001[Music] all right first item on the agenda is the um Pledge of Allegiance can all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance please a pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States America and to the repic for it stands one nation under God indivisible withy and Justice all right uh next item three on the agenda is recognition can you hear me yeah so we like aand to come up and and aon's principal and we'll go right up to the podium so each year the Farmington Valley superintendent Association honors an eighth grade student we also honor a 12th grade student that student will be recognized in June but our eighth grader is always recognized in our November meeting so we're that Aaron Addie is here um and he is someone who excels academically at I very
002active learner and caring in the school Community Aaron previously attended West districts so he's a tiger and uh Westwoods uh at Irving a Robbins Middle School Aaron has distinguished himself as a student who represents the value vales of Integrity kindness humility and empathy his work is constantly or consistently high quality Aaron understands the interdependent nature of collaborative work with his peers and takes seriously his commitment to supporting others and their learning he's always asking very thoughtful questions he's t a very talented musician who is a member of the I band and Orchestra he is a peer Ambassador a member of the student council and an accomplished member of the science bow where do you find all the time to do all of this eron so impressive most recently Aaron was trained as a student leader
003in partnership with Dylan's wings of change in this role Aaron collaborates with other student leaders to engage all students at I in meaningful learning to support a culture of respect and inclusivity I'm just so proud to recognize you today for the super attendance award congratulations Aaron capinski principal of I will say a few words so Aon I just want to say you have distinguished yourself out of over 600 students in our school and everything that superintendent Greer said about you is true plus even more and Beyond I asked your team of teachers today I said I'm going to be at the board of ed meeting this evening is there are there any last words that you would like me to share about Aaron and they said the page isn't long enough so um I think
004you are a humble and kind and um really dedicated student you embody the mission and vision of I and so when I think of service and I think about middle schoolers really finding themselves and devoting themselves to making the world a better place and certainly our school a better place Aaron you have um just risen to the top so we're so proud of you and um we know you're going to continue to do great things at I and uh hopefully at Farmington High School as you continue on in your tenure here in the Farmington Public Schools so congratulations thank you for this honor and thank oh yeah that just doesn't work um thank you for dishonor and I'll try to keep it up well Aon didn't say very much but I just want to say
005that um Aaron and whoever is here with Aaron should be very proud like we don't see well we do see actually the world doesn't see very many students who are um very talented um in music science and also empathetic kind sharing collaborative so good job to whoever is helping out uh at home with Aaron and his teacher everybody at I West District everybody along the way and Aaron yeah keep it up good job um and biomed engineer that's I don't know I think you're shooting a little low maybe you could you know I don't know step it up enough not no I'm just kidding very good very good um we're very proud of you uh all right so um that brings us to next on the agenda which is uh inviting and receiving public comment
006so anyone uh who wants to speak has three minutes for public comment we um uh I'll turn it over to my vice chair Andrea sininsky uh you will have a uh there will be a timer for you for the three minutes and Andrea will review our policy on public comment the following guidelines are to assist those who wish to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting speakers are allowed up to three minutes to speak public comment is an opportunity for the Board of Education to hear from members of the community board members will not be answering questions or discussing matters brought up in public comment as it deems appropriate the board May Place such matters on the agenda for future meetings for discussion in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act civility is
007expected rude or disruptive conduct is not allowed for example personal attacks or shouting after being warned by the chairperson a person's persistence in disruptive conduct shall be grounds for summary termination of that person's privilege of address the superintendent is responsible for personnel matters no speaker shall use public comment to bring formal charges against any board employee any such charges should be directed to the proper Authority in accordance with board policy 1120 thank you Andrea um um anyone with uh who wishes to be heard for public comment uh please come up to the podium state your name uh and address for the record unless you are a student and then uh only your name thank you go ahead not sure it should be test test test I need to pull it up test test okay good
008evening ladies and gentlemen um to of the board IED my name is Shia mud and I'm currently a senior attending for High School I live at One Kel away in Unionville Connecticut today I wish to shed light on the significance of Eid in our school calendar for many students families Eid holds deep cultural and religious importance unfortunately students observing Eid have faced challenges attending school on these important dayses due to the absence of official Rec recognition in our academic calendar I personally have experienced difficulty attending classes on Eid a day meant to be celebrated with family in the community is disheartened to miss out on these special traditions because of these conflicting schedules recognizing e onor school calendar would not only show commitment to inclusive inclusivity but also allow students and families to observe this
009important holiday without compromising their education the inclusion of Eid would Foster a sense of belonging and respect to the diversity of our town contributing to a more understanding School environment many districts Incorporated major religious holidays into the calendar demonstrating feasibility of such initiatives I believe the farmerson community has the opportunity to join this positive trend promoting cultural sensitivity ensuring that all students can celebrate their religious holidays without the added added stress of missing the school days which has a significant impact on their learning and growth we request the board of education's consideration in reviewing and updating our school calendar to officially recognize Aid as a holiday we're supposed to matter what we supposed to matter would not only enhance the inclusivity of the school Community but also contribute to the well-being and cultural enrichment of
010our students thank you for your time and consideration thank you and that's all I need thank you anyone else hi all uh my name is Muhammad Shima I reside at 213 Westside Boulevard in Unionville Connecticut um I'm in 11th grade I'm a junior at Farmington High School and um I would just like to start the speech off by recognizing the hard work and dedication teachers at farington high school and other teachers around the district put into into making the classroom inclusive and an accepting um space so I've spent the majority of my time in school in this district from West District to Now farington High School um and I believe that we should add Eid as a districtwide holiday and day we could take the day off um growing up I had to take the
011day off for e a significant Day celebration for two billion Muslims around the world as a 9-year-old it was really difficult explaining to my fellow classmates what Eid was because it was such a alien concept to them of fasting for 30 days and taking a day off to celebrate so it's really difficult explaining that to my fellow peers I believe that not only should we just get the day off for Eid we should also create a learning environment in the classroom where we could teach our children about um the various Traditions that we follow on Eid um Eid isn't just like celebrated by the significant minority of the world um almost like two billion people celebrate e around the world so I believe that our students should be educated in the matter as they're definitely
012going to run into people who are celebrating either round now many years later I stand before you with the hope that we can bridge the gap of understanding I firmly believe that by adding e as recognized holiday in our school district we can create an opportunity for education and cultural exchange it is not just about getting a day off from school it's about feeling it's about fostering understanding and inclusivity among our peers who may not be familiar with Eid or the Traditions associated with it have a great and safe rest of your day thank you thank you anyone else good evening um my name is shaki harstone um 26 ler Road um I'm here having read over the changes in the school policies and um that are being proposed and there's a couple loopholes that
013I don't think were intentional that I need to point out um there are a lot of references to discrimination by gender sex gender identity Etc that have been stripped from the policy instead it refers to protective classes and policy 8.1 all this means all all LGBT Q matters are now investigated under Title Nine as I read it they're only investigated under Title Nine if that's a mistake it's not clear to the reader as as a parent um there is no referral back to the regular school policy um I would like to point out the difference between the school policy with bullying and Title 9 with bullying um the title n policy to to um in order to qualify under Title 9 bullying has to be pervasive severe and objectively offensive um there this has been
014a loophole for a very long time in the title n policy and I'd like to spell out what that means if one of our students is brutally murdered and is lgbtqia that is not a bullying event because it is a singular event no matter how bad an event is if it's only investigated under Title 9 a singular event does not count as bullying the um I I saw a presentation by the authors on the new changes for bullying bullying event for bullying laws coming up and they encouraged early adoption those those changes reflect back one sorry let me St state that again those changes make two concurrent paths so bullying is being investigated and title n is being investigated at if they don't qualify under Title Nine they still qualified on bullying I would encourage
