[Music] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] my bro Robert Liliana Ari [Music] so [Music] time [Music] he was out there he gave me what he has for our students this morning I thought it was pretty early mr. Cruz beat me here he was wondering if someone of the teacher calls and says that there's plumbing into the classroom he gets on the radio when I keep not says don't worry I'll get it he volunteers to help me clean up and wouldn't that with all of our students especially go through their scrubbing if you don't have an IEP or having a hard time helping them make the right choices because this day [Music] so much so much so much one of these schools is your early morning and she was in this meeting right now probably in the classroom and she's also a mentor teacher who years so she is a wonderful amazing role model not just for all of us peers are coming [Music] I think underneath the table [Music] that's wonderful [Music] yes [Music] yes Cassidy's budget expenditure report [Music] boring expenditure what when s was [Music] this [Music] so it is the decision of that we can sign fighters we usually signs the Bell [Music] and you're welcome to
okay good morning big column today is October 16 2019 it is a 39th day of school this is wvg news I'm Sonny and I am beam today for lunch there barrel there'll be pancakes sausage patty cucumber hash brown orange juice and no tomorrow for breakfast there OB feel for you graham crackers orange house orange juice and milkman we we don't have any anyone celebrating birthdays today if we missed yours happy birthday please go to the office to pick out your birthday yesterday's fun fact question was what type of animal would a paleontologist study the answer is dinosaurs the winner is again to axelsson come to the office to pick up your price base lunge back question is if I trick-or-treat at eight houses per hour how many houses will I visit in four hours remember to write your answer neatly and include your name in class we have a special guest welcome dr.
B and Lanka good morning today's topic is showing good citizenship and courtesy on the playground everyone likes to relax and have fun during lunchtime recess we want you to enjoy that time and we want the playground to be a safe place for you the monitors are there to help you keep it safe but it also takes every student's help if each of you remember to treat other students as you like to be treated everyone will have a safe happy time invite others to join in and all of the games that if you are playing out at recess talk kindly to others never tease or make fun of others and be friendly to everyone don't let anyone feel left out when you help to make others happy you will find that you are having a good time are safe and happy thank you and now we will observe a brief period period of silence to reflect on the anticipated activities of the net please stand for the pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all have a wonderful Wednesday and remember try to be a rainbow on so much also in someone else's club thanks for watching bye
raised outside appreciated thank you patient under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you very much 250 to begin each mayoral candidates will have two minutes to introduce themselves the board member or an education candidate will have one minute let me start from a mark I'm sorry to share ideas first I want to say that I'm proud to have been endorsed by the American Federation of Teachers of Connecticut and strong schools making strong communities by providing opportunity for our children in a workforce that attracts business and economic growth we need to build a strategic plan for our schools and prioritize the education budget to make sure our students and teachers get what they need it's manner I'll work with city leaders to advocate Hartford for danbury's fair share of education funding until we get it I'm an attorney and every day I advocated negotiate my work to find solutions and that's for the city Danbury I'm taking a problem solvers approach to danburrys issues calling attention to the issues that have been plaguing our city in the last 18 years because that's what they are supposed to do I want to build ambery up as a Democratic candidate premier I hope you'll join me in seeking out newer smarter inclusive and more efficient ways to create a school system that our children deserve and that taxpayers can afford I don't want to be the longest-serving mayor I want to be the most effective Thank You u-turn mr.
mayor thank you very much I mean ah great good to see everybody thank you so much for coming out this evening we appreciate you taking the time and after in your interest in the future of Education here in Danbury are proud to the end the dice with some great candidates and some folks that have served a little bit longer on the board of education I'm proud to work with the elected officials that are here in this room as well as some of those they couldn't make it tonight as well as superintendent and his staff at each and every day this we worked in seek to improve and engage their parents as well as our children and improve our political system the less eighteen years I have been mayor the city I am proud I'm probably aspect of our city I love neighbors and I believe this immense responsibility to be Deborah's chief cheerleader when our kids do good you'll see me in there and every way shape want impossible to be able to reward them to thank them and to celebrate their accomplishments and achievements tonight we meet in a room that was filled under my administration this is auditorium as well as expansions of Marcus Park and we've engaged in over a hundred million dollars of expansion to all of our school buildings across our city those are include but are not limited to three expansion for elementary school a new middle school - brand-new Elementary School's a new hot box theater Crescent Academy new athletic field as well here in the city everything that damn Brandeis damn Bremen radians suppose one of the most livable cities in the state of Connecticut is because of the blend of the hard work done by our school system the blend of our low taxes at the blend of the lowest sewer water rates and state for a second I'm proud to have done the job that they've done there's no question that we have I'm excited about that work I view it as an opportunity that is something to dump on Danbury about with something to stand out of celery we have seven schools and distinction in our city thanks to the great hard work of the staff we gotta celebrate Thank You mr.
mr. Rowan I don't might even top of these two heavy weights here I'll just start by saying Who I am now boy named Eric goes when I was a war revenge II came in the early eighties family really really left up here to be fun of all of you I want to make something very clear one of the reasons why are we have the quarterback is for the kids for the teachers in the air I applaud you thank you so much for what you've done because they go hard for the graduation rate has at least amongst of minority community part of why why I wanted people at the end is I want to diversify a little bit more I want them teachers and how one our school systems to reflect our community just like with our police force arguments growing the diversity you have thank you great point pto four seven one son just graduated high school and just wanted to say that I have definitely Johnston hi I'm Pat Johnston I am also a member of the word that presently I'm the chairman the last two years I have been a president Danbury for quite a long time I spent any of the exhibition's mayor mark second term was the first time I ran for office I was on the Zoning Commission for six years I was on the Planning Commission and I've been on the Board of Education I've tried to instill in my kids were both attending damn very public schools right now and one of our reasons that we moved today I married was to attend Dameron High School one of the reasons why I ran for the Board of Ed was to help with what I felt with some of the issues that came about and I've worked diligently over the last four years I'm hoping to come back and continue that work I know that we have system thank you so much so I was born in South Street and I'm an incoming member of the Board of Education and I know or the education I received here in Danbury and you know I think we got a lot of work to do and I think we can be doing more and like for our teachers and students thank you I'm doing because [Music] why our students I've got the diversity in our town I like to leadership they're working together and I think anytime you want to move forward you have to put things together and work together in order to move those Wars I have one son I have two beautiful grandchildren remember they work they have to search for what that means so they tell that person and I'm just here to make sure that whatever I could want the people on the board to support to make things do right or thanks everybody for coming this evening supporting the community is home I am double originally I grew up there and graduated in high school there there's that a lot of onions traveling in and out because it was close a lot of things here that local communities also take advantage and when I grew up you know I realized I wanted to live that more diversity and what Bethel had to offer and so I thought a Kasich year and I started to get involved in the community in several different ways and ultimately found that attending the board Mendis every other week was I I started to attend these meetings because the schools are the foundation it represents where we are as a community and where we're going as a community we're training our workforce we're training our future leaders and whatever effort and investment that we put into the students as well be Reynolds Bentley going to see a community of Danbury and the vacancy presented itself in January 2019 I stepped up to fill that vacancy because public education and I want that for members that passes through our doors so I ask for your support in November thank you very much no it sounds a little trying because I'm the person who's sneaking Grover I do want to thank the members who see what they do for doing this my wife spent three years is the president PTO apart after school [Music] we move on to the first question for the mayoral candidates mayor and Christa - what has a lobbyist done or what do you feel they should be doing for our school system and is it also beneficial to continue to have yes I do believe it's beneficial for a couple of reasons one I just wanted to clear that both the Board of Education and City Council agreed to split the cost of a lobbyist between us there are ten cities in all cities a lobbyist that works for them and as a former past president of Connecticut countless municipalities that was elected by other mayors it's likely across the state to represent they're interested Harvard I know how much value a government affairs person can bring to the table and so it's not a question of either water there are those of us about to have a lobbyist that means the mayor's never do anything that's ridiculous I'm in Hartford disinfectant zone than any other place Washington included but the fact that matter is is that you also need something that's going to work closely with your legislators to help them understand what the issues are of the moment in the city of January as well as for them to relay information back to you at least the committee work that might be going on and so in 2016 actually it was the first time we hired a lobbyist we hired on for the head start building way back in 2002 2016 we'll begin planning for the president Academy we want to increase our reimbursement rate and so dr.
