Okay, good evening and welcome. This is the April 28th, 2025 meeting of the school committee. Call the meeting to order 520. This meeting is being both audio and video recorded. I would ask that please everyone rise for the pledge of allegiance.
I 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. Okay, roll call. Samantha, if you could start, please.
Pamela Blair, assistant superintendent for business. Sarah Trulio. Gordon Smith, superintendent of schools. Gregory Thompson. William Strawther. [Applause] Representative. Okay. Thank you all. I have meeting
minutes for approval. I take a motion, please. Let's approve the April 7th, 2025 executive session meeting minutes. Motion made by Sarah. Second. Second by Amy. Discussion. All in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed, nay. That carries.
Five to zero. Move to approve the April 7th regular session meeting minutes. Motion made by Sarah. Second. Second by William. Discussion. All in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed, nay. That motion carries. 5 Z. Samantha. Thank you for those committee and subcommittee
communications. Sarah, would you like to start please? Not at this time. Okay. Antilla. No. Not at this time. Amy Emanuel, bring us home. Thank you. Two weeks ago, uh the high school had assembly five and it was basically a
substance abuse uh assembly. I really liked the approach of it. It was way different than any other uh substance abuse talk I had cuz it wasn't more of like like a personal experience. It was more focused on decision- making. How your decisions should align with your goals and how drugs like don't help with
that. Also, two weeks ago, uh the high school hosted their second uh Special Olympics event where we had people from the middle school, high school, and a few different schools around the area participate. It was a really nice uh it was a really nice event that they had
and all the kids had a lot of fun. Um I also had the opportunity to attend the 250th uh celebration of East Long Meadow. That was a really nice ceremony. And then final thing I have is that um this Thursday, May 1st, is the high school's academic achievement night.
Excellent. Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. We have an opportunity for visitors to address the committee. Seeing none, continue on. We have an approval of the Go Fan electronic ticketing
system. Athletics. Are we expecting Mr. McGee? I thought Mr. McGee was was scheduled to appear. Is he online? The information is in your packets. Um, and I can go through it. I think he would do
a better job. Uh Gordon, he's discussed uh it with um area athletic directors when they meet as athletic directors through PBIC. But basically what um the proposal is is to go from a uh ticket purchased at the
game or if they um No, it basically it's just the tickets at the game that would be changed and go to a an online um purchasing process through gofan.com. And we know that um area schools uh have already begun using it
such as AWA, Long Meadow, Lello, and Minichog. and have had um basically successful results. And um the one element that if you look at the box that Mr. McGee put together there is
that it does add a dollar processing fee. So he would recommend just raising our adult prices from $5 to $6 and our um non east resident seniors from $3 to
$4 uh to cover that processing fee on the the attached page. I'm sorry, Gordon. Isn't it it says published before the $1 fee? So is he proposing seven and four with the fee? I mean seven and five. I think he's proposing
six. I thought it was he was proposing six and four to cover the $1. The top line published price before. I don't know if he talked to you about that. Um I'm just saying I I did quickly text him here and ask him if he's coming. He said yes. So um coming I'm asking is he's on
his way. Obviously there was a misunderstanding time. So, um I what I can tell you is that um the surrounding districts and actually more and more it's on my list surveys from all the business managers, more and more districts are using this and it's very very successful for a lot of different
reasons. This is just for the um the gate receipts. Um we won't have to um have as many uh workers. Um it's going to, you know, help save money that way. We did um reach out to the town um treasurer uh Don Fonte because um you know there's an umbrella that that this
falls under and we have to make sure certain um permissions and that that she's okay with it and we ended up uh having a a Zoom meeting. Uh myself uh Dawn Kevin was there as and and the the sales rep for this and she answered all
of Dawn's questions. Um so she felt very good about that. I followed up with um Don Fonte afterwards before bringing this forward to this committee to make sure that she was okay with it and did she have any additional questions and she said um no she was really looking forward to it um to get it in place. So,
this is for next sports year. Um, we are going to once the school year ends, uh, Kevin is going to work earlier rather than later to get this set up so we can iron out any kind of kinks ahead of time and make sure that it's in place for when, um, the sports do start back up
in, you know, September. Um so I'm sorry I don't know if he's so just to to answer your question as far as I understood it if you look at the the tax page um he's looking at proposing because we're at five and three similar
to long ago a west Springfield I understand that I think that's um this would cover it in terms of the six and four I'm not sure why it's worth it that way but that was my understanding in discussing it with him that it would Um,
introducing those increases would cover the dollar fee. And yeah, it says publish price before the dollar fee at the top there. Sorry. Doesn't that mean you add the dollar? No, I think that's why he's proposing the six and four because we're actually five and three right now. Okay.
Well, we'll um Long Meadow is considering going up and also considering going up in discussions because this is their first year with the go band and they've been experiencing the dollar processing fee and so they're considering going up for next year as well. Do we currently
charge for JV soccer and B? Um basketball only if it if they're getting there 30 minutes before the start time of the varsity game. That's not what this says though. He wants to change it to 30 minutes before JV. That's why I'm asking. I don't
necessarily We don't charge with uh for the JV game per se. We try to pick up the ones that are coming. Is he proposing that we do? He must be reducing it to I don't Yeah, I see. Yeah. I don't 30 minutes before JV start time was when
tickets will be be sold, right? Sorry. I don't believe he charges for JV. I don't want to say that they open up 30 minutes before is No, they didn't. But I'm asking if he's proposing that because that's what it looks like. That's his starting time of
the ticket sale, right? For varsity games. Why would we start selling tickets half an hour before JV? That means you have to buy a ticket to get in the JV. That's how I'm reading. Oh, I was reading it that you that's when you start to purchase tickets half an hour before JV game. That's just when they're
going to open the sales, right? I don't know. But that doesn't make sense. Nobody comes to the game two hours ahead. Sometimes they do sometimes. Yeah. So, let them in for free cuz they made it to the JV game. That's what I'm saying. Like JV, but then they stay for the varsity. I'm okay with that. Hey, there's a system. Um high high school kids, they were
always free. All the kids. That was uh the committee made them free a couple years ago. Huh? All the kids. I know. We did see your citizens. Yeah, we did that last year. I remember the senior citizens yesterday. All right. Well, we need more
clarifications. Why don't we jump to the uh field trip on the bottom, right? I don't want to jump in the hearing and then the third quarter. Take a couple minutes, right, Pam? Yeah, he's I guess he didn't
respond. Oh, there he is. Perfect timing. Thank you. Hey, Kevin. Sorry for missing standing. I haven't done a uh Have a seat. Oh, right here. No, up front. You're up. We're in. 5:30.
