e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e probably that's very com yeah right e an I could have gotten away with that there's up there every minut C 100% [Music] every go quick quick what AM iell e so we're a minute away all right good evening everyone and welcome it's just about 7:30 the public has been duly informed of this meeting in accordance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 by posting at least 48 hours in advance a notice on the bulletin boards in Stevenson and Churchill schools a notice to the Township Clerk and a notice to The Herald news and the progress please stand for the pledge allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all do you want us to carry some once again good evening and before we begin tonight's meeting the Board of Education would like to take a moment to recognize nine Fairfield student athletes that have accomplished the extremely difficult task of qualifying for the 2024 NJ kids Scholastic state championships throughout the year these wrestlers work tirelessly towards perfecting their craft their hard work and dedication is a testament of their commitment to continued success both here in Fairfield and at West Essex in addition to qualifying for the 2024 state championships each of these individuals have also won multiple matches throughout the year multiple individual tournaments on their Journey to the state championship there are only 27 wrestlers allowed to qualify in each weight bracket what puts into perspective what a challenging task this is so without further Ado let's welcome our [Applause] wrestlers at 45 pounds Marco valard [Applause] at 55 pounds Dante [Applause] Magno at 55 pounds Christian garus congratulations bud at 65 pounds John Carlo [Applause] Mana at 70 pounds Jackson [Applause] peruso congratulations buddy at 75 pounds Rocco [Applause] Albano at 75 pounds Dominic vardi at 100 pounds Joseph [Applause] dentado at 100 pounds Blake [Applause] Bara and if we can now have all the wrestlers up front for a photo [Applause] once again how about a big round of applause for all our all right let's let's take the photo again everyone come up John Carlo Mana [Applause] one more round of [Applause] [Music] [Applause] applause we're going to take a one minute intermission to give our wrestlers and their parents an opportunity to leave and foro the rest of the board meeting so thank you for coming we appreciate your time we're extremely proud of the boys keep working hard and keep making us proud thank you guys thank you you all right at this time I'd like to turn it over to our ba M Morano the adoption of the 242 budget presentation in the audience we also have our admin and alphabetical order Megan cfone director of special services um new to the technology is William Harvey our admin we have John Perino buildings and ground supervisor with us this evening as well as our two principles Ray Sana and Dr uh Michael truko and I don't believe that our Board needs any introduction but out of respect for them I'm recognizing Anthony D Pasqual our board president um to the right is Angela alai the vice president to Anthony's left is Andrea jandoli to to her left is Melinda Street and Joe FEI is our board um board member as well and Resident accountant okay um so you want to start okay so tonight the presentation is about 21 pages and I'm not going to read every single page but I am going to highlight certain things so the mission statement the community of fairfi public schools is committed to providing an environment which cultivates individual abilities respects differences and nurtures responsibilities and cooperation our overall budget goal is to provide the best possible educational program for the children of the Fairfield Public School District while exercising the utmost diligence in the expenditure of funds next one um our budget starts with our election calendar and our electric Cal our election calendar triggers some of the dates that you see highlighted here our budget really Starts Now for next year and we are constantly refining it but January February we meet with the administrative staff to look at if there's any retirees terminations if there's a need for new employees we review contractual benefits discuss principles administrations budget requests for anticipated enrollment normally in February which is around the last um Tuesday in February the governor's address takes place which triggers the state aid to come out two days later on March 14 2024 we had our board adopt the tenative budget which was submitted to the county office which was approved subsequently about two weeks later and tonight is the public hearing and after tonight's hearing we adopt our final budget for the 2425 school year next thank you so our budget Provisions I'm I'm not going to read all of them but I think the first two maintain all current academic programs in extracurricular and we sustain small class size and I'm going to jump down to providing funding for our out of District transportation and tuition as well as our sixth grade textbooks big big ideas to align with the West essic School District an address facility improvements Churchill roof replacement and reallocation of the server both of these are our resolution tonight for Award of both um uh uh facility upgrades and the last one is attract substitutes for increasing their increasing their compensation our 2425 budget drivers is no different than any other school district so you have your labor costs you have your health benefit costs increasing health insurance premiums they're never going down they always go up we have de decreasing employee contributions but are the board increases to the healthc care provision we have special education which is our instructional aids to meet the needs of the IP requirements we have added District placements which is tuition with mandated programs for end transportation to and they're always aligned they are married to each other Especial at out of District as well as transportation is married our staffing and our health benefits are married our operation and um and maintenance is aligned expenses our Board of Education Office is moving back to Stevenson this year effective July 1 and our techn techology our in technology has become dependent schools have become dependent on expensive technology and this includes Wireless infrastructure to support standardized testing digital textbooks computers printers servers and network switches okay this slide which is really slide six I'm not going to read all of them but our new we are in alignment with the New Jersey student learning standards and there are nine content standards as you can see on slide six William we also have supplemental programs which I'm not going to read but that's on page seven starting with preschool and ending with our guidance counselors okay the district district efficiencies um we try very very hard to save money and by belonging to some of these programs the Bergen County Municipal Employee benefit is a pool of school districts usually about a hundred of them that we pull our resources to get um competitive rates for our employee um benef uh health benefits as well as Dental prescription and vision uh we order all our supplies through Ed data mostly all the teaching supplies and we belong to 100 Educational Service in Union County cooperatives where sometimes they have significant reductions for like technology needs or to purchase large-scale equipment and that's how we save money the state requires us to be in the federal e rate program which is for technology as well and when we go to when we are evaluated through qac they expect this as a requirement for C qac we um belong to New Jersey ases which is an energy Consortium and this saves US money in gas and electric and it was bid last year so we're reaping the benefit this year we belong to New Jersey Sig which is New Jersey school Insurance Group and again we're about a hundred school districts that they oversee and they are on the lookout for certain things like um fraud um they make sure that our buildings are safe they come and evaluate certain things um for us on a yearly basis um we shared services with the town they maintain our Fields salting the parking lots we purchase our fuel our gas from them they use our facilities for summer and recreational programs and we are we benefit by the class three retired police officers in both schools which is a shared service agreement we're starting our second of the third year uh effect of July 1 and we provide transportation through the Sussex Regional Transportation which they bid out our transportation for us as well as field trips on slide nine this is our current enrollment um the 2324 and then you'll see the last column is projected I'm sorry the second to the last column is projected the number of section in each of the class and the enrollment for those classes okay it's estimated because at during the summertime you have children and families moving in some moving out so it's an estimated number okay our revenue on on slide number 10 you have our local tax levy which is 14, 384,000 49 and our state aid of a,0 31509 these two are probably the highest um Revenue sources that any school district has followed by legal reserves of appropriation fund balance we also have a capital reserve account that you'll see in another slide that we're re um withdrawing capital reserve at a million two but it's offset by the same million and two in the expenditure area we have tuition income rent and royalties and unrestricted miscellaneous Revenue so the total budget is 17,1 169,170 slide number 11 is a comparative of our revenues where we were in the 2324 and where we are in 2425 and you'll see that the increase in the tax levy is up 325,000 and that's due mainly because of 2% which equals 281,000 we do not budget for extraordinary Aid and that is because Megan um submits the application usually in late May and we never find out those results until August or September and of course we appropriate it into next year's budget but we won't have the dollar amount um we have again Capital res uh capital reserve withdraw of a million 20101 our tuition income of 60,000 which mirrors the same slide that I had prior which a total budget of 17,1 169 up a million5 up a mil 59 uh a, 59,2 125 but you'll see that the biggest increases are in the capital withdrawal the 98256 because last year we only used 218,000 and then with the increase in the tax levy plus the state aid that's what makes the million 59 okay on page 12 and 13 I always think it's informational purposes that people sometimes really don't understand what makes up the budget categories so revenue is really basically where the district receives its taxes and state aid from but your Appropriations are money that is planned and they're in certain categories I was told my administrative staff that there's 19 cost centers but when you look at the budget I've reduced them to consolidate them based on the newspaper so when you look at General education you have teacher salaries the supplies textbooks instructional technology home instruction substitute AIDS lunch age purchase Services that's under general education under special ed it's all teachers that are special ed teachers their supplies and power power professionals under other instructions you have school based which is your basic skills and your bilingual co-curricular is your after school programs and your clubs on page 13 it's a continuation of those categories so your tuition is the cost of students that we send out of district for private schools that are instructional day our instructional support is very important as well this is your health services your speech your OT related Services your extraordinary Services which really are your onetoone aids your guidance counselors your child study team your media service technology and Staffing Administration is three parts we have school administration General Administration and central office but it in combines when you see it it's Support Services your legal your architectural your auditor your communication cost advertising if we had a referendum that's where we would um put that expense Board of Ed education dues supplies and your financial software so it's a composite of all those three areas your operation and maintenance and plant facilities is your maintenance salaries for custodial police security utilities your rental expense now I told you that we we're moving back to Stevenson so we're not going to have that cleaning and maintenance of facilities and property insurance and gas and electric transportation is to and from for mandated public specialed transportation and Aid and L employee benefits and cover it covers your medical your dental your vision your workers's comp premiums your employer taxes which is your Social Security your unemployment your purs and your pension liability payments which we pay every April 1st and as well as your tuition um tuition reimbursement equipment and capital outlay is any purchases over $2,000 but it's all where your construction costs are budgeted your lease payment engineering and Architectural fees in addition to um the other administrative architectural fees so paig um William okay you're on it thank you so when you look at general education instruct and special ed those two numbers total 6,313 562 it's 3677 per of the overall budget your employee benefits are 3,026 406 your support services are 26776 operation and maintenance is 1,457 776 administrative support is 1309 316 you have transportation at $876,000 your Capital outlay at a milon 369 978 your out of District tuition these are private placements is 76856 and by the way since I was hired here I started in July of 2022 22 23 23 24 at that time we only had one out of District placement now we're up to four so that number has has increased sub substantially our food service is 31,000 for a grand toal total of again 17,1 16941 these are the comparative of expenses so you'll see increases and decreases and again the most biggest increase is your Capital outlay section of the budget and you're out of District costs as well as food service for a total of a mil 59125 I always like the following slide because even though money is very important to me when I think 17 million I think it's it's a huge dollar amount I wish I had that in my bank account but when I look at the cost of the salaries plus the benefits it's 12,349 216 which is astronomical to me which it's really 72% of our budget and even though 4 million is Left 4 million eight is left it's not a lot of room to have everything that you want in one budget I just want to bring that to your attention on F on this slide which is slide 17 um I'm not sure I had this slide last year but I am very grateful that this year we're going that we went out to bid for the Church Hill roof I think John you're just as grateful as I am so ourco construction won the bid and when we were putting together um the capital outlay section