Welcome to the March 4th meeting of the Sharon School Committee.

This meeting will be conducted remotely over Zoom. Attendance by Board and Commission members. Remote attendance shall count towards a quorum.

The meeting will be broadcast live and recorded by Sharon TV.

If you would like to enable your webcam, your image, and background, broadcast with or without sound.

Tonight we are here specifically to discuss the FY25 operating budget.

Included in that we'll discuss the FY25 district fees.

There will be an open forum opportunity for the public following our discussion.

That allows us to hear from the public after this discussion.

And then again Wednesday before our discussion prior to a vote, hopefully, that would take place on Wednesday.

Before I turn it over to Dr. Botello to begin presenting and sort of start off the discussion around the budget with the committee, I do just want to ask that the committee keep this in mind and certainly the public as well during the portion of the meeting where the public can speak.

That, you know, the spot the district finds itself in obviously has us discussing cuts that all of us would rather not make. And some of these cuts have jobs that are associated with them.

And those jobs have people that are associated with them.

Also, some expenses that we discuss in our district are expenses that affect students in our district, some more than others. And so I would just like to remind people to please, well, I can't control what people do or say, certainly with the public and also with the elected members of the school committee.

So I would just ask that we all be very mindful in the rhetoric that we use, as well as the tone that these are deeply sensitive subjects and it's our responsibility to discuss them and to come to a conclusion.

But it is, I think, just really important that we keep in mind that some of these cuts are extremely painful for people whose livelihood and job are affected and also for students whose services, education, you know, sometimes, you know, quality of school life are affected.

And so let's just make sure that we're understanding that and keeping that in mind.

Fair to say. Fair to say. All right.

All right.

With that, I'll turn it over to you, Dr. Patel. Thank you, Avi.

I just want to start off with just a little bit of a intro and about the process.

So we came into this budget seat season with a current understanding that increase in state funds for education was going to be much less so than they has been in the last several years.

And that many towns, 88, approximately, including ourselves, were put into a, were designated as minimum aid districts.

Again, really lessening the state aid funds that we have been getting over the last several years.

In addition, over the last two years, there's been a 20%, approximately a 20% increase in private out of district tuitions rates.

So even the same kids getting the same services in the same schools is costing 20% more than previous years because of a dramatic increase of 14% last year, which we still feel every year.

And then an additional almost 5% increase this year. In addition, we settled a fair but significant SDA contract, knowing that our teachers, who are the backbone of our system, you know, went without significant raises for a period of time.

And that there was a push from throughout the state to make sure that we could compensate them competitively and fairly. And we avoided, we went through a good collaborative process for that and settled on an agreement, avoiding some of the horrible strikes and discourse that have gone on throughout the state and settling for a 10.5% over three years, which is less than these districts that have gone through all that, you know, that situation.

And so, you know, that is part of the picture we are.

So we are in the same boat as many districts in the state. I've been talking to colleagues throughout the region about, you know, a tough budget year for sure. So I started off, you know, by, as we continue to look to see if additional state funds would be coming in.

I began by proposing a 5.97% increase in order to reach a really a level service, as well as fulfill a couple of mandated special education positions that are necessary based upon the IEPs of our students.

Knowing that, you know, knowing that, you know, that wasn't going to be, be able to be fully supported by the town as much as they might like to, I put forth what was, what was in the best interest of the district.

Last week, you know, as we look to prepare for our FinCon meeting, I put forth a list of potential cuts to instructional staff that, if taken in its entirety, would be able to reach that 3.12.

In no way did I see that as the end of the process.

That's, this is a process that I've gone through in other districts as well, but it was showing, you know, the depth of cuts and the types of cuts that would be necessary.

As, you know, as I expected to do and as directed by the committee, I'm coming back today with a subset of those cuts that still should be or need to be considered if we stay at the 3.12 level, but also a series of pretty, very deep non-teaching administration cuts in other like positions in order to give us some options for how we reach a 3.12%

increase for this year.

I'm still hopeful that, you know, over the course of the next several weeks and months, that we will have some improvements in, you know, the funding that we're looking to, because I do believe that any combination of cuts to reach 3.12 are really going to put the district in a very, very difficult place to provide the type of service that we want for our kids.