We're on it. No. 5:00. Oh my gosh. You're right on time. Don't worry. I'm so sorry. I have No, no, no. What's been that vacation delayed coming out of executive session and I was trying to do proposal justice, but I don't think I've done a For some reason, I had it at
5:30. I was at my son's baseball game at Heritage. I apologize. No worries. Sorry about that. So that's why I'm out of breath. All the way here from Heritage pretty much. Um, do you want me to start from the top? Yeah, that would be helpful. Um, so
the goal here is for the athletic department to go to all tickets. Um, other schools like Awam, Long Meadow, Lello, Minichog. Uh, all of those schools have gone to digital tickets. Uh we'd be
probably the last school to go to digital tickets in the area. Um some of the Sorry, as you can see, I'm catch my breath. Yeah, take your time. I'm good. Thank you, though. Um so, some of the major changes from what we've done in the past is we would be looking
for all East Law Meadow students to get um free entry into sporting events. That was uh feedback from the athletic leadership council, uh from families in town. Um Kevin, what do we currently do? is it? So, currently it's just student athletes that would get entry. Uh, so
that would be one of the major changes. Uh, it's a great place for them to spend a Friday night or Thursday night. Uh, I know that our athletes really appreciate when they come and support them. Uh, so that's one big change. Um, as far as the prices go, the prices are very similar to other schools. I believe you received
um a document with Lelo Long Awa and West Springfield and what they charge. They did. Um, and we would be right in the middle of those schools. Um, a few of the other changes just to make it an actual policy where
Birchland Park Middle School students would be able to attend if they're in a wreck uniform with the recck coach. They would be able to attend for free, but they'd have to be in uniform with that rec coach. Um, also, um, you know, kind of making it official
that ELPS staff members if they wear their badge, uh, supporting their students in their classes, they'll be able to enter for free. Kevin, did you say the six and the four is before the additional dollar? Yes. So, that the way that Goofan works is anytime that
there's a ticket transaction, Goofan would add a dollar to that fee. Uh and that's a standard practice in all all the local towns. There's a reason why we're going last to this and not first. Uh and the reason for it is we wanted to see how it would go for Long Meadow,
Minichog, Lello. Uh all of the feedback has been great. Uh people actually come to our games wishing that we could do digital tickets um instead of the cash tickets. Um, we would be charging at all the same
sports that we've charged in the past as far as varsity football, JV and varsity soccer, JV and varsity basketball. Um, Kevin, we currently charge JV basketball. So, yeah. So, the current what we currently do is we charge for JB basketball 30 minutes before the start
of the JV game for basketball. There would be a small change with soccer where we would charge 30 minutes before the JV soccer start time because now we don't charge for JV soccer. Correct. Uh so change, correct? That would be a
change. Uh it would be similar to other towns when there's a back-to-back JV varsity game at the turf field. Um and it would be consistent with what we have done for 20 years with basketball where we charge for that JV game beforehand. Part of the reason for it is our ticket
sellers or ticket takers, we put them in a really tough situation. When somebody shows up 30 minutes into a JV game and they say that they're there just to watch the last 20 minutes of the JV game, it's tough for them
um to, you know, they don't want to let people in for free, but they also understand that somebody might be coming for those last 15, 20 minutes. So the consistency of charging for that JV game before it would make it very clear for our ticket takers. When you say char, if
I may, charging for the game, they're paying for one game basically, but taking in the JV game and the varsity game. Correct. And this would be what um so Machog's a comparable um school. They charge for any double
headers on the turf. Uh and they they charge for lots of other sports, too. what we charge for. There are schools do not they don't charge JV, they charge varsity, but they make a deadline as to half time at JV. But there would be the exception if someone said, "Well, I'm just coming to watch till the end of the
game." My point is I don't necessarily agree with the change to the JV because a lot of people don't go to that game those games anyway because of the timing perhaps or whatever and so the expectation is to not pay. And if the only reason is because a couple stragglers come in late, I don't know, you know, I don't know what it is. So,
typically um for a soccer game, if a if a game starts at JV game starts at 5:00, that JV game is ending around 6:40 and the varsity game starting at 7. So, the alternative would be that we start
selling 30 minutes before a varsity game and everybody that's in there gets to stay in for free. Um, that would be different than what Minutach is currently doing. I prefer that personally, but I don't know how others feel on that.
I I've always wanted as much participation as possible in terms of and also fans showing up and watching the game. So JV um not charging historically now to change that. I think we'll get less people coming and I don't think it's going to be a huge take and it's one more thing we're hitting the
parents for as well. I don't know. It's a thought. Um Kevin, the other thing was the six and four that the the um ticket prices. Does that include the dollar fee or do you have that on top? So it would be seven and five. So that would be before the dollar ticket fee. So would
be seven and five. Correct. That would be the final final price. It's important. It would be the only high school that I'm aware of that every high school student gets in for free. Um every senior resident that's 62 plus
gets in for free. Um I'm not aware of any other districts that are doing that. And one way to offset that great benefit to our senior citizens who live in town and also our high school students. Um you know there there's there's a financial loss there compared to other
towns. So that's why if I I'm kind of targeting us right in the middle of of geographical tickets do we sell in a year? Do you have any idea total? Uh, so $30,000 is what we budget total for gate revenue at six $6 a ticket. So be 500
spectators at some rate. Um, so we we budget 5,000 5,000 spectators. So if we drop the reason why I ask if we drop it a dollar, it's 5,000 in revenue. I just think seven's high. Again, I don't know what folks think about that. Are we current at five and three? We're
currently at five and three. I believe we've been at five and three for over 20 years. Uh and our transportation uh our transportation budget has doubled. Our equipment budget has doubled. Um and these ticket prices go directly to um
game officials, transportation uh and um those revolving account items. Are there any provisions in place for students from um Birland who might not
have a phone? Yep. Great question. So, if we agreed to go with Goof Fan for digital ticketing, they would give us uh point of sale um devices that uh they can purchase um on site. their parents can purchase the tickets in advance um
and uh they can transfer them to them um but they could do a point of sale with different um debit cards or credit cards. Somebody going to have to man that then. Yeah. So um the great thing is if we go to
digital tickets we would be able to cut our operating costs significantly. Um, so we would always have a minimum of one person at the gate with a second person close by in case there was in case they needed some support. So, um, for those
events, um, we'd always have two people there. In the past, we'd always have essentially a minimum of three people. So, we're we're able to cut out at least one person. And for football games, we could potentially uh reduce our operating costs by significantly more than that. And there's also the police
department detail savings of going to digital tickets. Um, so we're anticipating a police detail costing $310 per officer next year. Uh, and we've always hired somebody when we've had $1,000, $,500, $2,000 of cash on
site. We've always had a police detail there. But going to the digital tickets, we could um the principal and I could look at the schedule and say we definitely need a detail for these games. Um certain games we may not need a detail anymore. Of course, for football games, we would still hire at least two police details because it's
such a large event and there'd always be two police details for all football games minimum. Um, so it would give us more flexibility with with that questions, comments. It's interesting for the committee to know that those prices had
not gone up for so many years. Yes. In the 20 plus years I've been here, it's been the same price. That's Yeah. Hey, I'm all about keeping the the dollar amount down to get people in. So, how are folks about the six and four
versus five and three? Leave it. Change it. I'm fine with it. You're fine with or the seven and five, I should say. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What about the uh JV
pocker charge? No charge. I do feel like it will sweep people to go. Yeah. So 30 minutes before varsity they start selling tickets or halftime. JV,
I don't know. You would recommend 30 minutes if we were to change it. So, the benefit of 30 minutes, even though it's a we would lose money there, is there would be less conflict at the gate. If we did an hour before, there would be more conflict at
the gate because people are showing up at halftime to watch the second half of a JV game. And then we have a ticket taker there that's saying I understand you're just here for the second half of the JV game but it's our policy to start selling at X time. So whatever that time is
um for the school committee to set that policy it helps our ticket taker have that concrete policy defined time. Yeah, I would be interested that of which what? The 30 minutes before the
start of the varsity game and not charging for JV. Currently, we charge for JV basketball though. Correct. We've charged for JV basketball for the past 20 plus years. And and I part of the reason too is there's that 10 minute 10 to 15 minutes between a JV game and a
varsity game. or soccer, you're more at 20 to 25 minutes between gym and varsity, right? There's a little bit more of a window in soccer than in basketball. Well, maybe we could try it with the 30
minutes goes next year. And then any feedback that you give us, you're like, "Oh, this worked." Or you're like, "No, this is not working." I think I think the 30 minutes will work. I do think there'll be a
financial benefit to charging for JB, but if if the school committee says that the financial benefit is not as important, then I either one will work. Okay. Okay. I would entertain then a motion if
there are any other questions for the proposed athletic ticket sales um including the prices uh for tickets as listed with the one change of charging for varsity soccer beginning
30 minutes before start of varsity and not charging for DB soccer. I'm just still pondering the middle schoolers who may not have a device. Do they get a piece of paper? Is that what or you say a point of sale?
