So thank you for making that happen. We know it's probably not going to happen again, but maybe but maybe maybe it will. Maybe it will. Maybe it'll be a regular thing and we can make this happen again. But that was huge in the making programming happen for these kids and for so many of our students. I don't need to tell you. Um, they've never been to Terry Lab. It's right here in Danbury, right? That's an opportunity. I used to be thrilled when I got to take them to an oceanside beach because so many of them had never been to a beach. Okay, I don't get that opportunity anymore, but just taking them to exposing them to something that's right here in our community is really amazing. So, thank you. Thanks. >> All right. The consent calendar. I need to move my seat. Um, I make a motion that the board of education approve consent calendar exhibits 26-77 and 26-78 in accordance with the following rules.
I respectfully ask that the board not only review this particular matter but also to carefully considered how future decisions of this nature affect students, families, teachers, and the broader community. Thank you for listening and thank you for your consideration. Thank you all for your comments. All right, now we're moving to reports and presentations. Um, measure U construction bond program updates. >> Good evening everybody. I'm here to present the measure U bond update for the month of May and we will be going through the overview. Measure U project updates includes the school renovations, infrastructure improvements, technology upgrades, as well as safety and security enhancements. On the program schedule, it basically goes through the phase one design and planning. Phase two is bidding and award, phase three, construction and execution, and the last is completion and closeout. And that's that wonderful colored key that I made. Um, measure you project updates.
We We challenges along the way, such as being anxious about an upcoming test or stressing about our grades. But what matters is that we persevere. It feels like yesterday I walked into my kindergarten classroom. From counting to 100 to standing here today. There are so many memories to fill that space between. Personally, I've been competing in trampoline and tumbling for 14 years. That journey brought me four national championship titles, but more importantly, it taught me life lessons I will carry forever. There were days I did not want to show up to practice and days I thought about giving up. Some competitions were tough and they taught me that sometimes you learn more about yourself in defeat than you do in victory. That journey also gave me a dream bigger than myself, a dream to represent the United States at the Olympic Games. That dream has pushed me to work harder, rise after setbacks, and believe in myself even when the odds were stacked against me.
In a moment, members will pose for a few photos. We kindly ask guests to not come down on the stage area until after the professional photos are taken. We then invite everyone to move to the senior cafeteria for a light reception. We thank you all for attending and ask you to once again congratulate all of our new National Honor Society members. >> [applause] [cheering] [applause] >> Thank you, everyone. >> Mhm.
So they're usually teaching five fifths. If we say we're going to ask you to teach you the sixth period, it's called six fifths. The issue that's there is as right now there'll be no six fifths. Now if for some reason we can't hire a position over the summer, then yes, there may be a six-fifth next year because we have to offer the courses. We will take a look at how many kids show up on the first day and make adjustments within the schedule to see what we can do for teachers. But so when you see no six fifths, understand there may be uniquenesses. We also have a couple uh situations like with our trainer which we do give an extra fifth two-fifths there because the amount of hours that are put in by that individual at night and on the weekends and over the holidays.
So, it was kind of fun to see the technology of how they how the teacher teaches and how the kids interact. Um, and it's not just something where the kids are sitting behind a screen. They're actively engaged. Um, and I know that those kids for just introducing acids and bases know that better than I do. Um so some of the some of the takeaways for me um was the vision budget and seeing how the vision budget that the district provides to our schools helped them get the technology that they needed to make all this stuff to make the interaction work to make it better. Um, and that was that was um it was really great. Um, I would encourage board members to jump in. Uh, the teacher would not let Mr. Mitchell, Dr. Lopman, or myself not participate. >> Did you get the answers right?
You can see our math ilearn scores. Last year, we scored in the top 88th percentile and for ELA, we scored in the top 97th percentile. Here are iD scores. Now, the state of Indiana would like for 95% of the students by the end of third grade to show um proficiency in foundational reading skills. And you can see by this uh page that we have increased our I read scores each year. In fact, in the 2425 testing cycle last year, we had 96% of our students passing I read and we were asked by Katie Jenner to go to the state capital this year and we were recognized along with Lyd Lydia Middleton and Riker's Ridge as well. And so that was a really fun day to be recognized amongst a lot of other schools there. Uh so far this year for this testing cycle, we're at 89% which was similar to last year.
