Regional School District 15 special meeting, date not confirmed yet
56 min · 0 public speakers
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What happened
What happened at this meeting
Board discusses PES and GES ed specs before planned May 26 vote 0:00
- The board met in a special meeting to discuss the PES and GES ed specs, which need Board of Ed approval for a state grant submission by June 30th. 0:00
- A staff member said teachers gave feedback earlier in the day and that the narrative would be revised, without changing the size of the building, by the end of the week. 1:19
- Board members asked about staffing and space assumptions, equipment eligible for state reimbursement and community use of the buildings. 9:49
- No vote on the specifications was taken; the board's next meeting was set for Tuesday, May 26th, where a vote was hoped for. 55:18
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Item by item (12)
- Opening and meeting purpose 0:00
- The meeting was called to review the PES and GES ed specs with Tecton Architects so the board could approve them for a state grant submission by June 30th. 0:00
- A staff member said feedback from the meeting was being captured and an amended version with a summary of changes would be prepared by about Thursday. 1:19
- Teacher feedback sessions 1:58
- A staff member said meetings with teachers covered classrooms, specialized education, student support, arts, the Learning Commons, physical education, food service and facilities. 1:58
- The staff member said more work was needed on the resource rooms, of which there are 3, and on the learning center tied to the Pre-K program. 3:23
- The staff member said the narrative would add flexibility on items such as cubbies and lockers but the building size would not change. 6:07
- Class size and staffing assumptions 9:49
- One board member said the specifications appeared to underestimate teacher ratios and asked about space for additional nurses if demand required it. 9:49
- A staff member said the higher end of class size ranges was shown to maximize state reimbursement and that the spaces were based on 504 students. 12:44
- The staff member said the program boxes represent the 95,000 square foot programmed space for each site, and one board member said the document heading should be modified. 16:06
- Enrollment and possible housing development 16:54
- A speaker asked what could be done if a possible state affordable housing development in Southbury affected enrollment. 17:01
- A staff member said the MP Planning report would be reviewed, the high enrollment number had been used and designs can show areas for future classroom expansion. 19:33
- One board member said it would be surprising if a demographer had known about the development, and another staff member said MP Planning did not have it included. 20:59
- Pre-K learning center 23:42
- Steven Suriani asked what a learning center is relative to a classroom and whether the pre-K feedback raised something new. 23:50
- A staff member said the Learning Center is a specialized education program and the question was whether a pre-K level one is needed. 24:55
- A staff member said it may fit in the current 3-classroom pre-K structure but a 4th may have to be added. 25:50
- Storage, security and scope 26:47
- Steven Suriani asked about the risk of choosing cubbies or lockers, and a staff member said both options are described so they can be weighed during schematic design. 26:58
- A staff member said much of the school security follows state-mandated pieces that new construction must contain, such as door locks. 29:13
- One board member said items such as a kiln room could be misread by the public, and a staff member said options were being added within the scope, not new scope. 30:11
- Flexibility and tracking changes 32:53
- Sharon Attick asked whether spaces could be reconfigured later and what the state expects once the specifications are submitted. 32:53
- A staff member said the program can be modified and the ed spec revised near the end, but within an identified total square footage. 33:48
- Sharon Attick asked what would have to give for changes such as a pre-K learning center, and a staff member said changes would be highlighted in red in a spreadsheet. 35:13
- Equipment and playgrounds 37:12
- Heather Dwyer asked whether equipment such as a lift system must be in the ed spec to be eligible for state reimbursement. 37:21
- A staff member said yes, that the lift was already included in OT/PT and likely should also be in the learning center. 38:29
- Heather Dwyer asked about playgrounds and ADA accessibility, and a staff member said there are 3 age-appropriate play areas and the equipment is in the budget. 40:14
- Flexible room partitions 42:24
- Space waiver and other comments 44:57
- Community use of buildings 47:22
- One board member raised securing community space apart from classroom space during after-school events. 47:34
- A staff member said separation of community-oriented spaces for off-hours use is described in the ed spec. 48:23
- One board member said they support the building being used as a heating center, and a staff member said warming and cooling centers were included because schools have been used that way. 49:44
- Next steps and revision review 53:12
- A staff member asked whether a spreadsheet with highlighted changes on Thursday or Friday would work for the board. 53:54
- A speaker asked for a before and after view of the program diagram, and a staff member said that could be done. ~54:10
- The next board meeting was set for Tuesday, May 26th, at the high school media center at 7:30. 55:18
- The meeting was adjourned. ~56:13
Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.
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Video: posted by the district as “Special Meeting of the Board of Education”