Board of Education Budget Committee Meeting Minutes draft

October 29, 2008

ATTENDANCE: Gregory Burnett, Chairman; Bruce Kimmel; Jack Chiaramonte, Rosa Murray

STAFF: Dr. Salvatore Corda, Superintendent of Schools; Dan Cook,

Norwalk Public Schools

OTHER: Glenn Iannaccone, Board of Education. Ralph Valenzisi, Norwalk Public Schools

CALL TO ORDER

Mr. Burnett called the meeting to order at 7:43 p.m. He added that public comments would be taken at the end of the meeting.

ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES FOR LAST MONTH’S MEETING Mr. Burnett said that he had contacted the office about the minutes for the last month’s meeting. Once the tape of the meeting is located, the minutes will be sent out to the Committee members.

ROWAYTON – POSSIBILITY OF INCREASING PORTABLE CLASSROOMS

Mr. Burnett said that the Committee had received a number of emails from concerned parents about this. Dr. Corda said that he had contacted the PTO president and requested that the emails stop until after the Committee had the opportunity to discuss this issue. Rowayton is growing and the Board and the District need to consider the next steps. Mr. Gorian was able to work up some figures about rentals for portable classrooms, which Mr. Cook reviewed with the Committee. Mr. Cook said that if the District was considering modular classrooms, in his experience it was less expensive to purchase the units outright if the District thought that these units could be in use for more than three years.

A discussion about modular construction and the use of modular units then followed.

Mr. Burnett asked if there was any State reimbursement if the District leased. Mr. Cook said that the State does reimburse the District. Mr. Burnett asked if Mr. Cook could work up a spreadsheet with the lease and purchase figures along with the amount that the State reimbursement amounts. Mr. Burnett asked if there were any alternatives and Mr. Cook replied that the other option might be building a permanent wing onto the building, but pointed out that this would not provide classroom space for the students in September. Dr. Corda said that if the District was considering the purchase of portables, the funds would come out of the Capital Budget. Ms. Murray requested the information about the reasons for the expansion be included in Mr. Cook’s report.

Dr. Corda then gave a quick overview of the enrollment figures with the Committee. He reminded everyone that the enrollment at Rowayton has increased over the past few years because he felt that the parents were pleased with the reports about Rowayton. With an uncertain economy, other families who have their children enrolled in private school may chose to enroll their children in Rowayton.

UPDATE ON CAPITAL BUDGET – TECHNOLOGY ACQUISITION

Dr. Corda said that the District has been fortunate in locating favorable prices for the needed computer hardware technology resulting in a surplus of $200,000. Dr. Corda spoke with the Mayor about the surplus of $200,000. One option would be to return the funds to the City, the other would be to transfer the funds forward to cover the costs of 2009/2010 computer hardware.

Mr. Valenzisi came forward and reviewed the BOE IT Capital Budget in the packet item by item with the Committee. He explained that HP had not submitted a bid to the State when the original pricing came in. When the HP bid was submitted to the State, the difference was almost $300 per machine.

Ms. Murray asked about the distribution of computers, which Mr. Valenzisi reviewed with her. He also pointed out that the Master Plan has a detailed outline of this replacement plan. Mr. Valenzisi then gave an overview of the Technology Plan for the upcoming year, which includes SmartBoards. He also stated that he was considering a pilot program that would have a server that would feed to the various students’ terminals. This will result in more money in licensing fees, but less funding for hardware. Another project for next year will be replacing the phone systems and voice mail systems for three of the schools that have antiquated and problematic phone systems. If the funding were rolled over to the upcoming year, the Technology Capital request would only be for $600,000.

Mr. Burnett pointed out by using the $200,000 that the District would be using their funds properly and that by subtracting the $200,000 from the request, it shows that the District is reducing its costs.

Ms. Murray asked if this agreement with the City would be put in writing. Dr. Corda said that if the Committee feels that the use of the funding should be put towards the purchase of SmartBoards and reduce the upcoming Capital Budget request accordingly. He said that it would be important to inform the Council and Land Use that the reduction of the technology would only be for the upcoming budget year and not a continuous reduction. Mr. Kimmel said that it would be important to meet with Mr. Hamilton about this issue.

