Farmington Board of Education Meeting - 06/02/25

001[Music] Good evening. Like to call to order the uh pharmacy board of education regular meeting for Monday, June 20 June 2nd, 2025 and ask everyone stand 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. Thank you. All right. Uh, next on our agenda is um item three. We'll call it C. Presentation of proclamation uh for Kathy C. Greeter, superintendent. Um, obviously this is Kathy's last meeting, official meeting as the superintendent of schools for the town of Farmington. It's a bittersweet evening. Um, and uh, we had a very nice night last Friday to celebrate uh, Kathy's career in Farmington. Um, I have tonight a pro a proclamation to be

002read um on behalf of the board of education to Kathy uh in recognition of her years of service to our town. So with that being said, I'll just get started. Whereas Farmington Board of Education's mission is to enable all students to achieve academic and personal ex excellence, exhibit persistent effort, and live as resourceful, inquiring and contributing global citizens. And whereas students in the Farmington public schools effectively learn important academic content, demonstrate skills and achievement at high levels, and develop their individual talents and interests in an atmosphere that promotes belonging, respect, and lifelong learning. And whereas Kathleen C. Greeter has embodied the highest ideals of educational leadership throughout her 16-year ten t tenure as the superintendent of the Farmington public schools serving the students, families, faculty, staff, and the broader community with unwavering dedication, integrity, and

003a deep commitment to excellence. And whereas Kathleen C. Greeter has consistently been a champion of every student in the Farmington public schools and has nurtured a district committed to the belief that all students can excel when provided with caring classrooms, high quality instruction, and meaningful learning experiences that honor their individual strengths, identities, and aspirations, fostering a sense of belonging and the confidence to lead their own learning. And whereas Kathleen C. Greeter has served as an exceptional and visionary leader who inspired the development and implementation of found farmington's foundational and future oriented improvement documents including the core beliefs the framework for teaching and learning and the vision of the global citizen which through aligned and intentional systems work uh I'm sorry I'm sorry intentional systems work have driven continuous improvement by shaping district structures instructional practices

004and culture as a result of this sustained and coh here and focus students are empowered to grow as self-aware individuals, self-directed learners, disciplined thinkers, engaged collaborators, and civic-minded contributors. And whereas Kathleen C. Greeter has been a transformational leader of adult learning throughout the Farmington public schools, cultivating a professional culture rooted in inquiry, reflection, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. Her leadership empowered educators and leaders across the district to be to also be learners, engaging in practices that support the emergence of new ideas while building coherence around the most promising and impactful approaches, always guided by a collective commitment to meet the needs of students now and into the future. And whereas Kathleen C. greeter during her tenure was an excellent steward of all Farmington schools and also led the collaborative process to envision plan and

005bring to life a new Farmington High School. An inspiring state-of-the-art facility designed with community input and grounded in the district's vision of the global citizen through years of strategic leadership. Cath Superintendent Greeter championed a school that reflects the district's commitment to deeper learning, innovation, and student well-being with learning spaces intentionally designed to foster collaboration, creativity, reflection, independence, and joy. And whereas Kathleen Creer was recognized as Connecticut Superintendent of the Year in 2020, reflecting her steadfast commitment to all students in Farmington and her deep deep belief in the power of public education to transform lives and strengthen communities throughout her active engagement in influential state and national organizations, including the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendent, the Connecticut Superintendent Network, Ed Leader 21, the Deeper Learning Districts, and as a mentor to aspiring superintendent. She has

006distinguished herself as an insightful leader, insightful learner and respected leader whose voice, perspective, and vision have meaningfully shaped leadership development and driven large-scale educational improvement within Farmington and throughout the broader educational community. And whereas Kathleen Creer has left a profound and lasting impact on generations of Farmington students through her compassionate leadership, consistent presence, and unwavering commitment to each learner's growth and success. Admired not only for her strategic insight and dedication to excellence, but also for her genuine care. She has had she's been a steady, encouraging presence in classrooms and at student events from early elementary through high school, fostering personal connections, celebrating student accomplishments, and creating a culture in which students feel seen, valued, and inspired to learn and lead. Now therefore, I, William Beckard, on behalf of the Farmington Board of Education and the

007Farmington community, hereby commend and celebrate the exceptional service of the contributions of Superintendent Kathleen C. Greeter, expressing our deepest gratitude for her steadfast commitment and selfless dedication to the children of Farmington. Be it further resolved that this proclamation presented on this June 2nd, 2025 be entered into the official record as a lasting tribute to a legacy that has been woven into the fabric of the Farmington Public Schools community and will continue to shape our schools, our students, and our future. Dated the second day of June, 2025 at Farmington, Connecticut. Congratulations. [Applause] Wow. Thank you so much. Thank you. I want to also recognize Kim and Veronica and their assistance in helping to prepare this um proclamation. Uh they work very hard with with us uh and I to get this done and done well and

008it was very well stated. So, thank you for your your input on that, ladies. Very well done. Um, I'm opening it up to the board for any any comment. Don't feel like you have to. I have to feel like I do. So, Kathy, I was just thinking back, you know, since Friday, um, you and I first met when I kind of stepped up my parental involvement in the school district by joining efforts to advocate for the school and the town budgets. And it was about 14 years ago, so pretty early on in your tenure here. And it was a challenging time for the schools and for the town, the community. Um, but your optimism and your just your patience and tenacity in that environment um just really caught my attention. You earned my trust and

009respect. I was, you know, my children were young. Um, I was early on in my experiences as a school parent. Um, but I learned quite a lot by working with you, watching you work um in those situations. um and as an advocate, been a town council member and now as a board member with you at the helm of the school district has been a really great experience because of your leadership. Um so it's been such a privilege to serve as a board member under your leadership. Um but I think even more so to have my three children benefit from this education that they've received. Not quite done. Um third one is still coming up through the high school. So, you know, that's really meant a lot to my husband and I. Um, and I I

010know that the community is appreciative of all that you've just done for us. Um, your hard work, your dedication to the school district and the community in general is is really quite remarkable. Um, so again, I just feel so fortunately that fortunate that my family as well as the entire community where we've chosen to set roots and we've been here for about 28 years. um that we've been the beneficiaries of your hard work and your dedication and your your skill. Um it's really something. Thank you so much. Thank you. [Applause] Okay. Um do you want to take a break, have some cupcakes, or do you want to keep going? Um it's up to you. Uh we could keep going. Could I say a few? Of course. Yes. I just I want to take a moment

011to thank everyone. It was honestly such an honor to serve the children and families and community of Farmington. Uh for those who had heard part of my story, I've had a really uh unique experience in Connecticut. I spent 16 years as a Hartford teacher, administrator, central office administrator. Then I went to Greenwich for a few years and I was deputy superintendent and then interim superintendent and then Farmington called and said, "Would you consider being interviewed uh by the board of education here in Farmington?" And the minute I met the board of education, I just knew that this was the place for me. They were so respectful when they spoke about educators and about how important it was uh that teachers get what they need in professional development and resources. And I just thought that, you

012know, this is really the perfect place for me because I was always very focused on um students at the center but also teachers getting what they need to be the best they can be. And um so I was thrilled to meet a board of education who understood that and had a long history of supporting superintendent. In 45 years, a little more maybe 50. There's only been three superintendent in Farmington. And that's because our board of education works so closely with administrators and supports us and um through budget process or through you know whatever programmatic changes we need to be that need to be made. And I it's not lost on me today that this last board meeting is celebrating that I I'm officially superintendent. We're celebrating students because that makes my heart joyful. And that

