001[Music] I'd like to call to order the regular meeting of the property board of education for Monday, May 12th, 2025 with 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. Okay. Um onto our agenda. Item three, recognition. Uh we honor our teachers who reach 25 years um in uh the profession here in Farmington and we honor these Farmington educators at convocation. So that's going to be in the fall right before school starts and we're just so proud of the number of Farmington teachers reaching that 25th year. We have the best teachers. They're so dedicated. They're hardworking. We just love to take a moment as a board of education superintendent,
002assistant superintendent to celebrate them and then when convocation happens, they get a beautiful golden apple each one of them to celebrate them from the board of education. So, our 25-y year uh in education recipients are Kimberly Cox, Jeremy Forjon, Lance Goldberg, Steven Jarvis, Denise Lewis, Alan Liz Baraga, Michael Nunes, Colleen Aino, Robert Peron, Amber Bicadello, Benjamin Stern, Robin Ver Veron, Joelless. Uh, and again, we honor these 25-year recipients at convocation where they will receive the golden apple as a symbol of their dedication to excellence in education and our appreciation of their hard work each and every day. Yeah. Thank you, Kathy. I'll speak more about this convocation. Um, but I I would like to say on behalf of the board as to our 25-y year um recipients, you know, we ask a lot. We understand
003that. Um, but you believe in us and you stay with us and uh we believe in you and we're grateful that you place your trust with us. Um, it's a it's a challenging job teaching in Farmington and uh the board understands that and recognizes that and we thank you for your 25 years of dedication to our children. That's an example not just for your peers but for the younger teachers that are coming into the profession uh of what it means to be a part of something greater than yourself as an educator. Uh so uh on behalf of the board I just want to express my gratitude and thank you each of you individually. I look forward to speaking to you more about it at convocation. Uh on to the approval of the minutes. Uh I
004believe the minutes have been handed out. Um we want to take a quick second to go through them guys. You guys all set over here? Okay. Uh, can I get a motion to approve the uh, minutes of the April 8th, 2025 BOE regular meeting? Second. All those in favor signify by saying I I opposed. Motion carries. Okay. Uh, next item on the agenda is consideration of superintendent report. Eric Martin, our director of curriculum instruction. Stick around for the good part. Also a union school parent. This is union school night. We'll see how you do. Maybe you'll get a cupcake, too. Thank you very much. But Eric is just a wonderful addition to our leadership team. We're so thrilled he's here and he's going to provide you with just an overview of the summer curriculum. Very
005brief overview. I'll start just by saying go Nicks. Fingers crossed. Um, so I think as we just saw through our cast scholar leaders and through our wonderful Union School presentation, you know, what we accomplish in 10 months, what our teachers work to improve in real time to help our students again to achieve is undeniable. Um, but summer is a really, really critical time for our district and it's where we undertake some of our most significant improvement work, especially in terms of continually refining and revising our curriculum. So, the board has been presented with a list of over 40 summer curriculum projects um that have been budgeted for. These are formulated as far back as October and November through our curriculum coordinating committee. And these projects really kind of adhere to our long-term goals of again
006continually improving our curriculum, our system of teaching and learning, strengthening the units of instruction, and the learning opportunities we place before our students. I'm happy to answer any questions about any of the projects listed here. Um, most significantly is the first project listed, our summer institute. So, I'll just talk briefly about that. So, this year it's a two-day deep learning institute um immediately after the school year ends, June 17th and 18th this year for teachers in grades 7 through 12. Um, we've had over 40 teachers sign up, which is beyond capacity, but we're not going to turn anyone away. And the focus of this year's institute is leveling up instruction, designing powerful tasks for deep thinking and deeper learning. So we've been doing a lot of work in the district around this idea of deeper
007learning and how we get students thinking more deeply more of the time on really authentic and engaging tasks. And this year's summer institute will continue that work and equip teachers with the knowledge of how to go home in their after hours um and and in their prep time to design the types of tasks that expose our students to the type of deep learning that we want to see on a consistent basis. Um, beyond that, as we just take a quick look through the rest of the projects, most of these are around continuing to update and revise our curriculum maps. And a lot of that work centers now on aligning academic expectations and outcomes to our vision of the global citizen, especially at our high school. That work is really timely because we're due for our
008NEAS accreditation visit, which the high school is in the midst of preparing uh for now. And NEAS puts a premium on the fact that a district has a viable curriculum. That curriculum is updated and that curriculum is in constant and continuous alignment with the district's frameworks for teaching and learning of which we have our framework for teaching and learning and our vision of the global citizen. So I'll end there um with my overview and ask the board if there's any questions related to any of the specific projects listed here. I have one question. Sure. If I may just on the um culinary the new curriculum map one and two. So I know we just introduced that last year. Yeah. Already a change or is that? No. So the way we you guys will hear new
009course proposals a little bit later in tonight's meeting. So the board approves when the board approves a new course to run given sufficient student interest of which there were for these two courses this year. The first year is considered a pilot year. So the teacher has enough of a skeletal outline to be able to teach the course, but in the teaching of the course, they're kind of developing units and approaches in real time. It's a lot of work to launch a new course. And we give them that summer immediately after to commit the work to a curriculum map with a year's worth of learning behind them. And again, that map will be continually refined and improved over time. Thank you. You're welcome. Yeah, please. Just a quick question on the for the for all of
010the What's the timeline or at least so far sorry maybe great question yeah so the scope of these projects differ from project to project they don't all carry a standard stipen we look at the scope of the work and we provide compensation based on scope that compensation is paid in two installments so teachers are paid the first half of that compensation at the end of the summer and then they receive coaching and continued feedback around the work with the second half of compensation that's paid paid out around May 1st. So, these are really year-long projects that begin over the summer when teachers have a lot of time to commit, but that work and the and the coaching and the feedback around the work continues throughout the school year. So, a followup question to that. So,
