001foreign [Music] good evening everybody I'd like to call this meeting New Britain Board of Education to order it's June 5th at 6 05 pm if we could please write rhymes for the Pledge of Allegiance this is Marina would you please oh I pledge allegiance to the Divide 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 [Music] hey Jeff you could please call the roll ing presents here [Music] right here Miss Dawkins and Mr Garrett both excuse if we could just have a moment of meditation thank you we'll move on to public participation we have one person signed up Mr John board good evening yeah good evening members of the Board of Education uh president uh Madam president um the
002yearly Pride resolution is in front of you I think it's no surprise why I'm here uh hopefully you all will be willing to uh support it as you did previously it's the second year that we are doing uh this resolution of the president Mr wistro and uh Miss Santana were all involved in crafting it uh this year so it's great to have a bipartisan input from members of this school and hopefully we can continue the good work that we're doing on the superintendent's Dei advisory commission and making recommendations to you of that benefit all of the community so uh once again I want to thank you uh thank you for your support um and hopeful passage of this resolution thanks is there anybody else who would like to address the board second time is there
003anybody else who would like to address the board third and final time is there anyone else who would like to address the vote all right thank you so committee reports start with curriculum yes we met we looked uh took a look at um and had a presentation of three science courses at the high school that were highlighted I believe maybe a year or two ago but are currently being taught so very thorough very uh informative awesome thank you and policy I know that they met there are a few there's four new policies on the consent agenda the post flag Raffles and bazaars contract approvals and student discipline cool did I miss anything for anybody who was not policies there were two other policies that were discussed that remained at the committee level at this time
004that was me um you'll actually see a lot of items on the consent and under new business but my favorite to talk about are when we accept grants and we're accepting 50 000 for from the fund of Greater Hartford for the three weeks see it create summer program I don't want to miss anybody there's a there was another one from the Pettit foundation for ten thousand dollars to create for the create summer program I thought there was one more I think there's one on new business tonight which is also a donation yep no in Personnel we met we had a couple of mou for local 871 and local 51 uh new position for the students assistant coordinator School culture and communication assistant that's it thank you are there any Bulls of course the things I
005know a few of us were able to check out Chamberlain um which came out just amazing it was absolutely beautiful and it was nice to see some of the neighborhood kids that came in to check out the school they were so excited and I even saw some former students who went there and were pretty jealous my daughter included was very jealous of it um also Mr Kane and I both went to the top 10 dinner for the students so it was really good to see so many kids we see so many honors they were amazing and I also attended the last piece concert and as always they did such a great job their garage band is really really great they were so good I was so proud of that that's very cool thank you Mr
006King um yeah I was able to attend a few concerts as well including New Britain highs band concert Orchestra and a couple small choral groups that was excellent the parade well represented by all the Middle School bands High School band and then when to the house concert as well which was same thing they have a guitar group and the band The Guitar group the chorus that is probably the best middle school concert I've ever been to so um I had the honor of uh attending no award ceremony for seniors uh scholarship boards and um it's just incredible to see the number of scholarships awarded the amount of money contributed by different organizations and families in New Britain these are scholarships that have been in our communities for years and these are scholarships that are new
007they're just formed over the past year or two so seeing that kind of support from the community was great and all the students and their excitement moving forward uh I also wanted to mention we had our last Wellness committee meeting last week our Wellness committee has met at four different schools we meet with students as well as staff and the whitsons team and the students were eating the lunches that I've served in school that day the students are able to provide their feedback we last met at DiLoreto and as you see in the past few months and as you see tonight with all the media around School meals and school food a lot of that has to do with the recommendations that are coming right from our families and our students and the Wellness Community
008meetings gets to hear that feedback so that's been working out really well this year um and finally just want to give a shout out to the smallest team um over at Smalley Elementary School um we were involved with a big project which was to install a beehive an observation beehive in the steam classroom at Smalley so the bees made it to the school last week it's 10 000 bees uh I already producer how do you know there weren't any strags with me yeah so the bees are safely installed in a high for sure the ones that showed up and um and they're actively producing honey kids were really excited the school hosted an assembly for them there are staff there that do know beekeeping they keep their own hives at home um and we the
009school does work with the licensed beekeeper and the Rotary Club donated um money for a pollinator Garden to make sure those fees are comfortable and have enough food to survive so you're part of their social and emotional learning welcome to the district that's awesome so thank you we'll see you Kayla you know what my part was um both school and community and I want to just say thank you to everyone that took time um to stop by and speak at three key events that that I was present for one was celebrate New Britain which was a wonderful opportunity for the kids to just jump around go crazy have fun and get all together and just and it was just great um shaking hands I was giving out Kites and so and it was just fun
010um the Memorial Day Parade which sure enough I had a whole bunch of people that you know we're just Converse between elementary middle school and high school and it was just wonderful to hear positive positive positive contact and it was just great um and then last but not least yesterday's Polish Festival which was the 10th anniversary so anytime you see that there is something going on in New Britain please attend it's free and I love just shaking hands I'm a hugger everybody knows that so we were hugging it out and just having a wonderful time so I just want to to say thank you because it gave us a wonderful opportunity to just connect with the community all of you so come out say hi and let us know and then come back over here
011and speak during public participation all right well thank you anybody else the only thing I have is one plug for all my graduation party I know they are still looking for people to volunteer it's a good time I stay all night it's a long day but it is so much fun to watch those kids go from super excited to like halfway asleep at the end and then if you stay for when they do the um the hypnotist well it's hysterical I'll always have video um but that is it student reps [Music] listen [Music] someone good was it my phone perhaps you don't know my name now I don't know we'll figure it out I know I think we will figure out all right um I mean it's it's I mean it's the end of the