init initially through the architect and um just cost escalating we were told that that roofing project was going to come in probably about a25 and that's really what I budgeted in the state budget but I broke it down for you so that you could see this so tonight we're approving Arco construction there's a contingency of 113,000 because they cannot exceed 20% of the base bid okay the other remediation work is careful and that's why it's a buil-in contingency for that our server is 164,000 which goes back to a year ago for the the quote we had to and I attribute William for helping with this when we had a vendor come in and we were looking at the server reloc relocation there was other needs that we had to um add to the base bid which we did and that's why that came in a little bit higher on the resolution and then we have professional fees of 70,000 this is for the boiler replacement environmental issues associated with the boiler and 7,000 for reimbursable expenses we have our mobile lease agreement which is 47,6 23 and this is going into the third year of this lease agreement our debt service allocation which is 11855 and legal costs associated with the array of things in that for a total cost of a milion 369 978 now what I want to share with you is this even though we're withdrawing a million 20101 if we don't use all of it it stays in that account I'm not allowed to use that money for anything else that money at the end of the 2425 school year goes back into even if it's a dollar it goes back into the capital reserve account where it originated from are you okay with that no I you're shaking your head so that's why I wanted okay okay and our facilities are priority to us and every year I already know and that's on page 18 that we're planning already for the Church of boiler replacement project as well as Stevenson School server relocation so and there's probably going to be a few others that we have to stick in here for next year but right now th those are the two priorities okay so everyone asks about fund 20 that seems to be a question that comes up and I thought I'd do a slide on that um race Sana writes for the entitlement grants title one two and four and every year it's based on a number an allocation number we never know what that is this is the same amount that we had this year so right now we we're budgeting the same allocation the Ida Megan writes that Grant and we're hoping that we get more this year than we have in the past and that offsets a lot of our related Serv services for our children that have IEPs we have the student activities that really both principles oversee that number was taken from the January 31st um their statements their bank statements and we have two scholarship accounts and forgive me but Dr selli what are the scholarship names we have the mecca one and we also have the mark Ibrahim one okay so that is now governed under fund 20 and when we have to make a check to write it normally in June I think for a child a deserving child that's already been established I think from sixth grade that's where that money comes from okay so this is the last slide there's actually two slides but one is a duplicate of another just expressed differently so this is the detail of the tax impact for the 2425 school year so if you look at the last line for a house assessed and I don't do this I have to really give special thanks to John mcclusky because John is the man the the financial man working in the barrel and if he's back there right now he's probably listening to this so I'm sending him hugs and kisses so a house assessed at um a cost of an average home assessed at $539,000 will have an increase of $235 uh per year $19.61 per month page 21 is basically the same thing it's little variation of page 20 but I thought it was important to show anyone have any questions okay this includes the refer I'm sorry can you just come up and state your name and address please for the record Steve Pini Phil of Drive I just wonder what year does this include the referendum that we voted on last year so it includes the referendum in the year before the two the um 23 24 it's always split for the a4f that's how they do it they split half one year and half another so the combination of both of them so you already paid a portion of that ballot question in 23 and the rest of it will be paid in 24 so yes it is inclusive but it's just split over two years anyone else have any questions in regards to the budget sure I say my name please Nicole sudall I just I see the boiler was up there did we apply for um the rod Grant the level one yes 52,000 re we get 52,000 all right awesome thank you yes come up Tracy and just state your name and address for the record Tracy Ripa five Scott Drive so the 52,000 that we received from the rod Grant was for the boiler no it's for the roof project for the RO she's she's asking about the boiler that's why I just want right now we haven't applied for anything because nothing is out for next year for the boiler okay we didn't apply for it the the 23 24 year we didn't apply for the rod Grant so that we could get the money and the 232 four year we applied for a rod grant that gave us we rewarded $52,000 to be applied to the roof project okay normally they have Rod Grant applications probably September of October of next year okay which they will come out and they they put them by priority form um the one thing I I meant to say right now is that we are also looking into for the boiler um an energy saving program through psng so that slide William can you go back to the slide with um the capital uh slide 17 so the architectural fees for $70,000 for the boiler replacement we have not spent anything yet it's on hold because right now we're exploring the board's exploring the options with psng and um John pero is involved in it we just submitted all the paperwork for them to look at okay and if they can do it then maybe the board is going to have make that that decision but right now that's where we are so I I appreciate that I just know if we knew the boiler was coming due in 2324 the rod Grant level one rod grant for boilers was out there for us to apply for so in we had until September as you as you mentioned to apply for that if we if we didn't apply for it now we have to wait until I understand the psng thing but if that doesn't come to fruition we'd have to wait until the ne till this coming September in order to apply if it's on even on the docket for if it's on the docket but at the time that we applied our priority was the roof project and we were not really considering the boiler replacement at that time that came about when when uh John was giving us information that we and we went to the architect and we said you know it's reaching end of life it's what 40 40 years old wow so if we had known that at that time that we were considering that project we would have for but we didn't know at that time we didn't know before September to apply for it okay I appreciate it I I don't know how it really works so that's why I'm asking thank you it's a great question anyone else have any questions in regards to the budget Justin Huer for Linda please my my question is I would like to know how the transportation budget keeps getting cut year after year this is all fine and good excuse me we'll address if it's particularly about Transportation uh we'll address that after any other budgetary questions I understand that but on the thing it says Transportation went down by what 30 40 50 Grand Transportation went down it was cut down yeah yes I have a picture of the screenshot so I will you don't have to do a screenshot yeah can you elaborate Kathleen yes I am I'm about to just give me a minute yes so the reason why the transportation budget was reduced is because when I mentioned earlier when I started here we only had we started with one at a district placement gradually the second now we're up to four I had to shift money from the Transportation budget to cover the out of District placement as well as shifting from one line in transportation to another line for the add of District special ed transportation I mean that doesn't make you happy but that's my answer well listen I I I'm not saying that I don't understand that I do understand that but speaking from somebody that grew up in this town was taken care of by the people in this town I've been in this town for 35 years okay and all these kids now all this is all fine and good the new roof all that stuff that's all fine and good but at the end of the day what is it for if you can't get the kids to school yeah no and we share with your concerns but the Board of Education unly feels like we are going to put education over Transportation 100% of the time and unfortunately that's where we are right now okay and when we get to the other part I'll come back up and thank you very much anyone else have any questions in regards to the buzzer presentation please come up state your name hi Tyler Masterson 21 Henry at a drive uh just a question in um was the backdrop in your presentation the the baseball backdrop no it's not so would just I saw that you had mentioned that the the town maintains like the grounds and the fields and stuff like that um and I see on the agenda about 26k allocated for like a sof backdrop and 13k for a tractor so I'm wondering um have we considered maybe approaching the town to kind of split those costs since Recreation uses and maintains the land the tror is but doesn't doesn't the town cut the grass Cuts back of the school field and stuff like that we cut the front of the school okay the Town doesn't maintain the fields the town doesn't maintain the fencing on the fields it's it's Board of Education property there for the Board of Education maintains the fencing which if I'm not mistaken hasn't been uh updated are replaced in probably close to 35 years oh is it fencing or just a backdrop like a for the baseball field the the fencing on the on the baseball field where our children play kickball and have their recess on a daily basis but but Recreation also uses it considerably a lot as well is it just the backdrop for the baseball softball field yes yes so I'm just I'm just saying you know perhaps we want to we've had that discussion we work hand inand with the town and it's the board of education's responsibility to replace and repair the fencing okay thank you thank you anyone else have any questions in regards to the budget presentation sure absolutely you don't have to restate your name or address okay thanks um so I saw on the minutes the legal Reserve um from uh the budget was appropriated from the Surplus was like I think it was 478 m, um that Surplus is that that's from this year from sorry from no that's from last year from last year's audit so last year's audit was um 400,000 and then when I uh work on the budget there's a lot of moving Parts in the um the education software for the budget and they made me appropriate another $78,000 so that's where it's $478,000 for appropriation of fund balance but the 400 came from last year's audit so when this audit when this school year is over if there's any excess fund balance it goes to the 25 26 school year which will be if there is there will be this 478,000 in legal Reserve no no that 47 is going into the 2425 we're in 23 24 that 478 is is appropriated in the 2425 budget said next year I'm sorry yeah so next year there will be 478 going into the legal Reserve no no a Le it's called Legal reserve on the State website okay it's really fund balance appropriated so we don't have the same level of fund balance coming out of this year's budget say it's it's reduced by 200,000 I'm just making that up then you have to if you don't have enough Revenue to cover that 200 from other auxiliary revenues then you have to cut do you understand what I'm saying I wish I did I don't understand so I'm sorry I'm if you're gonna speak we just need you to come up and say your name sit down and let me yeah you explain thank you okay I'll get come to me later anyone else any questions in regards to the budget present presentation okay if there's no questions Kathleen thank you very much we'd like to open the floor to public comments on agenda items only so if anyone has any public comments on agenda items please feel free to come up and address the board just state your name and your address yes considering the fact it's being cut you can come on up I don't have to restate so all right my question is from before you're sitting there you guys are saying that obviously education and getting the special needs and all that stuff out of District all that stuff is important to get them there obviously you need to get people that are in town to school as well right somebody like myself I work down in pasca I'm an hour away and that's at best with tra without traffic now I have an extra expense because before and after school is what 400 a month that's 10 months out of the year that's $4,000 two cars worth of gas right that expense is coming out of the parents pocket now it's already expensive for all of us to even live in this town and now we've got to Shell out even more money for our kids to go to school right unless we have our parents who already raised their kids bring their bring our their grandkids to school which is unfair to them right and then on top of that now you're asking all these kids that are going to be out busing that don't have the luxury of a stay-at-home mom you know that's an awesome luxury to have I had one growing up loved it I benefited from that but now you're in a two income world you need two people working and even the stay-at-home mobs usually have at home jobs right so how are you expecting all these people to sit there and try to get these kids in between either at home job you know at home jobs or even people that my day is a 10-hour day if I'm lucky yeah and then I've got to worry about getting my kid at six o'clock when daycare ends and if I'm not there and I'm continuously late then I gotta worry about CPA being called because I'm a bad parent all because I have to fight 287 traffic and I'm not the only one within this town that has this issue and there's nothing being done for those kids nor do I think a kid should be in school from 7 o'clock in the morning to 6 o'clock at night that is not how we were raised that's not how our kids should be raised so what's the plan moving forward here because you know everybody complained about $1,400 that they had to pay for busing I'll pay it I don't care you know I thought it was a little ridiculous coming from we never had to pay that originally but now we are just sitting there saying hey parents fend for yourselves figure it out yeah that's not fair to the parents within this town so I can tell you that three of the Ford members are affected by this decision on busing three of the Ford board members pay for subscription busing me being one of them these decisions are never easy we make them based upon factual information data presented to us by our business