And the reason for that is because the elementary schools are leveling out in terms of their population, we're having to run buses uh in a different way. And the way that buses work is we pay a set fee per day for those type one buses. So the $48 and we get five and three/4er hours of drive time. So we can use it any way we want as long as we've only have our drivers driving the five and three/4er hours of drive time. But uh if we were to try to do our model and apply that when we open Barnum and have New Norton, we are having to have more buses run at any given time. So instead of running the 36 buses that we run per tier now we have to have 41 buses and again that's because the the size of Barnum is growing um and the projection on the number of buses is growing as well.
Teaching is my purpose. It is my calling and it is this thing this intrinsic motivation that serves as my north star guiding and sustaining me when no matter what is happening around me um whether difficult challenging times. Uh and it is this drive, this excitement for learning and for something bigger than oneself that I hope my students experience one day. Last week DHS hosted its annual ESL awards ceremony. Over 180 multilingual learners were recognized for earning a GPA of 3.0 or higher. A feat that was made more impressive because all the while they're are learning a new language and culture. This was made this was more than doubled the number of students who were recognized 10 years ago at the event. At a minimum, it is safe to say that in the past decade, well over a thousand MLS have been recognized from earning a GPA or 3.0 or higher.
No, that makes sense. And then my second question is you mentioned the community service efforts that you're kind of putting into place and the the programming to the second graders you know kind of are in charge of cleaning up the playground and you know other things. Have you thought about um what's that what that might look like as you continue to grow it moving forward? We have we've had a lot of conversation at the school level and then at grade levels as well of just talking about how do we create something that we can have some ownus of so we can get make this stronger so it's not just within the uh warren school but in the Ashlin community with our younger grades it does make sense that we're doing it more closeknit because that way the children can see the impact of their actions um in addition to the cards and the letters that they're still writing because we do want to maintain that but really looking to make some of those more of an impact in our community not just in the war in school property.
I'm sure most of us look back on our freshman year selves and cringe. I know that whenever my mother brings out photos from that time, I make sure to divert the conversation elsewhere. Yet, when I see those photos, I have to appreciate how far I've come to become the independent, headstrong young woman that I am today. No doubt only because of my mother's patience, my father's steady support, my teachers respect and diligence, my friends competitive rivalries, and much more. I'm sure we can all think of some people who have done the same for us. Class of 2025, we are leaving here having developed into hard workers, stellar students, and virtuous people. So, whatever definition of development they were looking for, I strongly believe that we have succeeded and still have so much more to go. Congratulations [Applause] Thank you, Joss. I would now like to introduce Logan Chivvis, who is the Essex Northshore Agricultural and Technical Schools 2025 MAVA outstanding vocational technical student.
And in this model we're just also extending uh instead of having that less than you know that 35 to 45 minute between the tiers we've extended it to 55 minutes per tier. Uh, and this is obviously not a costneutral option because it would cost $360,000 over um what we would expect to pay if we were projecting this out two years with our current situation. Jeff, anything to add? Tried to No, I think you've been uh you've covered it here and this is like um you know, like Emily was saying, this is really what we do now. And if we tried to do the same thing with the new locations of the schools, um it's that max run in the second tier, uh the increase in there. Now again I want to reiterate that these are conservative estimates that we want to over you know uh represent perhaps the cost until we know exactly you know what the redistricting looks like and we can actually run legitimate runs and get a better sense but um it looks like the cost will go up to a degree in the transition.
The week before our ESL awards ceremony, another event took place. 27 multilingual learners in grades 11 through 12 completed the AP Spanish and independent study program for multilingual learners and took the AP Spanish language and culture exam as an independent study. These students made the commitment to stay after school every Wednesday from 2 to 4 to prepare for the exam. um their achievements are no less impressive than earning at 3.0. Um this was the 10th cohort of this program. Uh last year 20 another 27 students who took and graduated who took the ML AP exam and graduated from the program um earned uh 96.3% of them scored three or higher on the exam. In comparison, the Connecticut percentage was 86.4% and the global percentage was 82%. What do these two programs have in common? Back in 20 2015 2016, I approached admin at DHS with the idea to launch these two programs.
and not about the community service but well we we mentioned that you know Mendes has been sort of a model for the community service and I want to mention publicly that the Warren School has really been a model for how we're moving forward with data in in the district and as we make that a huge priority next year we're going to be really revamping and and improving all of our MTSS strategies districtwide we're going to be following the processes and procedures that Pete and his staff have put into place because they truly are the model for our entire district of how to run quality, effective, efficient, meaningful data team meetings. Uh, one of the things that we did this year is, uh, Christy Arnold, Britney Hawkins, myself, Jen Taylor. Um, we all went and observed different data team meetings that were happening throughout their district.
