001I'd like to call to order the Farmington Board of Education regular meeting for Monday, March 16th, 2026 at 700 p.m. Uh, can we all 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. >> All right. Item three, inviting and receiving public comment and communications. Do we have anybody here tonight that would like to give public comment? Okay. Um, if there's nobody here to give public comment, I am closing public comment. Uh, item four, approval of minutes. Uh, a approval of the minutes for the January 28th, 20 26 board of education special meeting. Um, can I have a motion? >> Yep. >> I approve the I approve
002to uh approve the January 28th, 2026 board of ed education special meeting minutes as presented. >> Second. >> All right. Any discussion, comments, corrections? >> Okay. All those in favor? I opposed extension. Okay. Um 4 B, approval of minutes for the January 31st, 2026 board of education budget workshop meeting. Can I have a motion? >> Yep. I move to approve the January 31st, 2026 board of education budget workshop meeting minutes as presented. >> Second. >> Uh any discussion, comments? Okay. All those in favor? I >> I opposed. Extension. Motion carries. And then item C, approval of the minutes for the February 2nd, 2026 regular and budget meeting. >> Yep. I move to approve the minutes for the February 2nd, 2026 regular and budget meeting minutes as presented. >> Second. >> Comments, discussion, corrections? Okay. All
003those in favor? >> Opposed? Extension? Motion carries. So, next item on the agenda, item 5B, uh, professional appointments, resignations, and retirements. >> Oh. Um, yeah, there's there's snacks, too, right? >> Just Yeah. So, um, we'd love to have you stay, but we know it's a school night and so feel free to grab some, uh, snacks on the way out. And if you're going to head home to get some rest, cuz that's an important part of physical education is rest as well. So, we won't mind if, uh, we see you exit stage, right? I guess it is this evening. So, thank you for coming again, everybody. We really appreciate it. >> Go for the healthy snacks. >> Yeah, we're going to watch we're going to walk. Leave the junk food for the rest of us. >>
004I'm glad I didn't bring my mountain too for tonight. >> All right. So, um, included in your packet this evening is the professional appointment of Laura Bis Piscio. Bisgio, did I say that correct? Uh, who will be joining us as a prek special education teacher here at Westwoods. Uh, and one resignation of Alena Kaldo, a special education teacher at IR. >> Any questions or comments? >> I just just have a question. Um, about resignations just in general, obviously not about this cases. How does that work in the we're in the middle of the school year here and a teacher uh resigns, especially special education teacher? which I know it's sort of annual review time transitioning in and out especially by IR just curious how that works. How's a back fill work uh either for this
005situation or just in general. >> Yeah, great question. So whenever we have a vacancy um the first thing the team does is you know meet together do kind of a little needs assessment right what's the position that opened up um where does the need lie uh and then from there put together a posting so depending on the time of year the position it might be a shortterm uh you know position which we call long-term sub or it could be a permanent appointment if we know someone's let's say retired mid year or left us uh maybe they're moving out of state, something along those lines, and we know we're going to continue to need that position in the future, then we may just post for a permanent position here in the district. Uh so that's like
006the business side of it. And then uh what the team does is pull together and really look at our um internal staffing and how we can cover the needs of that student. So that might range from asking other case managers, tutors, reading specialists, math specialists. The whole team kind of pulls together, looks at the needs uh to determine how those needs can be met for the um until that position is filled. In some circumstances, if there's like like a support service like OT or PT, then that might mean we might go out and contract with an outside provider to fill that need until uh the position can be filled. But generally speaking, it's all hands on deck to try to make sure the students needs are met uh until the process can go through. is
007even in the best of times a good process will take a few weeks by the time we put together you know the panel put the questions do a few rounds of interviews just take some time >> yeah you got it >> any other questions um lost my agenda um next item on the agenda is deeper learning updates >> so included in your packet this evening are the deeper learning updates from our seven schools. Uh the uh couple of highlights, one is you will see from Union School, the kindergarteners are in the midst of their maple, well, it's a tree module, I guess, is the theme for that reading module, but they are busy collecting and uh collecting sap and boiling it down to make maple syrup. So, I happened to be in some kindergarten classrooms
008last week to see the process unfolding. And I was promised uh one thimble full of maple syrup uh when they're done because, as you know, you start with about 80 gallons of sap and boil it down to a water bottle full of maple syrup. But I told them I would make pancakes if uh we did if they did send that my way. There's also information on Noah Wallace's literacy night uh which had a camping theme. Uh and so classroom spaces were transformed into caverns, mountains, uh everglades. So those are always really amazing events. Our staff put a lot of time together uh to kind of re you know make a magical experience that night all about reading. So hopefully you get a chance to take a look at those um learning updates that are in
009your packet uh this evening. >> Any questions or comments? >> Okay. Uh, next item. Item D, updates. >> Oh, yep. Go ahead. You're right. >> Updates. >> Okay. Uh, so first of all, thank you this board appreciation month uh this month. And so, as our small token of thanks for all that you do as board members here for the Farmington community, there's uh a a baked gift basket uh there. Uh, no, I did not bake those items. Uh thankfully those were professionally crafted for you. Uh and we also went out to uh some of our schools and asked our students to make some cards thanking you for your service to the community. Uh they're really cute. We read through some of them uh earlier today and we're laughing. So we hope uh you get a
010chance to read through some of the thoughts and thank yous from our students. Uh some we've also got some posters up there too if you didn't get a chance before the meeting uh when you're heading out. uh this evening to take a look at some of the thoughts from our Westwood students here again for uh recognizing you for board appreciation and so thank you for all you do. >> Thank you. >> Got it. Uh so this past weekend was the High School Musical Anastasia three nights Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Had an opportunity to attend on Sunday. Hopefully you got a chance to catch it. Absolutely amazing. I was uh blown away. is uh you know just a a great representation of our students pulling together. If you're not familiar, we have a course at the
011high school that actually makes the sets and um students were helping to direct and they were up in the catwalk controlling some of the parts of the musical and it was really just amazing. Um absolutely outstanding. So great performance. Um moving on, school calendar. So mother nature continues to throw some curve balls at us. since the category 1 tornado uh this evening walking in. But uh luckily there was no impact on school and so uh at this point our last day of school is scheduled for Wednesday, June 17th. Our staff have one additional half day after that that they use for professional purposes. Uh, we did do a little digging because I was curious if I was setting any records uh in my first winter here in Farmington, but uh I think we were beaten
012out by one year prior to this. But the last time we had this many days of school impacted was 2017. So I think part of what we're feeling this winter with snow days, late openings, early dismissals is kind of the fact that we haven't had this many in quite a while. So, a little trip down memory lane, but hopefully we're through that to the other side now. Warm weather is approaching uh and we won't have any more impacts to the school calendar. One last calendar item. Uh we were made aware that the date listed on the 26 27 calendar for Eid Alfur uh was Thursday, March 10th, and uh it's actually recommended to be recognized on Wednesday, March 9th. So, because that's in our regulations now, we went ahead and updated the calendar just so
013we could keep get those up and posted on the website. So, the two-year calendars are up with that one correction uh for EED. Uh we had our district PD days. So, as you know, we have the half days that fall uh this month in March. Uh and I asked assistant superintendent Veronica Ruseek to just give us a little overview of last Thursday and Friday and some of the professional learning that took place here in the district. Great. And it's a good tiein to the calendar because as you know you approve some of the early release days and so just to get a flavor for what we use those for and how well they're used in the schools is great opportunity to tell you a little bit about that. I think that sometimes you hear professional