administrator and our Auditors uh we're fortunate enough to have Joe on the board who's a a CPA and it's a very difficult decision and it's not an easy one for anyone but I could assure you it's a decision that is going to help us in the very near future and you know three and five years down the road it this is not something that we want to do nor should it be something that's new busing has been discussed since 2017 I've been on the board this is my fourth year it's been a topical conversation every single year since I was elected so this shouldn't come to a surprise to many this has been brought up over and over and over which is why 85 or 90% of the sending districts and towns have gotten rid of sub prescription busing before because it's a drain on the school system so I understand but unfortunately Co created unprecedented times it created unprecedented increases in transportation fuel health insurance benefits all unforeseeable so now the board is tested with a difficult decision on presenting a fiscally strong budget not only for this year where we can keep classroom sizes small maintain all of our teachers but also plan for years to come so there's no easy answer and we sympathize because we are affected by this as well but when we make this decision it's it's based upon data not emotion it's based upon education over Transportation so unfortunately we sympathize we we sympathize with all of the members of the community that are affected by this but the board unanimously feels that this is the decision that needs to be made for that's student Centered for all the students and the district for not only this budget year but years to come and have you guys worked with Tiny Treasures about hey if you're within so so that's a great question and I'll a preview to that because I'm sure it's going to come up we've been in touch with Tiny Treasures and we're working on a a plan for them to offer services to the parents in the district either in one school or both schools if it's in both schools obviously it would help the the traffic of Transportation um and pick up and drop offs uh if it's in one school the board will provide uh by adding a route busing from one school to the other to get the children to and from before and after care we've already been contact with the mayor and counsel in regards to crossing guards and sidewalks we permitted and as recent as today we sat with um police leadership and we're working on a detailed plan that's uh safe and feasible to accommodate the kids affected by this decision so we've honestly spent years in going back and forth with busing and it was discussed four years ago when I was first on three years ago two years ago one year ago especially after covid we brought the transportation increases to the general public it's it's something that's discussed quite often and as recent as the last meeting I believe Joe stepped in and said that this is a luxury that we just cannot afford and that's the reality it's it's not what everyone wants to hear but that's the truth and you could see by Kathleen's presentation that nearly 72% of the our budget is salary and benefits so we're here next year it be gone the year after without a doubt yeah so it just didn't make any sense we don't we don't gain anything by keeping it an extra year we just lose more I mean I still think there should be other Al Alternatives that are looked at we welcome suggestions if we did let's just be real here if we did we run out of options right there's loow hanging fruit which is very few and then there's other decisions that while there are people that are going to be pissed off probably pisses off even more numbers of people so we have to explain that decision or we could just say every classroom should have 25 kids and maybe that'll fix a lot of things that's not beneficial to the students I think what Mr feed is saying we do have options and we don't want to go down that route we appreciate our staff members we appreciate the fact that they spend time day in and day out helping educate your children so when push comes to shove it's are there options the only viable option is to get rid of staff and that's not something we're prepared to do it's not an easy decision I know a lot of people in your situation I I just I do not I do not agree thank you for your comments anyone else have any comments on agenda items only sure come up here um sorry I I am gonna it's Tyler 21 hen to drive I do want to restate Tracy's question and to miss Morano because we are trying to understand what f means on the agenda so you know Trace uh letter F yeah so uh page and I don't have a page number unfortunately it seems that there's a budget surplus that is going into next year of roughly $478,000 that's what it looks like here and then then it's put in a legal reserve and so of course we get excited because we think there's more money so can you just kind of explain what that is sure so again at the end of last year which was our audit as of June 30th it came out probably December um there was called fund balance $400,000 excess fund balance that was applied to the 2425 budget for next year for yes the one that we're we're going to start July one the 78,000 came from the district the state budget software when they do a lot of moving parts and they said okay you have to appropriate another 78 so that number is a plug number that helps us expand our expenses so do we in fact have a surplus of that figure that Surplus is going into next year's budget 2425 and that was already allocated in the line items that showed before so that is not a surplus that's been appropriated to all of the expenses that you already described corre correct a revenue anyone else on non on agenda items only okay we'll close that portion and move forward come on up state your name and address for the record hi I'm Gabby chetti uh 20 Donna I just wanted to know if there's an an update on the roof at Stevenson remember last time you were yes so thank you Gabby for actually bringing that up so the last meeting there was a couple concerns and that would fall on their old business but we'll address it right now and get it out of the way um there was a young lady uh uh resident Melissa okay and I had an opportunity to speak to Melissa a couple days later unfortunately it took me about a week to uh to get back to her but after the concerns I spoke with John and uh he and I and Dr chuko had an opportunity to go up on the roof at uh at Stevenson and they kind of gave me a thorough inspection of uh where the problems are and what steps uh need to be done to repair them so since then we we we did go over and I explain this to Melissa and I'll be more than happy to share it with the community the roofing material that was used in Stevenson is such that the it's a it's a material that is not only the roof but it's the interior ceiling as well it's all one piece and that particular material is anti- mold and mildew so mold and mildew cannot grow on it whatsoever and in fact the sole purpose of this roof is for industrial manufacturing and schools and it's used for that purpose now Mrs Boza asked a question at the last meeting as well in regards to a lemon law unfortunately there's no lemon laws on roofers that's just falls on their cars uh but we do have a 15-year warranty and I believe a 30-year warranty and we're how many years into John uh 12 so not being a roof expert and knowing that there's 18 years left on the particular warranty I asked for John to reach out for the roofing manufacturer and the installer and set up a meeting to come back uh with me as a board member Dr jabuko as the school principal and John as uh our head of Maintenance and kind of go over with me what can be done in the future to prevent the patches of you know we we patch one area and another area leaks so we have some suggestions for them we feel confident that once they're on site and and I could talk with them um that will be successful to uh limit the damage moving forward and kind of get it under control one of the reasons uh that we experience severe uh leakage is because there was a problem with our internal sub pump so the water drains down to a well that well then uh is activated by sub pump and that water sub pumped out well unfortunately uh there was a malfunction and the water was being pumped directly back on to the roof so it was sitting and draining and it was causing even further damage and leakage than would be normally created by rain so I I expressed that to uh Melissa and she was extremely thankful and thank you for reminding us that it was a topic of conversation so we're waiting on the manufacturer and the company that holds the 30-year warranty to set up a date to meet us out on site uh and like I said I'm very familiar we spent about an hour walking every inch of the roof and kind of have a good you know understanding of what the problem is and how we could address it thank you anyone else okay okay so um under Personnel certificated staff to approve the uh renewal of the non-tenured certificated staff is listed uh number two to approve uh the maternity leave of absence as listed for number three to approve the New Jersey learning acceleration Grant tutor as listed uh number four to approve the club advisor as well as the revised Club approval as listed uh for B to approve uh the reappointment of the non-tenured par professionals secretaries and custodians as listed uh number two to approve the reappointment of the tenur secretary as listed for number three to accept the resignations that are listed uh under employment to approve the uh employment of the the Stevenson School playground cafeteria sloff Aid as listed and for C to approve the fully qualified substitutes as listed second yes yes yes yes yes okay so under uh curriculum and program to approve the 2023 24 school calendar revision as listed under B uh to approve the professional development workshops as listed and just a note that Mr vena's Workshop is coming out of title two funds and that's it for curriculum program motion second roll Miss jandoli yes Mr feti yes M Street yes Miss out yes Mr D Pas yes all right and the last thing is policy to approve the following uh first readings of the policies that are listed and regulations motion second roll M jandi yes Mr fiti yes Miss Street yes uh Miss alai yes m g pasal yes okay under uh page six business resolutions of the board to approve um consent resolutions items a through U I will explain them um the first part on page six is the approval of the minutes from March 3rd 10th 14th 16th 17th and 21st under Finance approve the bills and claims from um March 19th through April 15th transfer of funds that's listed on the top of page 7 attachment e um Treasures reports ending March 31st formal adoption of the final budget for the 2425 school year as listed on page 7 8 and nine under contracts I'm asking the board to approve um the network infrastructure W wiring at Stevenson School in the amount of $4,991 30 I'm asking the board to award yay the roofing project for Arco Construction in the amount of 567,000 on the top of page 10 I'm asking the board to approve the change order which goes back really to last year in the amount of 14,127 65 under o Award of contract for JCT Solutions the amount of $224,600 um under Grant approvals every year we I apply for a safety Grant award and this year it's in the amount of $2,129 that William helped me establish for how we're going to use these funds um once we get the money after July of 2024 under Q the Essex County Educational Service Commission these are for out of district and in District assessments if Megan needs that um buildings and grounds under r purchas of a replacement one mower in the amount of 13, 38236 page 12 I'm asking the board under item s to approve the control Sun pump for uh Stevenson School in the amount of $6,890 under T building use forms as listed on page 12 and under youu this is for the backdrop fencing for the fields at both Church Hill and and Stevenson can I have a motion second was that Andrea that made the motion thank you Andrea and R yes M jandoli yes Mr aiti yes M Street yes Miss Alon yes Mr D Pascal yes okay anything on their old business anything under new business committee reports sure uh so I'd just like to give a committee report on the uh HSA we had a meeting last night and they mentioned that the Tricky Tray at Mountain Lakes will be held on May 15th the last day to buy their tickets is tomorrow and you can buy them on their website I'd also like to thank them um I think Anthony and I were able to go to the Color Run which occurred a couple of weeks ago it's just a really wonderful Community event they raised over $133,000 and it was just a nice event that brought our whole town together really nicely done so we appreciate all the support and thank you for all your help yeah um I'd also like to talk about uh CPAC which is the special ed committee committee they had a meeting a couple of weeks ago and they had a lawyer present on parental rights so this is an ongoing committee that's fairly gaining momentum which we appreciate and they're looking to have another parental meeting I think in June yep and I also was able to attend career day at Churchill school and I just wanted to give a huge thank you to Mrs Sara and her committee and uh Mr Santana one no one no wonderful day it was all them it was really a wonderful event for our kids and get to hear different jobs and learn about different careers so really well done and well put together and really a day that our kids really enjoy so thank you thank you Melinda Joe I know you have it kind of easy tonight cuz Kathleen did uh all hard say that yeah thank you to Kathleen um that was a great presentation we've approved the budget I get to put in for vacation time and uh that's it that's the update thank you very much I just have a couple of items on curriculum uh we met with Dr Celli Dr trbo Anthony and myself met with Dr Celli Dr truko Mr Santana back on actually I didn't put the date it was a week or two about about a week and a half week and go um we went over a meeting that the principles had with West essics and the sending districts regarding the new math program The Churchill teachers had a chance to sort of pilot the program they piloted the 2022 version and the 2025 version to see which they felt would be best suited for the kids here and got some feedback from the neighboring towns the Middle School felt that the 2022 version was actually more rigorous than the 25 so that's what the district has decided to go with they're going to be purchasing two class room sets with the teacher additions and that's all I have on curriculum I'll move on to technology just a few items to highlight uh William and Ahad Ahmad right is working to finalize the specifications for the server relocation the door swipe system in one of the trailers was malfunctioning that has since been restored Chromebooks continue to be sent out for repair some of those repairs include cracked