But so this is what we'll be looking at today is, again, first of all, looking at some of those administration cuts and how much they would result in savings, then looking at several, a couple of options for a combination of administration and teaching cuts, and then allowing the committee and the community to discuss.

And then we may begin some discussions today based on if we were able to add certain positions back, you know, talking about which positions I would recommend, as well as which positions the committee would like to discuss.

So I'll move on to present those, Javi, is that?

Yes, please.

Jane, are you able to?

Yes, I should be. It's probably not going to be an Excel.

It will be a Google Sheet, but I think it's everything you needed.

So let me just screen share, and you tell me if I'm on the right thing, Peter.

I'm assuming I'm sharing the right thing. Yeah, we can start with the budget summary part.

Okay.

Did I see that?

I mean, actually, want me to do it, Jane? Yeah.

Yeah. Let me see.

Because I'm not sure we're talking about the same. Okay.

SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay.

Right.

Okay.

So, again, as we discussed, is everyone seeing that fine?

Yep.

I'm seeing it. Okay. Okay.

As we discussed, the FY24 approved budget was a little over $52 million.

My recommended budget was at $55,525,000.

This was $1,493,000 above the priorities target budget.

So next, as we look at a kind of a menu of potential reductions that include a subset of the cuts that were, the teaching cuts that were gone over last week, as well as a range of administration potential cuts.

I'm going to first just scroll down a little bit.

Sorry.

Peter, would you mind making that just a little bit bigger to read?

Yep. Thank you.

Is that good or bigger?

If you don't mind a little bit bigger, that would be great.

Right.

Yeah.

All right. So below here is a subset of the teaching cuts that I went over on last Wednesday.

So some of them, based upon our discussions, have been taken out, but then a majority of them, or about half of them, are there for consideration as we piece together a way to bridge that $1.5 million gap. Some of the reductions, as we look, we really kind of, you know, had to look at every possible area in administration.

And I would say that there's no way that all of these cuts happening at once would be in the interest of the district, just like there's no way that the full range of instructional cuts that I went over would be in the interest of the district, even in a worst case scenario.

So I think a combination is definitely necessary with the hope that we will get to increase funding over the next several weeks and months.

So one is to go back to our model of having a position at the high school that is part athletic director and part assistant principal.

So that would include, you know, reducing an assistant principal and an athletic director and hiring someone as a part-time athletic director, part-time assistant principal.

The second is, again, kind of a way to combine positions and save funds in order to meet the gap.

It would be to reduce the assistant superintendent position of equity engagement, as well as RIF, the director of curriculum instruction position, and fill that with a position that was very similar to one that we've had in the past year, an assistant superintendent of either teaching and learning or curriculum and administration that would have a combination of curriculum instruction leadership, as well as other assistant superintendent administration position responsibilities.

The next one is to add a supervisor of buildings and grounds and reduce our director of facilities position, as well as a maintenance position for a savings of approximately $84,000.

Another one is a couple of possibilities to reduce in the area of counseling and academic affairs.

One is to reduce the dean of academic affairs and fill it with a head of school counseling for a considerable savings.

The other one is to reduce the guidance admin assistant position that is currently vacant, reduce the school's counselor, and partially reduce an administrative assistant at the high school in order to come up again with some considerable savings in that area while maintaining the dean of academic affairs position.

Next one is to consider going from three to two elementary assistant principals slash special education administrators.

And so that would be that we would share two of those across three buildings.

We would also look to add some stipends for teachers so that if both the principal and assistant principal slash special education administrator was out, they could step up in and help provide leadership in those cases. The next positions, as I talked about before, which are really, really critical to our district, are savings that would be would be would occur by savings and funds that would occur by reducing element coordinator positions, both at the elementary and secondary level.

And then so those are all of the admin type positions.

Then again, the instructional positions include a high school special education lead teacher, which we actually did find out through some changes in enrollment that this actually is possible without hurting services.

So this is one you will see that will definitely be on my list because because of enrollment numbers, it is able to be done and not hurt students at all next year. It might need to be added in the future, but we can do without it for next year.

