001Welcome everybody to tonight's meeting. It's May 4th. I'm not going to say it, but um I'm so happy to see so many people here. Once May and June comes, June comes around. It's so nice to see so many um of our families come and uh visit and uh join us. So, I'm so happy Justin is not here this evening to call attendance. So, I'm going to ask if Mary, do you mind? That would be great. Thank you. >> Put this on. >> Yeah. >> Joe Abdella >> here. >> Victoria Salon >> here. >> Stephanie Colnik. >> She I think is on She's going to be on um Zoom. >> Okay. Uh Jesse Leeman >> here. >> Angela Macharo >> here. Alex McNorton >> here. >> Justin Angry is not here. Jen Pod >> here. >>
002Jane Sergeant here. >> Peter Tagley >> here. >> I'm here. And Christine Wedig? >> No. Thank you. Thanks, Mary. I appreciate that. >> Um, can I have a nomination of a moderator to conduct the meeting tonight? >> Nominate Donna Wright. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? I. >> Anyone opposed? Extensions. Welcome, Donna. >> Notice of annual district meeting. >> Should we have you? >> You're going to go up to that. Do >> you mind? Yes, please. Thank you. And then uh notice of annual district meeting, Pog Valley Regional District 12. Notice is hereby given to all those entitled to vote in town meetings in the towns of Bridgewater, Roxbury, and Washington that a district meeting will be held on Monday, May 4th, 2026 at 7 p.m. at Chipog Valley
003School, 159 South Street, Washington, Connecticut, to present for approval the annual budget for the year 2026 2027 prepared by the regional board of education for Chapag Valley Regional District 12, copies of which are on file with the respective town clerks of the district and at the central office of the board of education. Uh, I turn this over to Chairwoman Jen Pod. >> Thank you, Donna. Okay. So, it is my turn. Okay. So, it it is my turn to um I am just reading over making sure I'm doing this right to permit for presentation of a budget in the amount of $27,282,967 in accordance with section 10-51 of general statutes. So with the adjournment, do I have to read that as well? >> Yeah. >> The uh budget meeting this evening is to be considered adjourned
004until the following day, Tuesday, May 5th, 2026, until the polls open in each of the three member towns for the purpose of voting the question. The meeting shall um shall be then be considered as adjourned following the close of the polls in the three member towns and announcements made of the results of the voting of voting. this the question. Bridgewater Town Clerk 860-354-5102. At the Senior Center, 132 Hutill Road, 12 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Roxberry Town Clerk, 860-354-3328. Town Hall, 29 North Street, 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. And Washington Town Clerk, 860 8682786. Town Hall, Brian Memorial Plaza, 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 PM. Can I have a um a motion to adjurnn? >> I move. >> Second. All in favor? >> Anyone opposed? Extensions. Wonderful. Thank you. Welcome to tonight's meeting. Moving on to our
005next meeting. Um, Monday, May 4th. Um, Mary, can you call attendance? >> Oh, >> please. >> Yep. >> Deja vu >> here. >> Victoria Salon >> here. >> Stephanie Col >> here on Zoom. Great. Thank you. >> Um, no. Jesse Leman >> here. Angela Manulo >> here. >> Allison Norton >> here. >> Justin Angley is not here. Jen Pody >> here. >> Jane Sergeant here. >> Peter Tagley >> here. >> I'm here. And Christine Whittig. >> Thank you. Okay. Uh moving on to public comment on agenda items only. Is there anybody who would like to speak about any of our agenda items? Once. Going twice. Okay, moving on to the consent agenda. Has anyone reviewed the agenda? Alex, in particular, you >> I gave it a quick read, guys. No problem. >> All right. >>
006I make a motion. Do we need >> We don't only if there's a change. >> Yes, ma'am. >> I just had one place it said police instead of policy and I don't remember where it was, but anyway. >> Okay. So, then what we'll do is adopt uh the consent agenda with the change of police instead of policy. So now can I have a motion to um accept the agenda with that change? >> Make a motion to accept the minutes of with the alteration. >> Great. Can I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Anyone opposed? Terrific. Thank you. Moving on to the Shepog Valley Partnership with Alison O'Hara and Ashley. Welcome both of you. So nice to see you. Good evening. Um I'm Ally O'Hara, director of pupil personnel services.