Adams again in his um you know conversations um that with Wacka TV. >> Yes, >> he explains that pretty well. Okay. >> Um this is intended to be like a fiveyear, you know, or better fix. Okay, >> that's what it's intended to be. How did we get here? Well, here's what happens in in years leading up to this, right? Is >> there's a lot of history around chapter 75 in this community. And yes, you know, I know sometimes I say it, but you know, you and I live this >> quite a bit. And you know, Senate, the Senate President went to the state house to fix Chapter 70, right? >> Listen, she it's been improved. >> Um, but a couple of things about that. First of all, we were seeing some increases >> y >> with in our chapter 7 funding and that was helping us in these years when, you know, you're only allowed to go two and a half percent.
And I've seen a couple other people use it, but I think a lot of people just don't know that it's a tool that you can use. So, and I think that's one of the thing on the on the podcast. Like how how can people prepare, right? So, we do have um typically town government has a forum about the warrant articles. Sometimes it's really tight to the meeting, so I'm not sure you'd have a chance to really study the issue, which is why I like the idea of having um a presentation at town meeting about them. I also think we need to somehow get to the point of having a pro and con. You get that when there's ballot questions. Um Okay. All right, so my mother lives in another town and the town I grew up in and they get this really thick warrant. It's mailed to their house.
Right now there are 11 applicants and then in the ninth grade we approved four seats. There are five applicants. So, those are the only two where a lottery at this point in time would be necessary. None of the others would require a lottery situation and that doesn't mean of those 11 uh the the 10 Somebody could drop out. >> drop out. They may not accept etc. [snorts] So, uh so, that's what we're looking to do just to be in compliance with Department of Ed regulations as well as the guidance as well as MGL. Questions? I guess my question is for the group do we feel this is a substitute enough change for the required two reads? That might take is no, but uh um I don't think so. No, it's just a procedural thing. It doesn't change the meat of it. Right. Then I would move to approve the updates to uh JFBB school choice as presented.
Okay. All right. So, what All you do is this. Yeah, we don't use that here. This cut button? And that's how you talk. This is program window. Yeah, so this is This is also what's going to YouTube. So, you know, you can preview different sources. This is preview with So, So, right now, the shots are looking pretty pretty simple. You know, So, you can use your headsets and you can talk. You can have like M2. You can make a call and say, "Hey, M2." And that should be good to go. You know, what Stefan, Stefan now. So, uh um So, you're going to be camera two. And so, normally the director's going to, you know, offer some advice like, "Cam two, can you please zoom in on the blue team?" And then he would go ahead and zoom in. During breaks, camera two usually goes to the away team, which is the blue team.
>> [cheering] >> What a pass and what a shot by Olson. Yeah, Olson just firing [snorts] that one. Bobby Buckets All right, so one to nothing now is the score. Raiders finally getting on the board here in the second. And good draw here, Drake Battalin with Siegel. Raiders win it. This is Tyler Savarese running it down. Goes back, passes to Atwood. Atwood run down that right side, far side I should say. Oh, pass over Montemurro's head. It's going to be Mustang ball. 10:49 left to go in the second quarter. Perella bring it up, passes over to Barucci. Oh, Barucci goes through the gauntlet. Barucci still working it. Barucci right there and big save from Abscess as Noah Dorr was right there trying to attack. Oh, pass gets doesn't go in the stick of Sen. And now Justin Pillard has it on that far side on the 30.
Um, so if you have any questions about the funding specifically, there's the Mass EVIP grant. Miss Melanie, >> Kendra, could you talk about Yeah. the grant itself, what it how much it is and obviously after the installation, what we would be responsible for. >> Sure. >> Would would it cost us money electric? Would we charge people that how somebody would use that? >> Sure. So for the Massachusetts EVIP grant for municipalityowned properties, it's 100% of the hardware and installation costs taken care of. So they they do they try to help as much as they can with that. Um if it was a non-government property, it would only be 80%. But since it's a government-owned property in the school district, you would get 100% of that. Now, there are some ineligible opportunities with that. Something like the software cost, the networking, um and ballards. Um because we were trying to keep this as a lowcost project for for the district, we decided to propose the Autel charger.