But then also looking at social studies, science, Spanish, as well as a partial wellness, reading and math specialists at the middle school level and elementary math specialists, partial librarians, instrumental music at the in the upper elementary grades, visual arts and ELA and math at the high school.

And so all those positions for consideration, too.

So this combination of teaching and administration positions are, you know, a combination of these are what will be necessary in order to bridge the gap with that the priorities committee is set.

Whenever whichever way we take it, it's going to be challenging for the district.

And so we'll be looking to hope for additional funding.

And in the interim, put forth a proposal that the school committee can then turn into its final proposal that will have the least negative impact while knowing that any situation is going to be detrimental for the following year.

So I can pause there.

If I don't know if you want me to continue on or if you want me to questions here.

I think we can stop and take.

Questions and comments, ideas from the table.

So to the members of the committee, the and again, just a reminder to the members of the public, the opportunity to speak is going to be after the committee's discussion tonight as it's agended.

So members of the committee, there's a menu of reductions here. I think, you know, this is a very important part of the or an important time in the timeline of our budget discussions.

This is an opportunity for all of us to sort of. Not sort of to do the work here tonight to weigh in, to take some control.

And I think we're going to be able to talk to the committee members of the committee members. And so I do want to encourage the committee members to offer suggestions to express their feelings, to express what they're hearing from people in the public. So Sean, I'll call you first.

I think you.

I'm sorry.

I'm just working on two screens today.

Uh, can you hear me?

We can hear you. You can.

Okay.

All right. I'm just working on two screens. So pardon me for a second.

Can, can you elaborate a little bit more, Dr. Patello regarding the, so my understanding is we have three positions right now, two that you've listed, the assistant superintendent of, uh, equity and engagement, the director of curriculum and instruction, right?

Two of those positions you would combine to add, to create a new position called the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning.

Is that, is that correct?

Yeah.

Yes.

Or, or it might be an assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction administration, but it's something along those lines. Yes.

So, so then where does the director of equity and inclusion fall within that? I feel like those three kind of prongs are very similar and have a lot of overlap.

So is the director of equity and inclusion part of this conversation?

Or are we just talking about the assistant superintendent of equity and engagement director of curriculum instruction?

Is there any thought to add, um, um, that third prong and really look at how else we can encompass, um, equity work within the superintendents, um, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning or curriculum and instruction?

I guess.

I guess I, I see the equity, um, the director of equity, diversity, equity, inclusion, kind of being overarching and, um, connecting with all of our departments.

Um, and that the, the, the, the, the, the, the typical assistant superintendent for, you know, teaching and learning or curriculum instruction, um, really is overseeing curriculum instruction, but also is doing some of the, you know, kind of major, um, you know, kind of administration work, um, including, um, that's, that's critical.

So that's the reason I saw the, the, those, those, those two as kind of combined is, um, along with, you know, with the position above the athletic director and assistant principal combining it's supposed to, um, so this is, this would be my, you know, recommendation on a combination that I think would best serve the district if, if necessary.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you. And then my second question, and I have a bit, um, of reserve on this one is the elimination of the elementary assistant principal, special ed admin, knowing that our special ed, the half of the job that's being done right now, special ed wise. And I'd love to hear from Jessica Murphy, if at all possible, knowing that they're taking care of IEPs and 504s and compliance, um, and circuit and circuit breaker and funding and all of that. Um, I, I, I, I'm concerned about the course, the, the workload, um, special ed wise, if we were to take away one of those positions, let alone, um, the current nature of the needs of our kids in elementary schools, um, behaviorally, socially, and emotionally, um, to have a 0.5 assistant principal is already a stretch.

Um, and many, many districts are moving away from that and hiring full-time assistant principals and really looking to, um, split that special ed admin job across schools.

I, I have concern, great concern, um, about taking one away, um, and sharing it between our three schools, which have very, very unique needs, um, in regards to their populations, um, and just school culture.

So I kind of wanted to.

So I can kind of speak first just about the general picture.

And then, um, if anyone else wants to elaborate to Jessica or someone, they, they can.