screens broken keyboard boards and battery issues there were new projector bulbs that were ordered and installed to is it both schools both Stevenson and Churchill okay so both schools um they conducted njsla infrastructure trial testing with Mr Vena and repaired and reset the teass system at Churchill and Stevenson the computer was not checking in the visitors that's it thank you very much um I guess my question would be do we have anyone from the Fairfield Education Foundation here we have a couple members we do have a couple members okay so I guess my question was just to you guys um we know that you had your last fundraiser and we were just wondering where the money was being allocated to for the schools I believe they work directly with our principles and our superintendent in regards to the allocation of uh the funding but one of them could probably give you a more definitive answer than that Hi how are you how are you Lauren melano for Meisner um I serve as one of the vice presidents on the trustee board for the Ed foundation and we are in the process of deciding where the monies are going to go we had a meeting with the superintendent along with Dr chbo and Mr Santana um and we are in the process of evaluating and designating a grant committee where we are going to be rolling out to the teachers um a process for Grants to ask for submission we will have the grant committee evaluate and then we will decide where the funds will be appropriated thank you for asking thank you so much okay on to public comments on non-agenda items only hi Nicole sudall 20 Allan Drive am I allowed to ask a quick question I just want to know where to direct my comment sure okay so regarding the recent reassignment of the kindergarten AIDS where did that final decision lie because I would just like to make sure I'm directing my comment to the right person so I can start off and then pass it over so I'm I'm this has been stated uh in the past at Board of Education meetings uh unfortunately the board of education has no say in the reallocation OR of positions or Personnel uh perfect that's so help so a question in regards to how a a staff member is either relocated or assigned is really perfect falls under our our superintendent and administration so okay thank you so I am a little bit confused about the reassignment of the kindergarten needs in Dr selli I'm well aware of the constant movement of KS this year I have a kindergarten daughter um but that doesn't mean they're not needed in fact they were so very needed that when we were trying to pass these budget line items specifically line two for the lunch AIDS it was drilled home that these lunch Aid positions affect more than the lunchroom they affect kindergarten AIDS and guided reading in the lower grades um at the principal's coffee this was discussed at meetings it was discussed I quote kindergarten AIDS play a crucial role in the classroom they are involved in each lesson and they run our Learning Centers when we are leading a small group for guided reading quote if a student falls down during the day with a certain skill they pull them to the side and make sure they have that skill by the end of the day quote right now they are instructed to do playground or recess for first and second grade because of loss of funding and that's why we're missing them and that's why this vote needs to pass quote the kindergarten program at Stevenson is very unique and we provide a strong foundation for the kids to step on and grow if we start picking apart that Foundation the program will change quote the small group kindergarten instruction in our classrooms is like no other from a first grade teacher I also want to talk about the impact of the kindergarten Aids on first grade they are an enormous academic support to us they come in every day during guided reading to support our program the support of the kindergarten AIDS was extremely critical I think you know where I'm going with this how are these AIDS not critical anymore I can't imagine it's for the budget since reassignment wouldn't change it's not like a hire fire where it changes money in Money out I can't imagine it's be imagine it's because of an immediate special education um IEP violation since this movement is not being done to the full all um so I really lack of understanding the motivation behind this and just because they've been pulled this year for our district shortcomings does not mean they aren't needed it means we need need to do much better our youngest and most vulnerable students should not be the ones we're picking from first my daughter's in K and I've watched her learn to read in a few short months and anybody whose child has had the privilege of being with Mrs manuso will understand that my 10-year-old still yells across the house when I'm annoyed at him who loves you so these AIDS have mean so much more than academic which I know that's what we have to structure our planning around but they are little kids who sometimes have issues you know getting to the restroom on time someone gets injured out I need to understand how in five short months we went from kindergarten AIDS being critical and crucial to simply not need it anymore [Applause] so thank you for your comments and no one has ever said that they're not critical or they're not crucial okay so that that is absolutely not something that the administration believes um when we are going through a budget process whenever we put the budget together every year we always go over what we are allotted Kathleen cannot submit a budget that is in the red it just doesn't work you have to make it green when we are Crea our budget and when we start looking to see when there are issues in the budget as far as okay we put together our wants we put together our needs uh all the wants go out the window right it's everything that we need so when you do that and now you're still over and we still can't submit a budget that's an issue we work as an administrative team to go over everything that is in that budget no decision is made in isolation so I think people need to understand that the board doesn't make the decision the administration makes the decision and then we make that recommendation to the board and then they either approve or not so I just want that to be clarified um so that's where we come with that in the special ed budget there were AIDS put in there for next year four of them that she needed when we were over with our budget we were like okay well we have about $100,000 that we need to get out of this so that she can actually submit the budget okay so when you are doing a process of that nature we're like okay so what does that allocate when you're looking at that what does that mean it's teachers it's staff we cut everything else out of the budget that we possibly could no one we didn't want people to lose their job so when you're looking at reallocating special at Trump's everything as much as people don't want to accept that or understand that that is the case if a child moves in tomorrow that requires an instructional Aid we by law have to provide that Aid anyone who is a general Ed Aid today can become a special ed Aid tomorrow if we don't have a special ed aid for that child everyone needs to understand that so that's where the shuffling goes so when you're looking to try to submit a budget that is in the green okay you have to look at all of your things do we cut a teacher or two do we reallocate so no one loses a job that's what we wound up doing so nobody is saying at all and I please I don't want anybody to misunderstand no one is saying that any of our staff I don't care what your role is in the district no one is saying that they're not important every single person that contributes to this district is important nobody would ever say that they're not that is not the case and I think people need to understand you can't mix importance with a budget you just can't we're not cutting people we're not saying you know what this is extra we don't need this anymore that is not the cas case no one would ever do that we know that how they're critical they have done so much they were they're not just sitting there with the students and just monitoring them they are working with them and doing academic things with them we know that I've watched it so no one thinks it's okay to do but I don't know where else you wouldd like us to get $100,000 so that she could submit a budget so can I ask like a piggyback question then or because I know you don't want to go back and forth so please yeah sure but then my question is I mean this can't have just come out of nowhere right we've had budget struggles for a long time so we had these line items on the ballot in November we chose to put what what line it not not the three line items we had we chose to put bus Aids on there why didn't we even look ahead with some forward thinking skills and saying you know what with the special aid needs On The Rise a special ed needs On The Rise why wouldn't we put kindergarten Aid money then there if it's a budget issue why did we wait till last minute when we just B these lines to vote because I know darn well budget line would have passed number three if it said kindergarten needs and not bus needs well that that's been a question that we have been asked the board has been asked over and over and over again about bus AIDS so in order for people to understand the cost because nobody wants to hear the numbers right so in order to put it on to the on the ballot which we didn't think it was really going to pass but we figured if people really want the bus AIDS this this is what it's going to cost that's what it's going to cost the tax taxpayers and they can vote Yes for it if they wanted to right so it didn't pass for that reason I don't think people wanted to put their money towards that yeah now if I could just uh jump in I had the opportunity attending the HSA meeting last night and uh Melinda was there as well because we sit on the chair and there was uh a discussion afterwards with a a wonderful Community member who's also a special education specialist in another district and she was explaining to us that it was as as just yesterday that she had a student that was that qualified for an aid right so that's enlightening to us as board members for me who's who's uh sit on the special education committee but don't you know necessarily get involved in the day-to-day so it was um I don't want to say refreshing but it was enlightening to hear that this is a very common thing a child could be uh not classified one day or need Services one day and then all of a sudden need them the next so if you're asking is it possible I think we were given you know that information last night firsthand from a teacher at a district that yes it is it happens on a daily basis it's unfortunate it's happening here no absolutely and I'll step down absolutely but we're talking about re reassignment in the fall so we're not talking about an imperative need where student came in and needed an aid we have to pull someone really fast so I know what she said is accurate I've experienced it but it doesn't really apply to this particular conversation because it's for the fall it's not immed so one thing that I I could I could share uh as a board representative we we uh agree with the need for these AIDS we are 100% on board with having them and we're working diligently with Administration to make this happen it's just not something that we can come up here and definitively give you an answer for tonight because there's a lot of deciding factors in the coming months but we share your concerns okay thank you thanks just State your name and address Hi Alexis fabricator 5 Southampton um hello I have a Kinder soon to be kindergartener starting so this is a Hot Topic and happy to be here question there was mention about some funds that were raised through the fef is that something that could be used you know in a grant towards uh funding for AIDS so I can touch on this the little bit that I know on if if the members that are here just please feel free to jump in if I you don't have to get up Lauren just if I say something that's out of context just yell it out um from my understanding no the purpose of the Education Foundation which by the way works strategically and doesn't report to the Board of Education it's not like the HSA where the bylaws are or their bylaws might be uh public on a website but like HSA works and correlates everything hand inand with the Board of Education we have appointed Leons with the Board of Education right uh with HSA so we're aware of their daily activity what they're doing with the money when their fundraisers are uh what the money is being allocated to the Education Foundation is set up a little differently right so the Education Foundation it raises money they sit with the principes and the principal the superintendent and principles and they figure out um things that are above and beyond that the teachers want in the school and they teachers write grants and then from what I understand they establish a grant committee who then takes those grants reads them and says okay if we have $10,000 and we have four grants for $5,000 a piece these two are appropriate now the only involvement that the board of education has is once those grants are allocated we as the board can either say we are going to reject this or accept it we think it's it's beneficial to the district which you know 99.999% times is because it's an extra that they're providing us and if it's not then we just say hey no you know this isn't a grant we're going to approve so the money has to be specifically for grants that the teachers have to apply for and then their Grant committee ultimately chooses so no so no so no so no yeah you can come up please drive Anthony this going to be borderline hysterical are we cutting budgets every year based at the 10 cent level that one contingency goes wrong and you're reassigning staff where do you staff getting reassign to are we going to have the same issue next year I understand you guys have put a sharp pencil to this in a really difficult spot but we need a longer term plan we can't go budget to budget worrying about two AIDS well I I and if these AIDS were so less important why was it different staff that was being let go before you came and you had to ask for more money from the town to get the other ones back and now these ones are less Expendable than the first ones and you and I got to add one other thing I'm a member of certain Community organizations here I must have V moded six times for basic school supplies we can't give our kids basic school supplies the incompetence needs to stop and again I know you guys are in a tough spot and try to really do a in a tough spot between a rock and a hard place but we need a longer term plan not meeting to meeting based on one Personnel or one Aid or school supplies so I could I could address part of this and then I'm going to move it over to Joe because I know he uh he wants