007And this is Ashley Albaneseise, our transition coordinator and the uh teacher that runs our valley partnership. This is really her presentation. So, I'm just going to go sit down and watch. Okay. Thank you. All right. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for having me. Um, so I was asked to come and share a little bit about the program this year. So, I'm new to the district. This is my first year. I had big shoes to fill. Betsy was here for a long time and she started a wonderful program. Um, and I was fortunate to work with Betsy over my years because I actually came from New Milford's transition program where I had 10 years of experience. Um, I'm loving region 12 so far. So, thank you for having me. So for those of you that may
008not know, I the board I know knows, but Shap Valley Partnership is our transition program. So we serve 18 to 22 year olds who need continuing services after high school. So they qualify for services through special ed and it really focuses on those functional daily life skills and vocational skills, social skills. Um really getting them to be as independent as they can be going forward. A big piece of that is exposing our students to various um work experiences. We're really fortunate to have a lot of wonderful community partners um that allow us to come into their businesses and give the students those opportunities. Right now, we're working with the First Congregational Church of Washington, Washington Food Market, Washington Pizza House, Salem Covenant Church. We also complete the region 12 mail run daily, and uh we
009have students that work at the Washington Primary School, and they help do some copying, they organize recess equipment, and they also help in the library there. Um, and so these are some of our students working hard. We have um a student over at the market working up at the parish house at the wor uh first congregational church and over here at Salem Church. Next slide. A big part of our program is also our community outings. So every Friday our students have the opportunity to go out and do something different. Um I try and incorporate career tours where we're going out to different businesses and students are able to see the various jobs that are available at those um from the you know people that are coming in and cleaning because that's an important job to
010people that are working hands-on maybe customer service on the floor to the people in management positions and understanding all the various roles and also how they can work through those if they wanted to. Um and just again seeing what's out there. So, some of the ones that we went on this year were uh Monster Miniolf over in Bethl. Uh they got to stay afterwards and play mini golf, which they really enjoyed. We went to the Lesser Evil uh popcorn factory down in Danbury where we got to see the factory side of it, but then also the business side of it. and we sat with their HR person who talked to the students a lot about their interviewing process and what they look for in a candidate, how important it is when you're filling out your
011application, how you answer the phone when they call to make your uh interview appointment, all those little nuances. Um, again, giving our students real exposure to what's out there. Um, our students had the opportunity to participate in the wonderful career fair here at Shepog. Uh two Fridays ago we were up at Whitman in Batenfield which we learned is now just called Whitman. Um they're a robotics company and we got to see them in action which was really cool. Next uh this Friday we're headed to Fashes Chocolates in Waterberry to see the factory in action. It's a family-run business and the students actually have the opportunity to make their own chocolate bar which is really cool. Um and in January we took our students along with a number of Shap students to the Trevor Zoo where
012we got to see various parts of the inner workings of the zoo. Um so those were wonderful. So some other things that we've done, we've gone hiking, mini golf, apple picking. The students enjoy going to the mall and the movies. Um some new things that they were able to experience was going to she see the show A Christmas Carol um and snow tubing at Mohawk. This past week, we went and we saw the Laurel Ridge Daffodil Farm as well as the Thorn Crest Farm, which is a beautiful space, and they also have a chocolate factory, which was something I didn't know. Um, in June, we're headed to the Connecticut Science Center. Again, they enjoy dining out. The Barker Comic Museum is a really cool place up in Cheshure. The Pez Visitor Center, Scarecrows in the
013Meadow, and then doing some cooking activities. So, this is not every Friday that we've done, but a lot of them. And it's a good smattering of things. We like to expose them to lots of different things that they might enjoy as a hobby. Right? As adults, we all have hobbies. We make plans to go out with friends, experience new things, whether it be going out to eat or checking out a museum. And so for some of these students, they haven't had this experience before. So, it's nice to expose them to something and hope that they maybe find something that they find joy in. So, here we are. On some of these, we have um our resident dog at the town hall. That's Digby. Our students love interacting with him. He loves to come down and
014get treats from our room. Uh that was us at the Christmas Carol, Scarecrows in the Meadow. Our students also love um hanging out in the building department across the hall. It's a chance for them to socialize just like you would with your peers in your buildings at work, right? Having those moments to kind of catch up and check in. What did you do over the weekend? Um, and Peter and Addison are wonderful at interacting with our students and giving them that opportunity. That was us at the Lesser Evil Career Tour. And over there we were making chicken tenders, I think is that picture. There we are apple picking. We were over at March Farms, which I believe is Heather Hurley, right? Is uh was wonderful at letting us come and providing our students with the