Tsao I thought it was prudent to bring some of the important team on board to help us do that they work closely with one of our representatives that really took the lead on this event was David R Khan who said I'm going to fight for them and he did along with our government affairs person and because of the kiss save the city 11 million dollars and expenditures and two years ago when we needed better reimbursement rate for our modular classrooms to be able to accommodate space the same deal happening once again those two went forward or quad cross and save the city one hundred and eighty thousand dollars so for the thirty thousand dollar invested $15,000 a design that we pay to have something of the reference Aaron just along with a man along with our council people along with our state reps the state senator it's a darn good investor president Thank You lobbyists to represent the city and the Board of Education marker and one purpose is the lobbying for increased funding for education I heard the mayor at the City Council budget meeting rail against Hartford saying that he need increased funding if I'm elected mayor I'll be the chief lobbyist and marker for the interest of the city and we can see under thousand dollars a lobby the governor the speaker the House the Senate President and make the case for why the most diverse city in the state of Connecticut requires more attention and more education funding I'll work with our legislative delegation senator Julie Kushner representatives Godfrey an hour comedy doctor and Allie Brennan to achieve the kind of outcomes we need to improve our schools because I'll be the most effective spokesman for the funding that we need the issue comes back to outcomes Ian's last 169 169 municipalities and per pupil expenditure it's not because we have more students than anticipated we have a 1.3 million dollar funding emergency the second week of school in no idea yeah the Superintendent of Schools sent a letter to the Commissioner of Education asking for emergency funding and then press that the request was denied where was our lobbyist what was he doing to help address the crisis the time you've been talking about lobbying for more funding is when the report was released early in 2019 that's injected 700 more students in the school system to the next 10 years I think that we need more than a cheerleader we need a champion and that's the kind of merapi next question it's going to be for all the candidates how do you propose the city addresses the needs of our ever-increasing and rolling let's begin this time with mr.
cetera that will move on to mayor about Democratic after that going to last the hallmark of this administration has been in action and now we're seeing the results our schools are bursting at the seams after 18 years of uncontrolled high Fenske residential growth did no one think that there would be children living in all of those condos and we need a plan to manage the growth we need a citywide commission made up of parents teachers administrators and facilities experts to craft a strategic plan for our school infrastructure that takes into account increasing enrollment enrollment friends not for one year but for 20 years every few years has been a bond issue 20 million or 50 million dollars for additions to our schools and I'm not saying that we need another school what I'm saying is that we need a plan that makes best use of taxpayer dollars and the strategic plan will help us do that but we spent the past ten years on school additions could have paid for another school if it's determined that that's what we needed it's not just the outcome case the process that matters we need an inclusive process to determine how we can fix these problems and we need to empower our community to be invested in our schools the mayor's 2020 task force just met last and a request for members from the citywide PTO was put out after 350 students showed up on the first day of school unexpectedly crisis management is not the way to improve our schools 2020 is around the corner it's time for change thank you for the question we have what the short-term plan a long saying you need to get a plan it's not a plan not plan what people are talking about we're already doing these we're already meeting we're already beginning that process and yes we did ever significant amount of unexpected students show up at the door there's no question about that we've seen a similar problem in the city of normal same exact problem 400 students showed up there this year as well so these want to believe maybe there's something larger going on here that we're just not aware of that all of us in terms of the state have to take a look at in terms of why are we still than showing up unaccounted for in anybody's demographic study so I think it's important for us to know if we're going to plan and how to handle the situation advantages weird did the kids come now my father sparked a lot of wealth from the west side condos that's what they did that's what did it and that could be farther from the truth in fact we spent today as yet today developing a heat map this shows you where the kids are coming from and I know it's hard for you to see it out there but if you look at this map you see on the left-hand side your left you'll see blue circles they and then on the right-hand side of the map and the east side of 80 or you'll see red circles and the West Beach corridor from roughly the Pecos family up to city long there are 512 students that come on to that one area there are 6,000 students that come out on the right-hand side of the span well basically never the core of our Nathan neighborhoods o-line neighborhoods that have been converting two three four family homes there are 450 kids that come out of the Westside including all the neighbors there as well as all of the new construction ladies and gentlemen the problem that we have is that we have to manage a very difficult situation that many communities are facing today and we're going to do them we have a short-term plan to be able to handle those children for next year but we got to look beyond make sure we've got to look again to makes five opinions and that's really what the 2020 task force is chargeability it's not just about Mexico it's about developing the strategic plan for the time to go go on beyond them to be able to go into multiple years and understand what's happening but first it's we've gotta address what's right in front of us and so this is why we have spent our time pulling our information together today as I can develop that plan when we do that we'll execute just like we've done before we'll go to the voters in March we'll ask for an appropriation we'll build the buildings well hire the teachers and let me just say there's no funding emergency in the city of Danbury we have already made arrangements with the superintendent last June for special ed funding as well as this fall once we do all these new students were coming in September we've already planned [Applause] right that's better to say there's no crisis is absurd the superintendent wrote a letter to the State Department of Education indicating a one point three funding crisis because there's no funding crisis there's no reason for that but that's number one number two plan a short term or long term plan where is the plan don't see me because it doesn't 2020 task force was formed in 2008 hasn't met and only recently asked for new members last week the time to come up with a plan is not after the horses have gotten out of the barn and you're trying to close the door the time to come up with a plan is in advance I support this piece of terrorism for proposal to come up with a commission to play not just for now but for 20 weeks because in 2008 we had that opportunity to come into 2020 task force and once they decided that we needed to bond it to a bond in addition to Park Avenue a shelter like schools they stopped meeting they stopped doing that wasn't by the way to be clear that wasn't enough there's portable classrooms in the parking lot a shelter at school that's what we that's what one of the major reason why I'm running for the Board of Ed because their schools for years this is not new it was only made starter the spring of this fall when threatened 50 extra kids showed up they'd ever touched that just I just want all so we're good intentions as far as addressing and that's okay but but you need to have a plan going forward I think sure there are some interim steps we need to consider taking one of those programs which we're danbury's a moment has been going up a lot of the neighboring districts and across the state the numbers have been going down so basically this program would allow some immersively children to attend school in new more districts if that was something as a group that's a possible interim solution another attributive solution which the board is discussed and that I think also investigated was finding a single location to house our pre-k program because currently that's taking up classroom space and I believe five different schools so that would have opened up some additional space in the short term as far as the long term the reconvening of the 2020 task force felt by some of the first steps that we need to take that would be an updated enrollment projection from the company that provided our enrollment projections back in the spring those were lifted off and they're going back to figure out what exactly happened provide us with some new information to go forward we're also there's discussion about an updated evaluation of our organization to make sure that we're maximizing what we have the way that we're arranging our classrooms and then finally you know putting together they're planning to move forward possibly with the new building which I frankly I think we need the challenge is there that we don't have any space on and structures have known and we don't have the money to purchase land however I do think that the city needs to really put some thought into purchasing land go to school or donating land to the school back in August there was consideration given $200,000 purchase of some blighted properties near the airport that was something that the City Council was seriously considering spending money now I really didn't mean to bump our schools up the priority list that's it's much more important to me so ultimately you know I think that this is a team effort that has to come through coordinating with the Board of Ed and the Senate's leadership to come up the state in the city both need to allocate more resources to the way we need to we know what it was like to try and cross through the sea stairwell during the lunch waver over the deep bridge you know it appears like every time [Music] and I think