011for where it says freshman seminar redesign, is that something that would be applicable for this freshman class coming in or is that It would be. So what they'll spend this summer doing is kind of front-loading the September, October, November in to maybe December experiences and then work on the second half of that work um prior to the May 1st compensation pay. Can you talk Eric a little bit about PIDEA? What's going on with that? Yeah, so PIDEA is a longstanding tradition in Farmington, a very important part of our middle schoolers experience. But like all things years almost almost 50 years I think it's coming up on it in two years on its 50th anniversary. Um it's not going away but like all things it needs kind of new life breathed into it. So, we have
012a committee that has that's formed under Lisa at I AR and they're looking at ways to kind of expand what our students consider, what they study, how we let student inquiry drive that, how we connect it to students identities and how we're always working through PIDEA to kind of expand students knowledge of local history. as local as we can get to Farmington, the better. So that they're learning more about our community and and through their projects meeting kind of that civic-minded contribution of giving back to the preservation of our town's history. Fantastic. Anyone else? I'm all set. Thanks, Eric. You're welcome. See you in a bit. So at next we have our teacher program leadership appointments. And this is um a very important document in that teaming is really the core of our work with
013teachers each day and they learn from each other. They collaborate and that's why we can implement very high level implementation of curriculum because they're working together and they have the time to work together. So Veronica will just give a quick overview see if anyone has any questions. Um so as Kathy said each year teachers apply for these various re leadership uh opportunities are either you can see districtwide at the school level or that provide leadership at the team level. Um this level of leadership is essential in both and should be using this maybe. Yeah. And I just thought I'm like it's not green. Okay. Um but this le level of leadership is essential in both accelerating um ongoing district and school improvement work um and in maintaining coherence across the schools so the K through4
014schools but then across our prek through 12 programming. Um I just want to take a moment this is like a good time for me to just say a thank you. You saw it in action here today. I mean you know uh it's really this idea that we're just grateful for all the people that you see on these pages. There are individuals that like as administrators we rely on um fellow teachers, non-certified staff, students. Um we all rely on them each day to move the work of teaching and learning forward. Um it's impossible to talk about all the contributions that these people uh make, but it's fair to say that they're sort of like where the magic happens, right? You have over here our big district and vision and goals and things that we want to
015accomplish, and here we have the classroom. and they're really the glue that really are is part of the development when we talk about you know where our district is headed and these goals like when you saw that was all what they were talking about was mastery learning and students and really the students taking agency and ownership over that. Um so it's really those um leadership positions that help bridge that sort of vision to practical application in the classroom um sort of bridge there. Um, so I just want to take this chance just to say how much the people on those pages just mean to us and the organization. Um, and we're just so thankful that they serve in those roles. Um, it's t it takes it's a you know it's one thing to teach and
016then to also then take that extra step of leadership so that they're impacting um beyond the classroom that they're in. And so for that I just do want to thank the board. um you continue to recognize the importance of that middle uh level leadership role. Um and it provides opportunities too for teachers to stay because teacher teaching could be a very flat kind of organization. Um but for teachers to feel like there's a place for them to grow um that they can extend um some of the leadership beyond their own classroom is very exciting um work and allows you know the the organization um to grow. So, thank you for that, for always supporting it. Um, and I do think that this is a place that flourishes because, you know, we're a learning community where
017we really value both the student growth and the adult growth. Um, and I just feel like these are positions that, you know, help us stretch um and challenge ourselves um to do what's the what's the next best thing for our organization, our students. So, you know, thank you to all of them and thank you to all of you for continuing to support these positions. Um, there are some TBDs which maybe somebody was going to ask about. I'm just anticipating the questions. And um, I just wanted to say that's just because there's certain positions that we haven't hired for, for example, or um, we do have some flux in what grades um, some teachers might be teaching. So, you really want to have somebody who will be teaching that grade um, being the team leader in
018that grade. And so some of those things, some of those details are still being worked out, but I expect within the next two weeks or so um that most of those positions um will be uh squared away. Um but they're still kind of in the middle of that. We do have until we generally try to tell people by the first week of June. So um that's that's where we are with that. But again, I just again I just to emphasize again that you know when you see the students here and then you saw right behind them Kim Geing and um and Kate Campbell and just you could just see that kind of translation to from from leadership to the to the students and what happens on an everyday basis in the classroom. So thank you
019to all those people again questions. Um, I have a couple. Um, Veronica, you know, you've talked about how this leadership and first of all, the board absolutely recognizes the value of the mid the mid-tier leadership. Absolutely. You know, we have we have they're it's absolutely critical to our mission and what we're trying to accomplish. My question though is how is there turnover in this leadership? In other words, for example, you know, there's a lot of people I see here that have been in these positions for years, over a decade in some some places. Is it are these people that are teachers that apply every year to get this? And then what is the value of keeping someone in that position who may not necessarily be in a classroom and have forgotten or not necessarily have
020their practice up to speed? So other words, if they're providing assistance whether through through curriculum or otherwise, but they're removed from the teaching, actual teaching and learning, uh how what's the value in that? So a couple of so a couple of things that I would say about it. So first of all, you have um you know certainly department leaders who do always teach one or two sections. So they stay um in touch with the teaching and learning that way. um anybody who's on this list have different we have different routines for continuing to support their leadership um and develop um anybody who's in these positions. Um and because it is yearly um people do have to apply for these on a yearly basis. So if there were some you know if there were other people
021who stepped up and wanted it that would be a conversation. it's people do apply and sometimes in some of these cases multiple people apply um and then it's the principal's prerogative um as to who would be the best leader in that position and um we've really been trying to um say that it would be nice in some of these roles um some of them are harder to do that with if it's like a literacy specialist or a math specialist but not impossible but certainly with team leaders and other kinds of positions um where we do want there to be a turnover over so that other people have the chances at that that leadership role. Why why would it be harder to do with literacy or math specialist? Um I mean like I said not impossible