015Farmington to consider um a adopting early adoption of the changes to uh get through that loophole the other change that um is there is um that the language changes from specifying about gender um uh sexuality Etc and just start um refers to protected classes there are proven differences between a PO policy that refers to protected classes and that that just refers um and those that spell out specifically lgbtq matters they are too numerous for me to go on right here I'm going to leave you a copy of the research um for anybody who would like it um this is from the glisten climate change and it spells out things like um a a reduction in bullying an increase in uh teachers who are um interfering for policies that are spelled out specifically um that they
016are against LGBT qia matters thank thank you thank you Jackie thank you very much is there anyone else for public comment oh Melissa comes Ridge V drive I'm here tonight about the first reading of the updated policy I specifically 1220 5131 5131 911 and 5146 um these updates share a number of commonality including um sexual orientation and gender identity or expression as part of the definition of of a protected class um they all um Define harassment as a form of discrimination that is prohibited by law that creates a hostile environment um which occurs when the harassment is sufficiently severe pervasive or persistent such that it interferes with an individual's ability to fully and equitably benefit from the services activities and opportunities offered by the district it includes a list of examples of the type of
017conduct um there's a lot of reference to racism and and um religious bigotry in that um and they further state that the harassment does not have to include the intent to harm or to be directed at a specific Target or involved repeated incidents these policies all direct students faculty and staff to policy 41181 which is the sexual discrimination harassment for personnel students should be directed to policy 51455 and neither sexual harassment policy the two just mentioned include the phrases sexual and orientation and gender identity and expression nor do the forms for reporting sexual harassment include the these phrases the forms for reporting all other discrimination in the in the um ones being reviewed tonight um have a comprehensive list of of the types of discrimination with um although 1220 does include sexual identity and gender
018identity and expression but the most egregious the standard for sex and gender-based harassment is much higher severe pervasive and objectively offensive this means that sexual and gender harassment are not dealt with equitably when compared to race ethnicity religious and all other forms of protected class harassment the inconsistent language across these policies when examined further isolates LGBT lgbtq plus students faculty and staff from the other protected classes and perpetuates the sense that the queer Community is other and not worthy of Equitable protection from discrimination understanding that the Davis standard severe persistent and pervasive applies in is the current title n discrimination language that both Connecticut and farming must follow um this language there are actions the board can take to Foster inclusion of the lgbtq plus Community um call out homophobia and transphobia in the list
019of examples of discrimination update the Discrimination forms to include sexual identity and gender identity and expression and follow the lead of more than 40 other public school districts in Connecticut and adopt a comprehensive trans and non-binary policy one developed collaboratively with the board administrators Educators and career students and family ni thank you thank you is there anyone else for public comment anyone else okay public comment is closed thank you all right so that moves us on to agenda item number five um approval of the minutes for the um October 16th regular uh meeting of the Board of Education um I need a motion to approve the October 16th 2023 Board of Education regular meeting minutes as presented motion second does anybody have any comments questions or suggestions about the meeting minutes okay all those in
020favor I I opposed abstentions that motion carries thank you um the next item on the agenda is the uh approval of the minutes of the November 8th um 2023 Board of EDS special meeting so I need a motion to approve the November 88th 2023 Board of EDS special meeting minutes as presented motion second does anybody have any comments suggestions or uh concerns about those meeting minutes no okay um all those in favor I I opposed extensions abstention so Sarah Bill who else anybody okay all right um Sy oh Sylvie okay all right that motion carries thank you okay next on the agenda is item uh six consideration of superintendent report report item a is welcome and comments from Westwood's upper elementary school principals so here we go we have Katie blor here thank you so
021much to the board of education and our public on behalf of Westwoods our team both myself and assistant principal Nicole vibert we are super excited for a a number of our sixth grade wild cats to come speak to you today they have been doing a ton of work in their Humanities classes so fortunately our sixth grade students have the same teacher for both social studies and language arts and so they've been doing a lot of work around cross-curricular connections and they're excited to share about all of the civic-minded ways in which they engage with their Community um and and their recent state capital trip so without further Ado I'm going to introduce the team so come on up guys we have seven students with us here today we have you want to stand next to
022me here don't be shy we're all a little nervous tonight I said that's nothing to be nothing to be scared of so we have Mickey Zeke Lucy daret Cyrus Aubrey and Cavani so they're going to share with you a little bit about what they've been doing in their Humanities courses and they have had some great leadership from both our literacy specialist Kristen Alvarez as well as our social studies specialist Miss Jee Malloy as well so team we're excited to welcome you here tonight to talk to our fabulous Board of Education we would like to share with you how we use the vision of the global citizen to support our work in Humanities this year so far as writers we were empowered Learners by exploring our interest to topics that were important to us working through
023the successes and the MST UPS of the writing working through the writing process also helped us learn about ourselves as writers and what we need to do to improve GR in the area as researchers we were discipline thinkers we had to analyze the perspectives that were being shared with us through databases so that we could identify the pros and cons of the writing and identify if there was any bias as civic-minded Citizens in Social cities we learned about the founding of our country and looked at the events that looked at the events that led up to the writing of the Constitution and the structure of government that was established under the Constitution we also focused on the roles people played and how various groups of people were impacted at the end of the unit We
024examined the amendment process and learned about key amendments that focused on people's rights and voting we learned about the importance of taking action and contributing to our community we would like to share our experiences and writing from these past 2 months we learned that the purpose of persuasive and argument essays is to share an opin opinion with an audience about a topic and to make an impact so that the readers end up agreeing with the author We Begin by exploring Hot Topics that might interest us then selecting topics of our personal interest these are some of the popular choices that students made and then we use the inquiry process to develop questions about our topic to pursue then we moved on to engaging in research using databases this includes a lesson from Mrs Marcel our
025librarian on how to use the databases respectfully then we identify the other people's perspectives and uncover the bias to help us understand the difference the different sides of our issue finally we worked on identifying a specific audience who we wanted to connect with about our point of view on this topic and we learned the different elaboration techniques to use in order to persuade our audience so such as ranking our best evidence in using language our social studies classes we learned about the three branches of government executive legislative and judicial we also learned about the system of checks and balances to make sure that one branch does not have too much power there are two parts to Congress including the Senate and the House of Representatives in class we became experts on our branch and then
026taught other members of the class about our branch of government we worked together to show how they check each other we also learned about the Constitution and its amendments at Connecticut's old stay House Museum we experienced how the three branches of government work after registering to vote we elected a governor in the executive branch we had a mock jury trial where students had roles to play in a trial about a mischievous cap for example we had a plaintiff a defendant a judge and a jury panel we also deated a proposed law about catting and and voted in the legislature our elected governor then signed the bill to become a law on the second part of our field trip we Tor the Legislative Office Buildings in the state capital we sat in the House of Representatives
027and in the Senate chambers when we met with our elected officials we learned that we can engage in many ways with our government even before we're old enough to vote we can make suggestions for state laws and attend meetings to learn more about the process of government presenting here today is one way we are participating in our local government as Mickey mentioned earlier at the end of the unit in the social studies we learned about the amendment process the 26th amendment lowered the voting age to 18 during the Vietnam war some people think it could be even lower we are reading different perspective Ives on whether or not it should be lowered again we're analyzing articles and data on both sides of the issue this is preparing us to write an argument essay or even
