At the same time, sped teachers will likely be asked to take on additional assessments and still expected to maintain compliance with IEP timelines. >> [clears throat] [clears throat] >> At this I'm going to just go back a sentence. At the same time, sped teachers will likely be asked to take on additional assessments and still expected to maintain compliance with IEP timelines without clear guidance on how to do so under these conditions. When teachers are stretched beyond capacity, burnout becomes inevitable. Teachers are less emotionally resilient, succumb to illnesses, and are more likely to take stress-related leave. Students then lose the consistency, stability, and support they depend on. This is not sustainable. We urge you to reconsider these reductions. These decisions are not just about budgets, they are about whether we have the systems in place to safely and effectively serve all of our students. Thank you.
All the small contractors or As as work comes in, yeah, they'll they'll look at, okay, is this one we can do under the JOC uh contract >> right? or or is this a larger project >> I'm talking about what are you going out to RFP though? The the JOC contract itself for each of the areas like, you know, roofing or different areas. Those expire after a period of time because, you know, you cannot have an evergreen contract. So, you have to go out for procurement every so many years for a new JOC contract. In in So, so how you set it up? Are you not doing it in smaller pieces or you just is it all in one large contract because if you if you can do it on a rolling basis, so at least you don't, you know, you are not experiencing one large contract that you got to go figure out at one point.
Um we also offer uh what did I say? I forgot the word interventions. Uh we offer interventions in there. Our specialist teachers provide interventions. Um and really it is a multifunctional space and we take all the things that we talk about with these careers with the specialties and we we build on it and and we have the space to perform on it. Um and so we take everything from public theaters online Tinkercad. Um, and the the quote down there that the learners to creators is what we're really looking for for our kids. So, we provide the space, we provide the organization, um, and they can learn about the career, learn about the space, and then create amazing things. And I did provide a picture here of our space. Um, some of you were there when we opened last October. Um, you're welcome to come back April 23rd for business day.
Sophia, you walk all just a minute. Sophia exemplifies integrity in all that she does. She's always honest, so I know I can trust that what she tells me is true. When she does her work, she completes everything with her own thoughts and ideas. Sophia is also a reliable classmate and friend. She makes sure that she is doing what's right and that those around her are held to the same standard. If needed, she will report any unfairness or unkindness. Sophia is a role model for integrity, honesty, and trustworthiness. Congratulations, Sophia. All right. Well, Sophia is getting her award from Ellsworth Elementary, Isa Young. All right, looks like we might be missing her tonight, but we'll make sure she gets recognized from Harmon Elementary, Daisy Martinez. Come on down, Daisy. You can bring a plus one. All good. I mean, if you got those boots on, you got to show them off, right?
Good evening members of the board and Dr. Lopman. As you can see, we have been s we have seen significant growth in my classroom this year. My approach centers on a seamless transition from whole group instruction to targeted tier 2 interventions. In my classroom, every lesson begins with tier one whole group instruction. This is where new skills are introduced to all students, establishing a shared foundation. However, we know that all students process information at different speeds and come to us with varying levels of prior knowledge. After the core concept is introduced, I use Spalding and FastBridge subtests to identify where the gap exists for specific learners. This is where tier 2 interventions begin. Tonight, I'm excited to share a brief video showing off my class working in their intervention groups. You will see students working on skills such as phonograms which are their letter sounds, phone segmenting, so that's where they orally sound out words, and nonsense words, which is decoding words without guessing or memorization.
>> And we've said that very rarely happens. >> That very rarely happens. We could be witnessing history at this current moment. >> Absolute history. Absolutely amazing as well. Oh my gosh. So, the opponents are probably they're probably scratching their heads right now thinking, "How are we going to deal with this Ice Climbers?" Because the thing about Ice Climbers, I don't think a lot of people actually play this character. So, they probably don't have a lot of uh >> what if they they picked a opponent or a player that had some heat. >> A character that had some heat. That would not >> fire. that would not really affect the Ice Climbers as much as it would affect other opponents, unfortunately. I don't I don't think the Ice Climbers would be like would have like less of a heat resistance than anyone else, unfortunately. >> You would think, though.
And then we also got an additional $2,000 for the school to provide books to classroom libraries in our own library. So it's just trying to um advertise literacy through these things. We would do spirit weeks, we did kindness week. Anytime we find something, we tried to tie it to books um to try to promote literacy and get books into our students hands when they go home. So we also support our students and we're really happy with how our students compete academically. So we have the the academic team, science bowl, math bowl, spell bowl, robotics. Um we also provide opportunities for our students to grow outside of the academic field with a guardian club, run club. So these things also still teach teamwork, um grit, being a part of something, even if it's not necessarily tied directly to academics, they're still learning different um traits. So strengthening through se uh celebrating our staff this year.