012year um there's a lot going on of course a student and the student Community a lot of senior trips which uh I guess has boosted a lot more out in the senior class um I've been a little busy to attend them uh as a couple of you have seen I've been working I've had a big wide you gotta shuffle all right like um I've noticed throughout the year that um just about each month uh we've had a club host a large event at the school um for example we had like the aec club uh host like a pep rally which um the yearbook club with like their Snowball Dance um Taste of Ramadan uh and now we have the pride festival which was another huge thing um like all these bring a lot of students
013together um it's like really surprising to turnout um maybe it's just because I haven't seen any other like school events um all my other years but he's seemed very successful and if this if you guys want to raise well not you guys but if the students want to raise School experience that's a great way to do it um and then I think we should definitely continue doing purchase in the coming years uh we got a lot of good seniors here um now I hope classmate to keep it up another thing I wanted to point out I'm pulling this out of the district updates our musical our School Musical um we got nominated for a lot of awards we won one that was a mailing Val de basio she did a really good job on the
014choreography for the musical if you saw it that might have been the most the most interesting part of it well it was really good but um well I also wanted to bring up for us Olivia Youssef and I uh um next to your student reps uh I haven't really seen Miss major which I've really seen much about it um I I would not hesitate to bring it up to her and that would need to be done very swiftly we'd have to have a certain sort of criteria that can because it might be a little too late to have the same sort of student participation that we had last year um so there should be some criteria I I think that we could like nominate people that that might introduce some sort of bias um but
015uh yeah that's just my thought on that um I mean I'd like to encourage in the coming years of with what I can do with whatever I can do how and I guess that's it for me okay adding on to what Tomas said the school spirit has been great this year I think especially after the two coverage years we had almost you know our freshman year got cut off we really didn't get much of high school so seeing such like Community within the school this year most of us haven't been in the same school for a solid year together and it was really great just seeing everyone get together for all these different events you know even if you weren't a part of a club or a certain group you still went to it and
016supported your friends which was really nice um what else that was I gonna say oh yeah um the senior uh trips we had Six Flags uh last week Camp Chase was today and the prom was last weekend um all great events super fun um the girls tennis team and boys tennis team went to States uh we the girls got it to the second round and we got knocked out there but we fought so hard and I'm so proud of all the girls and I'm really looking forward to seeing the girls next year seeing how well they bought they bond to really build together as a team um we have had a lot of chord ceremonies within the past week two weeks I went to the art National Honor Society at the New Britain Museum of
017Art which is a very nice ceremony followed by an exhibit of all the artwork from all grades so seeing art from the entire District was it was nice to see you know all the coming of upcoming artists who will potentially be at the high school soon um I did see from the wellness meeting that we had a couple months ago the water station at New Britain High School in the cafeteria haven't tried it yet but um I did see it so that's thumbs up on that and like Mrs Tina said the Polish Festival yesterday super fun it's a great way to connect Community I got reconnected with a lot of my polish friends who I haven't seen in years you know so great Community this year it was really nice to see everyone that's funny
018thank you thank you and speaking of student reps and continuing um we have a small token of our appreciation because we really appreciate you guys participating with us because we know how busy you are right and giving us feedback that is really what it's needed and we appreciate it and it just shows that you're willing to involve and and you know what we call it get in good trouble right because you can say what you need to say when you're here with us so um obviously Miss is it Rios she designed me to pick these out it's not me and Dr Gaspar so we appreciate you and we have if you see Joseph or should we hold on to it for him these will get you ready for either if you're going to you know
019college or school to work thank you for your time thank you sure maybe you could open it a little portfolio foreign [Applause] ER too because you're right we have a policy that goes with the student reps so that's a good point so now we have caps award nomination thank you madam president uh this evening on behalf of the Connecticut Association of public school superintendents and Mr Pierce the principal of New Britain high school it's my pleasure to recognize two outstanding students so I'd like to have the following Tunes come up and perhaps you could stand in front of the podium over here I'd like to have Karina Dias Duran and David Lugo please come forward maybe stand right there in front of the podium would be a perfect spot well right over there while I
020read a long introduction about you and hopefully not be too embarrassing Karina Diaz Doran has taken up the task of working with fidelco to support the development of seeing eye dogs for the visually impaired taking them in as puppies Karina raises them for 18 months providing basic training and acclimation in order to accomplish this task she has had to navigate a myriad of barriers such as ensuring the proper detail insurance policies for bringing a service animal in training into a school in the course of her work Karina has inspired other adults to engage in similar training including one of her teachers and all of this activity is in service to others people whom Karina may never meet thank you Karina and David Lugo is a student who's excuse me as a student who's concerned with
021student climate issues for all kids this year David has been leading the charge in the high school for adopting an anonymous anonymous digital platform for students to use in the reporting of instances of bullying in the pursuit of this work David has arranged for multiple meetings with with the principal and other staff members to investigate and vet this free digital platform for the high school once a platform has been identified David will then be leading the charge in communicating this tool to the students and staff of our high school like Karina David does all of this work in service to other students whom he may never meet thank you David don't have them come up where's a good spot for a photo right over here [Music] Ryan's taking the picture of the dog's life I'm
022gonna reach out and pet them but I know I can no I know all right so now we will move on to the superintendence report thank you madam chair we have a different kind of superintendent's report tonight um what I would like to begin with is a couple of nominations we'll have another nomination later in the agenda tonight but what I like to present to you for her new role Miss Velasquez will you help me with this introduction of Dr Maya Molina and her new role please foreign Molino has been selected to be our new coordinator for multilingual Department of course she's been working in the capacity of assistant coordinator in that department and has been doing an amazing job especially bringing back our dual language program so we're very pleased that she has agreed
