001[Music] I'll call the meeting to order. Uh the regular meeting of the pharmacy board of education for Monday, October 21st, 2025. Uh ask you all to please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. 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. >> Thank you. >> All right, Kathy. Item three in the agenda, recognition. >> Good evening, everyone. My mic is on now. Um I am so pleased uh to recognize two individuals who have received a prestigious award. The first uh I would love for Aaron to come up to the podium. I have the pleasure. Yes. And there's a seat right there just in case. I have the pleasure of introducing our
0022025 2026 teacher of the year. Aaron Knack has served as a teacher leader, a skilled instructor, an instructional coach to her colleagues over many years, serving others as a strong professional development facilitator, and sharing her expertise with educators across the district. She is truly exceptional. I see so many of our students here who may their lives may have been touched by Aaron and uh we are so pleased and proud that she is representing us in the state teacher of the year process. Aaron is a humble yet truly outstanding educator who's committed to continuously learning and continuously innovating. She has shaped the Farmington public schools. Erin's commitment to ensuring every child succeeds as confident and independent readers and writers who acquire all elements of our vision of the global citizen made her the ideal Farmington teacher
003of the year for this school year. Countless educators and students have benefited from her ability to develop in others the skills to excel in the areas of literacy and even beyond literacy building their confidence empowering them. She sees the strengths in all of us children and adults and she is a true Farmington educator. I am in awe of you Aaron our teacher of the year. your knowledge, your ability to develop that expertise and others spreading that expertise so that we're always, all of us are continuously learning and getting better for the children of Farmington. Erin loves the teaching profession and serves as a model of excellence in all elements of her literacy uh work, instilling a love of reading and writing within our students as well as the adults in our school district. Congratulations to
004our 2025 2026 teacher of the year, Aaron Knuck. Thank you so much. I am just so humbled and touched by I I can't even express how much this award means to me. Um I am going to read because I I might just become a bucket of tears. Um, I am so grateful to this board and to our administration for their steadfast commitment to putting children first, for thinking critically about our practices and applying best practices and research. This is a time to care for children holistically, to nurture all they can do and become. My passion is literacy. I just love books and stories. Stories connect us. They help us share our fears, our dreams, and imagine who we might become. Everyone deserves to access this world as a reader, a writer, and communicator. And I
005believe that every child can not only become proficient readers and writers, but they can love it and use it with joy and purpose throughout their lives. Through my participation in the reading recovery study and my amazing intervention team and my ongoing collaboration with researchers and professors at Yukon and Leslie, I've learned that reading is a complex process. Children who encounter early learning early reading difficulties deserve an adaptive responsive approach. Every child has strengths, a uni unique way of learning. They don't need limits. They need responsive, creative teaching that meets them where they are and unlocks their potential. What makes me proud is that our district refuses to define children by what they lack. We believe in equity, in building teacher capacity, and offering rich, joyful learning experiences for all. We hold high expectations, work collaboratively,
006and stay impatient with the gaps between what children achieve and what we know they can achieve. And the results are incredible. I've seen kids go from struggling to recognize letters to reading and loving to read grade level books in just a few months. Kids who were once tentative now beam with pride. Students who are active thinkers and who have agency. Those moments, those five high fives, those hugs, those tears. That's what makes this the best job in the world. None of this happens alone. Thank you to Kathy and our curriculum administrators Veronica and Eric for creating conditions that let teachers teach with agency and creativity. To our incredible literacy specialists and interventionists who collaborate, model and lift this work every day. To our teachers, the heart of it all, for creating classrooms where children can
007thrive. I am so grateful to my team at Null Wallace, to Tara, Katie, and Carrie for their inspiration and leadership, and to my husband Paul for his endless support, patience, and belief in this work, and his creative support when we do things like, you know, make coral reefs and create frog launchers for literacy nights. I'm honored to stand among such extraordinary e educators, people who believe in children and one another and the power of literacy to change lives. Thank you so much for this recognition. It means the world to me. It really does. Thank you. [Music] And our next uh award recipient is our staff member of the year for 2025 2026. Britney, come on up. So Britney is our district's BCBA. And many of you may not know what a BCBA does, but really
008what I will say is you are foundational to the work that we do in our classrooms because you provide such amazing support so our students with exceptionalities can fully access learning in Farmington. So Britney primarily serves students with exceptionalities, working hand inand with all faculty and staff to ensure we provide the most exemplary services and education to all Farmington students. Britney has a wealth of knowledge and expertise that expands well beyond our specialized programming here in Farmington. something we are very very proud of that we educate our students in our school district with their peers so they can access all of the programming uh whether it's during the school day or after school. So that's something that is a point of pride for us here in Farmington. And Britney is one of the really key
009people who help navigate and make sure that the students who might be in a specialized program or may need some type of support in a specialized program is getting that just right support. Her enthusiasm and high expectations for all students really is critical. She is deeply she is a deeply trusted colleague who has modeled both high expectations and care for all students. That is a warm demander. That is a Farmington educator and staff member. Through Britney's actions, she exemplifies Farmington's vision of the global citizen for all students by cultivating self-awareness, resilience, compassion, and cultural competence while empowering others to grow as learners, collaborators, and contributors to a more inclusive world. Britney is an innovator, a problem solver, someone who pushes everyone to imagine new possibilities and understanding the unique strengths and needs of each child
010that we are so honored to serve. So, congratulations, Britney. I'm not going to touch it. Um, as Aaron said, I also wrote down what I'd like to say. Uh, standing here tonight feels a little surreal when I think of all the people that make Farmington what it is. Being recognized as staff member of the year feels that much more special and I'm deeply grateful. Each day I have the privilege of working with our students, our families, colleagues who bring such dedication and heart to this to their work. Together we problem solve, celebrate progress, and help our students grow in confidence and independence to together we make the difference. and I wouldn't want to do it anywhere else. Thank you to the board of education for this recognition and for your ongoing support and to our
011superintendent, Mrs. Greeter, for your unwavering dedication, leadership, and vision. Thank you, Wendy and Molina, for your leadership, mentorship, and encouragement inspire all of us. And to our administrators in the DLC, thank you for creating the collaborative culture that makes Farmington so special. To my SLC family, our special services team, and colleagues across Farmington, thank you for your teamwork and trust in me. And last, but certainly not least, to my dad, Mark, to my mom, Sherry, and to Alicia. Thank you for always being in my corner. Well, um, I am who I am because of you. Your unconditional love, your example, and your constant belief in me. Farmington is a community big built on meaningful relationships and shared purpose. One that values collaboration, growth, and meaningful learning. And I'm honored to be a part of it.