028[Music] possible even possibly a letter to one of our government officials it is important to understand both sides of an issue because you may have bias for one side and of the issue and not totally understand the other side when exploring both sides of the issue you may either gain more knowledge to support your claim or you may actually learn something that makes you change your mind on the issue so as you can see we have really been learning about what it means to be Global Citizens we can look at both sides of an issue by researching understanding different perspectives and we also know that our voices matter especially when it comes to our government sharing our ideas is something that we can do to affect change or make a difference in our community last
029spring I was one of the winners of the Farmington rotary club's annual essay contest each year Westwood students are able to submit their argument essays to this contest hosted by the Rotary Club last year so many of our students and winners including myself wrote about the topic of saving animals the title of my essay was an amazing place for Animals the Farmington Rotary Club makes a donation each year to an organization of the students choice because so many of us wrote about saving animals they made a donation to The Roaring Brook Nature Center in Canton we just received this certificate and photo because of this donation we were able to provide Kia a red tailed hawk with a permanent home at the center Kia was struck by a vehicle and injured enough they needed to
030amputate her Wing without two working wings they did not want to release her into the wild so now she has a permanent home at the Roaring Brook Nature Center this is one way we can make a difference throughout our words as writers thank you for listening to our presentation so as you can see our students are so insightful I had a chance to see many of their written pieces in person when they were doing their writing celebrations and they really do choose incredible topics that really are far beyond their age here 11 12 year olds here at Westwoods so I wasn't sure if the board had any questions for our our sixth graders on their pieces or their state visit and how they are they are honing in their skills on being Global Citizens so
031I'll let you take it away who has questions go ahead Andrea so what what do you think about lowering the voting age they have different opinions I personally think we should L it but um to what to what age 16 oh I disagree I think it should go back up to 25 that's when the brain is ful develop [Applause] [Laughter] I think we should be able to participate in our local elections so Mayer local election I think it should depend on what type of like think most of us probably know more about like the national government than we do about our local government so if they were going to lower it maybe lower on the national government I think because umy old get a driver thank you um anybody else very insightful yeah it was
032very good were any of you surprised at um how you could make a difference in your community like at what kind of difference you could make I was surprised that you could attend um that you could attend like a House of Representative meetings like they're they're open and you can go want to you can come to a board of ed meeting anytime you want yeah anytime you can run for Board of it in the future sure yep you yeah and you can and what about with your um With Your Hawk I mean that's making a difference in the community not the same kind of difference not the same as like a political difference but it's still a difference in the community did you like it did you like doing it how many of you are
033going to continue on uh doing community type things and think you're going to get involved yeah good that's great there's always spots on the board of ed in any town but Farmington would love to have you you seem like you're excellent thinkers so very good job thank you guys thank you very much thank [Applause] you all right so uh 6B is the um Board of education's 2022 2023 um goal results for town the council's town Council strategic plan uh so we share this every year with the board um the goal results for the Town Council strategic plan uh we provide this to our town manager each year and the results um that you see in this report have already been shared with board and and community Through the results and outcomes document that we shared
034last board meeting this is a condensed version for the town does anybody have any questions I'm sorry I'm paying attention to make sure are getting their cupcakes that I forgot to announce okay because maybe it's important just kind of give context as to what these are like why do we have where they come from and you know when was the Strategic plan first conceived and why we do it every year right so this was many years ago prior to my time here where the Town Council created a strategic plan and asked the board to contribute to the Strategic um plan document so any of the uh results and outcomes that we share within our results and outcomes document we then place in this document to share with uh the Town Council if we shared the
035results and outcomes it's such a large document this is very uh much just the data and a brief introduction of uh what we focused on last year and this is really about the outcomes from last year and then they will pull all these documents from different departments and the Board of Education together and share it with the community even though these are these are as a Town Council document the goals that are included on the plan as it relates to the board of ed those are goals that we articulate that's right so they directly align with the school and program development plans that were shared uh last year at this meeting so we set our goals at at the November meeting and then um in the oct the following October so about what 11 11
036months later after we complete the year all of the State Testing is done all of our end of year data is in place we then share that with the board and our results and outcomes so that shows the board and Community what we accomplished from those goals and then in this meeting we put a very brief version together to then send to the Town Council so tomorrow this will be sent over to the town manager but these are our goals and our outcomes yes anyone else okay thank you um all right so that brings us to the college board report so Kate martarelli is here uh Kate is the department leader for our counseling department and she provides this report each year which gives you an overview of the college board results for the 2022
0372023 school year good evening my name is Kate martarelli I'm the school counseling department leader here in Farmington thank you to the board of education and to superintendent Greer for the opportunity to speak with you all tonight it is my pleasure tonight to share with you information about our 2023 College testing results College Testing assessments provide valuable information about our students potential for success at the post-secondary level as well as their actual level of achievement in a specific area of study this report tonight includes information for the class of 2023 around AP exams SATs and act exams the following are testing statistics that I'd like to highlight with with you tonight I will first talk about AP exams brimington offers 27 different AP courses in the areas of Arts English History and social sciences stem
038and the world languages and cultures last may we administered 1,224 AP exams to 5 57 students 82% of the class of 2023 participated in one or more AP course 72% of the AP exams taken by Farmington High School students earned a score of three or better this past year we also had 93 AP Scholars 36 AP scholar With Honor recognition 85 AP scholar with distinction and one AP International diploma also new this year which I thought I would highlight tonight um the College Board recently introduced what they are calling the AP School honor role which is recognizing schools whose AP programs are delivering results for students while broadening access barington High School earned gold recognition in this area the next next exam I'd like to highlight is our SAT exam this is a summary cohort
039data for the class of 2023 who took the exam during high school students in the class of 2023 during their junior year participated in an in-person digital Connecticut sat school day assessment beginning with the class of 2025 so our current Juniors students will experience a new and adaptive digital sat school day exam uh this coming March 2024 I thought I'd just highlight that as a little bit of a difference between last year the last two years of digital exams and what our current junior class will experience this coming March Approximately 80% of our colleges and universities still remain test optional um during this cycle this college admissions cycle at this time our averages last year were in evidence-based reading and writing 582 in math 566 and comparatively members of the class of 2023 scored well
040above Connecticut and National averages in both sections act exams approximately 12% of the senior class or 35 students took the ACT sometime during high school with a mean composite score of 25.9 the number of Farmington students taking the acts has been declining since each year since 2016 some of these contributing factors which I've mentioned in the past um but I'll note again tonight include ongoing test optional policies in admissions access to an SAT exam through the Connecticut sat school day Administration during students junior year and students please their SAT score which may not prompt them to consider taking the acts lastly it's always my privilege also just to talk about how some of this data is used at Farmington High School specifically within our school counceling office um school counselors continue to use this data
041in individual planning meetings in grades 10 10 11 and 12 um and in counseling curriculum related to Career exploration postsecondary planning and course selection this is in line with our goal to provide all students access to college level work through expanded programming in the areas of AP Yukon ECE and dual enrollment Partnerships Farmington High School counselors are preparing to host a new and improved Junior planning meeting this coming mid December uh for families that includes a college admissions panel in addition to breakout sessions on navian testing and application requirements and finding your fit that's my little plug my advertisement for a totally refreshed um Junior planning evening coming up which we're excited about um we also use scattergrams and navian include including a that that include a collection of testing data and GPA for each
