State Board of Education Meeting - 5/13/2026

001Is it going to be down in brush? Good morning everyone. I do call meeting of the State Board of Education to order. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I 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. for all. I'm going to start with our public participation. The secretary will read your name. When you come to the table, please state your name and your address. And please remember that it is a 3-minute time period. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. I will call public participation speakers two at a time. The first speaker is Michael Carlo followed by Carlene Arnemann. Okay to begin. Michael Carlo 177 Apple Road Down in Connecticut. 25

002years ago I was in my yard and I saw a CT diesel and in this area we lived at Ridge Street. She put the R in the bubble. I got all this mail that said East Street. She said, "Where did you come from?" All these Connecticut universities. She said, "Oh, CT Zink truck." I said, "Wait they asked me first language of the parents in the house." So, I went to the legislature. We got a bill together, and then went through the higher education board out of Hartford, where it really died. It died because all they wanted to put in there was that there's a student search survey along with the exam. It died because the college board said, "If you pass this exam, we're going to leave the state of Connecticut." And at the deep

003timing was fortunate enough, um Richard Blumenthal through the attorney general's office hired a special investigator, appointed me a special investigator, and this is what we found. We found, um a incapacity comprehension. On the list was colleges with the same address. They gave false and erroneous information that I had a college consortium thing on there. They said, "If you lose this," they said it was part of a magazine. I opened the magazines, and you never heard of them. What are you talking about?" They can't add. They told me the attorney general and the local school district how many places it was sent to universities and educationals. Attorney general's office then asked for a list of it. The list of the the names of universities and people on that list did not match the number that they

004had previously given me. My daughter's information was sent worldwide. I I didn't realize two things. I thought because it was a survey, if the school was administering it, it fell under the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act, where parents have to be notified. No, the school was an agent for the college board at the time, and it I was never informed of that. So, then all the list and everything everybody come up through, there was a male on here that wasn't even on the list. Called that person up. That person was in France distributing my daughter's information. Now, it's against the law to sell it. How the College Board worked it then was they leased it for a year. That's how they got around that. In the meantime, what has happened through the legislation and through

005people with my issues and concerns, the College Board had to pivot. They had to come in and say, "Okay, we need to make this man We're going to make this mandatory for all of the graders." Which is what the State Board of Education or the Board of Education or the State Board of Education agreed to. So, I said to them, "Well, let's the contract be signed. The contracts." I said to them, "Okay, when's the last time you audited this to make sure that they're adhering to all these stipulations?" They emailed me back, "You'll have to ask them. We don't know." So, I rephrased the Freedom of Information of any audits or education or anything that was done. They said, "There are none." So, I said, "Every couple years they call and say, 'You're going to

006audit these people?'" Look what happened in California with the Hollywood stars. The state of California now says, "We're not going to use the College Board as part of our entrance exam qualifications." No, no, no. 3 years ago, the state of New York, look it up, please. College Board State of New York versus Yeah, I'm almost done. College Board versus the State of New York fined them 750,000. The State of New York could only go back uh 7 years. They illegally were selling all the students' information off of that. My concern here is tell you that I've been to this board a few times and I complained to the department or voiced my issues and concerns for years, and the Board of Education or the State Department of Education has done nothing. Nothing [clears throat] at

007all. The only other thing I wanted to add is I am not a doctorate. I don't have a doctorate. I don't have a master's. I don't have a bachelor's. I don't have an associate's. But through people both nationally and the representatives here in my state, I've made changes on the national level, on the state level, and on the local level. And I'm headed to CBS News in New York within the next 2 months because they're interested in doing this now that what's happened in the state of New York. Thank you. I am Colleen Otteniak. My address is 25 Park View Avenue in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Last spring, only 55% of third graders in my children's district met reading benchmark. I'm Colleen Otteniak, educator, literacy advocate, and a parent of a child with dyslexia. And I

008want to explain why that number matters to this board. The Right to Read Act was a bold commitment, and I commend the state for it. Evidence-based structured literacy instruction is exactly what our students need, which is why I was alarmed to see American Reading Company, or ARC, on the approved list. The program uses the right terminology. On paper, it checks the boxes, but it also includes whole word memorization, pattern level text, and a phonics sequence that contradicts reading science. That's not structured literacy, it's the appearance of it. There's another red flag. ARC is the only major stand-alone box curriculum on on Connecticut's approved list that declined an independent alignment review by the Reading League. Not once, but three consecutive years. 2023, 2024, and 2025. The company publicly claims to align with the science of reading,

009but a program confident in that claim doesn't repeatedly refuse the the designed to verify it. My district is one of 12 that chose a program. Our current fourth graders were the first whole cohort to receive it. The results, only 55% met benchmark. The state has set 2027 as the next review cycle. And that commitment to ongoing evaluation is commendable. That review can't come soon enough, which is why I'm here today. I'm asking this board to get ahead of it. Before 2027 arrives, I urge you to ensure the review process is rigorous. One that goes beyond terminology and marketing claims. That means a full review of all program materials, use of reading league guidelines to assess true alignment to the science of reading, and a clear process for removing programs that fail to meet the standard.

010>> [clears throat] >> And I ask that the criteria and process be made public to constituents before the review begins, not after. Thank you. The next two speakers for public comment are Dr. Townsley and Latonya Baskins. Good morning, members of the State Board of Education, State Commissioner and team. My name is Dr. Andre Townsley, Superintendent and CEO of Hartford Public Schools, 330 Wethersfield Avenue. In Hartford, our students are achieving every single day and our educators are working hard every day to accelerate learning. And despite significant challenges, progress is happening. Since arriving in Hartford Public Schools, I inherited four separate reports placed on my desk. Not one identified financial mismanagement. Every report report pointed at the same issue, a long-standing structural deficit that has existed for more than a decade. We have remained consistent and transparent

011about that reality since October 2025. Over the last decade, Hartford Public School has cut over $200 million and lost 600 jobs. We knew we could not continue to balance budgets on the backs of children and staff anymore. At the same time, we have worked aggressively within our locus of control. In December, Hartford Public Schools received recognition for improvements in financial management from CSDE. Our mid-year data show improvement across every major metric. We are earning families back to our schools because we believe that our families deserve the best thing possible. Also, we're sharing information like the Hartford Promise, which says if you live in the city of Hartford, graduate from a Hartford Public School with a 3.0 grade point average and a 93% attendance rate, you are guaranteed up to a $100,000 scholarship for a college

012of your choice across the country. However, there are structural barriers standing in the way of continued progress. First, Hartford Public Schools has been faced with resistance for promoting Hartford Public Schools and programs like the Hartford Promise, despite other educational entities in advertising broadly throughout the city. Families deserve to know what Public Schools offer as well than understand what Hartford does well. I was told specifically that I cannot promote Hartford Public Schools. Second, public statements suggested that Hartford Public Schools had a surplus here at this meeting and that created confusion and mistrust at a time when we were advocating honestly about our deficits. No outreach was made to myself as a superintendent or CEO or our chief financial officer. An audit has since been conducted and it confirmed that we do have a deficit. Now, let's

013be clear. Someone said we had a $2 million surplus here. We've been saying we had a $22 million deficit. This team triggered an audit and the audit said our deficit is larger than what we've even predicted, which is $29 million. My prayer is that you hear that information when they give an update on our finances here. Third, Hartford recently identified approximately $2.3 million tied to the chef related open choice grant funding that has not been credited back to Hartford Public Schools over multiple years. Meaning, schools that take our young people that receive receive that chef bonus, they kept that and did not give that back to us. We reached out for guidance at the state in good faith asking for help and we were told, "Hey, figure that out. We cannot get involved." These are

014not isolated incidents. They're examples of structural conditions that continue to place pressure on Hartford Public Schools while our students and educators continue doing everything asked of them. Please. I will wrap it up. Two two paragraphs right here. If we believe every child deserves opportunity, then the system surrounding them must operate in partnership, transparency, and in good faith. Hartford Public School, we're not asking to be saved. We're asking to be invested in. We stand ready to continue to do good work alongside Connecticut collaboratively, honestly, and urgently because the future of Hartford's children is too important for anything less. I'll park my bus. Thank you. Good morning, members of the Connecticut State Board of Education. My name is Latanya Baskin, 163 Fairview Avenue Extension, Bridgeport, 06606. And thank you for allowing me this opportunity to stand before

015you today to be considered for waiver for the issuance of an initial educator certificate. My name is again Latanya Baskin. I'm currently a special education teacher at Bridgeport Public Schools. I serve students in grades kindergarten through second grade in a self-contained autism spectrum disorder classroom. Everyday I work with students who require patience, compassion, structure, consistency, and individualized instruction in order to succeed academically, socially, and emotionally. Teaching is not simply a profession for me. It is my calling. It is one of the most rewarding experiences of my life to help students who may struggle to communicate, regulate emotions, or access grade-level learning begin to grow in confidence and independence. Watching a child say a new word, identify letters for the first time, or engage successfully with peers are moments that remind me why I chose this

016work. I completed my master's degree in education from Southern Connecticut State University and I have dedicated myself to continuing to learn and grow professionally to better serve my students and their families. I initially reached out to the board after nearly missing the passing score of the foundations of reading exam first by two points and then by one point. While I fully understand the importance of ensuring that educators are prepared to teach reading effectively, this exam has unfortunately become a barrier for many dedicated teachers like myself who have already demonstrated success in the classroom. I currently teach at a title one school within a district that faces significant educational and financial challenges. Many of our schools continue to experience a shortage in staffing, limited resources, and disparities in funding compared to neighboring districts. Despite these challenges,

017I am honored to work alongside phenomenal educators who remain committed because we genuinely love and believe in the students and communities that we serve. Every day I demonstrate the ability to plan instruction, collaborate with related service providers and families, implement specialized supports, and help students make meaningful progress. So, I respectfully ask the board to consider the totality of my qualifications, experience, and service when determining whether I possess the equivalent preparation necessary for issuance of an initial educator certificate. I truly believe that my work, my dedication, and my impact in the classroom demonstrates my readiness to continue serving students in this capacity. [clears throat] Thank you so much. The next two speakers for public participation are Jocelyn DeLancey and Shanta Graddy. It's not fine. Good morning. I'm Jocelyn DeLancey. I am to Harbor Point Road, Scarsdale,

018Connecticut. I'm the vice president of the Connecticut Education Association, representing over 40,000 of Connecticut's teachers across the state. Uh I'm here today because I there's a presentation later to speak to the educator evaluation program. I cannot make that. We have another conflict, but I wanted to speak to you this morning about how excited I am about this program and where we are. First, I want to celebrate the fact that we are one of if not the only state who has been able to implement an implement an educator evaluation growth plan that's truly about educator growth. We do not have ratings, and we do not have standardized metrics, which was something that we had to really get behind as a group. And so I also want to celebrate the collaboration because multiple stakeholders got together and

019came to consensus on how we develop and care for our educators in our classrooms. This program has been in place for a little bit over a year fully. We've seen educator growth in tremendous ways. Some of the things that have allowed for that are simplified process. We've removed paperwork. We've removed some tedious work in terms of having to prove what you're doing, which has allowed for more time in teaching and learning and for our educators and our administrators to really think about the work they're doing, focus on the kids, which is really awesome. We've allowed for meaningful goals that allow for our educators to think beyond the delivery of content and really allow for them to grow professionally, pedagogically, and in all different ways that have we've seen significant strength and growth in our educators.

020Lastly, this new program allows for educators to collaborate on goals and work together in teams. And so because of that, we've really seen some quality progress. There are areas that we'd like to see a little bit of more focus on. One is that our PII decks spend more time together. Some have decided that since they've created a plan and they're working that their work is done. It's really important that our PDX continue to look at the work that our schools are doing, make sure that it's right for the districts that they're in, and find meaningful professional learning opportunities for all of the stakeholders within the buildings. We're really excited about where we are, but that's one area that we think should be developed and focused on. The other is training on providing feedback. Feedback is

021so critical, but it's really hard to give, and it's sometimes really hard to take. So, we'd really like to spend some time, quality time, making sure that our administrators know how to provide meaningful feedback, and that our educators know how to use that feedback to learn, grow, and move forward in the best interest of their students. So, I'm here to say we're doing the right work. I'm really excited to be collaborating with you all, um and with our stakeholders, some of them behind me. We've done some really great work. We are superstars in this nationwide, and we should celebrate it. Thank you very much. Danté Roddy, I'm the chair of the Hartford Board of Education. Um I um When I reflect that I haven't I haven't been here in a very long time. Actually, it

022was well over 10 years ago. And I remember saying that day that I wasn't on the board, I was a parent, and I come I felt compelled to come here that morning because I rode by schools that I know were not Well, I I call it underfunded. And I felt kind of a little sick to my stomach because I had to ride by those schools in Hartford to get to our nice shiny magnet schools, which I'm not going to pretend that my children have attended and what my youngest currently attends. So, that leads into why I'm here today. I support what our superintendent Dr. Torres stated. Um we are trying to do our best with providing quality to all of our children. Um we know everyone know that Hartford has a substantial amount of magnet

023schools due to the lawsuit that was brought against the state um of Connecticut in the back 80s ago. So, we've had been uh audited and we have um gained my opinion from under those audits. Um Same where where on the right track. Um one of the audits did we did I feel like we got a slap in the hand saying that um we were criticized for leveraging some of the magnet funds trying to make trying to have an equitable system and not having a two-tiered system. Um but even with that, I think we um we have shown that that we have nothing to hide. We never have. Um Our books are always open even to the city of Hartford. Um we don't keep we can't even pass up purchase order without it getting cleared through

024the city. So, I wanted to clear up that that has been floating around that our books are closed. We don't we can't spend money without the city of Hartford. They have full access to our system cuz we are on their system. And another thing um while we have in our magnet schools and some of the prep schools, they've always had co-op teams. It we have a lot of high schools, so it's a way and I and some suburban schools I believe have co-op teams, too. So, we've been criticized for that, but we're we're not doing anything different than any other district as to working hard, trying to be fiscally responsible to provide a quality of education, not just to our magnet school students, but letting our neighborhood schools know that they are absolutely important. And

025lastly, I do have to squeeze in there um the danger of um the talk around closing public schools, that gives away the charter schools. I am not a proponent for charter schools. And when when you guys sit and you make hard you have hard decisions to make. Um I don't envy you for that, but just make sure that those mandates, which a lot of the times they're unfunded, that are for public schools, that those mandates are also for charter schools, because they are not under some of those same things that we have to do. So, we're bogged down with having to find funding to fulfill a mandate that comes out of the legislature, but charter schools, because of how it's worded, they don't they get to skip that, but it is it is a uprising

026of people lobbying and approaching certain um communities about charter schools, cuz when you have these empty school buildings, um because they they're not short of money. They come here and pretend and they try to force you guys to fund them, but please please pay attention to the unfunded mandates that charter schools do not have to abide by. Thank you. The final two speakers for public participation are Dr. Royce Avery and Joseph Sulovic. Good morning. Thank you guys for having me here this morning. I just I come to thank and greet and thank you is because I think it's important that this work is is very tedious work, but I want to thank Commissioner Rush-Tarr for the her leadership to to the guide this district in in the trans transformation that's that is making now. Dr.

027Shuling for your leadership and your guidance and your your your steady, you know, making sure that the district is going in the right direction. So, I appreciate that. The two state technical assistance teams public works, I think they've done a super job. They just came into the district a couple months ago. Really making sure that process and procedures are documented and put out so that we can be more transparent. And to the tech technical technical assistance team under the direction of Dave Irwin has really been boots on the ground for the district and I think it's been really pleasing to have someone to guide the work experience in Connecticut, you know, policy and and and [clears throat] procedures and things like that. And this overall the guidance that they have given me. I also want

028to thank my board of education. I came into this district almost 3 years ago as the deputy superintendent and I've been leading this district for the last year and a half as the interim school superintendent. And so it's important that, you know, they've given me a chance to be able to to to do the work. I also want to thank, you know, the the the mayor, the city council, the state delegation, and and ultimately the community of of Bridgeport. I think the change is is resonating. I think the change that that that that the city so desperately need is is upon us. So, it's a great opportunity to I welcome the support that I'm getting and has been given. And I think it really sets things apart about what needs to happen. We're focused now.