LUNCH AND BREAKFAST PROGRAM – UP DATE ON STUDENT PAYMENTS

The 2008-2009 uncollected debt amount for the lunch and breakfast program was at $16,000 for the month of September and is now at $36,000 for the month of October. There are 2302 students who owe money to the system. One trend that emerged was that a number of students with outstanding balances have never applied for the free or reduce lunch program. One student with an outstanding balance thought that she had free lunches, but further research revealed that this particular student’s applicant had been submitted last year and had been denied. There was no application submitted for this particular student for the current school year.

Discussion about this situation then followed. Dr. Corda reviewed the possible options such as small claims court, providing an alternative lunch, phone calls or other strategies. One possible solution is to provide the students with photograph and bar codes that the teacher would distribute to the students for identification purposes. This will not reduce the amount of unpaid lunches, but will provide tracking information. Ms. Murray pointed out that when the meals are not paid for, it raises the price for the paying students. Dr. Corda said that the District will have to take a more aggressive stance on this issue and that a letter should be sent to the parents about this.

DISCUSSION ON USE OF CENTRAL KITCHEN/WAREHOUSING

Mr. Cook said that a space of about 1,000 sq. ft. had been identified at the Central Kitchen and that this would be a cost savings for the District. One item that the District will be receiving is a donation of backpacks filled with school supplies from Costco.

Dr. Corda said that it was not the intent of the District to store paper in this space. The District has the opportunity to participate in a cooperative purchase for paper. The company also site delivers. Dr. Corda said that the District is trying to reduce the paper use. He then gave an example of the Course Selection booklet that every student in a school receives. The possibility of having this available online is being explored via an anonymous survey. A move like this could save the District between $5,000 and $6,000.

Mr. Cook said that he had been compiling a list of items where the District had been reducing costs or saving money for the Board.

UPDATE ON 2008/2009 BUDGET-DISTRIBUTION OF MONTHLY OBJECT BUDGET REPORT

Mr. Cook said that this was a monthly report that he generated for the committee. Mr. Cook pointed out that the salaries on the report show a negative balance. The program encumbers the salary budget lines, which is why it shows on the report as a negative. Discussion about this encumbering process then followed.

Mr. Burnett said that it would be important to present the Board with a quarterly report. Mr. Cook said that he would prepare a report for the Board’s November 18th meeting.

STATUS OF 2009/2010 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT – NOVEMBER DRAFT BUDGET, SUPERINTENDENT’S RECOMMENDATION IN DECEMBER

Dr. Corda directed the Committee’s attention to page VIIA of the information packet. He explained that 90% of the data needed for the production of the budget has been collected. With the exception of contractual salary increases and other contractually related costs, the District is being held to a 0% or less budget.

Dr. Corda then reviewed the enrollment projections for the 2009-2010 school year.

DISCUSSION OF REORGANIZATION OF FINANCE/OPERATIONS Mr. Burnett directed the Committee’s attention to page IX.A & B, which contained organizational flow charts. Discussion about a new proposal (Option 3), which Mr. Burnett had drafted up from the last meeting followed. Dr. Corda then reviewed the draft chart and indicated where the current positions and the proposed positions were located on the overall diagram. The Committee suggested several changes on the chart for clarification purposes. Ms. Murray expressed concerns about the rush manner regarding the reorganization of the Finance/Operation department. She said that she agreed on the approval of the new Director of Finance Operations, but that the organizational chart needed to be considered at a different time. Dr. Corda said that this organizational chart would be included on the November 18th meeting agenda with an asterisk for the Human Relations Officer, pending further discussion.

DISCUSSION OF AGENDA FOR THE NOVEMBER 3RD MEETING WITH THE BOARD OF ESTIMATE

Mr. Burnett said that the meeting room had changed to Room 231 (Bea Brown Room). The meeting will start at 7:30 p.m. and the Committee will join the meeting at 7:45 p.m. Mr. Burnett then reviewed the various points that the Committee will discuss with the BET.

Mr. Burnett also informed the Committee that Mr. Wilma had sent an email about the reductions that the City would be making and included some suggestions that had been made, such as combined purchasing for possible discussion.

PUBLIC COMMENT

There was no member of the public present.

ADJOURNMENT

** MS. MURRAY MOVED TO ADJOURN ** MR. KIMMEL SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting adjourned at 10:25 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon L. Soltes Telesco Secretarial Services

Category: Committee Minutes