I think, um, the, you know, obviously, yeah, this is not a cut that we would, uh, want to do in, in, in normal times.

Um, uh, the way we would see this is, is really that, that person, um, in, in, you know, potentially.

You know, being shared, uh, uh, primarily, uh, across our two smaller schools of cottage and, um, east would really serve, you know, strictly as a special education administrator.

Um, you know, um, you know, chipping in, you know, as far as going to, you know, performances and, and, you know, maybe, you know, uh, popping into the lunchroom and, and other things as well as being a core part of the, uh, leadership at faculty meetings and such. But their primary responsibility would be, uh, you know, special education.

We know that, that really, um, there'd be a kind of a principal and, uh, you know, uh, you know, a special education administrator, uh, type leadership.

Um, if we had to stretch this way, as well as, you know, looking to have, uh, teachers, um, you know, we have some teachers who are interested in administration and, and even doing, um, internships and such. And so, um, you know, that they would, we'd be, we'd be helping, uh, as well, but it's not an ideal position.

Um, and, um, we also know that, you know, if necessary, and I know Jessica Murphy is always jumping in, uh, to support our schools.

Jessica and, um, our out of district coordinator, Mariel would be, you know, supporting as necessary as well.

Um, and it would be, you know, if we gained additional funding thing, it would be one of, certainly one of the, um, earlier positions under consideration.

For, um, reinstating.

It's interesting.

Like your, your view of it is more of the special ed lens is that they would take over. And, and for me as perhaps somebody who has been in the trenches, um, at the elementary school level, um, and, and knowing the, the capacity that's needed of an assistant principal, you know, they're, they're far more than somebody just covering the lunchroom.

Um, I mean, they really are co-running the school. So I, I guess like I, um, in this menu of reductions that, um, that really stood out to me. And I just wanted to kind of put that out there as a, uh, as a starting conversation.

Yeah, no, and I certainly understand. I mean, with these cuts we're proposing are not taken lightly. I, I was an assistant principal teacher at a pre K through eight school. So I understand they do a heck of a lot more. It's just when we're trying to make difficult decisions, um, you know, we're trying to weigh those.

Thank you.

Can I just address one?

It's Jessica Murphy. I'm sorry. Um, I wanted to add, uh, or just address, um, the piece, um, Shannon, that you said about circuit breaker and all that record stuff.

I actually do all of that. That's not done at the building level.

Um, so all the state reporting, all that, that mandated piece is all done.

I'm actually doing a short and early relief this week.

Um, so it's something that I do. That is not a piece of what any of our special ed administrators do. Okay.

But they are, they are your 504 compliance officers.

They are not.

They are not the, um, the, well, they are in conjunction with their, um, their school adjustment counselor.

The school adjustment counselor at each elementary school is responsible for the 504s.

Okay.

In conjunction with, okay.

But they still oversee that, right?

Um, each school does it a little bit differently.

Um, but ultimately 504s go through the school adjustment counselor and or nurse or whoever else it needs to.

And, um, I over, I'm the, the district wide 504 compliance officer.

And of course, but just like any other building or any other piece it's, it's done as a collective effort.

Okay. SPEAKER_UNKNOWN: Okay.

Um, and then while I, sorry, Avi, if I can, only just cause I have her on, um, the leap teacher, uh, looking at the leap teacher, there was conversation that per, um, per enrollment that could be riffed for next year.

Is that, uh. That's accurate.

Um, at the high school level, looking at the numbers of students in each grade, um, there is a grade that has, um, students in it right now.

And the students that are in it are all transitioning out of the leap program, leaving that next grade empty.

Okay.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you both so much.

Uh, Julie.

Um, so I have two.

Um, so I have two questions and, um, the first one, I'll give them both.

Um, the first one is, um, so with the ELA coordinators, if I'm reading this correctly, um, instead of having the ELA coordinator, we will have an elementary position with a facilitator stipend.

Right.

And then, um, somebody gets bumped out of those positions and that's what that bottom line means. Am I reading that correctly?

Um, yeah, what you're seeing is, so if the, if, uh, if a coordinator, say the elementary coordinator was riffed, we would save 110,000 approximately.

