001I'd like to call this meeting to order of the New Britain Board of Education. The time is 6:01 p.m. And um Mrs. Pino, will you lead us in 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. Mrs. Pino, would you please call the roll? President Diana Reyes? Here. Vice President Barbara Milano? Here. Secretary Ingris Dorsky? Here. Anthony Cane? He's excused. Miss Anne Parker? Here. Miss Hana Strizel? Here. Miss Joann Pino? Here. Mr. Richard Reyes? Here. Mr. Jose Rivera? Here. And Miss Tina Santos? Right here. Thank you. We'd like to take a moment of meditation. During this time we'd like to remember former Alderman Alvin Russell and his family during
002this time. Thank you. Now on to public participation. The first person that we have is John Board. Uh good evening uh Madam President, members of the board, superintendent. Uh tonight I want to bring attention to a matter of fairness and inclusion item 11 on your agenda that speaks to the values that we uphold as a district. The Consolidated School District of New Britain recognizes the major Christian and Muslim holidays by closing school schools, yet it does not extend the same recognition to the Jewish community by closing for Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. This is not simply a matter of convenience. It's a matter of respect, equity, and inclusivity. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, are the holiest days in Judaism, central to the faith and spiritual lives of
003all Jewish families. Yet Jewish students, educators, and staff are forced to choose between their religious obligations and their educational work. Meanwhile, students of other Abrahamic faiths are afforded the ability to preserve their holidays without penalty. New Britain prides itself on being an inclusive city and a diverse city. Our school district should respect those values in practice, not just in words. By not closing for these other religious holidays, like Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the district is creating a double standard that diminishes the significance of Jewish traditions and alienates Jewish families in our community. I understand that some may argue that the Jewish student population in New Britain is too small to warrant closing for these holidays. However, equity is not just solely about numbers. It's It's fairness and ensuring that all religious communities are respected.
004If the size of a faith community determines whether a holiday was recognized, then we must ask at what percentage does a group become worthy for of consideration? Religious freedom and inclusion should not be a subject subjected just to a num- a numbers game. Other Connecticut school districts such as Hartford, West Hartford, and New Haven recognize these holidays by closing schools. They understand the true inclusive school calendar and they must reflect the traditions of all major religious groups within their communities. New Britain should do the same. This board and our superintendent have a long-standing history and quite frankly a policy of supporting all the various communities of this great city. I urge this board to demonstrate its commitment to equity by revising the school calendar to include Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur as district-wide holidays. It
005is time for New Britain to align its policies with its values so that no student, no family, or no community member is ever is ever forced to choose between their education and their faith. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have leaders to speak up front. Hi, yes. I'm Semisha. I'm a parent from Northend Elementary School. Um I am also the vice president of our PTO. And Oh, I'm sorry. Just wanted to discuss uh a few things. We had met with the superintendent about the budget and trying to push to get more money. And us North End as a small school, and me being a parent kind of worried about what can happen if we don't get the budget. So, as a PTO member, we got together with the parents, and I just want to let
006you guys know that we had sent out 153 letters um just from our small school to help seek for the money that we written deserves. Um to improve our schools and give the students basically what they need to succeed in life. Um Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Gabriel uh Gabriel Ventura. Hi everybody. Um good evening all the member of the board. I'm sorry I live in Arizona again. And present to everybody like that. So, I'm a parent of new um of the North End as well. My name is Gabriel Ventura as you mentioned. Um I'm here to respectfully ask for an increasing our budget for our school. Uh and this time was sent to the is our children need more resources than ever to improve their uh learning and success academically. So, um
007it's change it's very challenging uh I'm sorry. Very challenging for our students um all the faces today with everything that happens and uh we as a parents not having enough time to be with them all the time. So, we're relying to the teachers and to the school to improve and to help educate our children. So, the only way that they be able to to this kind of thing is with more money, and especially we are uh under the um the um average of uh Connecticut. Um what I'm seeing here in this paper we a lot under budget, I mean under funding. And we uh have a very small school. I have two children going to the school. All the teachers are awesome, but I think they need more resources to be able to help um
008more programs uh for after school because most of the parents work. And like I said before, we rely on and to the teachers and everybody in the school to help educate our kids. It's not it's not spending money, it's an investment. Our kids are the future. It's the new civilization. It's going to be I mean, they are the present because they are already here. So, that's everything I want to say. Thank you. Is there anyone else who'd like to address the board? Is there anyone else who'd like to address the board? >> Are you able to hear me? Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Uh sorry. Numbers ending in 17. I'm sorry. I'm I'm on the phone. Um I'm a grandparent of of a of a student at North End Elementary School. And I wanted to um
009to um discuss the the lack of funding that we're facing at this time. Um and you um my First of all, good evening to all of those in attendance and the panel members of the Board of Education. Um my name is Leticia Mangual. I'm the grandparent of Sebastian Castillo who attends North End Elementary School. And I wanted to um talk to you all about the importance of the funding that we need not only for all the schools, but especially like North End, who are very small in population, um and um are basically the the school that they look to on the chopping block. And and I know that all of you are faced with many difficult decisions ahead of you, but what I would like to say is that North End is a school um
010with the utmost quality of teachers that I have seen, not only from the administrators, but all the way to the custodians. I have a I have my my grandson, who's in special education there. Um he's been there for 5 years and he's graduating and moving on to middle school. And I got to tell you, if it wasn't for North End School, my grandson would not be at the position that he is in today. And um not only do the teachers and the administrators and everyone who work at that school, they value so much the the children. And not only academically is it in the quality of the school, but also in the social and emotional support that they provide to each and every student. And I have to say that not only is education important,
011but also the level of engagement that each and every teacher has with the students there. And they nourish friendships. And to tell you the truth, I was really looking to see if I could place my grandson um at a magnet school when he moved to middle school, but with the relationship that he has developed at North at North End, it I changed my mind completely. And I wasn't going to change my mind because of those friendships, but because of the quality of the teachers that I know that the Reading School District has. And I know that you're faced with many difficult decisions, but I implore you to really consider um not even considering to close this school um because the school has is is a vital component to the to the community, to our neighborhood.
