this is Tuesday May 21st the time is 408m I'm calling this meeting of the Westport school committee to order this is a budget work session um as members know the reason this session was called was a result of our last school committee meeting um we wanted to discuss and give some direction to the business department on the resolution of our deficit of 446 361 which is the difference between the number approved at town meeting and the school committee's recommended budget for fy2 the business department has uh went through and made these recommendations to us they went through six different iterations if I'm correct Michelle of yes probably more than that along the way probably way more than that but yes and we had another work session at the beginning of May to discuss these and Michelle you were you know you and your team were very responsive in getting us information and reflecting the committee's asks in some of these figures so we certainly appreciate that um and just to run down this list one more time for the committee so the 446000 in for the resolution of the deficit recommended to us um which was also a result of our recommendations from our uh or session in early May was the new three-year Transportation contract which we budgeted for and the final number came in $145,000 under what we had budgeted um which is a good problem to have so um you know but we saw a lot of other districts come in significantly higher so that was you know Michelle did her budgeting that was what they accounted for there closure of the old high school is part of this that's 990,000 uh is a teacher in two Tas and a difference in retirements which amounts to 133 custodian charge of the Food Service which we discussed this 42 new Mac secretary savings is 5,000 we discussed that as well and the summer school closings amounted to roughly 30 just over 30,000 um there so first before we get into some more discussion I just wanted to note that I'm sure committee members saw but the uh select board had sent over or Jim Harton rather had sent over a communication to us um asking the committee to send them a letter obviously this wouldn't be done here because I would like to go over this in more detail with the committee first if folks are available you know perhaps sometime next week to detail what a move would look like the logistics behind that where staff would go um just so the committee is aware we held a work session on that back in December um but obviously with a new committee I want to make sure that everyone is up to speed on that um and has a chance to review it before we make any decisions um on that building there's a lot involved in that and the town has expressed some concern um as I'm sure you've all seen um in the email that was sent to us but if that goes forward the the resulting figure there would be roughly $90,000 that's made up of utilities and and uh maintenance staff for the building so I will open discussion for the committee um to see what the thoughts are on these cuts um on the 446 and we'll go from there I think Michelle did a great job coming out the best that we could do with the cuts that are happening um the only thing is you you're looking at the high school you know if you're gonna that's going to change or not but other than unless the town wants to pay that 9,373 then that you know that's what it is well Gloria actually I'm glad you brought that point up because there's been a lot of talk in the town of the school forking over some cash to help def Fray the cost of of the building um the concern that I have is is I guess around the dialogue around this topic that we're using this is the same budget the town and the school budget are all the town budget right so this is not a this I don't think this should be viewed as an US versus them or any sort of whatever it may be this is a this is the town budget and the school side of the budget has been asked to or the school department within that budget has been asked to make cut and this is obviously an expense for the for the district uh so this is on the table at the moment and this is a discussion that this is not new either this is a discussion that we've been having for for quite some time the long-term building committee has taken up this this discussion for a period of time as well so this conversation certainly isn't new in town um regardless of whether we stayed or or when the town would have to figure something out with the building and I think there are there are ways we can work together on it I mean the you know there was mention of of Elections and whether that is some iteration of us using the new high school for for a polling place or utilizing the old building for it if that's feasible I think that something can be worked out there so I I'm not I wouldn't be too concerned about that there's more Logistics um and there are requirements involved in notifying voters and those sorts of things but I think we can certainly make something work the other issue is the fields which we've also the field maintenance cost is reflected in this figure so those have been taken out so this we would still the costs to maintain the fields are still included in the fy2 budget is my understanding yes it is they are perfect and we would work that out with the town um also because they would certainly need to maintain those fields regardless of whether we were there or not uh to some degree right that dialogue that went back and forth with Jim today was I wanted to know like was there a discussion at last night's meeting he said it was a brief discussion and there wasn't much discussion about it which I found found that to be very odd seeing they had requested all this information and questions to us on Friday and then we sent that all off this morning to them so I found that weird that there was no more discussion like there didn't seem to be any and that in his conversation at one of the points was there was an electrician coming in in November I did ask why he he didn't respond to that which was unusual he usually does respond to whatever is sent to him um I said well what what I would recommend you do is you know send us an email of what the town is looking to have us do and then he was like he's not sure where to begin um he went you know just around like having our maintenance staff look over the building then he finally said his preference would be to winterize the building close the doors that the election scheduled for November that it seems like the com the state is pushing communities to consolidate their election their polling places to one place and he had mentioned the new school if we would close down that day we do have a PD schedule for that day but we don't have school in session that day so you know I mean to me and Lisa could you know