What are you doing? Whatever. Um, so I didn't see that and I I don't know what's actually happening with there. Like I said, I didn't want to do that explicitly because intentionally because it'd be distracting looking in a doorway and I've I have no interest in doing that. Um, a couple of uh a couple of other thoughts that go through my mind right now. Co I feel like I learned and I think probably others learned as well. there's a clear difference between freshman year and senior year with the executive function in students. Um, and so that's not a great situation because I certainly would want to give seniors, students with a, you know, a stronger executive function a lot more leeway to do what they want. Um, and then the the last thing that goes through my mind, um, is it's just a long-term consequences here.
I am convinced that there is a real problem with social media. I don't know what the answer is. I think it's I think it's really great that we're saying no phones up through 8th grade. Um, I'd probably extend I I would extend it further than that, but like I said, I I have zero interest in trying to control an 18-year-old who has, you know, could get drafted and sent off to war. Like that just is that that doesn't make any sense to me. But high school's a pretty varied age of development. So, with that all said, um, I won't be supporting this tonight. I would like it to be stronger probably mostly because of the long-term consequences that I just feel there's a great deal of uncertainty about um I'm not as of a few days ago I was 100% against this at this point it's now more like a 5149 and I'm I'm glad to see us moving forward on it.
Um, with that I also say this is an unusual vote we have here tonight because we normally have seven members and we only have four people here. But I say this knowing that a 3-1 vote passes per our legal be per our attorney. So I'm totally comfortable with that and I want to thank the committee superintendent principal everybody who's been involved in making this happen. Thank you. Thanks Mr. Wright. Can I make a few real quick points? First of all, um Adam, your point about like hopeful. Yeah, I guess we're hopeful, but we don't hope kids learn when they go to class either. You know, we we try and teach them the skills uh to be successful. I think that's part of what we're thinking at the high school level. We did issue two surveys to parents and students about the cell phone policies and use that as feedback in our process.
Also um you know the the policy committee did a lot of deliberation about like what about a threshold you know and practically you know delineating between a 16-year-old and 18year-old without stopping them and checking for a license or something about like what or even in study hall what grade are you in how old are you? um enforcement of an age sort of ban or grade level ban became really impractical. So, another consideration we had. So, you know, I I totally agree with everything you've said, Tim. I mean, I think we're on the same page when it comes to this stuff. Um and um we're just all I think evolving. Uh and this represents an evolution in that in our approach. Um, and maybe not the end of the road. You know, to your point and to Adam's point earlier, what did you have? Well, Jeff kind of beat me to the the punch there.
No, I just wanted to say we did consider or at least I I I made the suggestion. I don't know if there was support for it ever or not, but about a um a continued band through uh through sophomore year uh just because of that, you know, you're an upper classman, usually considered upper classman junior year. And so that there's a huge difference because, you know, you're starting to drive and you're being way more independent um than if you're a sophomore or a freshman. But again, uh Dr. Solen brought up the point of the enforcement part which would have been very difficult. So hopefully it sounds like you know uh Dr. Solen and uh uh Miss Solano they they have plans to perhaps uh through education build awareness and responsibility. So that's what we're hoping for or not hoping or whatever. Tim Thank you. Yeah.
One other point that I learned that I think is a positive thing that high school parents will already know is a change that happened at the high school, I think this year. Um, one of the concerns I have is distracting kids, distracting classrooms, and parents, they send the text message to the kid because of whatever reason. It may very well be a good reason, but it's not necessarily a good enough reason to disturb the classroom. And the kids are going to respond. It's their parents. Most likely they're going to respond. Maybe they won't, but most likely they do. It becomes a distraction. I I foresee it being I envision it as a distraction. And one of the changes that I understand happened I believe this year was that first of all parents as a result of the efforts by the superintendent there's probably been a reduction in the amount of parents contacting kids in the classroom which I thank the parents for that because it's not just your kid it's all the other kids that are getting that could get distracted but one of the other physical changes that has happened is parents used to sports equipment, whatever it is that was forgotten at home, bring it right into the principal's office, the main office.