012Thank you so much. Uh, next item on the agenda is uh, five, approval of minutes. Can I get a motion to approve the minutes of September September 15th, 2025 BOE regular meeting? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Discussion. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Next up is the FPSF check presentation to the board of education teacher initiated grants large innovation grant. >> All right. So, another really patient group. Um really happy to see our FPSF uh board members here this evening. We're so grateful to all of you. Um Carla and Kelly and Shaina and I see some others here. Milton, yes, up there. Um are here to present the check for teacher initiated grants as well as a large innovation grant. We haven't been able to do
013this in a while. So this is really exciting and they're supporting pathways at FHS in the area of like biomed pathways and this is just such an ex I'm just so thrilled to be here for that this part of it. Um and just advancing our science pathways at FHS is really important to us. We are in a community uh that has Yukon and Jackson Lab and this is something that's a real interest to our families and our students. Our education foundation in Farmington has supported our schools for over 25 years because of volunteers. Uh and they've contributed to our success as a school district in so many ways uh through empowering our teachers and staff to experiment to innovate and engage and iterative strategic improvement on behalf of our students. And I just can't thank
014the foundation's board members enough. I've always had a close relationship with the Farmington Public School Foundation. I believe in its mission and its place within a community to support K12 initiatives. Um, and they have always been there for us during um, COVID. I I could I could just go on and on. I know Tony's here uh, who has been, you know, a key leader. I looked at the NAN framework tonight and I was like, that should be on the FPSF uh website because that's who you are. You notice us. You affirm us and you make us feel like we're really needed and we want you to know how much you're needed. So, thank you so so much. >> And if you go to the next slide, you'll see all of the um grants this year
015including the uh large innovation grant. >> We asked for Russ to come because this is part of this jacket. [Applause] >> Okay, we'll be quick. I promise. Um my name is Carla. This is Kelly. Um part of the Farmington Public School Foundation is we fund innovative educational programs um for the Farmington Public School. So we are so excited um to be able to give this grant this um this evening. Um, this grant has funded um a grant at the Farmington High School, the bicycle frame design and fabrication, the SAP to Syrup at Union School, the IR common kits for seventh graders, um the Nespresso um and beyond which is our second year um committing to that. And then Kelly's going to talk a little bit about the um commitment that we made to the high
016school. So, um, we have also had the privilege of learning about the biomedical science and STEM pathway at the Farmington at Farmington High School. We were super excited. We partnered with Russ and his team to learn a little bit u more about that. We agreed as a foundation to fund a grant in the tune of $30,000. So, $10,000 for the next three years for that biomed pathway. Um, it's clear to me you have some great community leaders here. I was hoping the student council's still here so we can uh you know get some of their services. But we really um want to thank the community for the support that they give to this foundation. As Kathy mentioned, it's critical in all that we're doing here in the schools. We are very appreciative to support uh
017the teachers and all of the um educators. So um if you'd like to follow us, we you can find us easily through the Farmington Public Schools website. There is a link for us. You can follow us on Facebook and you can learn more about all the fun things that we're going to be doing in the community to raise funds. So, thank you all for your time tonight. [Applause] Thanks, Russ. >> All right, class size report. >> So, Veronica is going to go over how do like a quick overview and then open it up to any questions. So we can go to the next slide controlling nonprofit. So in your uh packet you received a very detailed class size report that we certainly wouldn't go over every single detail here but just wanted to give you
018sort of the highlevel takeaways. Um so you can see that really the point really the point of this is to give you information to compare class size to the board of ed policy guidelines. So, oh, I should be using this. Um, like I said, the purpose of this is to u give you information um in order so you can use to compare class size to the board of uh education policy guidelines. Um, and also as sort of a preview to um uh budgeting preparation. Uh you would use this report uh potentially in conjunction with the October school enrollment report which comes next um to start thinking about you know how to plan for next year. So, you know, of course, this is these reports are sort of the um result of thousands of decisions that
019are made about how we staff our schools, what's the programming look like, um what can we support um in a way that allows students to to get what they need um but also be um fiscally responsible. So, that's what you have here. Um you can see uh just as a highle overview uh we broke it down into elementary, middle school and high school to kind of give you that snapshot way of thinking about um where we are in relation to the board policy. Um and so ultimately the conclusion you'd come to is that the courses are adequately staffed in accordance with the BOE policy and regs. um places where you see smaller class sizes are often you know in those specialty areas or in interventions which is um allowed by policy there. So um those
020are some things that you might have noticed in there. So like I said this is an overview a high level overview. Um I do want to point out that in K and one you might notice smaller class sizes. Um and although it's not always perfectly achievable given that we have four elementary schools and so you know depending on who lives in the district and in in that area um that that can change but we certainly uh you know try to keep those lower than let's say fifth or sixth grade by design. So if we have an opportunity we'll do that. Um, I do also want to point out, this will come out in the enrollment report a little bit more, um, that actually we were budgeted for more kindergarten classes than we have, but again,
021um, you know, it was an efficiency we were able to, um, you know, use this year just given the class sizes. So, we didn't, um, you know, make super small kindergarten classrooms, um, because we wanted to be responsive to that, um, responsibility as well. So, um, that's a overview. Um, but certainly in your book list, you have really far more detail maybe than you'd ever want. It really goes down to breaking everything down to exact class sizes for every course. >> Okay. Any questions? >> I just had one. >> Sure. >> Um, and you don't have it listed under your lowest enrollment, so I was wondering if it was just a number that was forgotten for Spanish 8. There's a class listed with only four students. Um, >> what grade? >> Grade eight. Eight Spanish.