It's actually a digital device they type in when they get have to have a debit card on them. You can't bring cash. Is there So there would be no cash option. They do accept PayPal. Um they would accept debit cards. Um they could have a friend who has a phone. So, it's the
platform is very easy for a parent to send a ticket to their friend through through their friend's phone. Middle schoolers have IDs, right? They have IDs. Why don't we just allow middle schoolers to come in for free? I mean, how much are we going to make off of the
middle schoolers? Friday Night Football. Friday Night Football. But is that the right thing to do? I don't know. I We have been charging. I I'm I'm just trying to think like I don't want kids to not be able to come because they don't because they don't have a phone, right? And not every
family makes the decision to have a sixth grader have a phone. I mean, some some districts don't allow middle school students without adult supervision, say their games. So, especially for football games, they require an adult to go in with their middle school student.
So, I understand that some middle school students wouldn't have a phone, but hopefully a parent would be bringing them and it could be as simple as the parent using their card and then the kid could go in from that point of sale. Um, if we opened it up to all three middle
schoolers without any it would be challenging for us to navigate and it's already challenging the way it is for football games. Okay. All right. Any other questions? No. No. What is the What is the final decision
on Yes. the start time of ticket sales? 30 minutes before varsity soccer. No. JV soccer. What do you think, Emanuel? Wait, it's only for soccer. Is that for basketball? Right. Yeah. You think the money is not
too much? It's all right. Think of the students getting in for free. High school students. I think that's a good idea. Yeah. Maybe we'll get more students to show up. Yeah, I definitely think so. Yeah. Okay. Anybody have a
motion? I still I'm I'm stuck here. I'm actually more inclined to go with their suggestion and then we revisit it. Um, since they're the ones that are on the ground, they're the ones that are actually the ones taking the tickets and
doing the, you know, we're just talking about it from kind of a 50,000 foot range. I'd rather see them try it and if it works, great. If it doesn't work, then we can revisit it and come back and make a change to it. You want to charge for JV soccer? I will if that's what
they if if the experts on the ground believe that that's what we should do. I I'm kind of inclined to go what they say for the first round. I think it's hard to turn money away right now if they're saying it's going to generate revenue. if AD and McGee is
saying it's going to generate revenue and it's going to go into a revolving account and he's making a case for uh transportation doubling and and going up. I was just going to say the athletic the the overall athletic I mean
continues and it you know everything goes up all inflation. It costs close to $700,000 to run that program. I don't think folks really maybe realize that. Um, yeah. And I believe if they if it doesn't work out, I believe they'll come back and say this is not working, we
might need to change it to a maybe make a modification. Well, I think that we would be missing what we would be missing would be people coming to the games that would come if not for the price because JB historically has light attendance and a and a charge families
$7 per person per game, you know, you're talking a couple hundred per family to go to JV games where historically we haven't charged for that. Is there any kind of discount like I don't know like a season? So, the season pass, season pass they could purchase for $60
for adults, which would be good for the entire school year. Um, and if they could purchase in the winter at a reduced rate of $40 for the school year, so it's just for adults. There's uh adults or students that are students
or seniors that are not east limit residents. And this system is going to provide a lot more data to see how many tickets you sell and and track it. Yes, it'll Yeah, the digital side will be um really beneficial. I won't have to do as many
spreadsheets. It'll be make it very user friendly for me to see what sports it'll break stuff down for us with the spreadsheets. I love the cashless system. we could technically be able to see how many tickets in, you know, very very quickly how many was selling in that 30 minute span versus right now
it's just cash and it's really hard to tell how many you sold 30 minutes, an hour or whatever the case may be. The tricky part with it is a lot of families are going to purchase their tickets the day before ahead of time or or possibly three days before. Um the system gives
easy refunds if there was a rain out or something like that. So lots of families will purchase the day before or a couple days before. So, it will be tough to determine, but you know, typically at a JV game, you're probably seeing you're probably seeing at a JV
soccer game somewhere between 50 and 70 spectators from the start. Uh, so that's 200 $300 per game. Um,
six home six six home games is eight or nine at the JV level. Yeah. Um, so times two, 18 three. I think you you hit it on the head at the beginning. Four or $5,000. Yeah, he's quick. Yeah, you you did all the math ahead of time. It would
be about four or $5,000. I do think it's important to know that other districts are now doing that. They didn't always do that. Um, back when your kids played, they weren't necessarily charging for JB soccer games, but they are now. And I remember how nice that was because it is only not say only JB, but it's it's not
varsity. The reason why we charge varsity is because the varsity sport. Is there a way to charge less for a JV game or does that complicate things? Yeah. Part of the reason why we had suggested to sell before the JV game is it eliminates that conflict with the person
that's handle that's working the gate uh for that person who shows up at halftime or shows up during the last 15 minutes of the JV game. So it eliminates that conflict. Um but we can set a time of 30 minutes or an hour. Um and then we just
say this is the East Middle School policy. And I think if that was that prevalent, we could we could get drastic and clear out and then let everybody back in. No. Um, in that amount of time, um,
so let me give you a couple of good examples. Had multiple situations where parents come in and they say they're just watching the end of the JV game and 45 minutes later they're watching the varsity game, right? and our ticket sellers are trying the best that they can and then uh the ticket
seller or if there's a police detail on duty typically they'll say hey you know I don't want to be difficult but you did say you were just staying for the JV game and there's been that conflict at multiple games this year um so we're trying to make that easier for the
person who's working the gate um and you're also trying to reduce the presence of the police details in a costsaving manner. So now you'd be putting that potentially ticket seller in a various situation if there's also not a police
detail to offer that support. But how much does it happen really? Like eight times a year, eight people do it. Like that's what I'm saying. Should we change the whole policy because those I think people are relatively trustworthy to say I listen my kid is playing JV. It's the last 15 minutes. I
just going to watch the 15 minutes and not pay the ticket price. I don't know. Maybe I'm just naive. I just don't want to put the kids in in a difficult space to have to make that decision. The kids is what you said the ticket. So, it's actually staff members.