013we're in this blackbox theater where we imagined a high school many, many years ago that was aligned to our vision, our vision of the global citizen. And we wanted to create spaces that were flexible, that created comfort for students, that gave flexibility for them to make good choices. And uh for our teachers, a state-of-the-art uh school that has all the resources they need to uh ensure that they're uh working with their students on deeper learning experiences that engage their heart, their minds, and their hands. So, this is really special also to be in this place on this day. I want to give a special thank you to uh all of our administrators who are simply the best and our extraordinary teachers and staff who get up every day and give everything they have to ensure

014that our students have the best education possible. And I want to really thank our board of education. they and led by Bill. Um, and Bill and I have been together, him as a board member, me as superintendent for the whole 16 years. Again, very unique for that to happen, but you've just made my time here so very special. And I have and will always treasure each moment with your children, with the teachers and uh and staff and administrators here, and all of you, the board of education. It's just, you know, been, as I said, the peak of my career. So, thank you. I know I know how much you like cupcakes. I might sneak out for a cupcake. Okay. Next item on our agenda is uh item five, approval of minutes. I get a motion

015to approve the minutes of May 12th, 2025 DOE regular meeting. Motion. Second. Any any discussion? I just have one edit. Sure. Um, the call to order was at 7:13 p.m. I might have submitted the time. Well, we we did get started late. Yeah. Okay. With that resision, any other comments? Okay. All those in favor sign uh of approving the minutes signify by saying I. I. Opposed. The motion carries. Okay. Okay, next up item six, consideration of superintendent report item 6B. So, uh this is our summer learning programs report. Veronica will provide uh an overview and answer any questions you might have. So, go on to the next slide actually. Next one. So, this is a very high level overview. Um the point of today's report is just to let you know that um we have

016extended learning opportunities over the summer. um and also um various camps and other enrichment um opportunities for the students in Farmington. Um this also shows you what schools they're at. Um so you have a sense of which schools um will have these programs in them. Um and certainly in the fall we do a much more extended report thanking all the people who are involved in um leading the summer school programming. Um but that happens in the first board meeting back in the fall. So the next uh two reports continuing education and excel are annual reports that we provide to our board and community with some highlights from the past year in mandated and enrichment programming for continuing ed. And Brenda Dolan is here to provide that information and preschool and extended learning opportunities for our

017school age students through Excel. Brian Cerio is here to present that report. Brenda, so I want to start by um giving some recognition to the hardworking evening staff uh custodial staff at Farmington High School. um they have always um consistently provided the support that we need to run our our classes mandated and enrichment alike. And uh this year they helped facilitate um a smooth transition into this amazing new building after years of our program running um primarily in the 900 wing. And so I just wanted to say um Shantel and Clon and the rest of the staff have just been amazing. It was it was also a transition year for the program. I stepped in after um Lori Wirebeck ran the program for many years and um I was fortunate to have some time with

018her to sort of learn everything um and it it went ve very smoothly and so thank all of you for the support that you've offered me through this year. Um and I I look forward to continuing many more years in with Farmington Public Schools. A couple of our um bigger highlights. Um we keep expanding the um youth enrichment program offerings. We are trying to continue building upon past successes and uh we were able to increase enrollment in Math Olympiad, one of our most popular afterchool programs uh by 50% this year. Um we are currently running gardening club and uh 15 of the 30 students were um personally recruited from the choice program and are receiving 100% tuition assistance um to participate and our Lego and robotics which has been a pillar of our program um

019traditionally offered in the evenings um we were able to move it uh expand it to after school at at um all school locations. Um the uh mandated program is um running well. Um we made some changes to the GED program at the beginning of the school year and my um our lead GED teacher has done a phenomenal job. We have a record number of graduates this year. We had 14 of our 20 enrolled students that have currently completed and we have two more that should be completing by the end of the month. Um, looking back through historic records, I was able to go back to 2017. The highest number previously was four. So, um, kudos to Lisa Tamasovich, um, our GED instructor, and her persistence and dedication to those students. One of the students was

020um a former uh Farmington High School, should have been class of 2017, and he came back and um he was eternally grateful. He wrote the nicest letter to Lisa thanking her for the support um because it was something that he just was unsure he was ever going to be able to to finish, but he he made it and he is headed to Tungstus in the fall. Um, we have four new US citizens in the Farmington Valley that came through our program this year. Uh, about 30% of our ESL students to date have gained at least one level um of English proficiency. And I also would like to welcome Eric Wagman. He has been serving as our program facilitator this year. So I moved him into my former position. Um he is FHS class of 2017

021and we are looking to bring him on full-time for the 2526 school year. Thank you so much. Good evening everybody. This is one of my favorite nights. Uh I love watching all those awards. Um I'm going to take a little story here. Gina uh is unbelievable. She actually came in for her first interview ever and she's also an employee of Farm Public School. She works at Noah Wallace after school every day. Um and Andy Chen was joking with his parents. I'm going to take a little bit of credit for his award. Just a very little bit. Very little bit. I remember Andy. He was about this big walking through with his violin in one and his backpack on the other side. So, um it's it's always great. Um so, the extended care and learning program

022had a really great year this year. Um four of our team members were honored by the connected after school network um in the STEM area and it was really great to see. We had preschool teachers, frontline staff, um Amanda Mashad who's the coordinator of the program. So, it kind of and we won four out of the six. So, we kind of swept. It was really great. Um, you know, so that that goes to show like what what kind of people we have working for us and super proud of them. Um, because none of this happens without my team. Um, another highlight of this year on the preschool side. Uh, preschool collaborative preschool moved from a first come first-s served model to a randomized model. Uh, this new approach created a fair and transparent process. Um,

023over the last couple years we've been hearing some small feedback and started growing. So, we took that feedback and and changed some great things. I think for the for the positive, it's working really great. Numbers are still huge though on those weight list. There's still about 156 families on that weight list right now. Today, we did our fifth round and we're on number 71. Wow. So, we're Wow. So, there's a there's definitely a need in this valley for early childhood. Um, another highlight for this year for the Excel program and continue far preschool program was uh the number of employees holding college degrees. When I first started this working here um you know I was working towards a bachelor's degree and it's always one of those weird things when um you're around friends who are

024who have specific jobs. You're a lawyer, a doctor. So it was kind of like what do you do every day? And for the longest time I joked around saying I made differences in children's lives. Um but we kind of coined it now as like you're an after school professional and I'm starting to see that like people grow. So you know and I'm starting to see even the last 20 years since I've been doing this um institutions are now making that after school degrees which is really great. Um but I I definitely want to say that number jumped um I think it jumped by like five and with higher education with master's degrees too. So I just wanted to point that out about my great team. Another really great event that we held at this beautiful

025space here um this past March was our STEM expo um we had about 350 attendees and it showcased work from preK to grade 12. We had students from our program um their families doing projects in-house programming that we did at our afterchool programs. We invited we teamed up with IR to invite uh about 12 IR seven eighth grade students to showcase what they're doing in STEM curriculum at their site. And uh we also had the robotics team that was here. So it was great to see kind of had this great opportunity that we already have a platform and uh worked with a bunch of people in this great district and and made it happen. So that's that's a great highlight for us this year. Um just wanted to put up there's just kind of a

026change in the days. um the Excel awarded $22,000 in tuition assistance this year to families. That 22,000 represents 12 different families. And then uh the final highlight um was the design and purchase of a playground for Westwoods uh to be installed mid July. Love to you know take this time if you have any questions for me or comments. I actually just have a question about the collaborative preschool. So, I did hear it went to a randomized model. I'm in a parent in the zone of people who have kids that age. For those that don't know, prior people that whatever the time stamp was like 8 a.m. people that were like 8 a.m. and 17 seconds weren't getting in because so many people were before them. I mean, it was like a matter of like clicking

