001Good evening everybody. Welcome to April I cannot believe it's April 6. It's flying by to tonight's board of ed meeting. Uh Justin, can you please take attendance? Sure. Joe Abdullah >> here. >> Vicky Salon >> here. >> Stephanie Colnik here. >> Jesse Leeman >> here. >> Angela Mirulo >> here. Alex McNottton here. >> Justin Angley here. Jen Pod >> here. >> Jane Sergeant. >> We know. We heard her. >> Pete Tagley. >> Mary Weber and Christine Widig. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, next up is public comment on agenda items only. Is there anybody here or on Zoom that um is here to speak about agenda items? Ben is shaking his head. No. Okay. Thank you. Moving on to um the consent agenda. We have two different uh consent consent agendas. We have the district budget
002hearing for the 23rd and also the board of education meeting on the 23rd. Is there anything on either of the minutes? That doesn't look right. >> Mary, >> did you just say hang on? You need your mic? >> I know. Um I I can't remember which one it was on, but it said that >> to make sure that we know what we're which one we're looking at. >> I don't have it with me. >> Okay. Well, um >> um it's it's we made it a motion to uh you asked for a motion to approve the minute uh approve the budget and it's it's and then it said I seconded it. They don't they don't have anybody that firsted it that made the motion. It always says it's it's uh a after that >> which would
003be >> I believe that's probably on >> the on B. >> Probably B. It's way >> it >> says Alex made a motion and Joe seconded it. Um, uh, Angela. No, it's an Angela made a motion and Mary seconded. >> Oh, okay. I didn't I don't have that on mine. I looked twice. >> Okay. >> So, that looks good. >> I thought it was Angela and I was going to say I thought it was >> it says and then on the other Yeah. And then you made a motion to adjourn and Stephanie said >> it was it was on on the the um the budget. >> Okay. Um Yeah. I think I think it looks good. >> Yeah. But thank you, Mary. Alex, do you see anything? >> I did not. I motion to accept
004the minutes. >> I think we don't need a motion if everything looks good. >> Okay. >> Only if things don't look okay, then we can. So, I think we're all right. Um, but thank you. Uh moving on now to uh the presentation of our aggra science program and recruitment update. So hello Tyler, welcome. I'm sorry, Mr. Kremens. I was going to do that during the board report, but if we if we do you have to do something? No, I had spoken to them about doing it at the Yeah. Okay. Thanks. That's okay. >> Good. All right. Is that okay? Are you sure? Nope, I don't want that. All right, guys. Good evening. Nice to see you all. >> Hi. >> So, this is my uh update for this year on recruiting and just some other
005things that have been happening. So, nice uh very very >> Is this okay? >> Can you turn that down without >> some of the uh accomplishments that we've uh achieved this year as a department? The the instruction that we that you guys can see on a daily basis with our current staff again is just really really good. Uh kids like our teachers and because of that they learn from them. Um, our teachers care a whole lot too about the preparation and assessment that goes into their daily work. Um, and because of that, we're seeing low attrition. That's always something that we're trying to to limit if we can. Uh, and we're seeing more participation in the FFA. That's probably been one of the most significant changes. And also, uh, higher quality SAPE projects. So, as
006far as the three circle model of agricultural education, we're seeing improvements in each of those areas. our FFA chapter. Uh we we did discuss this in the fall, but we had uh three nationals teams competing. We had our highest student individually placed uh so far and that was a ninth individually placed in food science. Um so that is about 200 students compete in that contest. So this kid got ninth. Um something else that we started this year was is called FFA committees. So basically this was a result of having too much interest in our F FFA officer team. So rather than turning away students who had a desire to be involved in the program and help the chapter, uh Megan and Megan decided to come up with this idea of FFA committees. And basically what
007that is is uh there's community service committee, there's uh facilities committee, there's different committees that help in different areas of our programs. And these students because they have a vested interest in helping have actually taken an independent role in running these committees and coming back to us with uh hard feedback on things that we can do to improve the program. They even present these ideas at the FFA meetings and it's just our way of including more students in a leadership role in the program which has been really really helpful. Just this week we uh received a skid steer which is going to be really really helpful for us uh as far as just moving material, grading the horse paddic, uh moving logs to the sawmill area. It is a really really nice piece of equipment