Yeah. Yeah. Now, you have less detail there. Again, I'm I'm more apt to to let them try the way they think they it works, and if it doesn't, they'll come back and say it's not working. And this is what you guys are re recommending. Yeah. So, Mr. Paige and I
uh reviewed this in advance. We were on the same page. Uh we both agreed on it. Um with I think most of the changes are actually really beneficial to the town and to the community with all high school students getting in free, all residents. Um, there's lots of benefits
here. I see. Give it a shot. I take a motion from someone. Who wants to go there? I move to approve the EOPS uh, school committee policy for ELHS athletic ticket sales as presented. Second.
Motion made by Sarah. Second by. Any other discussion? All in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed. Nay. Nay. Motion carries 4 to one. Kevin, good luck with this. I am so sorry that I for some reason I thought
it started. Last week was or two weeks ago was 5:30. Apologize. No worries. We know how to find you. All right. Thanks for running here from Heritage Park. No problem. Back to the game. See you, Kevin. Okay. Now our
[Applause] 2020 you packets have a print out of the slide. It's also on the screens around the room and um it's being shown anybody who's following along on Zoom. Um for
those who have been taking a look at uh school committee meetings really since January, uh a lot of what you'll see in the slides that are forthcoming uh just outlines and
summarizes how we've gone through the process of developing the budget for FY 2026. Um all of this is uh in line with how we're trying to best support the whole child academically, socially
and emotionally. And this year we've had that increased focus on building community and belonging. uh in doing so over the last two years with budgets actually three years in terms of introducing new curricula uh
especially in literacy and math we have seen um some movement uh and we're seeing success such as uh you know criterion reference percentage some of this you've seen in the fall but I don't know uh if the public necessarily tuned
in as much in the fall here um we moved from 51% to 70% which basically puts us firmly in substantial progress on targets. Uh we had two schools recognized for their movement on the DESIE targets. That's
Maple Shade and the high school. That's two out of only 57 that uh were recognized by Desi based on that movement on targets. some of the reporting that you've seen us do around um student climate surveys. Um that's in
alignment with how our goals are organized and we're seeing good results. Um 92% of our students report having supportive relationships. 90 um report this is looking at basically grades three through 12. 90% report their school is
inclusive of all students and 88.5 are reporting feeling that they they're part of their school community. Uh some of the things that we highlighted uh or some of the achievements that we highlighted as we were talking about the student opportunity act um you see and I won't
go through each of the bullet points but um that some of our um media students are making strides over the last few years. some of the changes that we've made, not only professional development, but also um as
we continue to become better at implementing some of the new curricula we've talked about. Uh and this would be folks like our ELLL students, our students um are on IEPs and have learning disabilities and uh some of our
other subgroups as you go down that list. When you make mention of provided support, is that specific around the professional development? Uh in the professional development, there's elements that talk about how they not
only access reports, but also look at um you know challenges that students might be dealing with and how we can circumvent that and engage it. That's we've done a lot of specific professional development around these
two um the literacy program and the math program and based on the attendance records that we saw this year for the number of staff attending professional development it was not where I think anyone on the committee would like to see it. It's not where we would like to
see it either. Are we going to have then a mechanism by which to progress monitor the impact that educators who are attending the professional development are therefore having on student achievement. Because if we're going to say that that's something that we're
excited about, then we have to ensure that we're seeing that us providing a support to our educators is therefore translating to impact in student achievement. you can always progress monitor uh down to the individual level
whether it be MCCAST or I ready um how much that correlates attendance and so forth that's that's not as easily derived but you certainly can always and those are things that are being looked at especially um when they are in collaboration um excuse me common
planning time uh where they're starting to look at scores and movement of students in their classes I think that's Something that as a a committee we should really be looking to have when we think about our data meetings is that the individual principles loop that in
to their data presentations. teacher attendance, teacher attendance on professional development days and how then that's being used to actually change the course of instruction within the classroom so that we are actualizing what we're saying here in terms of
supporting the whole child academically, socially, and emotionally because those PD offerings encompass all three. And if we're not having a strong presence, how are we then holding true to where we're placing money if folks aren't necessarily in attendance on those days?
And that should be something that when we have those slide decks that the principles prepare, that should be a function of it. What is the average attendance? And are you noticing changes in teacher practice as a result of of them attending the professional
development that's been provided? We can I mean we can certainly provide attendance data. It would be harder to provide an actual percentage as to how much attendance on that professional development impacted student achievement. But we certainly can start
to have those start to have Yeah, absolutely. Not causation but correlation, right? If you see a teacher who's attended all three and their scores are substantially higher, then that's correlative data, not causational data. And we can start to look at that. Sure.