027the button. So, I do think that that is positive. Although to see there's such a wait list for my clarification because I don't know. Is there prioritization? So like if you have a sibling in like what is there any type of that prioritization? There's no we did at one point but we got rid of that. Okay. So it's truly now just a randomized model. Yes. And and one of the the hardest things to tell families was that within the 26 second mark there was already 60 families. That was the hardest thing for me to stand. Yeah. For whatever reason it was just a hard thing to see unless you actually saw the time stamps. So that was one thing that we worked together with to to kind of make a continuous improvement. So really now

028the only thing it is is the randomized model. Like is there any like if you teach in Farmington do you get in or or no? It's truly just randomized. So we do have um spots that's that's circling out but we do keep that and this year we also randomize that list as well. Okay. So they own so we only took 10 spots for Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. That's just good to know because people will ask me and I don't know the answer. So now I thank you. Brian, it's always great to see you. I've known you forever. I mean, both my children went through the Excel program where you started out as a as a counselor. To see what you've turned this program into, you have been making impact on children's lives. It's not just some

029little joking around thing. It's a real thing that you've done and you have to you have you should take tremendous pride in what you did and taking what was a sort of kind of like, well, we'll just do this thing. We'll give kids things to do. And really through your leadership and your and your initiative, you built this into a a program that we know is the envy of of the state of Connecticut, frankly. Right. And and that is really under your leadership and your charge. So on behalf of my kids, both one who's now graduated college and one who's got little bit of way to go still, but uh and you know, she's going to be, you know, an Excel like a teacher like that, but before you know, more of a full day

030thing. But anyway, thank you for all you've done for on behalf of all the families of Farmington. I know how hard you work and your team works. So, thank you. And before I leave, I just want to say thank you, Kathy, for your support over the last 16 years. You've been a champion. Um, pushed me to get my degree. I don't know if I want to say push or gave me an ultimatum, but to get my to get my master's degree and I thank you for that because I don't know if I would have without that. Thank you so much for everything. That's I I just want to say both to Brenda and to Brian, you know, coming here 16 years ago, um to have an a a program like Excel in district and not

031look to outside vendors for that was such a gift. And we've just, you know, work together to expand enrichment, uh include preschool, expand preschool, and you've just always been incredibly responsive. And you know, as families do have more tuition assistance needs, you both of you have just been so good about understanding the needs of families when it comes to enrichment and before and after school care or preschool. So, we just appreciate both of you so much. When I came uh from my last district, we were struggling in that district with continuing education. So, coming here, it was thriving. We actually serve many communities within continuing education, not just Farmington. They continue to knock on our door for our assistance because it is such a well-run continuing education program. So, just thank you to both of

032you and, you know, we're just so fortunate to have leaders like you in Farmington. It just makes our community better and really is responsive to our families. So, thank you. Wonderful night, everybody. Thank you. So, uh, from last, uh, meeting there were some questions about transportation and and getting an update. Um, so we just wanted to kind of give everybody, uh, you know, kind of a status in there. Uh, there's a educational consultant researcher, his name is Michael Folen, back in like 2001 came up with the this concept of the implementation dip. So whenever you start something new, there's typically this little bit of a dip that happens and then you kind of were um there's, you know, a decline in performance, dip in confidence, different things, and then eventually you kind of work your

033way through. The goal is whenever you have any type of change like this implementation dip is that you make that dip as shallow as possible before you get back onto the incline. Unfortunately, I say transportation this year, it was more like the what's it the Mariana Trench? um you know probably as deep as you can go and before kind of getting ourselves out. Um so what I you know what I can say is that you know I I confidently can say that you know we we hit that trench right there and and we're kind of working there. We're not nearly where we want to get to. Uh we want to continue to prove I think you know Farmington has an exceptionally high standard and we want to not only meet we want to exceed that

034and I think specialty wants to partner with us on that. I think there was a lot of things that were learned this year. Uh, a lot of pieces that that go in there. What I can say, um, you know, we we've already had some conversations with Tim and Mike and and Matt, myself, you know, some goals for for next year, really looking at, you know, obviously just, you know, continuing to increase quality of service. Uh but really, you know, one area of focus that seems to have eluded uh specialty this year was really focusing on recruiting, retention of of drivers and and you know, kind of keeping that because a lot of times when we had issues, it was, you know, this driver shortage was really kind of this area. So, what are the steps

035that they're going to take to kind of do that? One tremendous thing that will help is um they were they had a contract with a local district. they didn't bid for that district for this year uh for whatever reasons I I'm not honestly sure but the the upside for hopefully for Farmington is you know they'll have this fleet of drivers and vehicles that they'll be able to kind of disperse so they're kind of not won't be so as spread so thin so hopefully that would be one key piece um in both um you know for vehicles and such. One thing I can say uh definitively is uh once we get the the the the the final numbers we'll have a a better idea but the um overall financials um you know are are significantly stronger

036than than kind of what was contracted. Uh they were able to do that through some efficiencies with with some buses u but not to the point where we think it was you know stretched too thin right it was it it was there were um um you know kind of looking at some of those pieces. uh you know and a secondary piece of that also is just in our gasoline light item. We're saving seeing significant savings um in that. Um so so some positive things to kind of build uh off of but once again not to um you know um really want to kind of take you know once we get to the end of the year you know they do some summer transportation piece in there but really working with with Tim and Michael and

037and um making sure we we focus on like I said those goals of just how do we improve the quality how do we how do we look at uh retention and training uh and recruitment of drivers. So happy to take any questions uh that anyone has. James. Um, not so much a question, um, but more of a a statement. And I know, first of all, thank you to you, Matt, um, for, you know, kind of being the liaison. Uh, Kathy, obviously, to to Specialty, um, and everything that you guys have done to try to get this, um, running as smoothly, um, and and the fact that we've gotten through the school year, um, is is a testament to that work. Um, on the flip side of that, I think um I I think it's a

038a severe understatement to say that this was um a very very disappointing first year um with with Specialty in this contract. Um I think Mike had said during the interview process as well as um when he came here um two weeks into the school year um he said that his job is to deliver kids safely and on time. And I don't think either of those things were met throughout the course of the year. Here we are. We're still I mean persistent contact from members of the community. Um including my daughter who gets on the uh IAB bus uh occasionally, right? I drive her to school because that's my choice and I get 15 minutes um of alone time with my daughter. So that's great. Um but the line has gotten excessively longer at AR because

039I think everybody has kind of just said given up, right? I've seen eye rolls. I've seen ah I've given up. You know, I've seen a lot of that from the members of our community. We responded to the members of the community by getting this new contract with a new vendor and extremely disappointed with their performance. So, I think unfortunately for them, they've got a really, really razor thin margin to come into the school year prepared. None of this driver sorted stuff. I mean, they have they have zero excuses to start the school year next year like they did this year or even close to what it is right now at this very moment. So I think um it's uh yeah it's just extremely disappointing and I hope you can um articulate that message to Mike

040and Tim. Um and they they do not have a a lot of leeway. Yeah. Come come this time next year. No, that's extremely fair. Um this I hear me Erica. I'll go back to you. Okay. So I um and one I want to say thank you m to to both of you and I think to to the school to the full school district um because I know it you know based on observations I think a lot of the staff the personnel or whether it be principles or you know they've been riding on buses as well helping trying to monitor certain situations and so forth. But I do agree with James you know the level of disappointment and if you all recall I was one of those people that said and I I said this to