029My board is on board of trying to get the things accomplished for children of the district. Uh, and and I can tell you the students, they're amazing. Uh, if you push them, you give kids the opportunity to to prevail. Uh, I've had, you know, several around 10 students come to testify and they made me proud. They made the community proud. So, if as long as I can then what I tell my board, what I tell my community, as long as you can support and and and provide that guidance to the children, they will step up and do the job. So, I'm very very pleased to where we are. We have a lot more work to do. Uh, I will I will continue and any support additional support you can give us uh, cuz we have

030a lot to do. Uh, when you when you when you look at a large urban school district, you have to pace yourself. Uh, and again, this is not my first rodeo. I tell my staff and they say, "Okay." It's not. Uh, I'm a retired school superintendent. I came out of retirement to do this work. Uh, and I intend to do it. I'm a collegiate athlete. I don't like to lose. Uh, and uh, Bridgeport's not going to lose not anymore. It's not under my regime. So, I I appreciate the support. It's been phenomenal. Uh, and I thank you for that and the board for uh, you know, taking the recommendation from the commissioner and providing that guidance. That's what sometimes district needs. And so, we're there. We're excited. Uh, we're uh, ready for additional work to

031be done. Uh, we're still working on the financial pieces a little bit. Uh, but we're we're close and I'm excited about that. So, again, thank you. Good morning. My name is Joseph Stobaugh. I'm the superintendent of Bridgeport Avenue, Bridgeport, Connecticut. I'm speaking here today as an individual, not as the vice chair of the board of education and it will become clear why in a moment. The opinions are my own and the facts belong to everyone. I come before you today before you today to ask a very simple question. Why should any school district trust the state of Connecticut and voluntarily voluntarily subject itself to treatment that Bridgeport public schools and Hartford public schools have been subject subjected to? One year ago, Bridgeport public schools was authorized $5 million by the General Assembly. Funding that was

032passed into law, approved, publicly presented as an investment in our students. And yet to this day, Bridgeport has not received those funds. Not because they don't exist, but because the state placed conditions on their release requiring approval from difficult oversight bodies before a single dollar reaches our classrooms down there. So, let's be clear about what this means. You know, when funding is written into law, it is still not guaranteed to be delivered. At the same time, the state is asking districts to voluntarily to enter into fiscal intervention and oversight under Section 388. But that voluntary program comes with strings attached. Once a district enters, it becomes subject to binding state control, oversight bodies, municipal accountability review board, and mandatory compliance with state-directed financial plans. And what funding is written explicitly into the bill? None. There

033is no guaranteed investment, no defined dollar, no no commitment to to stabilize the very financial conditions that trigger intervention. The only funding in the framework is the $3 million for the state itself to administer the program. So, districts would be asked to give up on autonomy, accept control, and restructure operations without a guarantee of a single dollar in return. Now, let me go on to tell you what we are seeing in practice. In Bridgeport, local government decisions such as how to responsibly stabilize the relationship have been pressured and second-guessed, including warnings from the State Department of Education that failure to meet imposed timelines could result in the Commissioner unilaterally appointing a superintendent. In Hartford, the narrative shifted from surplus to deficits, but the correction is not matching the original promise. And but then the board

034took a moment to Now, ironically, both districts are led by African-American men. That matters because it raises real questions about potential biases, fairness, and how narratives are shaped and applied. One more than that, if these districts If these districts were run by white males, would this body question the numbers and threaten to replace the superintendent? Trust is not built on legislation. It's built on delivery. And right now, the message is to districts is this, even if funding is approved, even if hold aside is accepted, even if compliance is met, there is still no guarantee that resources will follow. Which one is still waiting on the $5 million down payment that was already passed into law? While our children wait, they suffer costs that could have been avoided and could be avoided next year. The state

035of Connecticut has scored needless $5 million in additional costs to our black and brown children by refusing them to approve funding or failing to deliver. And I'm going to name what wasn't named by the last two speakers, but some of the speakers, this is institutional racism at its worst. We need to do better. Thank you. Thank you. That completes our public participation. I have a motion for item four, consideration of the minutes. So moved. Second. Changes, additions, edits. None. All in favor? I. Opposed? Motion carries. Next item is report of the chair. I have a couple of items to go through. Um the first last month, um just to let you know, um myself and as well as the commissioner were appointed um by the governor to serve on the Connecticut Pathways Commission. Um that

036will bring together the K-12, higher ed education, business, labor all to the table table to continue the work um that this agency has done and continues to do. Which is a great lead-in to my next item. Back in April, we Dr. Lavis, Dr. Mr. Harris, and Dr. Bolaris attended Walter P. East Line visit along with Dr. Hughes Keith and Irene Preciado. A fabulous display of a collaboration of exactly what we're talking about when we talk about pathways. It was phenomenal to say the least. This was an opportunity to see two districts that have pathways that are so well conducted and the most important thing is the collaboration between these two districts. That is what we really need to copy out there. We have a lot of districts, as we know, that have great pathways in

037our state for our students. But these two districts really and in fact after we left, they were planning to have another meeting with another district to bring them on board. It just showed such a good collaboration and not just with the pathways. They were meeting again to see where they can expand this collaboration. So I think the board members that came with me and I want anyone else that was with me, if you have anything to add Dr. Hughes about this great visit, please do so. If you have any other comments. I think you covered it well. It was it was a it was a great visit. We look forward to having more of those. Um Last month also I had the opportunity along with the commissioner to attend the Ed Rising Signing Day. Another

038fabulous fabulous event. This is when high school students sign with their colleges and they're attached to go into the teaching apprenticeships. Yay. And the college students and they combined it the college students that had are in the apprentice program. The commissioner was there, the commissioner of labor was there. It was a fabulous evening to see all these young people going into education and all the things that were the support and resources given to them to do so. I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Record who attended the SERC conference last just last week. Thank you vice chair. I was a pleasure to attend the SERC conference. It was their 10th annual dismantling systemic racism conference. I was joined in the morning by Dr. Lavis and one of our student members Samarth was also present

039for the day. Wonderful two keynote speakers, excellent sessions, morning sessions and afternoon. Of particular delight for me as a high school teacher were the number of high school students who were present with teachers from their schools. I think there were six or seven Sorry, that's a bad number. Six seven districts that were there and the high school students were straight up front and there were specific sessions geared for young people which was wonderful to see the collaboration of educators and community members and young people coming together to tackle these really important issues. So I thank SERC for their continued collaboration and their their offering this conference. It's something that needs to continue and we're very very happy we were able to attend. That is good. I'm pretty done. Thank you. Sure if our student members

040were here they would have something to add but they are back at their home schools taking AP exams. I will add that there was a dance off at the lunch break. There were the adults versus the high school students and our student members actively participated in that. [clears throat] It was quite enjoyable. Thank you. That ends my report and we will move on to item six, committee reports. Starting with academic standards and assessment. Yes, so the academic standards and assessment committee is going to be meeting on May 19th. Um the draft agenda will be forwarded to the commissioner for her review and you can forward it and subsequently share with committee members. We wanted to acknowledge Dr. Hughes and I Irene Parisi for their support of this committee. To share with you that as of

041today, the draft agenda includes an update about financial literacy, which is a graduation requirement and was recently covered in a news article. Connecticut here. In addition, we're going to be looking at at or getting an update on CSDE's model curriculum, including the integrated math course and curriculum fellowship program. And want to acknowledge also we had a in the public [clears throat] comment uh right to read that is also on the agenda for an overview. Again, this is a draft agenda pending the commissioner's review. And include I just would encourage committee member board members that if anyone has an item that they would like to come before the academic standards and assessment committee to please let me know. Thank you. Accountability and support. We met uh last month to review the extension year for Barnum, which

042we were the whole board will hear. Um this is a light bulb meeting. I'm glad surely that's not all, but this one was in particular um to hear about the great work that Barnum is doing and how invested they are. It was So, you'll be seeing Barnum come in front of us soon. Our next meeting is May 20th, where we will be reviewing New Beginnings at JLP. Mr. Harris, finance audit. Yes, good morning. Uh finance audit and budget committee met on uh last week, May 6th at 10:00 a.m. And we had a full uh committee present. We reviewed the draft of the from the office of internal audit plans for fiscal year '26-'27. And this plan will be presented to the full board uh uh at subsequent meeting, either June or September. Uh September. Uh

043And just finally, uh continue thanks to Keith Norton for his ongoing work as the interim director of the office of internal audit. Up job. Mr. Legislation Policy. Thank you very much, Madam Vice Chair. Uh at our April meeting, we reviewed and discussed the Relay Graduate School of Education's decision not to seek reauthorization, and we're assured that they will be doing a teach-out of all the remaining state students. Thank you. That's the end of our report. Yep. Dr. Pritchard is on her way, so when she gets here, we will go back into the agenda to give the CTEC update. Dr. Diamond, Connecticut State Colleges. Good morning, everyone. I just uh will speak very briefly to say that this weekend, our CSCU institutions start our commencement season. We are starting this weekend with Central Connecticut State University

044and Eastern on May 16th and go through all the way through with our last commencement on May 28th for our CC State Manchester. And I just wanted to say that um I think that there is a uh wonderful cycle in academics that we always end with commencement. And on Sunday, I had the opportunity to nice and try collegiate graduation. And while I was sitting in the audience, I was just reminded about why it is we do what we do. It was a beautiful celebration of all the hard work, not only the achievement of students going through, whether it's a certificate all the way through doctoral grades, but I was looking around at um the the podium of all the the faculty that were sitting there and the administrators and the staff that put together this

045huge event. I was thinking about our institutions and the Herculean lift it goes into the work that we do. And as I was sitting there, of course, it's me. So, I was thinking about next year. Uh so, I just want to take a moment to acknowledge um all the work that is done before these students hit our our uh campuses. And again, it is very hard work that we do and have this wonderful time every spring to celebrate those who have experienced our institutions and those that are really the ones who are behind the states. And that is my short remarks for FE. And congratulations. As we um thank you for all the members who have been in attendance on the stage, our next one will be June 1st. Um so, it's an interesting when

046we go into our breakout sessions and hear what else is going on in the New England region. Um and they're always very anxious to hear what Connecticut is up to. So, if you can join us, I'm assuming you all still are getting those invites. Um and then SERC, we heard about the great conference and your um your update reports you're submitting. And SERC committee reports. Commissioner Thank you very much uh and good morning to all of you. And you'll see some of us >> [laughter] >> green today. Uh this month is mental health awareness month and you'll see some variations of green being worn today. Uh we thought we'd well and you'll hear a little bit more about that. Uh my report is in your supplement packet. And we'll walk through those uh today. I

047wanted to call out on our slide two, we normally have your state board plan, but fitting today to call out the Surgeon General's advisory that outlines the actions that can be taken by educators, school staff, school districts, to include creating positive and safe and affirming environments, expanding social and emotional learning programs and evidence-based approaches that promote healthy development, as well as supporting the mental health of all of our school staff. And so, just wanted you to know it's in within the board's plan. Wanted to bring that Certainly on the next slide where we have our focus areas, again calling out supporting safe and healthy learning environments where every student feels a sense of belonging and every staff member feels supported. And that is the work uh that we continue to do. Uh there are also

048actions and in your plan that really addresses uh the need for us to continue to work across sectors to support our school districts. Uh and you again you'll hear from John Frassinelli about that in the packet. I saw showing to you on the next slide the numbers. Uh I could call it all why and why we continue to do the work we do and I don't just share that here. I use that everywhere I go. It really is important that we keep that front and center. Uh some of the things that we've engaged in in activities. I was really pleased to join Dr. Hickey and Dr. Olivera and presented at the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity and Opportunities Annual Literacy Forum. Every voice, every reader and their focus was advancing literacy for multilingual learners.

049So it was great to have both of them to share the work of the agency and what we're doing. We affirm in our efforts that we are in students' ability to read and to meet grade level expectations. We were very pleased in this room a week or so ago to welcome our the Commissioner's Teacher Roundtable in collaboration with the Teacher of the Year Council and to just sit and hear directly from our educators. I was also pleased to share with them our previous roundtable and the issues they brought to our attention and what we've done to respond to be responsive to those concerns and to hear from them again. Always really good to talk talk with them. We talked about student engagement. We talked about school climate, educator leadership, mental health support and the evolving

050role of AI in education. So they gave us lots of things for us to think about moving forward. Uh our vice chair mentioned the at the Educators Writing and Signing Day and it was great. There are pictures that's on the screen from that event. I also provided remarks of that the 2026 Connecticut Workforce Summit. We reimagined in career pathways. You've heard about the Blue Ribbon Commission uh will be meeting for the first time, I think, next week. Uh the summit connected business, education, government, nonprofit leaders to discuss rapidly evolving talent needs and programs and initiatives. And we've talked around this table about the work that the department is engaged in, uh as we turn to think about workforce. And we also just shared with you a national report uh that called out Connecticut's work around

051dual credit and engaged the work that we're doing in that regard. Work to be done, but really pleased that we're not sitting still, and we are indeed uh moving forward. We were also uh pleased to have the governor join us here at the department uh as he was making his rounds of agency visits. Uh and he got a chance to talk not to me, but to staff uh that's engaged uh in doing work. He talked to staff who are leading our uh leading learner engagement and attendance program. Uh he asked questions about school meals, uh school climate efforts, and he asked about cell phones. Because he wanted to You know, that bill didn't pass. You're going to hear that, but talking about that, and this board is uh let you know, it's going to have

052some work to do uh as we're updating our uh guidance document around around cell phones. Uh he also got to talk to folks in the academic office about uh the our English language multilingual learner uh grants and programming. So, it was great to have him in this space with us. You've all seen teacher appreciation appreciation week video uh that we sent out. Uh we determined this time for the legislature they were in in session, and so the focus was having hear hearing from them about their value of our educators uh for teacher appreciation week. It was a united message across the uh basically uh appreciating all the work that our educators do. Reminding all of you that we now are working on our fifth annual school staff appreciation digital backpack program. Uh that is where

053we work with businesses uh to provide discounts and whatever they think appropriate to share with educators. And we we then put that out during the summer so folks can appreciate and take advantage of all that. So if you know businesses that want to say thank you to educators, uh we have a great landing page that they can go on. I the folks that doing the work uh folks already businesses already coming in. Uh so hopefully we'll have great digital backpack of treats uh for educators to be able to utilize uh this summer. Uh you are We had a special virtual meeting with superintendents last Friday to unpack uh Senate Bill 1 and the adjustments to the fiscal year 2027 budget uh specifically sharing with them uh or answering questions around the supplemental education funding uh

054that uh the legislature provided to our school district uh and I know folks are addressing that uh at the local level with their municipalities and we just wanted to make sure that we were able to answer questions for them and so we had that meeting with them uh last Friday uh as well. Internally uh we hosted uh thank you to staff our support staff best spectacular on our administrative professionals day. So as we're thanking our educators and thanking everyone, we're also thanking those externally uh that just supports all of us every single day. And so uh we appreciate them and uh the team work to to make sure that they did something special for them. Uh and then finally uh you are all now aware uh and I was pleased to join the governor, lieutenant

055governor, and other state leaders to announce the establishment by executive order the Blue Ribbon Commission on K-12 education funding and accountability. You have had that conversation here in this room. You've heard from folks in public session about funding, but this represents an opportunity to engage really widely data-informed reevaluation of our current funding structures. And so, I'm really pleased I was invited to be the vice chair of that commission. Uh and we are working uh so we can get and started in that really important work uh and to be ready uh by January for the next session. Uh and so, stay tuned. There will be open meetings, of course, and everything will be done uh transparently. Those conversations will be had that process as well. So, uh with that, uh let us move on to our

056agency updates. And if there are any questions, I'll ask them. Yes. Uh no question, but just um a comment in that I had the opportunity to speak with several of the speakers that were at your round table. And to a person, they felt that they were most amazed by the fact that you began the meeting with a report on what came previous round table and what the action items were. And they all expressed that that set the tone for their own understanding that what they were going to say in that space uh would be heard and acted upon. Um and they therefore, they felt very free to share their opinions and they were very uh grateful for the opportunity and knowing through evidence that their time was well spent there because they would be heard.