that's an issue and you know I also see first hands these specials like the artists get demoted from a classroom to be put on the stage to become public art so I live thank you I I agree on a lot of the points that we got going on here that the growth is beyond all of our expectations there was demographics that were put out but this goes back a long way I actually ran for the Zoning Commission 16 years ago to help curb the proliferation of condominiums and ambering I thought it was a problem then that having more and more condos would bring in more and more students that we couldn't afford to let that run away that's not the problem anymore the problem is the influx of students now was beyond the demographic plans that we had had for years we've been looking at every single time the lines drawn up it outweighs it and this year was immense we've taken every step that we could to address the issues as they come we've sat down as some of the other board members have brought up we have begun looking into building new schools it's finding how much how much how much property we're going to need to build how many schools whether we can afford to do it and of course to look at the plan for not a quick fix for right elbow for something that's going to lead us out for 15 or 20 years to build a school that solves the problem for the next three years with with getting three hundred students a year in 30 or more means that we need if we were to just build schools to solve that problem we need a school as the biggest Park Avenue every two years we can't obviously do that so we need a long-term plan we've been discussing it with the city with the mayor with with the pastorale and we've looked at it through the architects and we're trying to come up with a plan and a location and do that coming up in the next the next term so that we could get everything put together and get some more funding that's was addressed from state that's hugely important thank you all right so I'm generous into the sites and facilities so I'm very familiar with the a couple of things I'm not a person until numbers out but we're so a lot over the last couple years have done work for six years we've been growing one point five to two percent a year this year I believe it's six percent so no one cared so no one can have a plan to allow for that type of growth what I can tell you is that exercise facilities chairperson we need we are constantly content of the city we're constantly studies to find the spatialization you know land sites to build so the same there's not a plan I think there's a plan because we're living in every time we have a meeting so the plan is to you know find space and to develop the space or add-on and make sure that that we know we get the resources into the buildings that need to get there but to say that no one can allow for the increase and you can say where they're from [Applause] like such as children that forces the human beings and the reason why here in wonderful comments it plan you know I Drive around and around and read and the maintenance has been great with these screws again baby we have new boots [Music] we have you working 2% in graduation among their spending like that's a thirds of set increases 2012-2013 we have a graduation rate and the bacteria has increased by nine Center and 7% still is a low-income household that was the last few years that was done with working with what we have and he ain't just stole money and expected to solve the problem they even told us they told us he can create it about it and when it doesn't get create about you know what I did I thought about my attendance the telomere shortly sources want me to be creative so I stepped on a couple of holes with them across the school you know we have immunization then not change the easiest one day no state funding of Catholic centers or construction their will they won't they want to build a school and the property tax reallocation that means carbon tax that spent without the money you can use right nowadays there's a plan that I like the City Council I hear all this talk about biotechnology they always fight by eros push back on City Council and I think we're losing track I think priorities they governmental administration I work with him we have three executive orders that was passed that I dub that I worked on legislative task force a bipartisan bill made that pass with the military occupation skill that's something that I'm going to be home and I think the one is everyone really want to get possible schools a chance thank you very much [Applause] what are your goals regarding education here in Game three and how do you plan on shame me and mark you we'll start with you sir you know it's something that fourteen years of experience teaching high school the master's degree in educational psychology from Western Connecticut State University I worked every day with the average students or most of my adult life before it became there so I understand the challenges that they face a understanding challenges the district but I think when we talk about goals I think the season team things be addressed and continued to be worked on don't we make taking great steps up what is some wants to continue to work on closing the achievement gap the disparate difference between what certain economic households get in terms of test scores and access to services is important to us but also it can lead to having success if they have the pregnant resources in front of them one of the things that we proposed and we brought the legislature was working our way through the process now has been able to offer low-cost wide world class Internet access to every single home and apartment the city of diameter returning about $15 a month to start after five years of junk for $5 a quiet we know because we want every child to have access will they use the cloud use the internet to be able to do their work to do their research and not have to be locked out so I think that's a worthy goal is something everybody continue to work on obviously we're going to solve our space is usually continue to build and being creative very spoke about you can possibly use it the open choice program that's a certainly something should be investigated talk about potentially creating a single stop pre-k center so that all of our pre-k operations one building that will free up about six classrooms in our elementary building that's a good idea we ought to do that we ought to talk about being able to utilize some of the schools around the centerpiece shut down by other communities because they don't have enough enrollment entering into strategic partnerships of those communities would be good and beneficial for taxpayers we ought to do that and then we have to look at closing the funding gap that we see here everybody talks about the number one six you know thirty seconds I'm gonna give you a number eighty-three percent the taxpayers the city they eighty three percent of the building of funding the education for our children the state of Connecticut as promised that issue they only be fifty percent if we were to get that thirty three percent that we mean about forty million dollar increases forcible budget each and every year first we have a crisis in the school system our schools are bursting at the seams in the report that was provided to the Board of Education in early 2019 states specifically that most of the growth is expected from children that are coming from the west side we need a plan to manage the growth we need a community-wide commission to craft a strategic plan we've adequate facilities for learning we don't have that now and we need a mayor that's going to be focused on getting that done damn breeze last a per-pupil expenditure mayor points to the city's Blue Ribbon Schools as evidence that were adequately adequately funding education those are our awards were earned by the hard work our teachers what we do what we do have here in Danbury for the best teachers in the world and children that deserve better municipal budgeting is a matter of priorities and properly funding public education is one we do need a manner that will lobby the state legislature for the resources that we need and aamir the delivers for our community $500,000 in impact fee has to be paid by the developers of the matrix is evidence of 18 years of missed opportunities you know what else we need you need to do better that's why I'm advocating for universal pre-k studies show that children enrolled in pre-k succeed at a higher rate how about we focus on what helps our students excel not the reasons why not and one last thing honorable mention goes what I'm not going to do not going to have parents well bake sales for two years to fund a playground for special needs students at a public school before stepping in at the very end to funding the city should have funded the tempura playground from the beginning like I said doesn't only are wanting things that I really want to work on is having future workforce that reflects our community they've done so often with these forcing emergency services and looking at the numbers of 58% of inverse forces students in the school system are from the memory communion I love to see teachers workforce that reflects that or as close as we can this is not to say that we're gonna do away more complications or all high qualifications it's still going to be there but I don't really want to focus on work with it before bed and focus on maybe getting more minority teachers the area or absolutely really highly qualified teacher kids choice effective choice number two only is there really one focus on choice one is choice we can't even allow them to prospect that have saved wouldn't have been whether they're not be open or not I looked at different possible is now looking over there that have a very high success rate so when it does come to choice I want to make it better prospect it's not going to cause a single dime there's already set aside all we need to do is get one brave legislated I'm gonna work with that legislature because whatever they have in front of name but we really want to get into system one legislator open up that funny experience telling them you're going to have a real choice it's not gonna cost we've done thank you okay so in general and we do that by one important rules as a whole is to work with the administration to make sure that they get the tools resources that are noticeable you know simple bold simple statement you know we we know first end I don't want people to think that you know we we understand you know the hardship that goes on and challenge was that the teachers and staff all time and one one of my big things is walking the school building and you know listening to the teachers of Prince that's so