April 1, 2020 at 6:30 PM - Regular Board of Education Meeting

Rationale: 

-Please note the personnel report as you will find updated employee information reflected in it.

-Please take note of the April enrollment report. We have a total of 1,302 students enrolled...virtually. This is an increase of 4 students since last time this month.

-There have been a number of changes due to the Governor's executive orders in response to COVID-19.  Specifically, Executive Order No. 7B suspends the requirements (statutory, charter, ordinance or regulation) that public agencies hold open meetings and specifically allows public agencies to prohibit in-person public access to such meetings upon meeting certain conditions. Executive Order No. 7B further permits public agencies to “to hold such meetings or proceedings remotely by conference call, videoconference or other technology” on the condition that public access to the meeting and actions taken at such meeting be provided as follows:

A. The public must have the ability to view or listen to each meeting in real time, by telephone, video, or other technology;

B. Any such meeting must be recorded or transcribed and posted on the Board’s website within 7 days of the meeting or proceeding;

C.  The notice and agenda must be posted on the Board's website with information about how the meeting will be conducted and how the public can access it;

D.  Any materials relevant to matters on the agenda must be submitted to the agency at least 24 hours prior to the meeting and posted to the agency's website for public inspection prior to, during, and after the meeting;

E.  All speakers that take part in the meeting must clearly state their name and title, if applicable, before speaking on each occasion that they speak.

-Our budget process has also been adjusted due the Governor's executive orders.  Included below are responses from counsel regarding this process.

A.  Executive Order No. 7I allows the BOE to approve the budget without going to a town meeting or referendum but it provides that:

“In so acting, the regional board of education shall comply with public meeting requirements consistent with requirements set forth in Executive Order 7B and take all reasonable steps to publicize the proposed budget for said fiscal year and to receive public comment thereon, including but not limited to publishing draft budgets on the website and providing an email address or other means for the public to submit timely comments on the proposed budget.”

I would try to mirror your usual budget process as much as possible.  For example, maybe have a public hearing in April and vote on the budget the first week of May.

B.  To ensure compliance with EO No. 7I, I would post the proposed budget on the District website and provide an email address where comments can be emailed.  You should also hold a telephonic public hearing on the proposed budget.  

C.  To be consistent with previous practices, it may be worth adopting the budget in early May.  Perhaps do a telephonic annual meeting on the first Monday in May and have the BOE approve the budget on Tuesday, May 5 when the referendum would normally be held.

D.  If you have not already, I would also let the First Selectman of your member towns know what your budget will be because it will impact their budget process.  You may also want to get a sense on their timing for adopting budgets.  It may have changed because of the new EO.

E.  When the BOE does vote to approve the budget, a good resolution would be as follows:

“Resolution to approve the District’s fiscal year 2020-2021 budget.”

-Attached is CABE's Memo II regarding the implications for and impacts on school districts of Governor Lamont's Executive Orders. The first was a summary and analysis of the suspension of sections of the FOIA in Executive Order 7C.  This second memorandum summarizes and discusses the impact of the suspension of in-person requirements for the adoption of regional school district and municipal budgets found in Executive Order 7I.

-There are no updates to our goals this month.  Instead, I will update the Board on our response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rationale:  Mrs. McCalla will provide a year to date budget status report as well as a contingency fund report.

Rationale:  As is annual practice to ensure compliance with state statute, and in accordance with Conn. Gen. Stat. § 10-151(b), which gives authority to the Superintendent to determine whether a non-tenure teacher should be offered a contract for the subsequent school year, I am recommending the non-renewal of all non–tenured teachers. This requires Board action.

Rationale: 

Per policy #2420, the Board is required to set a tuition rate for non-resident students by May 30.  The current tuition rate is:

A) Tuition Student Rates
• Grades 9-12 - $19,000
• Grades 6-8 - $17,000
• Grades K-5 - $15,000
• Grade PreK - $10,000

B) Students attending under Attendance Agreements (unless a multiple-year agreement to provide education facilities is entered into with another Board of Education)
• PK-12 $19,000
C) Children of current staff members will be charged 50% of the applicable tuition.
D) Children of active military parents will be charged 80% of the applicable tuition.
E) Foreign students attending under an F-1 visa as required by SEVIS will be charged 150% of the applicable tuition.
F) Multiple students from the same family attending together will be required to pay the following amounts:
• 1st child– 100% of the applicable tuition
• 2nd child– 75% of the applicable tuition
• 3rd child– 50% of the applicable tuition
• Any additional children will be charged 50% of the applicable tuition.

This requires Board action.

Rationale: 

After discussion with my colleagues in surrounding districts, I am recommending we adopt this policy as written at our April meeting. While the entire Board has been very supportive in allowing us to make decisions in response to this pandemic, I think this will protect us in the future should we need to take further emergency action.  Since the future of this is so hard to predict, this gives us the ability to respond quickly to this ever changing environment. This requires Board action.