057So, thank you very much for doing Thank you. And I appreciate that really very much because when we say that folks have voices at the agency, it's not about checking the box. It truly is authentically listening and listening so we can take action. Uh and so, I appreciate that feedback because I really wanted them to know that their voices matter. Thank you. But I just want to add. Uh on behalf of Leonard Lockhart, I want to say thank you uh to the commissioner uh who took time out of her busy schedule to uh pay a visit to a celebration for Leonard. Uh Leonard uh is vice chair of the Windsor Board of Education. But, he is the newly elected uh president of the National Association of Boards of Education. Okay, and uh which is an

058amazing honor. Thank Thank you, Mr. Harris. It was uh with that recognition, uh it was really important that we showed up uh to to thank him and for all the hard work that will be ahead. Uh and it it goes well for Connecticut, as you said, uh that we do have that collaboration. All right, with that, uh we will hear some updates uh starting uh with the team on Bridgeport Bridgeport Public Schools first. Uh and we'll have the team members, some of the members of the Technical Assistance Team, join us uh for that discussion. That someone is leaving the meeting. As soon as you join us, you'll call first. Who is talking? So, let me, you know, while we're getting ready to have that conversation, let me appreciate Dr. Avery uh for uh the the

059presentation uh that he made. Uh you all know that when you turn a spotlight on yourself, it's never easy. Uh we've done that here, uh and when others are looking in on you, it also is never easy. Uh and I know the conversations that we have directed, and when I'm on the other side of the screen and asking Dr. Avery to report in on a weekly basis on specific things, which is no secret, you all, because we make sure we transparently share that information with you. Uh I know that that doesn't always come with a welcome because there's so much other work to be done, but I appreciate the partnership uh that we have with you, with the municipality, uh and certainly with the team here working together because the goal is to make sure

060that we leave Bridgeport in a very strong position for the work that is necessary for the 19,380 students that's in the district, and all the staff who is there supporting them. So, it is in that spirit. Yes, sometimes it is hard because we are doing hard work, but the 19,380 students deserve to know that the adults who are charged with working to support them is doing that authentically, transparently, and working through differences to do that together. So, Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you, Vice Chair, Board of Education. I also echo the Commissioner's uh statements. Uh weekly we meet as a team, um and it is a very productive and efficient dialogue around doing what's in the interest of Bridgeport Public Schools. I have the uh privilege today to be joined by uh the two teams that

061are in direct support of Bridgeport Public Schools. Uh as you see in front of you, we have members of our technical assistance team that's been a part of the district for a number of months now that is on the ground working day-to-day, having conversations with our leadership. And virtually, we have our public works team that this board should recognize that name, uh who have been supporting the district implement actions towards addressing the 34 recommendations that came as a result of the CliftonLarsonAllen audit earlier this year. So, I have the the ability now to hand over, and I'm going to start with our technical assistance team, and Dave Irwin, who can introduce his team, and then give us a brief update on where we are in Bridgeport in the technical assistance team support. Just before I

062let him go, I just want to mention one more thing for reference in your packet. You'll see a letter of communication that the commissioner has has developed, and a number of actions on the back that the team can speak to, as well as the presentation that public works will will present to you. May I just add, just so you know, board members, so the Bridgeport education update is in your packet. We've done a series of those, translated in I think four different translations that sent you also the school district send out to the community, and we get that out. Thank you to Circ, because we get it out to the community at large. Again, full transparency about the work that has occurred, and that's not out in the world yet. We wanted to make sure

063you had it first. The translations will be complete in a day or two, and then we'll get them out to the community. Thank you, Dr. Youse. It's a pleasure to be back here again. Looked it through our notes. We started with you folks in February of 2025. The last time we reported to you was at one of your early meetings on September 3rd. So, a lot has happened, and very positively. To my right is my committee member David Abby, who is going to focus more on special education. To his right is that Aaron, who's going to deal with the financial implications of some of the things we've worked on. And I think, as that Youse mentioned, there's an mission is report looking at budget process, looking at special ed, looking at instruction and staffing and

064looking at board governance. So, we've all kind of taken our own roles, but believe that we always overlap with one another on a on a anytime we're there, we spend the time together. I like to again say thank you. I think it's worked really well and I think as I listen here this morning to Commissioner Russell Tucker and Vice Chair Bennett, it That's a gigantic unity now in Bridgeport. Having been in this state as an educator now in 51 years, hard to believe, but you know, knowing the landscape, my whole public school career has been here. When you have the State Board of Education that supported us as a team going in, as a former superintendent of 25 years in Connecticut various districts, it's a little nerve-wracking. So, you have to have a thick skin

065to to handle that because it's your baby. You don't want anyone touching with your baby and saying, "What's wrong with my baby?" So, we've been there to help. The commissioner has supported us. Dr. Use and and Dr. Sonya Milano have have certainly supported us on a regular basis. The Board of Education, I believe, is is now moving with the focus of the oversight, which is still in place, but more to the focus on student achievement as we heard in some of these presentations this morning. And in speaking, I'll have a little in in my my presentation about that. And as you are all aware, the Bridgeport delegation, we had the pleasure of being at a press conference this week. The delegation is very supportive of the work that the Board of Ed has done, Commissioner

066Russell Tucker has done, and certainly the legislators this year. It has infused some money into much-needed municipalities throughout the state and certainly the big cities are recipients of that, which will hopefully the need of money doesn't change everything, but it certainly helps as we all know. So, just to highlight a few things on on the broader base and my colleagues will talk specifically in some of the areas. Some of our work on board governance, we really been actively involved with the school board in the early part of which you might remember from September. We participated in in some of the CABE workshops. They've been very instrumental. I presented with Russo and Jody Bowler from CABE on roles and responsibilities of the superintendents as well as the Board of Education. That actually translated with that was

067a workshop done at the CABE CAPS convention this year. One of the things that Dr. Use mentioned before and Commissioner Russell Tucker with the board working with the search for the official superintendent is some updating of the changes of the policies and bylaws. And along with the bylaws, there are regulations that go with them. But, working with Dr. Avery this minute we mentioned something to Charlie or to anyone else, I reached out to CABE, talked to Nick Russo and said, "No, regulations go along with that. We're happy to share that." As as Dr. Use mentioned at our weekly meetings, we talk about that. So, I think the word is transparency as well. Nothing is hidden. We don't run into our little chamber and say, "Well, here's what we learned today." We always work together on

068that. The superintendent of schools official search, where Dr. Russell Tucker will have oversight on the final decision-making by the board. We discussed that since the middle of the year. We had a winter winter meeting with Dr. Use. We had with attorney McKean. Uh Members of the Board of Education of Bridgeport attorney and members from CABE. We we've kicked that off. This Friday, the official proposals open up. It's a quite a competitive process in Bridgeport as you might imagine with the big cities. So that opens up and I have been asked if I could serve as a member on that committee. I've done superintendent searches myself, but this will be in a different role obviously to provide some structure working all the way. We hope that Dr. Avery will be a candidate for that position. He's

069He's done a yeoman's task in Bridgeport with a smile on his face and I think one of the strong things that we can say about Dr. Avery is his commitment to the district and his outreach to the community. He's known in the community, he's visible in the community, and he makes a message about the passion of education. Uh we've worked uh I've worked with them on some of the issues with interviewing legal counsel. We interviewed legal counsel in the fall. I was a member of that with the members of the Bridgeport uh Board of Education. Served on the committee to score proposals which led to a continuation of the the board's work with Shipman and Moses and a new entrance of Shipman and Goodwin dealing with certain aspects of the role which we think is

070very positive because they have their specialties and they're able to analyze their specialty areas. Uh most recently, certainly dealing with the issues we've seen it on TV where do we do blanket non-renewals? Do we do do non-renewals per cause? We have to do them per cause, but do we do them for budgetary reasons? Uh working with Assistant Superintendent Ciano in in HR in Bridgeport, reached out to one of the attorneys from Shipman and Goodwin just to go over the technicalities. We want to make sure we're on top of it, make sure teachers are given their due process rights, and make sure that everyone has a voice. Uh the SDE has been very helpful and I know uh Dr. Abby will talk to more of that with special ed, but working with special ed uh professional

071development uh the SDE uh with your former uh worker George never worked with us and and and David Abby and myself uh and and work and we've also they've also partnered with some of the RESCs to work with the people in some of the training. Uh instruction is one of the areas that Dr. Hughes meant that uh Commissioner Russell Tucker put in her report. Uh we do meet at a on a regular basis and it's been a very deliberate focus on instruction. Just to name a few things, we met with Dr. Hughes, uh Dr. Sonia Nieto, uh Irene Parisi, members of the State Department of Ed. We've talked about the literacy model. We talked uh the board Bridgeport had worked with a an agency called 21st Century Learning. We found that that work wasn't possibly

072completed with that. We met with Dr. Avery, Ed, David and myself were working on that. We we dealt we worked on the literacy model and most recently we worked with an agency called M&M M&M SI. Uh it's dealing with science and math initiative with Romeo Corrao. We've got a visit, I believe, to Bridgeport in the next few days and they're coming down to do an analysis. We want to highlight student achievement more next year. Uh had some meetings with uh Assistant Superintendent Mark Hughes, who formerly at the State Department, and the two leaders, Jose and Sangeeta, talking about what they're doing with supervising their leaders to make sure that the supervision and evaluation models being followed, as well as how how their principals are working with with their teachers to make sure we're we're not

073missing any deadlines. I won't take up too much time, but as Charlie said, we do have our weekly meetings, where it is collaborative with members of the Public Works, Joanne Cox, myself, uh Dr. Hughes and and Dr. Avery. We do follow up every week on the recommendations of the group. Uh we we've had a great interaction with the city. Uh we're known to the mayor and his staff, his CAO. We've dealt with the architects in the district on the new special education school that's planned. We've been working with making certain that legislation was put through by the delegation to get the uh the BMA being able to be moved as they do construction with that. We have something was alluded to with the MFAC presentation before, but we were involved with that and we'll see

074where that goes in the future. Uh One of your public speakers, Ms. Baskin, spoke this morning. Didn't know she was going to speak, but we have worked with the assistant superintendent and Dr. Avery getting some work and support for our educators in the system. We have partnered with Central Connecticut State College and we're doing a small training with staff members that are interested, so it will assist them in passing the foundations of reading test. So, we heard that. Didn't know that was going to be said, but Bridgeport is already doing something and they made a financial commitment to that because they want to strengthen the reading program. We worked again, I saw Robin Caesar here before and Dr. Use on the aquaculture school dealing with some questions on tuition. So, anytime we have a question,

075we just pick up the phone and we get an answer immediately, no matter who we talked to. I see Dr. Sonya Milano, Ashwana Tucker and Kaylin working with us in HR. There's a new assistant super for HR, so we've received all the impetus that we could get and the help we could get from that. I know we'll talk more about blessing. We've got a meeting scheduled in the next few weeks with Greater Bridgeport Transit because that could be shifting some of their money set at the state department, which could have an impact on Bridgeport. I'll turn it over to my colleague, David Hanny. So, I I know that there's a lot to be said and and team may have questions in public works around there, so I'm going to ask both to be um uh

076concise in sharing the additional information that you have. So, thank you. Good morning. In terms of honoring the request for concession, I'll start with an executive summary from a special ed perspective. We've received great support from the Connecticut State Department of Education. We've had a highly collaborative relationship with district leadership, namely the superintendent's cabinet, resulting in noteworthy progress in foundational work in areas of human resources capacity, department structure or design, special education processes, and compliance issues. Next steps. To sustain and build on the progress to date, and work on other achieved goals, is to focus on curriculum, student achievement, and support of non-tenured teachers. There were 4,200, 4,200 students whom receive special education services in Bridgeport. When you think about that, that's larger than the number of the school districts in the area where we

077all work. Now, it represents a prevalence rate, or rate of 21 and 1/2% of the student body. On November 9th, Interim Superintendent Dr. Orsati approved eight special education goals, which had been worked on and developed by Dr. Avery, the Chief of Special Ed, Michelle McKinley, and myself over a period of several meetings. I'm going to just provide a snapshot of the goals and one or two other um points. Again, based on our need to to move along. Goal number two is human capital. One example of progress to date has been the special education teacher vacancy improvement. From a historical perspective, in November of 2024, there were 31 vacancies in special education. In February 2025, there were 26 vacancies. In February of 2020 2026, just a few months ago, there were five vacancies. As of this

078Friday, there's one vacancy in special special education with respect to special education teachers and they had an allotment of 239. There has been great progress. I'll just throw one other in there. There were 43 speech and language positions for speech and language therapists. As we stand now, there are zero vacancies in that as well. So, there's been great progress made in both from a historical perspective, our significant progress. Um goal number four is special education blueprint manual to ensure consistency and clarity. The district has developed a guide for self-contained special education classes and that will be launched in the coming year. And it really is a to-do for our our teachers in the variety of special education self-contained classes we serve we serve. Professional learning and collaboration. And here's where the state department has just

079been magnificent. Um our goal is to continue collaboration with the state department to provide targeted professional development with special ed teachers and administrators and general ed teachers. They received significant We Bridge Board has received significant professional learning and professional development in special education law, quality IEP development, least restrictive environment, in-class instruction, and coaching for supervisors and directors. It would take a while to really talk about the magnitude and the depth of professional learning. I'll answer any questions you might have, but again, for the sake of brevity, we'll around. Goal number seven is parental outreach. Uh to continue to lead the work of the parent advisory council. And here we have to change the goal for next year. Of course, what really happened in terms of professional and parental advisory council is that the parents have

080taken over in the best way. So, we have two uh parents of students with special needs who this effort is called the um special education advisory council. There were 54 parents who participate in that every meeting, but there are also six of our special education staff. Um and also the director of counseling participates as well. This is a perfect example of parental empowerment. Um they share information. They um they engage in advocacy and they work closely with the special education department. Goal number eight is excess costs. The district was unaware of that they could be reimbursed reimbursed for in in district excess costs. Um sure you know that um there's a certain threshold of four and a half times per per pupil cost with districts who are placed out of the district for special education

081reasons. The district has a state formula that gives the district reimbursement. Um but it also applies to in district costs for those students who have comprehensive needs. And um as I said, the district was unaware of that. When we made the district aware of that, they snapped into action and as a result next year, start they'll start the year with $529,000 uh that they would not have received. Over a number of years, that will result in in millions of dollars. In terms of the departmental structure, in January, um recommended uh to Dr. Avery that the special education should have an assistant chief. We have the chief of special ed and assistant chief. And he was quite open and supportive of that. And so we hired he hired, I should say, an assistant chief. Then um

082about 6 weeks ago um he he wanted to appeal along with the assistant superintendent Horace Hughes felt that the departmental structure needed to be improved. And although I had input into the discrepancies, the change or the restructuring or redesign of the department was uh Dr. Avery uh at the helm and Horace Hughes as well. But as a result, they broke the department into two sections, a compliance section and an instruction section. The compliance section works with out-of-district issues, including charter schools, out-of-district placements, and a number of compliance issues. The instructional side works in district. It's a more complicated design and there's a lot of work that went into it, but I really supported their effort their creative efforts on behalf of the students. Um In addition to to that, the the restructuring of the department

083and having a compliance section has already yielded results with respect to IEP or individual education program compliance, and we've gone from in February this past February, the non-compliance [clears throat] issue in terms of IEPs was 5.3%, uh since the beginning of March it's been it's held steady at 1.9%. Well, as a practical matter, that results in 140 IEPs, more IEPs being in compliance. Just to finish up, in terms of process, um Dr. Avery meets with the administrative uh special ed administrative team on a regular basis. In fact, we have a meeting tomorrow. So, he meets with uh myself, uh Laura Hughes, who will now be overseeing and restructuring the superintendent will be overseeing special ed and our two special ed uh administrators. So, we meet on a regular basis dealing with a number of issues,

084but focused on the goal progress with respect to the goals we developed. We also look at one-to-one power educator support, in-district transportation, and out-of-district oversight on a consistent and regular basis. Um and we'll um we'll Mr. Aaron will provide more detail with respect to that and how it relates to fiscal issues. Finally, I'd like to say one of the things I've learned in being in a district this size is the challenge it presents in terms of progress monitoring or really any kind of endeavor. And we're fortunate, the district is fortunate to have a really active constructive constructive data management team. As we look forward, as the district looks forward, one of the challenges and one of the things we've in the district is trying to do is to apply um the data management to whatever

085problem we look at. And the number one uh issue for next year is going to be on student achievement. And I'm not going to go into how that would apply, but there are real opportunities to track student progress both in terms of student achievement and also in terms of access to general ed, sometimes we call least restrictive environment. And um we're we're fortunate that that's the case. So, to sum it up, we have great support from the Board of Education, a terrific working relationship with Dr. Avery and his team, and district has made noteworthy progress. As he mentioned earlier, there's still a lot of work to do. There's no question about that. But, when we look back over the past year year and a half, uh there's a lot we do what the uh people

086um in the corporate world talk about who are interested in change, and that is we need to celebrate some of the short-term wins because they're there. Thank you very much, Mr. Aram. You're up to wrap us up. The best for last, you know that. That's coming. So, >> [clears throat] >> I thank uh Dr. Ivey-Burrell and the cabinet and uh my two colleagues here for listening to what I have to say and what we've done. As I've been in education for 55 years, uh 50 of them in Connecticut, 5 in New York City. So, uh I have wide range of financial backing in that. First thing, you know, and I have a number of things that we do. The first one I looked at, let's do an insurance audit with benefits of employees. Maybe there

087are employees who should not have been on the plan or who have died. So, we did that. We received two 2,210,991.13 cents back from employees who should not have been on the plan, pay us back. We went to our uh went to the insurance company. They reviewed their plan and what happens. They are giving the uh the Board of Ed back 2.7 million in reducing this year's invoices. So, the that's already $5 million. We looked at the excess cost grant uh with the 529,000 uh our increase in excess cost grant this year over last year is $1.7 million. I changed the Medicaid company. Uh when we first when we changed them, we went back to 2023, they owed us money. They paid us. We are now at 100 810,000 dollars this year receiving in Medicaid

088payments. We looked at I looked at with the two colleagues two special ed contracts which we felt that should have been changed >> [clears throat] >> that Dr. Avery's going to change them this year and that's savings of 1.5 million. The contract said we have 40 students that we went to the school they only had 18 why are we why are we getting paid why are we why are they charging us for 40? It's down to 20 this year. Also they have an expelled program they had 30 students when we went to the school there was maybe eight there. So we reduced that to 15 so that brought down the 1.5 million dollars. We also went to We Transportation they're giving us a fast pay and we have to go through the city because the

089city pays the bills and you know the city extends the payment so forth. We want to get we want the we be paid on between 10 and 15 days that will save us a half a percent [clears throat] over each invoice. Also we're reviewing with PJ and his group on the routes and we will be reducing the bus routes the buses that are there. We met with We Transportation again yesterday to go over that and also we are I've been in I've been with I've been talking to We Transportation for almost a year they're renegotiate the contract at a lower level they can't do that yet because they're in negotiations with their drivers that's that's in process. Also we are returning 20 students special ed is looking at that 20 students are coming back from

090out of district transportation and tuition which will save 2.3 million dollars. We also I looked at Uh, many how many 12th graders are in special ed out placement? There was 77 12th graders. So, I said, "Okay, special ed, let's look at those. Which one is I'm not going to be going to 22 years old who are coming back?" There are approximately 24 of those students finished 12th grade, saving 3.2 million dollars. So, as you know, on the on the we're sitting we're looking at a total of about 12 million dollars totally that we have to really look at and so forth. Some of that is coming out this year because of the benefits account uh, 2.2 million goes into the uh, service fund, which helps the the district at the end of the year. So,