008for our program and we can also use it in the uh tractor driving contests. We've expanded our community partnerships. So uh upcoming we've got a little project that we're doing with the Bridgewater Land Trust. Uh we're building bluebird boxes for them and the kids are going to go there and install them and it'll be a fun day. Uh the veterinary science students have been working with the Roxberry Vet Clinic. If you guys have seen that beautiful building down there in Roxberry that they just put up, um that's a very exciting partnership that we've that Megan has worked hard to to foster. The town of Washington, they just cleared a bunch of uh trees along the road there down in the Washington Depot. So, Jim Britain, good old Jim Britain, uh was able to get those
009logs donated to our program that we're going to mill those and that'll be the wood that we use to build the bird boxes for the land trust. It's really just good to see all these different uh people in our community working together and our counseling department in conjunction with our alumni FFA alumni committee recently put on an SAPE job fair here at the school that included probably about 18 employers all in the agricultural related fields out in the mall. every student in the A program uh visited all the all the employers and talked to them. Some left with jobs, many left with good conversations at least. Um it was beneficial for many of our students. And they also had panelists here in different rooms. Counseling department knocked this out of the park. Uh and each
010panel had uh professionals from animal science, professionals from engineering, and did a live Q&A with our students. And that was the entire school. Uh any it was a sign up basis. So anybody who was interested in attending could attend. So that was an event that benefited all of Shapog. Our fall expo based on feedback from you guys, from the board subcommittee, from community. We actually expanded that event in the fall to include more than just the ecoin expo. So we had something for everybody is how we kind of advertised it. So, we uh did the barbecue chicken lunch, which actually we sold out of like 60 meals. We did a floral arranging class. Uh we grew mums and sold the mums. We had a petting zoo. We did hay rides. Um every one of our
011teachers was here running something and it was really well attended. Our bizaar keeps getting bigger and bigger every year. You guys are great with the collecting of uh the welded projects and we thank you guys for being loyal customers in in that aspect. But uh we did well with the bizaar and uh we we sold dog treats this year and they like sold out in like 20 minutes and I was very surprised by that. And we're always looking to add something. Um but we we had a a fun evening at the bizaar this year. The new evaporator has finally been completed. Uh, it's been a pretty involved project up to this point and we still have a little bit more work to do to get the machine actually running fully. This syrup that is in
012front of you was actually produced in our old machine from last year. Um, and Jesse uh actually donated a bunch of sap collection equipment to our program this year which we were able to use. So, thank you for that Jesse. And you also commented on the clarity of the syrup. We got a uh filter press and that thing makes all the difference. Um it is a really really awesome piece of equipment. So next year we've got the filter press. Uh we just purchased a finishing pan for all this syrup so we can finish it all in one batch. Uh we got the new machine. So next year is going to we we did actually make like just over five gallons of syrup this year. So it was still a really good year. Um but next
013year will be even better. But that's an exciting thing and I'm looking forward to doing that and I hope the weather's good next year. And uh we expanded our tractor repair unit. So Mr. Bolinsky in the past he's brought his own machines in for the kids to work on. This year the students actually were able to uh get their own equipment and bring it here. So uh it's good to see the kids taking ownership of their own learning, bringing equipment here. And he is next to them every step of the way. uh they fix their equipment and they drive it home or they trailer it at home. This is just a couple random pictures that I picked throughout the seasons. The top left is uh the fall expo. I picked this picture. This was the