041Bill I am hopeful for you. I am hopeful for the change and so I because I believe in multiple chances you know but being here where we are this morning my kid high school schooler my high schooler was late to school because we were waiting for the bus and not just I looked down the road and there's multiple kids waiting for the bus and I just said okay well you know um and we're we've got a week and a half to go two weeks to go we're going to make it. Um but you know concerns that I have and and I don't know and may and you know it's things that I've heard and even from my own kids who have expressed overcrowding on buses you know uh kids and again I don't you know

042you have to I don't know if it's true or not true but I hear it enough overcrowding on buses kids sitting on um you know on the floor multiple kids on a seat that's a safety concern for me and that's not acceptable because Again, it's making sure that our kids are safe is not one of the number one things. Um, you know, buses being late throughout the year multiple times. And, you know, I we whether you're a working parent and you have to leave your house to go to work or you're a parent who has not necessarily working outside the home, but you're responsible in your home and you have a lot going on. You're, you know, the fact that if the bus is late, it can totally derail a lot of your day and

043be late. and for somebody who drives to waste haven multiple times a week that is really um really concerning sometimes you know um so the multiple times that the bus is late um and then you know what I then started noticing and I don't know and I agree with James I don't know if this is the case and I think it was Andrea who asked this maybe last month you know um when I have dropped off my son or my sons at school I have noticed that the um drop off lane seems to be much more, you know, longer. And I don't know if it's because the parents are feeling burnt out or and they have chosen to say, "I'm not going to rely on the bus anymore. I'm just going to go drop off."

044And that's a that's a ser that's a a service that we all rely on, you know, and so um if parents if we're seeing a majority of I don't know if there's a a pre um sort of we can look prior and now are we seeing more parents? have we surveyed or can we survey have we seen more parents who are just choosing to drop off their kids on a regular basis at school because there is not the reliability isn't there. Um and then you know you talked about the the goals for next year and so couple things as part of those goals for next year agree with the recruitment and retention right absolutely let's you know they they've been with us for a year now but what are some some part of those um

045additional things to add to the goals for the next coming school year is I want to make sure that if there's any testing on routes that it gets done way before the school year begins. So, I don't know if there's going to be any changes to bus routes or pickups or whatever, but all of those tests need to be done way before the weeks before the school year. Yeah. Before the school year begins and then, you know, and then also how is it what kind of another goal is what kind of communication over the summer will be provided to families um so that they feel that they've been heard because we have received not only verbal but written um uh outreaches from the community. So, how will they, you know, something be communicated back to

046them that they have been heard and here's the goals that we've outlined and here's the steps that we've tried to build confidence in our community. So, thanks. [Applause] You know, echoing a lot what James and Erica said, um, appreciate you and Matt and everyone else who's kind of like rallied behind this. I just feel truthfully this isn't our problem to solve and I feel like you guys are spending a lot of time where it's appreciated but this is like a $25 million contract that we have with a company and for us to be spending this much of our resources trying to manage them seems crazy to me when there's simple things that I as a parent have written to them. I I do not think buses routes are optimized. I know that for a fact.

047My children were taken on I 84 numerous times out of East Farms, which is not the route that they should be taken, which you read my email, I'm sure. Um, you know, the bus driver shortage is another just short fuse for me. Again, I was joking with people, but I think this is a simple economics equation here. There's drivers out there. They need to be compensated more than pay me $1,000 a day and I will drive the bus or you can find people to drive the bus. I mean, specialty needs to dip into their profit then to fulfill their contract. Like, I think we're making excuses and I think um to Erica's point, I don't think we're actually getting better. I think there's burnout by the parents for having to follow up constantly. I mean,

048I feel the same way, too. I mean, how many emails can you write about the same thing where you're finally just like, "Okay, I can't risk being late to this practice again. I'm just going to pick my child up." So, I do think there needs to be some analysis done on I'm sure there's somewhere that the schools have who um arrives by bus and who doesn't. Um but I just think we need to hold specialty and I don't know what that looks like. I mean that could be a discussion but is it having them at every meeting until it's resolved? Like maybe that's it asking them to come because I almost feel like we're letting them off easy and I don't want to say that because I know you are following up. So, I don't

049want to minimize the work you're doing because I I do think you're you're doing the best you can, but I don't think you should have to do that. You know, finding drivers is not your job. It's it's a $25 million contract. They should be able to find drivers, and if that means dipping into their profit, that's what they need to do. So, um agree with everything that everyone said. I mean, the more egregious things again are taking kids on highways that are clearly not part of routes. um multiple people in Avon texting me that Farmington buses are picking kids up at Roaring Brook School in Avon that say Farmington on them. I mean, it just seems like there's an inconsistency into what Specialty is delivering to us. So, um I would love to see more

050accountability for them and I again, I don't know exactly what that looks like. I have ideas, but I think we owe it to the families to give them some type of answer because I don't think we're being service I don't think we're servicing the families and that it's getting better. I think people are just burnt out and just finding alternate solutions for their families. Um, and the safety concerns are another just hot ticket item for me. I don't like the overcrowding on buses. I that that just doesn't make me feel good at all hearing those types of things. So, yeah. And again, I don't want to direct this towards you or Max. I think you guys are doing all you can, but somehow Specialty has to step up. I mean, he was here earlier in

051the school year saying it would get better, and I don't know. I I don't I don't feel that. So, I'm going to just touch on the safety aspect of this because um I no longer have children in the school district, but I live right outside of the middle school in East Farms. The traffic is ridiculous. We are paying a ton of money for people to be on the school buses. These kids need to get on the bus. But I am concerned about the overcrowding, hearing the stories, seeing the emails. It's unexcusable. Number one, the roads being blocked. I have to go an absolute opposite direction to just get on 84 because you can't get down Wolf Pit one way or the other. Ridiculous. I even saw James Poor guy spending 15 minutes. They're crossing, you

052know, they block the street. It's terrible. I didn't block. You did not. Um, and I'm worried about the teachers. They're delayed to get to school because they can't even park their cars in the school parking lot because of all the cars doing drop off. unexcusable. Um, and what happened to when we did meet with them during negotiations, they talked about, oh, they have this whole program where they've got drivers, you know, on bench and blah blah blah. That's not seeing that coming to fruition. And also the speed I see buses speeding up and I mean, they're going up Lexon, which isn't even the main route, which normally it's they're flying up um Gale. They're flying up Lexon. You see them all over town racing, I think, just to get to the next route, which is

053concerning. Somebody is going to get hurt. And the number of bus accidents. While I've heard they are not any fault of the bus driver for the most part, I'm very concerned of the number of accidents. I've been on the board for four years. I never heard of bus accidents that were reported to us. That's a problem. So, anyone else? I'll wrap it up. I'm sorry. I I just wanted I just wanted to agree with every I don't want to say repeat everything that everybody said, but I do want to agree with everything that everybody said. I heard a lot in the beginning of the school year because I live in one of the Noah Wallace neighborhoods that it took probably a month to resolve that bus issue. Um but and but because of the unreliability,

054I do often drive my daughter who's a junior here to school. Like if she's got a first period test, I will drive her to make sure she's on time. Um and I shouldn't have to think about that. I don't think any parent should have to think about that. Same for after school. And as recently as it was um either Monday or Tuesday last week, she literally called me from outside and said, "Somebody just asked me, "Do you live in this neighborhood?" And I said, "Yes." And she said, "Well, the bus is coming back. You're going to have to get on this bus to get home." And she called me. She said, "Can you get me? I've got to I've got to be somewhere." But I couldn't and she was late. And then I'm looking through