022but uh it's a big investment in everybody who's in that position. they've you know we do lots of um development with those people who are in those positions um who you know so um in in that way that would be you know it's just a it's a big learning curve for people in that position and many of these still many of these individuals still teach there's you know like department leaders still teach um and several of the other positions and even with the math and literacy specialists they go in and model lessons so there still is a connection to students in the classroom room and I think what you're saying too is like they've developed skills, they've gone to so many trainings, it's a lot of investment we've put into these individuals over time, but
023it's not to say that there's not turnover in these positions. That definitely does happen. It's a great leadership opportunity for someone who's looking to go into administration in the future. It's a a really unique uh experience because you're still tied to the classroom, still doing lessons, still working with teachers and coaching teachers before going, you know, totally out of the classroom, which would be more administration. And many of the administrators that we have in the district started in one of these positions. They've come up through Farmington. They were a teacher, then were in one of these leadership positions. Yeah. Many of our many of them I mean a few of them. Yeah. Yeah. I see a lot of a lot of names I recognize over the over my 16 years here. Yes. Uh certainly um
024and I would just leave it with it's from what I understand that it's ultimately the building principal's decision on how for example a resource uh teacher is deployed. Okay. Thank you. Excellent. Okay. So we have our professional appointments, resignations, retirements. We have four resignations and one retirement. Thank you. Deeper Learning Update. Deeper Learning Update. I'm just going to say a few words because there's some exciting items in here. So, we had a great Washington DC trip. Um, and it was amazing. We were complimented by everyone on how polite and wonderful our students are. We also have economics team are now moving to the national economics challenge competition at AR. civic-minded contributor service learning projects are going on and flexible thinking through discipline thinking in mathematics in Westwoods they're doing exploring the world world through reading
025and writing and as well as ex uh an exhibition of learning at Union there was a great celebration of nations with uh families and of course our traditional Mayday that happens every year at East Farms they're using data to maximize responsive teaching with a focus on what you saw tonight which is students as agents or leaders of their own learning at West District. Deeper learning experiences in science with an emphasis on career exploration. That's something we're we're getting more focused in on is really um explicitly talking to students about the careers that are associated with what they're learning. And then at Noah Community Building together, they went to a park carousel in Hartford with families and a community event celebrating the taste, sights, and sounds of Noah Wallace. Thank you. Yeah. Next on the agenda,
026uh item seven, unfinished business, paragraph A, budget impact, budget update. Dan, hey everyone. Get this working. Uh just a couple quick uh items for there is one the Westwoods roof project uh went out. Uh we got four bids on that. Uh ultimately Greenwood Industries uh was selected. They've done uh have a history with Farmington. They've done the high school central office project. They've done a project, a roofing project over at Irvick Robbins. Uh the winning bid came in at 1.66 million. Uh and the project was slated at 2.1 million. So we're at least in, you know, good shape there. But, you know, obviously there could be overruns or other other types of things, but it's nice to know you're you're already starting and and having that as opposed to getting a bid right at and
027now, you know, there's not really much window for for for error or contingency, so to speak. And uh the other update uh for budget budget impact is currently kindergarten enrollment is actually uh trending lower than we anticipated both from the um uh MP uh one-year projection we had but and especially from the the Prada one that that that we had uh probably trending a little bit more over the rollover which is interesting because we don't really you know the push-up one uh but when we checked the push-up one's really coming from births at you know the town uh town clerk office kind of from there. So, you know, we're just watching it. We're monitoring it. Uh really, there's no action to be done at this point because we may get some, you know, enrollment later
028that kind of balances it. And so, we'll just kind of uh continue to look at it uh and see obviously whatever potential impact uh that might have. So, those are really the two uh kind of budget impact, budget update things. I don't know if there's any questions. Happy to answer. Angela, just curious on when you're saying it's lower. Is it like lower? there would be a one less class per school type that much lower or just so right now it's I'd probably say it'd probably be maybe two sections lower um you know plus or minus you know one way or the other throughout the four schools throughout the four schools right and so same thing it's a matter of looking to see you know where the breaks occur and you know how you how we
029want where we want class sizes um you know certainly we could utilize them all and just you know enjoy small class sizes at the kindergarten level which you know is always kind of desirable but you we want to be good stewards of the taxpayer Uh but the nice part is, you know, it could also provide some flexibility. Sometimes, you know, you get those weird hot spots where, you know, one one school's uh you know, third grade all of a sudden pops and you're kind of at that maybe 23, 24, 25 and you want to kind of give a take a little pressure off there. So, like I said, so it provides a lot of flexibility, but really at this point it's too early to kind of make any definitive um decisions. So, we're just going
030to continue to monitor and you know we'll we'll update you um you know as as we kind of know some more information with that. Okay. Thank you. I have a question. Yeah. Do you think has to do with the cutting kindergarten cutoff a little bit? I'm sure because of the age, right? So, right now the working theory is because you know we checked with um you know the people MP to kind of get their thoughts. The two prevailing pieces are that the the kindergarten registration probably has some impact on there. Uh but also uh talking about just um the housing market really just kind of slowing down and not getting a lot of you know people you know who who are you know not a lot of people are selling their houses or a lot
031of times the younger families are having trouble affording houses with the increased mortgage rates and and so on. And so I think those are the two prevailing um you know impacts uh that that are driving the the lower than expected uh enrollment numbers. Thank you. Anybody else? Here we go. Thanks, Dan. Thanks. Next up, policy update. Second reading. So, this is a slide that we reviewed the last time. This is a second reading of the policy updates, policy repair, repeals, new policies, and just an update on a regulation that was uh was uh updated by Shipman recently and we already have place that update due to technical edits from Shipman. Okay, we've seen all these before. Any other questions? Angela, I had met um I had some questions last time on 5131.91 and then 911A.