Um, and that no longer happens. It now happens. Uh, stuff gets dropped in the man trap and the the front in the front part of the high school. So, it's a relatively that in itself is relatively small. It does in my mind reduce the distraction because I know when I've walked into Norton school and I end up getting like a crowd around like, "Oh, Mr. white, Devon's dad, blah blah blah. I I don't want to do that. I just there's certain things to get done. Um, but by not going in, I think that's a I think that's a benefit for the school and also just to reiterate the point. This is part of this is one of the reasons why I appreciate the work that you do. um is the outreach I've done this year with parents to increase awareness about the problems. And I have I have gotten extremely little feedback from anybody saying kids should be able to use their phone.
I've gotten basically two responses from parents, which is yes, yes, yes, or yeah, I I get it. I they don't necessarily want to change, but they do understand it's a problem. And I think having you lead on that has reinforced it and gotten parents to say, you know what, we we do have to change. That's my feeling about how this has happened. So, thank you for that. So, I get these kids when they come out of high school and they go to Quinnipak University and they take my French classes. And so I'm um I'm all for teaching that personal responsibility to high school students. They are old enough and there's variation in firstear students through 18 year olds when they graduate. It's huge. But they do need to know these these are with us now. They're with us. They're with our kids. uh they're part of our lives and we just we need to learn and our kids need to learn how to use them responsibly because they're not going away.
Um so I appreciate all the evils of social media that we now can get with the push of a button or two. Um and I see already my new grandbaby who just turned a a year old. She's captivated by screens because she can put her finger on my Fitbit and make it move and it lights up and it's really pretty scary actually. Um, so we do need to keep it away from the younger ones because we can. It's it's fairly easy. But I really um and As Dr. Soulen said and others, we did a lot of deliberating on on this issue and we've read the book uh Jonathan Hate's book and um and we know from our own experiences of using this and uh using social media and it it takes um it actually t it's a skill to learn how to monitor yourself around something that's as addictive and entertaining as um what we can get on our cell phones.
But um I like this policy as it is right now. All policies uh are subject to change as the times dictate. And when we're talking about technology, these policies will change over the years because technology is changing at a rapid rapid rapid pace. So, um I'm ready to vote on on this policy tonight and uh we've I just want everyone to know we've spent a lot of time talking about it. So, I'm happy with it. Thanks. Thank you, Dr. Herrian. Um yeah, I do agree. I think this is um developmentally appropriate and um I appreciate that because we're considering the user uh which is our students basically. So, um, and I do hope that be because technology changes fairly quickly that we come back as a board and a policy committee to make those amendments like Dr. Solen said, you know, the buck doesn't stop here.
There's opportunities um, based on the data we receive that we modify this policy if necessary. So, thank you for all your hard work. Um, Mr. Gripple, the rest of the policy committee. So, we do have the motion that is on the floor. Dr. Hurricane, can you just repeat it again for those at home here? That the Cheshire Board of Education give a third and final reading to policy 5131 uh.81, electronic devices, and direct the superintendent to put said policies into immediate effect. Is there any other public comment? No. All those in favor of the motion that is on the floor. Three. All those who oppose one. The motion passes 3 to one. Thank you.
Next item on the agenda. Are any other standing committees? Um we do not have at the moment. Mr. Perina is not available tonight. Um there are some items that came from CABE, but I believe that we're just going to have um to wait till next meeting to get that information from him and as well as Dr. Solen, which we know there were some things that came down that we still need to uh review first. So we will move to the approval of minutes. Um we do need a motion for the approval of the April 10th and May 1st. Mr. Gripple, can you read the motion, please? move that the treasure board of education approve the minutes from meetings held on April 10th, 2025 and May 1st, 2025. Is there a second? Dr. Herrian, thank you. Are there any additions or corrections that you may need to make?
Dr. Heran, actually I think my name is spelled incorrectly on one of them somewhere under finance on the earlier one. minor. No, it's Harington instead of Harington and it's like 8,000 other times. It's correct. But of course, I noticed the one needle and hack. Great. Any other corrections or additions that need to be made? Seeing no other, all those in favor of approving the motion. Well, it will be corrected or amended. Thank you. Um, that is on the floor. Unanimous. Thank you, Mr. Grio. Is there any correspondence? Um, I have no correspondence. Great. That was quick. Thank you, sir. And then we move on to the superintendent report. Dr. Solen, sure. Uh, very quick update on the school construction. We are humming along. It is incredible to see the skeleton at Norton. Um, you know, multiple floors going up. It It looks amazing. Um, and I appreciate the team OMG over there, uh, taking our kids out onto the field site to inspect everything and see the the school construction in action.