091uh that's partly we're still we're still looking, you know what I mean? It's and I want to appreciate uh, Avery and his crew uh, PJ and his crew uh, for helping us when we give them an when find an idea, they run with it and and they they can see what's happening. Excellent. Thank you very much to the three of our technical assistance team members here. I want to now transition quickly to Dr. Joanne Cox, uh, public works, uh, and Betty Wessel, and Leslie Kathy, who should be on virtually who will talk about the action the district is thinking towards um, meeting the 34 recommendations out of the CLA report. Dr. Joanne Cox, can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you and can you see the PowerPoint? I'm trying to forward the slide and

092and the slide is not forwarding. And welcome to my world in technology. >> [laughter] >> Uh We do have the deck in the packet, so uh, folks can follow along with you. Okay. I would love for it to cooperate with me. Let's see. Just let me try one more thing here. Yay. Okay. Thank you to the State Board of Education members and Commissioner Russell Tucker for the opportunity uh to present an update on public works important work in Bridgeport public schools. I'd also like to thank Superintendent Avery for acknowledging and supporting our work in his district. Uh while our team may not be boots on the ground, uh we do live in various states, but I think that Dr. Avery would attest that we are the Zoom in the room. And by that, I mean

093we are meeting with them very regularly, uh sometimes daily, sometimes twice a day, but definitely weekly. Uh our team's work is primarily focused on helping the district staff address those 34 recommendations of the CLA forensic audit. Um as you may recall, the audit found no evidence of fraud or misappropriated assets. However, the audit did identify several deficiencies related to the lack of board oversight, operational inefficiencies, inappropriate budget and accounting practices, some internal control issues, misclassification of expenditures, and overall many opportunities to improve district uh policy and procedures. >> [clears throat] >> To date, we working together with Dr. Hughes, BPS leadership, um and the CSDE technical assistance team, we're proud to say that 10 of the audit recommendations have been completely implemented, 21 are in various stages of progress, and three have been initiated, but

094are waiting a final decision from the [clears throat] administration on how to proceed. Excuse me. In just a moment, my colleague Betty Russell will provide some specific examples um on the status quo when we began our work in the district. Uh and examples of some BPS operational procedures that needed improvement and how our team has provided uh assistance and has worked with this staff to address those audit recommendations. Uh Leslie Cathy is another member of our team. She's unable to make the meeting, but we are um very cognizant and will um include what work she has done in the area of HR in the presentation. In [clears throat] the recommendations involving the budget, as you can see, five recommendations have been completed and the four that are in progress relate to implementing sustainable practices and

095processes for the future. In budget reporting and monitoring, uh two recommendations have been completed, five are in progress, and one has been initiated as a policy revision uh is currently being presented to the board this month for their consideration. When we look at the purchasing and accounts payable recommendation, uh you can see only one has been completed uh on documenting travel guidelines, and there has been a date for training staff in those guidelines. Seven are still work in progress um as the district contemplates transitioning all purchasing through MUNIS, and one has been initiated. In the accounting area, two recommendations are in progress, and in facilities management, one has been completed and one still in progress. In the area of human resource recommendation, one recommendation has been completed, two still in progress, and one has been

096initiated. Going to turn it over to my colleague, Betty Russell, to finish out the slide show. Thank you, Joanne. >> [clears throat] >> These five items are not part of the audit recommendations. However, these were underlying issues that public works identified as contributing to the overall audit findings in some way, and as such, uh we felt they they needed closer attention. Next slide. The next steps, uh I believe we have a slide missing here because the overall accomplishments include the creation of a budget and a budget calendar process. When we arrived in November 2025, um VPS had not begun the budget process. And given the abbreviated timeline and the lack of any documented procedures, we worked with the administration to create a budget procedures manual, calendars, forms. We provided technical assistance uh both on the

097regular operating budget and the capital budget. And uh the major accomplishment was that on January 29th, 2026, the superintendent's proposed budget was presented to the board. And uh public works is now working with the staff to create a sustainable set of budget manuals and uh a financial budget procedures containing the steps and timelines for a more controlled and systematic process. In finance and human resources, uh public works found limited or no documented procedures. Uh nothing for finance and accounting, payroll, human resources, activity fund handling, grants management, and or warehouse inventory processes. Uh we started by mapping the processes. We looked for weaknesses, pain points in the system, and we assisted staff to implement some immediate improvements to correct those current practices, and then drafted procedures that are now in place for most of the process.

098What we are waiting on, the reason so many are in progress, is often times many of these processes and procedures are dependent on implementation of systems to support the process. One of the other big items in the audit were a lack of internal controls and a need for greater transparency. The forensic audit clearly identified a number of control weaknesses and some intentional and unintentional practices that were working against transparency. Public works worked with the staff to correct those audit concerns, as well as some of the underlying issues. For example, autonomous entry of transactions without a secondary approval, such as for journal entries and budget amendments. Uh public works is now working with staff to establish those per procedures as well as um recommending approval paths in MUNIS as a way of electronically controlling uh some

099of these processes. Um the autonomous movement of funds through budget transfers uh we did uh Joanne alluded to this. We recommended a draft board policy to address the transfer amendments. And that policy is going to the board this month we believe. And once that's approved, public works will work on drafting procedures to implement controls and improve the transparency. Another concern in the audit was activity funds that were collected and expended at the campus level with only minimal guidance. >> [clears throat] >> Every one of these accounts had independent checking accounts. And uh public works has draft procedures and continues to work with staff to develop a process and to actually make the major transfer of those funds into MUNIS as recommended by the audit. In addition to the audit finding Excuse me. Public works also

100noted fiduciary funds being commingled with grant funds in the accounting records. And that allows off-budget revenues and expenditures. And we've identified appropriate codes and those corrections are going to be put into place with the beginning of the new fiscal year. Uh cash handling was one of the areas that we uh had serious concerns about. We found out that the grant staff were being brought bags, paper bags, of money to count with no reconciliations whatsoever, sometimes in the thousands of dollars. We also found that there were similar cash handling problems with the activity funds. We're recommending uh the elimination of as much cash handling as possible through the implementation of an online parent portal, and we're working through Dr. Avery and his staff to identify the right uh portal to use and when to implement it.

101Now, on to the next steps. Um we are in the process of uh helping the district to research and implement technology. There's the HR conversion to the PowerSchool module, finance conversion from FormStack to MUNIS, the implementation of that parent payment portal, and the implementation of Allovue, which is a financial report writing module that will allow principals to view their budgets and department heads, and it will allow finance to create a more traditional budget book in the future. There's also the conversion of the activity funds to MUNIS. The next step is the procedures we've written have steps and processes in place that we envision with the implementation of these new modules. However, they need to be modified uh during the testing process of all of these new systems in order to make sure that they are

102accomplishing what needs to be accomplished. And the procedures that we have developed that are still in progress, our grants management procedures, finance budget manuals, payroll procedures, HR procedures, supply inventory procedures, and activity fund procedures. Once all that's done, then they need to train the staff on how to implement the procedures to increase the efficiency and reduce operational risks by eliminating some of those internal control weaknesses. For public works, our intent is to continue to work with the staff uh in making progress towards uh correcting issues relating to the audit as well as those underlying issues that we've identified and to create a sustainability plan that we can leave with the district that gives them uh the next steps in the process that they can use in order to fully implement those things that have begun

103today. Thank you. >> [snorts] >> Thank you, Dr. Cox and Betty. Um and so as you can see, board, there's a significant amount of work happening on a day-to-day with the district. Uh both of these teams have gotten into the weeds and then brought us into the weeds and into a lot of those details. So, uh at this point, if the board has any questions, we'd be happy to go through All right, give it to my colleagues for any questions they might have. Um I just want to comment on that, you know, almost a year and a half ago when we gave the commissioner um take this action, this is exactly what we wanted to see. So, I thank you on behalf of the board. The progress is amazing. Um the transparency is exactly what

104we needed to see. And the collaboration between one of our largest district and all the teams that are in place. And it you know, it's been a while since we've gotten this this type of update and every moment of that day is worth hearing and it is very encouraging. I'm in awe over the special ed. Um lack no more vacancies. I mean, that was that was very concerning to us as a board you know, when it first was realized. So, I thank you for that and I thank you for you know, everybody involved with all of this. This is exactly what we as a board wanted to see and we knew this agency would go in to exactly that. So, thank you. I'll open it up to questions from the board. I have a comment.

105I'll comment. Any questions on that? Yes. Thank you. Mr. Jones. Just to echo what the vice chair said, um the results in the special education staffing area are astounding. And whatever you were able to do that could be operationalized in other districts, please share that. Um I think it's vital. There's a lot of other districts struggling to fill these positions. So, whatever is there that are lessons learned that could be shared, um particularly with hiring season upon us, please do so because um you're to be commended for that. That is exceptional. Let's move on. Did you want to respond? Certainly. Yes. Um you you worked with That too was a team effort. And there were some things that the district encouraged the district to do in terms of expanding their own their own use of

106social media, um accessing um various opportunities that they hadn't looked at. For example, uh sending out a um um an email to all of the entire teachers in the state. Um we got a few that way. Um in addition to that, there was an MOU in the district, memorandum of understanding, to incentivize teachers who newly certified from general ed to special ed. There are a number of things. And there were state opportunities they took advantage of. But there was also there were also things that district did. Um one of them was, for example, compressing the amount of time it took to hire people. Bridgeport is in a highly competitive area. It's a tough environment to recruit in um with all of the suburban districts surrounding district. And what it costs I can't believe this. I'm

107sorry. It says city hall, so I don't know what that is. >> [laughter] >> I apologize. The governor might use you as an example. >> [laughter] >> I'll vouch for you. Nothing particularly happened in the district as well, because they they took some real steps in terms of compressing the timelines. For example, during the summer in the past um candidates often waited and waited and waited and moved on to other districts. Dr. Avery um was very clear about that changing. And that, in addition to help from uh Charlie Hughes, uh really helped things along. So it was a collaborative effort, but I and being who I am, I'm very nervous about next year. We're keeping our foot on the gas. There's still a lot of work we need to continue to do. But the uh

108I really appreciate what what you both said about the progress the district has made. Fill out this. I also echo what my colleague said. Very informative. And I really uh learned quite a bit and thank you leave the vacancy dumbstruck when you just got well from having such troubles deep you know having 20 vacant 20 vacancies and now coming down to so I don't know that was truly amazing amazing but I just wanted to know that um 100 special ed students and it's interesting I I just needed to know how many are dually identified that are in bilingual and regular and and also receiving special ed. I was going to and the reason is will have impact on professional training. That will have tremendous impact. And I really love what you said about parental engagement.

109That is actually amazing. People that I just when I would hear from the school district board that especially those that were identified specially when they went to meetings they had no translations. There was and that's a compliance issue and I was just wondering how is that working out. Well, the district has a number of what is that bilingual speech and language pathologists and bilingual psychologists and when Now, generally it's bilingual Spanish. We do have bilingual Portuguese as well. We are staff members but when the law is such that when someone needs translation the district an independent district does. They do a good job with that. With respect to dually identified my colleagues back here are what is that quiz show or you can call it right. My colleagues back here have said it's 1,042. Um,

110I was I was going to say that last year I mentioned data management and last year the data I asked data management for the number of dually certified Excuse me, dually identified multilingual learners who also receive special ed services and it was about the same thing about 25%. So, that appears to be holding. Um, Dr. Salaman. Thank you. Thank you to to uh, Deputy Commissioner Hughes, to the the technical assistance team and to Ellen Worstell. Let me get this microphone a little closer so you can actually hear me. Um, two few comments, I guess. Um, questions and that. So, so first, um, on the financial side, you know, a word that that sort of resonated with me uh, was sustainability. You know, it's about developing practices that are going to be sold forward that are

111going to outlast your direction. Um, and it sounded very robust ready about how those were being deployed in the sort of the accounting practices. That sounds great. Um, we also heard a very impressive uh, set of financial achievements from Ed. You know, I I wasn't that well as familiar as but you start finding a million dollars here and a million dollars there and eventually it gets to be a lot of money, right? Um, I guess my question is some of the things that Ed was describing uh, struck me as being a little bit harder to to standardize, perhaps, right? How do we know that we need to go and choose a different Medicaid How do How do we know that we should be looking into um, you know, people who shouldn't be on our insurance

112plan? And I guess I'm curious like if there's some way to institutionalize not just sort of basic accounting and governance practices, but also these kind of checks for, you know, the kind of cost creep that you tend to see as we move away from If I may just jump in in that. I I know Ed wants to answer that, too. So, I'll defer to Ed uh, with Commissioner's guidance and leadership, we we entered we tried to collectively identify approximately well, specifically 27 efficiencies. Much of which it was as identified and shared the monetary outcome from that. But, we that is our weekly conversation where we surface areas for further efficiencies. The team in in district has done an incredible job of utilizing, finding the data that's informing those numbers, and then as leading that kind

113of orchestrated uh expertise that pushes us into the next level with that. So, head You just look at special ed, you know, doing this for in Connecticut 50 years. I look at, you know, let's let's look at all the tuition. Let's look at the schools, the kids, and so forth. What are we spending? I looked at it and it was 77 12th graders we're paying for this year. Why do we have to pay for them next year if they're not special ed and so forth. It's just ideas to look at that you can that I've had you know, I picked up for the last 50 years. We'll look at certain things that bring up roots. Let's look at the roots. Let's go Let's go to the university school. Why are they not supposed to be

11440 kids and only 18? So, you know, and and uh Bridgeport is doing that now. They understand what we're doing. We're great. I guess all my all my only point here is that just as we write down uh procedures for dealing with uh >> [clears throat] >> loose cash and bags our system. It'd be good to write down sort of the collective collective wisdom and then make that into a manual as as best we can so that we can follow it. And and to your point, uh Dr. Zinoman, I've already charged uh Deputy Commissioner because these are things we're learning that I want other districts uh to be able to look as well to take take a look at while we I I the commitment I said it before, you know, years ago and you

115comment and I said while others are writing the checks right to add to the system, we've got to make sure that what is actually in the system is being utilized efficiently. And so I do believe that what we're learning between public works and what the team is doing, we I intend to share that with other districts. You know, because if others have contracts that they're not looking at, all of those things while again while we're asking for more resources, we should be looking at what we currently have to make sure that we're being efficient in utilizing that. Over 12 million dollars more, that adds up. Uh you know, and so it's now adding to the additional resources that the district is getting, but that's that's that's real money. That's real resource uh that can be

116utilized in the system. I couldn't agree more on >> [snorts] >> Um and then finally a comment, no need for response. But my uh my perspective on on this discussion, I felt like benefited um hearing from hearing from Mr. Avery and that and the public comment. I I guess I was wondering and I'm always open to make suggestions about how to add to these presentations. But in when we hear from other parts of our agenda from about schools, we often hear from from the superintendents of those districts. But I wonder if there's another way to systematize that a little. I felt like I benefited from hearing Dr. Avery's perspective. In fact, the way I saw it. And that of course applies to the next item as well, but just thinking about as we see these

117reports, is there a collaboration between the district and the state that might be beneficial? Mr. Stewart and also Mr. Spat, like We're always happy when our superintendent joins us. Yeah, and of course I want to thank actually both uh Dr. Avery and Mr. Spat. Um um I guess I have to say I benefited I I benefited a lot from hearing from Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Commissioner DeBrum for bringing your work to us. Thank you, gentlemen again. Thank you. Thank you all very much. an honor to be here. That you will see in the bridge for update in my my letter thanking the the district that it would be impossible staff or governor legislators the delegation in Bridgeport all being really in getting all these updates as well and we're having conversations with about what

118and so many questions I think. Going on to the next presentation and ask the team to join for the update in Hartford public schools fiscal operations. And as the the team is coming I just to remind you last month that we did do a lot of updates on the two sound intervention initial interventions it was in doing that the team will refresh us what got us to the expansion of that intervention which now requires formal third party audit and we didn't have an audit before we had reviews and so the team will share that and to let you know where we are. I will lead off and then the others will jump in. Thank you commissioner. Good morning everyone. It's great to see you all again this morning. I'll jump right in and refer you

119to board of Ed. Put the microphone close to you or Referring to the board report uh for Hartford public schools which you will find in your packet. You might recall in my April board report I alerted you of a concern the agency had regarding the conflicting representations of the financial status of HPS for fiscal year 2026. Briefly on March 5th the district presented to the state municipal accountability review board or MARB projected deficit of $22.5 million. Uh After that meeting the department received the HPS financial position report of March 25th, 2026, which indicated a fiscal year '26 adjusted budget of $453.8 million. It was approximately $5.1 million over their adopted budget. This is included in attachment one of the board minutes. HPS is the pass-through entity for all state and federal grants of the district.