014development and it sounds like something like done to teachers and staff like done to them and I just wanted to give you like a full flavor of of the ways we think about professional development. And so there's really four different types of professional development. um to think about. So one is sort of a learning by doing approach, you know, where you're it's like a hands-on application of something. So, one example of that um was at Westwoods where they've all all of our schools have really been thinking about powerful task design, but those in particular have um and so there were workshops actually some of them put on by Eric um where teachers had some immersive experience but then had a chance to immediately apply it to lesson planning. And so that's sort of a learning
015by doing example. Um, another way we know that people learn is through social and collaborative routines with others. Um, and so one really good example of that during those days that was able to be accomplished was across departmental um, collaboration between special services and math. Um, working on how best to represent um, goals in IEPs. So really working on the language of IEPs, the standards, how would that look? And so collaboration there. Um, another way we learn is by learning from experts. So that's a third way. Um, so we had the privilege of having Tom Mooney come in at the high school um, where he really um, walked us through a legal framework for um, thinking about um, controversial topics in the classroom um, which is a really important topic and so all teachers were
016able to hear it straight from Tom who wrote the book on law in Connecticut. um for that um and then I would also point out in that category we've done a lot of learning on AI and that requires um you know experts sort of presenting some new information and some new techniques um and so we were able to accomplish that with our integration specialists that we have inhouse in our in so um a lot of these are really um provided by like sort of in you know our own staff and we don't have to go out for some of these most of these and the last way we learned learn is from data and feedback. Um and so we recently at East Farms had done an instructional rounds visit. Um and so through those visits
017we generate lots of sort of next steps and things we noticed. And so it was a really a chance for that faculty um to dig through what we had left as artifacts of what we had learned there that day and um set up some new next steps for their own faculty. And so just through those examples, you can see all the different flavors of of um you know, professional development, how we think about it, how collaborative it is, um and how really homegrown we're able to make it because we think about you know, not as you know, professional development done to uh anybody, but sort of with um with teachers. And so I just wanted to bring that up. I would also like to say that it's a great time too where our pair of
018professionals are still uh working at those days. So sometimes when we have the full day professional development days, pair of professionals don't work on those days, but these early release days um we're able to uh keep them for those hours and they also get sometimes they're part of whatever the faculty is getting and sometimes they have really personalized professional development that they need for their roles too. So, uh, we made really great use of the time and just wanted to share just a little bit about how we used it. >> And, uh, last but not least, just, uh, moving to athletics. So, over the weekend, our Farmington High School boys 4x4 relay ran in Boston, uh, at the New Balance Invitational. Their time was 3 minutes 21 seconds uh which is the fifth fastest time
019ever in the state uh and ranked them 53rd in the US this year. So pretty impressive showing for our Farmington High School 4x4 relay team. Um as we wrap up the winter sports season, eight different teams either made state or conference uh tournaments this year. So really proud of our high school athletics teams. Great showing. Matt's son was. Yes, I I was greeted with that high school update this morning from uh Mr. Ross who spent most of his weekend. I think it was a weekend for the >> No, congrat congratulations to your son. >> Wait, what? What is his son? >> 4x4. He's on the 4x4. >> Really? That's So, is there another is there another advanced to anything else or that was it? >> That's it to outdoor indoor traffic. >> That's really cool.
020That's awesome. You have one sorry my sentence with your track. So I know that there's a particular female student who also was breaking >> Coco right at News as well. >> Yeah, she Yeah, she's broken some records as well. >> Uh previous Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. All right. Um, next item on the agenda, item six, unfinished business, a budget up, a budget impact, budget update. >> Hi everyone. Uh, couple items here. Uh, first I'll start with actually it's a good news bad news one. So start with the good news. Uh, last week town council did approve the board of ed approved budget uh, operating budget and uh, capital projects. Um, so those have been approved and now uh I believe will go through alo ultimately to referendum and then um
021and pass there uh we'll have the budget and capital budget for next year. So we're very excited about that. Uh unfortunately we did get some bad news. The IR flooring project that's slated for this summer um we initially had capital money uh allocated for it. when we did some preliminary work, realized there was going to be some abatement that was going to be needed. Um, we thought we were going to be able to offset that by then making it a reimburseable grant or reimburseable uh kind of in there. So, we applied it for what's called a priority 2 project. Uh, apparently recently the state has kind of uh gotten very strict with the uh qualifications for the uh priority 2 grants. uh and because the abatement does not create I'm going to try to work
022through the state language does not create a code violation uh and thus because the in essence the asbestous is underneath the floor and it's not interrupted right if you the situation where it was something kind of airborne and it was more immediate then you would uh either the local or state health official would give us a code violation and then that would trigger the eligibility for state reimbursement for for that um so it uh because of that it doesn't qualify for them. An alternative that uh Sam Matt and I we looked into is you can put it as an alteration project which then goes through like a priority one grant. But that project um the application is once a year and then you almost have to wait a whole another year before you find out
023uh if if you if you are become eligible for that. Our concern on that was um between escalation costs, you know, if we delayed this project any longer that you know the the uh you would almost get to the same spot and then with planning for the HVAC projects, the potential to have you know multiple elementary schools offline, I offline to do the flooring project uh could create some problems for our summer programming uh that we have. So we we took a look at at it. We believe that um hopefully between some other measurements that we can have uh and still by doing it there we can kind of offset some of the lost uh grant. So we do want to move forward with that project and get it completed this summer uh and kind
024of stay on track and finding ways to be able to um kind of reallocate uh some money in either some other areas or other projects or find some efficiencies to kind of uh mitigate some of the impact there. So happy to take any questions on either topic. >> So Dan, the um I'm assuming the reimbursement wasn't at 100%. I mean, >> correct. What was the potential reimbursement that you were going to get? Like how much? >> So the total would have been 30 like about 31% on really the abatement project. And so when it's all said and done, it would have probably been about $180,000 that we were looking to get reimbured from approximately an $800,000, you know, flooring project. >> Was there any thought of like there's money in like the non-bing account or
025anything like that because this seems like this is a onetime project that wouldn't come back. So, >> so currently we have the money allocated in the capital budget you know because once again it's we we as as per requirements we need to have the full amount allocated for there. So in this case it just wouldn't be the money coming back into capital. So since it's in capital you know there's you know we haven't really looked to see how the non-lapsing could then maybe get like transferred to capital. Um, but we're comfortable with looking at the amount that we have in capital, you know, looking at code and safety and being able to switch some things and there's even some projects as they get wrapped up. We might be able to like transfer from um like
026right now we're looking at I think one line there's like cafeteria equipment where we're doing really well on that because of the funds that we get through our, you know, our contract with Chartwells that we can kind of ship that over to this project to kind of help offset uh some of those the difference there. >> Got it. So the deficit's like $180,000 to your point >> or $180,000 not going to be able to get reimbursed on it. So like they said, the money is there in the project to pay for it. We just won't be able to get, you know, the 180,000 back into it. >> Yeah. So just to follow up on that, we've already approved the full amount for the flooring project, right? >> Correct. It's really just from the town side.