012And um it's a very tight-knit community and we care a lot about all the students. Um, and that's what I have to say. And, um, I wish you the best in the in the decisions that you have to come make in the future. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, phone number ending in 26. Good evening. My name is Milena Cueva. I am a parent of a student in North End, a fourth grader. Um, I would like to request, please do not think of closing the school. It is a great the teachers, the staff, everyone is wonderful. Um, at this moment I'm requesting if you can please assist with funding um, and budget. You know, everyone there, like, uh, the grandmother before me, you know, she was right
013in everything she said. She nailed it. From guards to teachers to to the principal, they are all great. Um, my children, my daughter, loves that school. Um, even in the after school program, which I know is part of the city of New Britain, great as well. Um, they assist, you know, and again, you know, as a parent that has to work, you know, it's very helpful that they have these programs, you know, after school and everything because they do help us a lot. Even though it's you know, we are the ones that need to also teach our kids at home, you know, and to be respectful and everything else, but the teachers, you know, they're a great impact for the children. So, I'm asking for the help. I know you guys have a difficult job
014and have to make certain decisions, but it would be great if we can keep that school going because I have no complaints. Thank you very much. >> Thank you for your time. Thank you. Is there anyone else who'd like to address the board? Uh one more time. Anyone else who'd like to address the board? Thank you. Madam President, before we could move on into the next section of reports, I'd like to make a motion to modify the agenda to read a resolution regarding autism awareness month. Okay. All those in favor? I. I'm reading it out loud. Sorry. Oh, that's how quick you wanted it. Okay, here we go. Um So, here's the resolution recognizing April 2nd 2026 as Autism Awareness Month. Um whereas we recognize those in our learning community living with autism spectrum disorder
015whose talents, character, and determination strengthen our nation and enrich our communities. Every child is made in the image and likeness of their God with inherent dignity, purpose, and worth. The lives of those with autism reflect that truth in powerful ways, bringing joy, insight, and inspiration to their families, communities, and our country. And whereas in our school community of 10,004 learners, the Consolidated School District of New Britain provides specialized education support to 17% of special education students and 3.9% of the whole student body. And this remains the third most prevalent designation in our district. Autism is a complex developmental disorder that impacts a student's social skills, sensory processing, development of language skills, and challenges to social, emotional, and executive function. And whereas there's a continued need for awareness and acceptance of those in our community living
016with autism through improving specialized support and opportunities in education. Through collaboration of our staff and community partners, the Consolidated School District of New Britain leads in their efforts to help connect families to care, strengthen support in the areas of learning, and to ensure that every child has the opportunity to succeed. And now therefore, be it resolved that April is recognized as Autism Awareness Month. As our Consolidated School District of New Britain is on a path to becoming a model for urban education, setting the standard for excellence and opportunity for all, the New Britain Board of Education reaffirms our commitment to our students living with autism so that every student receives the educational support they need. We will continue to build a future where every person is valued and given the opportunity to achieve their own
017American dream. Said members hereby recognize April 2026 as Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month. Thank you. Thank you. Um on to Superintendent's Report. Good evening, everyone. Um I'd like to say thank you to everybody who's in the audience. Thank you to those who chose to speak at public participation tonight. Um we are just going to talk about the budget tonight because it it is kind of all encompassing. But in a very positive way, that's the cover of our district dispatch this month. So proud of our students who um were at the state legislative office building to advocate for themselves, for their fellow students, and and for our school district. That is the feature article. That's the cover in the in the picture that you'll see inside. Celebrating music within our schools. A really nice um bio
018on our bilingual education, most especially at the D'Loreto school for the dual language. Um as always, some really nice recipients of my challenge coin. It's one of the best parts of my job is to be out and about with our kids and our staff recognizing their good work. That feature article you'll find on page six of the dispatch. Um something about our uh golf team, our our uh girls golf team, and then of course some highlights from our social media. If you didn't catch it, please be sure to see what the CSDNB leaders were like in the '90s. I caught that. That was quite interesting. >> to see what the superintendent looks like with hair on it. I want to follow up though on the comments tonight from um the the wonderful uh parents and
019family members who spoke during public participation tonight. Um I have not shied away from calling our budget situation right now a crisis. It is indeed a crisis. What I want to be I want to be clear on a couple of things because um the conversations are about to get, as one of the callers said, very very difficult and very emotional and very charged. What I know will happen in my 11th year as a superintendent is people are going to start using the word want. The superintendent wants to cut this. The board wants to close that. And I just want to remind everybody here in the audience, everybody watching from home, that this this superintendent and this board moved forward what is called a level services budget. So, what we moved forward was a very large
020number and we understand the political realities of that number, but a 14.82% request is a very large number. We know the political realities of that. However, that's what's required just not to make our school system worse for kids. So, I would like to stress the fact that this is a district that has been operating on a on a shoestring for a very long time. This is not just true during my superintendency, this is true prior to that. What I want people to know and understand that is that this crisis is not created by the schools themselves. This is a crisis of funding both at the local and the state level for many, many years. And we're at a day of reckoning right now. So, if we could find efficiencies, we would. If we could find
021staff to reduce without impacting kids, we would. You might have seen that from some nearby school districts, right? There's stories in the news about Meriden where that superintendent is reducing staff. But, some school districts are seeing a reduction in enrollment, so they're able to reduce staff um by the time the superintendent presents his or her budget. That's not true for us. Our enrollment is basically flat, maybe down by about 100 kids compared to last year. So, we don't have wiggle room without changing the kids' experience, larger class sizes, less custodians to keep our schools clean, um less support to help our teachers be the best teachers they possibly can be. And I always like to stress the fact because again, in my 11th year, there are some things that are quite predictable. People want to
022say, "Well, I heard you're top-heavy." Well, in fact, we have the smallest ratio of administrators of any school district in our group. So, please, I hope that the public does trust the fact that there are no easy cuts. There is no fluff. There is no extra. There is no nice-to-haves in our budget. It's simply about keeping things the same. I I to say it again, a very, very hearty thank you to those of you who spoke tonight. I hope that you will continue that advocacy by speaking at the local level, meeting with common council. All right. What's going to happen next in our budget process at the city level is the mayor will present a recommended budget to common council. And then common council will decide what budget to ratify. So, in here in New
023Britain, it is common council that has the last word on the budget. As always, I always encourage people to be polite, be courteous, be professional, but also be well informed. And you know that all of our budget documents are available on our website. Thank you so much to the North End parents who sent 153 letters. That is amazing. That's amazing. But, the work isn't done. We have about another month left in the state legislative session. I'm very concerned about the fact that the Appropriations Committee of the state legislature did not recommend any extra funding for schools. That is a very, very disheartening thing for the Appropriations Committee to come forward with. It's not done, though. The legislature, the Senate and the House have the final word. They can take the Appropriations recommendation or they can
024do something different. We need parents. I'm going to say to you, the parents who are with us, the same thing I said to the kids on this day. The people think that because of how I look and how I dress and how I talk that the superintendent is the powerful one. You are the powerful ones. Your voice will carry much more weight with New Britain Common Council and with the state legislature than mine will. I'm here to help you. I'm here to provide you with the resources, provide you with the information, and yes, testify myself, but indeed, you You be listened to much more than I. And again, the board has provided support for my budget of 14.82% 18.9 million more dollars is what's needed just to keep things the same. Just to not make
025class size bigger, close a school, lay off people. Right? So, I caution you out in the next few weeks when you hear somebody use the word want. Please do us a favor and correct them. The board does not want to cut any services and the superintendent does not want to lay off any staff. We may be forced into that and as one of the callers said, more than one caller said, make some very difficult decisions. But please do not think that neither your board of education or your superintendent wants to reduce services to kids. And that's my report for this evening, Madam President. Thank you, Dr. Gaspar. Committee reports, policy. Um we met. We have a couple policies sitting on the consent agenda. A couple more that were tabled, but we are chipping away at
026that mandated list. Okay. Curriculum. Um so, curriculum committee also met and um we had a um interesting presentation by Ms. Amy Anderson and Ms. Laura Balky about um the math curriculum and um their focus on this this year was on standard based report cards and aligning unit assessments with the standards. Um they have seen some really good growth um and they really credited that to the teamwork at the school level with um math coaches being really important at these schools. Um and really um the growth, they said, also has to do with the fact that now they can really analyze all the questions, all the data they've got, where kids were having weaknesses, um where the kids had strengths and really adjusting um learning and teaching based on the data um and really holding um
027everyone accountable, all the team players. So, um and at the there has been growth at the um elementary level and um in the high school they were saying there has been growth, but that they also want to align that with SAT scores. So, they're trying to figure out a way to make the classroom learning also apply to the um SAT testing. Thank you. Uh Finance, Facilities, and Transportation did not meet. Those items are under new business. Board reports. Um I was just going to say about um pardon me. We woke up to the sad news of um Alden Russell passing away um just a couple weeks ago. But, I really just wanted to point out his wife works at Holmes Elementary as a para- educator. His son, Xander, attends New Britain High School. They were
028very involved in our school district. It was it really transcended not being a member of Common Council, which he was for many years. He was a parent first. He was just a fighter for the community. He really did fight for the underdog. He came to the table with a voice for the recovery community, for the homeless community. He just he really did so much for so many people. And God called him home. And that was just the best way to put it. I don't know how else to put it. And I'm not trying to be eloquent about this man who we were both advocates early on for our children with special needs. And that's just what made it It made it so beautiful because we would actually argue. And then at the end of the
029day, we I don't know. I think maybe I argue with everyone, and then we just kind of come to an agreement over coffee. Um and so, that was the important part number one. Is just keep Alden the memory of Alden, who may his memory blessed because he really just loved so many people. He was going to be a great grandfather again, and um that's what he was looking forward to. And that was just one of our last conversations. Um uh and his wife and and his children. Number one, number two was speaking to the advocacy that you encourage in all of us. Um and so I went to the capital multiple times, not only to support Superintendent Gasper what he was speaking and giving his speech, but also to support um our students, which is
030important, and also other members of Board of Education throughout the state because we have been echoing the same thing. Our students need what they are It's not like we're holding out our hands saying, "Can you please give it to me?" No, that's not it. And no, we don't want This is what our kids need in order to just have the basics, just to be able to get to school every day and have a day at school. Just for what we need right now, this is what we need. So, it was a it was my honor really to back up Superintendent Gasper. He's not the first superintendent that I've gone and backed up at the capital. So, I was really lucky that I was able to hear him and be able to say, "Yeah, it's me.