chime in a little bit that I don't see why we still couldn't continue that to be a PD day just we could even move our PDS to the elementary of the Mac for that day or separate them somehow or you know so I mean it didn't seem to be a big deal I mean they really already they have in the budget already for the new the old high school they already have budgeted everything but the 50,000 right so if we would have winterize it you know he's concerned that there's all kinds of things breaking down now I'm not sure where he got that information from because that was not the wasn't in an email directly I mean I did State yes the well is an issue yeah the boil is an issue but these things have been issues for years even when we were in them we were putting these on cipc for a new well at one point different you know and they would have had to pay for it anyway so you know I don't you know I'm not sure the direction for the committee but that's that's an important Point Michelle that those Figures were included in the town budget so correct whe whether they're they have to make up an additional 50,000 or whatever the number is I mean it it's not we're not vacating the building and giving full full uh you know the town's not taking on a new expense that they didn't previously have is is the point right this is just a an increase of you know what whatever it would cost to maintain apart from our budget that we did right right and even if it was just a building walkthrough every morning right sure our heat in our building has been off for I I don't I would say maybe a month at least month to two month month to six weeks so you know maybe it's involving a walkth through and you know if they wanted to work together with us whoever is doing our morning check-in could do the same check-in we could make that agreement with them you know the other piece to it is I know that a lot of the basketball leagues rent out the building in the winter they only use the winter they use they only use the gym and they use a bathroom you know we should we could come up with our list of who does use that and how much do they pay and increase that amount so we increase that amount and they're responsible for cleaning that piece you know whatever leagues are in there using it and the next League that comes in has to say hey this is the mess that we found this gym in when we came in or this is the mess that we found the bathrooms in but again we still would need to increase what we charge because we charge very very little for them to use that space you know and that's talking to people in the community that do use it and they're like you can't go anywhere else to rent that a space like that for the little money that we do rent it so you know again we've been generous with the community to make sure that people have access to it so you know I get that it's you know would be detrimental to people not being able to use it but I think that's a conversation that you know we could have in discussing with them but I think we I think the committee if the committee continues to follow their lead they'll never h have us out of that building right and even if the boiler was to go or a well was to going to a go they're going to still complain that it was us and we should have been maintaining it we've been maintaining it Mike had maintained that building for years and we're lucky it lasted right yeah I I think also another another angle to this is it would put more I'm I'm sorry Lisa I just saw you had your hand up I just have a clarifying question Michelle when we take in money for renting the gym does that go to the town or does that go to the school no it stays in the school to help offset the um basically any of the utilities and the use of the custodian cleaning down there so we don't send that to them that stays Within in our operating budget not operating but we run it through like the like not Student Activities but one of the revolving accounts that money comes in and goes back out again but we charge like very little we don't even charge enough to cover what the cost is so theoretically if we weren't here the town could take that over and it could be a revenue for the town correct which they currently do with I believe the annex the rec department rents out the the gym that's there yes correct they have some sort of structure or mechanism for that um right so I'm I I mean I'm assuming they could do the same with that if they wanted to do it for that building um Mich cost what does it cost to rent it out I don't have those on me I didn't bring any of I didn't bring that piece with me sorry I apologize for that I don't um it is super super low yeah it's very low I can't I have it I have it if you need it okay so for the gym we charge 35 an hour or 200 a day field use is also 25 an hour and then it says 100 a day uh Auditorium 25 an hour 200 a day cafeteria or classrooms $20 an hour up to 130 a day right so that doesn't even cover time and a half for a custodian filling in to clean that at all so I don't know that that's necessarily accurate either um or what people are charging because I see I've seen some of those in the past and I don't even know how that would be calculated um you know to say a let's say a random baseball team wants to rent our field um I don't know that somebody's sitting there and asking them how many times and how many games or whatever to charge them accurately um right you know just from the outside perspective um I'm not quite sure how that works uh right I talked to one of yesterday I talked to one of the Town leagues that rented for basketball and they were like it is peenuts what you guys charge for that building like R they do basketball it's peanuts I think they've just come up with a random number so if the league needs to borrow it you know 20 times from this date to this state they kind of come up with some random number unfortunately it's been what it's been for like years now yeah I think that's you know definitely those numbers have definitely outdated themselves um and you know if we had to look into it and and we end up you know in the same situation um I think revisiting those numbers would be uh would be a smart move um and and more and probably getting um a better handle on how to manage it and um you know know know who's in there and who's using it and when and um and everything else you know I understand you know our own town leagues that's our own kids obviously um and you know I I completely understand you know maybe a lower rate or you know doing all we can for them but you know there's at this point there's a lot of outside organizations that are using them um or reaching out to use them and you know not to uh not to be you know price a price gouger or anything but I think we need to you know