120HPS's known revenue for fiscal year '26 is represented in table one on the first page of my report in your handout. And when compared to the district's total expenditures, you can see that the result was a $2.5 million surplus. Based on these conflicting estimates, as you might recall I mentioned last month, the department entered into an agreement with CliftonLarsonAllen LLC on April 17th here. Phase one of the work is to include a compilation of forecasted statement of revenue and expenditures for fiscal year '26, which would yield a a surplus or deficit estimate. On April 28th, CLA provided these preliminary drafts of the work that illustrated a fiscal year 2026 budget deficit totaling $59.5 million, a $7.5 million uh of an increase over the deficit presented by HPS to the board seven weeks prior on March

1215th. The difference in forecasted deficit amounts was the result of HPS not factoring into budget into the budget hourly and weekly salary increases, assuming actual savings for the shared services initiative between the board and the city, and underestimating forecasted health insurance costs. These discrepancies prompted several more questions by the department regarding HPS's calculation of expenditures for other lines in fiscal year 2020 fiscal budget, including tuition, special education, and transportation costs. On the morning of May 8th, CSDE and CLA met with Hartford Public Schools to provide the district with the opportunity to explain how expenditures for tuition, special education, and transportation were calculated. As a result of that meeting, HPS committed to providing additional information. This compilation of forecasted statement of revenues and expenditures before is not complete. CLA and CSDE are still reviewing additional documentation

122provided by HPS. In addition, [clears throat] there will be a phase two which will include a forensic audit of Hartford Public Schools fiscal years 2024, 2025, and 2026. And this work has yet to begin. We estimate that this will be done over the summer. And that concludes my update. We'll be happy to answer questions. >> [clears throat] >> This one aboard? I I have a little question. So Excuse me. I got to get this closer to my um Yeah, the source of of the of the words here. Um So we're um Yeah, it seems like there's some tension on this just based on the the public presentation. Um maybe that's not necessarily I'm I'm just judging by what's in the room. Are are we You know, I think it's important that we because this is

123a collaborative effort with the district to be I'm sure that the CSDE is on the same page with them about at least the facts on the ground. Are we Are we on board with So So we all agree now that there are there is a that there's at least we think there's going to be a deficit in this weird cuz I know that was a little bit confusing last time and I want to make sure that I understand where we are. Yes, preliminary results from that agreement calculation Yes, there is a deficit. Okay, got it. Just want to make sure that we were we were together because again we did have a little bit of a roller coaster of a year. I just want to know what the next one but I don't I don't

124want to see that sound sound result we had on And Dr. Somerville, that was the point of of making sure that we had a third party that could balance and give us all of us information that we know we can live with and understand what it is. And so that's really where we are. Very good. I'm going to add to it because I have received a lot of questions from some of you. Your concerns about Hartford meeting from last month to this month on the state money given to Hartford. There's a lot of questions being asked um you know, in reference you know, how you went into Bridgeport, how you're helping Bridgeport and and I and I'm assuming Mr. Norton by your that it will be done over the summer, we really won't know where

125we stand with Hartford. We certainly know that structural changes and things that we did at Bridgeport are needed. Uh I'm assuming we have to wait for all these audits to be done before we can take action as the board. This is what I'm asking you. Thank you. Yes. No, that that would be accurate. So again, first part of this was figuring out what do we have? Deficit surplus? And if a deficit, how much? Right? And so, that is almost done. We know that it's gone beyond what was 22, uh it's gone beyond what we thought just by simple math could be a surplus to what actually is. And I said that was the point of us being able to have that information. And that information was was shared, uh you know, with Joaquin and others,

126they have that information. They know or have engaged in us in the audit from to do that. And then we want them to go and then do the deeper dive. Right? So, yes, there is we understand where we were and so everybody, the district and the community will know exactly where we were, where we are. Uh and then we get a full audit that will determine so, what are we learning overall? And then what would be any necessary expansion of this intervention that is actually occurring. Thank you, Commissioner. One one just final point, I guess. So, thinking about the role of the board here, you have asked me to provide us with with reports on the status of the fiscal condition of the Harvard schools, which is which is great, right? So, we appreciate you

127providing us. The roller coaster of the budget of the vacant seats is one that I think, you know, it's I saw on the TV news, right? It's a roller coaster I would have been happy about to ride for the past month. So, thinking about what is reported in in this forum, I guess, as a case where well, I totally agree that it's important to to do these audits so we have a shared baseline. I guess [clears throat] I just wondered if if we need in the case where there's this preliminary number uh that's subject of controversy, is that is this the you know, maybe we do the report and figure where we are and we avoid that that up and down ride. Well, that might be my my thought process on Well, I I certainly

128appreciate that and and candidly, uh I'm also thoughtful about what comes into the space, but when it makes it out in the public discourse, I have to bring it here to make sure that you have the information that you need. And it is like, you know, I think back of it this is how we arrived here through accountability and support. Many, many, many months ago, probably a year ago at this point, our concern of what we saw there with what was reported by the district, what was actually happening, the lack of collaboration, the lack of any kind of unity we happen to see brought us to this point. Um So, I appreciate your work and I know it's a lengthy amount of work. The sooner we can get to exactly where we are, we can

129do it with every and and hope through this whole process that there is collaboration. I mean, right before this we saw that happening now in Bridgeport. We didn't start there. And we got there and it it's possible and it's necessary to get through what we have to. We have a great concern for our students and educators in Hartford. And we'd love to see this as much as you do. And I thank you both. Um Thank you very much, Mr. Just a kind of follow up on my chairman's question regarding collaboration. We are still in that ongoing dialogue with the different people we've met. We spoke Friday with the Board of Education official questions regarding and she's been providing that to the CLA and and to our team so that we can keep working through these

130numbers and understand exactly where the district Very good. And I I just want to be clear on that. Thank you all for your work in not attacking this and I appreciate the additional clarity that you provided to me. CFO and superintendent. So, thank you very much. Just briefly for update on special education. I didn't shoot this out at the the table today cuz I just wanted to tell you just a few little things myself is that we uh executed a contract with WestEd, uh so that the group that did the review and and now will be with us as we're working through implementation across the board. Uh and they'll be in front of you occasionally to report out to you separate from us what they're seeing with our implementation process. Uh you've heard last month

131about process mapping and talent mapping that is ongoing uh and uh actually have invited WestEd board on the next next meeting uh when we need to be talking to you all directly about what they're seeing about our implementation. Uh we've the position we've talked about. I know the team uh Attorney McCain that interviewed and are really now close to making offers so we can get that staff on board. So, that's where we are with special education. Uh next up the legislative session, uh Laura and I don't know if Chloe's joining you. Uh but um I just if she's in the room, I wanted to at least come forward so people can see her. >> I think she's watching from upstairs. >> She is. Okay. Um where is is our legislative liaison. Uh finally got a

132few days sleep after session and is here to let you know All right. Good morning, uh members of the board and commissioner. Um I would like to just start by thanking. Um I can't make it through the legislative session without the support um the commissioner and the senior leadership team here and really the entire staff. Um I can't thank them enough for the late night phone calls, the weekend phone calls, me dragging them over to last minute meetings to talk to legislators, um coming to the capital with me and sitting on the benches outside the house. Um, just for all of that, I I can't thank you enough. Um, so I just have to say that. And to Chloe, um, I think most of you at this point have probably met Chloe Hollings, um, and

133she has really stepped up this session and helped me create for once kind of a legislative team. A team of two, but a team all the same. Um, and she really just was absolutely wonderful in terms of keeping a second eye out on bills that were coming from the education committee. We had 13 committees that produced bills that I know about so far. And I'm sure I'll find a couple stragglers as I look through. I I typically read through every single bill that passed um, the the session just to make sure nothing got snuck in there. And inevitably every year I find at least a couple bills that we didn't know about. Um, so that's that's on my list to do, but this year there were over 1,100 bills that were introduced by legislators. And

134218 made it through both chambers in concurrence. And over 200 are still awaiting the governor's signature. Coming out of the committee process, um, we were still tracking 66 bills. Um, 41 of those did not make it through both chambers in concurrence. So really we're we were down to 25 bills that passed. Um, those actually include several agency bills. And so we might actually be looking more like 20 21 bills, um, at the end of the day um, when we had at at the high point been tracking close to 70 or more. Um, so I just I would like to start this there, um, setting the stage in that way. I'm I'm for the for the sake of time, I'm only going to go through a couple of the larger bills, um, just cuz we did

135have a few air what we call aircraft carriers this year. And then folks always know how to get in touch with me or send questions through Aaron if if there's anything else that you'd like more specific information about, but the status of our agency bill. Um it came out a lot different than it went in in terms of what actually made it over the finish line. Legislators had taken some things out that they wanted to put in other places. What we ended up with was we did get timing for charter approvals to move to every 2 years. So that was very important to try and align that process with the every 2-year governor's biennium budget. Um the transportation payments to crack language made it through. We did get a few of our reporting requirements removed.

136I think we gained just as many as we got removed in new reporting requirements. So that might have been a wash, but we're going to keep trying. Um and then the encouragement for regionalization budget reviews if districts are looking to regionalize having them do kind of a feasibility study as to whether or not they are financially viable. Um the next larger bill that passed was student literacy. This included a bill for aspiring the aspiring educator grant to change it to the name of the grant is now newly aspiring educators. Also changes the qualifications for who is qualified to apply for that grant. It requires the department to establish the American sign language working group. And it extends health care opportunities to pair educators at charter schools. Cuz those were the only pair educators that were

137not able to benefit from the program being run through the controller's office. Um skipping ahead The other um kind of big aircraft carrier bill was an act concerning various revisions to the education statutes. Um uh very briefly, it has um things in there pertaining to um security guards, a school administrator mentorship program, academic standards for interscholastic athletics, um a pilot for uh therapeutic art programs, um temporary placement of the Bridgeport Military Academy students down in um Bridgeport, um repeal of educator preparation regulations. This actually gave the extension of another year, so the regs are not going to sunset um next July. We the certification board will have at the extension of another year to be able to get um or this July. They were going to This July is when they were going to and

138we got it to next July. So, they have another year to do their work and try and get those in better shape. Um moving on the what was called the home school bill, but it was actually an act concerning the provision of equivalent instruction. That came out also much, much different at the end than it originally came out of committee. The only responsibility of the department at this point in the law is to come up with um to create two forms. Um and we probably will also be creating guidance cuz we can't just put new forms out into the world without putting some guidance out um with those forms. Um an act concerning the education of homeless children and youth. Uh we were very supportive of that. It basically codifies the McKinney-Vento Homeless Act um

139into state law. And then we had another large one um that was an act concerning workforce development and working conditions in the state. This enhanced worker comp for teachers assaulted at the working place. Um it changes standards for tenured teacher termination. It creates a pilot program for educator externships with private um sector employees. Um and it requires the department to study co-instruction models. Um again, in the interest of time, I think I'll probably just pause there. There there are more um but uh anyone, like I said, has any questions, do you know how to get me. Any questions from the board? Laura, I just want to say a huge thank you to you and Chloe uh and to all of us of the the administration that backs you up. I was in the capital a

140couple of different times and I got to tell you this woman is all full of legislation. And and I just want to extend my thanks for when I had questions, you know, she was like immediately, here's what this is, here's what this means, and I can tell you that that's really beneficial to our committee, and we certainly look forward to working with you this summer/fall uh as we get ready to go into a long session. There's going to be maybe a lot more things that could happen. Uh and you just have my utmost appreciation for all the work that you do. Thank you. Senator Harris. Yeah, Laura, I also want to say thank you all the work that you did. Uh and and you to do. Uh um the old athletic director in me uh

141kind of perked my interest when I heard you say academic standards. And you may not have the answer for me, but if I could just get a snapshot of what Sure, it's actually a quite short answer. It um makes it so no school districts can have higher academic standards for their athletes to participate in sports in the CIAC standards. >> [laughter] >> I knew you weren't going to like it. We didn't like it either. Any other questions for the board? Very quick question, Morgan. Thank you for all your work. I apologize if Sorry, that's that's going to come forward to our committee. I apologize if I missed this. There was a bill that was proposed through the line special education funding to the decision about it. IEs essentially was like an alignment of then we

142had suggested legislation to that state. All about who pays for the IEs. Um that did not make it through. Clark, just you said real quickly again the co-instruction models did pass and then in fact we're going to be led by by SBE. Yes, the yes. And make sure that the feedback doesn't get missed in that since we possibly have We already have an established process and yeah, it's fine. Is that the one that didn't give us any resource for? They usually don't give us anything. Again, thank you for all of the work that you do, all of your team members do on behalf of the academic standards and assessment committee. When you have a moment if you could perhaps pull out of that which has passed, anything that tracks through the committee's responsibility in terms

143of academic standards and assessment so that we can continue to work with Dr. Hughes and with Irene and we will calendar that to our committee meetings in anticipation of presentations to the full board. Thanks. Absolutely. Again, thank you very much. My question is you mentioned something on uh teacher dismissal and that that will be changed. Does that change Connecticut General Statute 10-151 the process or does that break the things? Not positive off the top of my head Dr. Lavis about the statutory citation, but I can certainly put more information in an email and share it with the chair to share with the board. I think the community had something to add. >> [laughter] >> Yes, it does. It does and 151 back to the teacher termination process reference to both non-tenured teachers becoming a board

144for the doing it. And also agent What it actually does with respect to your teacher termination hearings back in the day when I used to do them in private practice a part-time panel Yeah. bound by the facts, but not bound by the recommendations. This is now the change a few years ago to a single one-person arbitrator. the tripartite and now what my statute will be bound both parties will be bound by the decision of the arbitrators. We will no longer have the ability to say, well, okay. Yeah, we're bound by these facts, but we think that it requires bound by the arbitrator and the only recourse is for parties then to to bar the arbitration award against the arbitration award. It's a pretty limited standard. Thank you. You're welcome. All right, thank you. I always

145thank you for answering all my questions whenever I call. I know I I appreciate it Laura. I she knows that I can, but I charged the team in the last few days of session that they can't go anywhere without their cell phones. And so, that's if Laura is calling, something's on fire. If she didn't answer right away. So, I really want to thank the team that stayed really, really late and answered a lot of questions. And so, I appreciate that. One of the things I will ask Laura to do, and I'm not sure which committee, is section 388 of the budget bill uh now allows districts, local boards board of education by majority vote to be able to request to to this board to for some financial oversight. Uh you probably heard that briefly in

146public comment. So, I think we need to have a con- conversation about that. And then Dr. Hughes wasn't busy. I pretty much decided to clear his plate to make sure he can work on that. Uh cuz there's an application process. There's a process that cycles back between us and OPPM and the Municipal Accountability Board. If those have come to our attention, so more work to be done. And but we'll be taking a look at that and sharing the process to be ready for it because the bill is now passed, but at any point I expect maybe we get we might get a phone call uh from a local board of education saying, "How do we do this?" Uh so, we're working on that. So, you'll you'll get more information on that. All right. Uh moving

147right along. Almost their mental health awareness month, John Frassinelli, uh coming to share a bit of information with us in the budget sheet uh with a brief overview on condition of education because I know last week condition of education we forgot about it. Morning, everyone. Morning, good morning. Nice to be here. Thank you. Um We talked the first slide. So, I'm going to start with a discussion about the school climate school health survey. I'll also refer to that as the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. It's a national survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Connecticut, it is completed by about 3,800 high school students in about 50 schools. So, the CDC determines which schools are required to participate and they identify which classes in those schools are required to participate. And under

148state statute, the schools and classes that are identified must participate. And that's part of the state statute. Students can opt out, but the schools do have to participate. And so, as I mentioned, it's about uh uh 3,800 students. It's done every other year. So, the last time it was done was in 2023. So, you'll see on the slides um there's a comparison in red from results from the 2023 survey uh to to the current survey. Then, those results from 2025 just came out last week. Uh the survey is encompasses all kinds of things. I'm obviously focusing on mental health, but there are 126 questions, everything from plans to go to college to uh exposures to sexual violence to texting while driving to did you eat carrots in the last 7 days? There's There's all kinds

149of things they ask. Uh and they've they've asked it for I We have data, you know, going back to 2010 or so. So, just a couple of things I want to highlight on the slide. Um under safety, as you know, there's a lot of work happening uh around attendance. Um through the department, we're working with school districts. You'll note that um the 8 and 1/2% of students reported that they did not go to school because they felt unsafe uh at school or on their way to school. And that number's down by uh 10.3%. Um focusing on the center box, we're talking about school, uh talking about wellness. 21% reported that their mental health was not good most or all of the time. And that question is related to the 30 days that 30 days prior

150to they them answering the question. So, that's a significant reduction, it's about a 24% reduction in those students answering. Important to note that they're not the same students year-to-year, they're brand new set of students every year. But, if if you can see, most of the numbers are moving in the right direction. So, the trends are are certainly positive. 31% felt sad or hopeless every day for 2 weeks. That is actually in the 12 weeks preceding that. So sad and so hopeless that they stopped doing some activities entirely because of their emotional state. Um, also suicidality, if you look at the box furthest to the right, 12% seriously considered suicide, which is down from 15.7% in in 2023. That's also a 24% reduction, significant reduction. Of course, any percent in that category is sad. Um, and

151attempted suicide went from 7.7 to 5.7, that's a 26% reduction. And you'll see we had and then we saw 13 youth suicides in the 2021 year. I have to update that number, we had a suicide on Monday. That was a Connecticut 13-year-old. So, that's that number is now 11. As a matter of fact, I want to acknowledge Kate Bohannon is our school mental health person, she's actually at the school this morning. She'll be going back next week to provide support to that school. Um, next slide, please. It's going to highlight some of the work that's happening in this area around mental health. Um Kate Bohanen uh and the team spearheaded a student support series for school mental health staff. I believe all this has been sent out information on that. So, if you want to