031I'm here to help." And they weren't listening to me. I was really happy that it was you, but it was like, "Yes, that's my guy." He's right up there. He's reading his speech. Gets up and he's, you know, "Listen." He had This isn't the first time he said it. He said it from day one. It was going to take a certain amount of time to be able to turn the district around. He has been very upfront and realistic with what we need. This isn't my number one. My number one is at home as the mother of five. Four of them are in our school district. So, I come here and say, "Partner with us. Advocate with us. We are here to help you." But it means a lot because it's my kids, too. And I'm
032really, really lucky that we've been able to just kind of get together and say, "Here you go. This is what we need." Um and be that resounding voice. So, I'm really thank you so much, Dr. Gaspar, for saying that. Thank you. Thank you, Santana. Anyone else? Yeah, I just wanted to echo um Tina. Thank you for the representation you give us at the capital. And um thank you to the parents. I'm so happy that we got 135 letters out there. 138. 138, and great. I've sent my share letters as a board member and as a parent. Also, I'm not trying to one-up Tina, but I have six children. Listen, that wasn't me. That doesn't mean I was asleep at the wheel. So, you know, we're we're in this together, you know, and and I really
033thank Dr. Gaspar for speaking on our behalf. We don't want to take anything away. Um, we're doing our best in everything we have in our power to turn the hearts up in the capital and have them help us out financially, right? That's their job. Um, apart from that, I'm just happy everything is going on in our district. You know, the the sports, everything, you know, kids are doing well from what I hear. Parents are coming up to me about the issue uh with the budget, and I'm sending them to the district website for the letters. So, we we're in this together. Thank you. Anyone else? Mrs. Petresco, would you like to speak about Frozen? Why do I always want to be talking about the high school musical? I think you guys are like, oh, here
034she goes again. Um, we had Frozen was last weekend, and it was, you know, fantastic. And and it was just so energetic, and I have to give kudos to Mr. Ferrandino. Um, Bless you. Bless you. Um, I don't know how he pulls it off every year, but he pulled it off every year, and this group I said it to Mr. Carlin, the band director, at the beginning of the year, this senior class is like I don't know, extra special. There was no drama, there was no and then the whole Frozen cast was just good, you know. These are good, good kids and I love um I appreciate that cuz like I'm very excited about New Britain High because there's so many good things going on. Um and um but yeah, no, it was a great
035turnout. There were more people than I've ever seen at a high school production and um it was um very well received and very well done and very professional and the kids have a bond um that I haven't seen before. In the past it was it was wonderful. It was very, very well done. Yeah, it was very I'm It was very impressive. Very impressive, yeah. Um and it went by like nothing. It was like the second half I was like, wait, wait, I want to see it again. So it was it was awesome and um yeah, it was well done, so Thank you. Okay, thank you. Um we do not have student representation today. Um so do I have a motion to go into executive session to discuss strategy and negotiations concerning pending litigation in a
036Royal Castro versus New Britain Board of Education. >> So moved. Second. I'd like to invite Attorney Murphy, um Ms. Manning and the board and superintendent. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. We are now in executive session. We are back in session, but we have to go back in for another executive session. Do I have a motion to go back into executive session to discuss strategy and negotiations concerning concerning pending claims in Doe versus New Britain Board of Education. >> So moved. Second. And we would invite Ms. Manning, um Attorney Murphy, the board and superintendent as well. All All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Okay, we are back from executive session. Uh we are now going to have a presentation on the New Britain High School Academies pipeline and partnership. So, thank you very much. We've
037had a number of really good presentations to the board and committees and committees lately. We have uh Sandra Sanford with us tonight along with partners from Ready CT. Um, we we hear a lot about the academies, the academies, the academies. We thought we would actually kind of clarify and and codify that for you tonight. So, Ms. Sanford. Um, thank you. I'll do that. Um, thank you for having us tonight. Um, we're really excited to share with you what has happened this far. I realize it's a very long presentation based on the number of slides you have, but I will keep it short for many of those that do want to get to the to the UConn's watch UConn game. However, I'm going to talk super fast cuz there's a lot of slides in there. I'll
038explain what the side sides are, but it's really about our alumni and our current students. So, I'm going to take less airtime and let them have the show in a few minutes. All right. So, we uh the academies, it's very important for systemic sustainable change. We have stakeholders and I put this slide in there. It's super important that we have all the stakeholders at the table. It's not one person, it's not one program, it's not one company. It is a coalition of partners. In order for systemic sustainable change to occur, all of those stakeholders um are necessary for student success in the center. So, you we have our CSDNB district, we have our students and our families, and then we have our coalition of partners working collectively together. Um, at the New New Britain High
039School, we have four distinguished academies as a value evaluated by the National Academy Foundation. And in order for those to become also sustainable, we follow with the four pillars. Below those four academies are the pillars that allow us to be successful and um our students have more growth along the way from either whether it's college or career after. They'll speak to that. We have four academies. As a reminder, we have the Health Science Academy, which was the very first academy at New Britain High School from like 2011. It was not following the same model, but when the new the next academy was implemented, the business business and finance academy, back then it was the Academy of Finance only. And following the National Academy Foundation model, it added in the WBL experience and that pillar is
040super important. So then couple years later, we implemented the MET Academy and that's manufacturing engineering and technology. And the most recent in the last couple years is public service. What I want to add about those two two of the academies because it's not necessarily in the title is the health sciences is about the health science and all careers within it. Business and finance all the careers within it. The MET Academy is manufacturing engineering technology. But the public service has two super important separate pathways. One pathway is the first responder and the other one is our education our education pathway. And because I just wanted to explain that since it was not in the title. In those four elements in our showcase requirement, we have the advisory board structure where we get together with advisory board
041members every quarter now that we're distinguished and we go over what the students needs and we ask our teachers what they need to help implement the curriculum. The next one is the curriculum and instruction. I got to give a shout out. That's okay, it's a pillar. Got to got to have to give a shout out to all the teachers and the staff that actually work on the curriculum and keep it updated and relevant and rigorous. You'll see some experience to that. This is a 6 through 16-year approach. What I mean because of continuation of college. We also have our the academy structure and that's also contributed to how the students are allowed to get those courses. State law likes concentration or our Perkins grant likes a concentration in a certain area and at the high