027The town side is not going to get this grant because we don't Right. That's the the grants are the town side, not the school side. Correct. So, we've already approved that full amount and it's just going forward as planned. We don't necessar So, you don't necessarily need to remove money around. It's just the townside grant credit would be less. Correct. >> I guess I'm trying to ask why do you need to shift money around if the grants is at the town side, not at the school side? >> So, I think well, once again, when we shift the money around, we'd be looking at the capital. And I think for us it would just be wanting to, you know, have discussion with town council and see, you know, what that is because as we approach it,
028we talked about the the that we projected we'd have that. And so if if we don't, we would just want to kind of make sure that kind of like, >> you know, good working relationship with the town council to make sure that we're we're we're trying to to do that. at some point, you know, the town council would say, "We understand and and you know, from there, >> is it fair to say the town council could choose to move 180k from somewhere else and doesn't have to impact the school because again, capital is all in and they manage the grant side, not necessarily, you know, the expense side." >> Yeah. No, absolutely. I mean, you know, it's a town council that you would have that we would look at doing some of those recommendations and
029and where those pieces are. You know, I think we try to work really thoughtfully with our capital projects. So, you know, I feel good. I feel comfortable that this will not impact us moving forward in any other of our capital projects. You know, whether through the ones that that we currently have slated that they just approved and or you know, the ones that we're kind of currently banking for for future outy years, you know, we believe we'll be able to stay on pace for for all the projects that that that we're working on. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? >> Thank you, Dan. Uh, next item on the agenda, we're up to item seven, new business. A, new course approvals. Right. So, like to welcome our uh, director of curriculum, Eric Martin, who's going
030to review some new course approvals for the 2627 school year. >> Good evening, everyone. got a little exposed without a podium. We're going to get through this. Good evening everyone. Um we've got seven courses to go through tonight and just to kind of bring the board up to speed as there's several new members on the board and this is our first time going through um course approval process. So the curriculum subcommittee part of their regular order of business is to receive course proposals and to review them. that happened previously at our meeting on January I want to say 28th um without consulting my computer it was the 26th or the 28th that it was rescheduled a couple times but um at that at that meeting um I presented to them all new course proposals which
031are typically formulated in like October and November um at the beginning of our budget formulation season for the next year. So, I bring that up because it's not like these courses um suddenly arrive at our table at this time of year. These have been planned for a long time. Um in the case of many of the courses I'll talk about tonight, these represent uh courses that are being built on to existing pathways. So, I'll talk about that idea of pathways in a minute. Um and so effectively our process is that our department leads or our coordinators work with teachers to gauge student interest perhaps new co new course offerings in a content area related to like AP or ECE. Um and then they kind of float the idea of offering these courses in the program
032of studies to students to see if there would be interest to administration to see if there's capacity with an existing FTE and they do it in regards to the existing program of studies to make sure that it would be value add. Once it kind of passes all of those charges at the building level, they submit a formal uh course approval proposal to the office of curriculum and instruction to Veronica and I. We review those. A lot of times we kick them back and we ask for more information. And then once those proposals are complete, we present them to the curriculum subcommittee for review. The curriculum subcommittee asks any number of questions about those course proposals to make sure that they again kind of meet the charge of Farmington Public Schools, what we want to be
033offering students. And so by the time they get to the board of education, understand that these have gone through several rounds of quality control, most recently the curriculum subcommittee. Um, and effectively what how we propose these courses is uh course selection season at the high school. I bring that up because these are all high school courses and that's typically where we see the addition of new courses um year-over-year. um course selection process for next year is already underway. So these courses go into the program of studies as potentially being offered pending board approval. Okay. So we're able to see like immediately if there is student interest and sometimes if they're not getting sufficient student interest will kind of pull them. All of the courses up for um your consideration tonight are garnering a lot of
034student interest um which is what we the demand we try to meet first. If if students want it, we typically try to offer it. Um and again, you would be approving these courses tonight to run for the first time next year. So, we would run all of these courses next year as a pilot. um in running them as a pilot. The idea is we've done our due diligence to think that these pilots will go successfully and they typically do. Um and so we wouldn't come back before the board next year asking for full approval of the course. Effectively at next meeting um you would be voting to approve the course for pilot and pending successful pilot eventual full implementation the following year. And then just a note about how we develop the curriculum for these
035courses. So heading into next year ahead of the pilot year this summer, our teachers who teach these courses are hired to do summer curriculum work. In that first summer, it's defining what we call stage one of the curriculum. The intended outcomes, the standards that will be covered, the scope and sequence of units. that's provides them very much like the the skeletal and essential outcome to teach the course to next year in that pilot year. And then they teach it for a year in that kind of pilot um situation. And while they're teaching it that year, they're developing the types of lessons and assessments that the following summer they're hired again to fully commit to the curriculum. So the curriculum writing occurs over two summers. One summer before the pilot and one summer after the pilot
036ahead of full implementation. Okay. Any questions on that process before we get into the specific courses we're proposing tonight? >> Matt. >> Yeah. I just have one thing. It's my first time. So let me ask um >> how do you deter So it sounds like we're if we approve these and they are great, right? They'll just continue, right? So how do you decide if it's a successful course or not? uh what what criteria do you use for that? >> Yeah. So, and they're all in the proposals, we actually answer that question of like how will this course be assessed for success? Student feedback surveys. A lot of times with courses that have an AP, like what are what do our AP what are our enrollments look like? Right? Enrollment is the first indicator. What do
037our AP exam rates look like? Um you know, we we have a a robust number of advanced courses. So, are they garnering the right kind of uh interest given competition for those types of courses? Family surveys and then just teacher impression of the quality and rigor of the course. Got it. >> Thanks. You're welcome. >> Any other questions on our process? Okay. So, you have information about each of these courses. Um this the motion tonight would just be to approve a first read of these courses. So I'll talk a little bit about each one um and and where the the origin story for each of these courses lies within our program of studies. So the first is Yukon ECE math for business and economics. You will see a few courses listed here under our math
038and business department. That's one joint department at the high school and it's important to note that they recently completed a program review. Um so in completing that program review they're looking at things like what is the total set of courses that we offer? what are options that exist throughout our program of studies within our department and especially at the high end. So, we want to make sure in in all situations that we're offering a varied set of dual enrollment options for students, not just a single AP offering or a second AP offering. And so, the proposals out of the math and business department, two out of the three of these courses are dual enrollment courses that are meant to add on to or complement existing pathways. So pathways is a term you may or may
039not be familiar with in our program of studies. It's actually used in a couple of different places at the high school which can make it confusing. But when we talk about a pathway related to the program of studies, you could think about it as a concentration. So it doesn't lock students into kind of one line of study. But if students for instance have a specific interest in pursuing business education then we want to allow them a sequence of courses say in math that prepares them for the utilization of math in business contexts. Um and so that kind of concentration or that by interest or passion area is how we comprise a pathway and a pathway typically consists of two or more courses in a concentration or again what we might consider a passion area. Some