055my emails to see if I got a communication and I didn't. So, and and I looked at my spam and I said, "Did did you get an email communication?" She said, "No." So, I think things happen, you know, drivers call out or, you know, that they're sick or something happens with the bus, but there has to be a communication, too, because that could have been avoided. And I've heard many stories like that. Um to Erica's and James's um point about um testing the roots, we're going to have some redistricting with the elementary schools. So those are going to be new routes and I anticipate that there's there could be some problems with that. So I'm also hoping that those roots get worked out this summer. Thanks. Um, I'll just wrap up. I mean, obviously you

056guys know this is not directed at you guys. I hope you you should know that, right? This is you guys are the messengers and you're kind of put in the difficult position of having to navigate angry parents and a unresponsive vendor. And I think that's what I want to make sure we don't lose sight of is that we have a vendor who's really not fulfilling their contract. I can't say it any other way. Now, there's certain, you know, there's certain provisions in the contract that allow them and there's, we talked about this in September about, well, how can we hold them accountable? So, you know, I'm not going to go so far as to say they're in breach of a contract, but they certainly are not fulfilling their promises. And what's what I would just

057ask that we all keep in mind you that they get this message and I'm really kind of disappointed they're not here tonight, but that what they have to understand is that one of the reasons we're celebrating Kathy is that she does such a great job of running our school district and and the board really comes to a place where we understand our roles and we don't feel a need to have these conversations where we're actually we're now the board itself is now micromanaging to some degree the the these complaints and because now we're in the middle. We're following our rules. We're communicating that on to you guys, right? And then you guys are doing your job. To Angela's point, you have a partner here who's not doing anything other than really at this point lip

058service. That's I mean, they can say what they're doing and they can offer anecdotal evidence of how they're trying to improve things, but frankly, that doesn't work anymore. So, I think the message they have to understand as they go into the summer is that our patience with them is over. they don't have any more room for error. I would say there's no margin for error at this point that if we're having this conversation midway through next year, we're going to have the lawyers may have to get involved at that point because we did this with all the right intentions of of making sure we had a new bus company that was a good partner, improving on prior services, and really kind of modernizing everything we were doing and and with all the right reasons. Then

059here we are at the end of the school year with the exact same problems we had in September. Really the exact same problems. Okay, just maybe a little different flavor to them. At the end of the day, this vendor needs to understand that if they want to continue to be a partner with the town of Farmington, they have to do better. Period. Full stop. That's all that's all I got to say. Thank you, Kathy. Appreciate I appreciate all the work. I know. I know. I've seen the emails that you guys are dealing with and I know how hard you're working. And again, to Angela's point, you're being taken away from what we're paying you to do. You know what I mean? So, thank you for that. All right. Next up, I just would uh I

060appreciate uh the board's care for our principles and our teachers and and all of the and and our central office staff that uh have been challenged by the bus company. uh and it has been difficult when we're combining buses or we get a notice that things are going to be late. I I just want to say with the overcrowding part I do want to say in um at each school if the bus was overcrowded so that children were standing or sitting that bus wouldn't leave the school. I think there are other factors related to it um about students sharing seats uh and other things that we're dealing with ourselves uh trying to help our students understand that yes you do have to share a seat on a bus and that is just part of riding

061a bus and so um we have dealt with some of those things. We don't want any child standing up or sitting in the aisle. And so that has been something that we've worked on. But uh I know our principles know that a bus cannot leave our schools overcrowded. There should be a seat for every child in our buses. It isn't pleasant to combine buses. I know that. And so that has been something with call calls out and people that are sick. we often have to do that which I do I would not want that to happen in the coming year. I don't want it happening right now. I think we agree with all of you on your expectations. We have the same expectations for the bus company. Uh I do want to thank uh Dan

062and Matt who are uh very busy uh with communication and problem solving and um as far I I will say one other thing. We have had fender benders in the past with our old company too. That that is unfortunately something that I do have to let all of you know when we have it. Um that typically 99.9% of the time it is not the drivers the bus drivers. It's just there's a lot of traffic and usually it's, you know, hitting uh the back of a bus or something like that can happen or miscalculating maybe a turn and we've seen that too. Stop signs, things like that. That would be the bus driver. But in in any case, I agree with you and I think that um you know, we'll continue to set very clear expectations

063and communicate uh with our bus company. you know, our disappointment collectively, internally, our board's uh frustrations and our community's frustrations. We had very high hopes. I agree with you. I had very high hopes. Um, but I am again a little bit of more hope with what I'm hearing about a contract not, you know, them not going for a contract, which will mean they have more drivers for next year for us and for their existing contracts with Avon and and Guilford and other school districts. Thank you, Kathy. Yeah. Professional. Yes. So there are eight resignations and one leave on this report. All appointments uh during the hiring season which is now uh to fill vacancies will be included in a more extensive report in the fall. So although you see resignations, we are actively hiring for

064any vacancies right now and you'll see that report in the fall like you do each year. Deeper learning and deeper learning Aspire and Capstone projects, design thinking projects, music stewardship and deeper learning integrated bird unit and stewardship associated with that and a sensory night were all included in the deeper learning updates. And as always, take your time to look through the these amazing updates uh that represent our work across all schools aligned to our v vision of the global citizen. Thank you. Okay, item uh seven on our agenda, unfinished business. Uh budget impact, budget update. Uh so just quick uh quick update uh you know where we are right now. We'll talk a little bit month uh for the uh April financials. Uh but overall things are looking good. Um we're still I talked about

065the last meeting still trying to work with Eversource. They're still untangling the whole thing. However, we've we've encumbered some money there just to be able to cover that piece of it um if that does uh come to uh fruition. So, I don't think it'll have a, you know, as we call like a material change. I think we'll be able to to kind of manage that. And we have gotten our second uh um our second excess cost uh payment that that we've received that. What we haven't gotten still is that $300,000 that when the legislature kind of added that $40 million for the state. We're still kind of waiting on that payment, but we still have, you know, they they send us a confirmation kind of gave an update there. So, we still expecting to have

066that. Um, so I, you know, we're still, um, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as we get through, really the discussion will, will we'll kind of be where, uh, we'll have that, we're anticipating putting that, um, into the non-lapsing account for, for the following year, but then looking to see if we if we have remaining balance, if if we just want to put only that 300, you know, I think it's like $39,000 there or if there is additional uh, surplus, do we just put the entire? So, so those are just kind of the discussions, um, you know, to kind of have it, you know, detailed in there. Um, right now, like I said, we're we're moving in in a good direction. You know, making sure we're we're expending all of our

067grants, checking for major projects to see where where we are and the timing of that. But but overall, we're looking very good. Thank you. Any questions? Okay, next up, uh, B, policy update, second reading. So, um, as you know, there were some questions asked at the last board meeting. Um, and so I'll go over some answers to those questions. Um, and Shipman and Goodwin had responded. They removed unnecessary references to Title 9 of education amendments of 1972. Some references are still required because they ref they reference the law itself and they included expression where appropriate to uh reflect state law requirements. Uh, related to the other policies, I put them down. Oh, if you go to the next one, sorry, the next slide. I put them down at the bottom. There were three additional policies

068that were implicated from the Title 9 changes at the beginning of this school year. Uh 1220 non-discrimination community, 5146 non-discrimination students, 5147 section 504 of Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and title 2 of Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Uh so the um they are not current currently recommending any changes to these model policies or regulations in either the student community or personnel series in light of the recent court ruling vacating the title 9 2024 regulations. This is because only title n related change to the non-discrimination policies concern the appeals process and to make all the policies align we shipman believes that the revised appeals process is preferable so there's no need to change it's simply because the title 9 federal regulations were vacated um so uh in addition removing references to title 9 from the