Um, we would then have, that person would then move to an elementary position if they stayed in the district.

Um, so there, um, no, we would save 121,000.

I'm sorry, because we would save their, um, the coordinators have a stipend as well. Um, then they would move to an elementary position if they elected to stay in the district, which would, um, would, you know, pay them their regular salary of, say, 110,000.

Um, they would, uh, we would, uh, we would ask them to be a facilitator.

So they would receive a facilitator stipend.

Um, but then because they would now be teaching instead of being acting as a coordinator, um, there would be a riff of another, um, elementary, uh, position.

So that's where that's 70,000.

So the overall savings from all those dominoes falling is 77,461.

Okay.

Thank you. And I guess I didn't ask both my questions.

Sorry.

Um, um, so yeah, this is, this is essentially what happened a few years ago.

Um, so that makes a lot of sense to me.

Um, I also wanted to say that I appreciated the discussion that Shauna brought up because that was good.

Um, I'm looking at that.

Um, I have like kind of a crazy idea, but I'm looking at that 30,000 for the half of the gym teacher.

And I'm wondering, because we're increasing like the wellness availability, can we save that 30,000 for the wellness PE teacher?

Can we save that and, um, allow juniors and seniors or somebody to count their first sport towards that requirement?

Um, I'm sure we, I mean, there's all kinds of different ways we could do it. Um, that would, you know, be fair, but it's possible we could even subsidize a little bit of the first fee that, um, that we have for that.

Um, so that more people could participate.

Um, you know, there's, there's a, uh, librarian that's about the same amount, I guess. There's the guidance administrator.

I think the guidance administrator would, um, you know, enable the other guidance counselors to interact, um, better with the kids. So I think that, you know, it would be something that we could look at too.

Yeah.

When we look at the, um, the, the possible 0.5 wellness cut, um, that would, yeah, result in, um, either kids, um, yeah, utilizing, you know, their athletics in 11th and 12th grade to, um, earn credit, uh, reducing some of the numbers.

Um, that, that, um, that situation is a little bit risky because, um, the state is, as kind of in their audit as indicated that they don't prefer that method.

And, and there, they haven't been completely definitive on whether or not they will outright reject it, but they kind of told us to, to kind of change that. Um, but we do know that there are other districts in the state that do that. And as long as you provide a, uh, free option in 11th and 12th grade, then it seems like we could consider that. It also might, depending upon numbers, result in, um, looking at 11th and 12th grade wellness instead of having two sections in a cycle, just having one section in a cycle. Because the, the, the amount of, you know, wellness that you need to give in 11th, 12th grade, it's very, very flexible, but you have to provide some level of it. So there might, there's a bunch of different creative ways that we might go about that if we had to reduce that.

And we might, we might even get more in fees if we like are able to lower the price. We might get more people involved in, in our sports, um, which I think, especially for the girls sports, um, at the high school would be really important.

Thanks.

Yep.

Thanks, Julie. There's no.

Uh, thank you, Avi. So, um, thanks for setting the tone, uh, to this conversation.

I think these are really hard cuts and this is a really difficult conversation to be having. Um, Dr. Patel, I just actually wanted to say, I think that, um, this feels a lot more responsive.

Um, I, and I appreciated Julie's question about the coordinators.

That was a question that I had to clarify some things for me there.

Uh, and I think that is a, um, helpful adjustment you made there.

Um, and really, I just wanted to say again, despite.

The difficulty within these cuts. Um, I think the, the elegant solution of merging the superintendent positions, um, as well as the proposals you made. To kind of put up the, uh, Dean of academic affairs, um, is helpful.

I think that, uh, anytime we're talking about, um, making cuts here, we definitely need to be making sure we're having conversations about adjustments made to the administration.

Before we start talking about instructional positions, as you've heard from the committee and from the public. So really just wanted to comment on that, um, as we continue to dialogue.

Thank you.

Thanks, Chris. Now, uh, and I see you scrolling there, Dr. Ritella. I did want to clarify there also.

I think Prisnell.

Thought the same thing that I thought that that reads, but I thought you had said something differently.

Um, that shows.