040of our pathways end with credentials. Some of our pathways end with dual enrollment. But the idea is that you can stay studying along a line of interest or a line of career u interest within a content area. So uh Yukon ECE for math uh for business and economics is just as the title suggests. This is a dual enrollment course offered in conjunction with the University of Connecticut. Students who complete this course earn a transferable credit through Yukon and it's effectively applied mathematics in a business and economic context. So it does represent that higherend math. So dealing with things like uh inequalities and math business predictions um linear functions systems of equation but how you would apply those specifically within a business and economics context. Um any questions on that? And this would be complementaryary to
041our existing business pathway. Okay, that's a half credit offering half year and that would be open to uh primarily juniors and seniors. Um the next course is a little bit different. Uh principles of business careers. So in in some places our program of studies opens up with choice right at the freshman year. In other places it's sophomore year. In other places, you really hit elective season, if you will, in junior and senior year. So, in our uh business program, elective season really hits junior and senior year. So, this course, principles of business careers, and we have several business pathways within our elective offerings for students that they can engage in junior and senior year. This course is really meant to give students in 9th and 10th grade a taste of each of those pathways. So,
042it's a like a business survey course so that by the time they get to junior and senior year, they can make a more informed decision about the types of electives they want to take based on almost like a tasting menu course that they've had in this experience in 9th and 10th grade. So, really exciting. I think the the promise of this course is again to help our students make informed decisions when they get to selecting business electives in junior and senior year. Any questions about principles of business careers? Okay. AP business with personal finance. Um, so there's two offerings up here that really represent our desire to stay out on the leading edge. This is a brand new course offered by College Board beginning next fall. Um, and we want to get in at the
043ground level. So, this would scratch kind of two itches for us. One, it allows us to add on to our existing business pathways. And the state recently passed a requirement that all students uh in their junior or senior year have to take a half credit of personal finance. This would satisfy that half credit of personal finance while while also affording AP credit, potential AP credit. Um, we would still continue to offer personal finance outside of AP. But for students that want to pursue AP credit, they don't have to choose a non-AP class to get that personal finance credit. So we see it as a nice complement to our program of studies and again something being offered for the first time next fall. Any questions on this particular course? >> So for students who've already completed
044their personal finance, >> they could they could still take this. Yeah. It wouldn't preclude them from taking it. they would just get an extra credit of right >> maybe an elected credit of personal finance but it's not a detriment and >> Eric can you just speak um briefly to the difference between when we have like an ECE or an AP course the curriculum that we you know kind of receive and follow versus when we create a course ourselves. >> Yeah. So rigor all around. I think with AP courses, you kind of have a gatekeeper at the end, which is the AP exam. And so we we very much we don't teach to the test, but we align our curriculum specifically with to give our students the highest um potential success rates on that exam. Um
045and I think really it's AP courses are meant to replicate 100 level courses at the university level. So they're informed by college professors and they're really work of a college caliber. Similar we could talk about ECE. So ECE in conjunction with Yukon. Yukon has a little bit more um strict stipulations on ECE courses and that they produce a syllabus that you effectively have to align your instruction to. That exists in different ways with AP. Some courses are more strict than others whereas the exam with AP is the gatekeeper. There's no end of course exam necessarily with ECE. Some ECE courses carry things like portfolio review, but generally it's your fulfillment of the syllabus that earns students ECE credit. Um they're both very very beneficial to students and that they emerge with transferable college credit. Um
046as is also the case with uh the science offering uh of paramedical inter interventions, project lead the way. So, while we're on that same topic, Project Lead the Way is in partnership with the University of New Haven. Um, again, kind of a programmatic syllabus defined by Project Lead the Way as an organization tied to UNH. Um, and we agree to teach the syllabus and to teach the course as defined within that program. And for doing so, students earn a transferable UNH credit. >> Did that answer your question, Jess? >> Yes. Thank you. Um, so any questions about other questions about AP business with personal finance? Um, so project lead the way is a partnership we've maintained for a long time. Um, the proposed course is the third fullyear course in the project lead the way
047biomed science program and is designed to follow human body systems which this board of ed approved for pilot ne last year. So this is like the next domino to fall in that pathway chain. And this course, remember a few years ago, for those of you that were here, science, the science department undertook a comprehensive program review and that became the origin story for their development of these project lead pathways. This is the biomed pathway and this is the third and final course being proposed within that pathway. And if you're anticipate I'm anticipating a question here. Do students have to complete the other two courses to take this course? In most cases, these courses are prerequisite or the previous courses are prerequisite, but there are exceptions are made by teacher recommendation and by discussion with students.
048>> Just out of curiosity, what's the uh what is the enrollment looking like for that particular course? >> Our project lead. This year, the human body systems class has about 15 kids enrolled and most, you know, they did a preliminary survey and most plan to continue on. Um, as these pathways become more established within our program of studies, we anticipate those course enrollments going up. Awesome. Thanks. You're welcome. Okay. Next, um, is Yukon ECE popular music and Oh, sorry, I skipped AP Cyber Security. Um so AP cyber security would be an advanced offering within our existing computer science pathway. This is also a brand new course being offered by AP beginning in the fall. So it's again our opportunity to stay out on the leading edge to get involved with this course and you all
049know how incredible Tim Baron is. um he came to us and said we'd be foolish not to offer this um given you know that this is an expanding career field for our students and it's something that would would complement our existing pathways and program of studies. Any questions with AP cyber security? >> Sure. just because I'm an employee of University of New Haven. So, I know the is this one at all. Did you any um I know you have an amazing computer that the particular teacher that you said, but I know that some of the universities have u introduced a new track or a new major around cyber security, University of New Haven being one of those. And so, I wonder if there's any sort of partnership there with some of this track as well
050because that's >> I haven't heard anything from project lead the way cyber security. I can certainly bring that question back to our department. Um, I think we tend to look at AP credits as a little bit more transferable than Project Lead the Way credits. Project Lead the Way credits aren't quite as nationally recognized. It they're they're still fantastic credits, but AP are are just widely widely. >> Yeah. And I'm just referring whether it's the partnership with the University of Haven or not, but the cyber security area just like the biomed those two areas are just booming in general for um career prospects. So I just think in general we're looking at other universities as well and and what they're doing around that area. >> Yeah, I I'll certainly bring that question back to our our
051department. Thanks for asking. Any other questions on the medical interventions? Um the next course is in an interesting one in that um by title Yukon ECE popular music and diversity in American society. So this is out of our music department and the rationale for this course is we already have uh an AP music theory and an ECE offering in the music department but they they're only for students within ensemble settings. So they're performance-based dual enrollment credits. This would speak to our general music side. So for students that have a passion or an interest in music, music appreciation but themselves may not be artists or this wouldn't be a a dual credit enrollment dependent on performance. So this is very much a musical genre study the history and development of music as relates to American society