I think if um administrators know ahead of time that this data will be coming to the school committee perhaps it'll put pressure on um more staff to attend. Yeah. I mean I mean it's also you're also able to go in and do
learning walks and collect data that way which is what what we are doing uh doing learning walks and then that gets discussed in common planning time. So that's also data maybe that could be presented in in those data meetings that
I mean these educators received PD on this and then we we went back and looked at in their classrooms and this many educators were using this or they've seen some kind of change in the educators instruction. Right? And
actually if you remember last year specifically with some of the math professional development um that was spoken to in terms of the presentations at the end of the year in terms of how not only the PD day worked but then followups in seeing those um new skills
or new strategies being implemented. We can certainly add to that. Mhm. Um I've seen I say this in every budget hearing, but we do know it's true that a systems budget is the most strategic factor to impact every student's success
in reaching his or her full potential while allowing the district to meet its goals for all students. One of the uh very apparent situations, challenges, however we want to characterize it, um is that education is becoming more costly. Uh a
survey that I believe goes out to all business managers um asking them what this is probably went out somewhere in January and February. What was their initial budget request? Uh the districts
here are representative western mass districts as well as the um desi dart districts. Those are the districts that desi feels are most comparable to east long meadow. And so just going down you can see that you know even when we
reduce to 4.99% after level one um we're basically in the mix of that average of 4.9 but you have highs of 10.25 25 uh
and you have lows of right around 3%. But everybody's struggling, all districts are struggling with these increase in costs. Some of the reasons why um if you just look at end of the year inflation
rate. So these are the the rates published at the end of a given fiscal year 2022. If you go back to 2021, it was even higher. 2022 6.5% was the final inflation rate for
2022. 3.4% was the final rate for 2023 and 2.9% last year for 2024. So that's where costs of goods and um the cost of living is going. Then you
have the um Massachusetts Operational Services Division that every year looks at and gives a um cap, if you will, of how much district uh education educational providers can increase their
tuition. Uh last two fiscal years, the one we're currently in, in the previous October, they allowed that to be the out of district tuitions to be increased by 4.69%. 69% and then this current one that's projected for next year this October um
they are looking or have allowed for 3.67%. So added district tuitions are able to rise to the level of that cap. most do. I think Miss Flair would um Yeah, totally agree. Yeah. Um three
years ago that actually was 14% but we were also dealing with um all out of district providers being capped where they could not increase their their percentage uh through the COVID years and at least one year after that. We
also were dealing with the ESSER grants. All district had esser grants. There was some balancing around that but 14% if you go back three years 4.69% 3.67%. However, the chapter 70 formula
in those same two years although it has the ability to um have an inflation adjustment capped up at 4.5%. It was only increased 1.35% for inflation or adjusted for inflation and next year projected to be
um adjusted by 1.93%. Our um chapter 70 increase the amount that um East Long Meadow receives through state aid. The chapter 70 formula increased last year or this current fiscal year by
1.75% and is projected to increase next year by 1.2%. 2%. So we're behind if they're allowing out of district tuition to go up at those rates and inflation has already increased the cost of living by a certain amount. The
unfortunate thing is that we're not keeping up with those those percentages that then has an impact. And um I did look for fiscal year 2024 unfortunately when I had to have this up on the web page because you do need to
publicize the slides that you're reviewing for um for the uh budget hearing. Desi only has published or at least at that time FY2023. So this gives you a little bit of a historical look. It doesn't give
you FY24 and FY25 where we currently are. Um, but you can see where sort of where we stand in the LPVC in terms of per pupil expenditure. The state average is 21,885,000. In fiscal year 23, we were
at 19, excuse me, 21 Did I say 21,885,000? Yeah, sorry. Uh, and East Long Meadow is at 19,138. And you can see we had a gradual increase over those three years as uh
many districts did, but kind of puts us right in the middle of the pack of the LPVC districts. And then if you look at the Desi Dart districts and somewhat in the middle of the pack in terms of um districts that Desi feels that we Desi being the department of elementary and
secondary education, I apologize. I know all of you know that. I'm not sure that all the viewers always know that. Um so you see that while per pupil expenditure continues to increase for East Long Meadow and we are investing in
our students um we're not at the top of either list and we're not at the bottom of either list. you look in terms of how increases to the overall budget uh have uh resulted
over the fiscal years going back 2015 to 2026. Um you see that there were four including this going into next year four times where unfortunately we've had to reduce positions in order to meet what
the town uh has been asking of us. And the town, when I say that, the town has always supported um the East Lo public schools and education and certainly are meeting well beyond their net school spending. When a budget traditionally
only increases in the 1% or just under 2% range, that's always where we've struggled. Now this year where we're making a request of 2.5% um we're still struggling to stay within that budget uh and so
therefore we're reducing um 19 positions to date. So, just to give you an idea, um, and we have talked about this, uh, as a school committee and we've talked about this at, uh, town council meetings, um,
but it's been a long process. It started in December and is now starting to conclude as we approach May. Um, a true level services budget if you are just moving all programming and staff forward
is actually upwards of 8.57% or over $3 million. We've worked since January into April to reduce that request to 2.5%. The first thing the school committee did um was really look
at how can we change how we're utilizing certain funding that we know we'll have in our budget next year. Some of that is existing line items such as the renewal curriculum renewal cycle and some of that is looking at ways to
generate new revenue. Um, one of the ways that uh had not been utilized before and we'll have a short window of opportunity is utilizing school choice funds. Um, we basically had a revolving account
that had built up a surplus and um that has enabled us to use those school choice funds to cover deficits not only in this current budget but projected deficits as we look at next year's budget. Um, and if you look down that
list, it's upwards of $550,000 that are going to be injected. And you won't have that um same type of funding even though you've added um additional school choice seats next year, which I think was a a good move.
Um we just will no longer have the surplus. So those are challenges that will remain. However, in doing all of this that's on the screen, um those eight items that did reduce the request by $822,8500. There were other opportunities too to
increase revenue. I think that we should at least make mention of there were other opportunities forUS. Sure. But the membership of the ELA ELA did not vote in favor of those. So I think when we talk about reduction in
workforce there were other ways by which we could have gone that right were not uh seen as viable by other bargaining members of of the community. So when we right the ELA did um collaborate on
twous that uh raised 36,000 but ultimately did not uh vote to pursue anotherou regarding um professional development days reducing one of the professional development days and that was how much money um I believe it was
remember oh my gosh there's too many numbers in my head I know it was upwards of over 100 about 126,000 okay that sounds right Um there also were other things that the school committee um looked at which was raising the transportation fund which um ultimately
was not voted into place. So this was a real look at how do we bring new funding to this picture and um utilize funding at least for a year differently that exists in the budget.
and it it did impact um by $822,500 uh reducing the request. However, to get to 5% uh we did have to by six positions at that first round.
Um and then to get to 2.5% uh which was ultimately in discussions with the town manager and the school committee needed to submit a budget request um to the town manager by April
1st. Uh there was a vote to meet that 2.5% recommendation that the town manager was endorsing in his draft budget. Ultimately then um two meetings or at least one meeting school committee
meeting was a determination of all the positions that um would need to be reduced to make it to the 2.5%. So it ended up being two district academic instructional coaches uh a Latin teacher uh at the these are
positions now obviously not individuals although individuals are in those positions. um an English position, the uh high school teched position, a Birchland Park intervention coordinator, a Birchland
Park computer science teacher, one elementary art teacher, and so they'll we'll go back to a shared model of teaching art between at least our three through five schools, two elementary enrichment teachers, a um
Maple Shade fifth grade teacher position, uh a Maple or excuse me, Mountain View fifth grade teaching position, three Metobrook Brooking specialists, a Metobrook preschool teacher, and three pair of professionals.