to uh chime in on this we agree and that's why the board of education is taking the stance that it is right now what the budget that we're presenting because we're aware that we don't want to be year toe we don't want to let go of Staff we don't want to increase class sizes and the only way to do that is to really look at the budget I think there's some miscommunication in regards to why they're being allocated they're being allocated because special education needs have increased and those students need oneon-one Joe you can jump our makeup of students if that changes in the wrong direction it's going to cost us more money and that's what's happening you live paycheck to paycheck once you get to that point we were at that point to years ago we're trying to build ourselves out I want to be clear you have my support as a port Ed we put you there okay in a recent thing I'm just saying long term you guys got a really unfortunately I'm looking at you guys yeah I would have been up there yeah but I'm looking at you you guys got to get us out of this hole once and for all you can't ask for another $100,000 next year let's raise everyone's taxes $50 and that only gets us to next June longer term plan you you're going to have to continue to do ballot questions not every single year but we already know this I've said this for eight months I said this I got elected in June well I got appointed in June and July I had a meeting which they were gracious enough to give me the people that actually run the schools I said it then and we didn't even pass one of the budget questions yet you will need one every other year for the foreseeable future or until we can figure out a large referendum which most of the Town doesn't want no understood it's going to Bex $9 a month and we had well okay so half of it was allocated to next year $19 a month 19 and it's not that much money now granted only gets us back to even from whatever that was two years ago but we need more because I will not sit up here and pass a budget that cuts a teacher and we a cut is where you have someone last year now they're no longer employed or were missing this year yes there were concessions made to make things work to reallocate based on student makeup in the town we can't control certain student makeup that we know is going to come we just had a a meeting with Megan who did a great job there's potential for even more of those type of students that need those special services but by spending the money and putting people in the right places we keep that cost lower we keep those students down to four instead of eight or nine that will you don't want to even I won't even want to be up here for one of those meetings if that were to happen so that's I understand your concern and everybody's concern everybody gets very emotional I have no emotion in my job I won't bring that here it has to be facts it has to be solid concrete information they have to tell me what they need what's more important you have to weigh it I volunteered to be up here so that I could do that and that I could also listen to everybody kind of be upset about certain decisions I get it but it has to be factual decision-making not what's gone on the emotional decision- making happened already on this board which is why busing was seven years too long that's a Compound Effect when you have busing so when you have non when you have free busing for seven years it's a Compound Effect negative to us yeah Years Years prior to where we subsidized busting last year at the sum of$ 250 $260,000 if you go back five years and you account for the money that the district spent in busing we would be sitting at a surplus right now but we're not so we are indeed thinking long term now we've had this conversation Joe and I in finance meetings before with Kathleen and so uh more often than not every time we feel like we're getting ahead the potential of an added District placement comes in that could be an excess of 350 $375,000 so you could do the good work all year long and you can get to February and say you know what let's Pat ourselves on the back we got a surplus of $100,000 $100,000 more than we did last year and Megan sends an email and it all changes so we are proactively not only planning for the P future but planning for the wha ifs guys I think you missed my point I agree with everything you said what you're not understanding is saying strategically you can't go to a vote every year we need you know it's going to be how unpopular going to be you want to put a referendum every year for 100,000 200,000 I'm saying strategically you guys got to come up with a longer term plan it's going to be a hard sell we know it is we had a longer term plan I'm sorry just want and you can jump on to this we had a longer term plan it was the referendum it was $355 a year it was an average of $19 per taxpayer and it was vot and it was voted it was voted down six to one yeah whatever it was so that longterm like 97% of lost by that's in if that happened somebody didn't do their job because nothing should fail by 97% what six to1 six to1 in 85% of what we're addressing now on the shortfalls we have with facilities maintenance was all addressed then and Coit and the lack of children in our schools created this perception that we didn't want our children in schools when we were just following you know State guidelines and that's why it failed six to1 now I wasn't on the board when it started I'm going to disagree you if app done properly with competence and I'm not pointing to any specific person you don't lose by 97% you're probably right it's just all old news at this point 5149 you got a point I'll sit down but you don't lose by 97% if you did it the and when I say you I don't mean any individual we understand we understand done right so maybe it needs to be done again so what I don't want to hear Anthony what you just said is we tried a longer term strategy four years ago and failed we're not going to try again well I can't I can't say that Steve on behalf of us because we weren't but we weren't involved so a lot of the shortfalls we have now would have been addressed okay at that time now long-term plan we have a three-year plan we have a five-year maintenance plan so exactly what you're asking us to do we're doing and in that process difficult decision like busing has to be made a lot is difficult decision but I think you have to get to some kind of and here's why I don't think a mystery point because you started by saying this has to stop I'm telling you we just started we just started trying to fix the problems of 20 years but what I stop I mean is we asked for $100 last year and this year we need2 because we're $2 short don't ask for the 100 ask for yeah 15 we ask for 500 and hopefully it'll pass sure we have it has to be strategical it's not just going to be guess that was my point what has to stop and we have to right and some things you can't go to to ballot for but that's a whole totally different conversation like a lot of these maintenance things are required they're health and safety we can't just leave them alone we have to allocate money to that first when we're doing these these projects yeah 9.2 you can't put that on a ballot they won't let you do that or else that's the easiest 9.2 on a ballot everything gets fixed you can't do it understood I I need we need a longer term plan thank you anyone else Gail batone 47 big piece Road would you accept volunteers for these AIDS positions in kindergarten I don't know who to address that to but would they accept Aid um volunteers so if I mean that's something that they could look at if we can't reinstate them I mean we're we're not done like looking at where we are with the budget and but we had to submit a budget right so we had to allocate where everybody's going right now but we still have time to look to see if we're going to but I don't see why we couldn't okay I'd be happy one day a week two days a week in the mornings yeah why don't we think it out that's fing amazing that's [Applause] awesome yeah hello I'm Nancy beroldy um I really didn't plan on doing this but I feel Susan with all due respect I do have to say something I have had the pleasure of being a power professional in Fairfield for 17 years actually 19 two years I was a substitute a long-term sub and then I was hired 17 years ago um I was told this year that next year there is not there is there is not a position for me I'm sorry I'm just a little nervous I'm talking funny um I would like to know and maybe you don't really have to answer this question but I want everyone to know and you do know Mr feedi that I have been placed this year since September in seven different class classrooms and I find it hard to believe that after this happening this year I am not needed anywhere next year I'm sorry I I've been here a long time and I love the children anyone who knows me here knows that I will do anything for the kids I love them and I I'm I'm confused I'm confused and like I said you know what I have done this year especially you and I'm not blaming you or pointing fingers but you know the situation so how is that possible seven rooms I went into so I'm I'm going to have to yield to our superintendent because the Board of Education doesn't get involved once again in Personnel or placement it doesn't fall under our jurisdiction I don't with all due respect Susan how is that possible it no one's saying that people aren't needed but again we had a budget we had had to deal with right so we had the four the four positions that we still needed so there was four positions that were reallocated so I will be more than happy to speak with you privately I don't think we should speak I would love that because it doesn't make sense okay seven rooms this year and I went in with no Pride I did what I had to do and actually as I was pulled out of each room I was sad to leave that those children I really was and then I went on to the next room and did what I had to do and now next year I'm not needed it's it's and I was told there was there is nowhere for me for me to go so I mean take it for what it's worth but I did have to say something I can't leave here after a total of 19 years working in this district with this on my mind I can't I've received emails from parents I've received Facebook messages from parents Pres and past saying what is going on how how is this happening I I don't know I don't know and I can't I mean you all know what I make it's not a lot and that's okay I do this because I I love it I love the kids I could have left for a lot of different things and I didn't I can't imagine that my salary is going to make or break Fairfield I just can't I just you know this District I can't imagine that an aid salary is is going to make a difference but thank you for your time I appreciate it and I would love to talk to you thank you hi everyone Alison I want toit topic around reassignment of I've comments is it on is the green light on green light on just tap it now yes I'll try again Alis miaso 7th Southampton Drive I'd like to revisit the topic of the kindergarten AIDS because I've heard a few different parts of the conversation throughout tonight's meeting and I think for the benefit of us in the room we want to make sure we walk out with a clear understanding of the next steps so I've heard very clearly that the board doesn't get involved in direct Personnel in real assignments of personnel so I understand that as fact but I've also heard now twice from Dr Celli that these decisions were based in the budget which is ultimately what was brought forward as part of the agenda so it feels like we're taking both sides of that equation but if I step back and I'm just um I don't want to get into technical debates on commentary I think Nicole did a wonderful job of quoting some of the various statements that came from the broader teachers and administrators about how we value the AIDS in the kindering classroom I could also cite academic literature where it shows a direct correlation of a presence of an aid in a kindergarten classroom in the overall Improvement of both reading and math scores and I'm concerned not only for this incoming kindergarten class but also for their future academic trajectory that if we put them behind it'll follow them for the rest of their academic careers now with that point said beyond the children themselves I have other concerns that have also been raised at prior board meetings that I think need to be contended with the first we've heard from our Union that there has been a continued attrition of our staff we are not losing new hires we losing very valued seasoned professionals who spent years in our district that is a worrying Trend that is continuing and I'm very concerned that these types of decisions although grounded in difficult budgetary decisions are going to now further exacerbate that issue and we may find a continued attrition particularly in our Early Education particularly in kindergarten and our stens and classrooms in addition to that I'm also very concerned about how these combined factors are going to be perceived within our community we heard we took three items to ballot in those items we were very successful in passing two I don't want to get into a discussion about bus AES I know why it was put forward for a ballot we all have our opinions about why it didn't pass that's a different topic for discussion I think perhaps a portion of the question that was being asked earlier was trying to understand that as part of that discussion if we put forward in ballot item two budget for lunch AIDS partly founded in the fact that we knew that was a contributing factor to why kindergarten AIDS were being removed from classrooms why we didn't also then consider if there was a need for a ballot item to further buffer potential need for par professionals and AIDS that could Forstall instances like we're having now where we have change in demographic which is driving an increase in special education which is then driving increases in cost and therefore causing a staff to reallocate staff further you're hearing from community members there's a perception about not wanting to come year-over-year for potential ballot items I Echo Mr fi sentiment that I think we have a long journey before us you've heard me speak about that in previous meetings I understand that we're going to have to find constructive solutions to help build us back to a better more fiscally sound budgetary situation but in the short term I think there is a perception in the community that what was being represented as some of the major reasons and driving factors for why we got out the vote to pass the ballot items that passed in November is now seemingly being eroded and I think that is a very challenging position to put ourselves in because if we have any interest in putting forward additional ballot items going forward we don't want to be in a position where're being either accused of lack of transparency which I know the board has heard numerous