bring those bring those rates up to par with you know what's being charged around us because um I agree with Michelle anybody anybody and everybody that you talk to that has rented from here um they're surprised at how low our uh our rates are right right yeah I agree I think I think if the if we maintain use of that building that should definitely uh you know be Revisited there um the other aspect to this too which I think is important to note is is I think there would be some additional potential administrative support for staff currently at the buildings if if staff were to move to other places I I think that's one of the the aspects here um you know so just another thing to think about with with this building the other another piece of this which also occupies the building is they had a school time so that will have to you know I know I know um uh the director of the program is already or is looking to work on on what that would look like if if the building is is uh if we leave the building so um which which we did do that last week we did go over to that building and and it it seemed to from what the what we're planning on doing and working with Jen and Lisa had gone over and Tom and we worked with the building principal I mean we were able to I think fit every single grade level in that Jen has in the program into a space so I think it worked out fine based on that I mean we've got the map of going into the new school um taking one room I think at the elementary school you know everything seemed to kind of smooth out I think our biggest thing for us is space for filing cabinets like filing system is basically because we've had files there for years we've been windling them down and going through them but I think that probably is the biggest challenge right now is where to put that but again we're we're going to meet um hopefully the end of this week or the beginning of next week to kind of talk about that and see what we have where is everybody going how much room is in which spaces you know things like that that so and is this something just so the committee knows um because I wouldn't want to move forward with this if if staff weren't comfortable with the move so are staff at the at the old high school on board with this or most of us are um the business office because they have been there for so long they they're very comfortable in their situ like in their assignments so you know in their area so anything new is not they're not thrilled over because it also inv them having to take their space I mean we did look at the space that they are in I think lri and I looked at the space that they would be going to and they would be able to bring all they'd be able to bring three of them into that area with um filing cabinets that are currently used what would not be able to fit in their office would be the filing system that's held downstairs so you know we we're going to look at that and try to kind of see what we have and what where things could go I mean it's it's like when we ask the town to move in with us they were like you know no they're very like territorial they just like what they have and I get it you know when you've been there for 28 30 years like you you're like oh no I don't want to move this would be a disaster but it you know it is what it is that we all have to make that Arrangement and get through it right and it's a going back to this discussion here it's it's you know it reflects as a $90,000 you know savings on our budget so that's one of the items here um can I just add to what um Michelle was saying and to piggyback on what you were saying earlier about um a presence at the other schools because of how lean we are um as a staff it's definitely going to enhance the um accountability in those buildings and I feel the Safety and Security in those buildings um and if you all were to come to the old high school and take a walk around and see how it's degrading um I think there are health concerns here too right there I think that's I think that's where the to the town is feeling like we're just letting a building go and not take care of it and that's not the case like the building itself is just it's an older building it's a great building like if if they were to put all the town offices in there and bring the recreation department in the Council on agent in and you know Spruce it up paint things up have maintenance people in there like brightening things up cleaning you know updating the toilets or whatever it would be a great building for us to stay in to be able to have like you massmouth and some of these places Bridgewater come in and run night classes you know have all of our meetings held there for all the town meetings held there with plenty of space I think it's but again like I get it for them they don't want to move either and they've got other their other departments that don't want to move as well Melissa I see if you hand up thank you so I think um I mean I don't know how the rest of the committee feels but I think that um for the closure of the old high school that our administr our administrative uh staff has given it has been very thoughtful in making this decision I see there's a lot of Pros to you know moving out of the old school I think in regards to what the town may think or not about us um and and I mean no disrespect but I don't think it really matters I think we have to do what's best for our school and for our students and at this time it's getting out of the high school and I think um again no disrespect but unless anybody disagrees with that can we move on to the next because I I really think that I mean the the argument or the counter really is about what the town thinks but you know they could have given us more money and they chose not to so um I'm okay with moving on to the next item sure thank thank you I give Chris I want to give you an opportunity to I see your hand up yes thank you Mr chair and apologies I'm having some major connectivity issues so I'm not on video but um I I do first of all thank you again for everyone's uh efforts to to get these these cuts and and and to get this uh all put to put together including uh with regard to the the the closure here um I am I I do have some concerns as to the actual Logistics of a move um I think that there is clearly um there is a need not just in in the savings but there is a need to uh to U get out of that get out of the building as it is um as it's as it sits right now uh but I do have some concerns regarding again the exact Logistics of how a move would be accomplished specifically regarding I'm curious as to what kind of it equipment is is there and how how severe of a move that would be um in addition to the business office and and a couple other uh specific uh Staffing or specific uh equipment