Improvement Plan (CIP) as pat of the Annual Budget Process beginning in January,
2025.
Councilor Ryan stated he was under the impression that the Board of
Education/Administration kept track of demographics and expected enrollment numbers,
etc. He stated that this data would address some of the things the Board of Education
was looking for the Infrastructure Study to help the schools with. He noted in Chairman
Favry’s September 10, 2024 email that the Board of Education was primarily looking for
enrollment numbers and how much the school facilities would need to grow, which
would include the number of teachers, etc. He questioned whether the Board of
Education was not currently doing those extrapolations and projections.
Chairman Rodriguez noted that she previously served on the Board of Education and
that Councilor Ryan was correct, in that the Superintendent of Schools would provide
the Board of Education with projected student enrollment numbers and whether the
number of students would increase, etc., in future years. She stated that she did not know
if the Board of Education was looking at potential development. However, she stated
that the Town Council did not know what farmer was going to sell their property; or who
was going to buy the property.
Councilor Ryan noted in Board of Education Chairman Favry’s September 10, 2024
email the Board was looking to obtain information regarding where the growth of
population would be in town. However, he stated by looking at the locations of certain
proposed developments that they could gather which school buildings would be most
affected. He went on to state that he did not know if this was something they would look
at in school budget numbers. Therefore, he stated that he would like to have a better
understanding of what the Board of Education was looking for. He suggested they
schedule a joint meeting with the Board of Education to discuss what they would be
looking to obtain from the Facilities Study.
Mayor Allyn stated former Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mike Graner engaged with an
Firm that conducted a Student Enrollment Study, which provided a 5-year projection. He
stated that perhaps the Board of Education should consider updating the Student
Enrollment Study.
Chairman Rodriguez noted because Ledyard was a military community that there were a
lot of unknowns relative to student enrollment because of military families moving into
and moving out of town. She stated although the Board of Education sends out forms to
parents to get an idea of the number of families that were being relocated out of town
that not everyone responds to the Board of Education’s request.
Councilor Buhle addressed the challenge of trying to project student enrollment relative
to people moving in an out of town. She provided a scenario of empty nesters, who have
raised their family but have continued to live in their 4-bedroom home for many years
and were now selling to younger families. She stated the town then sees neighborhoods
that did not have kids for many years slowly be filled with kids.
Councilor Buhle continued by stating that she also believed that planning to conduct a
Facilities Study should be part of the Annual Budget Process. However, she stated that
she would have a hard time budgeting $100,000; $200,000 or $300,000 for a Study to
tell them that their schools were not large enough, when she already knows that, noting
as an example that a one grade level cannot each lunch at the same time because the
Middle School, the Cafeteria was not large enough.
Chairman Rodriguez noted in years past when a family became empty nesters they
would look to downsize and sell their home to another young family. However, she
stated the most recent trend she has seen was that empty nesters who want to downsize