042school our students are allowed to follow that pathway. So again, a shout out to the structure that maintains the pathways. And our last one is our work-based learning pillar, which takes first and foremost in the seats, the students learn the content skills, and then we give them external experiences. Yeah. Okay. Next Now, we can go to next slide. Can't with have to give a shout-out to all of our coalition of partners. Um the it's ongoing, non-stop in front of our students. This is a slide we also shared when the legislators came to New Britain High for the tour, and I thought it was important to share with you as well. Okay. Academy of These are just pictures. This is the Academy of Business and Finance. We I'm I'm going to go fast through that since
043you have the pictures. Unless you want me to talk about every single one. Yes? Yes? Academy of Health Sciences. The next one. Um the Academy of Public Service, you'll see the combination there of education at Rising. Um some of our parapro and our first responder pathway. And the next one is our the Met Academy as we call it. Way before any other school had it called the Met, we did the same. We were the beginners of that. But um the Academy of Met. So, there's some wonderful pictures there. I do want you to pause for a second in the Met one. In the middle, I'm going to I'm going to make a connection to that picture that has the architecture of the house. And now we can go to the next slide. So, our pipeline
044is super important so that we can keep the rigor in our high school and advance it and keep it moving forward. So, in our in this very first slide, it is school pipeline in culinary. Um and it's what you can do with the making of a brownie. And although the students couldn't be here, what they did is that they they take a box brownie at first, and then they have to change the ingredients and add one or two or three ingredients. Um so, today we do have something for you. Um they made some The winner of the competition, actually, they made the brownies that won. And I'm going to ask I'll pass them out. There is these are the brownies from Slade Culinary. If it's a yellow dot, it has Nutella in it if anyone's
045allergic to. Just in case. All right, so I wanted to share that with you. They could not be here, but they did prepare. What they do is they change the ingredients. They Whatever they take the box and they have to add three different ingredients. They follow the standards. They follow the lesson plan and then taste test. We have pictures of the principal coming in and testing it and some students and I just thought we'd share that. Thank you. And there's plenty enough to go around. All right. Um is it okay if I keep talking while Please. Thank you, Sylvia. All right. All right, and this is one more one more. Yeah, the this is the middle school pipeline for technology. If you notice they're doing a build a dream house similar to what we showed
046you at the high school. And one of the students there's a picture in there they're learning measuring and you could see them measuring themselves with a ruler, which is great and there's collaboration in there. They're helping each other and the pictures are using the new equipment the the CNC and the bridge ports. Um and they're building a dream house. And sometimes they want to draw on their own and go beyond the curriculum in the middle school. So I couldn't bring you a dream house, but you can have your vision so for that. All right. Um first and foremost and all about tonight is our alumni. So we have six alumni that agreed to be participate tonight. Um one of them James O'Day will be the first one. He was unable to make it. He apologizes.
047He's in Florida. But he has um got to have back surgery. But he wanted to send a little clip. Hello, my name is James O'Day and I'm a 2015 New Britain High School alum. I was also part of the Academy of Finance and Future Business Leaders of America. After 2015 I spent 6 years in the Air Force specializing in the Air Force special mobility After that my first college degree and a half with a company where I was a network engineer and my salary was increased to the max. Currently, I'm a network architect for Motorola where I design and maintain the backbone of the Santa Ana Unified School District. I'm proud to say that the Academy of Finance students using my success today has given me and many other students different avenues for success that
048we typically would not have in any other environment. Class like personal finance is where I'm calling different banking institutions, learning about their APR percentages or their saving and call rates, all before I can apply for one. Class like entrepreneurship where I'm learning to analyze, create, and present business plan where I was able to use that might be a personal business. If you're part of the Academy of Finance, you know learning doesn't stop when the bell rings. We have great partners like Alvarez and Marsal participate in Junior Achievement where we used to go to Stand & Deliver, learn how to start a business from getting investors for all the way to selling their product and selling my shares. The Academy of Finance also brings in many different speakers from different organizations and different roles in that
049organization that many students might not even know exist. Allowing for us to focus on many more teaching moments than just teaching subjects. So, long story short, the Academy of Finance is what really boosted my career. When ninth grade me texted my father, "Hey, do accountants make a lot of money?" He said, "Yes." I signed up for a course. The rest is history. And with that, I'm extremely inspired to give back to the community and the Academy of Finance. Going forward, I'll be starting a scholarship every year giving to one of the Academy students. I want to say thank you to Mr. Sanford for this opportunity to do so and everybody here for listening. Thank you. Very nice. Thank you, James. I You might be streaming. I'm not quite sure. All right, but we have our
050wonderful guests here. So, I'm going to start We're going to go on the slide that has all the We're just going to go straight across. I did not put their titles because some of them are really long and I didn't want to have really They're going to speak to their titles and who they are. So, I believe you I think you're next on my slide. Deshawn. Good evening, everyone. My name is Deshawn Benton. I'm a graduate from the New Britain High School 2019, also a graduate from Yukon, and an alum of many programs, alum of the National Academy of Finance, and also alum of some programs at my job at Travelers, alum from the Product Management Development Program. And today, I really want to take the opportunity just to share a little bit of how
051impactful the academies and the school has been into my life. I think similar to the prior video, you know, he shared about just the success that's fostered and just the opportunity to give back, just how it really molds and prepares you for the future and shapes dreams that a lot of people didn't really have at first or might not always find the opportunity to do so. That's kind of the segue into my story where the academy was super impactful for me. Going to keep it short and sweet, you know, I don't want to take it too long, but there are a few kind of pivotal moments in my life that I went through. Maybe fun fact is I went through three different high schools. Um and I landed at New Britain High when my family
052decided to move to New Britain. I didn't really know what I was going to do or what would change um just from the new experience. But then also the biggest thing that uh was touching my heart was that I you know was a athletic scholar. I played football and had to join a new team. So, you know, losing that relationship, losing my friends, family, brothers, I can say, I, you know, went through New Britain High and kind of was a little bit down. You know, I didn't really know what was next, what to do. I didn't want to join the team. I joined, you know, it was junior year New Britain High School. Usually you want to be a freshman, sophomore, you know, get your you know, JV and you know, join the senior league.