015bags for apple picking. That was a wonderful experience. Mohawk tubing. Uh we are fortunate we collaborate a lot with the LHTC program, the Lichfield Hills transition program in New Milford, which is wonderful because they have a larger group of students. So we're often able to get group rates by combining our programs, but it's also an opportunity for our students to socialize with more peers um and get out in another community that's close to them and hopefully that they will continue to build on those connections. Um, there we are at Scarecrows in the Park again. We also have our lovely bowling alley which we have used on a number of occasions this year and the students really enjoy using that over at the Pez factory, the Pez Visitor Center making our chicken tenders and our student
016over at the Barker Comic Museum. So, some other pieces of the program include weekly grocery shopping. So, every Monday, our students come in and they're tasked with the job of creating a shopping list for the week to make lunches for themselves. So, they have to think about what supplies do I have currently and what do I want to have this week and how much do I need of each item to get through the week? And they work through a um with a $30 budget. And so, when we go into the grocery store, they're walking around and they're calculating as they're going to work and to try and stay into that budget. Doesn't always work every week. Sometimes they like to have a lot of snacks on Monday and Tuesday and then they dwindle out Wednesday,
017Thursday, Friday. But it's a learning process. It's also learning that you have to budget sometimes. And we might have expensive taste, but we don't always get to buy those higherend things. We have to make some of those sacrifices in order to stay in a budget, which is real life as a working adult. We are fortunate our students do get a paycheck bi-weekly. So, they are working on their banking skills at well. We we work with Union Savings Bank in the Depot. The tellers are wonderful. The students have worked both with the tellers and the ATM. They're going, they're depositing their money. They're withdrawing money for their various activities. They're using their debit cards when they're shopping. And then they're also maintaining a transaction register within the program. And they have to check that balance every
018time they're working through and taking out money and making sure that it matches up. We learned this year that they charge them a $3 fee every month for their statements, their paper statements that they get. This was new to me. So for a couple months I kept scratching my head. Why is this not adding up right? What is going wrong here? And so it was a wonderful learning experience for the students to see in that moment that I also was learning something new and that it was really important that we were watching that balance and making sure and found the answer to why it wasn't adding up right. Um our students are also fortunate they have uh memberships to the new Milford Fitness and Aquatics Center in New Milford. So, our students go typically twice
019a week and they work out for about 40 minutes, mainly working on cardio. Recently, the students have started using their raetball courts, which they're really enjoying using and have done a little bit with the weights, but they typically are staying more towards the cardio where it's a little bit more comfortable for them. Um, again, this is a really wonderful opportunity for them to build healthy lifelong habits. And here they are. We have our student shopping over at Big Wine New Milford. and then um doing some baking, working out. And that might be it. That is all. Thank you. Anybody have any questions? Yeah. >> How many students do you have in the program? >> We have three currently. >> And how many do you expect to have next year? Same. >> Yep. Okay. >> Thank
020you. >> Yeah, absolutely. Anybody else? >> I just want to say that I can attest to how wonderful you and Tammy are with your students at the uh town hall and they loved the comic u museum because they were so excited to go >> and I didn't even know we had a comic museum around here. >> Yeah. >> And then I saw them on the back end and they were very excited to talk about it. So, >> thank you. >> It's really wonderful to see them among the community like walking around town and going to the bank and the market. So, it's great for um the community as well to be able to see them every morning and in the afternoon as well. So, I know they it's a big big >> part of our
021community. Thank you. >> Thank you guys. >> Uh the recognition of the art of our art students Well, good evening and of course it's a great pleasure and privilege to be able to celebrate the work of our wonderful students from time to time. Tonight will be one of those favorite occasions. And around us, you see work created by a lot of our students. And I have a little note to say about a lot of that. And when I I call each student, please come up and get your uh award, your certificate, and stay for a minute while I say a few words about your piece and so that everybody can recognize you. And then usually when we're done with this, we take a brief um we adjourn briefly so that people can walk around and
022view the art and talk a little bit about it and have a nice experience. Okay. We're going to take a break after that because we have a few students for their senior project. >> Oh, we're celebrating other kinds of student work tonight. Yeah. And I see our students in the back. Great to see you. Hello. Hello. So, after that, then we'll congregate. Okay. So, now for the art. First from Booth, we have Mia Martinelli, grade five. Mia, are you here? Come on up. Congratulations. >> Uh Mia created um um a several step multimedia piece focusing on multiple layers for depth in a landscape. She explored different mediums such as liquid watercolor, paperier-mâché, chalk pastels, and tempera paint to create this atmospheric piece. And it's right back there behind Miss Son. So you can all get
023a closer look at that later. Congratulations. Uh Mia, good good job. Mi is from Booth Free School from Burnham out of the fourth grade. Charlotte Breen. Charlotte, are you here? Oh, okay. Hello, Dr. Rue. Well, I'll give you her certificate and I'll uh just say a few words about her wonderful piece. Charlotte spent several classes working with colored pencil to create this still life um fruit picture. She observed light and the shadows and highlights that are created. I remember back from my own art days a long time ago. Miss Right. Is it Chariso? Is that what we're talking about? Like Yeah. Okay. Um and that is let's see over there uh behind Mr. Tagley. So you'll get to take a look at that. Uh, and we'll give Charlotte her certificate and tell her how impressed