times in the past or being in a position where people feel that facts were misrepresented so I think kind of echoing back to Dr Celli's point that when evaluating a budget there's wants and needs and I can definitely understand that special education are necessary costs there is legal basis behind those costs but I also understand that there was a complex set of decisions that ultimately landed us into the decisions we made in tonight's budget and hearing now that from today's budget that's being passed to what may actually present itself at the start of the school year I would like to understand in more concrete terms is this something that Dr selli is looking at is this something that Dr selli in conjunction with the administration is looking at if the board is involved in any way and if we as a community are going to be informed between now and the start of school year if there are any changes available that will allow us to preserve these positions and ensure the AIDS in the kindergarten classrooms for the start of the school year because I think that type of information and insight would be tremendously valuable in forestalling loss of talented staff from our district thank you so I can touch on on two things uh one it will will be extremely uh quick and one's going to take a little help from Kathleen um Angela and I had an opportunity to have a curriculum meeting about a week and a half ago which we mentioned earlier we are for the AIDS we are in support of them and we are working hand inand with Administration from two days ago this morning and even this afternoon uh with back and forth on how we can make this work we're just not in a position right now at tonight's meeting to say hey this is going to happen this is what it's going to be now I could touch on the uh budget questions when did the budget questions have to be presented umch March of whatch it's due in March March March of what year well last year it was due March of 23 one of the it's it's a it's a very apparent answer one of the reasons why it wasn't brought to our attention then or the board didn't think to put it on the agenda is because you're talking about a year ago and the transition as to why these positions need to be allocated was put forward about three weeks ago so it's hard for the Board of Education a year in advance to see the needs of special education right so excuse me if you want to speak you can please come up and state your name and come on up here we appreciate and welcome everyone so it's hard for the board over a year ago to foresee that this was going to be a problem right we listen to the community these are the topics that they wanted to address on the questions and that's what we put on if we would have known a year ago or north of a year ago that this was going to be an issue we would have happily replaced bus aids with kindergarten AIDS but I cannot reiterate it that we share in your sentiments we are pro AIDS in our kindergarten classes we are just not in a position tonight to say that we are able to make one or two or three or four possible but I could tell you from a board standpoint unless anyone says otherwise we are looking forward to continue working with administ ation to fulfill those positions so can I maybe then follow up so in terms of concrete next steps understand that discussions are happening but if you look across the audience we have a solid representation from our kindergarten staff as well as our broader Community how will we get informed of these decisions because I think it's tremendously important to understand that number one there is a strong commitment which I've heard now from Dr selli and I've heard now from the board and I already know is echoed by the the teaching and Administration staff that we all value and believe in the need need not the want but the need for the kindergarten AIDS so on that basis what is a reasonable expectation as a community member to be informed on that and is that something that can be decided upon in advance of the start of the school year so the reason why it's not discussed tonight particularly let's just say hypothetically we find $100,000 and then August of this year two more students are allocated to this District or two more students go from not needing a one-on-one Aid to they do and our our plan of reallocating those positions is now sidetracked by what is what we're legally responsible for so it's very hard for a board to to commit to that Megan can you jump in here it's not just it's not just one to one so it's also class sizes for preschool for special at preschool um for our resource rooms so as that increases and that could be throughout the year that I you know I could potentially need an aid to a resource room class because you're over the number if are coming out of early intervention I can't predict right so anytime a kid 120 days before they turn three the state calls us so like I can't predict that so you know we get phone calls whenever and then that changes our numbers too so it's just not the Ono one it's all aspects of special ed that can happen throughout the school year thank you Megan I know firsthand my youngest is in preschool and we have gone through the turmoil of having our teacher depart we've had our Aid having to serve as a substitute teacher and having insufficient Staffing in the classroom so um I know firsthand about the challenges with the demographics um what I would like to better understand is hearing the sentiment if there will be further communication that can be shared if decisions are made if in this hypothetical sense There's an opportunity to reallocate anything and identify budget that could cover at least now provisionally the cost of the AIDS I think it would be very valuable for the community to hear that and to know that that was taken seriously from the feedback that was shared to's meeting and also hopefully in an opportunity to help encourage that these very valued and seasoned professionals don't make choices over the summer to potentially leave our district because I think that's a very real risk we face and then secondly I would like to understand given that we do find ourselves in this precarious position where we feel tomorrow the phone could ring and a student who may have a legitimate need may now drive a change in our cost structure how we are then thinking now about steps we can take to try to help correct that and again while maybe a ballot item may not be the most most favorable topic but be able to put that forward in a credible way that will hopefully continue to receive the community support and hope give us a bit of a buffer so that we don't find ourselves continuously in a cycle of the situation thank you very much for your [Applause] comment hi desire Agri folio 53 caros Drive um quick question in regards to so you guys have said now that we needed to reallocate for staff for spe for special education needs okay but then we've now let go of one why I can't discuss Personnel publicly with you so I can't I can't answer that I but it seems like the reason is budgeting that seems because you're saying that you had to reallocate it is these four people it is my understanding that all non-renewed staff members have been provided with information about their non-renewal and that's as far as the Board of Education can comment so there is a specific reason for this person to be let go somebody who's been in the school district for 19 years and for as far as I know has been a fantastic pair professional for the community all of a sudden there is a problem with this person like I I can't discuss personnel with you okay so but but is so are you saying that there's going to be then a new hire for this position that position right now has been eliminated so I can talk about a position I can't talk about a person but why is the okay but why has that position been eliminated that's what my question is we budgeted for this person that was did that's where you're you're missing it we did not budget that's what we put in for next year that we only can put in for the four positions did our budget for our staffing decrease did it stay the same or is it going to increase the for next year for 2024 to 2025 is the budgeting for our staff is it increasing for our staff always increase based on on increases in their their pay so then if we are increasing the budget how are we not having enough money for this staff member because the increases go up with the teachers so our salary so the cost of health care benefits go up the cost of insurance goes up their salary goes up so as the as the the budget line increases so do the cost to have these professional but you just lost all of these higher paid teachers they all left and you are now getting new new members who I'm assuming are coming fresh out of school I'm assuming you're paying them at the lowest step making an assumption assumtion that's not true but then but then then okay so you're saying that then we're obtaining well seasoned new Educators uh well seasoned Educators in our school district we are facing the same challenges all the sending Juris sixs are with teachers leaving for signing bonuses and higher pay and higher steps on the guide we're not Fairfield is not the only District I just I think it you know what I'm trying to say is very Rings very true so what every single person that's come up here to say which is we had passed the line items that were supposed to help us retain these members of our community so it's shocking to hear that we are losing because we did not prepare for them within our budget when that was the whole point of the budget um it's it's concerning thank you for your comments yes um and then another question I have is how many um how many secretaries do we have for our our school schools there's one secretary per school for our entire education our entire Fairfield board the district the whole District well secretaries well you have three secretaries and then you have clerks no I'm sorry three four five five secretaries right districtwide five secretaries and then there's three clerks three three clerks okay so you're saying that there are eight administrative secretary clerks and are they within that budget that you pass for so how many of those secretaries are contracted members in the union okay so three you're saying of the eight or within that budget that you put through they're all in the budget single person that works in the districts in the budget everyone so they so you're saying that there are eight administrative clerks secretaries that are there that are accounted for within the budget okay and those people are more important it seems like than than our AIDS because you keep on saying that the AIDS are that you really want to hold on to these AIDS how are they more important than our AIDS our Educators that's I just don't see it how no one can answer that are you no really it's I'm actually shocked too because now you're trying to pin staff members against others and unless you're in somebody's role you don't know what the es of their job and I find it offensive to try to say that someone's job is not relevant nobody said the AIDS were not relevant so I don't think that's an appropriate question that's just me personally those are the positions you're getting rid of we're not getting rid of positions we're not right now right now we read allocated positions because that's what we needed to do okay so that we can have the budget listen I'm going to just say something the district always people always look for transparency there's something that all the staff members know is a June 1st letter staff doesn't get what their assignment is for next year until June this was told out of a courtesy it was not told to hurt anybody it was not told for any other reason but to share that right now we are having an issue with putting every person in the spot that they currently are in but they're going to be placed for the most part right so at least they were told that so that it can start to acknowledge what is happening if it continues down that road moving forward so they have time to absorb it and not find out last minute and be blindsided and happy summer no we didn't want to do that to people so it's well I mean you legally can't so no legally I could I didn't have to we didn't have to tell them anything right now but we do care about our staff and we want people to understand you know if you're going to shake your head and be disrespectful then I'm not going to bother responding to you I just don't understand how this person's salary is being realated thank you very much for your comments we appreciate your time I just don't understand and so I think we need to do better about making sure that these positions are kept thank you very much for your time and your comments we appreciate them Lauren and then you Melissa I apologize hi hello can you hear me oh Lauren melano for Meisner Court just a question in regards uh Kathleen to the budgeting so if we look back we're just trying to get some clarity on the questions that were on the ballot if we look back I'm looking at a list of where we were having appropriation of funds and there's I'm looking at one two three four five six teachers where we appropriated some of the funds from question one were those teachers hired this year I believe it was from January to June that that F those funds keep forgetting that we didn't we were not able to hire the speech to yet Megan is still re um so that so essentially that would be about $90,000 but don't let me just cut you off right there so any money left from the question that is not spent by auditing that money is traced because they are separate account lines that are traceable I had to put a code into them when the auditor comes in at the end of this year any unspent money goes into next year's 2526 budget so can't use budget for the speech teacher or budget for something else budget for every anything else to be used it comes in as Revenue just like f um fund balance appropriated okay okay so you can't take that money from this year and use it to offset the expenses for next year no understood but I was wondering if we could if you allocate to next year can you use that in gaps like so if can you use that to get more AIDS possibly no that's what I'm saying you can't use thatone money that's ending this year for aids for next year it h it it skips a year okay so but that money is allocated you have that and that will be used next year the following year you can't use it until 25 26 you can't use it in 2425 budget so it's like in a placeholder for 2526 then it can go back into the budget okay okay all right thank you right so that's the where it hurts us Melissa um Melissa Pia 7 Henrietta Drive um so I'm just GNA just want to be careful how I'm wording this but uh I agree with a lot of what the moms and you know parents and everybody have said out here um there was a my son is in kindergarten uh and there was some situations in that you know our our classroom