032So I did go back the questions I had were regarding um it it replaces the bullying I'm gonna quote it the bullying policy. It replaces the bullying policy. Yes. So, I felt like at the first reading, I just wanted to know, I don't want to use the term incorrectly, but like the victim of whatever the action is or the victim's family. Um, I felt like there was, you know, I didn't see as much supporting evidence in the the new update to kind of address that group of individuals. Um, and I think you or someone referenced it did replace completely the previous one which we're using now, which is under the same code 5131.911. So, I reread that policy um the one that's currently in effect and there are that that current policy and I don't
033want to belabor it, but it says as provided by state law um the safe school climate plan shall include but not limited to and like three of the bullets are directly related to they use better wording than victim but one of them says require each school to notify the parents or guardians of a student who commit any verified acts of bullying and the parents of guardians of students against whom such an act were directed. And it gives the time frame. And then part nine on that says requires each school um to invite the parents or guardian of a student against whom such an act was directed to a meeting to communicate to such parents. And then there's one other one. I'm not going to read it, but it relates directly to that. Yeah. So, I
034just I just want to go, you know, say I'm going to vote no to this because I feel like in the current one that we're replacing it with, while I know we're trying to do all of this, like this makes me feel comfortable that it's in the current one because we I can say to someone, well, it's in the policy, if you have an issue, like, you know, you're given kind of these I don't want to say rights, but like these are the three things that apply to if you have a issue. I just don't see that in the new one. Um, and I'm not sure if there's an opportunity to add it. I mean, I I know we went through this last time as well. Um, but that's just where my hesitation is that
035it seems like those three bullets were directly related to the student and families of I'm calling it the victim that they use the better verbiage. Um, and now I don't see that verbiage. So, that's just where my head is at. That's my personal opinion. And I I I know others can feel differently, but I just wanted to kind of state that as my reasoning for what's unusual about this policy is Cab wrote it. The legislation directed Cape to write it. So Shipman and Goodwin did not write this policy. Shipment and Goodwin wrote the last one. Uh but this was something that we we uh used CA we legislation said CABE is to create it. So they created it. Um I can't imagine in in Farmington or anywhere else where um because it is so vital
036uh that we do as much as possible for the victim the the student who was harmed in in that particular situation. I don't see that changing whether it's a safety plan uh or um sometimes there are times where we separate the students. uh sometimes we provide additional uh social work support for a child who has been a victim of bullying. Um this is a shift in the state uh with this new way of looking at climate and culture and there's some enhancements uh to that but I don't see what you're saying you know what you were highlighting changing uh at all. I can definitely give the feedback in uh to shipment on the regulations but I really can't change the policy. This was something that was um mandated at the legislative level and you basically
037we take the K policy and we implement that policy. regulations are more what shipment helps us with. But I definitely will give that feedback that having that explicitly there it makes it clearer to parents. But I would say here that's not going to change because we do have a responsibility when any child when there's been harm done that we um address the the student who uh is considered like through an investigation met that level or that definition. We definitely provide supports there because we want that behavior to change and then we always provide supports to the victim in that situation. Yeah. And I want to be clear like I'm not saying we're doing anything differently or I I believe everything you're saying. I just as the whole group knows I take my vote seriously. So
038it's just putting my name to it if it's not there. I would want to be able to reference to someone you know what or what was not included and why I felt that way. So appreciate everything you're saying and then I do believe what you're saying that you're taking all parties into account. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Anyone else? Andrea Kathy, is there a regulation to this policy? So the regulations usually are um in this situation, Cab did the policy and and Shipman would do the regulations. So but we're not voting on the We don't. Okay. But is that something that we could have added to? Yes, sure. Yeah. Make sure that included. Yeah. Yes. Right. Adding that language doesn't change us complying with No. Right. Again, I I'd want to leave it the shipment, but
039I think Angela's concern is valid. Yeah. You know, I think it's an issue. No, I I agree. Yeah. Anybody else? Okay. Uh, okay. I need a motion to approve the policy updates listed below for a second reading as presented. 3514.1, 1250, 1420, and 1420. The regulations are here. I'm sorry. The regulations are in here. I I got nervous. I was like, I know we had the regulations. So, they're here. Sorry about that. I interrupt. It's your world and I'm 5131.911 and 5131.911A and 6146. Motion. Second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. Nay. Abstensions. Motion carries. Eight uh seven to one. Next up, policy repeals. Okay. Yeah. So, you do each. Yeah. Same. So, okay. Doing the same thing here, guys. Uh Kathy briefed us on that. I need a motion to
040repeal the policies listed below for a second reading. 2152, 3510, and 3414. 3514. Sorry. 3514. Yes. Motion. Second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Okay. Next up, adoption of policy 5153, restorative practices response. This is a first reading. No, no, it says first reading. Yeah, it says first reading on the agenda. This is new policies. Um, it's it should be second reading. So, okay. Well, it says first reading on the agenda. That's why I say that second reading right here. first reading right here. Yeah. Well, it should unfortunately uh it is the second reading. You did a first reading at the last meeting. Yeah. Okay. Next uh policy adoption. Need a motion to adopt policy 5153 restorative practices response for a second reading. Motion. Second. All those in
041favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carried. Sorry. Nay. My comments are the same as same as that one. Okay. Seven to one. Thank you. Uh new business policy updates first reading Kathy. Yes. So we this um is the update that we talked about in the fall and now we are working on the change. So if you remember a title 9 had some updates in 2024 and we had approved those updates in the fall. Then those were overturned and reverted back to the 2020 Title 9 regulations and requirements. We immediately were able to go back to the administrative regulations of 2020. So that is accurate and current. But Shipman needed time to look at the the the two policies here 4118.1 and 5145.5 just to review them. It took some time. I've been
042knocking on their door. They have lots of emails from me, but they now have updated those with very slight modifications to the 2020 version. So, this is not a totally new policy. I mean, we've we had this policy in place since 2020 to 2024. Then we updated it with the new requirements and then those requirements were overturned and we reverted back to 2020. So, this is a bit confusing and unique. I don't think in my time here we've ever had a situation like this, but now we're back to the Title 9 requirements that reverted back to the 2020 regulations. So, that's what those two policies are about. And then the 511 and the 5111A, admission tuitionfree students. It's updated as part of our policy review. It's just providing greater clarity. These are situations that um
043have to do with I've moved in the middle of a semester. I'd like my child to finish the semester because I want my child to complete their grades for that semester and not leave in the middle. And they then ask my permission in a letter to do that. And depending on a variety of factors, attendance, lots of things, we would say yes or no. Same with a senior who moves in their senior year. This is their last year in Farmington. They may have been here the whole time and they write the parents write a letter and ask for the child to stay. In both situations, they have to provide their own transportation. But it's just being a little clearer in the policy. We had um Shipman just review it and make sure there's real clarity.