024we were. Okay. And then from Washington Primary School, a kindergartenner. They're starting earlier and earlier with the art. This is the reverse Grandma Moses syndrome. Uh, Jacob Van Watam. Jacob, are you here? Come right on up. Hi. Congratulations. Nice work here. Stay here for a minute. Um, so Jacob learned all about the process of weaving while creating this piece. He started with painting the grass and then he used patterns to design his snakes. Jacob completed the piece by weaving over and under, working his snakes through the grass. And there it is, I think. Right. Yeah, that's your piece, right? How did you get the idea for that? just came to your mind. >> Yeah. >> Well, that's a good work. Good job. You're very creative. Thanks for being here tonight. >> Okay. Okay. Moving on
025to middle school. Um, from grade 8 from Chapag Middle School, we have Amelia Conway. Ameilia, are you here? Hi. Congratulations. Stay here for a second. Okay. Um, you're in grade end, right? >> So, okay. You're in seventh grade. You look more mature. Seventh grade student Amelia Conway experimented with printmaking and color blending techniques to create a symmetrical design that featured a gradation of color values and quadrilateral symmetry. And it is back there behind Mr. Leeman. Nice work. >> Okay. Thank you. We also have an 11th grader from Chapag who couldn't be here tonight, but we still want to recognize her wonderful work. Mattie Elagna, grade 11. Mattie Elagna uh is a student in our botanical illustration class. And she studied the anatomy of flowers and explored watercolor techniques to create a scientifically accurate specimen of
026a moth orchid. And there it is. Okay, great work. And finally from grade 11, and I think Whit, if you're here, I think you might be doing double duty tonight, right? You want to come on up? Uh, Whitman Deprier, grade 11. Start. All right. Wit, an introduction to pottery student explored creative solutions for this pinch project and crafted a ceramic pinch vessel featuring a functional lid with flange enhanced by slip trail decoration and expressive glazed work. And it's it's displayed somewhere, right? Where do we where's the Oh, where do you see it, Mr. Abdullah? Behind the easels. >> To the right of the >> Oh, it's a picture of it. Okay. Where do I see the real thing? Is it Lincoln? >> It's still. >> All right. Well, congratulations on that wonderful work. Now, now,
027do you wanna should we segue into some senior project presentation? So, why don't you stay at the lecture? Okay. >> All right. Congratulations to all our artists and >> I hope you all keep uh loving art. I say when I go to our events, there's no greater gift than we could give our kids than to learn to sing or play in a musical instrument or participate in the fine arts. So, I hope that brings a lot of joy to your life and you keep doing it. Okay. All right. Take it away. >> All right. I think some of the seniors tonight are um presenting their senior projects. I don't know if that's been going on at the board of ed meetings, but um I'm Whitrier and my senior project is called Beyond the Summit. Um
028and kind of like the basis for the project as a whole is um exploring like mountaineering and making a documentary about it. um kind of like my genesis for the project has been, you know, back when I was younger, I grew up on like um a lot of land and I was like really connected to nature and everything. And as I kind of grew up into like, you know, middle school, early high school, I kind of like fell out of that love for nature and now um like last year and this year, I've kind of been coming back and appreciating it more. Um and that's kind of where like I got the idea for it. um and like those mountains as like a calling to me. That's what I say and that's what my dad
029says. Um so that's kind of like where I got that. Um and like in the beginning of year I did a lot of research on like what the main part of the project would be and I found a a guiding group based out of well there they do guides all over the country and in the world actually. They're called International Alpine Guides. Um, and I did a course with them in Mammoth Lakes, California, uh, which is in like the eastern Sierra eastern Sierra Nevada range. Um, in the Sawtooth and it was me and five other people and then two guides. And we went on in on the first day and then kind of got like basic techniques of mountaineering. And then throughout this whole process, I had my my GoPro strapped to my chest and
030my helmet. Um, and I filmed the whole process. Um, and that's kind of like where currently I'm editing my documentary. I have I think over like 30 hours of film, so it's a lot to go through. Um, but it was really great. And so we weren't able we weren't actually able to summit the mountain that we were um looking to do because of a like avalanche conditions and that was kind of disappointing, but it was definitely good for the project. not because you know we couldn't do it but but because we can find like um ways to take um success and find like other ways to find meaning in the project without making it to the top of the mountain and I think it was a really great learning experience the course itself um and
031then after that I've been you know working on the documentary thinking about how I'm going to put all these pieces together uh looking at research um or researching about, you know, not only like the technical aspects of mountaineering, but also the psychological part. Um, which the elevation has a lot to do with that and the physical side. And then there's the mental side, which is talking about, um, like what it does to your brain and how you think about life differently after you've been through that struggle. Um, and yeah, it's been really great so far. >> That's great. Really appreciate you coming up here and talking about it. >> Any questions? You have any questions, Joe? >> Yeah, Joe. >> So, what how long is the video going to be that after you go through