053I had all those memories taken away from me. But, changed a lot of the story. I remember when I was in class, and you know, one of the teachers came to talk to me and and asked me do I know any of the programs that, you know, Brent High School has to offer. A few of them were just like the African American Americans club. Maybe you can participate in that. Or maybe what do you want to do? Of course, I told you I I didn't know. Later, you know, through conversation and you know, trying to get some credits, figuring out what I can do here, they told me about the Academy of Finance. And I ended up saying, "Yeah, of course I want to join that program. My dream would be, you know, to market,
054you know, I love to speak, network with people, and things of that nature. I just didn't know where to start." Come to find out, joining junior year, kind of similar to like that football story, for the Academy of Finance, the curriculum, the structure, it's really successful when you start freshman year with some of the classes that you'll be taking, a lot of opportunities there. But, I really want to share with you my story what was super impactful for me was they didn't give up on me there. They didn't shut me out. They opened up doors that I didn't even know were possible, and took the extra step. That's what the Academy did for me. That's what I want to do today speaking up, just sharing my experience. The Academy let me take classes after school,
055during lunch, catch up on some credits, and it was super impactful for me because, a little bit more to my story as I share where I am today, I was able to join the Academy, kind of get those credits, and then hear about scholarship opportunities to go to college. College was not in my mindset first. And especially when I think about scholarship opportunities, I always thought they would they would just be athletic. Like maybe I'll play football, maybe baseball, something. And then I learned that, no, there's academic scholarships as well. Like you can, you know, go for X, Y, and Z. And I won't drag that story out too long, but that's why it was super impactful for me where I joined the Academy of Finance, later joined another great amazing program, the Travelers Edge
056program, kind of similar Empowering Genes for graduation and employment, and stuck with those programs, and here I am today. I am Deshawn Van Holton, 24. I graduated from New Britain High School, graduated from UConn with a Marketing Management degree. I'm a senior analyst at Travelers, and recently bought a home in Middletown. YEAH! THANK YOU VERY MUCH. FANTASTIC. I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M holding this guy. All right, we're going to go our next speaker, Michael Feliciano. How are you guys doing? Uh my name is Michael Feliciano. Um I am a fourth-year apprentice carpenter. Um I remember Sorry. Um I remember being in high school, um thinking to myself that I knew what it took to be an adult, uh just to come to find out that your your neighbor is inflation, and your bills are your
057best friend. All jokes aside, uh New Britain High School has given endless opportunity. Um I I uh started the academy my sophomore year. Um I first joined uh the Academy of Business and Finance, where I learned um entrepreneurship, finances, and that networking brings you a long way. I was then also able to join the Academy of MET, where I learned the skill sets of uh manufacturing and carpentry. Um My senior year, I wasn't really sure of what I wanted to do. All my life I was told you got to go to college, you got to continue your education. And um that just wasn't for me. Um And that's when Mr. Connett, my teacher, brought in a couple guest speakers um from Downs Construction. Um so I listened to what they had to say and not
058only did it open my mind, but it sparked an interest. So we ended up going on a field trip where I was able to see the atmosphere of all the tradesmen. Um and I took it a step further and I went for a few job shadows where I was able to ask my questions, see the ins and outs of all the trades and what they do. Um Sorry. And that's when I stumbled upon carpentry. And ever since then I've been uh really happy. It opened up doors many wouldn't see in their 20s. I was able to move out at the age of 19 with my girlfriend that also graduated from the academy. Um and a year after working in construction, I was able to uh purchase one of my first Mustangs. Yeah. And um I
059am currently actually buying a home with a child on the way at age 23. And if it wasn't for the academy, I honestly wouldn't know where I'd be right now. THANK YOU. IT'S JUST PROUD MOMENT, RIGHT? ALL SMILES. IT'S GREAT. All right, we're going to now um our next alumni. She did um have an opportunity to speak to the Health Academy, but I'm going to have to say it, Dr. DANIELA DENNIS. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. HAPPY TO BE HERE. YEAH, call me feel free to call me Daniela. I always feel weird being called doctor outside of work. But yeah, I'm a proud graduate of 2015. I was a part of the Health Science Academy. Super proud to be from New Britain and I always will root for it. You know, for me first gen kind of
060had to learn a lot of stuff on my own as the youngest of four as well. And so just super appreciative of the Health Science Academy to kind of lead me in the right direction of not only figuring out what career path that I wanted to take, which ended up for me becoming a physician. But most importantly just giving me the mentorship to even know that college was a possibility. I think the Health Academies and all the different academies that New Britain High School provides really gives you a lot of structure, gives you a lot of hope and once again inspiration. I think that's honestly a big theme for a lot of us speaking here today. And once again I'm just super appreciative of that. You know, a lot of the courses I took at
061the high school level translated really well to college that I think helped me adjust really well with that. When originally I was very scared and nervous of what college would look like, but seeing it I was like, wait, we did that with Miss Bristol in sophomore year of high high school. And so I remember those memories very vividly. And I think now being on the other side of things now being a physician, I still reflect on those moments greatly because once again I don't think if I had those moments I definitely not would be here. I think once again coming from a community like New Britain I think it allows me to focus on how I take care of patients of people of such diverse communities and backgrounds and learning about that. I think that's
062something I always will be proud of. And so yeah, so now I'm in my first year of residency in emergency medicine through Yukon. I went to medical school at Yukon as well, graduated in last May. And yeah, so I'm in finishing up my first of three years and hopefully BE STAYING AROUND. THANK YOU DANIELA. ALL RIGHT, NOW NEXT ISAIAH HENRY. WELCOME. Thank you. Thank you. Good good evening everyone. I love coming back here. I think the last time I was in this room I was here for like the superintendent's like dinner or or book club I think it was way back in like 2007. But yeah, so so the thing before I before I jump in and tell a little bit about myself I think the thing I want to highlight about the academies is
063this thought that I had of exit velocity. I find that what we're doing here at across New Britain schools is gearing our our young people up with with an absolutely phenomenal absolutely phenomenal education. Now what the academies do is they bridge our our young people into adulthood. It helps them find their place in the world. It helps them get that head start that a lot of us aren't aren't exactly the most fortunate enough to have. I for example was born I think 5 years after my parents had set foot in the first time in the United States. A lot of my peers at university have been around or their families have been around for generations. We're talking family businesses passed down how to of how to navigate the college education system and so on. Whereas
064I had what 48 months my family had 48 months of of of of of track record to go ahead and give me and I think I'm doing exceptionally and that's because of Miss Sanford behind me and and everyone that's that's supporting our academies. But a little bit more about me I am a 2017 New Britain High School grad. Before that I was at HALS before that I was at Smith. My mom's from Poland. My dad's from the Caribbean. I think I'm about as as New Britain as it gets. Very proud very proud about that. I did my undergrad at Georgetown University studied health health management policy. I was pre-med for a good chunk of time. I I couldn't handle it. But you know what I I I kept pressing on. First job was in management
065consulting interned at McKinsey & Company, spent some time at Bain & Company, jumped over to Capital One. Right now, I am a year through my MBA at Harvard Business School, right down the road. I drove down here 3 hours so I can support Ms. Sanford and make sure that our youth our New Britain youth have have have the baton to go ahead and run with. Um one fun fact about that program is that to my to my right, wait, is this recorded? Yes. To my right, I have I have to my right I have a classmate whose father is on Shark Tank. And to my left, I have another classmate whose father owns a share of the Boston Celtics. So, that's all to say again, the head start that the academies give that exit velocity