023and that we have selected her thank you thank you [Applause] yes thank you so much board members for being here tonight I'm so honored to serve in this position and thanks to all the leadership and sort of collaboration with Wanda Licor who I've known for since I was hired back in 1996 so it's great pleasure to be back serving with her in this wonderful Department looking forward to continuing to work with parents teachers and students from 12th grade where we honored all of the students who won their Courts for the Seal of by literacy to the middle school students who are demonstrating leadership capacity and Latinos in Action all the way to all the multiple students that we have in our K-5 schools who are showing mastering English language proficiency that we see every day
024so thank you for having me and I'm really looking forward to the future thank you Mr Velasquez would you like to present Miss Stewart absolutely Miss Lily Stewart has been working in the area of reading in Middletown and we are very very pleased to have attracted her to join us as the new coordinator for ELA for all uh K through 12. she is of course stepping into a position in an area where we have been doing a lot of work and so we there was a thorough vetting we had a lot of folks who really wanted to speak to her about her ideas about reading and and asking her to jump in and of course hit the ground running and we think we have a fabulous candidate in her or now a a coordinator so
025please come up thank you [Applause] so um good evening members of the board I'm um humbled to have been selected as the coordinator of ela for New Britain schools I come with varied experiences as an mtss supervisor and a director of English language arts pre-k through 12. I'm excited to be able to work under the leadership of Dr Gasper Mrs Velasquez Mrs denegre and Mr Richardson it is an awesome opportunity to be able to help support the district in reaching our goals this year finally I'm honored to serve the students family and staff of New Britain thank you so much for this opportunity foreign so continuing my report Madam president as usual you have an advanced copy of the district dispatch in front of you with our volleyball team featured on the cover and um
026it's easy to become accustomed to just the awesome look and feel and the way it is this uh this publication is presented as always thanks to Ms Langer Mr um Mr figat the communications team um Ms Nasir who does the translations to to Arabic force and everybody who contributes uh content really um for me I would say personally just this document has become a point of Pride and as I mentioned it to people they say oh yeah I saw that it looks really good so um you know this will be our last Edition for the year I believe Ms Langer is that correct summer surprise in the middle of summer a summer surprise I love it I love it thank you um the other piece of my report to you tonight is this binder it
027should only take me about an hour and a half to read it to you tonight but I won't do that um so what you have before you is the superintendent self-reflection I'm asking that the board consider this when you uh do my performance evaluation uh later in the summer I must say it's been a very quick year having already served as as your superintendent for nearly a full year already so what I've attempted to do for you is and I'm just going to take you through the layout of the document is of course you've got a basic introduction you've got a table of contents a letter of thanks from me to the board and then if you went to for example Tab 3 no excuse me tab four you'll see this is kind of a
028pattern that will repeat as you read the document so what I've done is use my Essential 10 as the format of the document so each of the essential 10 has a cover sheet such as this where I introduce this element of the essential 10 list some accomplishments to date list work yet to be done and then give you a quick description of some artifacts behind each one so for example for team you've got some examples of Administrators learning plan you have uh some rubric for professional conversations some documents that we've used in our principals Council which was a kind of a new introduction to our administrative work this year so I definitely will not take the time to read all of this to you you have um closer to the back I would say that
029it is tab 14 are some uh some other things that are outside of the essential 10 for example what we've discussed tonight are are increased focus on Communications also as Mr wistro explained some of our work on the food that is available to our students tab 15 the board is already familiar with we are showing some early signs of academic Improvement you have that data in tab 15. in tab 16 is um just some examples of of my attempt to connect with and advocate for the the community of New Britain in my first year so I'd ask that the the board consider this document as you get ready to do my performance evaluation later this summer and that's my report for tonight Madam president thank you so much more reading for Mrs Marie but you
030know before we go on I actually wanted to during my I know during my report I actually wanted to introduce Mrs Marino and welcome her to the board um I don't know if you want to tell us like it back I don't know you're newly retired so she's enjoying reading everything yes I agree with my library card and I don't know even even in my 40s some ideas so it's fun um yes um lived in the city 40 years raised four kids here all went through the school system here um always attended way back in the day when my kids were younger in elementary school the Board of Ed meetings got involved um got a little hectic as the kids got a little older kind of thing so kind of stepped back got more involved
031with helping out with the football teams and the feeding the boys and the girls softball that kind of thing so now I'm retired and have some time on my hands other than watching five grandkids but this is a very honored I'm very humbled and glad to be here and hopefully I can contribute being the parent the mother the grandmother and the and the senior so just more experience very much people have been very very helpful I really really appreciate it thank you very much thank you and I apologize for not doing it during my so item three the resolution is there a motion to approve the Board of Education resolution to carrying declaring June 2023 as pride month so move second would you like to read the resolution pride month is a time to celebrate
032the lesbian gay bisexual transgender and queer Community while remembering the struggle in soccer places made by The Advocates and allies who worked and continue working to create a more inclusive Society despite state law abandoned discrimination harassment and intimidation towards lgbtq plus people inequities including homelessness poverty mental health issues and substance abuse continue to persist among our youngest and most vulnerable youth our city has started to lead the way and collaborate collaborating with other Municipal Pride organizations and non-profits to establish a working group with the State Department of Education to develop a model curriculum inclusive of lgbtq plus studies and the superintendent's office established a diversity equity and inclusion advisory Council to ensure Community Voices are heard when it comes to board policy by recognizing pride month we reaffirm our commitment to support other policies practices