069titles of the policies and regulations given that policies and regulations also cover Connecticut law as well as title 9 that occur They clarified the protections related to gender identity or expression and sexual orientation are based on Connecticut law and in the employment context title 7 updating the location of the US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights where individuals may file complaints given that the Boston office has been closed. Added references to potential use of a third-party contractor to conduct investigations. uh and uh note that the regulations already reference this possibility of the use of a third-party uh contractor to serve as decision maker but this is also to conduct the actual investigation. So those are the updates um from the la and the responses to the questions from the last board meeting that thank

070you for the responses Kathy. So my question, I'm fine with the ones we're voting on today. So those are the ones that you know why we have title 9 or not. I'm still not 100% you know the section 504 ADA which you just were mentioning and you know you said in the weekend update what you just said the revised appeal process is preferable so there's no need to change it. I mean, I don't know if there's an opportunity to to just re again, not part of today, but like and maybe this is more of a policy question. Um because I felt like when we voted on those, it was based on the executive order and like those like it's hard for me to see exactly what we're saying the changes were and were not. I

071didn't look at the markup completely and then to I thought there were still changes based on the executive order. I guess I'm saying I know you're saying that some of them were not. I think you were just saying, but yeah, so the the appeals process is very similar in both the 2020 and the 2024, meaning that the complaintant and the respondent can both appeal the decision of the uh decision maker. And then that requires another decision maker to review the case and respond. So there's not a lot of differences from the two appeals process from the 2020 to the 2024. I will say that they are going to review everything this summer as they always do and there may be additional changes in the fall but at this point they feel that uh that is

072not needed at this point. Could it be in the fall that after a summer of reviewing all the legislative changes which seem extensive so far uh as I'm looking at updates from that the session um and these they will be reviewing even the ones that we're uh approving tonight. They're going to re-review all of it. So Okay. Yeah, that's fine. Again, I'm not it's not a comment on anything we're voting on tonight. So, I'll just bring this about this review again at a later time. Thank you. I think it might be a good idea, Kathy, to have maybe an agenda item or I don't know if it's executive session, maybe in the fall where Tom or some could come and kind of give us a little primer on how, you know, how's Title N is

073working under the new regime, so to speak. Um, and and the interplay between the the the new federal rules with current state law, which I think there might be some conflict in in certain respects. Um, so yeah, I think it might be might not be a bad idea for us to have an understanding of that, but in the fall I mean like a like a you know an executive session kind of thing or something. So yeah, so I'm sorry and this could just be a you know it takes me a couple times of reading something to really clearly understand. So other policies that were revised due to 2024 title 9 updates that do not require updates even with reverting back to 2020. I guess that because that's what I just I just said that those

074three policies were updated in the fall related to the 2024 Title 9 uh updates when So there was a a question asked, "Wow, we did more than just the two policies up there, the uh 4118.1 and the 5145.5. What happened to those?" So, I went to Shipman and I luckily had these charts that I could get and I said, "Well, what about the 12, the 1220 and the 5146 and the 5147?" And that's when they responded, "We're not recommending any changes because there was nothing substantial in there about the Title 9 changes except the appeals process and because it's so similar, they're not updating those." Okay. But they're going to continue to review them as they go forward. So, and I and I um so a comment a comment and again um I do um

075look forward to what Bill just recommended about having a whether it be another session tutorial whatever maybe more further discussion about how the changes to Title 9 from the 2024 back to the 2020 or with this current administration you know I I get it I don't want to get into all the politics around it but it is it is politics it's um a better understanding ing about that. I I do agree with that. I guess um for me and I, you know, I'll just be um public about this and want it on public record just because I'm still struggling to understand one that and fully understand all of this and how it um you know where things are landing. Um and um you know I um I will always always I I I am very

076aware that we our district protects our students and our staff. Very aware of that. I am very aware that we strive to create an environment that is inclusive and we heard a lot of our students today say that which is just something to be so proud of. We should all be very proud of. um inclusive and open environment and we create we push forward to create a culture like that in an environment like that and I just think it's it's wonderful and you can see it in our students. Um, but I will be abstaining from this vote today. And you know, it's it's ironic. You know, it's the start of Pride Month and I think there's things here though we may not feel comfortable in saying certain things and I'm not going to make this

077too politicized, but it is a step backwards. Even though it's still back to 2020 there was, we know we could do better. We were trying, we were doing better. Um, so I will be abstaining from this vote and maybe when it comes back again in some revisions I will change my mind. Um, but I think that um, you know, our policies do reflect um, what we intend to do and so um, until I have a better understanding, I won't be I will just be obstained. Thank you for that, Eric. Anybody else comments, questions? Can I get a motion to approve the policy updates listed below for a second reading as presented? 4118.1 and 41181A prohibition of sex discrimination including sex-based harassment personnel. 5145.5 prohibition of sex discrimination including sexbased harassment students. 511 and 511A admission

078uh of tuition free students. Motion second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Abstensions. Abstension. Just on the two the 4118.1 and 41181A. And I approve the um and I'm sorry the 5145.5. Y but I do support the 511 and 511A. Thank you. Okay. Motion carries. Okay. Next up is new course approval. Second reading. This is just a second reading you heard from Eric Martin the last time. So this is with a motion or Tom as I called him by mistake. Remember that. Um can I get a motion to approve the second reading of the new courses as presented to be implemented in the 202526 calendar school year? Motion. Second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Next up, item eight, new business. A, cafeteria contract renewal.

079So, Dan, yeah, happy to take it. Um, so we have a current contract, five-year contract with Chartwells. Uh, we are approaching uh I believe this is now year three of the contract. So, each year we uh renegotiate both the uh what's called the management fee and an admin fee. Uh both that are there. Uh in the first year of the contract um there was a 0% management and then 2.75 for the admin fee. Um in this past year also there was a 0% management and a 2.5 uh% admin. And then this year uh the negotiated rate is at 0% again 0% management and actually a 2.2 on the admin. So we're actually going down by.3. And so state of Connecticut actually has some guidelines on the the negotiation w with them. Uh and so they

080uh use the consumer price index as kind of the baseline for for that piece of it. Last year the consumer price index was at uh 4.6. This year the C uh consumer price index was at 3.8. So the the state actually says the CPI is the maximum you can set it. So 3.8 would have been the the the the top layer on there. Um so once again when we worked through there uh we agreed to 0% management again but then like lowered the uh as the cost price index went consumer price index went down it seemed to make sense that you know overall the admin fee should also uh go down uh thus bring it there. It's also important to note that with the chart wells we have a guaranteed return of uh $36,368. Uh

081someone seems to like the 36es in there. um have each year of the contract we have uh met or exceeded that um uh we're already actually at this point even through April financials have already uh met that mark and and exceeded that mark and that money actually goes uh this kind of state of Connecticut holds it and and we're um we're expected to bring that uh money down and we can use that for enhancements for our cafeteria program and so that's a specific use of using that money. So we can use that for uh upgrading kitchen equipment, um serving lines, cafeteria tables. We can kind of paint the cafeteria as long as it um utilizes for uh um you know improvements for for the cafeteria program. But what that does do which helps us out

082is it takes some pressure off major projects, capital improvements uh because once again those areas are are kind of being covered through this um you know the cafeteria fund that that we have there. So, um, so the, uh, the, you know, we'll have a action anticipate for you guys to to agree. Um, if if you, um, motion to pass it, then we submit to the state of Connecticut and we have that approved for the for the 2526 school year. Happy to take any questions. I just have a question. The 2.2% increase, who is that passed on to? Is that just like we're paying that's or is that like you're saying some what's Yeah. So that's the fees that we that they charge us monthly for you know the overall operation of the food services. Okay.