042Farmington High School graduate this data helps current students counselors and families make thoughtful decisions around safety Target and reach colleges and universities uh for each student and lastly AP exam registration occurs in the fall in an effort to support equity and access to AP courses and AP exam preparation all AP teachers and students join AP classroom their own particular AP classroom early in the school year giving all students access to ear earlier access to progress checks question Banks and topic questions in preparation for AP exams each May each each May I just want to thank you again for the opportunity to uh share this updated testing information with you all any questions anyone Patty U thank you Katie this is good information and helpful I'm just wondering so this is all college board related does
043the guidance Department keep any other metrics or anything to track for like trade schools and other options besides college for our graduates yeah we collect I'm pretty I'm very much a stickler on the collection of data for every single graduate so it within Naviance we collect anything a student whatever their plan is you know upon leaving Farmington High School so that would include vocational military or work experience or Gap experiences more and more um so yes we have collected that we also in partnership with Dr Neco who's our Extended Learning opportunities coordinator work directly we had a meeting meeting with him today um regarding apprenticeship opportunities for seniors who may be pursuing something other than a 2-year or four-year college so we really trying to articulate that and formalize that for students who you know
044are interested in a vocational pathway after after high school thank you yeah anyone else no okay um thank you Kate uh informative as always thank you um that brings us to uh strategic planning and accountability for continuous Improvement thank you Liz um I know you all had the opportunity to review the full document of school and program development plans for this 23 24 school year um and so I prepared one slide to kind of highlight the overarching Thematic work that we are engaged in and as always this work is iterative so one year to the next you see that we're continuing to work on high trust environments high expectations in academic achievement and and highly engaging learning experiences for all students um I thought I'd share just a simple example um in the culture and
045climate uh area that came to us as an administrative team at our recent visit to East Farm School um we had an instructional rounds experience there and it was a delightful day and really just inspiring to see students working together in classrooms and a kindergarten teacher there shared a really wonderful example of something that was so simple and yet had such a profound impact so she basically said that starting at the beginning of the year H as a weekend assignment she asked families to fill out just a little brief you know two or three sentences about what their children did over the weekend and the impact that that had on their writing was amazing so instead of the typical I went to the park I played on the swings it was fun kind kind of
046beginning middle-end story writing these stories became so much richer and so many you know cultural Traditions came alive in their writing and real specifics about um what children were doing and it helped her to prompt in a way that she wouldn't have been able to do before and she found that you know children in the class were asking each other questions and really learning more about each other and that family felt like when the stories came home it was such a rewarding moment for the family to read the the story so it's a little story but um I think when we talk about you know creating a culture of belonging it after a while it kind of becomes you know like of course we're doing that but these little things really keep happening teachers keep
047coming up with amazing new ways to to strengthen that Family Partnership and and to build that true sense of you know I matter and and I can bring my true self to school every day um so in uh academic achievement we are using the work that or building on the work that we've done in crew and advisory um around culture and climate to now shift uh into more of an emphasis on academic achievement so that that time in the day is an opportunity for students to really be reflective about where they are and their learning goals and kind of uh set new goals and and encourage each other to reach their their uh own personal goals I I know that you've already heard a lot about our work around early literacy and an greater emphasis
048on Phonics our Science Program review continues we're excited uh with the work of our new science program Department leader at the high school and we'll be bringing more of that to you in the future um and in teaching and learning I I know that Kathy shared with you earlier this year that we were invited to participate in the deeper learning dozen which is now called the deeper learning districts which is a collaborative group of um school districts across the country and some in Canada coming together to really learn from each other about you know how we can make learning in the classroom every day and then periodically like these Deep dive experiences where students really um become very involved in a particular focus of study and make sure that the outcomes from that unit of
049study have an impact on others in some way and you heard a little of that tonight and every time we go to one of our schools you see examples of how students are really um thinking about how much what they they learn in school every day is relevant to the world that they see so um all of our Focus uh in all of the school development plans on deeper learning is is speaking to those kinds the development of those kinds of experiences um and then uh just to mention again the building thinking classrooms work um was launched this year with our convocation I almost say keynote but our convocation speaker Peter ladal who is the author author of the book building thinking classrooms and it is one of those new ideas if you will that
050has spread like I can't I can't believe you know there are just some things that we do that take some time to really understand but the building thinking classrooms work we see every day in every school kids and that that is what you saw at East Farm school with the whiteboards and solving problems in small groups and sharing the marker and much more engagement in the thinking work that's being um asked of students so that's having a tremendous impact um on day-to-day instruction so that's kind of an overview of the themes that you see across all the school plans anyone have any questions that's go ahead um in the speci Services Program development plan um they talk about asset minded instruction and it's a term that I hadn't heard before but you know it struck
051me and I was wondering how that's different from like strength-based instruction or is it this similar or I think it's meaning the same thing okay Andrea really yeah just asset um helping children to build upon what they know and do very well and see their own strengths and position new learning in a way that builds from that asset minded U thinking so very similar any so one no you can't ask a question I'm sorry um so I had a question um in the elementary schools there was so all of the elementary schools had a very high percentage of children like um a like a very high um like feeling that uh they're being that they're being taught that they could like uh be kind to each other right that that they're being kind and welcoming
052but then there was a decline in feeling like they were being respected and liked so that seems to be like not that doesn't mesh like that doesn't really make sense well I I I think in general um the numbers are similar they're not vastly different but I know that you know students would say they are being they're involved in lessons and a whole school culture around kindness we're certainly overtly and intentionally helping children to think about how they can be kind to others right there's no question that there's very high numbers around that but then the answ do others treat me with respect and what is the level and I think um you know we we have to dig below the surface of those numbers to know what that really means um and so all
053of our principles are conducting smaller group focus groups with students to say you know I'm not we don't know who these are Anonymous responses obviously but um what is what is not being respected feel like to you what is an example of that and at times it can be a a conflict on the playground it can be something that happen happen on the bus um and so you know we need to figure out that how we will work on that and the meaning of respect as one and the same as being kind they're not different things right I mean it's hard that age group but I mean I guess it's kind of like right so I guess there's a plan in place to try to kind of Flesh that all out because it doesn't really
054it's it it seemed like it didn't really mesh together because it's they're very high numbers about teaching all of the students and then then numbers don't seem to mesh together Li I got a quick question if I could follow up sure so towards that point can you talk about how the perception that some behaviors are consequence or not cons people when people are are behaving misbehaving there's lack of or perception of lack of consequence how does that relate to uh people the students feeling lack you respected or not being respected in other words on a playground does someone something to someone or says something to someone there's a perception that the person the the child the student that was the initial actor doesn't have a consequence or is not understood or known uh to what
055the consequence is how does that reflect to the student who's been the subject to that behavior and and they're feeling in respect right well it it certainly it certainly could impact how a student perceives the hurt that they felt and that there wasn't they they perceive there wasn't a consequence when in fact there are always consequences the word consequences uh understood to mean a a range of different things from having a good conversation with the principal to you know a restorative circle with the child and the teacher present I mean there are different ways uh to think about consequences to Behavior Uh it's never just rushed under the rug like oh it doesn't matter it doesn't count um we're we're a educating institution so we think about consequences as a way to help a child