033and curricula that honor and respect lgbtq plus students staff their families and all people in our community including the commitment to review and consider board policy specific to transgender and gender non-conforming students the Consolidated School District of New Britain commits to ensuring Equitable access equal treatment and full inclusion of all people regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity it's a New Britain Board of Education designates June 2023 as pride month to inspire Equity create alliances and celebrate diversity thank you all those in favor signify by saying aye aye any opposed any abstentions thank you so I would like a motion to go into executive session to discuss matters pertaining to attorney client privilege with the full board Marion Manning and DR Sanders second all those in favor to go back into executive session wait don't
034we have the emotion of course because you can't we're done discuss a matter relating to school security I would like um Richardson Mark Spaulding the full board Dr Gasper second all those in favor [Music] so we are back for a minute and I will entertain a motion to go into executive session and possible public actions will appoint principal for dealer Red Oak School with the full board um Evie Velasquez Tyrone Richardson durico Dario sorry Dario Soto chicken scratch my fault but we will bring him or her I also too after we go into executive session then okay come back I'll come out for you Mr Soto football board all right do you have a motion motion our back ground so Madam president it's my my pleasure to recommend recommend a motion to the board that
035the board um appoints Mr Dario Soto as the next principal of dealer School okay let's go all those is there any discussion do you want to well welcome any opposed any abstentions all right well she carries congratulations and welcome thank you um just have a few words I know it's running late um Gracia is foreign so first and foremost I would like to thank God my family and those mentors and colleagues that have poured into me that made this moment possible I would also like to thank the board and the administration for giving me this opportunity to be a part of the future success that we will have here okay number also I would like to thank the students faculty uh family and faculty at the Loretto is an honor to serve you and to
036serve with you at this very proud community I would like to close by saying de Loretto is a school that learns in two languages but has one dream the dream that our students will be the leaders of Tomorrow the leaders that will help solve the issues that face our world today and will make it a better place thank you you want to join this Madam president yeah exactly no no they're a dollar 25. [Laughter] thank you congratulations [Applause] all right on to new business can I have a motion to approve the minutes from the regular Board of Education meeting on May 8th 2023 motion a second any discussion any yes me [Music] double check were you um you were a late arrival all right I was here on the um Madison I had a long
037discussion about the books we made from and everything yeah all right so one one does every even reference in there as being you make motions okay okay all right any other changes modifications as I saw in there too that it's listed the date also tops is April 3rd was actually the May in the very top okay all right anything else okay bro if it was April 9th this is the April 3rd of May not May thank you all right all those in favor with the amended With The Changes signify by saying aye any opposed any abstentions assuming Mrs Moreno you would stay laughs all right Item B is there a motion to accept the enrollment reporter some second any discussion all those in favor take my signify by saying aye any opposed any abstention item
038C do I have a motion to accept the report of personnel transactions and extracurricular appointments second any discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye have any opposed any abstentions item D is there a motion to accept a grant from the fund of Greater Hartford for training and advocacy to fight chronic absenteeism in the amount of twenty thousand dollars I move yes second any discussion questions all those in favor signify by saying aye any opposed any abstentions item e approved the contract for uh do I have a motion to approve the contract for lease of continued use of Pope John Paul school as a swing space for construction projects the first year 72 000 second year 132 000. so move second any discussion yes um so the contract I'm trying to find it yeah
039no but there was something I know there had been discussion about whether we end up yes we're using it for swing space for the next couple of years potential out there maybe buying the space but more permanently after maybe some review of the physical condition and whatever so I was looking through for like a lease with an option to buy type thing and I saw something about um five hundred thousand dollars toward sale price did I for having to do with any improvements that we make up to 500 000. I believe that is that is correct the board has actually invested far more than that that was going to be like that yes the board has actually invested far more than that just to keep the really the building operational as a school you okay
040buying the contract for that to take that into consideration I'm sorry it's the Newbie very valid no I was just gonna say that's a valid question I mean because if we put in and I I want to say I heard someone say like over a million around 1.5 so we like the way over and if we're gonna do maybe even think about it maybe maybe we've already invested that much why wouldn't that apply to our the same consequences just take a little bit off the top even well that's a no but that's a great Point actually so I don't know who's who wrote the contract who I know we hadn't seen it I don't think when we had the final we did not right so we just got the contract on Friday no the finance
041and Facilities Transportation committee had this impact for the committee it has not changed since then other than okay having been reviewed by uh Corporation Council okay okay remember hearing is that that was going to be the review okay so I I just I'm just posting the board the board certainly could choose to table this tonight um okay we would basically have to enter into negotiations I'm not sure if the parish would accept taking 1.5 million off the top of um a purchase price I I guess it just didn't as far as all of that goes and I know we were even you know hesitant as far as even whether to do a permanent purchase or whatever for the swing space yeah so I it's it's probably premature to this is a two-year code it's correct
042the 2025 right correct so I don't know if a purchase of the property is within the realm of possibility within the term of this contract again if the board chooses to table it tonight we certainly could do that but um and again that purchase would not be made by the board that would be a purchase made by the city correct because even though the board manages all the buildings their own their own by each municipality well and that be the other point in other words if the city's doing the purchase if they get leave limited to a five hundred thousand dollar cap on the versus one and a half million that we've already put into it that's that's I as others have said it's certainly a very valid question um at this point I don't
043I don't anticipate a purchase within the term of this two-year contract okay yeah um I just recall only because this is going to be the third swing School swing space that we use it for right so this is going to be number three yeah and I can recall that while we were still in bed with the last round like you know like right between they start before they start a Chamberlain the discussion at that time was that any of these lease agreements and such yes would go to corporate Council but as a courtesy would also go to school board committee did that happen no was that something not for the lease I don't think they would get the they wouldn't get the least you mean School building committee yes so this would not be under