022>> So, one class of Spanish. >> Oh, >> um, I'm going to guess that's a typo. >> It's a 14. >> Or 24. Okay. Yeah, I I was just curious like is there a class with just four students? >> Uh, the seven is accurate in pre-alggebra there. But um >> that was going to be my other question is is that >> new or is that just um for students that really haven't >> mastered the pre-alggebra in seventh grade >> could be for a variety of factors. Somebody who moved in potentially um or um as you suggested somebody that needs it either again or for the first time just given where they are in their trajectory. Okay. Thanks, Veronica. >> So, um the enrollment report is always a really important report for all of you. This
023is the beginning of our budget uh process. When it comes to uh staffing, we look at these projections very carefully. And so, you can go to the next slide. Uh this gives you an overview of um the total enrollment uh that we see as of October 1st. That's a magic number for the state of Connecticut is October 1st. And we have 4,000 students in the district. That does not include 92 preschool students and 14 uh Farmington Valley Transition Academy students. It also doesn't include students in magnet schools that might be receiving special education services, which we pay for. um and we uh support. So there are other costs other than just the number of uh students you see here on in this report. Uh 96 less students K12 in 2526 than in 2425 and 101
024less in the MP projections, 52 less in the retention ratio projections and 13 more in the push-up projections. So, if you remember last year as a one-time um approach, we were moving children from one elementary school to another. And so, the consultants that worked with us on the elementary ad hoc actually provided projections uh for us and that those are the MP projections. Uh also, we include building permits which are considerations uh for projections because of future space utilization across schools. Um, and then we include recommendations which I'll go over and projections for next year. Both this year only pushup and retention ratio, we will not have MP do any projections for us. Um, just some items to note as a cohort analysis. We um, if you just take one cohort and send it like
025bring it to the next grade level, we had 16 additional students from cohort to cohort. The kindergarten age change requirement appears to have had an impact this year. And the housing market uh is a factor with limited inventory. So, when it comes to turning over homes and maybe having families moving in, that seems to be a bit of a stressor in our community. And we see a trend towards smaller apartments being built in town. So, we'll just have to see how that plays out. Um, you've already gone to the projections on the next slide. Um we are projection projecting in the retention ratio 4,31 students that will be the basis of our budget for the coming year when it comes to staffing. Uh in the push-ups it's 3,927. Going to the next slide. Uh if
026you look at the recommendations, many of them will seem very familiar to you. But I start with commending the board for the elementary ad hoc committee and the recommendations because we set out to balance elementary enrollments and we just we did just that which is really helpful in our schools and I hear has had a tremendous impact in East Farms in particular that there is some swing space there and it has made a huge difference um and it adds flexibility which was much needed for many years at East Farm. So just commend the board on your work in that area. Uh special education needs are always going to remain um a a factor in how we utilize our schools. So that's something to keep an eye on. If we add specialized programs, those are classrooms
027that go uh you know come off of our utilization and make uh capacity lower in each school. So that's something just in the future. student needs. We often look at the needs of our students. We look at our vision of the global citizen. NAS standards. All of those things we're always looking at to ensure we're utilizing the space we have in our schools in ways that reflect our vision of the global citizen. Uh prek programming. This is a big big need in our community. One that we would love to do more for our community with preschool. We just don't have the space. And um you know I will just also commend the board for the movement of our preschool from Noah Wallace to Westwoods. You have to come visit. It's just wonderful in that space.
028If you have had children in Westwoods, the classrooms have collab space in the middle. This really works well for preschool students and they have a gorgeous playscape uh that has been built there. It's just really exciting to see our fifth and sixth graders with preschool students uh at Westwoods K8 facility review recommendations that's ongoing for the board. Uh we have many many uh items that are you will see in major projects and capital projects but they have an impact on our facilities housing developments and trends which I already talked about. I just want to mention because this was an investment you made and our community made, but our central registration has been very positive and greater coherence of enrollment process and verification district-wise. So, I think it's another point of pride for this board that
029you supported that and the community supported that. So, that is uh my overview and any questions? Angela, >> when is the enrollment taken? Um like as of the last day of class in the in the count uh school year or when do you like mark the enrollment? >> It's the October. >> October 1st is the state's day that we have to because we have accountability to the state as well. So that is statewide the day you take that enrollment year to year. And um so that is why we use that as our projections. >> October 1st 2025 there's 4,000 students. Is that for the year ending in the the >> It's this school year. >> The school year ending in 2026. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Right. >> Okay. >> You want to say Angela?
030>> Yeah. >> Okay. Anybody else? >> Okay. Moving on. >> Summit of the state assessment results. >> Yeah. So, Eric uh Martin is here, director of curriculum and instruction. He's going to provide a brief overview and then take any questions you might have. All >> right. Good evening, members of the board of education, uh, Superintendent Greeter and others. I'm here today to go over uh in brief the full results of our state summit of assessments from the spring of 2025 primarily in the areas of ELA or lit ELA literacy, math and science um for grades 3 through 8. So the results that were presented to you in the summitive results packet, there were 16 pages worth of kind of overview about these assessments and then results on how our students did. The slide behind you
031is highlights relative to those results. Um, and we're here to talk primarily about three different assessments. So, the Smarter Balanced Assessment that's been administered across the state since 2016 that replaced the old Connecticut Mastery Test um and for high school, the Connecticut AP uh aptitude performance test or CAP test and then the NGSS science assessment which replaced the old CMT assessment for science. Um, that's been administered since 2019. So, what you won't hear about tonight is the high school results for the SAT school day. Those results are furnished in a separate report and I'll be presenting those to the board at a later date. So, for overall performance, we're here to talk about ELA in grades 3 through 8. We continue to experience uh much higher than state average performance on this assessment. 25% higher
032than the Connecticut average to the tune of 76% of our students meeting or exceeding the benchmark for state performance. Um and that places us in the top quarter of our DUI. DUI is district reference group. So um we use that as a classification system to compare ourselves to other districts of similar demographic makeup, income level, enrollment levels. Um and of the 18 districts in our DUI with qualifying scores, we were in the top quarter. We also experienced a 2% increase in grade three literacy performance since last year on Smarter Balance Literacy. That doesn't seem like a lot, but there's a story behind that that I feel is worth mentioning. So, we continue to advance our integrated uh interdisciplinary units of study in grades K through three work of our curriculum specialists and our literacy coaches.