experienced um this year um that you know i' I've notified principles and emails have been gone back and he's been great but I just want to bring up the situation of what what happens right now he's been telling me that yes Aid you know comes she leaves this time lunchtime or maybe at this you know today there was a different person in our classroom Tomorrow there's a different person in our classroom and that's another that's the first thing is the inconsistency right for these kids you know they're five they get attached to an aid all of a sudden aidid's gone right or it's like okay you know um in this particular scenario in our classroom there was a classmate that was you know just needed a little more attention Okay let's say um no formal IEP speci nothing like that legally you know needed a little more attention and thankfully for the most part I'm not going to say all the time because our awesome teacher was alone at times thankfully there was an aid in the classroom that could help provide a safe and and I'm going to say the word safe because there were times where it wasn't that was able to help create a safe environment for this teacher in the scenario which I I agree special educ AIDS are extremely important I no one I don't think anyone here is saying that they're not of course no but even so it's it's important right we care about all of our students what if our teacher has no aid and there's a situation like what happened in my kid in in my son's classroom what does that teacher do how does she keep is there someone that will be in charge of okay you know what this particular student even though they don't have a legal document don't have an IP or is not a special is there someone that will be able to say you know what this teacher might need an aid we might need to shuffle around again or who who's going to be in charge of following up because I just want to make sure the teachers feel like they have support as well and I just I love our kindergarten teacher if she does that miss kti is amazing um but yeah she so I would hate for her to feel like ah I have no I have no support I can't teach this classroom because I have to you know focus on other things it's just I feel like I mean for all of the reasons that were said already the importance of AIDS in this part in particular scenario it was to help keep this a safe environment so who would be in charge of if we need to pull a need back into that classroom I guess I'm um so it would be like any other classroom that doesn't have an needid in the classroom they would have to call the office to try to get you know the principal down to the office and it's not the best situation but that is what you know what you wind up doing um you asked a second question and I I think I forgot uh I might sorry I might have mumbled it in there maybe it was just um all maybe you didn't and thinking you did so it's you know that's that's the reality of the situation I mean you don't always have a second pair of hands in the classroom um so they would just have to try to either call for their neighbor or you know call the office I if it's a safety issue they should be calling for the principal and and I'm I'm pretty sure they have I think it was just a matter of we need the staff right to be able to to keep an individual in there and and to help so I think it was and I get shuffling them around but I I hope that either asking for volunteer AIDS or something else is on the table because we can't just be like well we have we have to keep these these AIDS here because now they've been shuffled and it's required legally whatever we can't like what do we tell those teachers that sorry we have work with the staff I mean he's going to have to work with his staff to come up with you know addressing their concerns if if this is the way that we're going to start September um that's because yeah I think this happened a little after September this particular uh friend of ours came in a little bit later into the okay into the school year so it again having an extra person helped keep my my the kids environment safe and I just want to know like who would be in charge of I know we can't push an IEP on anyone or like to pull it here that's what you ask you asked if kids are are um no I know that I know the answer is no you can't force any no no you said if kids were disruptive could you then try to shuffle other AIDS and things in that nature so for General like students like we don't typically put an aid in a classroom for that particular reason and I'm not talking kindergarten any grade level right so typically if you're going to have an aid for for a student they would either need a 504 or an IEP that was your second question and so what's the I I I would hope what's the other game plan then because this situation this child did not and it was not very it has not been a very easy school year um for the teacher so I just I wanted to know who's following up with I don't know have they brought it to your attention yeah they have yeah and he's been awesome with the emails and stuff but I just want to know who would be respon if we're shuffling AIDS around Dr Cho Dr chuko would be responsible of like hiring or moving people around into another classro putting a plan in place that is acceptable for the teachers to call for help when need it okay and if he doesn't have the actual manpower to do so like who would be in charge of like what if we needed to so again when we're dealing with asking it wrong no it's okay I know what you're saying when when we're ask when we're dealing with Staffing like if there's a request from either the principles or even from um Megan that would come to me to say like is there a way that we can try to figure out the money I then usually go to the ba is there money that we can try to we volunteers or something like that right so I mean we we work together like I said earlier we don't make decisions in isolation meeting the business administrator and superintendent we work with everybody in in the district that puts together like the actual budget and the educational plans you know the administrators so we work together we have monthly meetings that we discuss things every month you know okay so all right I I understand that and the principal I have to say he's been great he responded emails was on it you and I know you guys are are you know I know he's been looking into it and and trying to deal with it the best he could so I just want to make sure that our teachers feel like they have support in a safety scenario to wrap it up in a safety scenario is there a possibility that people could be moved back into the classroom or if changes could be remade again this is a living breathing document we're working on this daily to try to reinstate these positions just want don't you throw out that scenario because it was unfortunate we had to thank you deal with it thank you [Applause] hi Frank lamort for who Lane um I know we keep talking about the kindergarten AIDS I think we can all agree everybody in this room we're most concerned about education of our children which is why we're not really my myself I've the busting I I understand we have to do away with it uh it's going to affect me too my kids can't walk to school from where I live so uh the only thing is I think you know the AIDS are really important everybody here is saying it my kids is in kindergarten my niece is going to be in kindergarten I have other family in town here I really think we need to think about other I'm not saying other people's jobs aren't important but we do have a lot of administration and we're it's we're a small District we have two schools I really think before and I know they can't meddle in the Personnel decisions but you guys can ask questions I think you can push the decisions that are being made I think we need to look more at maybe other positions possibly we could combine I mean I worked in business you know we did away with a position somebody took on the role of two you know maybe a secretary had to support two or three people so I think education's most important I think the kindergarten AE would be a huge loss and I just think we have to look at some other Solutions before we sign on the dotted line for this the money is the money the allocation's the allocation but I think there's other ways and I think you guys can push Susan and other Dr Celli and other the other people coming in on how we can look at some other ways before we you know decide this is a final thing so thank you for your comments Frank anyone else come on up Ashley anakis 17 Southampton Drive I have a question and if I missed it because I was late I apologize regarding busing are there new like what's the plan now that it's gone new routes staggered times I mean traffic is going to increase more than it is now so what's the plan for that so uh we did touch on this um earlier uh before you arrived and we'll be happy to go over it quickly uh we are in communication with Tiny Treasures and we are on whether or not they are going to be utilized in one facility or two if they're going to be in both facilities obviously that's going to lessen the the drop off line uh at each location if it's at one facility the district is prepared to provide busing from one school to the other we are currently uh in communication with law enforcement leadership in regards to the safety of getting the children to school we've been in contact with the mayor and Council in regards to uh sidewalks where uh applicable and crossing guards so again this is a a living breathing uh plan that we are currently working on and obviously you know for me I'm affected by it you know I said that earlier uh my plan is to carpool um to and from which isn't that you know great but it's it's going to help I'll utilize before an after care if if needed and we are looking at different things uh in regards to start times which is all you know contingent upon you know several contributing factors that haven't been decided yet okay and the kids who walk to school more crossing guards and ride their bikes and all of that right and well there's kids that walk to school now and they ride their bikes to school now and that's happens on a daily basis here there's no crossing guards I don't know cuz there's no crossing guards no just no but that happens now it happens over Route 46 on a daily basis kids walk to school and drive to school on their bicycles from Hollywood Avenue over 46 on a daily basis so these things are already happening concerns that the general public to increase more it's going to increase more so the time that's what I was worried about yeah also uh second thing regarding the Education Foundation I am a co-president of it and we did meet um with the superintendent and the principes and we shared slides about our whole GR process our timelines I think that was shared with you guys so if it was not oh okay cuz that could answer your question it was shared it was shared with us recently oh okay yeah if you look back on that it has everything there is there a website that like where your bylaws are listed or your meeting we don't have to actually do that because we are a private organization but um something we could actually oh you want to come up okay I'm going just state your name no here Christen Chelli I'm at six stag Trail I am the treasurer of the organization and I'm also a CPA that deals uh 1,000% with nonprofit organizations um we as a as a 501c3 organization we are not required to give out our bylaws we can provide them upon request um they are not on our website and we're still such a small organization that even our 990s are not we're still file file a 990n so we're still under that threshold and be under that threshold for 2023 2024 we will not be however the grant process will eventually be listed on our website so if that if you're looking for transparency yeah that's the you'll the the community the board um the Board of Ed everybody will have full transparency on how to get access or understand how to get how or teachers could get the access to the to the funds okay so it's they're UNR they're they will be restricted grants too that they come through okay okay thank you on that um so I also had a 5013c and my question is that you don't so the money doesn't have to be given out per Grant is that how you chose to allocate the money so by our mission we have to give within our what our mission is to still be a public charity right so our mission that is posted on our 23 application says that we are a grant making organization to give money to the teacher so that's what we need to do to stay within our mission with that being said we can give money to the student council we gave money we give if there's a specific ask or we want to give we decide as a board to give money to another cause within the district we can do so okay so you can but you're just going basically Grand based we are we are deciding currently based on our with with the school year budget coming out now that we all see it how much we can give based on the the money that we just raised based on the events that we have in our brains planned to give out in the future plus our operating costs yeah hi so just an our first year we are going to be prioritizing the grants first uh we can make decisions on uh you know where the money would go to support different uh needs or extracurricular uh education activities for the district but being the first year we're going to establish our grant process go through this process so the grant is the grants will be the priority so I have a question for you I'm sorry before I slip before I lose this because there's a lot processing so I know that in regards to the Board of Education anything donated to us has to be approved by the board but I'm assuming that's not the case if you're s if you're you can take any donation no not take a donation so in other words so any that's donated to the board of education has to be board approved that does not happen in a public Char your school district school districts a different laws no no no any I I think you're misunderstanding what I'm saying I'm telling you based upon our attorney's information whatever you donate whatever you allocate to us has to be board approved but if you choose to donate to another organization I think it's important that the community knows the board of education has no no say in what you guys do okay so I I think that's what some of the question in the community are that the the community doesn't realize you don't report to us you're not affiliated with us you're your own entity that doesn't have to report to the people that are donating to the organization you don't have to have a website you don't have to say this is what we're doing with it well we don't have to have a website that's attached to the town or the school district we do have a website we do have social media and we can and anybody can message us on there and join our mailing list and one of us will get back to you but our but our