066really makes the education that we're granting our young people here absolutely world class. Outside of that, I have a portfolio of small businesses across Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts. Got 19 employees. I have a real estate development fund out in California. So, moving and grooving and that is largely because of the head start that the academies have have given me and many of my peers. So, thank you. THANK YOU. OUR OUR OTHER SPEAKER WAS UNABLE TO COME, BUT I'LL I will give you a little about Liz Marie. She really wanted to be here, but had a family emergency, but she went through the education pathway and she is actually a teacher in New Haven. Liz Marie goes on. Mhm. Yep. So, with that being said, I I just I can't say enough. I can't even follow
067with that. This is why we do what we do and it's not often that you see the reward until it's years later. So, I got to thank you all for being here and taking the time out of your busy schedules to be with us today. Um Thank you all for coming. WE APPRECIATE THAT. WE HAVE A FEW GO. STILL THERE'S MORE SLIDES. I KNOW. ALL RIGHT. SO, SORRY. This is like the All right, the data. This is really This is powerful. Yeah, I know you have this in your presentation and have a chance to look at it. I'm just going to explain in all of the academies, we have dual articulation and we have industry recognized credentials. What this slide is telling you, for an example on the top, business I'll just use the first
068top left as an example. CCSU, there's two courses that are articulated with CCSU. We currently have 111 enrolled and since we implemented the program, there's 333 students that have gotten college credit in those courses. And that follows suit for all the academies. The reason why there's an NA is because one of our engineering classes has to go every other year so we can offer the courses because we don't have the staff to do that. On the bottom is what we call our credentialing and our industry recognized credentials. They're just as powerful as college credits and there's it's a skill-based as well. We have in the business academy 29 students that gets trained by the IRS to do VITA, which is voluntary income tax assistance. And then they also get paid. We have 48 students that
069are in our CNA program and we're I'm working with the Hartford Hartford Healthcare and the VP to maybe also add a PCT credential to those 48 so they can make the choice. In our manufacturing, including Satellite Careers Academy, we have the students taking the OSHA exam, which is a credential and in our newly modified modernized automotive, Snap-on has credentialing as well. 24 students have received a couple of those credentials. And then in our public service, brand new was doing a parapro. We had five students that think at our last legislative meeting, we talked about five students were sitting for the exam. And in addition to that, we have the EMR class in the public service and we have three, actually now six, I apologize, students that may take it to the next level to get
070EMR certified. All right, a little bit of the internship data. I'm sorry the slide is a little bit the words look faded. But this is just an example of what a a piece of our WBL experience. The red shows the New Britain High School teachers and staff that provide and work with our students to get internships and the blue is our partner with Ready CT. That's the external partners. Collaboratively we have currently in our in our database about 123 students. Okay, these are the type different types of activities that are offered in our WBL pillar. Guest speaking, the green is how many that have happened already, the orange is those that are pending that are entered to occur coming up. So, it's a variety of different work-based learning experiences where they follow a scope and
071sequence of awareness, exploration, and then preparedness. All done by industry partners to have that dialogue with our students. I'm really kind of short, I know. I'm sorry. All right. At this point I'll bring uh Dan come on up and talk about Ready CT. Welcome. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Good evening. Hard to follow all of that. I remember Isaiah when he was this tall cuz my older daughter, David, your older brother I never pictured the sunglasses and the suit and everything. We got to talk cuz you can help me out afterwards. This is This is how I come. Good evening, everyone. My name is Dan Williamson. I'm a director of career pathways with Ready CT. We partner with New Britain High School on internships. We are currently on track to offer over 100
072paid internships across all the academies this year. We're highlighting a couple of our signature summer programs tonight. We offer a grit program which is an acronym for Get Ready Immersive Traineeship. We'll be offering that to 40 students from the Academy of Business and Business and Finance in the Academy of Health Science. Primarily rising juniors will be paid interns acting as consultants, working on industry-based projects So, submitted by employers such as Travelers and Hartford Healthcare. Travelers and Hartford Healthcare are two of our biggest partners in our work. All project groups will have weekly employer check-ins on progress and present a final pitch during a showcase event. We also run a FRYA program, which stands for First Responders Youth Academy. That will be offered to 20 students from the Public Service Academy, primarily rising seniors, and they
073will be paid interns acting as trainees working hands-on with New Britain Fire Department, Police Department, and New Britain EMS. Training workshops will include firefighting, fire safety, fire protection, shoot don't shoot scenarios, K9 demonstrations, and some industry-recognized credentials for opportunities there as well. >> to highlight the degree of partnership, could you say a word or two about the degree to which the chiefs themselves are involved in this project? Absolutely. So, Fire Chief Raul Ortiz, he directly leads classroom lectures with the students from FRYA. So, while the training and the information is really critical, he's really straightforward in telling the interns, "This is a networking opportunity for you right now. I can see that there's you know 15 to 20 of you here. Five or six are going to apply to to our you know fire department,
074and now it's your opportunity to make a great impression. We've also had Detective Lopa who has been a great partner with us. Chief Marino is certainly part of the program. It's We're just fortunate to connect these high school kids with great leaders here in the community that that want to do public service. It's really signature summer programming that we offer, and we're very fortunate to have tie-ins with New Britain Police Department and the fire department. Thank you. Thank you. Uh so, thank you very much. I don't want the fact that I spoke this quickly to to share with you the power behind the the partnerships that we have as well as the great successes of our students. Um in addition to that, we have a New Britain Academies Foundation um that the the which is
075a 501c3 that solely works with our students in New Britain High School that are in the academies. If you want to get involved, you can go on to the website, use the QR code. You can you um you want to be a guest speaker, you want to volunteer for a mock interview, come to the career fair, just mentor a student, have a conversation with a student, change your life, be a hero. Um anything, all of the above. So, thank you for allowing us. Any questions? Ronnie was excellent. Thank you. Um Sandy Sanford is being recognized by OIC. She's getting the Connie Wilson Collins Award for her service to the Congratulations. EVERYBODY'S GETTING THE AWARD. IT takes a village, but thank you. Any other questions? Well, it wasn't really a question. It was really a comment
076cuz as everyone knows, it's public record now that I love New Britain High. It's just one of those things I would go to it um to an open house at the beginning of this year and being so impressed by the manufacturing and I saw the little mini house and it was like and I know Dr. Gaspar this is New Britain High and there's just so many good opportunities and just seeing all these people who benefited and I tell people all the time about the academies and they're like, what? At New Britain High? And it just it's just so wonderful and I'm just so happy and I actually didn't know that we start from middle school, so that's really encouraging, too. So, bravo to everybody, and I'm just It just makes me very, very proud of
077the brains, so well done. Thank you all for being here. For those of you who trekked to get here, you are welcome to stay. We We won't be We won't be offended. We won't be offended if you have to step out. Thank you very much for your time tonight. We appreciate having you here. On to new business. Um item A, approve the minutes from the regular Board of Education meeting on March 2nd, 2026. Second. Any changes anybody wants to make? All those in favor? Any opposed? Thank you. Item B, reviewing the vacancy list staffing update. Items B and C are informational. Mhm. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions? Item D, report of personnel transactions and extracurricular appointments. We would ask for a motion to approve this one, please. Motion to approve. Second. The only
078quick comment, there's there's a lot of just short numbers again, to piggyback off of it. So, my colleague over here commented on, I think, last regular meeting. The Dr. Sanders? Dr. Sanders, some people who have a short tenure with us. Yes. 5 months, 7 months. It was like, not even time to find the cafeteria. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Accept financial report February 28th, 2026. Ms. Alfano, anything that you'd like to bring the board's attention to in the financial report? Budget transfers that need to be approved. So, why don't you talk us through those? Typically, we would go into fuller detail at the FFT meeting. The 10 and 15? Yes. There are just those two budget transfers that require board approval to be met. Um and they are typical budget transfers. Um I