044the purview of the school building committee and then it's not a construction project no no and I completely understand that because we ended up what it opened up was the whole discussion on what was being bonded and what was actually under their um under their purview it was really more just as a courtesy but the other part of it was that we were looking at it when we were getting ready to buy the boilers that were such a high ticket item that we were going to actually find out if there was some way of getting that I'm saying what her question is now we had already brought up um before as a board right I mean I think that's a great point and we can and I would entertain a motion to table and a
045table okay secondary motion all right so item E I mean we can bring it back when we do the special meeting for the budget we can add it as an item right so this is this is if the board grants summer Authority tonight this is not a contract I would be comfortable signing under someone Authority right absolutely no I mean when we do our budget Workshop we do have a special meeting for a budget Workshop we could add this as an action item and maybe it's a conversation with the attorney I'm not sure if I'll have an answer for you by the 13th because this will go yeah this will basically have to enter into negotiations with the parish because remember when they were talking about closing and they were discussing possible uses it was
046found out there was a very restrictive covenants in the deed that going to be used for certain purposes so I want to be clear I'm not proposing purchasing this property this evening right correct you know you made that clear yeah he is tabled item f is there a motion to approve contract and purchase order for 140 production Court freezer project in the amount of two million 554 102 dollars you do have that on your agenda I do okay what do you have for X yeah so G the old one okay okay all right um do I have a motion to approve the contract and purchase order for 140 production Court freezer project two million five fifty four so moved is there a second any discussion Mr Kane um just I'm not on the facility so
047yeah forget any discussions I missed um I understand from conversation in the past that we couldn't use money to improve the space so these units we'd be able to move in the future to another location that came to just for clarity we're not allowed to the federal funds can't be used to improve the resale value of someone else's property so yes it is a modular install we're not anticipating moving them because to move them is and just to install them is a very big project but um yeah and as the board probably members this is in lieu of the original plan which was to turn the facility into a kitchen we discovered many many uh infrastructure issues with doing that so we believe this approach will be good for new Britain's kids because it'll lower
048the cost of acquiring the food Staples um Frozen refrigerated and dry storage by lowering the cost it's going to let whitson's buy even higher quality ingredients fresher ingredients because they'll be buying in that commodity scale rather than basically cutting out the middleman so Whitson is expecting approximately eight percent savings and we can turn that right around into higher food quality thank you any opposed and the abstentions item G approved summer oh you were up there I didn't even realize that so what I don't have and I apologize I meant to send it earlier but I had what am I missing this day could you refresh my memory of what summer Authority is there was a certain could I yes I've been here I know I know well he hasn't been here a summer right because
049someone summer Authority in the past and I'm looking for like our past members it was up to a certain amount um there was like you could there was the summer Authority is literally up to a certain amount it was 65 000 to hire teachers to do contracts right there was no like there's no adding new positions there's there's a written somewhere right and that's what I was looking for what are the steps in line yeah and it's not and I thought we had a policy that was it wasn't a policy associated with it because we seem to almost like the bar moved now it was a summer authority of and I don't I could not find it we did not do it last year because Dr Casper was new and without fully understanding what summer
050Authority is the year before that was called it so we stayed yep [Music] um it was 7 500. 7 500 is the current that's his level of authority and I want to say it was 65 000 but I don't have a recommendation do you anticipate exceeding 65 000 or anything so it wouldn't really pertain to hiring because that's currently under my purview anyway you get that right Max right isn't there there's a Max that you no maybe not no basically it's School principles come before the board everybody else is hired by the superintendent right so um all right I guess I would ask biz alfano you have recollection of the degree to which summer Authority was granted for for purchasing or contract approvals so um purchases in um hiring recommendations and allow us to close
051out hit your end over the summer allow us to close out and do our final entries or transfers and everything that is done 40 would then be provided in summary to the board right I do remember that was there a threshold as the board president was saying a max amount yeah I believe what we did is we have that oh thank you is was that that's not it wasn't under policy was it was said it was sent separately [Music] superintendent to approve purchase orders in excess of the 7 500 into wave bids when it's the best interest of the district to do so um and it is to close out the accounts over the summer and to do our final entries for your end and what did Mr procop show you their minutes it is
052and there's a member and that's what I was trying to find is the memo that was submitted for that but these are the summer Authority report writing in here is it it's not in the side file right is it it no no I'll send you what I got June 8th 2021 what do you have is it in the packet no it was a separate um I'm gonna send it to you now okay previous minutes yeah oh oh yep right here I'm sorry no that sounds like hold on a second I'm like running around no it's because this thing is broken so he gave me this [Music] morning but I just remember because we had gone back and forth first it was like how much do you need to close out the coveted things so that's
053why they said it a little bit higher than they had in the past but it was because the accounts for covet were significant higher yeah oh this is the list from Summer Authority this is the list of everything but that's what she was giving us and then hold on standby keep going back because I came in [Music] so I found a memo what's the date on this it has the previous fiscal year to offer as a superintendent to approve um the closeout of the account and any transfers and then it would be for the 23-24 year to authorize the superintendent to approve purchase orders in excess of the 7500 and to wave bids in the best interest of the district and then it would authorize the superintendent to designate the Chief Financial Officer on behalf
054to act on behalf of the Boardman appropriate those are the two of the three items that are on the memo so [Music] could you forward that to me just so I could read it again and then we could discuss it I apologize I thought there was going to be something in the side belt and I did I had a day thank you it would make sense that it's not a policy because it wasn't it didn't exist last year it wouldn't be in our policies procedurally well she forwards that can we move to consent and then come back I don't know procedurally you would just need to table it and then come back to it later motion to table just for a few seconds and then we could go that way we can move on and