052development of society over time. How genres have risen and died away or changed over time um as society has changed. really interesting course in partnership with Yukon ECE. Any questions on that course? And we're really excited about the final course out of our art department, which is video and media production. Um, as many of you know, a couple years ago, we were very fortunate to receive some substantial grant funding for a digital production lab. Um, that lab was pursued through the science department. Um, we've since uh since the procurement of the equipment in that lab been able to expand our offerings to include digital music production within that setting. And this would be another offering to take advantage of that state-of-the-art equipment um where students would be learning how to produce, mix media uh and
053video, which again is a a critical career preparation field. Um, this would not be a dual enrollment credit. Um, this would be under our general credit enrollment. >> Angela, >> I just have a general question about all of them. They all sound like very interesting. >> Cool. >> Great for the students have the opportunity. >> Do you eliminate classes when you're at like we can't just constantly be adding I'm assuming? So then as part of this review, is there also like some classes just phase out? Is that how it works or >> we typically don't trade out. I think part of kind of auditing capacity is what do our sections look like? Is there possibility of combining sections without creating huge class sizes to to create room for more possibilities for students? So, we actually
054haven't taken anything off of the table to add to these. Again, you know, these courses are offered in the program of studies. If any of the So, what you're effectively approving is for these courses to be included in the program of studies offered and pending sufficient enrollment for these courses to run. But if we ever get a course with like three kids enrolled, we don't run the course. That's where we would typically collapse a section. What we do have done uh or what I've seen done at times is where we have like a really competitive program of studies and we want to be able to offer everything. We may offer things on alternating years basis, right? To say like this course will be offered next year in lie of this year where this other course
055will be run. And we try not to spring those situations on students like that that those decisions would be made such that a junior if a course wasn't being offered would have the opportunity to take that course the subsequent year as a senior. But I think the idea is maintain a a a robust and competitive program of studies at all times. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any other questions on these offerings? Not a question, but just a comment is I now have a junior and a freshman, which is hard to believe, but for me it's hard to believe. Um, but I will say so when my junior started, you know, and we got into the world of high school and getting into the uh power school and getting into the course selection and
056try and then going online to find all the the pathways and everything and sitting down with him and going through it and so forth. you know, that freshman year was just felt daunting, you know, and it was it's it I don't know if other parents felt that way, but it felt daunting like, oh, what especially with the conversation about pathways and it's like, oh, here's some options that you could take and this and that. what would you be interested in in thinking ahead of his profession? Now being in a junior year, I can tell you that when you talked about um the interest it drives for him, it drove him to go into like that whole government and law pathway, which I was completely shocked, but he's enjoyed it. like he felt like he once
057he got out of that freshman year and took that introductory course and so forth and then he can use it as a tool that that the tools that you guys I don't I'm not using the right words but there's yeah and we also have the school links platform >> yes exactly he it's been a really good road mapap is what I would say and all of these offerings have provided what I see is this curiosity of I'm going to try this maybe it fits or man it didn't fit at also I'm going to go this other try this other thing. And so I just appreciate all the work that you've all done because I do see it now having a junior who just finished selecting not too long ago all of his whatever senior classes
058are going to be and then the freshman being like well why can't I take that course like well it's not the time yet you know you still have another year before you can it opens up to you but I just think the tools are very simple to understand now after it took me some time but they got it you know which is the best um but then two just those pathways um and those multiple options of allowing for that curiosity to blossom and to say yes it did work for me or didn't work I think has been great. So, I am truly like this is great to see all of these options because I I think it just opens up so many doors for them for the students to be like I'm curious about this.
059Let me see. >> Yeah. I mean, thank you for that feedback. You know, we would be remiss like huge shout out to the FHS administration because they've really conceptualized this pathways approach to their program of studies and to Kate Martelli and the counseling department who just do such an incredible job breaking this down for students and families in a way that that it is daunting, but it's doable and you know it it bears fruit come junior and senior year. There's nothing wrong with being an undecided major, but I think it would be a good goal of Farmington High School and probably one that our pathways serve well is to graduate less kids who are undecided because college is expensive. And so if we can go to college, you know, with a plan in mind, the
060the savings and the efficiency of the experience will be that much more. It'd be an interesting data point to track um number of undecided majors as we continue to expand pathways offerings within our program of studies. That's a good point to outcomes. >> Yeah. >> Right. How you know some of those outcomes that you see even if they don't stick to it, it's they walked out of here thinking I might be down that track. >> Yeah. And I'll just finally say our students are also more than ever making really informed choices about Aspire and Capstone. So it's an essential pro. It's an essential requirement within their high school experience. But they're not picking courses based on, oh, my friend's taking that or you know that's I know that teacher. He's pretty cool. Those things, those
061situations probably exist. But I think more so more and more kids are selecting Aspire and Capstone because they're getting the types of experiences in freshman, sophomore years to help them make informed decisions. And that's really what we want for our kids to empower them to make informed decisions based on their experiences. And a robust program of studies allows them to do that. I'll just say uh for those that are new on the board, Kate Marelli's uh presentation, I think it's in the fall. I think it's around September uh time frame, um is one of my favorites uh so far in my time on the board is just incredible what what the pathways that that whole um program has done. Um and just amazing. And to Erica's point, my daughter just went through the course selection
062process and despite there was a minor minor meltdown the night of the deadline, um the just the amount of information that she can consume and and the amount of things that she she had at her fingertips to be able to make those decisions. Um whether or not there was anxiety involved or not is not really your issue. It's hers. Um but um no it was um just fantastic um just how it all went and how smooth it was and just again how much information that you guys have out there >> to put them in the best position to succeed. >> Yeah. And anxiety is a consequence of choice, right? Which wouldn't exist if we forced all kids into a single way of being. So it's a natural consequence. There's plenty of time for them to
063get all of the things that they're interested in within our program of studies. You know, I've had the fortune to sit in at planning meetings at, you know, the eighth grade to 9th grade level, the after freshman year, what do I want to do now, the the junior level, and at every turn of the way, our counseling department just does such incredible work um in coordination with our A counseling team as well. And then if you're interested then to see how many um students are interested in taking these courses, you will see that in the enrollment report, the class size um enrollment report in um October. So that's where you'll see. And you know, to your point, there are some classes that then are underenrolled, but you know, students really vote with their selections of
064where they're going. And so as the interests change or whatever that is, you know, we take a look at that and we talk to the departments about you know where are students going and gives us a chance to you know enhance other departments. You can see there's a concentration on these departments right now as parts of really uh program reviews but you know then it gives us a chance to sort of up the the the interest level and and rigor in other areas as well. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. I think I have the next order of business which should be a little bit quicker. >> We have a motion before >> Sorry. One sec. Um I move to >> question there too though. >> Hi. I'm just I'm a junior parent and I can