014uh the pumpkin carving. A lot of little kid there was a lot of little kids here that day which was a lot of fun. A date at the capital was just happened recently. Ben actually did a nice write up of that event uh where we met legislators from the state, the governor, the commissioner of agriculture. I think Hayden, who was sitting over there, actually attended. Um, or that you went last year or did you go this year? You Okay. You went this year. Great. That's right. That's right. Yes. Dan Baxter and Hayden were interviewed by uh Fox 61 News that day, too. Um, a picture from the bizaar. The booth was just lights out, no pun intended. It was a really nice display that the kids came up with and they made these wool ornaments
015that I'm remembering now as I look at this picture. The bottom left is a picture from nationals. Uh really in one of those students was the student who placed ninth individually in the whole country. I wanted to highlight our animal science program that is continuing to just have really really high levels of student interest uh and just the utilization of our facilities is continuing to happen. And then I just had a cool picture of a student uh running the oxy acetylene in the shop just to sort of we're doing a whole lot of different stuff. Okay. So I think maybe the most significant thing for the presentation tonight uh the recruitment update. So just some numbers for you all. Our applications this year actually went down. So we we've got 88 this year compared to
016107 last year and 111. Now before uh anyone is concerned about that what I'm realizing throughout the process is that most of these applicants of the 88 know what a is now. So I think and and Sylvia and Mike have come with me to all the interviews this year between them, but we've we've admitted 55 incoming eighth graders and up to that 55th kid was pretty strong demonstrated interest compared to the past where the 50th 51st 52nd it was sort of like does this student even know what a is? Do they want to come here? Now I'm realizing that throughout this process, the cultures that are being built at these at these different schools, kids are understanding more about what a is. And I think part of that is uh obviously they're doing good work
017in their buildings. But I've done the presentation for four years now and it's it's a similar presentation, but I see the same faculty each year. So, I think once I leave, they're all collectively ex reinforcing these things that I say, uh, that just about what we do here, um, cows and tractors and welding isn't for every kid, and that's okay. We want the kids that want to do that, and we're we're getting them. I think uh like I said, even up to this very last student that was admitted, we have a really strong interested class of students coming here and those are the kids that we need to stay here and they need to like it. So, we're we're we're going to be okay. We did admit one rising junior. So, this student was a
018uh she moved here from Florida and had like some veterinary science work in her transcript and she actually audited a seat in the horse training class this year as a non-ag student. Um, and it was a natural fit. She's she's a good fit for the program. Uh, moved here as a sophomore. So, that's that that is why this says 56 and not 55. um those attrition numbers the four that is from this current school year for last year's freshman. So we we have had four students exit so far. Um somebody asked me the most common reasons for that. Uh I would say the first one is kind of generic and that is just it's just not for me they say to me or uh I I have a different career interest is sort of the
019first reason. And the second reason which is very common for our out of district students is the bus ride is too long. And uh that's that's just a thing we have to deal with, you know, but those kids from Bethl and Danbury have an hour ride. I just did an exit interview today for a young lady from Danbury and uh her mother, she said, "My mom's making me because I she doesn't want to pick me up." So uh but but that's just the reality. And uh we're not seeing kids leave because of the program itself generally. It's just not for them or the bus ride's too long or uh and and that's all it's all normal too. We've we've planned for five students a year to to exit. That's kind of like what we know
020to expect. Any questions on this slide or do I take questions now or at the end? >> Can keep going unless someone has a question. Yeah. >> So if you had attrition of four students and it looks like uh okay is there I sort of see some equilibrium over the last few years between like let's call it 55ish. >> Oh yeah. >> Is there a sweet spot? Like is there a number that you're aiming for? >> Yeah. And uh this is obviously a number that we can all work together as a district to determine, but uh we're sort of planning on that 55 a year. So the last three years, that is what we've strived for, anticipating the five students will leave, which would leave us with 50 interested uh committed students per grade level.