032the 30 hours of what you have? >> Yeah, I mean, I'm aiming for around like 20 minutes, 20 to 30 minutes. Um, a lot of the footage is great. Um, some of it is not really usable because I mean, we had snow up to like four feet. So, my camera is right about here and the snow's right about there, so you can't see that much. But, um, it was really amazing. Yeah. >> So, you said you had two different cameras, so there was no I had one um but I switched it between my helmet and my chest whenever it was like necessary. Yeah. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Yeah. >> I was interested when you said that you face these challenges and then you see life differently. Can you expound on that? What what's the transformative
033thing that happens to the way you view you know life going forward after you have some of these overcome some of these difficulties? Yeah, I think um like um when you do when you go on these mountaineering trips, I think one of the things people think about is becoming more connected with nature and seeing how nature can play a bigger role in your life than it maybe is now. Um and you can come back getting that from it. you can also come back with like a better understanding of like whatever your challenges are at home or at school or at work or whatever now um might not seem so bad because you were like freezing your toes off in the in the cold. Um so I think there's a lot of different ways to interpret
034it but >> it's really great. >> Thank you for coming. >> Thank you. >> Really appreciate it. And Whit Whit, can you do us a favor? When you have you scheduled your um presentation yet? >> No, I haven't. >> When you do, do you mind emailing either me or the board and I'll let the board know when your presentation is? >> Yeah, for sure. >> That would be great. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Who is next? >> Um Molly, you want to go? >> Molly or Ree arm wrestle. Okay. Great. >> Thank you. >> Hi, my name is Reese Evans. Thank you for having me here. I'll just clarify at the beginning. It's Senior Assassin and I'm not taking any chances. So that's why it all um so my senior project is called Progress
035for Purple and it's around raising awareness and money about pancreatic cancer. My great aunt Sheila Anson passed away from this in March of last year. So I wanted to do a project that could help people and was kind of community oriented but also honor her memory and who she was as a person because she was such a staple in the community. So throughout the year I've been doing research on pancreatic cancer and how it is not detected as earlier stages and looking into what research being done, the progress being made with that. I've been able to reach out to health care professionals and learn from them personally. While doing this, I've also talked to people in the community who either have this cancer or have had it um or if they have family members who
036have had this cancer and I got to learn about their personal experience with it, which was really interesting and allowed me to make some deeper connections and make my project even deeper than it already was because it wasn't just then about my great amp but also became about all these people who are going through the same battle that she did. So, um I'm very grateful that I got to make those connections with the people I did. Um I recently just had an event on Saturday called Steps for Sheila where um it was a walking/Running event to raise money for pancreatic cancer research. The money raised is being donated to Project Purple of Connecticut. So, that's why I'm wearing the shirt for it. Um at the event, we raised almost $3,000, which was great. So total
037right now what we have raised up is close to 4,000 which is fantastic and the all the money for that will go towards pancreatic cancer research to hopefully make a little bit of a difference in the um research world. This project has been incredible for me because not only have I gotten to learn more about something that impacted my family, but I've also gotten to get more involved with the community and make a ton of connections with people that I might not have ever been able to talk to if I hadn't done this project. And I got to get to know a lot of people who knew my aunt personally and knew her on a deeper level. And it was really cool cuz I got to hear fun stories about her that I didn't know.
038and just again keeping her memory alive in that way. So I'm very grateful that I got to have that. Um and that's my project. Does anyone have any questions? Well, it was a really wonderful event on Saturday and so many people were there to support you and to um love on Sheila. So um thank you for coming. >> Thank you for having me. And um can you let us know when you schedule your >> um presentation? >> The daffodils lovely. >> What was that? I'm sorry. >> Daffodils on the hill look lovely. >> Aren't they gorgeous? Oh my gosh. >> Just unbelievable. I like I saw them the other day went, "Wow." >> I know. I was there on Easter and they just were blooming a little bit and then I passed by a week
039later and they're all sprouting. It was gorgeous. They look so nice. >> Really beautiful. >> So, thank you. >> Thank you. I appreciate you for having me here. Hi, my name is Molly Leonard and I will be performing a monologue entitled The Art of the Actor is what I would say if I was in an audition room right now. But um same as Ree, I have a senior assassin baby, so I don't get out. I'm not taking any chances. Um for those of you who don't know me, my name is Molly Leonard. Um I'm a senior at Shap. Um, and I've been very involved in the theater community since about the age of three. Uh, my first role was as Gus in Cinderella. Yes, I had to wear a fat suit. Um, um, and that
040really kind of got theater in my blood and I haven't been able to stop since. The genesis of my project really is just growing up, I wasn't the best singer and I wasn't the best dancer. Acting kind of came more naturally to me. So, it was really important for me to keep growing as an actor and understand how I can market myself best with my weaknesses and my strengths. So last year in about January, I visited New York to see what New York Unifides looked like. Um, which I'll explain a little bit more what that is in a minute. Um, and after I went and I went and saw Sunset Boulevard on Broadway and I was just sitting in my seat crying because I knew that this is what I wanted to do and like