Logan is a student in our culinary arts and hospitality program. He is from the city of pee and will be attending Johnson and Wales University to study culinary arts and food and beverage industry management. Good evening, Essex Tech. I had it in my speech to introduce myself, but as you can see, Principal Donnelly has already done for me so kindly. First, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of my family, friends, and teachers, especially Ela Cherichello, Mary Carter, Peter Cororovo, Tim Gardner, Evan Menale, and Jihida Lozada Gonzalez. Four years ago, many of those you find yourself among tonight were likely no more than faces in a crowd. As our high school careers come to an end, I urge you to think about how many students, staff, faculty, and families you have made an impact on in the last four years. I personally have been able to achieve greatness through the opportunities presented to me by Essex Tech.
So this is So are you so I won't uh is 41 the likely high end of runs in what I think you said was the second tier or is this proposal intended to be the mirror of the current situation or is it coincidentally both? It I'm sorry. Go ahead, Emily. I was going to say it's it's us trying to say this is getting as close as possible to current state, keeping the tiers the same. Um, and so it's not necessarily coincidental. It's just saying, you know, this is as close as we can get. Understanding that the actual student enrollment is really different. They spread very differently. Um, and so the needs in the bus tiers are going to be different. Um, there's not really a way to get 35 36 buses um, with our current tier system in the current order of the schools. What we were trying to do here is prioritize the order of the people who are in the current tiers stay in those tiers.
While preparing for last week's ESL awards ceremony, I came across my initial email to my department head, Stacy Bugnalo, dated February 3rd, 2016. In part, it read, "I found out that we currently do not have an award specific for our ELLs. Uh, I would like to establish the ESL Academic Achievement Award. I have met and with and and reached out to several DHS staff to help me flush out the details of the award, specifically student eligibility criteria, procedures, and presentation of the awards. That same year, I approached Dr. Martins. Uh uh when I found out that many of my ESL2 students did not know what AP exams were with the support and approval of Dr. Martins, I launched the AP Spanish independent study program and now I I started it teaching at first as an afterchool club and now it's part of our afterchool tutoring program.
And every time we went to see one happen at Warren, there was just a a clear difference in how it's working there. And they're utilizing the data so effectively. They're coming out of those meetings with true meaningful plans that are going to have that that have had impactful results for our students. And uh you know it goes without saying that the S3 piece has been a huge part of that, but Pete and his team have gone so far beyond what S3 is even offering. And uh their work has just has been so fantastic and I wanted to make sure that he gets a little public praise for the work they've done in in the folks who have participated in those teams, especially Erica. Erica has led a lot of those meetings and she really does a nice job and teachers come out of there with with with real actionable work that they can help to make true intervention strategies that that are having great impact on our students.
I know just as well that many of you here tonight have done the same. Whether it has been through your CTE area, sports, extracurricular activities and clubs, or just your academic classes, you have left your mark. These people have become your friends, your acquaintances, mentors, adviserss, even just classmates, all because you put yourself out there. You declared yourself to those around you and have surely founded lasting relationships in doing so. As we persevere in our careers and our studies, we continue to discover that the people whom we meet in the present are the same who will support us in the future. While we recognize now how far this has already taken us, I ask you, graduates of the class of 2025, to promote yourself. Step out of your comfort zone. Say good morning to the people whom you pass on the street. Spark up a conversation with the person you sit next to in class or who stands behind you in line for that morning coffee.
Right. So, okay. So, ignoring this, ignoring the schools per se, if this is your pickup time now, we're going to try to make it the same pickup time later. Recognizing that some kids that's not going to work, but for the highest number of kids, you're getting it to stay the same to alleviate the concern of change for the families who already have built-in schedules. Got it. Okay. All right. Thank you. Um, yeah. And I guess the one thing that I'm looking for then that comes to mind for me just looking this and by the way, I just want to say I super appreciate this because this is there's a lot here to digest to to assimilate. Anyway, um, yeah, just lowest cost. I'm hoping that you have I hope I'm hoping that's one of your proposals. Yes. I didn't start with the lowest cost. No, no, I totally get it.
Mr. Donovan has also been extremely supportive of this program and everything related to our MLS. An idea is just an idea until it's implemented and becomes a fabric uh part of the fabric of an organization. Similar to last year's first ever districtwide Barnes & Nobles book drive, none of this would have happened without the support and encouragement of admins and staff. In the end, it's a support for our students that matters, nothing else. And isn't this what we should all strive for? That when the work is done, people say we have done this ourselves. Mr. Donovan, Dr. Martins, Mrs. Bernnolo, colleagues at DHS staff and staff and members of the board of education. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We move on down to the agenda. Could you do the consent calendar?