that's what you really get because I can't be you know decisions meetings if I don't really see it for myself so I think you continue to talk to the people were actually boots on the ground in the schools every day we talk to teachers the teachers people who know me they know that we're here for you guys as well but I think it's really important for the staff to understand that we're here for you guys so I mean so we'll continue work with the administration continue work with us that you know what they said thank you thank you gentlemen so I believe the administration goals goals that they can achieve policies to allow them to work with the teachers raise our achievement amongst all of our students that's our primary goal it's we need to give the schools its ability to teach the kids we have great teachers in the school system I've met with hundreds of teachers over the over the years and the necessities are apparent we need more space we need more funding we need bigger schools which has all become a huge problem and it's all going to be resolved over time depending upon how much increase in students we have and how much our plan goes forward into building the rate schools for our upcoming influx of students the problem is not going away I don't see any any way that it is and it does appear sometimes that it's triage that we're trying to put in modulars but the money just doesn't exist to build school after school after school so we have solved the problems as they've come up we're working forward on a long-term plan with the mayor in the city and I think that over the course of the next four or five years we're gonna see a lot thirty Seconds thank you a lot of plans coming forward that the people of the city are gonna have to look at and decide if that's what they want to help fund and then we're gonna of course me to have people up in Hartford we have some of our representatives here that need to shake are productive get us some of the money that we're supposed to get we're shorted thirty million dollars a year by ten seconds so if we can get some of that money we can improve Thank You self-effort inverter for me a big goal of mine is to just make sure that you know everybody that walks through the doors on the first day as a Danbury public school student was walking across that stage in Tacoma and teachers I believe not just saying that so many continue to work as hard as they do I mean the fact that we have so many schools of distinction with you know the resources that they're receiving just speaks behind unions to just you know intrigued me for a second imagine what they could do with a fully funded budge I just think that there's so much potential and if we give our teachers administrators the things that it required but every here that school board budget that comes forward is not a budget that will give us some play money to do some things that's a budget I [Applause] my main goal is to achieve proper funding for education in February there certainly been comments around the idea that money can fix everything in that history you can't guarantee graduation rates it can improve literacy rates but what our schools are insufficiently funded it guarantees that our students are being underserved then our teachers are being overworked and that we're in precarious position where things don't go as expected there's a crisis like we experienced at the beginning of this year so we need to work with the City Council to address the decline in budget operations for the schools in 2009 to 2010 school year the schools are funded by a fifty five point three percent of the total city budget and the next year the funding drop to fifty four point four percent of the budget and that pattern continued to our lowest point which was infinitely 14 when the schools were funded by fifty point two percent of the budget and those numbers add up if you were to a scene in the flat twenty to fifty five percent of the budget which is how we did previously then there's a short moment approximately sixty five million dollars which could and should have been spent on education we also need to press the state to fund our schools appropriately well other cities and towns are Elizabeth students Denver is experienced significant enrollment increases and alignment of students and special education and English language programs the funding for the state has been relatively static and even more problematic is that some of this funding which comes through the alliance grant we received because we are one of the 33 lowest performing districts in the state are tisha pitch so we are caught in the cycle where if our performance increases how we get there is the question first I think we need to support our staff and our teachers and that doesn't just mean what their contract is what it also means is making sure there's enough reading tutors and social workers in our school and English language learning those are the things that are lacking when our funding is down now I don't want to beat everybody up with a bunch of statistics and math but we're going to later for example in comparison to Norwalk and Stanford that blue folks according to the Connecticut school finance project Danberg gets almost twice as much money per pupil in their favor in Norwalk we spend five thousand dollars less per student at Stanford for example Norwalk at nineteen hundred forty nine dollars per pupil and spends fourteen thousand four hundred twenty six dollars every it's 30 to 75 husbands we spent less than all of our pier towns in the state of Canada for example we spend less than personal croc Middleton normal Stanford and ended deaths that credits 10:17 in that's nine theory and that's important we are shortchanging our students if we want to increase our educational attainment through the benefits of the education the city of Danbury we as we as a city up - yes yes this year this goes for the mayor's just the two mayor's amber has a 30.8% latin population Amber is home to many mixed status families your stance on national immigration policies and your refusal to not work with ice agents could they can typically affect students from mixed status families what will you do to make sure these students feel safe at school and in Denver yeah what I said it that the big last week was that I work nights deputized the police department to go and day laborers to defend civil right to hundreds of thousands dollars in taxpayer money to settle that litigation and so you know I believe that we should respect diversity and so you know when it comes to targeting any particular group or a particular background I don't think that's that's appropriate under any mentor and so you know if someone's involved in some kind of activity criminal activity that's early on the police department for no matter their background and so you know I think that we got to respect diversity and I certainly believe that that's a fundamental value here and that's the kind of man that I want to I would want to be of an administration that's inclusive and how in in policy and respectful people because I think that that's important or one city or one community let me just say that when you stand up in front of this community put your hand out raise your right hand take the oath of office you agree to enforce the law of the state of Connecticut I States of America of course on local ordinances you don't get to choose which one you like or don't like that's just part of being here so back during that time that Kris is referencing our officers who were working on an ice operation did engage in that activity and then turns out post that activity those individuals many of those individuals were criminal conduct so even the people in the immigrant community would a lot those individuals leave here and then later on will be entered into a partnership with Icicle 287g were two detectives were trained to enforce a law of the United States of America and got special access to a database we were able to find people in Danbury were wanted in other countries for horrendous crimes we have one individual who was picked up in Danbury was wanted for being a serial murderer Eastern Europe he is gone because you don't belong in our community and it's not fun but sometimes you have to do those kinds of things that's what a leader does now in terms of looking at what happens down the state of Connecticut passed something called the trust and the trust Act is very specific about power police officers can interact with ice on day to day basis and we follow the law with the trust back as well that's why I raise my right hand thick view of the Box to follow all of the laws of the state of Connecticut to serve our departments do as well so I think that families can feel comfortable also because of the Supreme Court decision called Plyler versus doe and in that would not allow a Board of Ed and the intake folks at Hosmer's feet are not allowed to ask you show up with a backpack pencil 30-second ruler education application this is a second language for five years I worry kids from all over the world I think [Applause] okay this next question is with all of the candidates we're going to start with me and my first activism okay I am a senior at duper high school I have a dream to minimize air my high school's carbon footprint many schools have already participated in this type of project over 16 plus schools together this type of project would save thousands of dollars any money would go into the budget to support salaries and the bare necessities at the school okay actually it's very good question what article seeing here for asking that we describe every day to have a clean and green approach the things that we do particularly in our schools and every high school we've switched with dual fuel heating systems technical but basically the switch over to natural gas and we do that frequently as the price of natural gas is stopped was actually cleaner burning material the number two heating oil an addition to that one it's called solar panel something in our buildings in addition to that we've also to create all of our school buses to propane so they're not spewing out all those easel particulates that get in the air and then you have to smell is a dry environment so we think it's some really good steps in terms of sustainability but we can do more it's a silly thing the sense of the grand scheme of things but it's important for us then we converted our research you can plan to be able to produce our own diesel fuel that allow us to be able to produce a fuel that's cleaner and of course cost nothing and it's made from a byproduct that we've collected our recipient system we're also working at a comprehensive plan for all of our buildings what other things we've done and talked to dr.