So, let me go I should go back to 2013 though because I think it's important as we move into 2026 where we are. So, the town sets up an enterprise fund in 2013 in anticipation of 2014, taking over uh the the fields, right? Um Ashlin Fields Management Group didn't necessarily have a fund that they were that they were putting the the money into for the enterprise for the rentals. Um they had accounts with the town, but they formalized the agreement to have an enterprise fund. Uh field rental rates were set then. Um, these are initial rates. They have not been changed since 2013. Uh, we have a policy, actual school committee policy on rentals. Um, but we've never really adopt we've never adopted them. So, so we'll get to that, but so I apologize for skipping. Now, let's go to 15. In 2015, the town field use policy uh was formally drafted.
Uh the chart shows the last three years of progress. So in 2023 we met or exceeded 15% of the targets. 2024 62% and then in 2025 83% of the targets. So we've enjoyed a nice steady increase. Um the next the next slide shows some specifics about what we've been meeting or exceeding. Um so it for our elementary schools K to4 there are just three areas that Jesse um evaluates our accountability. One is academic progress which is solely based on third and fourth grade MCCAST growth target which for us is just one cohort of students that goes from third grade to fourth grade as well as our chronic absenteeism. So for us in 2025 we exceeded every math target. For our growth targets we exceeded the typical growth for our uh peers across the state. And for chronic absenteeism, we exceeded every target set for us.
This year we um were able to meet or exceed 83% of those targets. Uh the chart shows the last three years of progress. So in 2023 we met or exceeded 15% of the targets. 2024 62% and then in 2025 83% of the targets. So we've enjoyed a nice steady increase. Um the next the next slide shows some specifics about what we've been meeting or exceeding. Um so it for our elementary schools K to4 there are just three areas that Jessie um evaluates our accountability. One is academic progress which is solely based on third and fourth grade MCCAST. the growth target, which for us is just one cohort of students that goes from third grade to fourth grade, as well as our chronic absenteeism. So for us in 2025, we exceeded every math target. For our growth targets, we exceeded the typical growth for our uh peers across the state.
Yeah. Money, that's right though. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening, Money. Marni McNiff, Brookfield resident, but I'm here tonight as the co-chair of Brookfield Cares. Um Brookfield Cares is proud to partner with Brookfield High School, Western Connecticut Coalition, and the Brookfield Police Department to offer a comprehensive two-part training for students ages 16 to 18 on the upcoming PLC day, May 20th. This collaborative effort reflects our shared commitment to supporting the health, safety, and well-being of our community's youth. The training will include a Narcan administration session led by youth officer Mitch Heller, providing students with the knowledge and confidence to respond effectively in the event of an opioid overdose. In addition, students will participate in a QPR, question, persuade, refer training, which focuses on recognizing warning signs of suicide and equipping participants with tools to intervene and connect individuals with the appropriate support. Together, these trainings are designed to empower young adults with practical, real-world skills as they prepare for increased independence and responsibilities they may encounter in college and beyond.
>> [applause] >> Thank you. I have one more that was sent in by email. Good morning. Physical education teachers play a vital role in supporting the overall development and well-being of our students. Having a dedicated PE teacher at each site ensures that students receive consistent high quality instruction focused on physical fitness, healthy habits, teamwork, and lifelong wellness. PE teachers are specifically trained to design safe, age-appropriate activities that promote motor skill development, cardiovascular health, and injury prevention. In addition, regular physical activity has been shown to improve students' focus, behavior, and academic performance in the classroom. A qualified PE teacher has also created can also create inclusive programs that encourage participation from all students regardless of ability level while fostering confidence, sportsmanship, and social skills. >> [clears throat] >> By maintaining PE teachers at each school site, school districts demonstrate a commitment to supporting both the physical and mental health of their students helping them build habits that contribute to long-term wellness and success.
Have you guys really thought about what are alternatives? Yeah, it is in smaller pieces focused on particular kinds of work. >> But it doesn't sound like that. It's just it's it's going to be one big, you know, backlog because it's you're doing it all at one time versus you kind of staggering it or you know, going out this year we're going to go out for the roofs. Another year we're going to go out for, you know, whatever else that you need under JOC. Yeah, I mean there's no backlog. I mean the projects are being addressed because there's a the JOC contracts are in place. It's just going out for a new contract to replace the old one as they expire. Right, but you know, I I guess So, the question is is when So, when do you go out with the for the contractor then of of B&K?