065just say you know going through this process I felt like my son had more places to land and he's he's going to be undecided. I'm quite cert. But there still >> that's okay. >> They're still right. I'm just not used to that. He's my third and >> that just makes the college search more difficult to me. But um I always want to go back to school when I >> Yeah. >> sit in the planning. Absolutely. >> And then it gets more and more so every year because we just keep offering more. But as a a math kid with not a lot of direction um and a fantastic guidance counselor that I've been dealing with for many years because he's my youngest. There were just more places for him to land to kind of see some
066connections. Okay. on math. I don't really want to do business, but you read the direct the description and he'll give it a try and it'll expose him to a lot of different things. >> And this is not to appease you as a parent, but it might um undecided doesn't necessarily mean I have no idea. It might mean I'm interested in a lot of different things. And so our program of studies might might land students there as well. >> All right. I move to approve the first reading of the new courses as presented to be implemented in the 2026 2027 school year. >> Second. >> Um all those in favor >> I opposed extension. Motion carries. >> So we are on to item 7B new textbook adoption for a first reading. Item one FHS math. >>
067Yes. finite mathematics for business, economics, life sciences, and social sciences. Um, it's not often that we adopt textbooks um as requisite to a course, but Yukon ECE highly recommends this textbook be taught in conjunction with the course that's listed in parenthesis. Yukon ECE math for business and economics. And that is one of the courses that was proposed to you uh just prior to this step. So, this would be the companion textbook to this course. And again, the idea is um we only take on textbooks where they're this strongly recommended. We we generally do not adopt textbooks in this day and age, but Yukon ECE really promotes this book as being fundamental to the course and to the curriculum, which is why um the math department is advocating for it. >> Any questions or discussions about
068it? >> Okay. Motion. >> Yep. I I move to approve the first reading of the textbook adoption proposal as presented. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed extension. Motion carries. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. All right. So, we're on to item 7 C, Connecticut Healthy Food Certification. Um, I'll let I'll let James read the motions. I did this for four years. >> Favorite motion of the year. >> I'm ready. I'm ready. All right. So motion number one, I move to uh pursuant to Connecticut General Statute section 10-215F, the Farmington Board of Education certifies that all food items offered for sale to students in the schools under its jurisdiction and not exempted from the Connecticut Nutrition Standards published by the Connecticut State Department of Education will comply with the Connecticut
069Nutrition Standards during the period of July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027. This third certification shall include all food offered for sale to students separately from reimburseable meals at all times and from all sources, including but not limited to school stores, vending machines, school to cafeterias, culinary programs, and any fundraising activities on school premises sponsored by the school or non-school organizations and groups. Second >> discussion. Do you have any comments about it? So, uh, for those new to the board, um, this is just an annual, uh, part of our renewal process for working with our food service management, um, company, in this case, Chartwells. And so, we go through this annual process each year to to kind of make sure that we're abiding by this. So, this is kind of one of the first steps
070is the board approves these motions and then from there, Beth Haber and I work to fill out the rest of the, you know, the the uh renewal process and submit and it needs to be completed by June 30th for the following school year. >> And you have to do it in time, correct? Because they actually wait till they have the approved minutes from the next meeting to so when uh the next meeting rolls around, whenever that is, April. Yeah. and you approve the minutes from this meeting. That's what we actually submit, I believe, forward. Is that correct? So, >> all right. >> Just like the cliffotes of this, I mean, I'll vote for this, but is this saying that everything you sell is considered healthy by the state? Is that what this is saying? Basically,
071>> yeah, that we Well, that Yes. Uh, >> I don't I don't I think all of us if we saw what was being sold, it would disagree. Like, I mean, Pop-Tarts are not healthy in my opinion. Like, you know, there's things. It's fine. I'm going to vote for it. But who's deciding like who from the state is saying that everything's healthy? Is that what this is? >> So they work. So Connecticut has it, you know, from the Connecticut nutrition standards, which I think is often uh connected through like the national kind of certification piece. One of the things that and and I hear what you're what you're talking about. One of the interesting things though to say is so I want to be careful uh that I'm explaining not defending. >> Yeah. a perfect example
072like over there um and I think Andrea over there has a bag of Doritos. By all accounts, we don't really consider uh Doritos like a healthy food. However, that bag of Doritos is actually not the same bag that you would pick up at Stop and Shop. That one actually is formulated specifically for schools and has uh you know I think probably removed like red you know certain red dye or certain amounts of uh sugar or you know like it has now to be fair and once again fully transparent to kind of you know play both sides of it. You'll also notice the bag's a little bit smaller. So, because the portion is smaller, now the calories are smaller. Some of the ingredients, right? So, so there's ways that, you know, these companies find ways to
073kind of make their product fit within those Connecticut nutrition standards and ultimately your federal standards. So, you'll see Pop-Tarts, Doritos, and those things, but they actually do meet the Connecticut nutrition standards. Now another people may want to argue that those standards are too low, right? And and and that's once again a different conversation to be had, but actually all that food that's serving through the cafeteria does meet those Connecticut nutrition standards. >> And as a school, we don't really have another option, right? Like I mean this is what this is the plan we go through through Chartwells and so we have to approve this. Like how because I hear what you're saying and I agree you don't need to defend it. Like it's it's all fine. I'm just kind of curious. I This is the
074path most public schools take. Correct. Like any >> correct? And that's actually also to be part of kind of the uh food services and to be eligible for federal reimburseable um funding. There are some school districts that say, you know, we don't want to be bogged down by this. if I want my kids chocolate chip cookie to be this big and have, you know, like Hershey chocolate chips in it, we're going to, you know, we we believe we can monitor our own children's eating and then they don't, but once again, then they're not eligible for the reimburse, you know, the reimbursement from federal for for lunches and and the various programs. So, if we want to participate in those programs and then be uh have access to that, then, you know, we would agree to
075to this piece. But yes, the vast majority of school districts um you know abide and and go through this. >> So one last question, what is the reimbursement approximately that we get from participating in this? Is it like tens of thousands of dollars or >> uh you know ask I don't have that those kind of the numbers in there. Um but you know Chartwells our our contract through Chartwells guarantees like a minimal profit that that they'll you know uh go and get and then that money uh ultimately comes back to us and it kind of sits really in you know in our account but the state has very strict regulations like we couldn't use the money that we got from Chartwells to then pay for you know uh an AP business teacher. we have to
076use it for the betterment of the food service program. So we can update, you know, cafeteria equipment. Um we can utilize it for serving lines and and so on and various projects. We were able to do the AC at three of the four elementary schools through the profits that that we got through there. And so that's where some of the offsets um you know and that's why actually before you know Matt when we were talking about transferring some money we do have money in the capital for cafeteria equipment but for the most part we've been able to fund that through the money that we get kind of through our our chartwells in there. So that's why we talked about the idea of maybe saying okay let's shift some of that money uh over to there.