sound offices that the city doesn't stink when it comes to solar panels for example the board does its thing all of them are well intentioned are good and have saved us money but if we work together on a comprehensive approach for all of our school buildings and all of our municipally owned buildings and land we can do things like solar farms and other things that's all [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I actually personally owned my own solar panels on my house I have a fully electric car out in the parking lot right here that I Drive I am the chief electrician on the hydroelectric dams and all about green I think it's a great idea I've been for putting solar panels if we can do it if we can get rebates and let go mr. Petra Pisa said any of the students who want to come down and discuss that I'm always thrilled to be aspect of taking it and not just to do something because it's green but because it's also viable because you can do some of this stuff we can get rebates from from the state from the federal government and we can offset some of those costs and return that money back to our school system and I think it solves a lot of problems and it has a great look forward I walked the walk myself I've been looking looking and doing em for years as an electrician and I think it's a great call that the student brought up I would be more than enthused to talk to any student that wants to come down speak there or talk afterwards or see if we can put some sort of committee together to look further into it thank you so much I think it's a great idea I think it is the future and you know I think there's also educational free on keys free energy and we'll take anything free at this point yeah [Applause] [Music] you know what just don't say it's gonna be right because it sounds but I'm glad you become them sit down with them so [Applause] so yeah obviously I think that's the wave of the future is to look at the way that we use our resources and figure out the best way to make sure one of the things that came up at a Board of Education several times was the possibility of switching over from stagger from lunch trays to regular plastic luxuries like they used to happen and because our budget is so tight and has no wiggle room and it was not feasible transitive to entertain the idea of doing this so when we talk about the budget issues and how they impact our school days and children this is something that I think everybody we normally get on board consider the anomalies that comes out of our 17th schools every day from lunch and how that pile is up over the course of a school year we have all liked to do away with that but we simply don't have the funding to make it happen at this point so it would encourage all of you to show up at the meetings and let us know what's going on with the schools and to fight for the changes that you want to see happen thank you reducing the carbon footprint of any school is obviously it's a credit to the student to come up with the answer and but most of the one of the contends is it proves that whether it's a 16 year old of the UN or a high school senior here at the Danbury Board of Ed PTO forum it's the gun that will save us from we find that catastrophe crisis in future thank you for the question it's a great idea thank you thank you yes a tremendous question minimize the carbon footprint of our school system to find to find savings you know I think it's a matter of commitment to to the processing to the and to the premise because it's a matter of technology I was a member of our City Council in the landfill closed in the membrane was put over the landfill and so you know even back then there were discussions about how to harness the landfill itself to find different ways to produce energy of one type or another and so I think it's just having a commitment to the technology that's constantly evolving so that we can in fact find those kinds of savings and then we can improve the carbon footprint so I mean that is that's a great question I'm glad to hear that that there's even an application with regard to the school buses because one of the threats obviously to the environment is emissions and so more traffic and congestion and we have in the city the more likely it is that we're gonna we're gonna have a bigger threat from the emissions and so I think that it's a good idea that the vehicles also take advantage of technology because I think this is a no wait the current every public school system focus on equity in our schools one funding would do Keith such as sustainable projects I mean when you Equity in terms of equity in our school system I think is important in terms of how we treat our students and how we treat the school system as a whole I mean what we want to do is one every student the opportunity to to succeed and we certainly want a school system where everyone has a quality of education that's certainly a fundamental right the state of Connecticut and so I think that's it's important that we have that we bring that kind of approach to the school system and then we that we put forward policies that are going to not only prepare our students but also promote outcomes that are that are superior for all students in the Denver Public Schools I think that in any way that we can support a little outcomes for all of our district is a good thing if you're talking in terms of how the individuals treat one another and then assuming that each child and every disc every school in the district has access to a quality education then I think that it's important that we make sure that our resources are bouncing appropriately I think doctor stay on the board do a good job at that making sure that children have access to the specific needs that they may have in terms of their education I'll also say that there's also another word that's used out there alive it's called Atticus and it's a little bit different than ethnic because that really simply refers to keeping all things eat but they're really the question you ought to be asking ourselves are we doing everything that is adequate for our children and for our parents and that is a much broader discussion that we ought to have in our school just because why I was a prime mover and shaker and one of the first mayors who pulled together to sue the state of Connecticut over the issue of adequacy funding of our schools and that court case took 11 years have we won in the trial court report to the Supreme Court threw it back to the legislators that you guys got to figure out how to properly fund your schools but an issue is over adequacy equity is important obviously but it's also the question that we need to ask ourselves as we move forward as we begin this process to bring more money into the district from the state and get them to honor their commitment to commit their job that we are giving each talent adequate education early is an adequate opportunity for education [Applause] every is equal as everybody gets the same thing equity gives gets more matter of so I stand and look over a fence you don't give the person next to me no box the standout is there five times five that's equity equity is about a matter of fairness equity is about giving people the resources they need that's a function in our system of for example making sure they're social workers making sure we have teachers for kids who are English language learners making sure they're the right resources for all of our children to have an opportunity to excel the opportunity to learn without those resources we deny them the opportunity that's a function of all of our time that's a fun don't get me wrong could we get more money into the state of technic of course I don't get more money the state Academy I'm on the board of education rest assured I will be screaming at the top of my lungs from what I understand that said that's not the only source of funding and that's not really where we're falling down right now as they said before the city of Danbury Trump's every peer community in the state of Connecticut and education funding we're not doing our job Connecticut school finance projects estimates that average we spent $4,000 per less per student than the state average I hate to break the news to you that's not a badge of honor I'm not proud of that I don't think that's good I don't think being dead last in education funding is good and they don't think it's a badge of honor I don't think it's something we should wait from the rooftops I don't think it leads to equity or equitable outcomes or equitable offer that's what we have to do we have to work that our funding won't happen overnight to solve the problem next year it's probably took a long time to get here it's a problem we'll take time ourselves but we don't recognize it's a problem what ever saw [Applause] they're features that's something that I think we could discuss teachers another area that we need to think about is their company policy is materials that we provide for our special education and our first language learners the playground is a great example of that when you think about the education of children in recess and playtime it's not the thing that pops first to find but that's the important part of the school day for lots of kids imagine being that kind of came to us to sit and rest from the window verse on the side of your chair and you know everybody else gets to go clad so that's the kind of thing we spend significant amount of money you know to bring that opportunity here for our kids but it was necessary and it was important to the equity another circumstance I can speak to is I had a conversation with a couple of kids who go to school again very high and they're in a yellow class and they have the rowboats the problems from even now two kids in in regular English classes and their classroom just didn't get them and I can't think of a population that would be better supported English language learners through the use of that terrible so I've you know I'm truly believe that every group that we can work together and discuss before we end up this point of great board I was so how you said but something just want to leave it and not envy sobbing about but I think these are things that you know the board the superintendent he had his staff can sit down and talk about how do we make this things to make sure that all students and out spoons get what they [Applause] getting our students especially getting our teachers tools equity is right so I'm naturally gonna have some students that come in already excelling a little bit more than you know their classmate but if we can get every student need those tutors you know for the was language impaired students or support or tools in the toolbox for our teachers just start thinking about that yet yes we have a policy board as a whole is moving forward in living that policy together the funding for the four that will be done in a way that every other item is funded there's no way that we're going to isolate our equity in our moving forward so as far as the specific dollar amounts in the administration you know be fun then we set up the policies and the administration will fund that policy as it needs to be funded make sure that all of our students they need to move forward it's as simple as that you know we're not leaving people behind because afford to serve their needs everybody gets treated equally and we're actually putting that into overall policy and moving forward with it it's been in process and that's doing great right now so we're looking forward to have that done and probably before the end of this year thank you I'm in agreement all my fellow board members have something that we could work together I think mr.
Walston these packets would go the charge on that and one of the things needed to be done as I mentioned earlier was engaged feedback staff because they know what's going on first and so we've done that and just an echo before the rest of the board set work on support I'm gonna say fun thing because everybody else says you know I think those are the key phrase that said that was said earlier that that really rang me and agreed advocacy and opportunity I think all those goes hand-in-hand so I look at this within spectrum because I'm fairly new to this but looking and having someone who's been in school system very very she's three years old next a notion 2016 17 18 I but I think likely I also want to talk about I want to look at choices I want what the choices choices are gonna present opportunities for parents so I'm gonna give them advance those choices to decide what other options we have for kids go to school you know I actually spoke said earlier I mean the options are out there and it's not going to question anything so we want to talk about equity I also want it's not community and we gather those options open now we have three questions 11 the next two questions are for AMR and crisp and then the rest of the 14 candidates so this one workers trouble mister cetera only mr.