033Um they're doing a tremendous job building those units, taking uh inspiration from EL units of study and rolling those out to our teachers. And a lot of times what you see with the implementation of a new curriculum is performance will dip in the near term while teachers adjust to the instructional requirements of that new curriculum. That has not happened in Farmington. So at the same time that we've been rolling out new units of study, student performance continues to increase. So that's a testament really to the quality of these curricular units and to the implementation plan through which our teachers are being trained on how to um effectively teach these new units of study that really expose students to deeper thinking and deeper learning opportunities. Um for math again consistently high performance was the continued trend
034here 27% higher than the Connecticut average and for this measure we're in the top half of our dirt. Looking a little bit more closely at the results, we do recognize that there's room for improvement in the areas of grades 6th through 8th mathematics and we're engaging in a long-term curriculum study with the uh intent of continually strengthening and improving our math curriculum in those grades. Um it is important to note that nearly half of our students, 49.2% of our students tested in math in grades 3 through 8 hit the highest achievement level. So they exceeded the state performance assessment. So when we look at strengthening the curriculum, it's bringing more of the students who are at levels 1, 2, and three up to that level for performance. And then in the area of science, which
035is assessed in grades 5, 8, and 11. Um, and these results include also the 11th grade results. We are 28% higher than the Connecticut average in the top quarter of our DUI. Uh moving to the middle column, it's important to note that um relative to overall performance, we continue to see strong performance in our high need subgroup. And that's a that's a kind of a super classification at the state level that captures any and all students who receive free and reduced lunch services, any students who are classified as multilingual learners or English language learners, um and any students with special education designations. Um, so our high needs performance continues to to pace much better than the state average. In fact, we're in the top 15% of the state in performance in the area of math
036and the top third of our DURG. And our high need students on the whole score 18% higher than the state average on the Smarter Balanced Assessment in 2025. For literacy, a similar story. Once again in the top 15% across the state in performance for high need students, the top third of our DUR and again 18% higher than the state average for science. 51% of our highne students meet or exceed the expectations of that assessment and that's 20% higher than state average. Um in addition to smarter balanced achievement levels, there's also what's known as the smarter balance growth model. So this model, I actually prefer it to achievement, which sets kind of one measure of attainment for all students. The growth model takes students and it'll it'll say based on their previous year results, what is
037their growth target to move into the next level of performance for the following year. And so it sets really um a measurable target for each individual student based on prior results. So I often make the analogy rather than saying like, "Okay, everyone at this table is going to run a seven-minute mile in the spring." That would terrify me. That would probably never qualify for that. It would take my previous year's performance and say, "Okay, Eric, based on your previous year's mile, which was not 7 minutes, here's a more reasonable target for you." Or in the case of James, maybe he would qualify for the 7-minute mile, or Beth, maybe something even faster than that. Um, but it it really sets an attainable mark for each student. So the state has kind of an ambitious statewide
038target for this model. They want 40% of students achieving their full growth target. While in Farmington, we outdo that pretty significantly. 55% of Farmington public school students reached their full growth target in 2025 in the area of smarter balance literacy. That was a 7% improvement from the previous year and 15% higher than the state average. Really what that means is we're meeting kids needs exactly where they are and helping them get to increased levels of growth and achievement each year that they're they're enrolled with us and as measured on these assessments. Um and then they also give us data on this one's a little trickier to understand. What is the percentage of the full growth target achieved? So I'll try to analogize this. If I ran, again, this is not plausible, but an eight minute
039mile in year 1 and my goal was a seven minute mile in year two, then a 100% of my target would be shaving 60 seconds. Are we following along? So, if I shaved 30 seconds, I would have hit 50% of my growth target. Well, in Farmington, students in the area of literacy reach on average 72% of their full growth target. And that's 12% higher than the state average. And that captures the full range of students performance at every single level. In the area of math, 58% of FPS students meet their full target. Again, a 3% increase from performance last year, 15% more than the Connecticut average. So Connecticut is making good on their goal of 40% and we are vastly exceeding that number in Farmington. On average, Farmington public school students in the area of
040math reach an average of 73% of their full growth target. And that's 11% higher than the Connecticut average. So it's just important to note in summation that we've enjoyed longstanding success on summitive assessments relative to other groups in our DUR and relative to state averages, but we're never satisfied. We look at summitive results, state summitive results as an important data point that's like an overall indicator of the health of our curriculum, of our system of teaching and learning. It drives our improvement at the level of individual student performance. And it's really we analyze these results to to make our curriculum stronger every year so that our results continue to to outpace state averages to keep us at the top of our door and to get better over time. Happy to answer any questions. >> Erica,
041>> yeah, I have um and maybe I might have missed and actually I've never asked this question. So uh and I don't know how if it's right or wrong, so let me say that. um kids who are classified as special education kids would they fall under that higher need and they would >> they would so the high needs the state developed a high need super group it's part of our performance index it captures any student with one or more of the following designations spe special education >> free and reduced lunch or they receive English language learner services >> they're they're in our overall performance and we break them out >> um to ensure you know We we want all students to achieve at high levels. So, we're really looking at that and >> being on
042uh a statewide assessment committee for a while. That whole that state target is set so that students over time by the time they get to SAT are on grade level. if they're meeting their growth target every year, like the theory is >> they will get to the standard by the time you know they're in high school and they're and it's all designed in that way. So, it's a really important like the growth indicators are really important to us. That was a new feature. uh that was never a part of the CMT, but we really like to look at that because if you're a student who might be two years below grade level, but you make a certain level of growth, there's a real point of pride. You might not have gotten to uh the three