077So that's just one of those examples from from before. It's also one of those funny um positions I think school districts get put in to not vote to have our food meet the Connecticut standards. Right. So, I I hear what you're saying. I guess we'd have to do some digging and thinking about what it would mean to not pass the motion because it's that expectation that's set and I I guess in some ways it's a promise to the community that the food they're buying in the cafeteria meets those standards. But I I hear you. It's a little funny in terms of we're still selling Doritos and juice and things like that that might might not universally meet the definition of healthy. >> Yeah, it always got me and this is just the overarching like I
078found interesting. There's a very to eat like an ice pop in the elementary schools and you have to basically give your fingerprints like you have to sign your life away. But then I always thought it was so like such a ju just position of the kids could buy all of this stuff in the cafeteria with no signatures and no anything where we're trying to get them to eat healthy the ice pops and that's always like you know a whole ordeal. So that's always how when I see this I'm just curious like the origin of it or like um just just curious about it. But that was a very good explanation and I appreciate that as well. So yeah. All good. Thank you. >> Any other questions? All right. All those in favor? >> I >>
079opposed. Extension. Motion carries. >> Motion two. >> Little bit longer. >> I move that the Farmington Board of Education will allow the sale to students of food items that do not meet the Connecticut nutrition standards and beverages not listed in section 10-221Q of the Connecticut General Statutes, provided that the following conditions are met. Number one, the sale is in connection with an event occurring after the end of the regular school day or on the weekend. Number two, the sale is at the location of the event. And number three, the food and beverage items are not sold from a vending machine or school store. An event is an occurrence that involves more than just a regularly scheduled practice, meeting, or extracurricular activity. For example, soccer games, school plays, and intercolastic debates are events, but soccer practices,
080play rehearsals, and debate team meetings are not. The regular school day is the period from midnight before to 30 minutes after the end of the official school day. Location means where the event is being held and must be the same place as the food and beverage sales. >> Second discussion, >> click notes on that one. So that just >> you that you know that's um you know the foundation does music bingo on Friday night you know you can you know you can sell or distribute you know you don't have to worry about >> those rules >> those those rules and things so so it just allows a little bit more flexibility because once again they recognize at those things you don't have to be there those are things you're voluntary uh attending and so therefore
081you have more choice. So at a football game they have a little bit more freedom as far as what what those uh what they can sell. Got it. Thank you. All those in favor I >> opposed abstension. Motion carries. Motion three. >> I move that the superintendent be authorized to sign the healthy food certification statement as presented indicating the Farmington public schools will participate in the program for the 2026 2027 school year. >> Any discussion? >> My favorite term self-explanatory. >> I think it is. Uh all those in favor >> I opposed abstension. Motion carries. >> All right. Uh and next item is item D discussion of revised FPSCU contract including monitors for July 1st, 2024 through June 30th, 2027. Um so we'll need a motion for executive session. >> Yep. I move to executive
082session at 8:17 for the purpose of discussing the revised FPSU contract including monitors for years July 1st, 2024 through June 30th, 2027. >> Second. >> Okay. Um, we're in >> Oh, all those in favor? >> I opposed extension. Okay. We're in executive session. >> I move to return to the public session at 8:38. >> Second. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed extension. Motion carries. Right. So the next item on new business item E is approval of the revised FPSU contract including monitors for July 1st through July 1st, 2024 through June 30th, 2027. We'll need a motion. I move to approve the revised FPSU contract including monitors for July 1st, 2024 to June 30th, 2027 as presented. >> Second. All those in favor? >> I opposed extension. Motion carries. >> So item eight, consideration
083of assistant superintendent of finance and operations report. Item A, approval of the January 2026 financial statement report. >> I move to approve the January 2026 financial statement report as presented. >> Second discussion. >> So, uh, giving you overview for our January financial statement. Um, once again, we're we're, you know, moving along, doing really well with spending. One of the things uh overall you'll see is currently um we are uh at the end of January at a at a you know potential balance of around $92,000. Um and so kind of doing well and and you're starting to see kind of the uh the savings of the those elementary the kindergarten teachers that we talked at the beginning of the year that we didn't need to hire because of the enrollment. And so, you know, I anticipate
084barring, you know, unexpected uh financial challenges that that number will kind of continue uh each month as we start moving, you know, as we start moving to the second half of the year. A lot of uh and in in the in one of the columns you'll see incumbrances, money that we encumber because we expect we have you these expected expenses. However, sometimes we re we recognize that we don't need as much of that money. Um and so then we can free up some of those incumbrances which then releases the money um you know for back for the general you know the the general balance at the end. So we're starting to do that. Obviously we do that kind of thoughtfully and carefully. You don't want to do it too soon because you don't want to
085take money out of an incumbrance and then just find out you got to like you know reallocate it and put it back in there. And so then we kind of look to to see where that is. So um where are there spots that we feel good about it? And so like I said, we are kind of trending in a positive um and u and we'll look uh we're once again just a reminder we'll have you know it's really there's three options toward the end of the year which is um you know spend the money that that that we have in the budget for necessary expenses. there is at the end we would uh ultimately determine to give money back to the town um or we put money up to you know up to 2% of
086the total budget in a non-lapsing account. So those are the those are the three options that are available to us. Um happy to take any questions anyone might have about the January budget statement. >> All right, Matt. >> Hey Dan, just on the um self insurance page, just make sure I understand it right. It look like year-to- date actuals are trending about 300 lower than projection, right? Is that is that fair to say? And I I realize um you claims can come up here the rest of the year, right? But correct. Would that be part of what you just previously said, those funds can be thought of in two or three different buckets as we, you know, wind down the school year? Uh so so that actually would be a different area. Okay. That wouldn't
087be impacting the um the operating budget that money that and you're right. We're we're we're trending very well on insurance and and it looks like we're we're we're kind of there and and even though I think you're right at 300,000 I'm going to be cautiously optimistic. I think it might even be end up being a little higher. Um just because a lot of our claims because we start on September one, you know, uh kind of shift and that's when we take a heavy hit on things. So uh but once again we we know you know uh it's it's health insurance and so claims come there but but trending yes uh we're we're there but that money would go back into the self- insurance fund that really pays for the health insurance right because it's a
088it's you know we're we're a self-insured fund so that fund would go back into the reserve. Got it. >> That ultimately you would, you know, through uh policy we make sure we maintain a certain amount that would cover you know uh at least 120% of the claims uh that that would be there. So that would just kind of bolster the self- insurance fund. >> So it would add whatever we just approved in this past budget plus potential surplus carries into next year >> into the self- insurance fund. Yes. >> Yes. Thanks. >> Any other questions? All right. All those in favor? >> I opposed extensions. Motion carries. All right. So, next item. We've done that one. Uh item 10, report of committee chairs. A personnel negotiations. James. >> Yeah. Thanks you guys. Um the next
089meeting um or the first meeting I guess of this uh this committee um is coming up on April 30th uh 2026 um at 4 p.m. to begin the nurse contract negotiations. Um the most recent meeting was actually on December 9th um with the previous committee um regarding ne negotiations that we just talked about with the FPSCU and monitors to add them to the contract which we formally approved here this evening. But looking forward to to meeting with uh with an and Erica and working with you guys um as as we move forward into this new contract negotiation. Um and also um a couple of meetings we have on um May 13th and May 21st. So we've got those all stacked up and coming in the next uh couple months. So >> uh B policy Erica.