mission is listed on the website and it is to uh support the educational needs of this District so we're not we're not okay in the past just because you know in the past the fairf Education Foundation operated differently so that's why I just wanted to understand which way you guys you mean what before yes correct yeah so for the most part funds that are dispersed from our organization would be going to the district and presumably but they're going through grants yeah they're going as at first at the priority that's so I guess the question I have is you said you donated to the student council is Fairfield student council we have yes that was approved that was that was approved at a at a prior meeting donated so the only question I would have is as a board member I'm just being made aware of that and all donations have to be approved by the board no it was approved it was approved at our me was back in like September August September yeah it was a while this that was already there when you guys started the foundation it was money that was sitting there okay so it was from your fundraiser perfect okay so this is back in September not your recent fundraiser no right perfect okay great sep fundraiser yes okay thank you guys thank you yeah hey how are you uh John fabricator 5 Southampton um I just had a question for Miss Morano about the I'm just going over everything on page 10 uh line item o when it comes to the um relocation of the server room could you just touch base on a little bit like what that entails because I feel like there's seven companies here one person put out the bid and how do we know that that's not the best price that we can get well we had we did an RFP um prior to this and then the board decided they wanted to bid it um so we we ended up bidding it the bid is probably 100 pages and a lot of these companies don't have the time and they don't want to bid it so that's why it was given to them they picked it up but they withdrew their application um this was the bidder that put in an RFP initially and we have to go with the the the lowest responsible bidder which if this one was the only one our attorney already has reviewed it and they submitted everything compliance with the bid so that's what was on the agenda for Acceptance in terms of the project William could fill you in on how large scale this project is going to be yeah I was just wondering like what does this really entail for like relocating of a server like when a lot of lot of the uh I'm assuming it's going to be the internet the storage of documents emails is that like security or are we talking like a fullon server based system where you're housing all everyone's data where most of this stuff is in the cloud right now so you're moving a whole data room like what are you doing sorry sorry I'm definitely not prepared to speak but um it's more than just a that's being it's it's our entire a room our our main distribution frame it's in a closet right now that has no ventilation it has to constantly be unlocked it's in the main office it's very noisy um it gets very hot yeah it's constantly leaking but included that is a lot more than just moving the server we need new network switches we need new wiring a lot of our wiring is very outdated it does not um our access points don't connect at the right speeds things drop all the time um all of our cameras access points all all the phones in the rooms all that wiring has to be rerouted because it's going to be at a new location okay but as far as how it's done couldn't this have been set off to like an outside server which most people do anyway or does it have to be by law like in the in the the school system most districts have server rooms in each of the buildings or main location has it ever been looked into to go to the cloud and and out like Outsource it to like a most of this is physical infrastructure actual wiring actual Network switches I know it's very expensive so usually it's less it's more cost effective to actually farm that out and let other people do it that's what I was wondering again this is actual the physical infrastructure in the building we can't Outsource physical infrastructure I just wondering because it seemed like it was a lot of money and I know that the AIDS are a big thing so I was just looking at it and seeing you know I would to have seen other other prices on here to like go go off of because it just seem a lot of money so this is being funded through our capital reserve account it's not funded through our general operating budget question if it was okay thank you thank you go ahead TR just a followup question around the server the um JCT solutions back in January of 23 this was also on the budget um on the minutes and then I think it was removed um and the the cost of it was $150 1,000 is there something different that's happening now that brings it up to 224 well like $73,000 difference first of all it was bid that's number one and number two is that going back to our last admin who was Mike Ludwick at the time um when William came on board to replace mik there was other things that he realized that were needed in the bid package and that's what probably expanded the cost so the so the bid wasn't uh essentially Apples to Apples correct there was an increase in Services provided in the second uh bid bid talk okay okay so 73,000 an extras ex and I'm sure in the cost of a year whatever the INF I understand inflation but when I saw it was 73,000 I thought that's a little bit more than inflation no it makes sense okay any other questions comments I just have um one last question um just about some of the positions that were on the uh the questions on the ballot so Lauren had kind of started asking about uh you know are there any teachers that were not hired but there were other staff on there too like um you know custodians and speech teachers nurses lunch AIDS have we filled all of those positions every position that was on the on the ticket we've been trying to hire lunch AIDS um we put out the blast in the community and we had a lot of interest but then the process to actually work in a school system where you have to be fingerprinted volunteers do as well um you know that's an issue and then parents backed off so they didn't fill all those positions the um OT assistant we couldn't fill that position the speech we couldn't fill custodian we did the RNs we did um I don't think I'm missing any other positions am I are we still trying to fill those positions of course we are yeah absolutely we're constantly trying to fill them so but if they don't get filled at the end of this school year then we have a gap year and then that just goes to the budget for the following year 25 26 school year mhm is there um I mean obviously if if you're still trying to hire people you know is there anything that the community can do to try to help get people in these positions so that we're not using I mean we're essentially losing that budget for next year that many of us here if you know people in those in that field that are looking for a position please have them apply that's that's the extent to how the community are they um are are they listed somewhere where we can reference like the like the job should be on the the web the our website the under yeah under employment opportunities okay um and then you know if if if you cannot find positions for that I guess before June 1 when everyone technically gets their June one letter um can you if you were to hire I want to say this diplomatically a OT person could that person then be reallocated next year to maybe a special education Aid or how does that work kind of like how you're reallocating an OT you mean an occupational therapist I'm just trying to figure out creative ways of how we can maybe OCC to fill the the need that we have for the AIDS in in the classroom no no yeah right okay um anything else uh no I think that's it thank you thank you Chrissy saell 61 Deer Park Road um I just have a quick question so I know you and our Town Council are two totally separate entities but have you ever thought about coming together with them and having them analyze your budget because we're a very fiscally fit town so so that that's a great question but the town operates underneath a different budgetary process do so when I when I say that is when they're above when and Joe I don't know if you can jump in if you know how how the structure is I know a little bit about it but not enough about it when we reach our 2% or whatever our dollar amount is that's it we have to fall underneath it the town does not I know they could raise taxes however they have other other two and they're two and a half percent they have other ways of moving the money yeah Joe I don't know if you listen governmental governmental process with that with that kind of budgeting and just accounting is specialized so and that's not my specialty I'm up here but that's not my specialty um what I can say is our fixed costs are much greater than their fixed costs and what I mean by that is when you have a budget that every year 70 to 75% is just to take care of our people they don't have that now granted what I'll what I'll sit here and say is did the council over the last 20 years probably make better decisions sure and they're you know there I mean it's the same group of people so you can't even say that we've had many changes up here we had some people that were here for a little time they were a little stagnant okay yeah I'm new so I'm just stagnant I'm trying not to be too too uh too negative towards anybody who was here in the past but yeah that's what I was kinding to say I saw you walk in a little late but what I said earlier was you can't have a a compound positive if you don't make any decisions in the past and we we're making decisions that we should have made years ago yes if they didn't do that that then that's why they're in a more sound position than we are that's just the that's just the honest truth that's all it is it's not it's really this really isn't that hard this part not upsetting everybody and trying to make everybody happy is the hard part just we're in a bad situation work in a school district so also I'm wondering when um our ldtc Miss banelli is also going to get back to the classroom because she's been in preschool from my understanding because my son's IEP was almost up and I had to email about it that he was supposed to be re-evaluated so I was a little concerned that I hadn't been contacted so I had to reach out to mapone and ask for my my consent you guys are supposed to ask for my consent to reevaluate my son and I was waiting and I waited till April 10th his IEP would have been out of compliance on April 18th so I'm concerned that we're not you know keeping our ducks in a row and monitoring things too I'm also concerned because our teachers aren't happy that makes me sad because my teachers my kids loved going to school here and I'm sad because my teachers aren't happy so it breaks my heart and I I understand you're in like a really tough spot I do because I understand the inner workings of a school I get it you get a kid who comes in with you know major issues and you have to send him at a district and that comes out of your pocket it's part of a free and appropriate education for all I get it but we have to start figuring out like the gentleman said for long-term effect and that's why I was thinking maybe the Town Council even if you don't have the same budgetary constraints maybe they can help guide you just a little bit I don't know I'm just pulling it straws because again we need to come together as a community these are our babies they're the most important people to us I know they're important to all of you they're important to all of them that's why they're here so I really really implore you to figure something out and I know you guys will I have faith in you okay so please do that for us thank you for your [Applause] comments anyone else you have to you have to yeah sorry I know Alexis fabricator 5 Southampton I know everyone wants to go home I don't know how often this meets I don't know how often I'll get an opportunity my you know my child is start in kindergarten there just ask Frank he'll fill you in know there's a whole host of people that are that that are have a lot of trepidation about kindergarten they're on a Facebook group and everybody's talking and the culture you know of a town is really important and since I've been in this town everyone really loves to be here and this is my first experience and for the kids it's their first experience with starting school and I see some of the teachers here that I got to meet during the assessment and it feels like there's excitement and then I wonder with this Aid thing it's such a big deal and and I'm wondering one like is someone going to you know by June have an answer so that we don't go all summer with this trepidation of like oh my God is it going to be a disaster when the school starts there's going to be too many teachers or is it something that you know maybe I don't know if we can ask the teachers like if they're like we can't do this without the age just to have a little bit better understanding of you know the timeline and how long this is going to because behind the scenes just so you know in the community there is a lot of these kindergarten moms we're getting together we're really excited and then there's this kind of like oh uncertainty and angst about this issue and there feels like something that needs to be addressed immediately so I guess maybe if you could just speak to that a little bit um if this is the last chance I get to say something I'll be mad if I don't and so I just want to uh bring some passion and you know we do have meetings once a month so you're more than welcome to come next month so next month I can come and bring up the same issue do I come until June yeah yeah you can when is my last date to keep keep to keep pushing this yeah no problem um I I wish I had an answer for you as to when this will be ironed out I I don't have I don't have that answer I can tell you that we have been working on things and we will continue to work on things and if and when there is a change that will be sent out um obviously staff members would be told first um and once once they're told I mean the community will probably know anyway because that's just the way it works um but of course um you know Dr Tri will send something out okay thanks for responding to my email thank you I didn't know if this was the last chance I get I had to say something my husband never last chance please let people go home but thank you thank you with that we're going to close the public comments non-agenda items only next meeting be it resolved that the next meeting will be held in person on May 22nd 2024 Public Work section beginning at 6 p.m. followed by executive session with public session resuming at approximately 7:30 p.m. at the Fairfield Municipal building can I have a motion for adjournment second you don't need