Uh, they're thrilled about it and, uh, so is OMG. So, it's been a win-win. Um, I also wanted to just recognize that early this week, uh, do a little principal Amy O'Brien announced her retirement. And so, uh, certainly very bittersweet news. She's done a phenomenal there job there. Um, really, um, creating an academic focus. Uh, and it's, you know, certainly to the benefit of our students, staff, and community. Um, so we regret to see her retire, but um, we've already initiated the process of trying to hire a new principal. So, um, I've put out a survey to our staff or excuse me, to our parents and I've already got great feedback there. Uh tomorrow I'll be spending the day at dittle uh doing interviews of staff members about uh what they'd like to see in the next principal and um we posted the job internally within the administrators cheshure administrator's bargaining unit as is required by their contract for 10 days.
Um and then at the conclusion of that process we'll make decisions about where we're moving forward. Uh but I just wanted to provide that update this evening. That's it for me.
Any questions for Dr. Solen comments? No. Thank you, Dr. Solen. There's no old business um nubousness. Um I do I was not unfortunately I was not physically in the room for our um budget meeting and showcase. So, apologies to Dodd um that I was not present. But I did want to on the record um just make a comment um about the process in general. Um so I'll just read it for the record. Um and um you know again as chair of the BOE, I just kind of want to acknowledge specifically like the concerns and the engagement shown by our community during this year's really tough budget season. Um, I just felt like it was really the most complex. Um, I've experienced a lot of complex budgets in my in my day job. Um, and I just didn't think that we would have to face it here in Cheshure.
And I I definitely recognize there's rising costs like Miss Taylor said earlier when we were going over the food budget. There's growing enrollment as we've known. Um, and then just increase in service demands and so forth. So, it was a really difficult decision. Um and you know one that I I I also want to acknowledge that the town council had to make and we as a board have to make our decisions legally and ethically too. So um because we do have a statute that we have to follow. Um so I I just again throughout the process I appreciate the transparency because that was a priority. We did have a town budget talk that was held with both the municipality and us um to present to the public. So thank you Dr. Solen for being present for that. Um, and we heard a a really overwhelming um just overwhelmingly a lot of from families that obviously our schools matter, right?
Our district matters. It's what brings them to the town, what keeps them here. Um, you know, the family shared that the the public education system again is their primary reason. Um, and the quote stands, Dr. Solen, nobody moves here for the nightife as we heard in that budget talk. So, so I just want to kind of, you know, express my appreciation especially to Dr. Soulen and Mr. Masiana, um, just for your leadership, your transparency, um, and just ensuring that students were at the center of this budget. Um, and to my colleagues here at the board, again, it's it's wonderful to sit here with you because we do have very respectful dialogue and and I feel like we're collaborative. We have differences in opinion, but it's a really collaborative um group here. Um, and then Mr. Kimbo, um, because I totally understand that, you know, we we also need to get an understanding from the town's perspective, Sue.
So, I want to thank Mr. Kimmel for his guidance throughout this process as well. Um, but most importantly, I say this to the residents of Cheshire. Um, I want to thank them for showing up, for speaking up, and and hopefully we continue to do so if we ever have to face this ever again. Um, and I recognize their concerns. There's obviously going to be a tax increase. Um, but I think overall we remain pretty grounded in facts. So it this budget reflects not only our statutory requirement but also the input from our community and the shared belief that again investing in our schools is investing in the future of Cheshure. So thank you. Uh we remain committed to the transparency, the fiscal responsibility and ensuring Chester continues to be a community for families to choose because of our strength of our schools. So that is my comment um that I had held aside since I was not present for the last meeting.
Other than that, we do have some upcoming meetings. Um so I will read those upcoming meeting dates. We have June 2nd at 700 p.m. policy will meet at Human Boardroom. June 5th, 7:30 is our business meeting here at Town Council Chambers. June 9th um will be 7 p.m. curriculum committee at Humston boardroom and then June 30th will be our BOE fiscal meeting at Human Boardroom and that changes the time which is 7:30 a.m. not PM. Um and then we do in the month of May move to Memorial Day weekend May 26 which schools and district offices will be closed. Um, and graduation I believe is June 12th, Cheshire High School, 6 PM. Well, so we're ready for that. We're really excited. So, there are other promotions, graduations. We're doing the tour for the sixth grade. Okay. Getting ready. Um, and also DOT does do their promotion um on the 12th at 8:30 at the high school field as well, too.