152get your card at 2:10, um we pull in partners from all over the place. We focus on youth mental health, school climate, substance use prevention, teen dating violence, uh suicide prevention, all kinds of uh things. Those are ongoing. They're monthly. Um they we have over We've had over 1,200 unique individuals participate in trainings. Um we get upwards of close to 500 people on each one. So, it's really amazing that the social workers get CEUs for that. So, it's really well attended. Um School climate specialists also attend, uh administrators, school-based health center clinicians, sometimes teams from school will participate, and sometimes they'll get the recordings and they'll use that as part of their professional development days um when they pull all the teams together. Um a really good friend of the department, Dr. Kanner, who is

153a pediatric pediatrician behavioralist at American Children's, um presented to one of these, and he said, "Presenting to this audience lets lets me indirectly to help so many more kids than I could ever see in my practice." Getting exponentially uh the number that's uh the number of kids that or the number of kids that are potentially impacted by this school line will come through. Um one of our presenters from the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services um said this is the most school staff she's ever been able to present to in her 20 years of doing substance use prevention work. So, um good stuff happens. Um the second bullet, school mental health resource kits is also in collaboration with the Department of Children and Families and Mental Health and Addiction Services. Um over 900 kits

154have gone out to schools. They're resources, information, handouts for students, handouts for adults, and um, resources where to find help if you need help. A lot of information on 211, 988, uh, and some others. We added, uh, approved private special education program this year, so we've been providing those kits to those 18 year olds absent. Handle With Care is a partnership with the Office of Early Childhood and the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. It's a often program. What happens is a school has an agreement of an informal agreement with the police so that if a student is exposed to some type of tragedy or some type of trauma in the community, um, and the police respond or fire responds, um, they will notify the school and not give any details about the incident,

155but will simply say, "So-and-so, Johnny had a, uh, was exposed to an incident last night. He might be coming to school dysregulated, so" they say, really, just says to the principal and the teachers, "It's Handle With Care." So, you know, uh, the teacher doesn't jump down the kid's throat if he doesn't do his homework or is always sleeping in class. It's really just like a nice, warm handout. Uh, the School-Based Diversion Initiative is one we've been doing for, I don't know, Commissioner, about 15 years, I think. Yeah. Um, overall since 2009, um, the success of that program has seen it 28% decrease in court referrals and a 22% increase in mobile crisis. So, overarching what we want to make sure that schools are doing in this, and in general, are instead of calling 911 for

156a dysregulated student, call 211. Mobile crisis can come and they can assist in that immediate situation and in the follow-up, uh, supports for that student. Um, I believe we've been in over 82 schools to date. Um, over 5,500 teachers have been part of the training, and that's impacted over 91,000. Um, that's ongoing. We had a We got another appropriation this year for that work. Um, and that's on ongoing. We'll be selecting new school for next year. The suicide prevention, I think I've talked about that here. It's a multi-agency uh work with youth mobile crisis, adult mobile crisis, emergency services, Department of Mental Health, Department Yeah. Um, these are There's a lot of prevention work happening about training for schools training for schools um but also uh both mentioned you know when a crisis occurs as

157I mentioned you know we deploy the team and and part of what the focus is is when we find out about a tragedy like that, we find out through the chief medical examiner who notifies the office of the child advocate who notifies us. And part of that is to galvanize support but also to stop uh you know everyone wanting to do something to assist which often happens so the school is not bombarded with everyone who wants to help you know in good faith wants to help. So we coordinate that so we can control that and we count to the superintendent's staff and what do you need when you need it, how do you need it and so that's how we sort of control it. So as I mentioned one of our staff is there today.

158Um, youth mobile crisis is there today, adult mobile crisis actually emergency also is there today. So um it's really all hands on deck. Um I think I think I'll pause there. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you for this report. It's always wonderful to see your update and how much work all your folks do to assist states. Questions or comments? Thank you, John. Uh as always uh so the board is aware it is a part of our state board plan and working uh cross sector to support our districts but people don't often know and it's so unfortunate. The team gets a notification, I get a notification, we get a chance to reach out to our students for attendance to say, "What can we do for you?" Which is so appreciated. We really do appreciate that.

159So, it's it's hard, but I certainly appreciate the staff and that work. And just a comment with your handle with care. I know a lot of our at least the district I was in, lots were used their SROs to help with that and that was To me, that was always why an SRO is worth having in a in a school. For that individual to come up to our team in the morning and say, "Hey, this is what happened last night. Just let him do what he wants to do and leave him alone. If he falls asleep, let him fall asleep." That's important and it was I'm glad that that's still something there cuz it is so meaningful to an educator to have that information right there. We have 12 districts participating. We have another 12

160who are preparing to do this. Do it again. Thanks, John. And finally, this morning in the report the Najeeb should be waiting up here just to do a very quick overview. We didn't get a chance to talk about the condition of education report last month and so he's just really here so you can ask me questions, but anyway. I'm just here to say good morning. We got one more minute. So, the condition of education was approved up this past month. So, this is really the quick highlights of what was in there. Um condition of education is kind of like the big picture overview that the US Department of Education does to Congress and to many states like you know, they get a model after that. It's in legislation that we have to provide this report.

161Um gives us a nice way to summarize. So, we We a few things in the condition of that we cover enrollment trends. We cover facts about students. We cover some facts about educators. And then we look at the instruction and resources and services and then performance and outcomes. Those are the sort of four buckets. In terms of enrollment, I think I've mentioned I've discussed this like a few board meetings before our enrollment declined in 24-25 for 2024. For the first time after a few pandemic years of stabilization. So there was a big decline of the pandemic in the 2021 year, but then it kind of stayed flat and then we had a decline in 24-25. I've also shared with you that there was a decline in 25-26 as well. Bigger declines among those eligible for

162free or reduced price meals and for the first time in a long, long time, decline in English learners population. But even after the decline, those numbers are still greater than 21-22 numbers or free or reduced price meal eligible students and the charter. So just >> [clears throat] >> try to keep that in context. In terms of our educators, one of the measures we look at is the demographic composition of our educators. Educators of color continue to inch up. And actually in 25-26, we're up to 12.6% of our educators and that includes all certified staff. So administrators are included as well in those numbers. And roughly this is about 6,735 educators in our state. The number of full-time equivalents and full-time equivalent, you know, two people working half time is one full-time equivalent. That count actually

163dropped slightly from 23-24 to 24-25. But where we see increases among certified staff is special education teachers and counselors, social workers, and school psychologists. So, we have student population with greater need, so you see some of those support services are starting to increase and paraeducators and the non-certified staff side have also seen increases. Uh we've talked a lot about chronic absenteeism and how those numbers and how the improvement continue to improve. Uh this year we're we're in general every month almost every month we're we're looking better than where we were the prior several years after the pandemic. It was slowly improving every year. And this year we're at a line last month uh last month meaning like end of March. We don't have end of April just yet, but end of March we were at

164about 17.2% and that was still better than the prior end of March as you well know. And so, we're hoping that all said and done when we look at it in June that we're better off. Uh we're going to be looking at that. In terms of our performance and test scores, we talked about we released that obviously previously and in 2024-25 for the first time we saw increases across all student groups in all subjects, something we hadn't seen really since 2014-15 start start bounce. We're not back to pre-pandemic levels, but things are heading in the right direction and that will be is state assessment season is happening right now for 2025-26 season for sure. Um she got that. I mean daily update. We get This this is high season. Um cohort graduation rates have stabilized.

165I mean there was a couple of years where declined slightly and that's the on-time rate. So, in 4 years. And and we all know with the pandemic some kids sort of uh lost a lot of ground, but we tried to keep them engaged. So, the 4-year rate actually uh for the 2024 each up slightly and a leading indicator is the ninth grade on track number actually as well. Yeah, not back pre-pandemic level getting there. We presented extensively on dual credit. That's another thing we look at. Huge huge increases there and I'm really eager to see this year because this 25-26 year I think we're going to see a I don't want to say that. I'm hoping that we see a real increase in 20 year overall increase. 25-26 Please really thrilled to see students of

166color, students of low-income families improving. Again, gaps are still there, but folks are improving which is great. And post-secondary entrance rates are improving as well. Well, actually they've kind of stabilized after the pandemic. Um but um we're in conversations with the National Student Clearinghouse as well about how we can get more current data. Uh because one of the things we do is we report all these students who are behind on our post-secondary entrance. And uh we're working on getting more current information so that you can look at within 6 months after a high school graduating class graduates like what is in the fall and what and where they go first. That's obviously a lot of interest. So that's something that we're kind of doing as well. We've mentioned the labor and earnings data and the

167one we did in our recent release was looking at registered apprentices and we actually are we have data that shows that they actually better uh even without a college credential. Those who have registered in the registered apprenticeship program. So we have that data as well. And in the community that I have we've talked about the wide array of initiatives that are underway to help improve those those numbers whether in all our offices, academics, talent, school improvement, school turn around, student supports. Um Yeah, across the board. And something in performance as well. I think that was high-level update. I think that's good. 5 minutes. So, I'll take any questions. Mr. Record. When you were talking about the FTEs that you referred to for that there was a slight decrease, are you counting positions or are you

168counting people? It's positions. So, it's it's FTEs of the assignment. Now, if somebody is working half time um in an assignment, and that's all they're doing, they're they're a 0.5 educator, then that educator would count 0.5. Let me ask you a different way. So, um there are currently in my science department, there are 11 teaching positions, but only eight are occupied by a person. Oh, that would only be So, that can't be eight, or that can't be It's eight. It's actively employed. It's actively working with assignments. Yes. So, that number is eight. Not vacant positions are not included. So, the decrease might be attributed to the fact that we have a lot of vacant positions. Our vacancies have come down as well, actually, statewide. The vacancies have declined as well. So, it's uh I would

169say it's not entirely uh I wouldn't attribute it to vacancies. I think there's some adjustment happening, especially we've seen um in uh 20 I'm I'm looking at some of the some of the numbers here. You know, for general education teachers, there's a slight decrease, and these are your core classroom teachers, and a slight decrease of like uh little over 200 FTEs statewide. Obviously, we've had huge enrollment declines over that over the time. Um there are declines, you know, again, proportional declines in like library media specialists uh positions. And And really going back to '21-'22 uh going back to even in uh you know, even from a single year like there have been some admin positions declined. There were some increases during COVID with all the grant processing and the new funds coming in and some

170of that maybe maybe uh maybe with nursing as well. So, it's just you know, it's it's kind of But then when you look at special education um paraprofessional and teachers and start those are increasing. Because even with this decline in population the percent of special ed has the one group that has actually improved. Is someone making Thank you. Thank you, Ed. I'm happy to get updates on the condition of education in Connecticut. Um first comment I mentioned last time, but I want to say it again now that we're out of the consent agenda. You know, the the top chart was the top charts was showing sort of inflation-adjusted spending uh per student in the state. Um Inflation-adjusted was new and I think it was really important and we saw how that played out in the

171debate over education funding. Legislature for the past couple thinking about real versus nominal spending. So, thank you for informing that debate. Uh inflation is coming in hot again. Uh you guys are following the news on that. So, it's probably going to be important for us to continue to do that in the future. So, I hope this is motivation that can stay. This um Very good. And I know the only other comment I have maybe for next time uh you know, uh thinking about how Connecticut is doing in the context of other states is is also sort of an important thing. And I'm not really asking you to elaborate on that now, but when we think about how the state of Connecticut is doing high school graduation, how are we really doing as a state? Are

172there things that are reflect uh student population and the overall conditions of the country? Are there things that reflect our specific governance? And in that case, I think it's a fair comparison. The level is perhaps next year. Yeah, I'm happy to happy to do that. The graduation data at the federal level because they get our data, they lag even further from where I'm getting. So, if I were to do this like a state by state, I end up having to go back even further. NAEP obviously is the best assessment information. We'll see if we still have that. Yeah, so the Department of Education at the federal level is very much committed to the NAEP program. Very much so, and in fact, there was a meeting >> [laughter] >> There is a meeting actually a NAEP

173meeting tomorrow and day after in uh in DC and my colleague, Chris, uh in the you chairs one of the subcommittees that informs NAEP's work. So, he's actually headed there tomorrow. Or NAEP. So, NAEP is still very much uh Anything you want to share about the assessment um and and the report being released today? Yeah, there was uh there were uh researchers from Harvard and Stanford do this um >> [snorts] >> uh mapping of state assessment results using the NAEP mapping to show district by district change in performance nationally. Um as well as some state level measures. I don't know if you saw that result this morning. The State for Education Data Archive. Yeah, they use that data um and then they analyze it to do the do the measures which I'm obviously familiar with

174with Sean Reardon and Tom Kane's work. So, um so yeah, so that uh report just landed today. They also looked at some state level numbers and I think I I'll say that uh Connecticut held up fairly well in those in those measures and when it comes to reading um you know, we didn't and we've said this in our past that when we release our name results that we're actually holding our own with with our reading results and we are seeing recovery in math. Um so I think that those results are born out in in those types of studies as well and because they use the underlying scale score for those mapping and we use the scale score in our accountability calculations, the districts we highlight as rising stars in Connecticut are the are pretty much

175the same ones that they identify as well. There are some things in the national narrative that don't fit as well for Connecticut like um the national narrative is that achievement was declining even prior to the pandemic and that really doesn't bear out with our state assessment. Like we were actually improving in both subjects we were and and especially with our investments in some of the early literacy work in grade three. So it just it's you know, but that is the national picture so but not everything sort of lines up nicely for Connecticut. Very good. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah, I I think the one here is like that context I think is helpful for us to think about too. Each um Thank you very much as always and I know it was a

176little lengthy a lot Yeah, but We did okay. Before we move on to section eight, I just want to jump back to committee reports and Dr. Pritchard if you would give us the update on C techs. Thank you. Sorry you didn't need to do that but I was late this morning because we had a program start with Bombardier today and our CT Aero program uh we're helping them to uh train some of their comfortable in the style. It was exciting to to be part of that and it does lead me to an update I would give which is that the administration and the legislature did give CTEC some resources in the budget this year to expand our adult ed programming um and so we're looking at some of that um We're very excited because I

177think we we're under sized there. We We again our our enrollment looks like we're going to get close to our 1,200 12,000 students again. So we have no more room to make room for them. We currently have uh programming room uh for the adult population. So we're looking forward to that. I'll just mention uh two other things. I I I'm excited that the commissioner is leading the K-12 funding um work and again I we're not part of that and I don't know that we want to be part of that, but um it does when you decide what it really cost, I do want to make sure that we're using that information to guide how we should think about CTEC's education as well. That's week. Again, sometimes get lost in the mix. Um and then also

178very excited to be part of the pathways commission which will start its work next week. Um and I've already been approached by a number of comprehensive districts to say how can we partner um and do this work together. I think it will be very promising pathways as well. So thank you for letting me report late in the agenda, but very happy to be here today. Thank you. Thank you for that. And for the board's information, we will be going to a CTEC school for our retreat in August. Sometimes it feels like a public school. So I haven't been in a tech school in quite some time. So our retreat will be held there. Thank you for that. I have a motion item 8A the approval of Christian's network extension year for Barnum School in Bridgeport.