Sir Tim oh please levering on your plan to provide pre-k in neighboring how will this be funded yeah pre-k is important and it would it would give our students a real leg of the studies show that for every every dollar spent increase day that we have five dollars back and so in the end it's a it's a significant investment gives our students a real leg up because they perform better through school if they have the opportunity for pre-k pre-k believe funded through state dependent and so when I talk about being a mayor that's going to go lobbying the legislature we're collaboratively with our delegation Julie Kushner and the state representatives Bob Godfrey O'Connor represent Americana attend Gunther and reveille Brennan that's what I'm talking about right so that we can have a legislative agenda to try to move our city forward in our educational opportunities in the city of Danbury and one of those I believe ought to be universal pre-k and so it's funded through the state of Connecticut and I've said before that I would be the chief lobbyist for the city of Danbury and this is one of the things that I'm talking about that I would Lobby to governor the Senate President and the Speaker of the House and the chairman of the Education Committee in order to make the argument about why our city our city is the most diversity in the state of Connecticut and why the needs that we have are important and I think that it's you know our city is one of a kind and so I would bring our resources our issues to the to the attention of the state officials to make the arguments until they stay right about what it is that we need and what we're pursuing here in the city of Denver regarding educational policy so when it comes to pre-k that's exactly what I would do and I with Lobby so that we would have that funded and we can provide that opportunity to the children of the city mayor marcado enemies say they value the diversity of this community how will you or do you demonstrate this value well I think first of all you that every day I'm proud ambria's 11th most diversity of the United States of America we're that as a badge of honor I think it's a great place to be I started my adult career working at Danbury high school or 15 different languages were spoken every day we're back in 20 so in terms of when we look at our city diversity has been something both historical but also something that we have always celebrated it will continue to celebrate under my administration we've implemented a entire program related around the vs.
we created a heritage Plaza outside of City Hall we host each weekend this past week and we have Italian Americans that were there to celebrate to raise a flag a penalty for Columbus Day as the Patrick's Day there we have Ecuadorian Independence Day there we have pretty much Portuguese independence you pick today pick the ethnic group we have a celebration that's there for them because we want to send a message to every family resident that each of you has played a part of building us to the community that we are it was an old saying it says you know well we all drink from the well we never forget we don't go well well its immigrants they've dug the well of this city I certainly understand that and believe that that's our future as well so the fact of the matter is is that whether I'm attending an ambassador temple is of a mosque on Friday by the way temple church or synagogue or whether I'm at a birthday party or somebody's 16th birthday party wedding and whatever the case might be we're there to celebrate with the community I've been with this community or 18 years as mayor I don't shy away from that I'm proud of it and I think every single event I possibly can to show this community that I respect you and I respect what you do and I want to tell you like your Park and last questions for thinking and Adelman what experience has best prepared you for a poor dependent position repeat that one experience has best prepared you for a board event position you are lovers have a company one being military younger growing up I want to be a cowboy but that was acceptable so I join the army and being the army Alice surrounded by such diverse school but you know you know you know I was comfortable in the army because the Ambra high we had that ever school even back to the early 90s so I was comfortable military I've met guys from all walks of life nobility my ten years in the military and going in the Balkans fighting Afghanistan that many from all walks of life so you name the characters and I've met a knight know the other working state government now I mentioned earlier that I worked my administration in labor department and I was proud and I was happy to get things done with Governor Malloy and his staff you know you've got three executive all the doors that I traffic all pass the legislative task force I have worked at bipartisan legislative task force we pass bipartisan support and help drive it along and we got passed so my experience is importantly the very second being in a diverse College and diverse community and work was a table shows you that could work with both sides of the aisle there's a tiny campaign and this attack were popping in a new rhetoric but once that's done you weren't you get down before and when I'd love to see you like to see legislation gauge you're already doesn't matter of fact it was campuses has done get to work and I had that experience thank you so i'ma drop the chairperson working just changing six years more members and everybody pretty neat perspective so I guess there's nothing like a lot of my adult life serving the community and several boards the last four of which and it was very eye-opening experience when I got there it takes a bit to get into the swing of bed there's a lot to do and it's a very demanding job the hardest job I never got paid for in that in the long run I was elected twice to the chair and it was an honor that I took with it and if I'm re-elected I hope to carry the experience that I've had for the last four years forward it's a great [Applause] start all the way and I know it's like to walk down the hallway and be shoulder to shoulder with everybody the entire way to your next period so most of the teachers I had are mostly still there so I solve those relationships they're still teaching so I'm gonna talk to the district I mean they're working issues that are going on right now and that experience that I think is about experience [Applause] and got involved in like a night and as I started on everything to Baris think that I decided that comes one start attending board meetings I attended board meetings or two sided years before some of you might know her mrs.
Nancy Marcus came up to me and says serving ever since and I was 28 years and that has nothing to do with all the subcommittee so 30 seconds [Music] [Applause] in it in a similar vein I actually attended all their meetings for about two years before I stepped up that was five and that experience was really recommand you you know on the other side of the table in the audience you really are very attuned to the public speakers that come in you get to have conversations and the downtime with parents teachers and with students to attend the meetings and perhaps don't state that the whole experience of the meeting but that gives you insane I think that that really drives why you do this kind of work you know we're all though here each of us and given quite a lot of time to the schools in one way or another and that's because of all the leave that deserves a quality education 32nd really excellent public education and I want to see that continued for the next generation I think that's a really important way that we preserve I think I had lots of involved with the community there's lots of things that I think determine that is the opinion of others that I've ever defend why I'm running have always been involved in the city and volunteered as much as I could do for as many years as I could they started as over of Appeals under Mayor Eric was a proud member glister those volunteer fire company I work for very small business I don't know anything but I helped an attorney there and one of only six attorneys I understand once its work the homeowner I understand how taxes work I'm respectful of all of those I understand when he does it grow on trees and you have to prioritize mostly one of the things that got me to run I spent the last you know several years of my kids in school trying to desperately help with our Lord you know one of the you know of what teachers do try and help us third grader with their homework we spent the last four springs co-chairing sentences t-ball team we want to be them all the teachers do every day try and teach a six-year-old kind of throw a baseball except the bracelet I have been all the way our teachers do running because I want to support them and I want to support all of our kids and thank you very much ok thank you very much now since we have so much time left I think we're going to do one minute closing for each candidate at the next figure and then I have my closings and then he's already lost all right closing mr.
cetera one minute I want to first thank the citywide PTO for sponsoring this and for all of you for coming out to Tijeras tonight I think it's important that we exchange ideas and this was a great opportunity you know I've talked about the fact that I'm an attorney and that for a living what I do is to advocate and to mediate and to negotiate and how important that is not only in my own practice but it's important I think as an elected official you know what I think the mayor ought to be doing is to use those skills every day on behalf of the people of the city of Danbury and so I've said that throughout this campaign that I think that it's important that we look at outcomes that we set a standard of effectiveness and that definitely work that's important to the people of the city of Danbury and that's the kind of mayor I want to be someone who's focused on good outcomes and doing what's best for the people of the city using the skills that I have and that's what I want to do when I'm elected to the mayor's office thing thank you thank you very much the citywide DTO and the we appreciate the time that you spend here of course of our moderators you guys are great social gradual recent studies doing what you do ladies and gentlemen as I said before and I'll say it again I have been proud to be here mayor for 18 years I've seen tremendous growth in this city I worked closely with the board dr.