079just had a question. There was a allocation of salary and benefit expenditures to applicable grants has been completed. Okay, so that's on the grant side, that's money you don't see. Correct. And and for our next report, you will see the local side of it. Okay. >> Okay. We're We're We're transferring those funds. I posted every Well, we prepared everything for the month of March. Um I didn't want to split the months just so I felt for transparency purposes and easier tracking so we did them all for the month of of March. Okay. So, you will see those in our next report for approval. Okay. But, I think what you what you meant by that point of information was these might have been areas in which the local was trending above budget, which is now rectified
080by the receipt of the grants. Correct. Right. Correct. Cuz it kind of looked like we had more money than we really did. Right. I I was That's why I wanted to like put that out there. >> You were correct. Yeah. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Thank you. Facilities IT update. That is informational for you tonight. Again, this is typically would have been done in greater detail at the FFT meeting. >> Do you want to have any questions? This is for information. This is information. That's correct. Yep. Um item G, Jefferson Elementary Educational Specifications. As you uh heard from Ms. Gonzales and uh Mr. Smedley in the recent past, these are the education specifications for, believe it or not, our next school renovation, that being Jefferson. So, these have been part of a process
081and I see Dr. Lewis at the back there. Um we have had stakeholder input from staff, from uh parents and community members, and it's gone through basically the same process that we've used for our previous school renovations. It's somewhat formulaic if you haven't seen these before. It talks about like how many desks in the classroom and Mhm. Yep. the bathrooms that'll be attached to the kindergarten classrooms and and such. Yeah. This is an action item that we'll need a request a motion. So, do I have a motion to accept? >> Motion to accept. >> Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Reviewing our enrollment report. As stated earlier when we were uh talking about the budget during the superintendent's report, we've remained basically flat as you'll see in the the top part,
082which is our K-12 numbers. We are down from the same point last year by 163 students. However, in the pre-K section at the bottom, we are up by 133 students. So, it's uh most accurate, I think, to say that we're roughly flat in the north. Again, that's an informational item for the board. Thank you. Item I, review of job description, ESL instructional coach. This is a uh bringing up basically into kind of accurate current practice. This is um something that would have been reviewed at the personnel committee um had it had a quorum. Um if there are questions, we have Dr. Mindwill here with us tonight who can talk about this. There is um little impact other than aligning the aligning the job description with the person's current work. Any questions? I'll just be here.
083Oh, I'll check. Um on page 143, just to clarify, that means it's no longer grant funded? Page 143. Yep. It's the last year of funding for this last grant off the funding source. So, we've begun actually removing that from our job descriptions because those things can flow into and out of different funding sources, and you will see that as we present the budget each year. Um so, for example, over the past few years as we have gotten Alliance grant increases, we moved positions out of local and into Alliance. So, we think it's just wise not to have a funding source on the job description. So, that's just something we're kind of going to do going forward. Okay. But, we're always able to answer that question for you and or it's going to be in the
084budget documents each year. Do I have a motion to accept? Motion to accept. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Aye. Thank you. Item J, review job description, communication support specialist. Again, this is um bringing a job description up to date. The board is aware that Dr. Sanderson and her team have been really, much like we're doing with policies, chipping away at old job descriptions that haven't been updated in some time. Uh there's a very, very small um increase here, but it comes along with moving the job from 37 and 1/2 hours to 40 hours per week. We think that's probably more than offset um in the cost of overtime that will be saved. Motion to approve. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Item L, review new position request,
085lead teacher. We did we didn't do this. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, K. Review new position request, art club advisor. Motion to approve. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Uh now item L, review new position request, lead teacher. Okay. This is a whole new body. Yes. No, this is a continuation of current practice. Okay. So, the the job descriptions are just here for um for reference. This is something that we currently have in place and we're really just stating that it's been grant funded and we're looking to use SIG grant to continue it in the future. What school is this? This is for both Slade and Pulaski Slade and Pulaski. Again, this is current practice. Um we're bringing forward to you because it is uh an expense out of this grant. Yeah,
086I get cuz I initially I read it to be new position for Yeah. next year adding a new I thought it was reading as a new body. >> As a new position. I get the SIG grant and I'm I'm Sorry sorry for any confusion. These are basically um stipended positions. So, these are teachers who are fulfilling their full teaching responsibility and then they're stipended. So, the 74 is the sum of all stipends? >> Correct. And is that why it's important to leave the funding source in this one? So, at this time we think so, yes. Right in general, but thank you for asking. We think going forward when shall how shall I say a real job description gets revised, not just a stipended one, we think it's more wise to take out the funding source.
087Any other questions? So, I have a motion to accept. Motion to accept. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Item M, ex- Oh, sorry. >> Excuse me. Um President, I'd like to group items M and the time for game time experience, item M through Q, which are all donations as a group motion to approve. Um I'd like to start with M just because I'm going to abstain for that one. Oh. But then we'll group the rest. Okay, then we'll group N through whatever. Okay, let's do N. Sorry. Item N, accept a donation from the Fund for Greater Hartford for a local needs assessment in ECE district-wide in the amount of $7,500. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. And I'm going to abstain from this one. Ms. Abreu, sorry. I'm just going
088to abstain. Thank you. All right, so with that one, I'm going to make a motion to combine items N through Q, which are all donations, to approve as one. Does anyone second? Any second? >> Second. All those in favor? Aye. Okay. Items N, O, P, and Q, donations. Do I have a motion to accept? Motion to accept. Second. All those in favor? Aye. All right. Any opposed? Thank you. Item R, ex- approve healthy food certification program. Motion Motion Second. And this is These are the ones that are quite uh rigid in how we must adopt them. So >> we have to read them. Okay. Correct. Two separate votes for two separate paragraphs, please. I'll second. Okay. Voting item one, healthy food option pursuant to CGS section 10-215F, Consolidated School District of New Britain certifies that
089all food items offered for sale to students in the schools under strict jurisdiction and not exempted from the Connecticut Nutrition Standards published by the Connecticut State Department of Education will comply with the Connecticut Nutrition Standards during the period of July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027. This certification shall include all food offered for sale to students separately from reimbursable meals at all times and from all sources including but not limited to school stores, vending machines, school cafeterias, culinary programs, and any fundraising activities on school premises sponsored by the school or non-school organizations and groups. A motion Motion to approve. Second. Any questions? So this is like no no bake sale type stuff. Yes, ma'am. I have a question. So is this like any so I don't know if there are now but like there's no
090vending machines vending machines with sodas and chips and Snicker bars and Miss Miss Murphy? We do have vending machines but they need all the federal state and federal regulations for our healthy foods or competition. Okay. And then if there is a fundraiser what are they So if there's a fundraiser for instance if the students are selling butter braids, the students are allowed to take the order and collect the money and bring it to school but a parent or guardian has to be responsible for coming and picking up that food up at the school. For instance, you can't if we were to give it to the student to take home, we would be selling non-served non-healthy foods to students. So we follow the policy where the family would have to come and get it but a
