The Board of Education's CIP/Facilities/Finance (BOE CFF) Subcommittee discussed the district's new building projects tracker, in addition to a transportation update and the Request for Proposal (RFP) process for the school lunch program contract, at its Tuesday, September 15 meeting.

In collaboration with Facilities Director John Barlow, Director of Business and Finance Tanja Gouveia said her team developed a building projects tracker spreadsheet to organize and monitor all of the district's CIP projects.

The spreadsheet includes the name of each project along with its priority level, request date, current status, budgeted amount, and funding source. It also tracks each project's start date, estimated cost, variance to budget, estimated completion date, actual completion date, and any other pertinent notes.

The spreadsheet shows every project, whether it is completed, not completed, or not started. All of the district's principals have access to the spreadsheet, and it also has a drop-down menu to see everything happening at a particular school, according to Gouveia.

"It's a really good communication tool for the entire district," Gouveia said. "This way, the principals know what's going on, and they don't have to call [Barlow] every other day asking, 'What's happening with this project?'"

Superintendent of Schools Anne Uberti called the spreadsheet incredibly useful, as there are a lot of moving parts to keep track of when it comes to the district's facilities projects.

"When you're moving on to something that's more important, it was easy to lose sight of a smaller project," Uberti explained. "So this way, everything is captured for the most part."

Gouveia said the spreadsheet is relatively new and a work in progress, with Barlow calling it a "living document."

Transportation Update

Gouveia said the district is holding its own in transportation. Even though they have lost six drivers since the end of summer, spare drivers and active recruitment have kept all routes operating without parked buses.

As of the meeting, Gouveia said there are four driver candidates that are active with permits, with testing scheduled over the next several weeks.

Gouveia noted that Colleen Peck, the All-Star transportation manager for the Newtown terminal, has been doing an amazing job and also drives, so she can fill in the blanks when needed.

Peck said they might run into a rough patch for athletic trips in the next couple of weeks, but Gouveia remarked that All-Star has been doing a pretty good job so far.

Gouveia also said the installation of stop-arm safety cameras to local buses is underway. All 56 buses in the Newtown Public Schools bus fleet are being equipped with advanced stop-arm technology to detect vehicles that illegally pass a stopped school bus. When a potential violation is captured, footage will be reviewed by Newtown Police Department for verification.

The warning period began on September 14 and lasts through October 18; drivers identified as illegally passing a stopped school bus will receive a warning. The enforcement period begins on October 18, and citations will be issued. The minimum civil penalty for a first-time offense is $250, with no points assessed on the driver's license.

Stop-arm safety cameras are being installed at a rate of five per night, according to Gouveia. She said they should have them all installed in about two weeks.

Lunch Program RFP

Gouveia reported they have to bid for a new school lunch program contract, as 2026-27 is the last year Chartwells will be the district's food service provider.

The district's initial agreement with Chartwells was dated August 23, 2022. The BOE approved a one-year renewal to the contract on two separate occasions, with the first in June 2025 and the second in June 2026. Newtown Public Schools' current contract with Chartwells ends June 30, 2027.

Bidding for a new contract, Gouveia said, is a lengthy endeavor.

"The State runs the entire process," she explained. "It's very rigid, but it's actually helpful because it keeps us on track, and it keeps the whole train moving."

Gouveia said she and Carmela Bien, Newtown Public Schools’ business office coordinator, are putting the Request for Approval (RFP) together. They attended three hours of training for it on September 9, with more potential training sessions in the future, according to Gouveia.

She then presented a tentative timeline for the lunch program RFP. Gouveia said they were preparing the RFP documents between September 15-December 22 using State-standardized templates.

She added that State guidelines require an evaluation team, which is recommended to include one BOE member. BOE member John Vouros was designated to be this member, with mandatory scoring training for the board representative scheduled for October 20.

The RFP is scheduled for public release by January 15, with a mandatory 45-day bidding period. In this time, the RFP will need to be published/advertised for 45 calendar days. Gouveia said the RFP will be available on the Town portal website, and will also be e-mailed to vendors.

She continued by saying they should have the RFP responses by March 1 and, at that point, would ask for the committee to congregate and evaluate them. This, Gouveia said, is a whole process in itself.

In addition to this, Newtown Public Schools is undergoing a routine State Administrative Review audit of the food service program, and Chartwells introduced a new full-time engagement specialist position to monitor food quality and gather direct feedback from students and staff across district cafeterias.

Itemized Estimate

Gouveia also presented the itemized estimate for the month ending August 31. She said their year-to-date expenditures stand at $5.2 million, with $58 million encumbered — primarily for salaries, leaving a remaining balance of $32 million.

Much like the July itemized estimate, Gouveia said she anticipated spending the entire budget because, at this time, it is "really early to have any projections."

She mentioned a few early pressures happening in the special education department, noting two speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who are out on leave. Gouveia said these are very specialized positions and hard to fill; as such, the district had to hire an outside service to fill these positions.

These contracted services were hired at a cost of $70,000 for one position returning in December and $140,000 for a full-year position, according to Gouveia.

She said they are actively looking to fill the position, but will encumber the use of the contracted services in the meantime.

Gouveia noted they also have two student-specific nurses this year, one for a transition student and another for an out-of-district student. While this was budgeted for, Gouveia said they came "a little bit higher than in the budget," creating a shortfall of $20,000.

She moved on to behavior technicians (BTs), noting the district had to hire for four contracted BT positions due to student mobility between Sandy Hook Elementary School and Newtown Middle School.

Uberti said they had to move four BTs to the middle school and needed to backfill four more BT positions at Sandy Hook. She added that it is a very hard enrollment to project, as they do not know who is going to come in needing those services.

Gouveia said they had a budget in place for the contracted services for the BTs of $150,000 and fully encumbered the amount, which is expected to cover approximately half the fiscal year.

She then discussed the Excess Cost Grant revenue. Gouveia said the district budgeted $1.89 million in Excess Cost reimbursement for the current year, compared to $1.6 million budgeted and $1.9 million received in the prior year.

Gouveia noted their first submission is scheduled for December 1, after which they resubmit another estimate on March 1. State estimates are expected January 1.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.