Tsao and the entire team to make sure that we deliver quality education experience to our students but it's more than just that I've been found to be here for 18 straight balanced budgets I've been proud to be here for 18 years of strong economic growth as long as this community has ever seen I've been proud to be here being a leader of one of the safest cities for 18 years in the state of Connecticut I've been proud to be as mayor of the city for 18 years as a louis of employment and state of connecticut I've been proud to have the highest fire rate and the city's history for 18 years of the state of Connecticut ten seconds and I have been proud to work with one of the most diverse room with people you can ever find United States of America for 18 years that's what we do together that's nice of us and that's why I'm asking you for two more years that continue thank you I thought I'd just close the second ago but very simple very briefly my political has always been my dad my dad spent 17 years in the Denver City Council if there's one thing he taught me is that the rule for any elected official in any office should be to put the city first you're part of a second or so class if I'm elected the kids come first the city comes first the party comes after that and I come last that's what a public servant does they put the people they're elected to serve first that's [Applause] here we are experiencing obviously the problems with enrollment and funding issues I would like to have the opportunity for another for your Terence and whether or not I'm elected I intend to beat those meetings and I intend to continue to participate in this process I think it's really important that we do everything we can to support [Applause] [Music] [Applause] everyone I'm about doing what's right and I believe kids and our student our apartment de cambiar is a beautiful place we have I've been lying when I got off the bus in 1971 I but and my friends I know and the reason why I'm running for the board is I only get back and you know I just I want to be a good Board of Ed member I think our kids deserve but our teachers deserve it and if I'm elected next month I promise to do that just ain't sure me forward children are the future and thank you guys the great job as always I would appreciate uh the opportunity to move forward I enjoyed my time I'm bored it's it's a difficult job it's a it's a great job and it's rewarding despite the difficulties and I have two kids in the school system and I wouldn't want them anywhere else despite the issues that we have and I doubt that you guys vote for me give me a chance to finish up what we already started we are moving in the right direction overcoming a lot of problems and the school system the diaper I have nothing but admiration for the administration the teachers all the staff that puts all this together ten seconds a shoestring then we run it on them so I appreciate that thank you something guarantee once a people that have known me party politics society I've always done what's best for the war that's what school district that's for the kids so I stand by that party politics aside sometimes decisions beautiful country that would limit for someone like me who was not born they're born girl until he feels to come they're not some people in the big legend started moisture school by thirty minute you all the backwards that's not the narrative but go through the every public school system we have product in the public school system their markets what am i studying all teachers and I'm not gonna lining in not gonna numbers my daughter's in a cutpurse my family's income first but you know what an abandoned every back one defender endowment is an intimate enraged school system and my father my dedication motivation for Erickson extend to all your children's so that's what I'm gonna promise you and I'm going to bring some new ideas you might not like it you both me and I promise you'll represent other options besides Michael 2:31 all right city ypt I was honored to have hosted this event before we conclude evening we wanted to extend a sincere thank you to all the candidates particular time out of their busy schedules [Applause] next thank you to our audience for joining us this evening we are hopeful the information that was provided was very helpful with regard to issues on hand for different public schools the city white GTL also strongly advocate that all district parents attend their local PTAs there is so much information that these groups can share with you and keep up to date with about 10 attended school system on a final note a reminder that an election day is three weeks November 3rd please get out and vote have a great evening [Music] [Applause] you
nice job guys Hey yes I mean why are you standing up you could have been like this like drilling and then I was like hey it's like after everything we're recording
see it's a drink that we had our pep rally and our homecoming carnival and dance for our successes so that was for those two weeks ago powderpuff is being planned that's what happens sometime in November it's girls flag football it's juniors versus New Year's and National Honor Society is actually planning a staff appreciation breakfast in order to appreciate all the teachers that are writing this recommendation letters for the seniors who are applying to colleges that will be happening around 4:11 this Friday is that actually we're living the classes of 1960 through 1970 coming to visit I toured the school national honor society as well as peer counselors we'll be giving them tours at 3:30 and then they're gonna be staying for our volleyball game and just going back to the pep rally to the pep rally in spirit week it was one of the most amazing spirit week I've ever seen there was so much participation case anyone was wondering I was Luigi my best friend was Mario it was wonderful oh I saw those pictures on Facebook you guys looked awesome thank you so it was great to just see so many kids just being in spirits in terms of the happenings in school where November 12th is our next cultural Club meeting we're gonna be talking about India so we're gonna have some family members and parents bringing in food just so we can explore different cultures we're having suicide prevention Club giving presentations from mental health awareness we're having our National Honor Society members giving presentations for our blood drive that's coming up November 19th so there's a lot of happenings that are going on and yeah thank you any questions at all I just have to give a shout out to mossy actually she just changed in the middle of the volleyball game that's going on to get here for us and then I think I don't know if you're are you returning is that the plan yes she would be returning to the game dedication she wouldn't let us down so thank you myself appreciate that all set so forth punk-ass alright next we have written correspondence okay we just have one from Andy Korea regarding an FOI request okay approval of Board minutes recommend a motion that the board approved the minutes listed below is recommended a new school project forum on 9 26 19 and the regular meeting on 10 to 19 second any discussion [Music] versus Sullivan yeah yeah okay did you get that Lisa okay any others all right then so we're proving it with that correction in the name all in favor opposed okay we have the superintendent's update dr.
Brooke Thank You Collette so I have one particular announcement that I want to share I shared it with the public to know and then I'll be inviting upon check from Brookfield library up to the podium to share with us but it's important to know that once again Brookfield Board of Education has is being recognized for excellence in communication by Cave Connecticut Association of floors of Education for five specific projects we were noted as actual first-place winners in the special AV project which is the new school video that we had There the narrated video so a lot of a lot of compliments on that one for computer generated project these are when you kind of either create your own type of a website you don't have a consultant working with you and our new school project website as a vehicle for tremendous communication as we know it resulted in a positive referendum for the new school so those are two that we actually were designated as winners and then we're honorable mention for our presence and engagement with social media the HR are a recycling poster contest that Lisa runs and our Brookfield broadcast newsletter series so really a really nice to be recognized by the State Board of Education entities so I wanted to share that so the public knew and thank the board for all their support and all their work on that and everybody who has had a part in this work here including our tech department the next thing I'd like to do is actually invite yuvan checkup not checkup Avon check up to the podium to talk about our wonderful fuel public's Public Library's summer reading work that they did this year tremendous tremendous changes and umbrella and guests my name is Yvonne cheque and I'm the director of the Brookfield library thank you very much for giving me a few minutes tonight to share with you the results of our work over the past several months for our summer reading program so what is the successful summer reading program look like okay good so each year our librarians travel to all of the Brookfield schools and they make sure that all the kids have library cards and they answer questions about the program and in general they you know just try and get kids enthusiastic about what is coming up in the summer so summer is our busiest time of year it's all hands on deck everyone works toward trying to come up with creative and exciting ways to get kids to stay engaged with reading throughout the summer this year's theme was a universe of stories and it's a nationwide theme that we that we work with so to help kids get enthusiastic about reading we give suggestions we come up with all kinds of things so students in grades 3 through 5 would have gotten a card that looked similar to this and we have all different things on the card like read a book about science or read under a blanket so these are just things to give kids ideas and we give them incentives for each square that they complete we had for the younger children we had a debate necklaces and for the teens we had scratch-off cards where they got to win prizes and they also then log in their book the titles of all of the books that they read and then we share this information with the library media specialists at each of the schools so immediately after school ends we kick off the program and this year and we usually do kind of a big event to generate some excitement and this year it was science tellers which is a combination of storytelling and science and we had a hundred and twenty-eight people attend this program all from Brookfield schools and and local area and this was the storyteller who included science experiments as the story went along kids got very excited about this program and all of these 128 that attended then came upstairs into the library and registered then signed up to join the reading program for the summer so that was a hectic evening signing up 128 kids and but we we also you know then try and give them