As a cut to the academic, to the Dean of, or sorry, a riff to the Dean of academic affairs.

Correct. Couldn't tell if you had said.

It shows a couple different options to reduce in that area.

One is a reduction in the Dean of academic affairs, uh, and adding of the school head of school counseling, which is a savings of approximately, you know, $33,000.

Um, the other is reducing in some other areas of, um, of, of, of, of that department without reducing the Dean of academic affairs, which, which would have, would result in a, in savings as well.

Um, but a slightly different level of savings.

Okay.

We tried to provide all the different, you know, possibilities for reductions.

Um, yeah, makes sense.

Shauna.

Thank you. Um, I might just need.

For Patel for you to explain to me the coordinator, the thinking of the coordinator reduction, um, at the secondary level.

So.

Can I.

I just want to.

Way in here.

Shauna. Cause I, I was looking and I didn't feel like I saw any reduction to the coordinators on the secondary level on Dr. Botello's options.

And my Dr. Botello, are you proposing.

Riffing.

We haven't got to, to my options yet, but I, I, um, I, I have one of my options.

Um, I think it was able to eliminate that.

I was trying to eliminate it. Um, but I think it had one coordinator, um, or potentially, you know, uh, two half coordinators reduction.

So.

I guess my question is, and you have, you have this, um, you have this format for both ELA, uh, for elementary and secondary.

I guess I'm just not wrapping my head around it. So we're saying that.

On line 21 of your menu of reductions, an ELA coordinator is costing us. A hundred and, um, $21,000 roughly.

Right.

And then we're taking away the $3,600 stipend.

And we're moving them to an elementary teacher.

Is that correct?

Yes.

Uh, our, our, in most of our coordinates, we would expect to, um, to jump into an, another elementary teacher position, either because of a retirement or because of bumping rates.

Okay.

And then that's the elementary.

Sorry.

I, I'm just not understanding the math. So Sean, so Sean, what, what Dr. Botel is showing is the reduction of the actual position and then the add back, sorry.

And then the add back of the Delta and then the reduction really of the position that they would bump. So in other words, you cut $110,000 employee, but they have bumping rights to a 70. You really don't save the one. Yeah. All right. Cool. Sorry.

I, I'm, I've been looking at it and it's, it's the same going over and over.

And I just, I just wanted to, but however, however, what happens if, whoa, whoa.

Are you there?

I'm here.

Okay.

Um, what happens if there is no teacher to bump?

So say an elementary math, say we don't have any elementary teachers, then what?

Would they just be riffed?

If, if they have, if they have professional status and, um, they have seniority, they would bump someone else.

Okay.

Got it.

All right. Thank you.

Thank you.

Veronica.

Thank you. Thanks, Dr. Botello. Um, I know as we get more deeply into, um, options for how we might think through these things and, and we're weighing, you know, pluses and minuses.

And I want to share, uh, you know, the comments that I've heard from my co-committee members as just how painful this is.

Um, these are all, many of these things, these lines represent people.

And I'm thinking about the people right now. So it is quite emotional and, and, and difficult.

And I appreciate your, uh, you know, bringing it to us, but it's very hard to, to see the list. But I want to comment for a second on having new curriculum coming in for elementary literacy and secondary, you know, middle school, I think, and also high school math and science.

I'm just really mindful of the importance of the role of the coordinator in particular in a year when we're going to be investing, you know, over a quarter of a million dollars, maybe closer to a half a million dollars. We're hoping, right. Something, something in the area of over $300,000.

I think the number was in capital money to, to invest in curriculum.

And I'm just sort of mindful of that, um, as a, as a goal for the coming year. And I'm very worried about the curricular curriculum coordinators, uh, roles being, um, diminished. So I just want to put that out there as, you know, sort of my, my sort of frontline reaction to this list.

Um, and, and I'm reacting to all of the positions, as I said, but that sort of jumps out to me, this sort of deep concern about those coordinator positions.

And so I just wanted to, to share that at this moment, just at this point, that's, that's where I'm the most, um, feeling the most trepidation.

Thanks.

Yeah.

And I, I mean, again, I think all of these positions are really important.