056learn um it's important that we approach discipline from a learning perspective and not a punishment perspective that said there are times when there are consequences that generally people would perceive to to be punishment um you know privileges taken away and those kinds of things but in the end what we're really all about is helping children to learn from their mistakes um and when you can do that still in a in an atmosphere of support um but clear expectations I think you know we're we understand that that works best in the long run but I think what you're trying to say is at times there's a perception that a child may have mistreated me and nothing happened and um it's difficult because we are not allowed to share information with the other child with families so
057that becomes at times a perception that's not reality thank if you're if you're done if you have more on that line I'm going on a different line of questioning no no go ahead um so if I think back over the last few years as you've presented this and I realized that this plan is kind of a broad brush that you have in front of us for all the schools I feel like a little bit we're we're like a big pendulum on technology so like some years it's technology and then some years there's like nothing technology related and so listening to Kate and kind of thinking about that the early literacy thing right in the middle it sticks out and I have kind of this oddly specific question around we're asking our students to be evaluated
058often on devices on computers we don't really teach penmanship anymore more we focus heavily on Phonics we don't teach typing so how are we not meeting our needs the needs of our kids I guess in that sense that we're asking them to use these devices and finding the balance and believe me I I get all sides of the balance because it exists everywhere um and at different times for different reasons too but when I look at that and I think by the time they get to high school they've had just kind of their only their own interaction with these devices not NE necessarily uh something as formal as like what I remember back in the day of like a typing class where I can type really well I can type really fast and my kids
059can't and when I think about their testing and their assessments and they're doing those on devices what does that look like for us going forward and believe me the last thing I want to do is put any more on the elementary students because I know they're carrying a lot already you you yes you raise a a challenging point to us because it feels you know if if I were to speak like an elementary teacher there's more and more and more expected in the school day and we haven't lengthened the school day by a couple of hours that we'd like to use to have Challenge and support blocks and Spanish and um maker space time and phonics and all of those things that really enhance a students experience and knowing that there are some good oldfashioned
060skills you need to be efficient and proficient right um so we're we're talking about typing and keyboarding again this year um up against the the concern that children shouldn't be spending so much time on their devices and we want to protect that um so it's a little of both and I think from from where I sit I think typing is a great thing to practice at home for homework you know it's you don't get into fights over like I don't understand the goals of this project you know they can do projects at school but just doing a little practice on the keyboard is is not you know it's probably a good thing good way to spend a few minutes every day but we are going to be uh more focused on we have standards for
061words per minute and um expectations it would impact in any way some of our outcomes in in testing some of our students really are struggling to kind ofy some of that information simply because of timing or you know things right this year we are going to do the online uh some of the online interim assessments which are like practice tests for the smarter balanced assessment so they you know both in terms of the actual physical taking the test on the computer as well as stamina and you know staying on time those kind of things matter in the in the outcomes as well thank you um Andrea Andrea me go first um thank you I did have um a question on uh the family survey response where um there was a decline not in every school
062but across several schools about how appropriately challenging are the academic expectations and do you have a sense that it's they feel like the expectations are too high and their children are not getting enough supports or is it that they're not being challenged enough I think there can be both and again I'll go back to um the idea that principles are um digging into this data to find out um which it is or if it's a little of both um and also spending time in classrooms you know just across the board talking to students watching students um I think the building thinking classrooms work will address some of that as well because what teachers are doing is putting out very open-ended engaging tasks that they can then right in the moment scaffold up or support to
063a level where can enter the task uh you know with their own skills they that they bring um but you know we're we're looking at that because I don't really I can't say I have a sense that it's oh it's definitely too low or Too High um I don't think that because I think our math Pathways curriculum review over the last couple of years really um showed that children were being challenged and and moving progressively forward and and our results looked very good um so we'll have to we'll have to keep studying it okay nen yeah just one my quick question was around looking at some of the assessments or the standards and noticing like grades three and four in 2022 versus 2023 the reduction in the percentage is there a plan in place to
064take a look at those and prioritizing those grades for additional instruction yeah there's there is absolutely a plan in place um but I will also say that I think some of the reduction a couple of things um one is that for a couple years in a row we noticed um misalignment between the results on smarter balance and our own assessment of what it means to meet standard at the end of the year and I think we were o you know we found we were maybe overinflating what we thought was meeting standard work and looked again at what the whole body of evidence needs to be in order to be um in order to consider yes this is a body of work that meets standard and so we included more in that body of work like
065more emphasis on Phonics more emphasis on spelling and I think when you include standard that maybe teachers felt like were not essential to meeting standard and we said it needs to it is essential so some of the numbers went down because of that um but that doesn't mean that really students are are doing poorly it just means we're we've sort of raised the bar a bit it's not that they went backwards we raised the bar we went wanted our um calibration of meeting standard to be more in line with smarter balanced expectations thank you all right Bill I'm good okay Patty Kim H how are you calibrating the endof year expectations with this smarter balance test because I'm looking at many of the schools and it's showing that we're meeting like the percentage of students
066meeting yearend standards is significantly higher than the percentage of students that are meeting the state standards on the smarter balance assessment right so I mean just by putting that data in front of teachers to start with absolutely like let's just put it on the table and talk about that and then looking specifically at particular students talking having you know last year's teacher look at the performance of their students and then where they assess them at the end of the year year so that it's you know it's a good conversation to have to say h you know why did this why do we think this happened what should we be thinking about differently uh uh a moment ago when I talked about doing those interim assessments I think we need an earlier kind of predictor of
067how students will do so we're talking about giving those interim assessments and looking at what other assessments that we do give that are most closely aligned with performance on Smarter Balance so in grades three and four we give the DRP and the DRP tends to be a very good predictor and yet in you know in a body of evidence of reading and writing you know teachers see such beautiful work that you know it's it's it seems to be kind of a natural uh I don't know what I'm you know like teachers want to give credit to students who are doing great work but with a whole lot of support through uh the proc collaborative processes in the classroom and resources available and then you go to take a test and you don't have all of
068those things available to you so thinking about this concept of Independence what can students do independently you probably see that strand running through the elementary especially the Elementary uh School development plans uh and you know teachers thinking more about giving students experiences where they're sort of on their own to do a task and and you know how how they perform instead of always having you know the whole collaborative group around them is it I assume there's also some you could be meeting your yearend standards a student but could also have issues with test taking so arguably you know you're meeting the standards but the esack isn't going to show that for any part for some particular students as uh the smarter balanced is a moment where endere standard is a whole year of evidence so
069it is different you know one test never defines a child or where that child is at that moment it could just be a day they weren't feeling so well so we always look at that test but we don't you know think that that's it um so that's why we include the standard data because our teachers spend a whole year with our students have a body of evidence uh look at this child holistically the growth they've made over time um you know so I always caution you know about one assessment when it comes to you know all the talents and strengths of our students and just making sure we always keep that in mind when we're looking at the data uh all four of our elementary schools are schools of Distinction this year that's really exciting