And those were also made in conjunction with recommendations from the leadership team. Absolutely. Yeah. So, just making sure that these weren't arbitrary based on these were based on all the recommendations. It's it's a challenging process. It's an
emotional process. It's emotional for everyone um that then receives letters. Um but yes, no, there was a an incredible amount of discussion. That's a very good point. um between January
and April in order to make these final decisions and for us conversations of this committee as well to ensure that when we look at this list anytime we have a reduction in force obviously there's an impact on students but we tried to hold true to not touching
positions that were core classroom educators and holding true to the integrity of the Massachusetts state standards and being able to ensure access to those because that is ultimately what we're accountable to support. Um so just to sort of summarize the
whole process, uh level services was that 8.57% increase or over $3 million. Um then all of those discussions took place to move from 8.57 to a 2.5% request. Um and so that
total that entailed reducing the request by 2,185,580 that then was a budget request for [Music] $36,895,04. Uh one of the things that we've done over the years is going from
this request to that that if in uh ultimately ultimately supported by town council would be our operating budget for fiscal year 2026. However, it's not the full cost of everything that we
run. why we always do a a whole picture slide when you're looking at what other funding sources come in and ultimately are utilized to move ELPS forward. So
you see all the grants listed there that um Blair um highlights in her updates, our quarterly updates, but also this our monthly updates this year. Title one, title 2A, um title four. Then we have um
early childhood grants which are a little bit smaller and um grants such as our comprehensive health grant. That's where the family coordinator is uh part-time family coordinator is paid for out of um we were talking about that
earlier in terms of attendance goals and so forth for students. Echo grant special education idea is a is a huge grant that helps us with out of district tuitions and um we include
the East Lo educational endowment fund that actually that funds many grants if you will um and has been substantial over the years in terms of the outlay but it doesn't necessarily cover say one program for 54,000 what it is are you
know anywhere from say 10 to 15 grants um that have been applied for in the grant application and then the um East Lang meadow educational endowment fund board approves what out of those
applications they're going to support. Then we have revolving funds um and Mr. McGee was uh just speaking to that in terms of ticket sales because that goes into the athletic revolving fund and that's um something that's crucial to run our athletic program. If we did not
have an athletic revolving account um the operational budget would fall far short. I believe we only budget uh only I I shouldn't say it that way because it's over $500,000, but the true cost of athletics is probably closer to 7 or
$800,000. Um and that's where the athletic revolving fund comes in and supports. Uh other revolving funds are preschool tuition, those would be for our peer role models. uh transportation circuit breaker is a state uh
reimbursement formula that allows districts to um put in each year after they've expended on a student or student. And it's um after they've met the threshold of 52,
$419. $419. um eligible costs above that $52,419, we can apply to have them reimbursed up to 75%. We know that this year, even though they allowed for
transportation, specialized transportation to be part of that circuit breaker um reimbursement application, they did not have enough money allotted to handle all of the transportation requests. So instead of 75% reimbursement, transportation this
year was reimbursed at 44%. So overall, when you add in all of these different revenue sources, the true um picture in terms of what it costs to run all these programs is closer to 41,188,352.
Um, one of the things that we had talked about earlier uh prior to the open session was that and I had uh last week met with the financial oversight committee and many people have uh spoken to how much work has been done
throughout the process in December through uh April and working with the town manager uh the municipal finance director and members of the town council we're trying to informal meetings and had discussion
around how we look at and fund 2026 schools. So, we always want to not only be fiscally responsible, but collaborate with the town and look at how we um through some of the challenges that presented to us this year, but will
continue probably to be presented to us next year. Check online if there any question. All right. Excellent. Budget process. That's where how you doing on time? You got homework or anything? A little bit. You
want to get going? Please feel free if you I know it's getting late already so if you got a boogie. Yeah. Um okay. Thank you Gordon for the budget hearing. Sure. We will move on then we have the FY25 third
quarter financial report. So in in your packet as always and of course we've been doing this monthly now but this is quarterly one as of March 31st. um attaches a spreadsheet that is designed as a financial update for the FY25 school budget as of March 31st. I'd like
to remind you that this report also includes grants and revolving accounts. So, if we go right to page six, right to the numbers, please. Um this is our operating budget here and on the top side are your uh salary side of the
budget. And as you make your way down, I mean, um, nothing looks, um, out of the ordinary for me at this time of the year. Um, the athletics, there's still, you know, the way that those are are paid, as Mr. um, McGee alluded to earlier, we have three different sports seasons. So, the
coaches are paid, you know, twice during the um, the season. So, that's why you still see available balance there. Those are hourly employees and um, you know, I anticipate the bulk of that to be expended by year end. uh the nurses and medical staff. Again, there's still um some available there, but many are
hourly uh rates that that fall under there. Clerical, um there's not a whole lot there. There's contractual obligations that are paid out at year end for clerical like longevity, things like that. So, um when you have 18 clerical um that fall under there, um
that can get eaten up pretty quickly. Uh same thing with custodians. most of theirs is paid out throughout the year, but they have some things um that still get paid out at the end of the year. So, I've highlighted in I don't know if it if your copy came out green or gray, but any of the gray line items are um line
items that at this point in time I anticipate having a balance there. And we talked about this now for months now. Uh pair of professionals, I see right now at March 31st, we have about $52,000 remaining there. Um I do anticipate we'll be able to transfer that. We'll
probably do that at the next meeting. um which this is already flipping over the calendar, right? So, I'll be doing that in a couple of weeks, the next month. Um the the line right below it is is a few different items. The bulk of that is retirement there. So, I do anticipate um most of that um not all of that, but
most of that will be able to um help offset any of the um blue line items that I had um below. The teachers line item also is showing 84,000 remaining there for odds and ends of reasons, leave of absences, change in positions.
Um this is not an uncommon thing to see. Uh I anticipate the bulk of that will be able to help offset. Uh one thing I am seeing in the salary side um in this month that I wasn't seeing last month was that substitutes are are showing a deficit of 18,633
um which I hadn't seen um you know prior to this. You'll see the line below it, the permanent building sub. Um that does have 46,000. Um neither of these line items are um usually encumbered. I see a small amount there. I'm not sure. Might be a long-term sub that's encumbered there.
Um so, you know, we're going to continue to see the permanent building sub um be expended down, but I'm also going to see that subline expended as well. Does that has that run in the red before? No, not not like not like this because I'm not sure. I'd have to do some more
investigation. More subs is here. Uh maybe we need more subs. It's not it's not Yeah, it's we need them. We have some lots of uh leave of absences. Um I can get you that um information for the next meeting. So you look year over year in terms of absences. Yeah. Yep.