questions and everything so I also W to W to ask the uh the administration as far as what type of expenditures are going to be incurred uh with with the move itself um so and the the other I guess you know as as a chair of the long-term building committee this I I do agree this has been this has been uh talked about for quite some time um I I do think that there are some potential uses for the high school down the road that are not necessarily um going to be school related but at the same time I I do there there is a bit of a code question involved and any kind of continued presence does bring in uh the ability to continue uh you know using the the the building for its U its intended use codewise without triggering any new um any new uh code regulations or upgrades that would be necessary and I'm wondering if it is if there is some possibility of perhaps leaving even just one uh Department one person again I'm kind of going back to the it uh just thinking in terms of what it would take to actually get everything out of there um you know is that something that could be discussed down the road as well um so I guess I'll just I'll swing it over to uh Michelle and just ask if if you think that that's any anything that could be considered moving forward I think as far as I I think one of the things that I'd be concerned about leaving one person over there even like the it is that the town is going to be like well you still have somebody over there so you're still losing using light still electricity still heat I think that would be the concern there I did speak to it today because I wanted to get an understanding of what would require for them to do their piece um they have just a lot of equipment I think they need to go through the equipment personally I think the equipment has just kind of been sitting there it's been an easy keep to just keep it all instead of going through it and saying you know we could bring so much to the Mac so much to the West so much to the elementary school let's look at what we have um I know that the um head of Maintenance Manny has been cleaning out every single garage and every basement to try to I think clean up but also like has an idea that there might be a move happen happening coming up um the other piece to this is too we have the storage like a lot of that storage downstairs if you know there's options to look around I mean there's that house on the campground I get that it's an old house and it's just sitting there but if they were to kind of do the garage the the doors on all of it and secure the buildings and our if our filing cabinets were lock filing cabinets again is it the perfect situation no could we get a pod that goes over at the elementary school and that's where files are kept and you put it in the back so it doesn't look like it's standing out like a saw thumb you know enough to house you know maybe 20 filing cabinets um the move typically when we we've kind of become very Prof um I guess you could say we're professionals at the moving seeing the Middle School issue has happened um typically in the past Kim wette has contacted the sheriff's office and we utilize them and the only cost that we ever had is we feed them lunch and breakfast so and that comes from the school lunch program so we typ Ty Al have it organized ahead of time they bring in these big trucks they come in they we use them for the however many days it is we book it early enough and if it takes two weeks to do the move it takes two weeks to do the move so the downtime there may be that people are almost forced into taking their vacations during that time so that way everything is labeled everything is mocked here you go this is where you're going and you know peace work or something of that nature so I think as far as the expense is concerned we would need to check the internet piece um I would hate to shut the internet off there I mean a lot of that cost is combined we we get some e- rate reimbursement and what that is it comes from because we have students in the building we receive e-rate reimbursement which is 60% of whatever the internet costs are because we still have students in our out of school time we can still access that money for the billing at our old High school so that I would need to do a little researching on that is it worth us removing and shutting the internet off there or is it not worth shutting the internet off there um everything's in the walls it's wired it's high wired in uh we have remote access you know you wouldn't want to get rid of it because if the town decided to open up the building and would need to run a meeting there or would need to run voting there or something we'd want them to be able to still have that access but it it could play Both Sides where we may still get our benefit that we need and by just leaving it there so there's a little piece there there's some maintenance equipment at the old high school which I'm sure that Manny is dying to get in there and kind of clean that out because that is years and years of storage you know they've done a nice job cleaning it before in the past but I think you know looking at where we are today compared to where we how we used to like take you know different spindles to fix something or a just different product to fit most of that stuff is probably rotted by now or not even usable so I think for the biggest expense for the move would be the actual move and again we use the Sheriff's Office to do that move um there would be still some questions that I would need to get answers to as far as the internet staying there how what would the time frame be for Manny to clean out the garage area um we plan to do a walk through like we I spoke to the business office to try to do a walkthr before this week's done so we can see what do we have I know the town has gone through it plenty of time so they keep on going through and taking stuff from there but for us our purpose I think we have some stuff in the cafeteria um we have storage in the garage area technology area and then in the business offices so I think it's doable I think it's a matter of the storage where would these filing cabinets that have been in the basement for years Where do they go that's the biggest question all right thank you Michelle I think uh this certainly isn't the last conversation we'll have on the closure of the building so um you know we'll we'll uh if you just like you've done today in sending us what Jim sent you know just keep us up to date on on any movement that happens and I will and then I can even give you an update at the next either pool committee meeting of like what our conversations have been of filing cabinets and we'll try to get some measurements in of where we think we're going going and how many cabinets and space and perfect