070one of the only districts that have all of our elementary schools in that um category for Smarter Balance um although that again is wonderful we're really excited because they take into account not only absolute achievement but the growth children make from last year to the you know what I mean from the year before to this year and that's also something that we're really proud of um some students May uh come to school or come to third grade and they're not where they need to be but then they make significant growth from third to fourth grade and you know that is the work the partnership of our families our students our our faculty um and you know that's for us very important is the growth data as well so we've been highlighted uh for that uh
071by the state and you know that's um but again we're always going to look at this we're always going to share it we're always going to work really hard in these areas that are all data driven so we've looked at the data we know what the areas of need are so whether it has to do with culture climate we're looking at um we know that students you know their learning has this emotional base so we want students to feel safe feel uh that they belong and the idea of empathy and respect so all of that culture climate is coming out of a lot of the survey data and the focus groups we do and then on the academic achievement and teaching and learning you know a lot of our our achievement data that we see
072comes from there what are those actions that we're taking and each school has a you know might be a little different depending on their data but what are those actions that we're going to take this year to try to remedy some of those areas of need um thank you anyone else have any questions or Kim no all right thank you very much all right uh professional appointments resignations and retirements so we have a professional appointment of a social worker at East farms and then we have a resignation of Alex Schwarz which many of you know Alex and he is um going to be an assistant principal in in another District which is really exciting something uh that he's been working towards so we're very proud all right um deeper learning updates so many um examples
073some were talked about tonight and others are are here um I do really want everyone to pay attention to the Outdoor Learning that we are engaged in across our elementary schools that seems like a place of such Innovation our students love being outdoors and learning mathematics outdoors and uh science and so we have examples of that uh our our kindergarten students as community helpers and disciplined thinking and Mathematics just many of the examples Kim talked about earlier and we heard from our Westwoods introduction okay that brings us to agenda item seven a budget update budget impact all right it's nice to see everybody I did want to just give you an update I know you've seen some with your with your weekend updates um recently we we put an announcement out um that a request
074for proposals would be forthcoming from the Farmington Public Schools I've been keeping you apprised of this again want to thank the board for not just this year but for many years of work kind of leading up to to the point where we will look at an RFP for transportation services I expect that RFP to um be out at the earliest tomorrow afternoon at the latest Wednesday afternoon we're just working on some last dots and crosses of eyes and te's and and making sure that that the RFP as complete as possible um and community Ates the needs of what the district uh is looking for to any potential um any potential vendors that that would be interested in in pursuing a transportation contract with the farming to public schools and so um of note we did
075we did choose to issue that as an RFP versus a versus a invitation to bid um that really gives the negotiations committee um and and the board in general the the the broadest possible brush to to look at for for who can deliver the service that the community needs and so um like I said that'll be issued within the next 48 hours is our expectation at this point we're working with Michael Kennedy from mjk Transportation Consultants um you'll have a chance to meet Mike Kennedy at some point um Mike has worked with several districts not only in the state but across New England um just in terms of giving us some feedback on on the RFP and the proposals that we're putting out there in terms of what are Best Practices these days for um
076for what communities are looking for and has a lot of time looking for what our district needs as well and so um just some notable dates coming up um we are we have um announced a mandatory scheduled pre-bid conference so for November 28th that means um that means any vendors interested in in pursuing a contract with us will will come and formally meet with the district and and have a chance to ask any questions and submit those uh again all of that will be posted on our website um and open to and open to anybody uh interested um we expect to have proposals open by mid December and and available for review from the negotiations committee and like I said I'll keep the board updated throughout the process probably carrying us into into January for
077for a time to look at that and then as you'll hear later tonight really setting is up for for a run into the budget season as well which We Are Tonight officially in um a little bit later in our agenda you'll be you'll be looking at our budget guidelines for the year I do think that as we've as we've discussed and noted before um transportation is is one of those drivers of our budget and and I think you know you know putting putting a call out for proposals will again be an area to to really consider especially when we're looking at at the cost of Transportation not only in Connecticut but Nationwide in terms of in terms of what those those contracts are are yielding at this point so I I I expect to have
078a higher cost and then um with that hopefully services that that um that will be there as well that meet the needs of our community um so something to pay attention to as we move forward um in terms of the other needs of the district as well you know coming from a 2% this year to all the other contractual needs that that the district will have along with this this contract being uh up for for review and adoption by the board amongst other needs that we'll we'll discuss as we move into the months ahead uh couple other notes in terms of budget impact budget update um we're we're ready we're getting ready for a second round of hbac Grant which I mentioned um last last meeting as well those that will continue to be worked
079on and hopefully ready for our December deadlines with hbac and then just as a reminder um we are kind of finishing our our last leg of of bargaining unit negotiations with the fpsu contract so negotiations committee as I've told you before you're going to be busy as we head into 2024 um FPS contract is um is up in June of 24 uh we're we're aiming to begin those negotiations this winter I know in the past Sometimes They Carried into spring and summer we'd like to get a head start on that I know we'll be busy with budget as well but um that's right now what we're lining up uh and so we'll be in touch in December and January with setting up some dates on our calendars and things like that for those negotiations there
080any questions about the transportation RFP or any other items I shared does anybody have any questions um I I actually have a question you said that they the November 28th they were going to have a a a pre-bid conference with the so who's involved with that is it just you is it so it'll be myself uh Sam Kilpatrick Beth Haber on that certainly members of negotiation committee would like to come essentially what we're trying to do is is say if you're serious about pursuing puring this process we want to see you in person in Farmington it gives us a chance to to kind of get a sense of who's interested in in pursuing the contract it's it's a if you're going to submit an RFP you're going to attend that it also gives us a
081chance to answer clarifying questions for any for any potential um folks uh completing that completing a proposal um after that if there's things that they asked about we'll collect those questions and we'll submit responses to all potential requests at that time the additional part is we might because of that we might issue a denda to our to our proposal or a request as well and so it's a chance to um like I said we did something very similar for our cafeteria um we had we made that mandatory as well and it gives us a sense of when we went out to bid on the cafeteria last year we did the same so for that it was Sam myself and Beth and we actually walked from school uh you know school to school to look at
082the cafeteria spaces for for this one we'll we'll meet in the um the Pavilion of the town hall and and just create a space again to to engage in dialogue and answer any questions and and review the um the RFP with with the potential um potential interest parties okay the cafeteria one sounds tastier yeah yeah no this it was definitely a different process the cafeteria one though is is managed heavily by the state of Connecticut so there were um quite you know there's a little bit more flexibility in terms of prescribing what exactly we're looking for all right all right thank you you're welcome thank you all right so that brings us to new business which the first thing on the new on new business is um reviewing And discussing the 2024 2025 Board of
083Ed meeting schedule um the meeting schedule was in your packet so I need a motion to approve the 2024 2025 Board of Ed Education meeting schedule as presented as a first reading motion second right does anybody did anybody see any they'd like to discuss about that uh schedule for the Board of Ed meeting schedule no okay all those in favor I opposed abstentions all right motion carries um so Item B is the 2024 2025 School District budget development guidelines um that's so that's included in your packet and uh this was something this is something that School principles and and program leaders will use um as we kick off the season here so it's got um you know it's got our drivers for how we make decisions which I know folks on the board are uh