So kudos to the the whole Warren crew for all they're doing in that area. Thank you. Great to hear. Thank you. Okay. Uh assistant superintendent report uh warrant approvals. Okay, not linked uh between May 15, 2025 and May 28th, 2025. I Paul Kendall authorized by signature payables in the amount of1,300,1946. [Music] This includes general fund expenses of $95,775 and 29 cents revolving expenses of $384,557.36 and grant expenses of $9,587 and meals taxes. Thank you. assistant superintendent really just that our seniors had their last day and they wrapped up and it's going to uh be now a fun senior week for them next week. They're doing their finals now. Uh so we're wishing them well. We hope they have a fantastic senior week next week when they have a boatload of activities leading up to our big day in in on June 6th for graduation. Other than that, I I have nothing new to add from last week.
Spread positivity wherever you go, and you'll find that it'll bounce right back to you. You are whom you surround yourself with and we are great. Thank [Applause] you. The class validictorian is awarded to the student who is ranked first in the senior class. The validictorian of the class of 2025 is a dental assisting student from the town of Hamilton. She will be attending the University of Michigan this fall to study neuroscience. Please welcome Brook Sergeant. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Good evening, Essex Northshore Agricultural and Technical School class of 2025 students, staff, family, friends, and guests. It is an extraordinary honor to stand before you as this year's validictorian. With that, my unofficial job is to impart some advice onto you all. So, I will try my best. This speech is not just a reflection of countless late late nights, sacrificed weekends, and moments of persistence, but a testament to resilience and community.
I completely understand what you're doing here starting with the trying to go apples to apples or yes apples to pomegranates or something but that's probably closer to what we we were doing here. Yeah. So there's it's really hard to make it apples to apples just because of the way the schools are going to be configured. But that's proposal one. So if everything tried to stay the same, it's going to be more expensive. So um on to our second kind of proposal set which is a later high school start time. Before I show you the proposals here, um just some data because there's never enough data about later start time and the positive impact it has on student experience. Um you can see here on the the right kind of uh schools and and what their average start time per state is. And you can see Connecticut is the lightest shade of blue there, meaning we have some of the earliest high school start times across the country.
Motion that the board of education approve the consent calendar exhibits 25 through 91 and 25 I'm sorry 25-91 and 25-94 in accordance with the exhibits presented motion made by one could I hear a second seconded by Louisa any questions concerning the consent calendar seeing none all in favor could I hear I opposed post motion for car. We move on down education and staff is here. So we move on down to the superintendent. Thank you. Um Carol Lee for the quick report tonight. Um I wanted to update the board on some progress that we've made um as a Connecticut registered teacher apprentice program. And so what that is um is the state of Connecticut has kind of helped position itself in some districts looking to increase their teacher pipeline in the state. Um and so to do that uh there are a couple different methodologies. Obviously, we've had some wonderful partnerships with uh universities in the state such as Westcon, University of Bridgeport um and now University of Connecticut will be will be a partner where we'll um bring on uh future teachers and build a relationship here in the district and support them with mentors um over the course of the year in the hopes that um that they want to come and join us.
That's awesome. um the proposed AHS cross-country trip to Vermont fall of 2025 for having us. Um, one thing that I would like to start this conversation with is last year, our first annual um with our first annual application, we talked a lot about team building and as evident um in September when we brought some of our uh student athletes with us um saw what a great time they had. I know that we have to talk about the logistics and that's what these questions are about tonight. Um, but Emily is our I will um yeah, so it's basically going to be the same format as we had last year. It's Friday to Monday of Labor Day weekend. So that first week that schools in session, um we're going to go up to Vermont again. Um it's my parents property. Uh the kids camp outside. Um, and then they make the food and we go running and we did a hike last year.
Many of you have seen me around the halls. I'm not hard to miss in my pink wheelchair, navigating from class to class, or with my crutches, carefully balancing my backpack. But what you may not know and perhaps have wondered is what journey brought me to that chair and then to here on this stage. I was born premature just 2 lb 5 oz alongside my twin sister and fellow 225 graduate Lauren. I spent 110 days in the neonatal intensive care unit and doctors told my parents I would never walk. At two years old, I was diagnosed with cerebopal paly and quadripolgia. Over time, I underwent three major surgeries and countless procedures to correct my spine, hips, legs, and feet, beginning what has been a lifelong process of rehabilitation. Thousands of hours of exercises, doctor's appointments, and gate analysis labs have slowly reprogrammed my brain and body.