see if we can get more information great okay any other discussion or questions from the committee on the other items in the resolution of the deficit all set I'm all good okay all right and like we mentioned going into FY 26 you know we'll have a I'm sure there will be a discussion on the free cash issue again so you know again something to for the committee to be aware of going into the next cycle which will start in the fall already and that'll be here quick um as we all know it always comes up very quickly so um you know just something for the committee to keep an eye on going into the next year you know we we know the formula won't change and it didn't happen this year and then that's the direction of the select board and the finance committee have gone so um the formula will remain the same so it's a matter of the the free cash question um as it has been for the last number of years so that'll certainly be a big topic of conversation in the next cycle um any discuss further discussion on from the committee on the resolution of the deficit yeah I again Evan I I know I mentioned it in our last meeting I think the only other um you know concern that I never want to lose sight of um is the grounds um you know for athletics obviously if we were to you know go through with all this and make all these moves and you know completely you know take the school department out of that building um and the town takes it over you know again just that worry um and you know to save to save 990,000 you know what's it going to look like for us to have to possibly um rent and transport um our athletic teams to go play and practice elsewhere um and you know how much of a savings will it end up being in the end um I don't know the cost of what that could be um but it could get pretty high um pretty quick um and again there's not a lot of places to go um as far as I know there's not a lot of random you know fields and right um gyms and things like that that are around obviously they're all at schools and they're all being used by other schools at the same time that we would need them um so that just gets really really difficult you know if if this could all be done and we could have some kind of guarantee from the town that we would still have access to all the fields and things then you know I'm all for it but I would just hate again for that rug to be to be pulled out from under us um and then we're spending $90,000 in transportation and rental fees and everything else right no that's that's an important point and I think part of the the communication that the committee you know will would send to the town in the event that this goes forward would would be that that's a that's a we would need to maintain the use of the fields in in the back um that that's I mean that's pretty important we know going into it wouldn't be an issue in the fall but from the conversations that have been brought up but going into the spring it certainly would be a a concern so I think including that in the communication from the committee is uh is important because that you know like you said that's there aren't many options for for use there so U I agree with you yeah I I think too I and I agree with Jason because we have like spent a lot of time for many years trying to figure out this whole Transportation use of fields and whatnot I think if we and will the school committee make some type of agreement with the town you know kind of like how we did that question and answer with them the other day but now we put together some type of document that basically spells out you know the school department will maintain you know uh the fields we will do the mo like specific to like from what field to what field you know I think there's pieces that I know that it cost us an extra $50 to have the Landscaping Company mold the front lawn so we've already budgeted for doing the Lawns with the landscaping company so maybe in good faith that's one of our tradeoffs that for $50 we continue to keep that we will continue to mow that lawn you know we will continue to do with the mowing of the lawn there you know maybe at the time we're done that we're still using the garage temporarily and you know maybe we are looking at having one of our staff go in and do a building check every day like they already do I think for the amount of time it usually takes them to do a building check it's usually 30 minutes walk first thing in the morning but if they're having access to the garage and you know I think we kind of look at like okay we do need the garage to keep our storage for our other buildings so we keep the garage we're going to maintain the whole from grass season we'll continue to mold the whole thing but we get first priority of the fields Fields first priority is us and people can't go through the town to you know Reserve Fields over and above the school the school gets first priority from this time of year to this time of year I think spelling that out on the school committee's end might be a good way to like put it in stone that you know we will continue to maintain so at least the building does continue to look like it's used and maybe it's used for maintenance and maybe we look at renting the space we handle like we've been handling the use of facilities for the basketball but we're a little bit tighter on it and we charge more money so that little bit of money helps to offset a little bit of say whatever I think there's some things there to look at to try to get this in stone and not just assumed right yeah I I like that Michelle I think that's very smart that would be smart on our part that's great Lori could could you add that to our agenda for the next meeting to discuss those items on the old on the building thank you and I'll try to get a little more um information on What leagues are using the basketball um what What leagues are using the fields and the basketball courts to see how it's being utilized and whatnot so we kind of have a little bit of idea of what we're spending now what's a reasonable amount to charge and you know maybe you know I don't want to give up money to them trust me but at the same time you know in good faith we say we're we know we're not sending our people in clean it so the revenue that's brought in for the use of that building to help offset the 50,000 that the town's no longer going to receive we might take in 10,000 so now they're only looking for 40 but again I think documenting this all out and what that looks like and having more information is might help us in the transition but it it shows us in good faith working together with the town to not just say here you go it's up you know right Michelle could you please send the recommendations you just ran through in an email to the committee before our committee our next