044There is also a a section there that you'll say see for special education services when asking for permission. A lot of times it's very hard for us to continue those things and that's just something a parent really has to think about before wanting their child to remain um you know over a period of time um when it comes to special education services. Questions? I have questions. Sorry. Erica can go first. Okay, Erica. So my first question is as I was reviewing this um so 4118.1 and then 4118 1A um in the first paragraph where it it has highlighted under Connecticut law and title so forth and then it goes into discrimination or harassment on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. What I notice is that it doesn't have sexual expression where or sorry
045um it doesn't have expression which is uh if we were to go back up to 5145.5 um it does include the phrase expression. Um so is there a reason why that was left off in the others? I I don't know why in and what you're saying. So if you go back up to five page number or five if you go to five if on both 5145.5 and 5145.5A on that first paragraph it does say basis of sex includes discrimination or harassment on basis of gender identity or expression. Page 85 if you Yeah. page Yeah. So it includes expression which I am 100% in support of. Yes. because well I have I'm just comparing it to to 4118.1 and 41181A it is it's the same language but it does not include the terminology or expression and
046I just wanted to know why that was not the case yeah I can definitely before the next reading um look into that okay yeah personel sorry versus yeah but that's for both I no I understand but in both of those whether it's the personnel or the student on both 4118.1 and 41181A and 5145.5 it is in that same sentence is there except that in the top one which is 4118.1 and then the 81 does not include or expression and so for me I would want to see the term yeah so one does include it and one doesn't is what That is correct. And I page 85 is correct is how you would like everything to say. What page is the other one on that? I'm having trouble with under I know I can't find the
047Okay, so okay, let me go back up. So if you look at page Hold on, let me just scroll on my computer because I spent a lot of time looking at this today line by line. No, it's right after page 21 starts 4118. So hold on a second agenda. So on page it's oh um clearly say this. It does it does clearly say it. So underally in in red like highlighted in red that they add or expression in 5145.5 but they did not add it in 4118.1. So I'm going to check. I know. I just can't find it in here. What page? Oh you know it's after it. It's out of order. It's out of order what it is. So, if you were to look on page 80, I don't know. I'm looking at my
048Chromebook here. So, it says 85 out of 149. Yeah, I can find that one. Okay. And then if we go back down to four, Yeah, it is out of order. That's I thought it was missing and then I found it. No, it's out of order. So, if we scroll all the way down, yeah, it's there for students. It needs And but personnel, it it doesn't show it in person, but it's there in the student one. I agree with the student. No, it's not in both. It's not in both personnel or student. Not consistent with I am agreeing with you. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. It's just out of order. That's why Yeah. It just uh D flipped it for some reason when she put them in there. So, this is just the first reading. Yep. You're getting
049feedback. Yes. I'll get feedback like on the second reading. Yep. Angela, I don't have all my notes. Um I couldn't find it. I have to find it before the next reading. But I remember we were talking about the executive order and it was I'm visualizing it was the meeting in the library and there were there was the table and it was these were applicable to the executive order. Um and it was more than just three. So my question is like it was more than just three that were voted on based on the executive order because I remember how I voted on those and I know it was more than three. So my question is why are these only because these are the only ones they've done. I'm just waiting for them to update the only
050ones they've done. You're saying okay those ones haven't come up yet in this process. So I'm thinking they're going to do it during the model policy updates in the summer. I was just being persistent. I think mostly because retiring I wanted to get things kind of neat and tidy and so I wanted to make sure because these these policies come up um especially the student one it does come up and when we something comes up we have to um provide to the parent the policy and the regulations and we've been explaining to parents that the regulations are updated but the policy is not. So, I there's a bit of urgency that I've asked Shipman to maybe step outside their timeline and do this for us because I had urgency to get it done, but I'm
051assuming anything else related to this will be updated during the model policy summer updates and that you'll see it in the fall. So, did we revert back to those even if they weren't? Yes, we're following. We we have to you know a lot of times you're approving policies that we're already implementing because we're we have to do it immediately. We can't wait. That's why the regulations help us. We can put those up immediately. A first and second reading takes time. So we have to follow the 2020 Title 9 regulations and requirements and that's what we've been following. Okay. Okay. And then one more question is um again I didn't do the 100% comparison because there's been so many versions it's like hard to know. Yes. But this is basically a complete back with a few
052red lines that we see. So just a question of is there a reason or just can you explain the red line of eliminating title nine of the education amendments of 1972? That seems like a consistent thing that's being redlined. Is there a reason for that? Like I'm just The only reason I think is it maybe it should have been updated the first time that it was updated, you know, in 2020. I don't I you know, I'm not sure it if you reverted back to that, maybe it wouldn't be as current in its language and its requirements. So, I'm assuming those are the slight edits that Shipman made because it's not reflecting the 1972, it's reflecting the 2020. My recollection, I think the executive order abregated some of that language. Yeah. I wasn't sure. I didn't