083Okay. Anybody else? Can I get a motion to approve amendment number one dated June 2nd 2025 as presented? Amendment number one sets the management and administrative fee of the 2025 2026 school year. In management fees, there will be a 0% increase and administrative fees there will be a 2.2% increase. Motion second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed? Motion carries. Okay, we're going to move uh executive session to the end of the meeting. That way we get through the rest of it and then people can go home. Um, okay. So, next item up would be uh report of committee chairs. I'm sorry. No, sorry. Consideration of financial report. Sorry. Sorry, Dan. Approval of April 2025 financial statement. Sorry. No. Um, uh, before I go into detail there, I just want to kind

084of give a, uh, one kind of a clarification. Um, if you'll see on there's the I think the on the fourth page there the uh self- insurance analysis tab that's that's kind of highlighted there. Um I believe on the second last page uh in doing our reviews as we kind of talk about a lot of times we see uh anticipated verse actuals. And so our finance uh Beth was reviewing that with um that the staff and and something seemed a little bit off. And so we recognized that in the uh tab there in the actual costs column um that clerically they had pulled from the from if you look at the page before it's kind of like the one you need your reading glasses for for the for the smaller print. Um they were pulling

085from the paid claims column. Um oh sorry that's where they should have been taking it from but they were taking it from the total costs column. The difference between those two is the total cost column actually takes in when um any staff employee adds to their HSA. You know, if they want to add beyond it, they add it. It gets in there, but then afterwards, it kind of gets pulled back out. So, it kind of just, you know, gets washed in and out from that that column. So, it's really that that money isn't um isn't kind of reflected accurately. So um it should just kind of from the paid claims which are strictly just the the paid claims in there. So the columns that you see there in that self insurance analysis tab is accurate.

086However, if you were to now go into prior months that column the numbers would be different. So at any point you say wait a minute these numbers look a bit different. That was uh like I said a clerical error that was that was determined and adjusted. Um it you know from from the reporting side obviously there was uh you know numerical difference but it's not like I said when we talk about budget impact budget update it doesn't have any kind of material it's you know the the insurance reserve is still in a healthy place. Our claims are um you know kind of they're actually landing really um uh right kind of where they they uh anticipated and budgeted for it. So kind of you know landing right there. Uh so anything there. So, just like

087I said, I just want to kind of uh kind of I guess for lack of better words, self-report the error um on that piece of it, but it has since been corrected on there. Um you know, overall for the April financials, um let me just kind of pull up from from there. Um like I said, we're still trending um you know, very well uh across most of the line items. Uh what you'll see is on um once again the um you know we we did get our second payment for excess costs and so now you're seeing us what we're doing is we're calling like you know applying those to those areas. So once again where you see areas where um you know uh public school or private school tuition, transportation, some of those areas we

088start applying those excess costs because as you remember anytime the costs exceed four and a half times uh per pupil expenditure the state you know gives us back uh uh you know kind of the money you know at the percentage there. Uh so we are um but once again you'll see kind of where we've projected um uh where we've applied some of those revenues but like I said for the most part everything is um you know coming along and no kind of um you know no you know like I said nothing major to kind of report as far as that just um you know looking at our recumbances and now at the end of the year we're kind of looking to see you know where where the expected and where the you know pieces are

089and and and making those adjustments. Happy to take any questions. Okay, no questions, Dan. Good job. Okay. Uh, can I get a motion to approve the uh April 2021 statement as presented? Motion. Second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Okay. Next up will be report committee chairs, personnel. Um, we are working to finalize dates for FBA this summer. Good luck with that. Uh, policy, Beth. Um, nothing to report on policy curriculum. Um, we met on April 28th and most of our agenda items were covered in the last board meeting. Um the only other thing that we talked about is um AI committee work that's being done. Um the committee's working on establishing guiding principles for the use of AI in grades 5 through 12. Um creating expectations for student

090use of AI, expectations for staff. So it's um a work in progress. Um but um I know Erica had some comments um how Farmington is uh ahead of the the state ahead of the state in the work that's being done. Yeah, that's right. I'm sure the state will come up with some guidelines after we've got it all sorted out and tell us what we're tell us how to do it exactly. Thank you. Communications Beth. Um yes. So the communications committee met last Wednesday. We talked about uh topics and contents for this summer's community newsletter and that newsletter usually hits mailboxes during the summer in July I believe. Um just you know as you can see today lots of good news looking back at the end of the school year and updates to share with our

091community. I don't know if you wanted to anything more specifically about Yeah, I mean I think we have a lot of nice topics that we've uh thought about the committee itself and then the uh the actual principles picked the deeper learning updates or other updates that might even not have been in there but they're really proud of uh to to build that. But we were thinking a feature on the central office opening uh which is coming up. I don't when are we getting the TCO or this it should be I think we're just waiting from the uh the building official to kind Oh, okay. You know, stamp it. So, that's coming up and we have a whole Dan and Matt have a whole plan of moving us uh to the new space which is really

092exciting. It'll look beautiful. Um uh and there were several other items that we talked about just to feature uh you know where our students are going to college or military or uh going into a trade that type of thing and celebrating the class of 2025 as well as the award recipients tonight always get a special feature on the front page. Um so those are the things I I remember from our discussion. But D has a whole list and she's working on that right now. Okay. Report of committee leaison. Correct. No report. Extended learning. No, no report at this time. Scholastic uh I'm sorry, intercolastic advisory. I have no report, but I haven't received any kind of date. Yeah, we I'll reach out to Russ and just see because we should have an end of year.

093Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I know. I I think things are still happening though, like we're still in this season. So, public school foundation, James. Yeah, the uh the board of the FPS uh met on May 21st. I unfortunately was out of town and was unable to attend, but it was the the grant proposal um discussion and meeting. um couple of really really great proposals that I I believe are going to be funded. Um there's some discussion going on um with uh some of the remaining um proposals, some questions back and forth with the board members and and the the people that um that came up with the proposals. So still a little bit more to come, but um some really really great um proposals being funded projects. Thanks J. Health and wellness. Angela, there was a

094meeting in May. I had a conflict I was not able to attend but Veronica has been so kind to give us an update if she is there which I found out about like maybe a minute ago. Uh from what I recall what we talked about was um a lot of our work this year has been um in policy 5140. Um there is a trienal assessment uh that happens um that measures how uh well our policy and our implementation of model school wellness policies like how well our program is is following those. Um so we're in the middle of that review now. So a lot of the time at that committee is talking about what those questions are and how we're doing on both policy and on implementation of wellness practices. Um this past meeting there

095was a lot of attention given on nutrition um both on nutrition education um and what would be some steps forward there but also nutrition in uh the foods that our student that our children are eating. Um and there was a little discussion about the amount of sugar in different um you know in the in the foods that they eat. Um and so what was really emphasized there was how Angela really works closely with Joe and the nutrition services to not sorry Angela Angela Basser who's the head of our head uh for a health education um uh department chair. Um and then there were a lot of um comp compliments. It's a composed of uh of uh the committee members are composed of parents as well. So there were a lot of compliments on the great

096progress we've made on screen time with a new policy implementation of not having the devices um during class and that we're using the hotels. Um so a couple of good updates there. Oh, and you'll see the and you'll actually see the this this report um is a duty of the board to put out every three years. So, that'll be in an upcoming meeting at some point in order to review what those results were and next steps. I think Veronica is giving my updates moving forward. I mean, that was that was thanks cafeteria. The meeting was held earlier this evening. So I think part of it obviously was the contract uh renewal and then anything else to add? You know Terry uh was one of the the you know managers there at Chartwell love doing the