041that was the day that it really sat in stone. So I thought for my senior project, I could use what I know about theater and what I plan to learn throughout the year to help educate others and help others understand the work an actor does behind the scenes. I know we know sports sports players go to practice and artists, you know, use their different tools to create, but what does an actor do behind the scenes that we don't see. For me, it was all about what's before the audition, at the audition, before the show, what rejection looks like, and everything in between. So, throughout the year, I spent I'd say about 90% of it auditioning for college musical theater programs. Um, I'm going to Northern Michigan uh for musical theater. I'm very excited. Um, but
042I spent most of October, most of August, September, and October preparing pre-screens, which are videos you send to colleges. I applied to, shocker, 40. Um, I applied to 40 schools. And then, um, in early October, I went to Pittsburgh where I did Pittsburgh Unified auditions where I stood in a room similar to this with about 60 schools. So, I'd say about 120 people at least. Um, I sang, did my monologues, and then I took master classes, which is really helpful to learn from college professors and learn about the art form a little bit more. I also met a bunch of wonderful friends who have definitely been a nice stepping stone for me throughout the process because I felt like I wasn't going through it alone. Then came preparing for rejection after rejection after rejection. And
043I know that sounds crazy, but for me, it's kind of part of the daily life being an actor. You don't always get told yes, you usually get told no. it takes a thousand nos to get one. Yes. So, I was just kind of learning what that was like and kind of understanding that. Um, and that kind of was the big hurdle for my project because there was a lot of rejection and a lot of hard work put into those rejections. So, for me it was about learning how to overcome those. Then I went to New York Unifides which do not recommend. It was crazy. Um, I also went in the middle of the biggest snowstorm when we had like, you know, 8 ft of snow. So, I was stuck in the city. We were stranded.
044And then, um, uh, two weeks later I went to Chicago Unifides. I was there for a week in the Palmer House um where I spent the entire week just auditioning, auditioning, auditioning, meeting schools, meeting students, meeting faculty. It was a crazy week, but it really helped me kind of learn how to market yourself and how to better help people understand who you are as an actor and who you are as a person. Because it's not only who you are as an actor, but it's who you are as a person on the inside because schools are looking schools and directors are looking for someone that's nice to work with, someone that they like rather than just the most talented person in the room. Uh the next part was community outreach. Um, I spent a lot of
045time with the underclassmen in both Little Women and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, which were our two productions this year, helping them kind of understand what it looks like to really be professional during a tech week and understanding, you know, what deadlines mean for learning your lines and things like that. I also um raised money for Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS, which is a um nonprofit in the city which raises money for those in the theater community who are facing struggles with AIDS or other situ like other medical situations or just falling on hard times. Um, and it was really important to me because, um, you know, acting isn't the most stable job and when people are falling on hard times, we really need to lift each other up. Um, I raised, uh, I
046think a little over $600 for that, which was amazing and I was really happy that people donated. Um, I also choreographed You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and I'm currently choreographing Bye-Bye Birdie at the Sherman Playhouse, which has been a new experience for me, but it's really helped add depth to my project, showing that the before the before the stage is different for everybody. But as much as it's different, we all have the same stepping stones. Um, I plan to at the end of my project have a packet to hopefully leave in the library about if anyone else wants to go through this crazy process, what I recommend, and kind of all the tips and tricks I learned along the way, the dos and don'ts. Um, and I think just the big part of my
047project was educating everybody and educating myself on how to better market myself to the community and to directors. Thank you. >> Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. Anybody have any questions? Great job, Molly. Um, do you have a favorite role that you've played over the last few years, or a dream role, some character that you would like to play? >> Can I answer both? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, I'd say my favorite roles I played was either Miss Trunch Bowl, which I did here in Matilda. That was a lot of fun. Or I played Tracy Turnblad and Hairspray at City Youth Theater in Waterberry. Or I have to pick three. Okay. or um when I played Princess Winterfred this past summer um at the Sharon Playhouse in Once Upon a Mattress. My biggest dream role, which I'm really
048manifesting happens for me in college, is Mrs. Love It and Sweeney Todd. Um it's kind of a crazy show. It's about two people who make other people into pies. Um yeah, it's a little bit ridiculous, but um it's definitely one of my dream roles and I really hope to play it one day. >> It's great. >> Anybody else have any questions? >> I just have to say I'm a fan. >> Thank you. >> I think I've seen you in all the all the road roles you've had at Chipog and and and wonderful. >> Thank you so much. Miss you. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. >> Is there any other questions? >> Well, just it sounds like you're learning a lot about resilience too from what you're saying. Like do you think that's true? And