full committee meeting or regular thank you okay on uh the other items on the list or any additional items are there any further discussion um I know these numbers the goal of the committee which was brought up at our May 2nd orc session um in resolving the deficit even and this was prior to Tom eating also was to minimize the teacher impact which you know was I I think Michelle was responsive to in in bringing us these figures um you know with the teacher and the and the taas and the difference in retirement so I think that's reflected here in this budget you know our goal as a committee is always to to do the best for our students and minimize the impact in the classroom because they shouldn't be impacted by you know changes made by the town or finance committee recommendations or you know our job is to provide the best experience for for for our students and that's always the focus so um you know I think this the resolution here um reflects the F that that goal of the committee um so certainly appreciative of that there any further comments or questions or discussion from the committee on any other items in the budget resolving the deficit no um I did see some things um in the proposed budget that um you know I kind of question um in terms of um you know again just going over it quickly and and certainly you know I I I'll admit that going over the uh the last column with the percentage over 23 24 and and looking those numbers um you know some of them certainly stand out um you know a 45% increase um to to a certain line um for which comes out to about $30,000 um you know is certainly um an eye opener for me um again and you know there were certainly some other things um you know a 29% increase um for Legal Services um you know those are things I don't necessarily know um you know what it cost I'm looking at previous years and and just looking at you know the budget sheets that are here and um I see a lot of things that you know I did have questions about and things like that you know I don't know what kind of explanation I could get or um you know how r available that is or if somebody needs to now research it but um I see some places where there are some you know pretty big increases that I don't necessarily know um you know the reasoning behind so I can I can respond to a couple of them right now just briefly Jason so if it helpful so the director of human resources that line jumped up 45% because um the part-time HR person we have her salary was coming out of the Sr funds so for fy2 it's now coming out of the school budget because it was the last year this year that we could um cover that so that would account for that 45% increase in that line item um I don't know if that helps you Michelle the only other increase that would have been reflected on the salary side because the committee was cautious of using Esser for for salary was the which has been discussed by the finance committee was one science teacher correct that was correct one science that was and that was you'll say that line item you'll see an increase in their salaries as well because right the science teacher was Esser as well in the high school side and on this side the other thing the legal expenses one of the things that happened with us so two years ago because obviously we were in covid and just finishing with covid we were able to decrease the expenses a little bit for the legal end because we weren't using them as much because we weren't always like in full session and then all of a sudden we didn't so we then had to turn around and start increasing them again so again part of that I you know again we're going to see how this year goes we do use them a lot more than we ever have I will say that I I do and I think Lori can agree to me there that we we do use the attorneys like very frequently and you know maybe it is something that we I think what you know what the superintendent does he try wants to be safe he wants to cover the district to make sure that you know when we we don't run into any troubles at all so it uh that budget line has kind of fluctuated a little bit was never I don't think as high as it is right now yeah def you know definitely since 2122 when this um budget goes back it it hasn't it hasn't been um hasn't been there um I know we expended 46,000 in 2122 and then down to 27,000 in 2223 um and we and it was approved for a double that um you know for this year obviously I don't know where we stand um in terms of expenditures now but increasing another 177,000 on top of it you know again that's a good chunk of money that you know I I look at the you know the revolution of deficit deficit that you worked hard on and and is presented in front of us here and you know we could take out some of these lines um right if it's not needed um I can do a little bit more research on that to see why we might have increased it the way we did because of contractual increases as well you know not contractual increases I'm sorry for the WFT negotiations so some of that may be reflected in there but again that would be more 24 than 25 but I let me let me do tomorrow just kind of do a little checking on that see what I can see perfect thank you and I would think I think you mentioned the increase in 21 compared to the following year that may have I think that was also a contractual year if I'm not Mist probably yes yeah okay so that I mean that could be part of it um Tom I know see you have your hand up think you're on mute thank you I think going forward um I think the committee needs to expect a significant increase in legal fees for example we now have a third group three-year-old who will be coming in and uh they're going to require significant services and then it becomes a issue between lawyers about what services the uh School District should uh be accountable for so if you uh take a look at all of the issues that are facing schools today not just Westport uh but you can expect your legal fees to go up they're not going to go down and you can cut it if you want but you know again don't be surprised when I go to the committee and say you know we we we lost a uh we lost in a meeting with uh an IEP or with an advocate or you know whatever so I mean it just there's a there's a you know real situ I I don't think it's a matter of cutting it I think it's just a matter of making sure that we're diligent when the services are needed and used I think that's the that's the you know I'm not saying that they're not being used when or they're or they're being used when they shouldn't be I'm I I think that's the the point and I was going to ask too Tom I'm glad you brought that up that some of those are are special education related right the expenses there I would think that the increase in required Services would equate to an increase