090>> Yeah, we have our first meeting scheduled for what looks like April 21st. um welcome meeting. >> All right. Uh Curriculum James. >> Yep. Uh the first meeting that we had um on January 28th that Eric referenced um had a had a a great time with uh with Veronica. Um and Eric um they had a nice little icebreaker set for us to get to know each other. It was nice for especially um not knowing Matt yet. Um but uh getting a chance to know him a little bit um and and Haley as well. So looking forward to working with you both as we move forward. Um the uh next meeting that we have is April 27th, 2026 at 3:30. >> Uh decommunications Beth. >> All right. So uh next item is 11 report of committee
091leaison. Um item a correct leaison Erica. >> Yeah, they've been active. They've been busy. I was going to say I get those emails. So, >> they've been uh yeah, and um some of the meetings I attend just because of my work. But yeah, no, they've been very active. Um a lot of also they're going through some um some of the they were going through some of the budgetarian stuff and then also there are some discussions around um some of the not policy but some legislature coming through for magnet schools in general. So, um, but they they're very active. >> Yeah. They're they're concerned about the funding >> for the funding. Yeah. >> How that's coming through in terms of their concern about how that might impact the LEA regarding how CRE um, you know, charges
092us essentially for students who attend their school like their magnet school. So, we have students who live in Farmington. maybe choose to go to one of their magnet schools and their funding is uh structured a certain way and they're concerned about the way that's coming through with some new legislation. So, we'll be keeping a close eye on that. >> Yeah, there was a certain percentage set is what they were identifying. So, um yeah, know that's and then they also just announced not too long ago their new executive director for the program who was actually a state of education department employee. >> Thank you. Um item uh next is B, extended learning opportunities committee. Matt >> report. >> Okay. Uh C, Superintendent Intercolastic Athletic Advisory Committee James. >> I have nothing to report personally. I have
093not had a at a meeting yet. I know that they're they typically come after each sports season. Is that correct? >> Yeah. and >> Beth. >> Yeah, Beth attended the last one for me because I was the point person. So, >> okay. So, um and I was appreciative of that group did. I knew that a few times a year we hear back on it. So, the their last meeting was December 9th. It was the fall rehab meeting. So, um share highlights of athletics fall season high school. was administration and coaches and I was pleasantly surprised to see some athletes that I recognized participated. Um so uh there were a lot of successes and you know record-breaking athletes that we talked about. Um winter sports triyouts had just been held the week before we met or
094end of winter sports spring beginning. Um the boys and girls basketball teams were each planning they were in the midst of planning their recognations for um our beloved former athletic director Jack Baylor. They each had Jack Baylor memorial nights in January that um big news was that Arlington High School received the recognition by the National Intercolastic Athletic Administrators Association. Um you may on the website letter um and that they were that award was earned for the quality program assessment. It was QPA award and it was a national recognition for exemplary high school athletic programs and our athletic director Matt Morelli led the athletics department processor rigorous assessment process and as of now high school only the third athletic program in the state of Connecticut to achieve that level. >> Big deal. Thank you. >> Thank
095you. >> Um Farmington Public School Foundation Haley. >> Yeah. Um a couple weeks ago, the Farmington Public School Foundation did a bingo night um for families, kids, and adults were were invited. Um and it was a really fun night. Um they did really well. There was a lot of um attendees there and um you know, people had games and prizes and um I think everybody had a really good time. um I can get back to you with uh how much they actually u made in their fundraising. Um and then I guess another update was that um they do plan on having another fundraising event. Um and it will be a trivia that they've done that every year for the past few years and that will be adults only. So >> it was I just want
096to comment it was I I attended it was a lot of fun. >> It was a lot of fun. The music was great. I know. Erica and I sat at the same table and you would have heard us singing out loud. >> Dancing too. >> Yeah, it was fun. >> It was fun. >> Yeah. >> All right. >> Wish they would do more of those for the families. Like Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Yeah. >> All right. Uh, health and wellness, Angela. >> Our next meeting is April 30th at 2:30. um a goal of the committee has been to integrate more nutrition education across the department and actually um she cited as an example our kids today from Westwoods. So that was came about from the health and wellness committee. >> So I'll
097report more back once we have our next meeting. >> Great. >> Thank you. Cafeteria Ann. >> Uh yes, we met earlier this evening and uh three little items came up. I guess uh there's been a sunb butter shortage. Something happened at the company. Did they get the sun butter? The equipment or something failed. And so we're hoping to get sun butter back soon because there's a lot of upset people. And um the first graders, they have snacks and ice cream again. >> Um they've stopped giving it to the kindergarten level, but they're introducing it to back to the first grade. And um the gentleman from um Chartwells agreed that uh to have more communication at schools from the cafeteria to the school leadership when there's an issue such as a sun butter short sun butter
098fans that day. >> So that's it. Our next meeting I believe is in June. >> Uh green efforts Matt. >> So we had two meetings already. So, we had meetings at the beginning of the month for February and March. Um, so basically mark this on your calendars. On April 25th, that's a Saturday, from 8 to1, we're having our townwide cleanup. Supplies will be provided. Um, I don't know if you guys participated last year, but the prizes were um gift cards to Fork and Fire, Naples Pizza, Farmington Ice Cream at Miniolf, Wooden Tap, and Bollywood Dreams. Never heard of that place to be, but that's most likely going to be the same prizes this year, too. We're still discussing if we should change it up a little bit, but um supplies that we provide, we'll be
099providing gloves and bags for the town cleanup. So, basically, whoever brings in the most trash, you guys will win the prize. >> Thank you. Um, Community Council for Equity and Inclusion, Erica, >> we haven't um I think we meet once a quarter, so I think there's another one that's coming up soon, but if not, um it's April. All right. Um, and then building committee, FHS building committee best. >> Still going. I know I've been saying for quite some time, we're winding down, but I have news. So, our last meeting was March 4th. Um, and the full committee at that meeting authorized the financial subcommittee to approve and submit the few remaining invoices that the full committee's been doing. Usually, the way it's been working is the subcommittee reviews those and brings them to the full
100committee. So we're pairing down our operations and our meetings a bit just for the tail end. So that was approved um and for both the Farmington High School and the central office projects which are technically separate and once that process is complete they'll get the full committee back um and all the approvals will come back to the full committee for the record basically um and then at that point the projects will be formally complete and I'm hearing um late April early May for that. So since 2019, if you just count the most recent high school. So >> wow. Seven years, >> right? >> Yeah. I >> know. >> I know. Well, no, Beth's been involved the whole time. It's a long time. >> So, all right. Um, next item or thank you everybody for your
101updates. Um, next item 12, report a board chair. Um, I just wanted to, um, thank Jess and his team again for all their hard work on the budget. um you know uh it takes a lot of a lot of effort, a lot of a lot of um behind the scenes work um to to put together this budget. I think I've commented before, you know, you're always in last year's budget, this year's budget, and looking ahead. Um, I think, uh, you did a fantastic job at the budget workshop, um, answering all the questions from the town council. Um, and I just really want to thank you, Jess, um, and the leadership team, Veronica, Dan, Sam, Matt, Wendy, um, just for Beth, Beth, um, for all their hard work, all your hard work, um, and putting the
102budget together and presenting it to the town council. Um, and I also want to thank the town council uh for their partnership um between this body and their body. Um, I I felt like they asked some really thoughtful questions. um sitting there in the audience, I was thinking to myself, oh, like that's a really good question, you know, and I feel like every time that I've participating there listening to the budget workshop, I learn a little bit more too about um our budget and how Farmington Public Schools works. Um, but I do I want to thank um the town council chair um Brian Connelly and all the town council members for um their support of the board of education's 2627 budget. Um and I look forward to continuing our partnership with them. Um and then
103I think next meeting is on a Tuesday um April 7th. It's after the town council has, I think, a second hearing on the y >> on the town council's budget moving forward for referendum. Um, and then you know, um, I also wanted to just give a shout out to all the, uh, cast and crew of Anastasia. I, uh, they did a, they did a wonderful job. And uh I have a I've watched I've been to many of um their performances and um there's so much that goes on behind the scenes too with with them and I uh want to shout out to the faculty and staff that support um these performances. You know, Farmington is known as a a high performing school district. you know, we do well academically, but and in athletics, but also
104really in the performing arts, too. Um, so, uh, I just wanted to shout out to them. Um, and also I has their, uh, performance coming up, Into the Woods, uh, March 27th and 28th. So, if if you get a chance, um, it's always worth seeing one of their performances, too. Um, and then I think that's all I all I have other than happy birthday, Jess. >> No, happy birthday, Angela. So, um, >> 29 again also. >> Yeah. >> So, 21. Okay. >> Thank you for sharing your birthday with the board. >> Wanted any other. >> So, >> as a gift, we're going to get you out of here before out of before. >> Yeah. I'll be quiet now. Um, so, uh, we just need a motion to adjourn. Can I do a point of personal
105privilege, please? >> Um, sure. >> Okay. So, um, March 27th is also the Farmington Community Chest spirited wine tasting. >> Oh, sure. Okay. >> The annual fundraiser, and the proceeds benefit the Farmington Police Benevolent Association, which helps policemen pay for their health insurance once they retire. >> Yeah. >> So, it's a great time. It is at uh Polaro Club. Uh, and it's a great time. You can go online to the website and get tickets and I hope you join us. It's a really fun time. A lot of great raffle prices, silent auction items. >> So, the 27th >> I move to adjourn at 8:55. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I opposed. Absention. We are adjourned.