043or the four, but you've made that growth. And we want to celebrate that and we want to let our students know you're you're setting goals, you're working hard, you're getting there, and you will get there. Um so it's uh it's important to look at all three of these. >> Absolutely. >> And then so sorry two more questions. So with do is this I know we get the letter we get the document and it's all the beautiful graphs and everything and um but is this used in the say when the students going from one grade to the next and as uh educational needs for them? >> Yeah. So we we definitely use the individual student reports to determine what students strengths and areas for growth are and to tailor you know instructional supports and opportunities for
044students. >> We also look across grade levels and see where are we performing stronger or weaker relative to test uh claims and targets and make curricular and instructional decisions based on those. >> Absolutely. >> But it is one test. It is no one called it is one test and that's why what Eric said is absolutely correct. It's like a reflection of the health of our curriculum and our instructional practices and programming. And we would never say one test defines a child because we have seen students, you know, at grade level on all of our assessments and then they get to this assessment and it's stressful and it's one assessment and it's on the >> feels high stakes. even though we try to coach them that it's not or we don't want it to feel that
045way. >> So, >> um but with the growth model, it really helps us to kind of know for each student what's the requisite level of performance needed to get them to the the next level >> and then we mine deeper into that to kind of determine exactly how we get them there through supports. And then my last question cuz I know we had talked about this uh maybe last year or so and I know it was a big topic of conversation is around the grade level that was really impacted or well all kids were impacted by the whole COVID pandemic and the remote learning thing. Are we seeing that you know as there was some slipping are we seeing I mean are these numbers reflecting that we are seeing those grades uh have caught up
046or maybe >> yeah so if you look in the report there's some historical data um it's it really starts on page I believe nine I'm flipping through but you can see without going directly to that data that in most cases we're at least within one percentage point if not better than where we were coming out of CO. >> Okay. >> So, yeah, we have arrested that dip that that CO created. >> Okay, I see it. I'm okay. Thank you. >> Sure. >> Any else? >> Pretty good first year, man. >> Thanks. >> It's all me. No, I cannot take credit. >> Thank you. >> Can I get a motion to extend our meeting past 10:00? >> A motion. >> Second. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Motion carries. Thank you.
047Results and outcome. >> Yes. So, Veronica will uh do a quick overview. This is our accountability report to you. Um and so it's really important that this reflects what we set as goals last year in our school and program development plan. And now here are the results of those actions that were also aligned to teacher and administrator uh objectives. So we have a very um nice structure and system around strategic improvement and I'll hand this over to Veronica >> and given the vote that was just taken we'll do this very quickly. Um so if somebody can go to the next slide um so because this report is quite lengthy and Kathy has some copies there. I know many of you um have it electronically, but if you were to, you know, want to peruse that
048at your own leisure at some point um and want it in paper format, there are some copies there for you as well. >> Um and so really what I wanted to provide for you today is just a little um sort of highlevel analysis of the main areas that if somebody asked me what did we work on as a district last year, um these would be the ones. And so I do want to um just call your attention to the um the great presentation that we had just because it's like current in our mind but the great presentation we had by high school because I don't know if you noticed it but his first slide was about how what they're showing you connects to the his school development plan this year. That's the high school school
049development plan. Um so if you notice the goal statement was strengthen shared ownership. This is the new one. So, so we're going to get into that next side, but just as an example, strengthen shared ownership and responsibility in our school community by deepening a culture of genuine mattering among all students. So, that's going to be the one for this year, but what you can see is that th that document of our school development plans really drives everything we do. And then in his in school development plan, it'll also say how will we know that we achieve that. So, that's it'll have indicators. So it says we will know this because our results our survey results will show an improvement in these questions or something like that. So that's how these um reports are are um
050crafted just like Kathy said that this is like a year-long process more than a yearong between the planning and then reflecting on how we did in those areas. And so I'm hoping that you know as you went through or as you go through um and she said this is our accountability report. That's exactly what this is. We hold ourselves accountable to these uh very important um improvement areas that we're working on. So I would say in c and they're always organized in these three very important areas. So culture and climate um and our goal there is high trust culture. Um and so in many of the reports as you're reading um you would see that we had a focus on actions matters which means um things like you know our words and our actions make
051a difference and how can we behave in ways um you know that that really um you know shows you know what we um you know care about and that we care about other people. And so um there were a lot of results in this in this that show that you know there were improvements in uh made on those areas. Um but there was also a lot of action steps. So the action steps would have been various um you know professional development or various um opportunities for students to think about that. Um so you would you'll notice that things like in high trust so family partnerships um increase and then you we would see it in our results and outcomes in terms of our survey data improving in those areas. Um student voice and leadership is
052another big takeaway in that area. Um in academic achievement um that's also aligned to high expectations and we have high expectations for all learners. So there you're going to see a lot of focus on have we achieved these um objectives with all learners. Um and so it was also nice that we had the presentation tonight u from the Farmington Public Schools Foundation because one of the things that we worked on really hard were the enhanced pathways um which you saw tonight um the the science um was awarded um you know some of the uh resources there in order to continue to enhance that pathway. But that again is a result of a school development plan and a program development plan. Um and then that's the outcome that we have these enhanced pathways. Um you'll also
053um see more evidence of this actually as we go along. Um but over time we've been also enhancing our college experience courses um adding more courses um and also uh huge emphasis on encouraging students to try these courses. Um and so you'll see a real increase in the number of students Um and you'll see it actually even in our you see it in the the results and the outcomes in the beginning pages a huge increase in the number of students who are taking a college uh course before they leave high school. Um and then in the area of teaching and learning um you hear of these often um high engagement we talk about deeper learning. What does that mean? Um you would have noticed last year there were um there's a huge emphasis on uh