in legal fees I would think that's well we just we just received a a PR uh PRS complaint that we're going to have to deal with it's a completely unreasonable request we've got plenty of data that's going to suggest that the complaint is frivolous nonetheless I mean you know I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV and when somebody brings a lawyer it's been our general rule that we're going to bring our lawyer uh but if if the committee has a different approach I'll be happy to uh readjust that thought I work at the pleasure of the committee I certainly see obviously that there's a you know things are going up um and obviously we're going to have to you know budget I just you know again um you know we were we were involved in voting on an issue last week that you know I I see as something that could have been um you know probably easily um nipped in the bud before it got to the point it did and you know we have to bring in our lawyer for you know something petty over you know 975 ,000 stien I mean a $975 stien um and you know I I see things like that that are probably could be avoided um and I don't know what that costs us in in terms of bringing in lawyers but you know we all had to be here for a meeting that I think um with some background knowledge and and and probably some strategical meetings around postings and and things like that and you know could have been avoided that's for sure Melissa well I'll ask committee right now first of all I'll ask the committee how many levels grievances have you had hold on Tom Melissa Melissa has her has her hand up here sure yeah um I would um respectfully like to disagree with that I've been on this committee now for the past three years and the amount of um grievances that we've had have been incredibly minor compared to what we could have the administration Works incredibly hard to um do what's right and they cannot and will not be held accountable for frivolous um grievances that are that are put forth by any Union I mean that's that we can't they can't be held responsible for that and they can only do what's allowed in the contract so I I just I disagree and I actually I take a little offense to it because um our superintendent has worked at the direction of this committee um and again has worked incredibly hard as well as the administration and should never be uh held responsible for something else that the youth Union decides to um put forth whether it's frivolous or not they cannot back down and go against um what is true and correct with the contract because the minute it's only a frivolous $975 is the next minute it turns into 10,000 or higher so they have to follow the letter of the law regardless thank you no it's an important point on this I think it you know the committee doesn't you know when we get handed a grievance that's you know that's the situation where we're you know that we're put in so we have to take it as it as it sort of comes to us um you know that's well I don't I do not deny that for a second um and I know that you know we have to meet um you know their actions with our own actions and I completely agree with that it's more of the the background be before um you know that I that I questioned um it's not what we had to do and and how we have to um you know counter um it's more so trying to avoid situations that don't NE neily need to happen and again I'm sorry I don't want to continue to argue back and forth but I will say that again it's not I'm not talking about the committee I'm talking about how the administration handled it they did the best that they could to try to get our students assistance they worked they even spoke to someone within the union who was kind of like yeah it's okay and then once they moved forward it landed up turning and then turning into a grievance so I I can see where this is headed and I don't believe that our Administration is to blame for that at all and we can't look at saying okay well we need to focus on blame no what we need to focus on is how we can best work within our means to serve our students and this second yes I just it it's uncalled for if the job is posted the same way as the other ones were posted at the other schools then that situation doesn't happen no you you you you keep coming back because you had you know you again uh Jason you had previous experience in the district you've seen things at a different light than some of us did and then you also had some other experiences that maybe weren't so good and I think you're bringing that into this and this needs to be focused on what's right for our students versus having any type of Vendetta or anything else against this the the district or whatever and I'm really hoping that we can focus on what's best for our students and how we can work together instead of picking apart things and honestly that's what I'm seeing from the get-go so I don't I don't want that to continue I want us to be able to work together for what's best for our students that's the goal of this committee is to work together on on issues and and keep the interest of our students and our staff at you know on our mind so that's that's what we're here to do is support them right and work together so absolutely all right are there any other uh items from the budget we wanted to discuss uh yes um I did see the stum young program and that continuing um which is certainly um you know a good chunk of change again um and just looking for some clarification there um it looks to be um about the same expense as um summer school in terms of um to the district and you know I think maybe the thoughts of you know one versus the other and and having one over the other or which one's more important or um if we need to even have one at all um you know I think those programs are certainly valuable um you know but I think to the tune of around 25,000 maybe if I was if I'm accurate um in that figure I know it's spread out amongst the different buildings um and not necessarily in one item one line item for the district um but again is there you know can we maybe do some individual clubs and not necessarily A startom young program um you know which I think would be you know a savings maybe to the district um if we if there's a if stardom young you know thinking of some of the um previous offerings Within startom young flag football um or um maybe robotics or you know whether it be academic or athletic um could those be individual clubs hire an advisor um like most of our other clubs and Just Go With It um go that route instead of um you know I'm not even sure how it's broken up it's in so many line items um with advisors and and things like that I think the West has they have 2500 in one line item they have 5,000 in another line item um and then you know it goes on to other the