053know if it was. So, is it like the title nine of the education amendment? I think they moved away from that in the executive order. Okay. Yeah. That's why I think it's being shaken. Okay. If that's the I don't know. I'm not 100% sure, but that's my recollection. If that's if that whatever that reasoning is. Yes, I can find out. But I might refct that any longer. It might have been a case. I'm sorry. Can you say that again? I didn't hear. There might have been a case. I think something I I have a recollection about that. that might have been the case out of Kentucky. Um I I have a followup on that. So if the title nine of the education amendments of 1972 are being redlined, it's still in on page 82. It's
054not redlined there. I'll I'll continue to check with shipment. I think maybe like they were wanting to adhere to my request quickly. Maybe, but I will check. Why take out the 1972? Why keep it in in different parts? And it could just be that. Yeah. Is there a reason to keep it in certain productions and not in others? Sorry, I have one more question then for clarity. So, Angela, you mentioned that there was three and I do remember that um day um there was three. You said there was three specific The first the first bullet is the two because then and like on the second column there it says the title nine requirements revert back. Then the second bullet here is a third one. That's the third policy I'm quoting. And then Kathy says the
055title nine requirements for back. So those are the three that we're discussing today. It could have been the bullying policy. I'm thinking it might be the bullying policy because it potentially is and as you know that's being updated. Um yeah, I'd have to look. I couldn't find a chart to be fair. So I I don't know exactly which one but I thought it was a few others that related to it. So okay I mean if you went back there's a non-discrimination policy separate discrimination policy as well in the policies that I can go back and look. Yeah. If you look at the PowerPoint from that time you'll see all of them. Yeah. Okay. All right. Any other questions? Can I get a motion to approve the policy update listed below for a first reading as
056presented 41 I'm sorry 418.1 and 4118A 5145.5 and 5111 and 5111A motion second all those in favor signify by saying I opposed motion carries and we just ask you when you do the agenda next week when we're talking about polic policies. Keep it to one. So when we do the agenda for next when we get to policies at the next agenda, just keep it on this. I think we're done for the year. Uh all right. Item 8 B. New course approvals. Okay. Um so the courses we're going to talk about tonight were all um previously presented to the board of education curriculum subcommittee. Um so just as a a curriculum is a living document a program of studies is a living document and ultimately it should be responsive to the needs and interests of our
057students and changing conceptions of college and career readiness in a modernizing world. So, as the board is aware, the science department completed a program review um last year and out of that program review came some clear uh lines for improvement in the department to both modernize our course offerings and best prepare our students for college and career readiness. And so, the courses that you see before you out of the science department all come out of that program review and there's three being brought forward. Um, in the area of computer science, there's a data science course that's described there. It's a half credit elective and it would uh be placed within the existing Farmington High School computer science pathway. There's an introduction to chemical engineering course that would serve uh it's also a halfyear elective open
058to students in grades uh 9, 10, 11, and 12 as is the data science course. um that would serve as an optional prerequisite to AP chemistry while also connecting to the biomed sciences pathway that the board approved last year. And that's a perfect segue into the third science course offering. This one is a fullear course. This would be open to students in grades 10, 11, and 12. And this is a project lead the way human body systems course. The reason that this is open to students only in grades 10 through 12 is it's the second fullear course in the Project Lead the Way biomed science program. It's designed to follow principles of biomed science as a prerequisite. Remember project lead the way is a nationally accredited uh science program with dual credits out of the
059University of New Haven. Um one additional course, an exciting one, digital sound design. So if you know anything about modern music, it's not only um performed on instruments, um it's made on computers and there's a lot of student interest around digital sound design. Digital sound design is a form of engineering, sound engineering. So this course would expose students to mixing and editing and splicing to create music and also to create things like um sounds for video games and film soundtracks and various applications in multimedia realms, podcasting. Um, and just a quick note about this course, we would take advantage of our grant-f funed computer lab that was part of the engineering grant that we obtained. And we're very fortunate in that our music department leader, um, Frank Quinn helped to launch a very similar course
060in his previous district, not using Apple hardware and software, which is incredibly expensive, and he's found a more cost effective way to do it using existing PC equipment in the district. Um and I would just present quickly to the board um that these courses are really conceptualized almost a year before um this moment at the podium and they go into the high school program of studies as options for students pending board approval. So students have seen these course descriptions in the program of studies and had the opportunity to select them um for potential inclusion in their schedules next year. And for the data science course, we had 66 uh total student requests. So um about three full sections worth of student interest. In the introduction to chemical engineering course, we had 36 total student requests.