021Uh eventually that would leave us with a total in the program of 200 kids. uh that is I think an ideal size for what we've got here facilities wise um but it's just a matter of keeping them here you know so I think our sophomore class and freshman class right now are actually do I have that here maybe I have that on the next slide but uh that is our that is our goal we want to obviously this affects math English all the other curriculum areas too in our building so we want be cognizant of that and work with counseling and work with central office and do this together. But uh that 50 per grade level is really I think a number that works for our program. Go ahead Ben. Oh good. So uh our
022current enrollment this year is 161 kids in the program. that is with the attrition that even as of today next year that it's going to bump up by 17. So we'll have 178. Uh I want to say the year after that is our junior class. Our junior class now is in the 40s I want to say. So it won't bump up a whole lot. Um but it will bump up a little bit the following year too. But uh so 178 is what we're looking at for next year. And just kind of uh some closing goals that we've got. >> Tyler, just one more question. So if next year you're at 178 and you think sort of the sweet spot is 200 to maximize use of the facilities and obviously we get revenue from that. Um,
023is there a plan for attracting or retaining additional students to get closer to that 200, whether it's in the immediate term or medium term? >> I don't think we'll hit the 200 for three. Uh, so like not next year. I'm not even sure the following year, but the following year, I think we would. I think it's going to take about three years to get there. Um, but with the high quality instruction that I'm seeing and the uh just the work that this current staff is is putting into the the program, I think we're going to see the attrition really level off and uh see much less of it. in in with the recruiting and just being clear on I forgot to mention that one thing that we did and Sylvia and Mike uh helped me
024with this is we changed all the interview questions and were very clear one of the questions was uh long and I asked it 88 times uh we have this thing in our program called SAPE it stands for supervised agricultural experience it's this you work at a volunteer you're paid job like a paragraph of what it is would you have access to an SAE outside of school and what would it be? So, we asked every single student that said it was a requirement of the program. We're very very clear about the expectations, the extra work, uh which again does eliminate some applicants. Once once they hear that, they're like, "Uh, I'm I'm good. I don't want extra things." But the ones that apply are they know that that's a requirement. They're willing to do it. Um,
025so that is also helpful in getting applicants who know the expectations. Tyler, I >> Yeah. Uh >> at what point would you think that in numbers would we have to add another teacher? >> Yeah. So, uh the statute is 35 students per faculty member should should um so that would be 210 students. So, I would hope that when we hit the 200, we would uh be able to support another full-time a teacher. Uh my hope is that it would be a full-time plant science natural resources person to run it run that facility back there. Um and then I would fill in wherever needed as far as FTEES go. This elective, that elective, eighth grade, 7th grade, freshman plant, doesn't matter. I can teach whatever. Um, but once we get close to that 210, that would
026at least uh be reason to talk about it. >> Yeah. Know, we've talked about this in the past because it does have an impact a little bit each year. Um, how many students we have that are in the program from Chapag or from our sending towns on, you know, how we fill out some of our gened classes like math and English. Um, do you have like just a broad or kind of general idea percentage-wise like each year? Is there a number that we're also trying to reach there? Do we cap it at like Shap students or region 12 students or is that number just kind of evolving each year? >> You're asking if there's a number of students who >> like do we take like 20% region 12? >> Oh, no. No. Uh, >> what
027is I understand. So basically uh we score the applicants on the eight categories that are in the application. Uh interview, demonstrated interest, academics, behavior, standardized test scores. Uh we made a category called answer to SAPE. Um I'm forgetting two of them off the top of my head, but there's there's eight categories. We have a criteria attendance. That was another uh highly weighted category. But uh then we des made descriptors for each category. So one to three absences is five points, four to seven absences is four points, etc. So it's it is uh it it takes the guesswork out of it. So let me bring it back around for you. Once we do that for all 88 students, all we do is rank them highest scoring and we just take the top 55 kids. So, uh,
028we can even put your hand over the town with the exception of New Milford. We do have to count those kids and just make sure that we're, you know, being good partners with them as far as their district plans go. But, uh, >> are they our only funding count that has a cap? >> Yep. >> For this year, do you know the breakdown of how many region 12 students? >> Yeah, 10 applied and nine were accepted. >> Okay. So, I'm and I'm happy with that. Uh, a few years ago, we had 32 apply. So, it it's we don't want we don't want to turn anybody away, you know. So, I think 10 is a really good number from any town. If they have 10 kids apply, that's great. Some of our towns were down, some
029of our towns were up. Brookfield was a relevant example of a town that was up a lot. Uh, they're they went from nine last year to 17 applications this year, so they were up quite a bit. Um, everyone else is Danbury was down a little bit from talking with counseling. Uh, I guess they have a new building over there, the West School or Western something of that nature. It's a it's a technical sort of school with welding and I don't know much about it, but it seems pretty cool. Uh, the counselors did tell me that some of their students were going there. Abbott is another, you know, it's popular and they do a good job there. And I did watch Abbott Tech's recruiting presentation this year and try to steal some inspiration for next year.