Absences. Um and then that will get larger that deficit you anticipate. This is definitely going to get larger. Yes. Because we still have a lot here to cover for subs. So, you know, just giving you a heads up um about that. I do anticipate, if you look at those lines above there that I highlighted,
we're going to have plenty to be able to cover to offset that. So, I'm not concerned about it. Um but I I did not budget any more for next year than I did this year. So, it is something we're going to have to look at into next year as well, just to let you know. And um
are there any questions on that? Oh, the only other thing I want to mention is on the professional development that contractual date that's written right in the unit A um contract is that all professional development POS must be in by April 30th. So that's this week. So you know any funds that are remaining
there, there's you know maybe I'll end up like with 20,000 or so there um in that line item. Any questions on the salary side before I move on? So the bottom side of the spreadsheet is your expense side of the operating budget and all the lines uh look you
know in in order. Um again I highlighted that out of district tuitions is showing as of March 31st 236,000 deficit there which we've been um talking about. But can I also make mention that this changes or can change daytoday. I just got an email um today
which was a pleasant surprise instead of something going needing to be spent. This was actually uh money that we were reducing a PO by $17,000 because behind the scenes things can change if um Desi determines a student is actually the financial responsibility of another
district. So, you know, or it can be the opposite that that they determine that we are. So, this was a nice surprise. So, hopefully you'll see that go down next month um a little bit there. Um the educational supplies, we're showing $200,000 available there. And again,
that was intentional. A reminder, we do have a freeze on the supply budget lines. Um, and are only processing essential purchases. Um, so that will offset the line above there that's in the deficit. Um, I am confident that we'll be able to transfer funds to cover
uh those two potential deficit lines. And you said you want to do that next meeting? I I I believe so. Yeah, I'm getting in a much more confident, as I said, confident place to be able to say, "Yep, we can move, you know, 180,000 from here to there." And um so we'll
need to set a finance meeting for we'll just set it with the agenda meeting. Sure. So, I'll have those ready to start and then of course at the end of the year, we'll do any final ones as we get more um close to the end of the year. But these we definitely want to um I'll try
to Yeah. And I and I'll look back at some of the the sub history as well to make sure I'm not speaking up turn on that. But um yeah, and if if we do get sub or absence information, maybe we'll break it down by school if that's possible. Just to look at see what I can
do, something's happening in the red. We have a lot of subs this year. Yeah. So, okay, we'll go over to the next page if no one has any questions there. And that is your uh grants are on this page up at the top. I put all of
the prior year grants because as you know um we can roll over grants. Um so these are ones um you'll see the esser there that is has I it has been um the playground has been hydro seated. So now we're just in the process of letting
that grow a little bit. Renee, uh, principal Renee Loy has put out, um, a letter to her staff and they're going to, um, starting this week, rotate it to let the kids get out there. Um, but again, we have to be careful because you don't want to destroy the seating that
just went out because it will the kids trampling on us. We have to we have to it's a slow roll out but she has started it and next week she's um so I believe it's Thursday and Friday of this week um one class at a time is going to go out and then the following week she has it rolling out where it's more it is more
for the preschoolers and the students that have uh disabilities because that is what this playground was really geared towards. So um but anyways this is exciting. Get it going Pam. But come on very exciting news. Um, so as you make your way down, those prior year grants will all be expended um by year
end. Um, then you've got your federal grants and as um Mr. Smith alluded to earlier, you have your entitle grants, entitlement grants, which are ones we basically get every year. We haven't heard anything other than we are going to get them so far. Um, the title one, title two, title four, special ed, the
bulk of that as um, Mr. said was is for out of school tuitions early childhood help for a portion of um early childhood teacher uh special ed program improvement that was a new grant that last um month I believe you approved and that grant actually goes through a
little different than the ones above it that goes through September 30th of 2025 um which is intentional because if you're going to try to improve things and they just came out with a grant you need time to do that so they're allowing over the summer I know our um our new
student services director, Jenny, has hired um folks that are on a committee and are are diving into this work already. So, um that's why you only see a small amount there. The stipens um are going to be paid until the work is done. So, um anyways, we're excited about
that. Uh on the but the next grants are your state grants and that's um the DPH grant, the Meco grant. I do want to bring to your attention and I do need it to be voted on that the MECO grant has an increase of $9,69. So that brings that grant to
$354,264. Uh the other two grants, those are the consortium grants that we're working on with um Springfield as the lead uh lead district. And lastly is the private grant there um the CLE ELAP which I told you last month that was terminated effective 210. We're just
finishing up the end items and that will be closed out. So, um, you know, all grants are in line to where they should be at this point in the year. Um, I don't see any concerns. Does anyone have any questions on any grants? No. No. I just when we talk about
the going back six for a second. Sure. Thinking about um out of district um placements and tuitions. Yep. Is that summer work um between the director of student services and the director of
curriculum in terms of streamlining and really putting into practice a more uniform MTSS um structure so that we can really evaluate that what's happening at one campus is happening at another so that we're able to make sure that we are
working effectively to reduce the amount of students who need to leave East Long Meadow to receive the services that are in alignment with their IEPs. So that's the um work that the that Mrs. Blair was referring to with that committee. Um and then that would continue obviously into
the summer. Uh regarding that what they're looking at now, not so much with that committee. Um but I think the committee will be part of it is um looking at since the ETL's educational team leaders uh for the first time
have been utilized this year, we changed to that model this year. Now instead of um say 45 special education liaison when you look at all our special education teachers um writing IEPs uh and amending
IEPs after annual meetings and so forth that's happening with four individuals uh predominantly uh there are still out of district meetings that are attended by facilitators and school sites that might write those IEPs but they're looking at how services are delivered
across the district and trying to um make that more uniform so that we can uh make those type of changes. Um not just without a district um students that might be on that pathway or at least being considered for that pathway, but
for all students. Uh because it a lot of this begins as students enter preschool in terms of how and we had put in a lot of emphasis back when we changed our preschool model. now probably four years
ago um around looking at how teams were meeting with families and we're getting back to that um looking that again we're taking that across the district and then I think similarly to what Greg mentioned and what I mentioned about
attendance I think looking at year-over-year attendance rates um for staff we often look during our meetings at student attendance but we have not yet looked at staff attendance during those because we have to be honest that there's a financial and educational
impact because now when we pay a sub and we still pay for an educator who's out, we're paying twice but not students aren't receiving the same quality of education. So, we need to be able to really look at that especially given um that we have permanent building sub.
So, that means we're using the permanent building sub and we're running in the red based on what we've allotted for subline this year. So, being able to have those year-over-year attendance rates, I think, is going to be critical because there's a definite educational
impact when we don't have licensed educators in front of our students. Okay. See what we can get for you. Oh my gosh. Um, motion. Oh, hang on. Revolving page. Sorry. The MedCate are the revolving accounts. Um,
the athletic revolving. Um, again, I just wanted to bring to your attention that as of right now, I see it in a as a deficit, but I also know that there's projected revenue there that has not hit the general ledger yet from uh user fees and and uh gate receipts. It takes a
while for it to be uh collected, handed in, and then it goes through the the town's process. And although it's posted, it's not really posted until it kind of goes through like this mini audit within the system. I hope that makes sense. So, you don't see things right away. it can take a little longer um to see things. So, I anticipate we're
going to be in the red, I mean, I'm sorry, in the black at the end of the year. Not a huge balance like I would like to see there, but I do see it going in the um depositive. Um the other thing I wanted to bring to your attention, the uh tuition revolving account. So, you
know, there's $218,000 um potential balance in there that is an intentional plan to help offset the FY26 budget. Um, as we talked about, there are uh positions in there, pair professionals as well as teachers that are going to be funded from there. Uh,
the next one is the circuit breaker account. Um, as reported earlier, um, in an earlier financial update, I think it was a few months back, uh, there was a circuit breaker audit done in the fall on the prior year's circuit breaker claim. And in early November, we were