061In the project lead the way course, we had 23 stu total student requests. And remember, that's a course that requires a prerequisite course. So that 23 number is still really impressive for a two-year pathway. and digital sound design, we had 32 total student requests. So, all of these courses that we're bringing before the board tonight for consideration. Um, there's a lot of student interest and we have the capacity within our teacher FTE um and our budget to offer these courses. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Questions? Anyone? Awesome. Mayor, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. question. Okay. There are no new textbook requests. I wasn't going to call you for that. I'm happy to answer any questions. Actually, you you you have this is your first year here. We've had significant discussions
062on textbook additions. Bill, we need a motion to approve the Yes, I know that we need a motion to approve the uh first reading of the new courses as presented to be implemented in the 2025 2026 school year. Second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Noah Wallace fund. So Veronica is going to provide an overview and answer any questions. So you can see Um so you can see in the report um that uh a group of us met about two weeks ago um and um we were able to review the financial status of this fund and to consider proposals. We were happy to find out that the fund is doing well um and that we had anywhere between 40,000 and 45,000 um dollars to be able to allocate to
063various projects that were submitted for consideration. um we were able to allocate $44,69453 um to seven projects out of the 10 there were 10 that were um submitted. Um but we also in that committee we also committed to finding other ways to support the three projects that we're not able to fund through Noah Wallace through other uh grant opportunities that we have as many of them were related to our ELLL students which you all know that we um you know try to do everything possible to support um funding for um any um you know any enhancements that we can there. Um, and so I just want to thank the committee for helping to choose the projects that you see here. Um, I want to also say that the nice thing about this funding, um, is
064that, uh, these are funds that are used to accomplish things that wouldn't be in our everyday operating budget. Um, they have a great impact on the joy and wonder of learning in our district. Um, but maybe things that would not be um, accomplished through the regular funding. Um and so rather than go through all the you can see there are pretty um lengthy um summaries of what each project is about. Um but just in summary I would say the seven projects two of them emphasize the importance of play and learning um in classrooms that are playbased and game based. And so it supports um the selection and the um uh funding of the games that really engage students in math and literacy um and improves their outcomes because they've played the games. So two of
065the projects are for that. Um two projects provides very specialized equipment that enhance the experience of students who are in our um SLC or our specialized learning centers classroom. So you can see some of the um you know interesting uh and specialized equipment that people have asked for there. Um one project will support uh school store at Westwoods. And so that's another great opportunity from some of our um students who are also in a specialized um learning center to h get real life skills um practice social skills um and practice numerousy skills by running a school store. So, real life application part of our transition planning for our students that goes across their entire span of our schools. Um, and then two projects are um funding um really specialized art um I don't know I
066guess not supplies but like equipment. Um one of which is an interactive cool interactive wall. um where students will be able to interact with the wall and sort of understand, you know, that art is something that can be interacted with in public spaces. So, we're really excited about um those art projects as well. So, um I really want to thank the teachers who thoughtfully put together these projects. Um and this is just sort of the first step of their process. The first step was, you know, uh submitting a project and a proposal. um and now it's carrying that out so that our students have access to all these wonderful and unique opportunities. So, thank you to them. Um they'll get a a letter of congratulations at the conclusion of this meeting that will go out
067to them with a congratulations and I'll be sure to communicate with all all of them um and including people who um didn't receive the funding about next steps about how can we still accomplish some of the goals that they set forth in their proposals. Um but again it's just a thrill to to have this sort of enhancement um to our programming um and then to see the students as they experience you know what was able to be accomplished through this funding. So thank you to the committee and to the teachers who um submit these proposals. Any questions? Okay. I got a motion to approve the 2025 20226 no walls fund projects as presented for a total of 44,69453. Motion second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Next up, consideration
068assistant superintendent finance report. Dan. Hi again. Uh just giving a quick uh budget update for the March. Uh so if you take a look overall budget is trending well uh as we're move into the you know last half of the year. uh you know at this point we can start getting more what we call actuals as opposed to projections and so we can kind of help see where we're going as far as with encumbrances and obligations and and be able to to take a look at that. Uh overall I would say uh we're looking really good uh you know barring you know things that can always happen you know big ticket items you know whether it was you know the lift at East Farms or something else. So there's still always some uh variability and
069volatility that may happen, but as if we can continue on this path, uh I expect us to be uh in very good shape. Uh one area that you might see uh kind of this blip is we're still uh Eversource and us are working on this billing discrepancy. They have us as owing um kind of having an outstanding balance across three different schools. We've been asking them for a few months now to kind of show us the, you know, the backup for that. they haven't been able to do that. You know, I I think probably when it's all said and done, there's probably some, you know, there is probably some balance there. So, we're earmarking some money to be able to kind of pay that balance off. Um, we think that's due to um I think
070with within the last year or so, we were trying to work on um making the statements more clear. They sometimes they had a couple schools bunched together and we tried separating things. And so we think sometimes that as they separated and created different accounts that either either some balances didn't get sent to us or some payments didn't get credit. And so like I said, we're still kind of working on this back and forth. And uh you know uh I'll say uh I'd be lying if I didn't say it's creating a level of frustration in our finance office, but we will continue to work with them diligently on that. But um having said that, even if we do need to owe the balance, I I think we'll be able to cover that without having uh too
071significant of an impact uh on the overall um operating budget for the year. Um and so but you know, like I said, other than that, I I you know, uh what you won't see here and we haven't got we haven't gotten that final excess cost uh payment that we thought that about that $300,000 that the state had kind of passed. So right now we are we do believe you know that amount plus or minus you know a little bit we're going to be able to earmark and put into the non-lapsing account which through uh board of ed policy 3170 allows us to kind of carry that over you know so typically you any excess money goes back to the town you know the board is allowed to carry some of that over as a non-lapsing
072account up to um I believe it's the uh 2% or 2% of the total budget is is the max you can do. this will be well under it and then what happens is it gets carried over and then we would uh seek the board of ed to approve it uh your approval for how we would expend that and you know ideally we'd probably be expending that I would imagine on you know uh maybe an extension of major projects special services just to be able to kind of which then allows us to deal with less volatility in the operating budget because if we needed to we would we would kind of have this uh account to be able to use so just provides us another level of flexibility so that's the March update. Happy to uh