They would not have been part of the initial budget that I proposed.

Um, I spoke passionately about the coordinator positions at the last meeting, just knowing from my experience and my research, how critical they are. And also knowing from my work here and Sharon, how, how, how much value they bring to, um, students and teachers in the work that we do.

Um, but I, I know we have difficult choices to make because all of these positions are, are, um, are important.

I did receive over 25 letters from teachers and parents, not coordinators themselves about, um, them, you know, recognizing the value of those positions, which I don't know.

It seems like those are the ones where perhaps were CC to me. I know you all received tons of letters as well, but the ones that were CC to me seem to, to come in that realm predominantly.

Yeah. Um, before I call you Shauna, I just, I have some thoughts to share too. Um, the, on the coordinators, I would say we certainly received a ton of emails and phone calls and outreach from educators in the district, um, who advocate strongly for the coordinator positions on the secondary level in particular.

Uh, that being said, um, it's hard because all of these cuts come with painful, painful costs.

And what I haven't been able to discern is the value of those coordinators relative to the teachers.

And I haven't received any communication, whether by outreach from, from a phone call or email from parents as I, as you have Dr. Mattel advocating for the coordinators, rather the outreach that I receive from parents is advocating for keeping the teachers even at the expense.

And it's a great expense to, to cut the coordinators.

Um, so for me, I struggled with that for sure, especially having spoken to educators who explain the role that the coordinators play and the value that they play. And in particular, Dr. Botello, after having spoken to you privately and listening to you at these meetings, advocate very strongly for just how valuable and how necessary those coordinators are in the role, uh, to the education that you believe the students this district deserve.

Um, and so for me, I do think that's a, that's a difficult, that's, that's perhaps one of the most difficult decisions here because it's weighing the, the need being asked of us from the public versus the expertise of our educational leaders and our educators.

Uh, looking through this list, there are some things for me that I see on the cuts, um, that I can't, um, in good conscience support for me. I shouldn't say a good conscience to be clear. They don't align with my priorities.

I don't think that they are unconscionable cuts. I think that they are difficult cuts like all of them. Um, so I don't want to exaggerate that or use language that's meant to signify something other than it is for me, for example, the librarian positions.

Um, I I've said the same thing about the town library is that for me, I just believe that libraries are places that set tones for children about, uh, the thirst for knowledge.

Uh, I also think within our elementary schools, they serve the purpose of a safe space for kids uh, and so I think that there is a social emotional cost to, uh, cutting any amount of librarian.

Uh, you know, I don't love seeing instrumental music on there, uh, but again, we've got to make hard choices. And so personally, I would push harder on the librarian position than I would on the instrumental music, the visual arts, uh, that, that I find problematic.

Again, these are things that elementary school students, especially as education has changed over the years. And I think we're all surprised when we go to our first kindergarten conference to learn that our kids aren't there to draw anymore. Like we were, they're there to learn and, and they're doing real work as early as five years old. And I think that's amazing. And I think that's important and rigor. It's crucial.

I do want to instill the love of these things.

So I can't tell is the visual arts teacher.

Is that an elementary?

Yeah, I'm sorry if I didn't add that.

Those three visual arts, ELA and math are all high school.

Okay.

I have less of a problem with that.

Um, for me, I definitely believe in, uh, cutting some of the more expensive administration positions, such as the Dean of, uh, academic affairs and keeping some of the other, the other option in there. Uh, I think it provides more hands up on kids.

Uh, I think in a situation where we have to unfortunately make really hard FTE cuts that maintaining, uh, more adults in the building and educators in the building, uh, counselors, I think is very important.

And so I think in places where we have ways to cut a higher salary and maintain more bodies, that's something I support strongly.

And it matters to me, um, a lot.

Uh, like I said, on the coordinate, there's thing I'm, I'm undecided personally and hearing loudly from the public that educators in front of our kids is, is there that that aligns with their value. Again, I recognize that the educators themselves telling us very strongly that the coordinate coordinators are probably the priority.

Uh, Shauna's next, then Adam, then Wendy and Julie. Go ahead, Shauna. All right.

I have to really go. All right.

Sorry guys. Um, one more thing.