054displays of student learning and student work um and um parents coming in to see all the work at uh the various elementary schools for example. Um and um we spent uh quite a bit of time last year too on um really learning about the impact of artificial intelligence on teaching learning which was uh pretty new at that time to us. Um and so we've develop we developed some um protocols around that for teachers and for students um with more to come. So you know those are some high level like every school has their own nuance way of thinking about what's their next level of work. Um but overall because we're it's sort of nested you know there's a program development plan that we all talk about and discuss. Um and then schools are able to
055take those same themes that we've been working on through various retreats or our our own professional learning um and then do what makes sense for their um schools. But you would see a lot of these themes sort of emerging in all the schools. And again that's the results and outcomes for next for last year. And so next time um we meet you'll see the goals and objectives for the for the follow for this for this year um going forward. Um, but one of the things you'll notice is that many times because we have five-year goals, we have our VOGC, we have our framework for teaching and learning. Um, it's always just a deeper level, but you see many of the same the themes over years. Uh, but we just continue to um, you know, learn
056more about each one of these areas and go deeper as a system. Um, so I think that's the the summary of the 140 pages that you have in front of you of all of our results and outcomes. But again, it's really important the data is really important, just the the outcomes data, but also the perceptions data. So, we really work hard on um both of those and communicating what we're what we're doing um in order to um you know, measure ourselves against what we said we were going to do and we're doing >> questions. I just got one question, Veronica. I know Eric touched on it and I I saw in the report um and I actually kind of feel this personally with my daughter being in IR. Um what's what is maybe we can
057get a preview of what the plan is for the math because I see that like 20 from 22 to 25 the numbers go down to seventh grade but 8th grade is opposite >> the numbers >> but yeah the the percentage of um of of kids that are um passing or of C C minus and above I think is where the outcome was. >> Oh oh oh >> the percentage has gone down for three straight years in seventh grade. So I was curious as to like and I know Eric touched on it too. So I was just curious as to what strategies are going to be deployed going forward. So as you know in every department we have um vertical teams that are studying that. Um and I do know that like for example you will
058see in the program development plan um that there for for I that um in the area of um academic achievement um you will see an indicator there of what they're working on with the action steps in there. So that's that's how we work, you know, we we see those kinds of uh gaps and then that is what drives what goes into the plan. >> Fantastic. Thanks. The only sorry the only thing um question I would not a question but something I would want us to take a look um you know also in regards to strategies to what James was saying and on the page 13 the equity indicators on met standards on SPAC literacy grades 3 to 8 where it's got all Asian black Hispanic white two or more uh black and Hispanic student population
059scores are the lowest compared comparatively as well as I went to look at the the breakdown of the you know the percentage of of individuals you know in that population but still it's it's concerning that their numbers are low as well as for the math SPA grades 3 to 8 um they are the lowest 35 and then 50 35% for black and 50% for Hispanic so what type of strategies are we're doing you know for the the populations there and I understand from the talking earlier about they are they may be considered pulled in that higher need population too I don't know I you know, but could be. But I this is, you know, it I I would not be doing my my job if I didn't point those two things out. >> I mean,
060we I I think um you know, knowing that this is a very important um aspect of our work is ensuring all students >> are achieving at high levels. I think uh when you hear about you're on the CCI >> um the we are relentless in looking at this data and ensuring that >> some of it you saw tonight students do the foundation of doing well in school is feeling that you do belong you matter. So that's that is the foundation, right? So we're working on that. But the other foundation is access >> that every child in this district, we take away the barriers, right, to the AC access to high levels of coursework. Uh not pulling them out of core content to provide a a support, but instead have flex blocks where we're not pulling
061anyone out of core content. So there are many many different strategies over the years that we have put in place and we've made some progress in that area but there's a long way to go and we have to keep working on it. This is a statewide issue >> for Connecticut with you know the largest achievement gap >> in the country. So we really um you know if we are working tirelessly on this and it's a mission for our teachers and our administrators to ensure every child meets personal and academic excellence here in Farmington. So um it's it definitely is something I think the CCI potentially could provide some of those um opportunity and you know uh gaps. It's it's often opportunity gaps that create these uh the the data. So, just the things we've done
062over the years. Um I'll give you one example and then we'll move on because I know it's late, but just what we've done with American studies here at the high school. Every child gets a credit bearing class here at FHS. that was years and years in the making that our students are you know students that typically would not access a college credit course are now all accessing it. So those are the types I mean those are little examples but there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes that are would often be articulated in our school development plan. So looking in there you're going to see those strategies and um initiatives and training that we're doing. And one of the things in because of the way that this is presented, so just to Kathy's
063point on the equity indicators like the college course enrollment um last year um the overall was um you know 85%. And now it's 98 and in the population the black population it was 71% and now it's 94%. So that's just an example of how um you know and and we're trying to be very transparent also with this data because we're just as impatient as anyone um in terms of what's going on here. And so um we this is something um that continues to be um something we we you know we're we're constantly you know uh thinking about and and and driving for um you know in that area. So something we we we know of well and and really um you know uh plan for it's in our school development plans and and you can
064see there as an example the the college course enrollment um what kind of progress we've made there >> and and so many things come before the board whether it's budget whether it's like presentations from schools that um you know we're we're asking for more interventionists or things like those are all those types of strategies we're putting in place in the sport has always supported uh having coaches so that our teachers have opportunities to have someone coaching them side by side. Um Aaron Knock was a great example of someone who does that and is helping to close uh opportunity achievement gaps at the elementary level in reading. So um you know the board has a big part in in this work as well. Kathy, I think I asked a similar question last year, so I'm just