055we can because I'd have a bunch of stuff to pull off so consent agenda is there anybody who would like to pull anything off the consent agenda yes I like to call off me and H positions all right and I would like to pull off a b c and d so we're going to pull off a b c d g and H anything else all right so the consent agenda would be two pieces of paper e f and then I threw B any video okay so like a motion to review and approve policies p6115.3 proposed flag policy second I would actually like to motion this for a second read know how other members are feeling I don't I don't sit on policy I do listen on policy but I know anybody else that's me so
056Madam chair one clarification I'd request from the board on item a is an effective date of this policy if passed when when would this policy become effective it's a good point that's what I'm requesting I would say as if this meeting right I mean if members are comfortable with passing the flag policy tonight we don't have to do a second read totally up to you well do we need to put a motion in there for the effect of time today oh you mean time like yeah exactly actually written in your effects yeah right when we write when we pass the policy it is effective thank you all right it is it starts on page 51. yeah so I mean we can we can okay [Music] thank you so what you thinking I mean I'm gonna
057go by what you guys we have I second reading or do you guys feel comfortable enough to approve it tonight we approve it tonight it becomes effective six five twenty twenty three [Music] indeed there's a draft this was part of my own right so there's the regulation and then there's a draft of the policy I'm assuming this is the policy we want to put in it's policy 6115.3 says it is the policy of the Board of Education board to correctly honor the flags of the United States the state of Connecticut Pioneer recognition the city of New Britain board approved Flags representing School operas representing a school operated by the board and the flags of other governmental entities and ensure a standard of flag display on District property the American flag should always be present when
058other others are flying board shall comply with national estate protocols for flag display and etiquette in addition to the above reference Flags the United States Territorial and state sister city the foreign national flags may also be displayed outside of a school building on the day of a visit from an elected official or delegation to that school inside of school buildings United States Territorial and state flags sister city flags as well as flags of foreign Nations and ethnic Flags such as the Pan-American flag may be displayed on a permanent or temporary basis in accordance with proper flag etiquette these displays are to be educational in nature as well as to recognize the diversity of our City's Heritage History and student body okay just came from Cape right this came from Kate it was reviewed reviewed by
059our attorneys the policy committee yeah we when we started looking at this back in September so yeah Center on policy committee for times I believe it's part of us I think so okay so just my reason for asking for clarification on an effective date is um just to be perfectly practical is the pride flag was raised across the street here today it's been raised at the high school if the uh if no effective date is specified in this policy is passed tonight the pride flag would not fly at the school tomorrow nor going forward if it is fantastic the pride flag is not included in one of the listed Flags here and the other type of notify the staff time to put it up Miss Gonzalez is here but it is going to continue to
060fly over here downtown and this is just going to be in effect for everything else going forward just like we would if we were putting in the policy for anything else well I'm just saying obviously we're not governed by what the the city chooses to fly here but the flat the flag was raised at the school and um just being perfectly practical here it an example that's yeah so the flag would not continue to fly at the high school beginning tomorrow morning so if we put go to the second read we would bring it back depending on summer Authority in the July or August meeting and it can be effective August whatever that August meeting is so let me ask so we we are adopting just what Dave sent us we didn't add anything to
061it I'm not taking it no it's been it's been worked on yeah it's been worked on for sure do you all decide not to put pride in or it didn't come up because it was it was it was discussed and there were several versions that um Cape had as recommendations um and in discussion policy meetings um we looked at a position of neutrality because of other flags that could be requested to be raised that could be a father if the pride flag is flown then other flags that may be offensive or discriminator or eight in nature can be also um Pride then that won't include any other flag they will have I'm asking because I don't well that there was so there was a lawsuit that the city of Boston lost at the Supreme Court
062level and it was unanimous decision and the reason one of the reasons they lost was because they were allowing certain Flags to be flown but when it was requested a Christian flag be flown they denied that flag to be flown and they lost the case because of that um I think some of the concern was like will someone be able to fly an answer flag all right and I think that's why we were trying to go with like the Cave the caves version but you know it's difficult it's difficult because we I I know I was one who wanted to um still allow at least the pride flag at our schools um but then you wonder like what other people are going to bring up it isn't going to be something that's going to be
063for being discriminatory keep it right now to pretty much governmental Flags you're limiting to the type of flags that go up there and you're saving yourself potential lawsuit for denying somebody applying so what's to prevent this from coming up again for some other kind of Flight by not making it about the fight just by making it about celebrating the student and the student body without the area of contention was the flag in that particular lawsuit but it really gave us an opportunity to learn and to reflect by allowing one we have to allow if it's representing the students we have students that are absolutely we also have students that are Jewish we also have students that are most likely absolutely sorry and here's what I would like to do I want to actually make a
064motion to table this policy and then we will bring it back at another can I all right so Item B do you mind if we go through consent and then we'll go back of course so Item B approval policy for three three two eight zero sorry dot one zero Raffles bazaars Etc has everybody had time or do you would you prefer to motion this to for a second read this I think was relatively simple it points out how Raffles and bazaars need need to be run according to state law surprise we already have that I think I'm sorry surprised we didn't already have this it's an addendum two three two eight zero yeah so if we can we can do a second read but I was pretty confident in pilot red and I don't know
065if anybody else had a chance to read it it's really it's how it should be all right so make a motion to approve policy 3280.10 Raffles bazaars second any discussion all those that favor signify by saying aye aye all right any opposed any abstentions so item C may I have a book well is there a motion or a motion to table a policy 3320.00 contract approvals this one is um the board policy for contract approval this is all contracts for goods or services in the amount of 7 500 or greater shall require board approval shall require the signature of the board president in order for the execution of the contract to be valid the board and the addition is I think we struck out which so the change here was a recommendation for me so