030Uh, one thing they did was they brought students with them, which I've done too, but their their students have uh, note cards and they sort of read to the audience, which to me feels less authentic, but hey, works for them. But I'm always trying to improve, you know, the only really thing that we changed about the recruiting process was our open house. So rather than the eighth grade open house for agg, we did the entire shapog at 8th grade open house. So we had all the department heads here, the a facility running, horses going, welders going. Uh it was a prospective student in and aggra science student night. So any student interested in chap was welcome to attend that night. That was the major change that we did this year. And I think my presentation
031was better than last year to be honest with you. But uh I'm happy with the kids we got. Yeah. >> Sorry. Um, also Henry Abbott Tech brought t-shirts. You didn't. >> Yeah. All right. Hey, t-shirts. We can do that. >> I heard it from the eighth graders. Yeah. So, um, and the new high school did bring a lot of interest at the new academy and they did a lot of hoopla and Danbury about it. So, a lot of kids did want to attend there >> um, as opposed to here. So um so that's why the numbers were a little bit lower but not that much. Yeah. Um I do recall last year um there was a lot of talk a lot of question about our plant science you know um department and um a lot
032of questions about you know when are we going to get that going? When are we going to get a you know an FTE in there to really get our plant science department going? And um and now I just heard you say that you know we probably won't reach that 200 for another 3 years and then that's when you know once we get to 210 we'll you know probably get another FTE and um so are we are we saying are you saying that the plant science department um is not going to be up and running full force for another three years or because we don't have an FTE in there for for plant science. >> No, I'm not saying that. I I'm I teach in there. I teach two classes. Um and I don't like to
033toot my own horn, but I do a good job. I believe I I think I do a good job over there. And and uh just kids are excited and they do know that there's only two upper class courses that they can take though compared to other classes. There's uh I don't know. I don't know really know the the the reasoning, but um I I'm not worried about the plant science facility is running. Uh we're having a lot of fun and doing some good learning over there. Um and as far as the next couple years, we'll navigate that. Uh the floral shop is, you know, you guys can see the the floor arrangement of the month that that's going well. Um the sugar house again, this was a good good year for us. We got honey
034bees out there that made it through the winter. Um so we're doing good stuff out there. I'm not worried about it. Just to me, it just makes sense to do that. So, >> um by the way, uh Mary posted on social media the Easter arrangement. Absolutely stunning. >> Yeah. Yeah, it was killer. >> Absolutely stunning. It was gorgeous. Had I known, I I would have purchased one. And I said, "I'm in for next year." Yeah. So, get the bunny the bunny things you're going to be selling in May, but I'm going to get the arrangements for next year. Absolutely stunning. >> Yeah. No, they do a good job over there. >> Many people commented on that flower flower arrangement, I have to say. So, next year by >> Thanks, Mary. Good advertisement. Just to build
035on the point that Tyler made and that great question from you Vicki because I also remember you know a really engaged discussion about those things a lot of interested stakeholders and they're they're probably still out there you know wondering how this will go and the two thing two qualifiers that I would want to add is we're also thoughtful when we talk about growth in agri science which is a wonderful goal to maximize opportunities for those folks coming in we also have to be mindful of the resources we have on the ship side and to be judicious about that because when you have a new a student here, they also have to take science and math and English. And so that's part of the big systems thinking level plan about how we set our growth rate.