084keenly aware of at this juncture um and then gets into on page 14 uh the dates notable dates as you can see uh budget season has been happening for a while I don't think it ever actually ends or Begins for that matter um but we were out in October Kim has been working with principls and program directors on staffing needs uh Sam and I have been meeting with principles and head custodians on Capital needs and um really over the next weeks ahead principles will be finalizing their budget proposals for our kickoff in early December where we'll you know our our central office team will meet with principls and and their teams and review their budget proposals um working our way all the way into January where we'll start working with the board and and work
085shopping with the board so um you know different from last year you know um well costs are certainly elevated still it has it has dropped a little bit and so CPI is closer to 4% I think last year at this time we were hovering around 7 8% so um so as we know nothing really ever goes back to the way it was but seems to the volatility has seemed to settle a bit um in there as well and so we have our directions for principles in terms of how to submit and like I said we have some some nice models I I did uh I did joke with the the principles with have a an example of a a school budget there with the overall change was minus 1.7% so we we like we like
086that although again as I caution I don't I do I do think we're we're we're um but as we know there are there are you know as you continue to flip you can see that almost 90% of our our budget is based on contracted uh services and needs and so I I do think that's something that will'll continue to keep in mind as as we uh work to bring a budget forward that now not only um gets our students and families that what they need but also is responsible for our community and so we'll continue to work towards that there any questions on the budget manual any questions all right um I need a motion to approve the 2024 2025 School District budget development guidelines motion second all those in favor I I opposed extensions
087all right motion carries um all right um next uh on the agenda is uh new business item C 2023 policy updates first reading um so in your packet there you had a list uh you had the a list and all of the substance of new policies uh for first reading um that were put forward through the policy uh committee um I don't know if uh I don't know if there's anything that bill has to add to any of these these were all just uh well yeah sure um these are policy you know updates that reflect our continuing effort to make sure that we are uh up you know it's it's been a multi-year process of updating our policies also to reform even more recently updated policies to cons to be consistent with Connecticut Law um
088so that's what these these are all policies provided to us by Council that are in alignment with statute statutory obligations I would add that there were some comments tonight in in public comment that maybe Kathy we can think about and talk about this this our first reading um you know the alignment between federal and state rules as it relates to certain terms that are referenced in these polic you know so the definitions things like that maybe you can talk about that and you know kind of go from there because I thought those are those are pretty good questions yes well this is a first reading so I I would suggest I mean yeah for yeah we were what we'll do is we'll do a first reading we will have them with we'll have that reviewed
089and um have some answers for before the second reading excellent that that's I suggest sorry Y no that's fine that's perfect some of the changes had to do with a public Public Act number 23-45 which established a statutory definition of the ter term sexual orientation so um we will definitely take a look at that and um you know talk to our legal councel to ensure that we're being inclusive in our language and um you know but we can do the first reading and then that's why we have two readings so we can go and get some feedback and share the feedback we received but I do think think this has to do with um this particular Public Act yeah we but we will make sure that um the questions that were heard tonight are reviewed
090by Council Absolut perfect perfect absolutely that's the least we can do um all right so first I need a motion to approve the policy updates and new policies listed below for a first reading and to move them forward for a second reading motion second all right um any other any further discussion or comments on that on the motion okay um all those in favor I I opposed exstension all right motion carries okay thank you thank you Bill um and thanks to the policy committee um for its continued efforts in updating all of our policies I know that's a long or deal um so uh in that vein moving right along uh D which is 2023 policy repeals first reading um motion I need a motion um after identifying the below policies which are unnecessary the
091board approves the repeals of these policies as a first reading the administration is directed to remove these policies from the policy manual and archive as repealed motion second all right any discussion on this I'll just add real quick these are duplicative um or or stale that no longer really have any applicability given how we made updates in other areas of the policy manual okay anyone else any questions else just on on the policy 1160 so the responsibility of the board of EDS so that was just included in another policy another place yep ask the same question yeah no it didn't take away our responsibility make sure it's clear or sign us anything new make sure else going on I was hopeful no right um okay anything El good question na any other questions all right
092right um all right all those in favor I I opposed abstentions all right motion carries okay all right um that gets us to e um discussion of administrative regulations for policy regulation 6111 a school calendar related to the timing of publishing the school district's calendar okay um so I guess well Bill sure Bill sure yeah so um you know learning the lessons from last year and then listening to some people that came forward today we thought might be a good idea we have regulation right now where we consider calendar taking what setting the calendar we do it in December but it does seem to be kind of a an awkward way to do it when we have an election in November and uh an expiring board putting on a new board a calendar that that
093new board might want to weigh in on U that people may have campaigned on or talked to you know you know so you know more responsive to where the town currently is at than perhaps a board that was selected two years prior so with that with that thought process we thought it might be a good idea just to have the regulation updated or changed to say well we're still going to do the calendar early enough but we'll do let's do it in January after the new board is seated um that way um you'd have a more accurate um reflection of the current sense of the community with respect to how the school calendar should look because you'll have a current board who's just been elected that that's that's the pro that's a thought process right
094the regulation I think um states that the new that the calendar must be published in December so therefore we do it in November right yeah no do it we do it in January no now yeah right now weet our current regulation right right right so we just push that nov DEC so November or and December right we do it actually in November and December right and then publish it in December so um and this this year was extreme because we're actually we're losing a few quite a few members this a large large largest turnover in my 15 years right and to to us it seemed like you know for us to vote on something with such Community impact when we're not in a few weeks we're not even going to be here that will last
095a long time it's two years it's a two-year calendar don't forget we changed that so it's a 2-year calendar and we're not even going to be here and some other people who are to be here in a few weeks aren't going to have any say on for the next two years exactly seems you know it seems you know not right for for us to have a say in spent the last few months knocking on doors talking about things like this with people you know should have a say in what what the calendar looks like over a twoyear period so this seems like the right thing to do and the timing of it will always be then that the the new board will be the ones making the decision on it make perfect sense went to
096the two-year calendar approach great so so um will it be a January first reading and then adopted in uary February if you read the regulation it doesn't actually say any specific months it says the calendar will be published in December after it's adopted so just by removing the word December the calendar will be published when it's adopted it will give flexibility where it's needed in my opinion well you're right but I I think it's important that may let the community know like when we're thinking about it so they can start looking don't see reason why it would go out further um but it it doesn't take you know a large um Revision in order to make this happen unless you want to put a month in the new regulation so that it can't go out
097forever Cass I'll leave that up do the regulations for call ju we get many calls about calendar because uh families are trying to make vacation arrangements so I think just to be responsive we'd want to do it um earlier than later and January uh makes sense it has to always uh be both it has to be we would say in January and upon adoption so if it's not adopted by January it doesn't meet both standards and I would assume it would have to be pushed out but I think it's always good to have a timing where it's like as responsive as we can be having new board members uh every it's every two years and then um we also approve every two years so it really works out well to say January we typically have
098two meetings in January always now could there be yeah snow of course we always could have snow in January and a meeting be cancelled so if you want to say by the beginning of February but I mean I think January it would be the day after our second January do you mean you would want to say that it's adopt that it's published by January or you want to say it was voted on in Jan what do you want to say we could say published by February I guess as long as it's early February for family I don't know does require well it requires two readings because we want to hear from the public so that's why we do the two readings um and give an opportunity for anyone who might have feedback on it to