073answer any questions. So, Phil, um will there be a line item here for that excess account there? Yeah, I would imagine that you know in there within the kind of the lines will have uh you know non-lapsing account uh labeled in there. My understanding is the first time farming is is uh utilizing the non-lapsing account. So, we're still kind of getting some guidance from Shipment and, you know, I'm reaching out to some other schools who have done it to kind of get some, you know, guidance and structures on on best practices and how to do that because currently there is funding in there, right? In the current account. Currently there we have not created a We have not created a non-laping account. We haven't done it yet. We haven't hit up the end of the
074fiscal year yet or the end of the first year. This is the first year we can do it, right? Yeah. So we don't have it yet. Thank you. Ask a question. Sure. Asking a question regarding the uh transportation services contract. Um where it says so are um where do we settle on any penalties issues? Was there any December back in we did that back in December? We did, but anything in the sense of free review since December on around transportation issues and any kind of uh penalties that may be um be considered since uh there's been some disruptions in bus transportation. Well, like we said back then, if a bus doesn't run, we're not charged for it. So, right then and there, you know, we're we're not, you know, paying for a bus that doesn't
075run. Um, and they, you know, for periods of time, they have they can have a lot of people out sick and things can happen. So, right, you know, with that billing process, we're not going to get charged for that for any. So, there'd be so when we get our invoices, you know, that would be about, you know, whether it's consolidating runs or, you know, various things. And so that would you would see just in a in a in the invoice being less for our formal charge. The penalties is when there's you know the the breaches of the contract you know you know I I forget it's I think it's over 60 minutes or 90 minutes or something you know those are when there's you know that that so there's you know the kind of the
076fines and violations and then there's just if something doesn't run we don't get charged for and just for that month the overall invoice is just lowered and so that is applicable to the ones where you're consolidating certain routes. Is that what is that a uh yeah so so sometimes like I said it would be you know if whether it's a consolidation route whether it's um you know let's say we don't um have to run a late bus um or you know you know some a variety of other um you know variations or changes in in the routes or the runs and so how would we know through this how that's reflected or that it's that it's either happened or not happened would we know through this or would this no I mean this is you
077know yeah this is kind of more, you know, at at at the macro level, you know, I mean, it would be more But you said that you get the monthly invoices. We get the monthly invoices. So, would we see any of that in We don't typically show the monthly invoices um you know, in in the board of ed report. Okay. No, just wondering because I know transportation is a line item here, so I just wanted to see. Yeah, it's it's really like all in and not um but I mean you would see savings in that from what we budgeted if we're not being charged for buses that we budgeted. Yeah. So we would see a savings. Okay. Yeah. And I think and you know to see you know the the the you know the I
078think it's the 40,000 you know and the red you know that really like you said is is more in the special services um you know the you know extra van runs and and other pieces that have kind of come up. I think if we just took out the regular ed transportation I I believe we would still be in the black on that and and so saving money and that's in addition to currently uh the $50,000 55,000 that were in the black on gasoline on efficiencies in there. So, so overall I think transportation is running, you know, you know, really well. Uh, and then, you know, for the the the special services, we will probably be able to apply some of the excess cost, you know, when we get, you know, some of that money in
079even beyond the 300,000. When we get some of that, we will be able to apply that to transportation to to bring that down. So, I actually expect transportation to be pretty close to the budgeted amount uh by the end of the year. Yeah, Angela. It doesn't have to be like now for a broader conversation on it, but just a thought or something to consider. Like obviously we like seeing savings, so that's great. But in this situation, I would actually prefer not to see savings, but to see like more bus runs potentially. Like I think there's just a lot of discussion still about this consolidated consolidating of runs. Um, so I think it's great if we get money back, but I think it's the inconvenience it's to the families and to the students probably supersedes the
080I don't even know what we get back. Um, so are we just constantly looking at that or can there be like, you know, after a year because, you know, we kind of had this conversation and then I'm assuming there'll be some type of evaluation after a year's time. Can we look at even like bus participation even in the morning runs? Like are people just giving up and driving their kids to school because the bus isn't you know what is success like is success that we're not hearing complaints or is success that people have just gotten alternate ways to kind of make their family situation work better? And I don't know the answer to that. I'm just No, no, it's a great it's a great question. I want to kind weigh in. So to your when
081you started out your question, I mean I I kind of I I'm absolutely comfortable with questions about transportation as a line item, but I mean I'm not blind or naive to the challenges we have with transportation. That's kind of beyond the agenda item, though. That's fine. That's fine. So what I would say is we have a meeting coming up in June. Perhaps we can add to the agenda a conversation about where we are with the bus company. Um that would give you an opportunity to kind of prepare, review everything. And I just I want I don't want I don't want anybody caught off guard with this stuff. I mean, it's fair if you guys kind of look at all your data so you can so you have uh you know more more information to answer
082the questions. I I think so. I mean we we've been told that they are actually going to have uh more drivers in the coming year because they're not going to have they've not even uh they're one of their uh towns and they did not bid on it. So they're going to have an excess of drivers next year. So, we're hoping that this resolves itself with an excess of driver. That's our problem. Yeah. Isn't lack of drivers and when someone's out, if you don't have an excess, you can't cover it. It's just like us when a teacher's out. If we don't have a substitute there, it it's really a challenge in a school to not have a substitute. They do they just don't have enough drivers. But I think they recognize that and they want to
083do a great job in the districts that they are in and they've committed to. So they didn't even bid on a contract and so all those drivers are going to be available to us and to other districts that have specialties. So I feel like yes there were a lot of challenges for sure but there there may be some good news on the horizon. That's what I'm hoping for given this news. You discuss it more. Yeah. The agenda for our next kind of year end kind of let's just check in on it. I think it's a good idea. It's a good idea. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. So, can I get a motion to approve the March financial statement as presented? Second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Next
084up, executive session. None. Yay. Yay. Uh, next up, item 12, report of the board chair. Um going to remind everybody if you haven't had an opportunity to buy your tickets for Cathy's celebration and retirement um tickets are on sale through March May 16th and and the only reason why I say is because the money goes to the foundation. So that's why I'm encouraging people if you can't make it you can donate $50 to the foundation. Um we have our invitation for the Eid celebration uh Saturday May 31st. I encourage anybody who can attend to try and get there. um don't really have much more in terms of an update. I mean, we've been working all together very closely and diligently on on um the succession plan so to speak and uh more to come on
085that. Um thank you all for all your hard work on that. Um, I can represent to the community that every man, everybody in this on this board, every person on this board has extended a significant significant amount of time away from their families on difficult nights and weekends to get this right. So, I just want to thank you all for that. That's really really important and thank your families for granting us the grace to allow you to participate in this. With that being said, can I get a motion to adjurnn? Motion. Second. All those in favor? All right, we're done. Thank you. [Music]