065curious. Um, for the family survey feedback, I know there's like 16 questions and then there's also like a write in that the parents, you know, families can give feedback for, but we choose only to uh gather the, you know, include in here nine of those questions. Is there a reason we don't give the full breath of the questions that were asked as a recap? >> Yeah, I think we explained it last year. I'll explain it again. We really focus in on the areas that are most need, you know, the most need and areas that the school development plans are based in. So, we want to continue to like drill down into those areas. Um, you know, I think last year we provided all of them. It's it's not that we don't, you know, it it's
066really to try to focus our efforts. if you go too broad with your uh strategic improvement, you're really not going to have improvement in those areas. So, one example, I think one question you're always going to see it say we're going to keep on there as a focus is is this work too easy, too hard, just right. We always have issues there. So, we keep drilling down on that and and working on it. And the other is just kindness to one another. That is another area. So, we really pick kind of the areas that we're going to really focus in on and then say say to ourselves, did we make an impact? Did we improve in this area? Uh, so the principles, they take they're looking at all of them, but they're also there's just
067some that we see consistently are in need of improvement. >> Okay. Yeah. I mean, I'll take a look. So, that information is available though if we if I wanted to see it in terms of >> Yeah, we would send it to the whole board if the whole board wanted that. It Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Great. Thank you. >> I do have a question. >> Sure. >> Do you um like I know they have these studies and they break down, you know, different ethnic groups, whatever. Um do they ever take in consideration like home life or support at home or broken families or because studies show that it does impact the student a lot. So although we see that oh you know we have to bring these students to a level but you know is there
068a study that shows not that you can get in the home life but I think it does affect a lot of possible academics or whatever um because of what's going on at home or the support that's going on home and we always try our best to support students here which I think you guys do but like do you guys see that a lot or or >> that would be hard to like capture in terms of a data point but I think that somebody said it. Somebody already said it like there's a lot of overlap between like a high needs and then some of the areas that we're looking at here. So, >> as Eric said before, that would be free reduced lunch, um special education, ELLL status. Um one or more of those will put
069you in the high needs category. So, it's not, you know, there's no place where there uh the states lining up. How does that correlate to, you know, different ethnic groups? Um but you know there there could be some of that going on too if that makes sense. and and I I do think we've >> recognized our need um to engage families more. Um and so uh that's Kristen our family liaison and then we have liaison at each school have been really helpful in creating events where we really invite parents in that maybe we wouldn't typically see because they're working a job or two whatever it might be but trying to like meet families where they are and say uh to them you know here are ways in which you can partner with us here's some
070you know early literacy strategies that type of thing. So, Kristen's been really helpful to our school principles in um increasing those types of events and opportunities for family. >> Okay. Anybody else? >> Professional appointments. >> So, we have one appointment in this report this month. >> Yeah. >> Pretty quick. >> And deeper learning updates. You know, I always invite you to look at these. These are completely aligned to what Veronica just went over in her her uh presentation, but just so I mean these pictures are just, you know, amazing as you look at our students engaging and learning together. >> Thank you. Budget impact budget update. >> I'm just going to say Dan's had a really easy time tonight, but things are about to change cuz we're entering budget season. Yeah. Uh really uh I
071mean you know I I I don't want to oversimplify it. We're we're in October. Things are still really at the projection level. You know things are are good. You'll see in the uh you know we're we'll do the July and August financials but it's beginning of the year and so we're just kind of monitoring uh for things there. But right now there's there's nothing um you know nothing bringing us any large concern. Uh you know I'll talk when we do the financials again. Veronica had alluded to the three uh kindergarten teachers that we didn't deploy because of the enrollment. And so you'll see that on the the teacher salary line uh for for both the July and the August. So, you know, I know Angela, you bring up that sometimes you always see that teacher
072salary that's really high. You're not going to love it because it's going to probably stay really high this year because there's already three teachers that we didn't need to to utilize that we that we put in the budget. Um and so now that you know if you figure out you know an average of $75,000 a year times three it's about $220,000 that that's going to be there that hopefully it will will kind of be able to maintain. Now the reality is we know special education surprise costs different things come up and you know a couple outplacements and and that money gets absorbed but it it's always nice to start the year knowing that you have this you know ahead as opposed I think last year we we had some concerns about the beginning of the
073year and trying to scramble through. So, but overall everything is looking really good. Um, moving in a in a in a positive direction and so we we hope it kind of continues in that path. >> Thank you, D. New business review and consideration of the school district annual report. >> So, this is a the accountability system for the town and we contribute to it and so this is our annual report that we put together each year. Um, and this rule once approved will be sent to the uh to the town manager as part of her report. >> Thank you. >> Uh, section nine, consideration of assistant super. >> Oh, I'm sorry. My bad. Sorry, it's late, guys. Uh, can I get a motion to approve >> as presented? >> This is the >> Yeah. Can
074I get a motion to approve the 2425 school district annual report as presented? >> Motion. Second. >> All those in I'm sorry. Discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos. Motion carries. >> Title N section nine consideration of assistant superintendent of finance operations report. >> Yeah. Once again that's uh just kind of what I alluded to in the budget impact discussion. If you look at for the July and August uh financials which were you know to approve you'll see in the uh teachers line there that kind of large current balance. The rest of them are, you know, you know, little things here and there, but um, you know, overall, um, you know, we're we're like I said, we're moving along and and going well. >> Thank you, D. >> Can
075I get a motion to approve the July 2025 financial statement report? >> Motion. Second. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> Opposed? Motion carries. And then I got a motion to approve the August 2020 2025 uh financial statement report as presented. >> Motion second. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I motion carries. Section 10 reporter committee chairs personnel negotiations. Andrea. >> Uh nothing to report. >> Policy. Beth >> nothing to report. >> Curriculum. >> Could I say something about policy? >> Sure. Uh so Shipment and Goodwin have not finished their model policies for this year and once they do we'll call a meeting so that the policy committee could look at all the model policies for this year and hopefully have first readings in November. >> Okay. Uh