Um so, if you have any questions about the funding specifically, there's the Mass EVIP grant. Miss Melanie, >> Kendra, could you talk about Yeah. the grant itself, what it how much it is and obviously after the installation, what we would be responsible for? >> Sure. >> Would would it cost us money electrically? Would we charge people that how somebody would use that? Sure. So for the Massachusetts EVIP grant for municipalityowned properties, it's 100% of the hardware and installation costs taken care of. So they they do they try to help as much as they can with that. Um if it was a non-government property, it would only be 80%. But since it's a government-owned property in the school district, you would get 100% of that. Now, there are some ineligible opportunities with that. Something like the software cost, the networking, um and ballards. Um because we were trying to keep this as a lowcost project for for the district, we decided to propose the Autel charger.
>> Thank you, Lauren. Um, do I hear a second? >> Second by Al. Is there any comments, questions, concerns on the consent calendar? >> Seeing none, all in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Okay. Motion carries. Um, we have anybody from the educational staff present? Uh, student representatives. >> Hello, my name is Alexandra. Good evening, board of ed members, cabinet, and community members. Thank you for allowing me to represent and speak on behalf of the alternate center of excellence. Ace will host its graduation ceremony on Tuesday, June 16th at 4:30 in the at Bravio Auditorium. A special thanks to Bravio for opening up their doors to us for a special event. On Tuesday, May 12th, ACE held its spring community benchmarks. On this day, the whole school completed the humanities benchmark based on grade level. After the benchmark are complete, students attended activity plexus with their guidance.
So currently we are doing the school kitchen assessments and the first the group the group of five first schools it will be walk be sorry my I'm talking too fast for my brain um the first five schools in the first group will be walked this week um by the end of the week to determine um the uh conditions of this of the kitchens and what type of uh equipment can be reused reused. Um this and that group is Sermont, Morell, Ruskin, Northwood and Vincy Park. Um the next is fire alarms at Sierramont and Ruskin. Those are going through the DSA process. Exterior window replacement at Northwood is also going through the DSA rep process. And um as promised I brought in on one of the slides is a rendering of what the actual windows will look like. And the last one on that category is library tables for all sites is in progress.
Whether I reach the Olympics or not, the pursuit of that dream has already shaped who I'm becoming. With all that being said, one moment, breakthrough, or chance to prove yourself can change who you are for the better. So, whatever you do, don't stop now. Because the bright future you envision is closer than you think. As I look back on these past few months, I've experienced a major mix of emotions. Part of me is scared to graduate because I don't know what the future holds for me. But the other part of me is wondering, what if this next chapter is the best thing to happen to me? And in the next step, your attitude can change a lot. So, I believe that with a positive outlook, you're already building a great foundation for what lies ahead. The moment I reflect on this chapter of high school, the more I reflect or the more I realize what the village has done for me.
But as a general rule, we're we're going to try to eliminate the sixth just to just to do a savings. >> Do they for when they if they do six fifths, do they get an additional um additional increase in their pay? >> Yes. What what a six-fifth is is the cost is is one one of your salary. So we calculate your salary and then go 150. We add it to it. We do it both. >> In some cases what we'll do is we'll do it for the fall semester and then if we can hire somebody at Christmas then they wouldn't get it in the spring. In other cases they would get it both fall and spring. >> Okay. >> So when you take a look at that $1.4 million um you will see a couple asterisks and stuff. The employee group reduction we're looking at uh 266 for administration.
>> I did not get the answers right. No. No. I I definitely did not. Um it it was it was really great though to see. So next year when uh when we're back in session, uh we'll have to have to get on that. So um we're almost done with the school year. I've said a lot. Congratulations. Keep going. That's it. >> Thank you, Member Owens. Member Garcia. >> Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh for myself, I want to start off by saying um a big thank you and appreciation to to the teachers and the teaching staff. I know it was teacher appreciation week not too long ago and as um board member Owen stated, we don't get to visit all of your schools and all of your classes as much as we we'd like to, but we know you all are doing a great job.
We still have a couple opportunities to take the test and we have a couple kids are within one or two points of passing. So fingers crossed that we will be able to increase that by the end of the year as well. So the next slides we're going to start talking about are going to be our goals and the evidence that we use to align ourselves with the schools or with the corporation strategic plan. And so we'll be talking about academic and achievement and growth, recruiting and retention and safety and well-being on the next few slides. So we'll start with academic growth and achievement. So here is our ELA goal for this year. And so we want to continue to make sure we have 95% passing in I read, but we would also like to increase that in iLearn as well. And we plan to do that through our weekly PLC data analysis and also strengthening our tier one and tier 2 instructional practices.