066currently the superintendent has the authority to approve a purchase order up to 7 500 but not a contract so the board has seen many quite small contracts for a guest speaker who is twelve hundred dollars to come to Slade School to me it just seems logical that if the superintendent has the authority to approve uh 7 500 worth of a purchase order it seems to me it seemed like an Omission that that I should be able to to sign on your behalf for very small contracts as well for a second read or we can motion to move to approve to improve okay second any other discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye all right any opposed any abstentions yeah yeah all right so item D is there a motion or would you like
067to motion for a second read to approve policy 5131 student discipline code the major change here or perhaps just a minor change was to update the policy to reflect current practice about a expulsion hearings as currently written the board policy says that um that student and their parent would come before a panel of the board the edits here just update that to current practice have come before a hearing officer so okay for approval or so all those in favor signify by saying aye any imposed any abstentions right item G is there a motion to approve new position requests for one FTE dean of students motion thank you discussion but I'm objecting to right now we're a good possibility we haven't heard the mayor's budget or council's budget yet and the chances of being significantly cut
068very high and the result of those cuts and Esther funds running out we're making a lot of elimination of positions I feel right now that creating positions right now is not the most prudent thing to do yeah there's some objections both the two new positions are coming for us right now we'll only speak to until the one Dean um I know I voiced my opinion I understand this as a grant funded position so it's really not necessarily about what may or may not happen after the console takes action on Wednesday I will say for me and I don't know Mr Richardson is still here I know I can't talk about the second item but Dean's to me are extremely I should say extremely they focus on punitive and in the next position we're trying to
069bring in the school culture I would like to see a different position than a Dean because I I get the need for the position I just don't like the punitive nature of a Dean so that's my two cents I don't know if anybody else has any I mean I I understand the titles are the ten different but I thought the other position was going to be launching over these people they should be yes and unless they're gonna change the role like the job description of it Dean because it currently they're they're still reporting to the building admin correct that is correct we are not proposing a change in that and this is um an additional Dean the school currently has one this is the proposed to just add to that capacity and this is for
070next school year correct correct and it's funded under the school Improvement Grant from the state yeah so that's you know that's my struggle too is it's paid for by a grant I just well my understanding too is if the other position is a food that person is supposed to be bringing in some techniques and supervision and she's going to oversee what up is going on with the games I know they report to the principal but we when we talked about it we said that they would be working in conjunction so and I know when they gave up the game at slave they made that person uh I know their language for what the technique they are using right the culture climate yeah so if this is money that they feel it's going to help them
071to help with that then maybe we can have some kind of a vision about the fact that it has to be more centered on change or behavior we're not looking to create a new job description this is an additional person under an existing job description but right right so this goes to your in the beginning when you first came on right so now this Dean would actually report to the admins in the job description for the assistant coordinator of school culture they have like they their primary function builds capacity in admins Deans and Behavior Support so there's like that indirect line so maybe the job description gets tweaked in the future for these for this position that's we were looking for consistency right and that was one of the things that they said we get
072this person so they can all be on the same page so whoever this person is that you hire whatever that woman come a person comes up with then that's what they're supposed to be following so it may not be punitive well so they don't have that I don't want to speak because I'm not at the school but I know they they have Deans at Pulaski Slade has the climate culture specialist not so I can't speak to the operating of a school I just personal my thought process on how we are handling our kids right the punitive it's not working right we saw that in explosions but anyway so any other discussion on the dean position at Pulaski all right all those in favor signify by saying aye aye any so are you know can we
073do a roll call vote please thank you because yeah all right yeah let's go soon just kind of me yeah first I know I know and I I but I'm a yes yes Mr Anthony came with the c no Mr Anthony came with the K yes Miss Barbara Marino yes Andy Parker yes yes I'm gonna trust the process you said it yes yes or yes no I'm staying right now yeah I don't want to kick myself in the butt later because I just help Spain no no no no no no I like to vote I like to vote I'm gonna say yes and then with all guys like this all right so item h is there a motion to approve new position requests for one FTE assistant coordinator of school culture PK through 12. so
074sorry and I I'm gonna speak just my two cents if anybody else has anything else they would like to say here's my I will always support support Personnel I have a really hard time supporting administrators right but in this case we need the culture right we need to bring in some kind of climate culture so I will support it but it's it's right because I believe in support Personnel over administrator so and that's no offense to any administrators that are here I just you know we've had recent success and I I know part of me feels like it's the supports that we've had in place for like all the Paras all the tsas all the bsas and we're gonna lose half of them in this next next budget year and I'm afraid of what's going
075to happen so I think we need the culture person to come in and help the culture so I'll get off my soapbox and stop talking anybody else it comes down to me a feeling of in about a week or so we're going to be looking at cutting every line item to come up with the six million dollars or more cuts and I feel right now in any new positions we should hold off at this time while I feel this you might be warranted I just feel right now adding any full-time employees right now is going to actually make our jobs harder and I see this is more of a want than a need right now I very respectfully disagree with that um you made it very clear to me when you interviewed me for this
076job how much of a concerned School culture was student combat was thus my support when these two positions were brought forward to me my support for them because I believe I'm carrying out the board's wishes yeah additionally as I clarified at the Personnel committee my intent of implementing this position is to be Net Zero FTE so there are openings in the administrative ranks at central office there are positions that I would not fill so as to fill this one with a net zero yeah Mr King hold on Mr Kingman actually you just hit upon what I was going to speak to which is ultimately the decision of which positions to fund is your recommendation with the help of your team and we would have to then vote to accept or reject the recommendation so in