076curriculum Andre >> uh we have a meeting Monday, October 27th. >> Okay. Communications Beth. Um, nothing much to report except I just hope you all during your busy summers got a chance to see the summer newsletter that went out to all the households. It was really, I thought, our best ever, best yet, best yet. Um, you know, just FHS class of 2025 and all the achievements of students, classroom, school. It was really, really nice to see it in print. So, >> okay. Next up, reporter committee lison. Correct. No report. Extended learning facility. >> Uh nothing to report. >> Scholastic super intercolastic advisory. >> Uh no report. >> What we saw today? Public public public school foundation. James. >> Yep. I was just going to say the uh the almost $19,000 check right there is a
077is a report um of the of the committee. Um but now the uh the FPSF is is just an awesome organization to uh to be a lead leaison on board for. um you know, Kelly and and Carla are doing a fantastic job um you know, shephering the uh the group along um still struggle for participation just like all the PTO's in town um for from the community. So um we're always looking for volunteers. So if you know anybody, know any friends um that want to get involved and and actually make a difference, look at that check over there. Um it is a fantastic organization doing really really good for our school system. So >> thank you James Health and Wellness. Angela, >> we had a meeting in September. Um, they discussed the Wellsat data and
078they're setting some goals centered around that data that they got back. So, there's going to be some further initiatives on nutrition education and physical education, which was the the two main feedback um driving areas from the Wells data. So, I think we'll hear more about that as that gets, you know, in motion. >> Thank you. Cafeteria Advisory Nine. >> Uh, next meeting is December 8th. >> Great efforts, Marty. No, no report. >> Uh, see, community council of equity and inclusion, Erica. >> Uh, yes, we had a meeting last week actually in this room was was jam-packed. Uh, and it was just such a wonderful meeting and actually seeing one of the student council uh members, Tori, uh, was at our table. Oh, she was just very impressive and part of the conversation um and the
079work that's being done there as you know Kathy was mentioning earlier about how do we ensure the inclusity inclusivity and in ensuring making sure that our students feel um valued and heard and and needed and and so forth and and were u there was a lot of focus on the power of mattering which was discussed earlier today and then about belonging and it was just it was great I will say and Natalie I just continued to be impressed by how she facilitates um a room full of I don't even know how many people were in this room. It it was jam-packed and also um it was very creative and it was very um uh feels very motivating and it feels very um uh I feel very grateful to have heard a panel of students. There
080were students represented in the room but also a panel of students and I will say you know just bringing some of their voices here to this room today and speaking to what was mentioned earlier many of them when they were asked you know uh how how do you you know how are we how do you know we're meeting your needs or how can can you tell us how we're meeting your needs and many of them were grateful about the tutoring that they experienced here within the school day and access to that service is a just that we that is where we need to be investing. Um you know it it's across the board each one I think mentioned that the tutoring and then just overall just feeling like um and there what I enjoyed about
081that was the diverse um group of kids from grade levels to race, ethnicity, gender, everything. Um uh culture all of that was just a wonderful reflection and I think it was probably one of the most feel-good meetings I've attended. So thank you. >> Can tell awesome. >> Yes, it was great. That's awesome. >> M FHS building committee. >> Um, sure. So, the building committee met last week. Um, to stay really general, we continue to meet. We're down to once a month now. It's primarily reviewing and approving invoices and change orders. We're kind of narrowing down, honing in on the home stretch. So, we're winding down on the formal completion of the FHS building, obviously. And are they I think they're still doing punch list items probably in in central office building. Um and we meet
082again November 19th. >> Thank you, Beth. Uh Andrea, superintendent search committee. >> Yeah. So I have an update. Um it's a little bit longer than I normally give my updates, but um I just wanted to really share with uh the public uh my thoughts and also some of um the work we've been doing over the past eight months. So Farmington is an exceptional school district with outstanding faculty, staff, administrators, students, and families. Since beginning the search process eight months ago, the board of education has approached the superintendent search with great care and deliberation, ensuring confidentiality, thoroughess, and vetting candidates and maintaining high expectations for identifying our next district leader. We began this process by hiring Cab Search search services as our search consultant to guide and support our work. During the spring, we engaged our
083community through feedback sessions and a district-wide survey to identify the leadership qualities and attributes most valued in Farmington's next superintendent. Although we received applicants from across Connecticut and beyond, we were unable to identify a final candidate who met all of the criteria, qualifications, and expectations that we collectively established as a community. The position was reposted on August 1st and applications were accepted through September 12th. Over the past month and a half, we have carefully reviewed applications, conducted interviews, and thoroughly vetted candidates. The responsibility of serving on the search committee is one this board has taken very seriously. Our focus throughout this process has been to identify a candidate who is not only fully qualified to serve as a superintendent in Connecticut, meeting the highest standards of certification, experience, and education, but also someone who will
084continue Farmington's legacy of leading the way in education. And that is a very high bar. I'm thrilled to share with the community, with the public, on behalf of the board of education that we have identified a candidate who meets our community's expectation both within our school district and across the broad broader Farmington community. We plan to hold a special board meeting on Monday, October 27th at 7 p.m. here in the Blackbox Theater to appoint this individual. We invite all members of the community to join us as we welcome the next leader of Farmington Public Schools. Finally, I just want to take a moment to recognize every member of the board for their time, commitment, collaboration, and thoughtful dialogue throughout this process. It's something I'm incredibly proud of. Each of you has approached this work with
085a shared sense of purpose and pride, knowing that we were entrusted with the privilege of selecting Farmington's next lead learner, someone who will guide us to the next level of our continuous improvement journey and continue our proud tradition of excellence in education across Connecticut and beyond. Thank you, everybody. >> Thank you, Andrea. All right, report to the board chair. Just want to say to Andrea, thank you for leading us in that process. Your leadership, you're you're you were u you're an example of how to do something like that well. Um you were thoughtful, you were patient, you were methodical, uh and you were a fantastic leader and I I think I speak for everybody when I say that you you were really excellent at it and the town will be forever in your debt, I
086think, because of the work that you did in this process. And I mean that sincerely. >> It was collective. It was, but you were the leader of it. So, well done. Uh, the only other report I have is that the town council voted to ratify the teachers contract at their last meeting, and it was unanimous vote. So, that being said, we're journal. [Music]