179I'll move. Second. I think something's going on. >> [clears throat] [laughter] >> As I reported earlier, Barnum School just came to accountability. So. I don't know. It's not even 2 weeks I got to do. So, I mean, it's very difficult. Thank you. Oh. Good to see you again. Good morning. In your board packets, for your consideration, is the executive summary outlining Barnum School request for an extension in the Commissioner's Network. With me today at the table from the CSDE is Jennifer Webb, the bureau chief for the turnaround office. Marge Hughes, assistant superintendent of Bridgeport Public Schools. Christine Christine Austin, um principal of Barnum School, and Dr. Voigt Avery, interim superintendent of Bridgeport Public Schools. Section 10- 23H of the Connecticut General Statutes established the Commissioner's Network to provide new resources, increased flexibilities, and greater accountability

180to improve student achievement in some of the state's lowest performing schools. The Commissioner's Network is a commitment between local stakeholders and the State Department of Education to improve student achievement in up to 25 schools. There are 13 schools presently participating in the Commissioner's Network. Schools are accepted in the Commissioner's Network for a minimum of 3 years. Although statute provides the state board of education with the opportunity to extend the members network for up to 2 years. For the reasons for this reason alone Barnum school is being recommended to remain in the commissioner's network. At this time Jennifer Webb will provide you an overview of improvements, including areas of focus and next steps if an extension is approved. Good afternoon everyone. I'm here to give a little bit of context about Barnum school. Barnum serves approximately

181588 students in grades pre-kindergarten through grade eight. 95% of their students are eligible for free or reduced price meals. 30% are identified as students with disabilities and 38% are multilingual learners. When Barnum entered the network three years ago, their audit identified some persistent challenges related to low academic achievement, high chronic absenteeism, inconsistent instructional practices, limited differentiation, underdeveloped professional learning and data systems, and the need for greater instructional coherence to improve student outcomes schoolwide. In response, Barnum implemented a focused turnaround plan that was centered on strengthening instructional coherence, improving attendance and student engagement, building staff capacity through professional learning, and using data-driven systems to support consistent, high-quality instruction and intervention. Barnum has demonstrated some encouraging signs of progress throughout its time in the network. Most notably, the school recently exited turnaround status in this past year

182and is now identified as a category three school. This is an important milestone for them and it reflects that the school is moving in a positive direction. Additional areas of progress include that they have a five-point increase in the overall accountability index and they had significant gains in both ELA and mathematics growth indicators. They have stronger instructional assistance through expanded coaching, collaborative planning, and greater consistency in tier one instruction. There's an increased investment in staff capacity and retention mentoring supports and instructional coaching. And there are continued efforts to strengthen staff climate and student engagement through PBIS structures, restorative practices, attendance supports, and family engagement initiatives. While Barnum has demonstrated meeting progress over the past three years, the data and ongoing implementation work indicate that additional time and support are necessary to fully sustain and accelerate

183these improvements. Therefore, the CSDE is recommending approval of a fourth year in the Superstars Network to allow them time to continue strengthening instructional consistency, attendance systems, intervention supports, and professional learning structures. So, at this at this time, I'd like to turn it over to the Barnum team so they can talk a little bit more about their plans moving forward if granted a year four. Thank you. I I I want to emphasize, you know, turnaround is all about leadership, right? And 2 years ago, uh Ms. Watkins was the principal at this school. Uh I had an opportunity to interview her and and her whole focus about doing good things for kids, you know, resonated with me. So, we hired her as the principal. So, I want to give her an opportunity to showcase the things that

184she does uh and how she impacts not only her staff, but her families and her children. So, uh Ms. Watkins. Thank you so much for having me here. I don't know how close I can get. >> [laughter] >> Um this is a lot more intimidating than the last meeting where there were only a couple of you. Um, but I'm really excited to be here today asking for the extension with the pressure network. We have definitely seen a lot of progress with our continuation of systems. Um, we definitely have a lot of work still to do, um, particularly with a focus on um, continued work with differentiation to support our students with special needs and um, our growing population of students who speak English as a second language. Um, one of the things that I've really

185been reflecting on about furniture network is the support and that network piece of it because I know we talked a lot about um, funding as a support with our initiatives and work with the school, but I was thinking and reflecting in preparation for this meeting about just that partnership that we have with um, Greg and Jen and and with all the turnaround team here at the state, but also with other principles um, across the city and other schools across the city. A lot of our attendance initiatives and work came directly out of our next time visit last March um, to Smalley Elementary. Um, they don't know this, but I stole so much of what they're doing um, and you know, to try to implement this year to focus on chronic absenteeism. The CAST conferences every

186year um, and just the ability to um, brainstorm with Greg and say, "Hey, you know, we're struggling with this." And he'll say, "Hey, let me put you in touch with somebody else." Or here's another idea um, that other schools have been trying. That network piece is so valuable. And so I really would be seeking your support to move forward um, with that support if we get your support. The board? You enjoyed that you steal things from other schools. >> [laughter] >> And that's what we try to promote is doing that. And um, before we go to a formal vote, I do want you to explain half-day hats in this group because One of our big pushes this year for chronic absenteeism is that message into the parents that it's a half day of instruction but

187a full day learning for students. When we think about the scheduling structure it's going to make sure we still have the full math block and the yellow block on half days. But we also want to incentivize students wanting to be at school. We we're looking at some data and knowing that our half days are particularly tough attendance-wise and then also I was speaking last year with one of the directors and just to we were looking at some attendance data and how December has such high student attendance rates because everybody has Christmas parties and fun things going after the holidays and visits, you know, and performances. And so we were thinking about how to really make those half days fun. And so our half days are very fun at Barnum and everyone to come on a

188half day. Our next one's June 3rd, I believe. But we have half-day half-day. So everyone in the school can wear a hat and the students love it cuz they can't wear a hat any other time. And so it's just one of the ways that we try to make half day half days more fun and encouraging for families to attend. I'd like to spotlight those innovative things. So Yes. Just a comment but thank you. I know Bridge Board you were commended commendation for addressing chronic absenteeism. So thank you for making it fun. I'm also pleased to share with this board that we did get $7 million in state funds for the first time in our budget to support LEAP which I know that you all are part of. So that's going to be there. But thank

189you because we recognize how pivotal and critical attendance is to the student outcomes that we're looking for. Right? Being present is critical. So thank you for that. All those in favor of the approval of the Commissioner's Network Extension Year for Barnum School, please say I. All those opposed? I mean balance. I want to I want to also thank Mark Hughes and my two executive directors, Dr. Jose Martinez and Cindy they've done a really good job of supporting the turnaround campuses and being able to do what they do. I think that's important. So Mark's experience from the state to Bridgeport has been tremendously impactful and then being able to kind of work through that and understand what turnaround is all about. This is a whole different philosophy and then my background in turnaround has really helped

190to support that work. I think and we had three schools off the off the turnaround list this year and the best is yet to come. So, yes. Thank you. Thank you. I have a motion for item 8B, the renewal of the state charter achievement first Hartford Academy. Second. Okay. I can simply read that. What? Two. Question. >> We put the opportunity to present the renewal recommendation for Achievement First Hartford Academy. I am joined today by elementary school principal Lady Clouse, middle school principal Jessica Al-Hassani, high school principal Lita Thomas, and governing council chair Edwin Perste. In your board packet is the executive summary of the Achievement First Hartford Academy for your consideration. Achievement First Hartford Academy is completing its 18th year of operation. Its mission is to prepare students to deepen their knowledge of self

191and community and to excel in college, career, and life. As a part of the renewal process, the department conducted a comprehensive review including an on-site visit, document analysis, sought written comment, and public hearing. No comments in opposition were received. The results of this review highlight several areas of strength. Achievement First Hartford Academy shows solid academic performance with an accountability index of 67.3, minimal gaps between student groups, declining chronic absenteeism, which has been substantial, and sustained family engagement. These indicators reflect a strong instructional foundation and a committed school community. At the same time, the renewal process identified several systems that must be strengthened to fully support paying the school's academic success. Achievement First Hartford is moving from strong instruction to equally strong systems, particularly in governance, finance, and operational practices. And for these structures will ensure

192that services for multilingual learners and students with disabilities are consistent, well-documented, and aligned to state requirements. These improvements are already in motion. They represent a clear opportunity to reinforce the foundations that support the school's academic vision. The areas requiring open improvement are well-defined in the executive summary. The school has committed to corrective actions with clear timelines. In the areas of governance and finance management, in the areas of English language learner services, and in the areas of special education. Together, these actions and conditions for renewal will strengthen the system leading to support student academic work. Based on the school's overall performance and its planned corrective actions, the CSDE recommends a 3-year renewal with conditions. With these strengthened systems in place, Achievement First Hartford will be well-positioned to sustain its outcomes and its impact, and continue fulfilling

193its mission to students and families. At this time, we will hear from Principal Benita Thomas, and then afterwards, the Governing Board speaks. Good morning, Commissioner and members of the State Board of Education. My name is Leticia Thomas and I'm the Chief Network Support for High School Principals. The New Haven Morning News article achievement first Hartford Principals. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today and for your thoughtful review of our renewal application. Over the past charter term, we are proud of the progress achieved. With the support of our governing council, we have reduced chronic absenteeism, improved math and ELA achievement, and increased teacher certification rates. Chronic [clears throat] absenteeism decreased significantly from 29.8% in 22-23 to 15.7% in 24-25. The school performance index increased from 48.6 to 51.7 in math apologies, and from 58.9 to

19460 in ELA over the charter term. Smarter Balanced growth grows from 34.9% to 66.5 of target in math, and from 54.8 to 60.6 in ELA. We've expanded support for students and families, strengthened our committed and mission-driven staff, and fostered a school culture where students feel seen, challenged, and supported. At the same time, we recognize there are areas that we must improve. We have already begun taking action to strengthen support in ELA and ML students, to improve special education services, and continue increasing teacher certification. For teacher certification, we are investing in both educator retention and certification. And have increased our traditional certification rates from 36% to 40.30%. For the second year in a row, we will be providing a retention incentives to our traditionally certified teachers. They're also on track to reach at least 50% traditionally

195certified by fall of 2027 with 18 educators pursuing their full certification by then. For special education, we are strengthening recruitment and retention through targeted hiring strategies, certification incentives, and signing bonuses for sped certified teachers along with stipends to support critical special education roles. For EL and ML students, we will leverage the ARC Tail program to support teachers in becoming certified to teach English language learners. We approach this work with accountability, urgency, and a strong commitment to legal compliance. Together with our governing council, we remain committed to continuous improvement and to ensuring that every student receives the high-quality education and support they deserve. We respectfully request the renewal of our charter and thank you for your partnership, commitment to educational excellence, and family choice. Good afternoon, State Board of Education members. I am Irvin T. Herring,

196Sr., the chair of the Governing Council of Achievement First Hartford Academy. The Achievement First Hartford Academy Governing Council appreciates the opportunity to highlight the academic achievements of the school as well as the Governing Council's oversight and commitment to our students and families. We strive to enhance our partnership with the community to support the children daily. Achievement First Hartford Academy has demonstrated growth in ELA and math, on track to graduation and post-secondary entrance. We know that with improved governance, the school will continue to excel. I want to address the specific review findings. Our board is in full agreement. We know Achievement First Hartford Academy's current governance has not met all the state standards, and our students and families need our full oversight. Today, I will share the steps we've taken to make sure we're meeting the

197expectations of the charter school legislation. We are moving forward with three main areas of structural reform. Restoring representative governance. We are quickly filling the open teacher and parent representative positions. These voices matter more than just compliance. They are central to our school's culture. Operational discipline and quorum. To successfully meet quorum, we have changed how we schedule and track attendance. We now use a board governance calendar with set dates and required RSVP system to make sure we have enough members present. We've also [clears throat] moved our meeting records online, so every meeting is documented with clear, accessible minutes. And onboarding and professional development. We are starting required onboarding and yearly training for all our board members. This training covers financial leadership and governance, so our board stays focused on responsible spending and stays actively involved in

198student success. We have also worked to close the gap between board leadership and school administration. Going forward, all our school principals are expected to attend all our board meetings. This helps make sure financial strategic decisions reflect what's really happening in our classrooms. We are taking a proactive approach. Our processes will be revised to support teachers in closing the achievement gap, focusing on academic accountability, and helping our students grow literacy and excellence. We have learned from our renewal process that Achievement First Hartford Academy is still an important place for our students. And we are still focused on making our mission a reality. Thank you for your time and working with us to uphold these standards. After the presentation. I have one question about um I know you said a significant change in your certification requirements, how

199you had uh 17 out of out of compliance and it's down to, I believe, 12. But still under the um by 50%. What is your What are your uh things in process to remedy remedy that? So, we have a number of teachers who are currently enrolled in teacher certification programs. Most of those will likely be on track for certification and pending teachings as well. Um and so, given the current ratio that teachers are either currently doing or pending applications, that's the that we think will be done. We will be on track to target 75% on my apologies for the question. We have a vote on the renewal of the charter, State Charter of Achievement, First Hartford Academy. All in favor, signify and I. I. Opposed? Okay, it carries. Congratulations. We did it. I want a

200motion on item 8C, the consideration for approval of certification for Letonya Wilson. So, moved. Vice Chair Venom and board members, good afternoon. On behalf of the talent office, we come before you today with two waiver approval requests. The first is for Ms. Latanya Baskin, who is seeking number 165 special education certification, and the second is for Mr. James Murphy, who is seeking the number 305 elementary pre-K 6 Dr. King Lu Richardi unit 42 school certification. Here to present and provide additional information regarding these waiver requests to give you a free better reason. Good afternoon, State Board of Education members. Latanya Baskin completed a Master of Arts in Special Education at Southern Connecticut State University, which included the required dyslexia-related course content and supervised practicum. She passed the Praxis II Special Education and received a score

201of 239 on the Foundations of Reading test, missing the passing score of 240 by one point. If Pearson offered a bridge option in Connecticut like the ETS Praxis II test, she would qualify for that alternative testing option. Ms. Baskin has successfully has been successfully serving as a special education teacher for the Bridgeport Public Schools since August 2021. The district strongly supports her candidacy as a special education teacher, citing her knowledge, skills, and commitment to student learning and well-being. The district also highlighted its commitment to continue to support her professional growth, particularly in the areas of reading instruction through ongoing instructional coaching and aligned professional development. If Ms. Baskin's request for initial educator certificate is granted, she must meet all requirements necessary at the time of application to advance to the next level of certification, including

202but not limited to successful completion of the beginning educator induction program and professional experience. Thank you. Any questions? All in favor of the approval of certification for Latonya Vasquez for 165 comprehensive special education 12. I like opposed. She carries congratulations, Ms. Vasquez. I motion for item 8D, the consideration for approval of certification for James Murphy. I moved. Second. Good afternoon again. James Murphy successfully completed the coursework for the correct teacher residency program, which included the required dyslexia related course content and supervised practicum. He passed the Praxis II elementary reading, math, and social studies test and the Praxis II bridge elementary science test. His Pearson Foundations of Reading score reports verify an entire score of 239 out of the 240, missing it by one point. However, it's still within one standard error of measurement of the

203passing score, and if they had a Praxis II bridge option in Connecticut uh for Pearson, he would have been able eligible for that option. Mr. Murphy began his career as a paraprofessional within Norwich Public Schools in 2014, and since 2022 has been serving successfully as a grade six math teacher under temporary authorizations. The district strongly supports his candidacy, citing his deep dedication to the profession and strong instructional skills, which contribute to him being an effective educator and role model for his students. If Mr. Murphy's request for the initial educator certificate is granted, he must meet all requirements to advance to the next level, including but not limited to team, beginning educator program, a master's degree, and additional professional I can questions All in favor for the consideration of approval of the certification for James Murphy.

204I can say that. All right. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much. May I just um Uh before you move, uh Dr. Ricardo, could you just say just a little bit people are thinking [clears throat] this this bridge is not available option, but it's being discussed. It is. We have a We're We're planning a talent office call with um with Pearson in June or July of this year. They are going to come and talk to us about a myriad of different topics. One being their alternative testing option, what it would entail, but also other things like how our candidates who may be struggling could best prepare if they have kind of what they call referred to as like a little boot camp, which can help them if they're not successful break down the test score,

205and then support them with additional professional learning to be better next time they can. That's another thing we're talking about because we want to be able to advertise that information more, but it's just come to our knowledge that they're now offering those options. Thank you. I just wanted the board to be aware that [clears throat] we are learning from what we're understanding from these applications as well. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Next item, item nine, financial matters. I see Laura again. That's right. So, uh Laura was very fast when she talked about legislative sessions, so I just wanted to give you a really overview of the funding that we received. Okay, so um I'll try and get through this quickly, just one page. Um in terms of ECS choice special education funding formulas,

206um there's no change relative to the current law for any of the major education funding formulas including ECS, charters, magnets, vo-ags, open choice, excess costs, and the seed grant. Funding is budgeted for the first year of operations of Tiago Co-Lab, New Haven, which received a planning grant for fiscal year 26. The budget funds planning grants of 75,000 for three new charter schools, Olin Stamford, Crown Academy in Ansonia, and Tiago Co-Lab Waterbury. As for some new major initiatives, 5 million is dedicated to continue COVID every school-based mental health grant um initiatives. 2 million to begin implementation of a statewide literacy strategy, which will be literacy coaches. 12.5 million for free school breakfast for children eating reduced-price lunch. 2 million to continue a COVID era teacher apprenticeship program. And 1 million um reduction in funding to the

207high-quality special education incentives grant is scheduled to begin in fiscal year 27. As for supplemental education funding, the budget contains 172.9 million in supplemental education aid to municipalities distributed across two grants, the supplement education aid grant and the disaster relief and compensatory um use learning aid grant or Dracula. Um the 152.2 million of this subtotal required by the budget is built into um the ECS appropriation for fiscal 28. An additional 17.8 million in total is distributed to the education choice programs, including 5.5 million for RESC magnets, 2.75 million for BOE magnets, 8.7 million for charter schools, and 800,000 for VOAGs. And lastly, 3 million is appropriated for the department to administer this funding and engage in enhancing oversight of certain districts in conjunction with the municipality accountability review board. Thank you, Alyssa. Lots of millions.