091lot of our school are doing it online now so that nothing no trans no transactions are by the end of the And then what about like at um say at basketball games, there's concessions >> So that would be your second vote that you're going to vote on to allow those things that that those would be exempt from Okay. Is there a definition It's very formulaic. Yeah yeah. All right, so we'll go with the first one. We've got a motion and we've got a second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Okay, second. Let's see. Here's voting item two. Exemption for food and beverage items. The Consolidated School District of New Britain will allow the sale to students of food items that do not meet the Connecticut nutrition standards and beverages not listed in
092section 10-221Q of the Connecticut General Statutes, provided that the following conditions are met. One, the sale is in connection with an event occurring after the end of the regular school day or on the weekend. Two, the sale is at the location of the event. And three, the food and beverage items are not sold from a vending machine or school store. An event is an occurrence that involves more than just a regularly scheduled practice, meeting, or extracurricular activity. For example, soccer games, school plays, and interscholastic debates are events, but soccer practices, play rehearsals, and debate team meetings are not. The regular school day is the period from midnight before to 30 minutes after the end of the official school day. Location means where the event is being held, and must be the same place as the
093food and beverage sales. Motion to approve. Second. Any questions? I just have So, how does summer school fit into that? How does what? I'm sorry. Summer school. You would have to follow the same regulations for summer school. Any other questions? I'm just wondering I don't want to prolong this, but like in vending machines, like what are we we selling like bags of carrots? You can sell Like I'm just wondering. There is a list, a certified list from the state of Connecticut with what can be sold. For instance, there are potato chips, but they are reduced fat, portion control. They meet the regulations for the Good. Yeah, exactly. Um, all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Um, approved purchase order between CSDNB and Tasca Ford for food services vehicle district wide in the amount
094of $89,955.51. This is an item that's on the state bid list. I'm sorry. Please. Please do. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? I'll skip the next question. Can you tell we're waiting to get out of here? >> Make that clear that that's coming out of the cafeteria. That is correct. Yes. That is correct. >> out of the cafeteria funds. Approved purchase order between CSDNB and Nutmeg International Trucks LLC for additional emergency vehicle repairs district wide in the amount of $9,393.15. Motion to approve. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Is this the same vehicle that was repaired before? Is this a continuation? I think we might have heard about this vehicle twice. I think Ms. Gonzales mentioned that emergency repairs were coming. Right, in your policies, when it's an emergency, your policies
095allow me to approve that and then come to you after the fact. You signed it before. Yes. Approved contract between CSDNB and CREC First Connecticut Teacher Residency Program and District Partnership Agreement district wide. Um, about $140,250 and the funding source is uh, grant. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. I have a question. I did. On the on the contract thing it references 67,000 per resident in their budget versus a 46,750. I I was a little confused about the numbers. That that's just what they suggest. They suggest >> of their staff. Okay, cuz it I'm Our attorney is This this to me looked like it's a contract contract. It's our annual partnership with Five Acres. Please do. With um um one of our board of our own pathways, which is the Perkins CTE program.
096And so that's just the standard when we say 67,000 for the um um salary, but ours is much less than that. So I think the the we're we're we're committing to allocate up to that much, but we but we don't we don't necessarily pay that much. >> will be lower. And that's the standard contract from Craig. Okay. I just doing contracts in back in my day when I see it's like a lock-in. So that made me nervous when I was looking at 46 versus 67. Nope. You are correct to notice that, but we will allocate it, but it will not be required. Okay. And I and I abstain for this one. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And there's one abstention. I abstain. Item B, approve purchase order and bid waiver between CSDNB and
097B&H Photo for audio and video technology and film pathway video production lab in New Britain High School in the amount of 15,600 and it's from the Perkins grant. Motion to approve. Second. All those in favor? All right. Any opposed? Thank you. Item W, approve contract between CSDNB and PowerSchool Inc. for renewal of PowerSchool Enrollment Analytics postage subscription for the 2026-2027 school year, district-wide $18,416.23. And the funding source is local. So moved. Second. All those in favor? All right. Any opposed? Item X, approve contract between CSDNB and PowerSchool PowerSchool Inc. for renewal renewal of PowerSchool SIS and enrollment services for the 2026-2027 school year, district-wide in the amount of $175,380. So moved. Second. Any questions? All those in favor? All right. Any opposed? Item Y, approve purchase order between CSDNB and NoExcuse for renewal of Fisher
098Plus subscription district-wide. Move to second. Second. All those in favor? All right. Any opposed? Item Z, approve purchase order between CSDNB and Omni Data LLC for E-rate priority two connections invoice district-wide in the amount of $20,975.78. So moved. Second. All those in favor? All right. Any opposed? Item AA, approve purchase order between CSDNB and Singer Kitchen Kitchen Rich for dishwasher replacement at the Britain High School in the amount of $73,791.49 and the funding source is uh the food service account. So moved. Second. Any questions? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Item BB, approve bid award between CSDNB and Precision Food Service Inc. for 3-year preventative maintenance contract district-wide $115 per hour, and this is also from the food service account. Motion to accept. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Item CC, approve
099bid award between CSDNB and Air-Temp Mechanical Inc. for 3-year refrigeration preventative maintenance contract district-wide also at $115 per hour from the food the cafeteria service account. Motion to accept. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? We're almost there. Item DD, approve contract between CSDNB and Northeast Express Transportation Inc. to extend mail delivery services agreement district-wide in the amount of $41,681.24. Motion. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Item EE, approve purchase order between CSDNB and Amazon for accessories to assist with tier one practices in content areas as well as intervention. District-wide in the amount of $30,982.77, and this is a grant funding source. Wait, this is from SIG. I'm sorry that it doesn't say that. >> It is a grant or it's It's a SIG grant. Oh, it's a SIG grant. Oh, got
100you. Motion to accept. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? FF, approve the 2026-2027 amended school calendar. So moved. Second. All those in favor? I. >> I'm sorry. I just wanted to raise a point about Mr. Ford's presentation. Um, the board didn't really have a chance to discuss it among all of us. Um, but it seems like there is a benefit to approving this sooner rather than later. So, I was wondering if we could approve it and then discuss as a board adding the two Jewish holidays or So, Dr. Velasquez, what we're presenting tonight is an amendment to the current year calendar or next year's calendar, yes? >> Yes. It's next year's calendar, 2026-2027. And what were what was being amended here? What What did we There's three things that they're listed on on
101here, so it's Um, Okay. It's at the the high school um dates were first approved TBD, so those have been added. Um, there is a professional uh development day that we had at the end of September. It's already been the first week in October. And then the conferences. What we'd like to do for the conferences, we're changing the proposal is to change the full day um in the evening where teachers do conferences with parents from a Thursday night to a Tuesday night. We're hoping our attendance for employees will go up on Fridays because they don't have a big night on Thursday night. So, those are the three things that we're proposing here. So, if you wanted to do that, it would be in addition to that actually. So, but to your question, the board could
102choose to take action and then perhaps amend it a later date or you could table this for now. It is helpful for us to at least know the first day of school next year so we can begin our plans for publication. You can put it in good Dr. Toro for us. Nobody else is voting on this. Which one which one? Let's take action now and then we visit then. Take action now. For the new So, did you did you call that? So, I a motion to approve? Motion. Second. All those in favor? Any opposed? Thank you. Consent agenda, is there anything We've advertised it but it's not official until the board votes on it. Second. All those in favor? Any opposed? Consent agenda, is there anything anyone would like to remove? All those in favor?
103Any opposed? And we have one more executive session for the purposes of discussing the superintendent's evaluation. Motion. Second. All those in favor? Okay, we're back. Is there any other business? No, ma'am. I have a second. All those in favor? Thank you.