049how do you think that'll be a force that will help you move forward? >> Absolutely. This project even my TA said like this project is really helpful for someone young going into the business because you really understand what you're getting into before you get into it. >> Yeah. I remember when I first met you. I think were you a sophomore or freshman? I don't know. We were partnered in that in our >> I think I was a sophomore. >> Were you a sophomore and we were in the um >> the ADL thing? the ADL and I have just loved watching you grow over the last two to three years and you're just remarkable and honestly all three of our seniors that presented tonight are just really just amazing and so I wish you all the
050the luck but I don't think you're going to need it and I know we're going to see you grow and I'm sure we're going to watch you up on stage very soon but >> thank you >> um but Cherry Lane >> yes cherry lane I will go >> okay for sure and thank you for coming and Please let us know when you're presenting cuz I know a lot of us will want to come see you. >> Thank you so much. I appreciate it. >> Appreciate it. >> Yeah. >> I like to just note um we've been seeing so many of these wonderful presentations including tonight from uh Whit Reese and Molly. Thanks so much. And I think they're all showing pretty clearly why we do this at at its inception and it was ahead of
051its time and that that at that point and it still is. senior project was about developing project-based learning. And there's a lot we can say about that and why it's important. But what we're seeing here from our students is that they the students um work on problems that have relevance and that exist beyond the wall walls of the school. And they develop responses and solutions and interventions and performances that are consumed beyond the wall of the school and that impact the world beyond the wall of the school. and they get to have some choice in what they work on. It's a powerful vehicle and our kids are really lighting it up and I'm just very gratified that you were came and talked about your projects tonight. Thank you very much. >> Yeah, agreed. So, now
052we can take a a recess break to look at the amazing artwork that is really so beautiful and um to just take a few moments to talk to our students. So, yeah. Um, hey uh that was really um uh incredible. I mean, our students artwork is always really >> impressive and they're so talented and I think our our teachers Donna is really incredible, too. and um really remarkable and I really just feel like listening hearing our seniors talk about their uh senior projects has really um really kind of blown my mind in particular this year. coming here and talking about it because it's really just sort of highlighted how each individual sort of to piggyback off of what you said. um their each individual personalities have really just kind of shine whether it's Molly or
053or your son or um Jacob or all these amazing kids that have come to the podium to talk about their projects. they're really coming with their heart to the podium and I just am blown away by their talent and their um >> their maturity and the way that they conduct themselves and present themselves. It's it's just been amazing and it's a it's a it speaks to our teachers. It speaks to their families um and our community and I just couldn't be more proud. So, it's incredible. That's my report. >> Okay. Well, uh for my report, I was happy to give a long and pretty happy report just last week about our major events. Tonight I just want to focus on and say how grateful the schools are speaking for our teachers, our faculty, our staff,
054for our PTOs who have turned this into staff appreciation week and they're doing wonderful things all over the district. We've got two guardian angels actually on this board, uh, Angela and Vicki, who have just been doing all kinds of leg work. You should see the stock piles in there. It looks like they're getting ready for the zombie apocalypse in the teachers room because they're they're bringing in treats and recognition and the teachers appreciate it. The faculty and staff appreciate it and I just wanted to thank them for that and that's my comment for tonight. Yeah, >> that's really nice. Yes, thank you. Um, treasures report, Alex, >> I am going to combine my treasures report with the FNO report. Um, we just had a meeting tonight uh before this meeting and we hadn't met since
055uh March 2nd. So, it was over two months since our last meeting and a lot's gone on since then. Um, we reviewed the financials which really had nothing out of the ordinary. Um the one number that I always give is last year at this time we still had 10.7% of the budget left. At this point we have uh 9.47% left. Um we uh looked at transfers. There was a lot of transferring between accounts uh not creating a debit or a credit but by moving money from one area to another most the time in the same department whether it was agra science or something of that nature. Um, we also got the word that deep has decided that uh we're going to be subject to uh some pollution control measures. Um, which shouldn't be an issue
056except for the fact it's going to require us to spend some money having people come out and monitor our our water, etc. Um, we looked at the RFPs that we've put out. Uh, they just been open. They have not been digested yet. Um, but uh there there are some very interesting stories that when Nicole writes her book uh we'll all be uh interested in reading. Um and uh we we got an update on the projects uh from Donald Liry of where we stood and we're in pretty good shape. Um most of the projects have started. Um, we I know that from looking at at uh Burnham that we have the new generator in place and I think we were just waiting to get the fuel tanks full, they're full now and the installers will come
057over and fire it up for the first time. So, uh, while there's some concern that it maybe look a little ugly, I my response to that was they won't look too ugly when the power goes out. So anyway, that is my report. >> Thanks, Alex. Committee reports. Agra Science. Mary, >> I I don't have much to say because I haven't had a meeting, but the uh farm-to-table dinner was fabulous. I had a great time. Uh Jane came and so did Jesse. And uh the food was fabulous. And Waldingfield Farm is beautiful. >> Beautiful. >> So good. And it was nice because Patrick did give a little Patrick Karan uh gave a little talk about how how important he he thought it was for us to have our kids to go there and and see what