208Okay. Thank you, Laura. You're welcome. I have a motion for item 10, the consent agenda. So moved. Very good. I'll move just to take anything off the consent. I'll vote for this one item on the consent agenda. All those in favor signify by saying aye. I'll vote opposed. Motion carried. All right. Can I have a motion for item 11, um education evaluation support council update. Good afternoon again. Today we are pleased to provide an update on Connecticut's evolving educator evaluation and support system, known as EES. As you are aware, the EES council, led by Sharon Fuller and Jessica Ocasio, engaged a broad range of stakeholders, some of whom are present today, to reimagine an evaluation system that strengthens educator practice while supporting student growth and success. Now second year of implementation, council members continue to

209gather feedback and observations from the field, identifying strengths in the system and highlight areas for continued refinement. Only Early feedback indicates that the streamline process, differentiated role expectations, and emphasis on continuous professional learning and timely feedback are helping educators focus more intentionally on teaching and learning. These insights will continue to guide the council's ongoing discussions, future work to ensure the system remains meaningful, supportive, and impactful for educators and students across Connecticut. Today you will hear directly from council members regarding the outcomes and the feedback they are receiving from their constituents, as well as their recommendations for next steps. I'll now turn it over to our legal counsel, Attorney Oakley. Thank you, Dr. Tucker, and good afternoon, everyone. Um I also want to say that we're we're here with Mary Jordan, who's one of our GPS

210council members, who will also be sharing some updates. So to begin with, um just as a reminder, um we had a a council for the evaluation and the evaluation and support council was represented multiple stakeholders, um teacher unions, administrator unions, um the RESC Alliance, educator prep programs, uh CAPSS, and CAS, who all worked together um for several years to develop the guidelines for educator evaluation and support, and we adopted this board adopted them in August of 2023, and then following that a state model leader in educator evaluation and support plan. That plan is aligned to the the guidelines, and districts have the opportunity to adopt that model plan as is, to propose amendments to one or more of the components of the plan, and those amendments and also have to align with the guidelines, or

211districts could develop their own um grassroots plan that align with the guidelines. Um in collaboration with the RESC Alliance, the SDE had a contract funded by our SR funds to support the successful implementation of the new evaluation and support process. So, over the course of a couple of years, um the RESC Alliance um provided trainings and technical assistance. Um And you'll see at the bottom there, um some of those most requested trainings included um trainings for evaluators because with the new requirements focused on professional learning, professional practice, and growth, we wanted to make sure that evaluators knew what they we should be looking for when they evaluated educators and leaders. Um effective professional development and evaluation committee. You heard Annie Gilbert common from Jocelyn DeLancey who um wasn't able to stay for the for the

212day, but she as well as other council members um strongly advocate for PED acts to continue to be um continue to meet and be actively engaged in monitoring these um implementation of the evaluation and support process, but also to have a voice in the professional learning that aligns to the guidelines. Um goal setting and effective feedback. Again, we we needed to make sure that um educators and leaders understand the change in the goal setting, moving away from ratings and and and numbers um to really focusing on professional practice that really would have the intended outcome of improving teaching and learning for staff and students. The professional learning plan institute was a day long um day long training where educators and their evaluators and also leaders and their evaluators got together to develop high quality professional

213learning plans and to really put some thought into professional learning pathways that would support their professional growth plans. That was I think one of the favorites. Um or next slide, please. Um, and you heard from Jocelyn earlier this morning, so we'll we'll we'll pass on that. All of her all of her comments are here. Um Fran Rabinowitz, the executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents. She was not able to be here, but and she [clears throat] was she's thankful for the opportunity to share a partnership that CAPS has with WestEd. And this is a professional learning opportunity to support principals. So this is for their principal supervisors who are typically central office administrators who focus on evaluation and coaching of principals. It's a 7-month professional learning program. Um, it will um help

214[clears throat] principals to build their supervisory skills and coaching in the performance evaluation process and also to engage with principal principal supports. It it offers the participants an opportunity to exchange ideas and advice among each other and also with Connecticut principal supervisors. Currently, there are 38 participants in this first cohort of the supervisors of principal academy. And Um, hear from >> [clears throat] >> the updates from other council members that there really is a need to focus more on the principles and the leaders in this evaluation process if we want them to really focus on the educators and again for outcomes for our students. And now I will turn this over to Mary Yordan who is one of our EES council members, also a teacher in Norwalk and AFT president in Norwalk. All right, thank

215you. Thank you very much. Uh, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this update. Um, of course we appreciate the work that you've done to bring us to this point and the leadership of the State Department of Education particularly we from Sharon and Shauna. I am Mary Yordan, I'm the president of the Norwalk Federation of Teachers. I'm a member of AFT and on the executive board of AFT that was through AFT Connecticut that I uh, came to this committee. The new evaluation model is grounded on seven guiding principles that are there on that slide. I thought it would be useful to reach out to local leaders and their teams throughout Connecticut to find out how well have we done in we have the vision, we have the implementation, we have the the paperwork, we

216devised all of these the guidance, uh, with each PEDEC and each district created their own plans, but how is it doing in reality on the ground? And I have great news. Um, these principles, differentiating roles, reducing burden, focusing on what really matters, supporting the whole child, promoting educator growth and agency, aligning with professional learning, and providing specific, timely, actionable, and reciprocal feedback, our new model represents a really big improvement for educational practice. This is all about educator growth so we can better serve our students so they can learn. Um 75% of the respondents to our survey agreed that the new process fosters effective [clears throat] two-way communication between educators and evaluation. Really high-quality conversations about practice. Timely, interactive, high-quality discussions focused on teacher practice informed by what's happening in the real world in their classrooms

217and work site observations between the evaluator and the teacher. This is essential to improve improving teacher practice. Theoretical discussions are great, but discussions of the actual choices and decisions related to real circumstances recently experienced can go so much further. Administrators use use of coaching type questions is also essential. So, the the trainings have been have been remarkable and effective. A majority of respondents all reported improvements in recognizing differentiation of roles, reducing unnecessary burdens, and maintaining a focus on priorities. Educators report greater autonomy in setting individualized goals, increased opportunities for sustained focus on those goals, and stronger collaboration with colleagues. This is wonderful. We are a leader in the country. This is not happening in other places. These findings mark a really uh notable progress from where we were 3 years ago. We had a system

218that was fairly punitive, as we brought brought to you previously, characterized by complex rubrics, compliance-driven processes, and limited emphasis on educator practice. At the same time, where we are now, the implementation seems uneven across districts and sometimes even within districts. And that's why we are asking for increased trainings. Uh, we are looking for additional time for goal setting and orientations. We know what we're doing. We learn about the system, we can better implement it. Um, time-intensive data collection still too often continues to detract from meaningful professional work. And some respondents report a return to practices that should have ended like dictated teacher goals. But overall, we find the new system reflects important progress, great success, very positive responses. It underscores the need for continued autonomy and ongoing training to ensure consistency and high-quality implementation. The

219new evaluation model holds strong potential to support meaningful, sustained professional growth and therefore improved student outcomes. Realizing that potential will require more attention to the implementation, educator training and autonomy, alignment with the system's core purpose, supporting high-quality learning and teaching. Thank you. Thank you, Mary. Next, um, I'm going to share, um, comments from Brandy Piore, who is one of the co-chairs of the Connecticut Federation of School Administrators. Um, she was here, but she had to leave for a work appointment. Um, basically, she she wanted the, um, the board to know that her organization represents 79 districts with over 1,100 administrators in the state of Connecticut. So, that's her perspective. What she's seen in the um what she's seen in the past year and a half or so are beneficial findings for administrators um in that

220they can focus on their own professional growth. I think administrators are are pretty much used to evaluating educators, but sometimes they don't give themselves that the attention that they they deserve. Um having the opportunity to have multi-year professional learning pro- professional learning plans has been an added plus. Um I think we all know that sometimes when administrators um work to have put something in place, it it takes longer than a year sometimes. So, that multi-year growth has been a a plus. Um implementation for real-time observation of practice and next steps for growth. There have always been times for um observation, but this model is set up so that administrators can get next steps for their growth in a timely fashion, and that's been very beneficial as well. Um multiple measures to show that there is

221improved professional learning from administrators has also been very much welcomed. So, it's not just about like the the scores and the percentages and things like that and the ratings, but they can actually use artifacts. They can um have demonstrations. There's multiple ways that they can show that they are improving their practice. In terms of areas of focus, um she said that they have um observed that there's some variation across the state in the evaluation of leaders. So, that's one thing that our EPS Council will be discussing in one of our next um upcoming meetings. Um she said there is a need to have more of a focus on the administrator evaluation and support. >> Dr. Alicia Bowman was also here earlier this morning and she she said that she had to leave, but she represents

222the Connecticut Association of Schools and she also welcomes the opportunity to share with you something that CAS is doing to support administrators and she had her notes, so I'm just going to read from her from her notes. She thanks you for the interest in learning more about how CAS is supporting leaders and educators with effective implementation of the evaluation and support plan. At CAS, their primary audience is school leaders, principals and assistant principals. And what they have found from her member the members and supported by research is that in a cyclical growth model, it is essential for leaders to be able to take a coach approach, that's in quotes. Over the past two years, CAS has been offering professional learning that is titled Coaching for Growth, Expanding Your Tools to Build Capacity. In this interactive

223workshop, they provide the research behind why coaching is key to challenging, supporting and growing the capabilities of educators through experiential learning. Key concepts include leading with curiosity, engaging in active listening, recognizing unconscious bias, understanding the complexities of a multi-generational workforce and providing feedback versus feed forward. Coaching for growth advances the skills of our leaders no matter what district or position, whether they are an early career leader or a seasoned veteran. CAS will continue to offer this professional learning, so if in-district student CAS during the 2026-2027 school year. And I just um having another slide but um I just wanted to just kind of share a summary of year one, the 24-25 school year was a learning year um for everyone. All the all the requirements were new. Um you know, districts were really keyed into

224am I doing this correctly? Am I aligning with the the new requirements? Um but there was a there was a mindset shift focused um to to focus more on professional practice and um to improve student learning, growth, and achievement. Um I mentioned earlier we had the technical assistance and trainings that were at no cost to the districts. Now fast forward, we're at the end of year two. And this has been a year of um districts we find in the implementation of the new requirements. They are finding ways to be more efficient as Mary mentioned. Um they are welcoming the simplification of many parts of the process. Um they appreciate the differentiation in roles. So these are the new requirements apply to classroom teachers and non-classroom teachers. They apply to school administrators and central office administrators.

225So there's room for differenti- differentiation of roles. Um they've also um are um embracing the opportunity to focus on professional learning and growth. And again, next steps for EES council members, some of the things that you heard in the presentations you heard, more of a focus on leaders, um ensuring that PEDs continue to meet, and also providing time for all of these processes to take place. These are things that we will discuss at our next EES council meeting. Thank you. Yeah. Questions from the board? Dr. Lovelace. Thank you for this. It's very good I was part of the back then as you know, Sharon and working with the original one. And I I think it was very cumbersome, it was well organized, but we had a lot of paperwork to do. >> [laughter] >> My

226question is, you still have the piece of standards for leaders, but we still have the common core CCT for teachers, the standards for them. We have the remain the same. We have the common core teaching for leaders, I see for educators, and the common core of leading. Those are Connecticut school leaders standards and leaders. We we we still have our Connecticut leader standards, but we advocating for leaders to use the professional standards for educational leaders. They are a little bit like updated, and include some of the standards that are our Connecticut leader standards don't cut on This is all on the website for the state. Yes. As someone who lives under this every single day in my own life, I just want to echo the comments that were said. I very much appreciate now that

227I can set a goal that is related to my professional growth about something that I am interested in learning, or a subject that I want to do. I appreciate the fact that I can now have this goal with peers in my building, or in a different building, and work collaboratively towards something. I also appreciate the fact that I can modify that goal during the year, or that I can have it be a multi-year goal, because as you said, a lot of time it takes more than say, it's not even a whole academic year, because by the time you do goal setting, it's November. And by the time you're finishing up, it's the end of May. So, you really want to impact systemic change in something, you need more than 7 months. So, the ability to

228have a goal that spans two or three academic years life-changing to so many of us. I also hear very much the same feedback about PIIX needing to meet on a regular basis, particularly around professional learning in districts. So often I speak with teachers in other districts, my PIIX I sit on it, it meets every single month. And when I speak to teachers about their wants and needs about professional learning, and I said like, "Well, why don't you take that to your PIIX?" They look at me like I'm what would Why would I do that? Or what is that for? There doesn't seem to be a broad-based understanding that the implementation is that PIIX should be meeting on a regular basis and should be reviewing, driving, developing, and evaluating the quality of professional learning in the

229district. So, I absolutely agree with that recommendation. And I also, from my own peer feedback nationally, people are jealous of what we are doing here in Connecticut. My teaching peers in other states still live under what I now like the old way of doing things. And I'm proud to be able to say on a national level, yeah, we don't do it that way in Connecticut anymore. Why don't you come on over here? I'll >> [laughter] >> Come on over here, we have jobs waiting for you. But it is a source of pride for me when I'm out nationally being able to talk about this evaluation system that we have had now for the past 2 years because it is I think the gold standard in our country, and it's what other states should aspire to.

230So, thank you for your work. Thank you. I'll back up those comments as being both comments as being very cumbersome old plan being being an evaluator. Um, it was paperwork galore and never felt like you got under under it. It is a a plan that is recognized across the country. It's work that's now years, is it? Years that the committee started. Um, so I thank you for this update. It is so important to hear that it's going well and 75% to hear that come back is, uh, you know, as as I I sit on this committee that for the for the board and at the beginning we weren't getting that and we were getting very concerned about, oh, we put all this work into this and it's not it's not working, but it is now

231working. It took time. I appreciate all the support from CAST with the training that that is key, um, because you can't just change a plan and not tell people how to do it, uh, and and try to get them to forget all the old ways that were there. I do have I share the same concern with PEDAC, um, and and we've, you know, it was a conversation Dr. Dugger and I have had many times and we share it. You know, what can we do that for those districts and we know they exist that might have it on paper, but they're not meeting and they're not, you know, they're not a part of this plan. And my guess is any that didn't fall into that 75%. Those districts are ones that don't have a good work

232ethic uh, can you address that a little bit about what the state can do for when we realize that's happening? I think one of the things that as a council we should look at is because a district is required to have a PEDAC and we maybe should think about some specific, um, questions that we need to be asking to our districts to really put some things in place. I'm thinking back to our meeting yesterday. She's a whole another um being something else. So that districts can respond to us and maybe it's agreed to say, you know, how often is your PEDC meeting? What are they talking about? Are they really driving the professional development within your district? And I think [clears throat] those responses will then help us and maybe we'll provide some PA to

233those who are not doing that. You know, but there are some that are. We have some that are doing a great job with it and that and the PEDCs are really driving professional development and the learning within the district and others are not. And I think that might be a really good way to ask to gather that intel and then address it to those districts who might not be able to speak on for some technical assistance for those that are best practices so that we can make them well. What a successful PEDC looks like in action when we're moving forward. And it actually it actually reduces the work. You know, I I I was in a district that had very active like um Kristen, it's a very active PEDC. I think they were I had

234to appoint the person that was going to be take my place when I left the district. I mean, they wanted to make sure that that seat was filled. Uh and I was most surprised when the commission, you know, the committee got going to hear that we don't have a PEDC. We don't have a PEDC. Like and I I I I could not fathom how a district could function for professional development without having that plus. So I'm glad that we're going to look at that a little bit more because it it I to me it's always been key. You know, our teachers waited to see they had open um access to our PEDC. They needed to ask something or request something or complain about something. They had that access and it was most important of how

235we got our work done for the district. I sat on two of the district PDACs and I think consistency is key for one. So, we don't have that revolving door every year. Right. Um and also who you have at the table is also very valuable for what we can think. So, I really focus on that. It drove our work. I mean, that's what it was. It was a meeting you didn't miss. And you would Yeah, that They'd end up with you asking where you were. The year slide that you just made and then I want to bring another voice into the space. Um when you if you are thinking about surveying um districts, ask them how the composition of their PDAC is determined. Um we actually changed that in my district to ensure that originally

236we had building-based and in a district where there's 14 buildings, um that became cumbersome because every building was representative of central and unruly. Um so, we've now changed it to ensure rather than building-based that it's grade level and departments have representation. Um but the key voice also that's not being represented in this conversation um are the paraeducators and we on PDACs are responsible for providing and evaluating their professional learning as well. So, this is not just about teachers and administrators. Our paras are now legislatively a part of this. There needs to be a para literally on the PDAC committee. And PDAC committee need to be thinking about when we plan an afternoon of PD or it's a built the day-long district, it's not just about the teachers and the administrators. Our paras deserve high-quality professional

237learning just like the rest of us. Listen, I know it's time to go. Uh but I know I just really wanted to take the the time and and thank you both for sharing with the rest of the board and all those who are watching uh practices that aren't the state of leap uh across the nation. Uh we don't hear a lot about those kinds of things uh and and it is indeed happening. I probably hear a lot of those things that that uh put out in the world and all the work that we're doing and looking as a model for that. Uh give me back continuous improvement and you know for folks it's beautiful to have you all sit there and talk about where we've come knowing the challenges to get there. When you put

238all these groups and stakeholders in a room uh to try to get this but that you found common ground through it and now on the the backside of it looking for how you do continuous improvement around the work. So kudos for doing that work because I know we can look at it now but we I know it was not always like that uh getting to that point. So appreciate uh the persistence and and commitment to get there so that we can now be thinking about tweaks and and professional and and continuous improvement. And I also have ideas about speed up to what we need to do. So we can we'll take that offline and have that conversation. But thank you for the work that you're doing. Thank you very much for the presentation. In closing

239I just wanted to thank the members of the State Board of Education for your support through all of this. We couldn't be where we are without the guidelines and the the the model plan that all of you adopted and I specifically thank you to Vice Chair Pelham who attended many of our EES Council meetings and I think helped to keep all of you in the in the know of of what the Council was doing. So thank you. I just wanted to Yes. Sorry. I just want to take this opportunity to let all of you know that there's a statewide farm to school conference happening today and it was so popular on how to incorporate more locally grown food into school programs that they had to have a waiting list. So, for all of the folks

240that are engaged in farm to school, many, many thanks for making it such a popular program. Thank you, Daisy. Thank you. Motion to adjourn? So moved. Thank you very much. Who moved, Jay? Jay. How much? She didn't vote. You're like in the