other schools as well um 25,000 in a line item um another thousand in a line item you so it's um it's more than I actually I actually thought and I see it again um another 2500 and a 1500 the Middle High that's for the startom young you said correct okay you know so I think you know you're up over 30 $35,000 um going towards startom young that you know I love the I love the program I love the idea of the program you know does it need to be does it need to be that can it be individual clubs ran through the schools um you know based off of um you know what they think um is needed or necessary or where the interest is again from the students um flag football I think has been a a pretty good one um and I saw the kids out there um I think it was two days ago maybe um or maybe even yesterday afternoon um and I think that's awesome um and certainly something that's that's beneficial to the kids and getting them up and moving after school but can it can we just have a flag football club um and even if it's two flag football clubs and one of them's in the fall and one of them's in the spring you know for a couple thousand dollars as you know as I just see you know that's a really really big expense right any uh Administration have any comment on this S Young program the actually has that always been fun out of the none of that was funded from Esser was it or was that prob it was for a length of time it was funded from Esser and now it's La uh this year I believe is the first year that it was in the budget and it's being budgeted again for next year okay okay anything else from the committee Melissa I'm sorry I just saw your hand up that's okay um so the budget at the same time no I know it's hard thank you Jason for um for finding you know for finding something in the budget that was uh you know non-academic um I will say though that um the startom young program was started um because we weren't having that um can I say that we weren't having the programs that were needed for our students across all of the the grades in the schools so we needed to find someone to come in who would be able to provide uh that for our schools and they've done that in a way that has not only engaged our younger students but have engaged um all of our schools which um has really provided something that um has been missing in our sports program for a while so for me um I would not be interested in taking out the um the stardom young program um because regardless we would have to end up replacing it with something like you had mentioned clubs and that at this point we have we finally have something that's organized around those Sports and clubs that has been really successful and so for me I I wouldn't be interested in um considering that as uh as resolving the deficit but I do thank you for for finding that as a conversation for the committee thank you thank you Melissa and I'll add also that a lot of these line items um in here it's important for this discussion of course um but this is also important to bring up during our you know when we look at our FY 26 budget and forming that and have starting to have those discussions as well um Gloria I see you you raised your hand yep right startom young is it not is it Sports but isn't it other things too I think there was video in it or did they do other things in stardom young or is it just sport yes other things right because they had like a video club and doing different things so it yeah that and they did a very good job with that I remember that okay that was okay okay any further comments okay all right seeing none um I will note that so this will give our business office some direction um to resolve the deficit here that's the committee's pleasure um with what was recommended I will note as I just did that going into FY 26 A lot of these conversations will come up again um especially you know on the line items Jason you mentioned some of the items there um we can certainly discuss those in detail as we start those discussions in early fall and the finance committee we start to meet with them in October we did this past year so we'll have a proposed budget soon um you know around the start of the school year sometime around then going into there so uh a lot of these discussions will continue but for the F for purposes of fy2 um pH the committee's pleasure will give the business office some direction here to go ahead with the recommended uh the recommendations for the resolution of the deficit all right if there's no there any further comment there or huh I have my hand oh sorry Gloria I didn't know if that was still from before uh we easy our next our next meeting we could talk about the last bit of the eser funds because we have to use those soon right correct okay we we basically have them all spent but we can review we'll bring that up Lori if you could add that to the next school committee meeting that would be great please it's great yeah especially as we've gotten towards the end of the year we've spent down some of that so that will be helpful yeah great Point Gloria thank you okay um the only other item I wanted to mention briefly which is not related to this but there are two events next week There's the athletic awards night on the 28th and the I just had this pulled up too and the um scholarship award night on the 30th both are at 6 PM um at the middle high school so I just wanted to note that the graduation is also on the 1 which is Saturday June 1st so just so the committee is aware there's you know some good events happening next week and I hope to see you all there um Memorial Day Parade Memorial Day Parade as well is on the so the Memorial Day WLS begin on Saturday the 25th at 9:00 am and the vso's website has some things on that but the Memorial Day Parade which the district does participate in and the school committee has participated in um is on the 27th and if you check your email Carol um the veteran Service Officer sent us all the the logistics for that so um if you can't find that in your inbox just let me know and I can forward you what she sent over um and certainly would love for you all to participate in that it's a great event that you know uh the town puts on for Memorial Day and gives the district some good visibility as well with the committee and and our students playing there um it's always a great Community event that's well attended so if you can make it that'd be great um all right if there's no further discussion then I will entertain a motion to adjourn I make a motion to adjourn second okay there's a motion and a second all in favor I Gloria cab hi Melissa Pacho hi Christ rasher hi Jason Pacho Ivan gendro okay thank you everyone important discussion and one that we will certainly continue uh look forward to seeing you uh the next meeting thank you