077effect it actually makes his job more of a challenge to say you know if this is the short call this is what we need to cut to get to you know what we've been funded um I have faith that if this is what Dr Jasper says at this moment that the district needs that I think he's the results that we've seen this year I think we owe him that support yeah it's you know and it really is I do apologize because we do have to trust the process right but I use the phrase I know but that's like annoying I'll give you a Nickelodeon I'll buy you a question I apologize for interrupting but I I I'm also quite happy to agree to uh it's a we have a short time until we will know
078our budget um it certainly makes sense that we would not do a hiring such as this until that budget is approved by the board so that that's only two or three weeks that I would need to wait um but no again um if my plane is is carried out and this is not funded that would be a reduction to our capacity which I believe is is not good for kids right right I just want to make one statement we go through this budget thing every year every time we hired based on what is going to happen with the budget we wouldn't have any staff that's just the way it's been and since I've been here we have to face this so if we hold our decision based on what they're doing over there then we're
079not doing what's best for the kids 0. [Music] speaking of a truth so I'm not I'm not coming forward with right an additional monetary request all right so that was not part of my budget proposal to this board okay because it is funded from the Sig Grant right it's not the other position is not the dean is the dean is the assistant coordinator is local you're basically taking the position that we have in another department and encouraging them that part yeah yeah Net Zero a guitar yeah just made it more powerful for you more paddling right so yeah all right so all those in favor signify by saying aye any opposed all right any abstentions all right so if we could take off the table summer Authority I need a motion thank you if it's
080okay with you I will read to you and then forward again and I'll I'll read it as many times as you need summer Authority consists of this is on my phone so I apologize fiscal year this would be fiscal year 22 2023 authorization to close out under over expended object code balance to the medical health insurance account to fully expend the districts 20 22 2023 appropriation and then fiscal year 2022 2023 we would provide authorization and consultation with the chair of the Board of Education to award vendor bids and issue vendor vendor purchase order in excess of the 7500 and to wave bids when it is best in the best interest of the district to do so the second bullet is there would be authorization is requested for the superintendent to designate the Chief Financial
081Officer and or the assistant superintendent to act on behalf of the board when appropriate The Authority would be in place from today June 5th through September 13 2023 I don't September I'm not sure members of the board will receive updates throughout the summer on actions taken under this Authority married again part about the accounts yeah yep so authorization to close out under over EX under or over expended object code balance to the medical health insurance account to fully expend the district's 2022-2023 appropriation okay I believe yes what's the balance in that now right now that's the the internal service fund for the medical insurance is that the question it's internally and and um our budget um currently we're looking at seven million dollars and at year end once we all are encumbent conferences are either
082paid or released ones are payroll approvals are posted we may have a few dollars more or a few dollars less and all of that gets swept into into the work into the insurance account do we Okay because yeah you said suddenly because I I saw the in our packets through April the big account there's a lot of money so that's a rolling three month balance so we're self-insured so we have to maintain at least three months of claims right but that's not what the balances in our insurance account that is what our local appropriation is to deposit into our insurance account that's our budget okay because I am as far as then the other line items that are in this then goes to speak to that 7 million because even at the for the workers
083comp the life and but and again this is as of April 30th still seeing 7 million is an available balance so correct you will pay the claims as they come in and then at the end of the year it gets all tally all correct so the amount that's available on that line item will get swept into our insurance account and any other line item that may have you know the salary accounts once we post our pools and all our salaries are paid we may have a few dollars remaining in certain accounts and what we do is we take those and we sweep them all into our insurance account in order back into the 52101 no into the insurance account that's held on the city Side that's our self-insurance fund this is our budget for our
084insurance okay the district's contribution to our insurance correct me if I'm wrong the self-insurance fund is under the district not on the city we don't combine them correct it is a separate account it's on the books I got you you're ready and then what was the next line after that say that again I'm sorry hold please so then it's for fiscal year 2022 2023 provide the authorization and consultation with the chair of the Board of Education to award vendor bids and issue vendor purchase order in excess of 7 500 and to wave bids when is the best interest of the district and then you want the next one so that would be I don't know you need to buy something for eight thousand dollars Dr Gasper would give me a call and say hey this
085is what I'm thinking this is what I think is the right thing to do and then it's he just does it I don't say yes or no usually it's just a he's kind of doing it so we know and then at the end of the year we get a report so tighten it up instead of at the end of the summer well it's summer Authority it goes through September so if he was going to write a check for eight thousand dollars to know about it sooner than at the end of the summer we could do it I mean I think that didn't that resolution say regular updates or something like that I know in the past the past updates like during the summer we did get updates yeah yeah the board will receive updates throughout
086the summer I mean it could be part of your weekly update could be once up once in July well I know you've learned about it once a month whatever the board prefers yeah so do you want me to meet everything drafted like this I think to to get into the record that this would be summer Authority I think we can because that's next Thursday correct the budget meeting is the 13th the 13th I put something on the table twice looking at Mr smithley I'm not really sure if I could put something on yeah you can yes he's going to remind us that that's a lot of tape no but it doesn't come off until we bring it back up at a later meeting or does it just stay on and I can't bring it up
087I can't bring it off the table at a special meeting because we can't add to the agenda at a special meeting you can simply uh Madam president you can call the question there can be a lack of emotion and then the agenda item dies for tonight and we put it back on the agenda on a later meeting you don't have to move to call the questions perfect thank you um I usually have my little cheat sheet all right any other business as Allowed by law motion to adjourn [Music]