Um, Dr. Patel, can you please clarify the, uh, school counselor position?

Is that a guidance?

Is that a guidance? Is that a guidance? Is that a guidance counselor?

Is that a guidance counselor?

That is what, what, what, what would have been in the past called a high school guidance counselor? Yes.

Okay. And how many high school guidance counselors do we currently have? And what would the increase to the caseload be? We have, um, six currently at a caseload of approximately a hundred and I hope I'm getting this right. I know the caseload is approximately 191, I think six to 191. Uh, and it would go to five, um, at approximately 229, uh, but also, um, expecting that the, um, Dean of the, Dean of the, Dean of the, Dean of the, Dean of the, Dean of the, Dean of the head of counseling would take some of that, uh, caseload.

So the, so currently the Dean of academic affairs does not carry a caseload?

A small caseload, but not, not a large one.

Okay. So then their caseload would increase a bit and then that offset the, okay.

All right. Thank you.

Adam.

Thank you, Dr. Patel. I echo what a lot of people say, uh, or what a lot of committee members have said so far in terms of, you know, appreciating seeing everything, um, really laid out and the, the difficulty of the entire process, um, you know, these are, uh, I keep in my head coming back to the word hard, like it's just hard.

Um, you know, it's not like we have a lot of, um, kind of excess that we are, um, able to, to strip away. Like every, every cut that we're making hurts.

Um, and I think we see that pretty clearly here.

Um, just a couple of pieces of, of clarification.

When you were talking about the kind of different options within the guidance department or the counseling department, um, are those either or in your opinion, or is there kind of, is there an option to say, look, we want to, um, you know, uh, kind of down level from the dean of academic fair to the head of school counseling. And we could keep a counselor, um, but maybe lose some of the, uh, administrative, uh, administrative assistance or something like that. Like, is it, is it kind of top two rows or bottom three rows, or is there the ability to kind of mix and match within there?

What it's, if, if, um, if we, um, maintain a dean of academic affairs, we would need to cut, um, a guidance, um, a guidance, admin assistant, um, to, um, you know, to get that same degree of savings. If we, um, if, if a dean of academic affairs was reduced, um, we would, um, you know, um, add a, add a, add a head of school counseling and, um, look to, you know, maintain, you know, a, a guidance, admin assistant, um, and, and, and, and, um, um, yeah, and, and, but then we would have cuts of the, um, um, school counselor, um, as well.

I guess my, my question is, is it viable to kind of move to the head of school counseling and retain the school counselor, um, even if we didn't necessarily retain the, the administrative assistance?

Um, like, is that viable or, or is there something about that that doesn't work functionally?

I'm just trying to understand the options within that office.

Adam, I think if we move to the head of school counseling, keeping the school counselor is necessary is what Dr. Mattel is saying, right?

Dr. Mattel?

Yes.

Not reducing that is necessary.

Is that, is the same true though, for the guidance, administrative assistant and the administrative assistant? Um, I would need, I need to crunch the numbers on, on that.

I don't know if Ellen, if you can kind of crunch those while we're, while they're working about what, you know, what, I think I have the numbers crunched with maintaining the Dean of Academic Affairs, but reducing, um, you know, some others, which would result in a, uh, things of, um, 125.

Right. Well, to clarify, I'm, I'm less concerned with the, with the, the finances at this point. Like I can, I can work on the math, but I'm just trying to understand within the role of, you know, the, the Dean of Academic Affairs, you know, how much admin is done there. And if, if you're saying, Hey, if that is reduced to the head of school counseling, then we need to keep these, um, admin positions.

I think if, if we, um, reduce the Dean of Academic Affairs, we would minimally need a head of school counseling and, um, a guide, a guidance admin assistant.

Okay.

Um, so thank you. So that's, that's helpful. And then the other question I have, and, and I think I've heard a lot of feedback as well. That's probably similar to, to what Avi's heard with regards to the coordinators.

There's obviously a lot that they do in their roles. And we've heard from, uh, an incredible number of, of teachers and folks within the district, um, by email kind of speaking to the value of the, the coordinators.

And so my question is, what would happen, right?