058else they could do in the world besides go to college and and do um something with business or with engineering or maybe they will do that from from our program. But there are many many different things that they could do and he was he he was very encouraging about that. Mike Rottman, our uh the 98 uh 1998 graduate, he was the chef and the food was spectacular. It was really really good. >> Great. >> And he was he was fun to be with. And I also want to remind everybody the plant sale is on Saturday from from 10 to 2 and they're gearing up for it. So please go and spend lots of money. >> Great. That's it. >> Thank you, Mary. At advance, Joe. >> Uh, nothing new to report. Our next meeting is
059this Thursday. >> Thank you. Uh, I can skip you, Alex. Right. Okay. Labor negotiations. No, right. >> Nothing new to report. >> Policy. Um, Justin is not here. Uh, strategic long-range planning. I have nothing new to report. We have not met. So, moving on now to new business textbook uh adoption. Do you want to speak anything about this first or >> Well, I'm going to invite my resident expert, Miss Snowden, to comment on these books, which she's moving forward in her capacity as director of our curriculum. >> Um, thank you so much. So, these are three textbooks that you actually heard about a few meetings ago. We presented them to the curriculum committee. I have them right here. They've been at uh central office for the last, you know, six or so weeks. Therefore, uh
060three new courses that we uh are going to teach next year. One is a humanities course called uh contemporary issues in sport. That's a Yukon ECE class. So, that book is really just the Yukon recommended text. We've got another um Yukon ECE course on accounting that we're going to offer next year. So again recommended by the Yukon um program and then the the other one is called print reading for industry and that goes along with our uh college and career accelerator course that's from at advance that our CTE department will be teaching and students will leave that new course with an a credential in using AutoCAD. Okay. So, and again, that book is recommended from the Ed Advance program because this is sort of a a program that's coming into our school so that students
061will not have to go to Ed Advance to take it. And right now, we have nine kids. >> Wow. >> Uh wanting to take that class. >> Fantastic. >> So, um anyway, you have the textbook forms in the in the board packet uh with a little more information and I'm I'm happy to answer any other questions if you have any. >> Does anybody have any questions? No. So, can I have a motion to consider and if appropriate to approve the social issues in sports fifth edition textbook for Yukon ECE 2001 contemporary social issues and uh sports course at Chapag Valley School? >> Motion second. >> Second. >> All in favor? Anyone opposed? Extensions. Wonderful. It passes. May I have a motion to consider and if appropriate to approve the print ready for industry 11th edition
062textbook for the CAD s um certific I can't even read that cert um I can't even read it certification I know I'm like stuck in my head sequence course at uh ship valley school I have a motion >> second all in favor anyone opposed abstensions passes uh to consider and if appropriate approve the accounting fundamentals textbook for the introduction of accounting course at at Shepag Valley School. Motion >> second. Uh all in favor? Anyone opposed? Extensions. Great. All three pass. Um, moving on now to consider for approval the first read of policy 5111 admission and placement. >> Talk about that first just to quickly commend the team at Chapag and Miss Snowden for creating all these pathways for our kids. You see what's happening? They're getting these opportunities to engage in some of these novel
063courses that are more connected to their worlds and that um provide credentials or college credits that are certainly portable for them moving forward or other certifications that they can use going forward. I think it's innovative and I think it's the direction we want to go in to give kids these kinds of chances. So, thank you. Now, um this you might remember I forecasted the last time we met and I spoke to the policy committee about it. The most common catalyst for a policy to come to me and then to the committee and then to you is a change in the state law and this is no exception. So, Connecticut is changing the regulations regulating entry into kindergarten. Right now, the way it stands, the existing law, you have to be uh five by September 1st
064to enter kindergarten, but you can apply for a waiver and the district will evaluate your skills and dispositions as a learner and as a student and decide whether you're precocious and ready to go on or whether it'd be better for you to take another year before you go into kindergarten. And um that condition still pertains for our folks who are approaching this next enrollment. Anybody that wasn't five by September 1st and wanted that evaluation process got it. But of course, we're going to bring ourselves in line with existing law going forward. So, the change in this policy, it's not a complicated one. The redline version in this one is not hard to follow. It just removes all the language about waiverss and simply says to enroll for kindergarten, you have to be 5 years old
065as of September 1st in that year. So that'll become right now you can still a district can opt to provide that waiver for this year which we are but going forward that option will go away and every district must go with that state law. So this will bring our policy in line with the law as it's to be amended. Um and so it's it's on for a first read for you to look at and consider. And this is not one of the complicated gnarly ones that I've pestered you with this year. This is a more straightforward one. Um, okay. So, can I have a motion to approve for first read? >> I shall move. >> Uh, second. >> Is there any discussion? All in favor? >> Is there anyone opposed? Extensions. It passes for first
066read. Thank you. Uh, can I have a motion to adjurnn? Second. Making sure. All right. Just checking. All right. All in favor? All right. Thanks everyone. Have a good night.