Uh, feel free. So, if you're standing in the center of our space looking to the left, that's our media center. So, you can see the books are still there. We have lots of space for kids to meet, collaborate, play, build, and uh present. And then on the right side is the more building, maker space type area with functional modular tables, um a place for robotics. We have higher tables with the power tools, all those neat, fun things that kids like to do and fit perfectly with this multimedia career various position. So, thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Mr. K. And now we will have our principal from Anderson Elementary. >> Good evening, Madam President, members of the board, and Mr. Narduchi. I'm Christine Kinghorn, and I'm the proud principal at Anderson Elementary. And I know I've seen some of you recently in the past week, so welcome.
Daisy Martinez demonstrates integrity in all that she does. She is an honest, kind, and fair student who consistently makes the right choices, serving as a positive role model for her peers. Daisy shows strong moral character by always doing what is right and following school expectations while encouraging others to do the same through her actions. She's a caring and supportive friend who helps others without expecting anything in return. Daisy's curiosity and love of learning are evident each day and her positive attitude makes her a joy to have in the classroom. Daisy's commitment to honesty and doing what is right makes her truly deserving of recognition for integrity. Congratulations, Daisy. All right. From Ranch Elementary, we have Alfredo McDonald. Here's what was said about Alfredo. Alfredo is an outstanding example of what it means to demonstrate integrity. He consistently shows a genuine love for learning, always seeking to grow and improve both inside and outside the classroom.
I try to keep the academic stress low by calling our activities games so their brains stay open to new information. Let's take a look at how these interventions translate to the classroom. In kindergarten, we are building the foundational skills for reading. What we do with tier one instruction, when it hasn't been enough and the kids kind of need more direct instruction, we break out into tier 2 groups, which are interventions focusing on specific skills. The skills are the basic reading foundational skills. So they might be letter sounds, phone, seg, so sounding out words, nonsense, fluency, and site words. >> I like to sound it out and we the cat in the hat. >> I group my students based on data from our testing fastbridge. I also do weekly reading assessments and our Spalding test scores are kind of all put in to this big pot where I can sort them out so I can target their instruction based on what their specific skills are.
>> You would think. You would think. Yeah. All right. So, they're currently selecting. But you know who does have heat? Nest does with his best move, PK Fire. >> The legendary character Ness from the game >> Earthbound, which >> exactly. >> Yeah. which was released on the Super Famicom in Japan. >> Oh, we got Pac-Man coming. >> Oh my gosh. For all those retros, >> who could have seen this? >> For all Pac-Man. >> For all those retro gamers out there. Then again, the Ice Power. >> So, explain the strategy there. Deacon just threw himself off the side. >> He lost a stock. So, that means he has to go into this game with only two stocks. >> Now, why would why would he do that? Why would he jump? It seemed like he did that on his own. He did do that on his own actually because he lost his stock previously.
We're excited to see that three of our staff members were nominated for district awards at our annual district banquet. We had Paula Zimmerman, we had Melissa Almond, Rebecca Croxton, all were name nominated um and were honored at our district banquet last week or maybe the week before. And then we just heard, I don't know if Morgan is still here, but Morgan Kahh Hall earned a distinguished graduate award for USI, which uh I'm pretty excited about because I was a graduate of USI. So when I saw that, um it just small world, I really happy for all of our people. Um and then we also have teachers. I think we have uh our third grade team here as well that they also um advance their careers in their education through their master's degrees, the the literacy endorsements or STEM certification endorsements. Um so whether they're getting nominated or honored at the district level, they are still going through and getting their own um advancements in their education.
So, if you go on the website uh for DPW and want to rent the facility or aid field, you'll click on a link and it talks about the town use policy. Well, that was written to be adopted by select board and the school committee. It's still in draft form. It was never adopted. Okay. So, it's just sitting there still in a draft format. So a lot of the work is is is has been prepared that we can then maneuver with. Um policies ultimately never approved as I said. Jump forward to 2023. So now here we are eight years later, right? Uh in 2023, uh Doug Small, who's who has has by this time become the the director of of DPW, um has a meeting uh as part of his budget process uh with the finance committee. And through calling through the minutes of the finance committee and um Doug's presentation to the finance committee at this point in time, uh he he says, "Hey, Ashlin is one of the only communities locally that he could find where DPW is actually responsible for school fields." There are a couple others, North, Southboro, um and in Westboro.
Our um did reveal some opportunity for growth and that specifically is our English language arts and literacy. And so um we've had tremendous support from the district and really trying to uh plan how we're going to provide that support. We have partnered um districtwide with teaching lab to focus on our literacy skills. We have implemented an early reading skills diagnostic assessments the core and pass that has allowed us to um take a more granular approach. It has been able uh to show us phologically and phonetically where students may have some unfinished learning. And after revealing that we're able to address those specific needs with the use of UFly um that we started implementing this year and that supports that small targeted um small group instruction and we have also focused our professional development on small group literacy instruction and intervention. Um so that's been done um with a whole lot of support from the district.