things to entice them to come back throughout the year so or throughout the summer and the entire staff gets involved we have programs a couple of really big programs throughout the summer like this magic show where we had 117 that attended we had an animal program again all with the theme of a universe of stories this film was called over the moon animal adventures and yes that is a giant snake that was in the library we had a hundred and nine people attend that program and we finished the program with a big culminating event and this year's ending event was called bubble mania so this was a really cool program where we kind of broke a record here and had a hundred and seventy three people attending this program so all throughout this summer in addition to these really big programs we do all kinds of smaller programs crafts and different reading activities throughout the summer so these are just some of the events that we did and keeps the kids really coming back and excited and engaged and keeps our staff very busy so the good news is that this year we had here are some numbers 70 teen volunteers and these teens sign up to come into the library and they man a table where they help you your kids fill out their log books and and talk to them about their books that they read we had eighty-eight high school students actually sign up for the reading program and this is but this breaks a record because usually the high school kids are happy to volunteer but not we don't see as much enthusiasm for signing up for the reading program we had 88 this year we had a hundred and fifty-six middle school students sign up for the reading program 459 pre-k to grade five students so that was seven hundred and seventy-three total participants in our summer reading program this year not only did they come to the library for the kickoff program and the initial signup they kept coming back we had 1757 visits to the library between the end of August and the end of or the end of June and the end of August specifically for the summer reading program how do we know that because we meticulously count each entry in the logs when the kids come in to tell us that they've read another book and get another box checked off on their card they they sign on their card that they have been there with a date and their name and we actually go through all the cards and count them up to get this data so that is a pretty impressive number and there's more good news because that represents a 40% increase over last year's participation so that is pretty great and why is this all important as people who are involved in education I'm sure you already know that one of the things that we work to prevent during the summer is the summer reading setback so if students do not read during the summer we know from research as far back as 50 years ago that they can lose a couple of months of reading skill so our job at the Public Library is to sort of carry on the work that the public schools do throughout the year and try and keep up that reading skill so that when the kids get back in the fall they've not fallen behind it so so it was very successful this year we hope to continue to really work together with the schools and the Brookfield library staff worked really well together with all the librarians and teachers at the public schools and we want to give a big THANK YOU to Joyce's although these are library media specialists in all the Brookfield schools Joyce Aldo D Pearson sue Queen Gen Rocca and Cathy Malatesta for collaborating with us to support literacy and prevent this summer reading setback so we want I want to thank you very much for your time this evening and just happy to share the good news we need to give yourselves a pat on the back with all the accolades as well because that's phenomenal and I know it would evolved through a tremendous amount of hard work with the entire Brookfield library staff so tremendous job [Music] they invite us into the classroom and we get to tell all the kids about all the new books we have and and then we actually hear the kids coming into the library asking for those books that we both talked to she came to the school so we know that it works thank you thanks Yvonne thank you so much and that's all I have for my report thank you so next we have the subcommittee reports first up is facilities we've had at our last meeting we did several things different spaces that would be available for student usage at the high school that is currently being used for storage and miserable anda is working hard at figuring out how to clear some rooms for us so we appreciate that thank you and the big thing that I have to report or we have to report is the new school has its generator we're ready storms it came last week it is being installed again this is money that we had in the capital plan so it is costing the taxpayers zero dollars because we have already had the money put aside for this work anticipating we are us needing it that's that's our big news I'm Debby joy anything else to add No yeah that was really the big thing yeah we're very excited I could really like this picture enough on Facebook well next is with Kinnear we're working on with skinnier next because that also needs a new generator that has seen the end of its life years and years and years ago and again we do have that money put aside for that so we are spending the money that the taxpayers have given us we are spending it wisely we are putting everything out to quote and we're all making these improvements which has been granted to us in Prior budgets thank you any questions for the Facilities Committee all right moving on to personnel in negotiations we met on the 7th of October when an executive session to discuss personnel negotiations as it relates to collective bargaining and we will be having that discussion later in your business next we have finance for the Finance Committee met on October 7th it was a relatively quick meeting in terms of the number of items we talked about it's early in the year so we went through the financial reports and the financial reports in your consent agenda report you'll see there's not a lot of variance of some small pluses and minuses but here to really see anything significant we did spend a lot of time on one item which is we went through a detailed review of the student metric and something we do a couple of times a year and we've got a very thorough update on the balances the balances but one of the discussions we had was that you really want to spend more time looking at the accounting of it and some of the categories of how we manage and so we're actually getting agenda I think Jen doing it for the next couple of meetings to continue a very hazy discussion and we'll say our town control or mrs.
Marion had some really good suggestions on some of the accounting rules that we can utilize and and it was very much appreciated I think in our discussions so we got a brief update on the online payment option for parents I continued if we remember we implemented it for this year it continues to being be being used and we're now expanding it to deal with Chromebook payments parking permits preschool tuition and there's plans for some of the bigger field trips coming up that we're gonna use be able to use it for so it is optional for parents but it is being used and he's very actively and very successful and then we also talked about a special education clerical position I think that's on the agenda it is on the gents all well hold on that one so and that's and that's pretty much it any questions for Bob moving on them we can't be healthy school staff eggs frozen and we've been very fortunate to have some of our neighboring districts that have either considered changing school start times or have implemented a comment speak with us and at this particular meeting we had dr.
Michelle and Riku she's the chairman of the New Town Board of Education they recently changed their high school in middle school start times so and they did it in a relatively short time span so she came with us she came and spoke to us about you know their process and their timeline for everything and really gave us a good discussion inside lessons learned and things like that anecdotally she's she they haven't surveyed parents and staff and students post change anecdotally they are liking it so but certainly it comes with some challenges so we were able to talk about that we also talked about possible times for a public forum obviously that will be after we collect and analyze the data from these surveys but you know maybe it'll happen by the end of the year if not very early 2020s that's really what we're working on next so do we have the date on the surveys go without Aparna not yet they're still coming sort of put into an online format but end of this month or early November yeah it's just a little update on that so from the technical aspect the staff and student surveys are a little bit easier to develop so those are pretty much finished the parent survey because of multiple children takes a little longer we want to make sure it's simple to understand for parents to go in and do their setup their demographics but then child 1 child 2 child 3 whatever and so there's a little bit more behind the scenes to develop that service that's taking a little bit more time and then we have a principals meeting actually on Monday where I'll talk with Dean and mark because we can't forget that are also working with the students on getting the developmental assets inventory survey completed that we do with Brookfield cares so we're taking some class time to get that done so we want to make sure we're as least disruptive as possible but we also expedite this process so next time around I'll be able to report to the board as well we'll do that okay so we'll be meeting next week to talk about that any other questions I wanted to thank Michelle from the New Town Board of Education as well as everyone from a rich field that came in and Rosa thank you for bringing everyone together for that because the it's a wealth of experience that we're learning from others who have taken similar paths it's valuable like that yeah I think it's important to note that in November we have folks from Wilton coming in to share their experiences with us they've been Prakash a number of maybe 15 years it's been a while now so the high school principal and superintendent will actually be visiting us so we're really thankful that their people are giving other time yeah okay moving on we have the consent agenda recommend a motion that the board approve the items on the consent agenda has recommended September financials a discussion we've had no personnel I know it's Lisa and I couldn't believe it when we talked to Terry we said wait a minute does this can't be right all in favor hi hi host ok that brings us to new business and we approval under special education position recommend a motion that the board approved reinstating an 18 hour special education clerk position that was eliminated in the development of the 2018-2019 budget as recommended by the personnel and negotiation subcommittee yes sure sure Thank You Collette so in your board packet there's a memo and this memo is the same memo that I shared with personnel negotiations committee a little bit more than a week ago where mrs.