notified by Desi that there would be a reduction totaling $39,640 due to the audit. Therefore, we're now seeing this reduction in the third and fourth quarter payments that are being reduced from 431,548 to now
411729 each. So, I hope that makes sense. So, what do I see? Uh that we are going to we still have two quarters coming in. That's the third and the fourth. So, that's a revenue of 823,000. I still anticipate about 400,000 um being able to be rolled over, which is
basically that fourth quarter um payment um for circuit breaker. Does that make sense? Okay. Uh transportation revolving um right below it that that is showing a balance of $60,000. Uh I wanted to remind everyone
that um we use those revenues to help offset the budget. So about $100,000 um goes back in to help pay the transportation costs. Um uh put a plug out there. We are opening up the FY26 bus registration this week. Uh folks
will be getting a reminder through um some type of communication over the phone. Yes. What is I was going to say. Thank you. School messenger. Um so we'll be sending that out later and also uh the parents will be getting um an email
I believe from each of the schools. are going to send it out to the just kind of reminding folks that it is an online process. It went very well last year. I um anticipate it going even better this year now that folks know that they have to go through like the power school account. Um and so that revenue there
you will see increase because obviously we start to collect the revenue for next year at the end of this year and then that will offset um next year's um expenditures. The last one um that I just kind of wanted to mention was the school choice account. Um you'll see we
have additional uh $80,000 coming in uh revenue and that's the monthly amount um of 28327 has been reduced to 16,69 due to enrollment changes. There were uh five payments remaining. So um
in the at the beginning um of the school year they always go by whatever the number was for last year like you know carried over and then once the audit happens and changes happen now they rectify it and they rectify it on the other half of the year. So that's why we
see $16,69 um I'm sorry the new amount of $16,69 instead of the 28,000 per month. So, in the end, I believe we will roll over about 400,000 in the school choice, which again is as intentional as we can
get to try to build that up as much as we can to help offset next year. Um, are there any questions on anything? Pam, the school lunch, uh, the 913 versus the 949 revenue versus expended 25, is that an accounting issue based on It is
because again, the same thing. That'll count that revenue this year even though it's for next year's maybe what is your I'm sorry maybe I missed so the so the revenue is lower than the expended already right the 913 yeah lower than the 949
but are we getting more revenue to offset the expended yes so at the end of the school year that will be more revenue than expended or yes same and then also noticing on the student mobile tech insurance right on the money
revenue versus expended um for students, but staff this year was almost double um expended versus revenue. Are we going to address that next year with them? So, well, we're already kind of addressing it now with them because just as a reminder to folks, the staff mobile
technology uh repairs, those funds come from the ELA, right? Writing a check and um they just wrote me a check for not me personally, you know how that goes. They just wrote a check for I believe it was $1,000. So I just deposited that um last
week or this week. It'll be going in. So again, you're not going to see that. Correct. But they always make it up if they're low. They make it up. They do because we're we're not going to purchase. And so so Ry, how it works is Ryan will reach out to me with an email and he'll include um you know, ELA
officer saying, "So I need to order five more screens because I don't have any in stock or I only have one." because you don't want to not have any, right? You want to be able to get the teachers up and going as quick as possible. And they asked me to wait on it because I think that they had already put out like 1,500
and for whatever reason. So, there's always that communication happening and then um when I came back to my office after being off for a day, there was a a check sitting there. So, then I deposited, then I reached out to Ryan to say, "So, now we have $1,500. Do you want to do you want to order two or
three screens?" And then we start working on that. But they're well aware that that's what they have there. And we also they're keeping track of um you know which teachers there are. So if there's any repeat offenders um but of course this is supposed to be for accidents, right? So um so yes, we are
on top of that. Okay. Questions? Any other questions? Uh as I ended I always like to remind you it's imperative to remember that these balances are a snapshot in time and are changing constantly. Thank you.
And I entertain a motion to accept the $9,69 increase for the FY25 METCO grant. Motion made by Sarah. Second by William. Discussion. All in favor say I. I. Those opposed? Nay. That is 5 to
zero. Motion to accept the third quarter. Um FY25 financial report please. Motion made by Sarah. Second, second by William discussion. All in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed, nay. That carries five
zero. Thank you, Pam. You're welcome. Thank you. Yeah. Okay, moving right along. We have approval of a Nissan High School life skills and transition special education program field trip to the Connecticut Science Center on June 4th. And in your
packets, you have a um cover letter from Mr. Scoville, who's one of our special education teachers here at the high school, and we're looking to take uh nine students um from the life skills and transitional special education
programs to the Connecticut um science center in June on June 4th. Uh and staff from those two programs would be accompanying them. Is that inclusive of a nurse as well uh
with the students? Yes, it would be. It is June 4th, right? Because the this um it says June 5th. Uh Wednesday is the 4th. Yeah, Wednesday the 4th, I believe, is uh when they are leaving the science center. They might want to
follow up on that though, make sure they know they're coming on the right day. Yeah. So that's uh what they reserved. It does say Wednesday the 4th. I would think if it was the Thursday, they would have known.
We'll double check that. Yeah, let's approve it for Wednesday. Uh we're back in before then, so we had to change it. So I take a motion for uh Wednesday, June 4th. I just have one last question. The facility is obviously
um accessible to students in this program. has all of their needs will be met in terms of um they have all the accessibility too so that they can access these uh different exhibits and experiences.
Mhm. Any other questions? To approve the ELHS life skills and transitional special education field trip to the Connecticut Science Center on June 4th, 2025. Second. Motion made by Amy Amy, seconded by William. Any
discussion? You'll just double check that the science center. really. Yeah, it looks like their reservation is for the fifth. Um, all in favor of a motion, please say I. I nay. That carries 5 to
zero. Finally, we have a request for you. So, in your packets, you have um a number of attachments all around um East London Meadow, excuse me, youth
softball. Their group has gone out and gotten 14 different businesses around the area um who are interested in not only supporting obviously long softball but um would like to purchase in this
case what would be banner signs hanging on over the outfield fence. Um and so as you can see from the the different um complications uh they're looking to go
from the start of this season uh which started in April through the fall season. there is a hiatus I believe in there in partial hiatus in the summer months and it's also my understanding um
that the banners go up before the game and then come down after the game and are stored until the next game and I'd like to specify that in the motion that's a requirement for me at least and not leave them up for this is
that what they said that's the practice operating on now adhere to they are stored facility and families take on the responsibility of placing them up prior to the game and
then removing them at the conclusion of the game. Oh, so they're only up during the game. Yeah. Uh the request is for two seasons, the spring and the fall. uh committee's um desire to allow for both seasons or
one season at a time if we are out. Oops. But one extra season like there's 14 banners that they put up. We're always thankful for grateful for
those. I'm fine with letting them stay up till the fall through that season. I think the first organization that's come forward and completed the process has asked provide images of all of the logos
that were going to be going up. Yeah, when I first saw this, I was worried that they were um going to leave them asking to leave them up for the eight months and um I don't know that that was the intention of this committee to allow that to be, you know, similar
to PCL field, but if they're the understanding is that they put them up for the game, take them down at the at the end of the game. Yeah, they're not permanently a fixed. They use bungee cords, I believe. That makes sense. I think they would. I'm okay with it. Yeah. All right. But I would, like I said, I'd like to specify that in the
motion that they will go up uh and come down beginning and ending during the game. All right. youth softball advertising proposal. The understanding that um the individual uh or companies whoever will be taking
their banners down at the end of every game and that we will be allowing for two seasons. Yep. The spring and the fall. Okay. Motion made by Amy. Second, second by Sarah. Discussion. I just think it's important to note that the money is
going back. The advertisers money is very clear and very apparent likely going back into the program and the development of nice to see the advertisers funds being reinvested in the program and also benefiting
our high school students right now. Yeah, that's where they're playing. Yeah. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. I. Nay. That carries. Five to zero. Okay. Uh without
[Music] further motion to motion made by Antella. Second. Second by William. A special shout out to Antella for powering through the meeting. Yes. All in favor of adjourning, please say I. I. I. Those
opposed, nay. That carries. 5. Thank you.