097presentation sharing all the specials you know of the of the months and all the different celebrations that they do and highlighting that. Uh so she kind of just you know quickly um you know went over those pieces to it but um you know nothing um you know kind of like no major topic. Okay, green efforts, Marty. Uh, the town cleanup was successful even though it rained again this year. Uh, there were 40 participants and they collected over 1,600 lb of garbage and trash. Nice. That's fantastic. Uh, community council event inclusion, Erica. Yeah. So I unfortunately also had a conflict and could not attend but I do know that they had a their last meeting um and it was in person in um at IR but I'm not quite sure what else. Thank you. Building committee

098Bethy uh y so the building committee last met on May 21st. Uh updates were that the final punch list items for the FHS building will be completed this summer. Um, as we're hearing, central office is nearly complete. Just waiting on that um, certificate of occupancy. Um, and punch list items obviously and I figured you would have more details about the schedule for moving in, but I'm hearing spring into summer depending on staff. I mean, we'll be totally moved in. Yeah, I mean, uh, barring anything unforeseen, we I think we're fully in by July 1st. Um, we're starting actually right now once this kind of school gets out. We, like I said, we love our spreadsheets. So, we have this rolling thing where, you know, two or three staff members are going to go there because

099we kind of need to kick them out. So, then we take apart their furniture and get it to the people. So, like I said, we have this kind of nice little plan and go in there. But, we're um, you like said, all things go well, you know, all the various moving fees. We're hoping July 1 full team is is there and running through the summer. Nice. My date is June 16th. Did I move up? Yes. Logistics going on. Very exact. Your date in the spreadsheet. Column. Are you It's fun telling Kathy like here's your moving day. Andrea, superintendent search. Um so we've been engaged um in the search for a new superintendent since February. Um, and as of today, um, our search is, uh, not over. It's not complete yet. And Bill will have some,

100uh, more remarks, uh, in his chair report about next steps. Um, but I do want to publicly thank everybody for their hard work, their dedication, and their flexibility throughout this process. um your time, your insight, um and your commitment has been invaluable and deeply appreciated. Thank you, Andrea. And I I could just say I I'm sure I'm speaking on behalf of the board when we thank you for your leadership. You worked extremely hard. You put in extraordinary hours. you were, you know, like murder, she wrote, Angel's movie, digging in, investigating, researching, then coming back with really good information for us. And I just it was a pleasure to to watch you lead us and uh it was it was a I I feel like the process was run really well and that's all credit to

101you. You're welcome. Um so the report of the board chair, a couple things. First, uh, just a reminder, I promotion is on June 11th at 5:00 PM at FHS and Erica will be representing us at the AR promotion. Thank you, Erica. It's a fun night. And then, of course, the night before FHS on June 10th at 6 PM is our graduate high school graduation. Please be here if you're coming. Uh, be here between 5 and 5:15. Um, it says here no later than 5:30. I'm not going to say that. 5:15 meeting in the conference room of the administrative ring where we always meet. We're going to meet we'll meet there. Okay. A couple of things. So, as Andrea said, uh we have come to the end of the well, I would say at the end,

102we've we have reached a point in the selection process of a new superintendent where uh we think it's a good idea to give an update to the community uh and let people know kind of where things are. And Andrea is correct. We have not yet filled the position. And I just would want to say that Farmington is an exceptional school district with outstanding faculty, staff, administrators, students, and families. Since beginning the search process, the board of education has taken the process seriously, ensuring confidentiality, thoroughess, and vetting candidates, and high expectation in identifying who our next superintendent would be. We wanted to ensure we find not only a candidate that meets the expectations of the Farmington community, but also a candidate with the qualifications required in Connecticut and in Farmington to be our next superintendent. To

103that end, we have not yet identified a candidate that meets that criteria for our community and that the board of education has set to ensure continued continuity of improvement and excellence within the Farmington public schools. Our current superintendent, Kathy Greeter, has agreed to remain as interim superintendent until the time we select and appoint a superintendent and that individual begins their work in our school district. We thank Kathy for her willingness to remain on until the new superintendent can start. So, thank you, Kathy. And I would also like to add, even though you're staying on, you are retired. So, let's be clear. bless everyone and the board. Uh, you know, we we we've expressed all of our our feelings of our gratitude and and and all that you've done. You know, we could spit here all

104night. We've said so much, but there's one thing that the board does want you to be aware of and what we are going to do. there's a new uh com there's there's the the the new office of you know central office and there's a I guess I understand the conference room library for professional development and and place for a space for learning for educators and we've heard throughout the uh the expressions of gratitude to you was your was your appreciation and your focus on developing teachers developing educational professionals and so we know how important that is and you really made it a big hallmark of your uh time here. So, I'm happy to announce that uh once the new building is open, that room is going to be defined or called the Kathleen Creer Professional

105Learning Commons. There'll be a plaque put up with your name recognizing that. So, your name will be attached to professional development in the town of Farmington in perpetuity. Oh, thank you so much. That means the world to me. Oh my goodness. I wish my parents were with us so I could bring them up there. They'd be incredibly proud. But my family will be so proud and and honestly it's just such an honor and privilege and thank you so much for thinking of me in that way. Okay, now I'll start to cry. Our pleasure. I held it together for as long as I could. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Okay. Um the only other thing I would say is we had a very very challenging year. We did a lot of work. A lot of

106work. Uh, I feel like our board came together this year in a way that, you know, we're we're kind of feeling each other out at the end of last year. I think we've developed a rhythm this year. And I want to thank each and every one of you for being willing to learn and learn and grow and listen and um, and just be a good partner in this process. I think we as a board of education have and I've learned throughout this, we've set an example, I think, for other other towns as to how to do it the right way. We have strong opinions and we don't agree on everything, but I have I'm grateful that each and every one of you has come to these meetings willing to work together, willing to listen, willing

107to compromise. Um uh and and that makes that's that makes this board of education what it is. And that's we saw that tonight when we saw those kids both from kindergarten to the valadictorian. We saw that tonight. Yeah. And that's a reflection of our work. And it may not feel like that, but I can tell you after 16 years, I can that's exactly what it is. That's exactly what it is. And uh so I I I appreciate you uh placing your trust in me as your as your as your chair again this year. And uh I wish you all a very happy summer and uh I look forward to seeing you all in the fall. So with that being said, we are now going to move into executive session. I need to move to executive

108session at 9:33. um for the discussion of the school resource officer report which would result in disclosure of public records or information contained therein described in subsection B of section 1-210 student records the and that attendance of the executive session shall be limited to members of the board of education the superintendent of school and the assistant superintendent need a motion motion second all those in favor signify by saying I opposed the motion carries we are now in executive session at 9:33 Three. Okay. The motion to return to public session at 9:41. Motion. Second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. We're back on back in back in regular session. Okay. Um just one more I'll add to the report of the board chair. Uh given that Kathy is going to

109stay on, we do need to have a a special meeting. Um going to propose Tuesday, June 17th. Um, again, we just need a quorum. So, if you can't make it, that's okay. Just need five of us to approve the addendum. What time? Uh, I'm thinking, you know, I would like to do like maybe 5:36, but I can make it 7 if it's if it's more convenient. 5:30. 5:30. 5:30 on on the 17th. I'm wait. Yeah. Like I said, we have five people that can do it. I can make that day. I can do it. Who Who could do it? I One, two, three. Okay, we got six. We're good. James is checking. 30. I don't want to get this wrong. 5:30. 5:30. Do 5:30. 5:30. I'll have at 5:30. Yes. I'll have I'll have D

110send out a notice. I'm good. We're here. Oh, you can do it too, James. I should be able to do it. Well, it would if I move it to six, would that be better? Perfect. Okay, let's move it. Wake it at 600. That works. 7 6:17 at 6 p.m. Yeah. Okay. And with that, we are adjourned. [Music]