenzie.

[1:10:46] By.

[1:10:48] I see that it is accepted.

[1:10:50] Please. added to

[1:10:54] our

[1:10:55] And I think he can

[1:10:56] take the tape. So,

[1:10:59] this was definitely

[1:10:59] used in the

[1:11:00] classroom. It was, it was

[1:11:02] wonderful.

[1:11:03] This is strange.

[1:11:04] And a TV on a

[1:11:05] trolley. You ever,

[1:11:07] okay, fine. I'm glad I'm

[1:11:08] not liquidating with a

[1:11:10] clear conscience.

[1:11:11] I feel like I'm in

[1:11:12] fourth grade. No,

[1:11:13] but yes.

[1:11:14] Oh my God.

[1:11:15] OK. Thank you,

[1:11:16] Jayden.

[1:11:17] OK. Let's move on to

[1:11:18] public participation

[1:11:19] .

[1:11:19] Smart board. You

[1:11:22] will have two minutes. Does

[1:11:23] anyone in the audience want

[1:11:24] to speak now? Does

[1:11:27] anyone want to

[1:11:28] speak online now?

[1:11:33] Okay. Since there are

[1:11:34] no applicants, and given

[1:11:35] our very small

[1:11:36] audience, I will move on

[1:11:37] to references. Does

[1:11:39] anyone from the council want

[1:11:39] to speak now?

[1:11:40] College and

[1:11:41] high school football this

[1:11:42] Friday. Be there.

[1:11:44] Very cool.

[1:11:44] Be there at 9:11. So, a

[1:11:46] pretty cool

[1:11:47] opportunity for a

[1:11:48] football team.

[1:11:49] Game of the week. Game of the week.

[1:11:52] Saw this in

[1:11:52] today's

[1:11:53] bulletin. OK.

[1:11:54] Anyone else?

[1:11:55] Go, Jets.

[1:11:58] OK. I accept

[1:12:00] the motion to

[1:12:00] close the meeting.

[1:12:02] Yes, we are moving. Second.

[1:12:03] Is there a discussion?

[1:12:05] Jaden.

[1:12:05] By.

[1:12:06] Bill.

[1:12:06] By.

[1:12:07] JP.

[1:12:08] By.

[1:12:08] Mackenzie.

[1:12:09] By. I'm in favor

[1:12:09] . We

[1:12:10] are closing the meeting

[1:12:11] . Thank you. Yes.

Tolland Board of Education - September 9, 2026

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