099come to the second reading and provide that feedback if they weren't aware in the first reading so I would say I'm fine with either end of January beginning of February I but it can't be the beginning of January it's going to be up to the people who are going to be here I'm board so that it gives you that out if you need it if it had to go to February for an emergency meeting so in January or upon adoption of the board I would say if it were me I'm not going to be here but I would say in January and not say any date because in January could be the last day of January right or you could say by January well right now it says in December and that could be any
100date in December so right I think the other like let's take the extreme scenario here you have two meetings in January one of them gets canceled because of you have a special meeting miss it what happens you call a special meeting right you have a special Mee you know like there's a way to get we to get it done it's going to be an anomaly to have it happen that way so um probably the the language in January and Aon yeah is sufficient for 99% of the scenarios yeah and the 1% there's a remedy for yeah because I don't think going into February is a good idea yeah bu we're yeah way too busy I would leave it so I just nonspecific as possible and just say in January though but that's me yeah yeah
101and I just want to make a comment or and I'm not going to be here I agree and I agree with the process but I also think that we've been on here for the last few years and we've talked it out and we've been through the whole process so on another side of it is new board members coming in you know it's kind of lot to take in and learning everything and so I I guess I don't 100% agree with that um so but that's just my opinion because there's new board members coming in yeah they're learning the process and I think that's a lot to take in where we've actually been through the process for the last few years and discuss it over and I just didn't want to throw it over into January
102just because people are leaving I I think I agree with you you know is it a job to be done you know or do we continue so just pros and cons to both just thinking of both sides that's fair but I just think it's weirder for us to pick a calendar that they're going outgo member I don't really feel very comfortable kind of dictating for the next two years what this looks like without um giving those new board members a chance to Wi and unfortunately we don't have the opportunity to blend Sy the transition Devil's Advocate it's no less weird than throwing the budget on people in January I know I know I mean like here you go they'll I think they can I mean I think they can handle it yeah what's Kathy's quity
103yeah because it's a regulation for people watching at home it's because it's a regulation well I think can we I I would like to say I'm for it yeah well do you want I mean we can't vote we can't it's not a vote but I mean consensus of the board in favor of it yeah I think it's fair to say the consensus of the board I think sure there's definitely a consent so I would say that the board is instructing you to change the regulation thank you next all right uh number number number nine we have September 2023 financial statement report um Dr herwitz all right so we have September um quite honestly partway down with October we just wait we don't get the insurance until wait before this is due so I think that's
104why we're still looking at September you know we're you know September through October still trending in a positive direction but I I do think think more cautiously Vigilant around the challenges of a tighter of a tighter budget we're working through this year in addition to uh attending to the final year of our of our federal dollars as well and so and so those are things that that we continue to stay tuned into um you know couple areas of no our summer school payments are mostly complete and again um something for us to attend to as as the costs were were much greater than anticipated you'll notice a couple projections um for for other areas to run over they haven't to this juncture but we have encumbered and so you're seeing the actual reporting of the
105encumberance as well and so codal supplies these are areas that some of which were were cut last year as well but custodial supplies right now we trending uh to run over um other Professional Services um which which encompasses a variety of categories natural gas slightly over but those are things that I think as we move into October November December we we'll continue to get a read for where they're trending so we're still very early in what we're reporting but trying as our best um another area I would Point your attention to is Insurance we've we made a slight change on a reporting this year for insurance not not the form is is the same but um we worked with our uh with our advisers from lockon uh in the past we had taken we had
106taken the projection and just divided it evenly across the months and and so we feel it's a little bit helpful to try to project the seasonality of insurance and so uh it just gives us a little bit more realistic look at where we are in terms of being on target so that's something Beth and I worked on this summer and discussed as well so uh just a couple updates there for you but um you know we're continuing to stay on track I feel comfortable with we are for AR Esser but again as we look at moving things off of the grant that we'd like to continue uh it's another area where where that becomes you know certainly not um not nearly as drastic as some of my colleagues in other parts of the state but
107but I do think there's still some some an area to attend to as we head closer to January and February and and March in our in our budget cycle there um that are there any questions on the financials for September any questions okay um I need a motion to approve the September 2023 financial statement as presented motion second all those in favor I opposed extensions all right motion carries thank you all right um report of the board chair all right well um thank you all as my time here is winding down I'd like to thank you all for continuing to work together to make this board um very collaborative and um a uh very pleasant experience for me uh and all of us I hope um so your work here tonight was um meaningful to
108me uh in working together to um get everything done so I appreciate it I appreciate each and every one of you um I don't I don't really have anything else on my uh board chair report tonight um but I will next time so thank you now um I guess we're doing committee reports again and Le all right I don't know a lot of work all right uh Christine so Scott pretty much summarized everything and I'm not going to repeat so all right Personnel all right policy well you saw what we did we just did uh we are going to have a meeting the week after Thanksgiving Kathy's got a policy that she wants to bring forward that we want kind of want to vet it a little bit because it could have some impact it's
109it's a pretty important policy I think okay it's part of our policy review and so there are a few policies to go over with the policy committee all right um thank you curriculum Andrea um nothing to report the next meeting other than the next meeting is January 29th okay uh Beth Communications uh nothing to report all right uh committee Le Hance I'll keep up my good work and have nothing to report on um Extended Learning opportunities Sylvie um just again the Farmington High School business uh open house for students is um actually this Thursday uh 5 to 6 oh okay good and uh nothing on inter Scholastic yet right Bill nothing nothing no we won we won't meet again so January okay uh Farmington Public School Foundation Beth um just another reminder I promised Tony
110that I would bring a reminder forward that the trivia B is February 2nd so if you haven't already put it on your calendars and then the golf tournament is firmed up for May 3rd and they have a planning meeting coming up the week after Thanksgiving for their events okay thank you uh health and wellness uh there's a meeting on Monday afternoon all right cafeteria Andrea next the 27th sorry it is not next Monday okay okay okay sorry um nothing nothing to report I do do we have a meeting December it's before the next board meeting yes okay or quarterly all right um green efforts green efforts met last week we had a quorum for the first time in three months um and pleased to report that they're implementing composting here at Westwoods and there's been
111some grant money available in order to set up uh a composting station and if you'll notice that all of our schools except FHS because of the construction there are signs up um reminding parents not to Idol that it's a violation of regulations so and those anti-idling signs were designed by students here at Westwoods um and the like um the Board of Ed they're anticipating change over of green efforts with the change of the Council so we kind of decided to wait until January for pushing forward with other strategies the next meeting though will be December 5th okay thank you Racial equality task force no update uh ccei um no update uh building committee Beth um yes so the committee met on October 18th and they meet again this coming Wednesday um at the last meeting
112the building committee members took a tour of the high school construction site um the project still continues to be on time and on budget and something I thought of note that the board would be very interested in is that OMG the construction firm um they've been incorporating student learning into the project this whole time so again with the start of the school year that program is called OMG builds and it's back up and running they're hosting um students they plan to have a program once a month with various grades Westwoods and up so it's really gets gets the students um on site and then both virtually just learning about the different trades and professionals involved in the project and world of work type things um and then the ffy bid package was approved by the
113building committee at the last meeting and there'll be a newsletter hitting all all mailboxes anytime now right before Thanksgiving okay thank you uh nothing from Noah Wallace fund Elementary ad hoc Bill Sarah SC sure our last meeting we started to devise some um Target goals um for how we'll assess options and we have a next meeting on November 20th that's still on right yeah okay great all right um and that's all she wrote so we are adjourned motion to adjourn we're adjourned thank you very much everybody say stfe everybody have a great Thanksgiving you too thank you very much thank [Music] you [Music]