036And then we did um listen to the folks who said, "But plant science is plant science is the paramount thing in this state." And we've got Tyler, who's the best plant science guy in the state, teaching more plant science now than he was when this conversation at at the inception of the conversation. So those are things that I think might when folks think back and think about that in a in a the big picture from the view from 30,000 ft might make them feel a little better about >> Yeah. And one other thing that I think helped me in the past was I I was able to teach freshmen and just because of how course signups work and just demand. I haven't been able to teach freshman at Chipog yet. So that was my way
037of sort of getting to know them the first day of school where now they just kind of know me from the interview. They know me from the halls. They know that they're interested in plans. I'll take this class with this guy, but they don't really know me. But in the past when I've had freshman classes, I've really been able to funnel them into that class better. Uh I think if we're able to do that, if we can if we can get me in the freshman class next year, I think I can get more kids in the plant science class. But my sophomores are taking it junior senior year. So, all right. Where were we? I know. I know. Yukon's on the night, too. So, I'm trying to This is fun, though. I like this. >>
038Don't worry. I'm watching. >> You're going to stream it right there. >> Don't worry. You can't see it on any of the major TV stations in Connecticut. >> All right. Figure it out. Anyway, you're good. Don't worry. >> Yeah, you're making a good time. >> My slides. Yeah, >> I think I was still going on this. >> Oh, yeah. So, uh, we've done a lot of work with the curriculum actually. Uh, Megan and Megan have designed these, uh, workbooks, and it's something that I've never seen at another school, but it is basically a there's several classes that they've done. And I think the main ones are freshman, freshman animal science. And then it's broken down like day one, day two, here's the lab, here's the lab. Like, so anybody could take this. I could hand
039it to them and tomorrow they could teach these classes. Our goal as a department is to do that for every course. That's going to take some time, but that has been a huge thing that I've seen like, wow, that's really useful for our program. And obviously, we want to continue to improve everything that we do instructionally. including SE capstone and continue to expand our ECE course offerings which are pretty popular I've seen this year using the facilities we're doing uh we're doing a really good job of that um that the electives that we've developed with Kerry have really uh allowed us to do that getting kids into these specialized forestry floral design dog grooming for a semester allows us to keep these spaces all full keep uh we have a young department. Uh, and we'll
040be getting another young person, I think, next year, too. So, we want to just continue to be apprised of all the PD opportunities that are available to them and us. And I want to keep getting the best quality kids for the program. Industry connections is something that we will never run out of and we will always need. Uh Danbury and Bethl are two of our areas where we have gotten a few from there this year, but surprisingly for how large Danberry is, there's not a whole lot of uh egg, at least industries uh who hire our students. So that is a challenge. This summer, I actually drove to businesses, Dom's Garden Center, a couple floral shops right down there, and handed them SAPE pamphlets. uh and nobody called me, but I think I went to
041seven or eight different places trying to get that done. But continue, I'm we'll continue to try to do that as well. We have a student who's going to graduate with her veterinary technician certificate for her SE capstone, which is great. And I know that Megan has worked with a few other kids doing online modules uh to help those students uh achieve that goal. We do the Surf Safe certification. We would like to add the forklift and OSHA certification as well as the pesticide applicator certification which is just an online exam but is a tough one. We we this is a daily thing maintaining our facility. We have a lot of stuff here. Uh a lot of it is very very beautiful and uh we coordinate and work together to to do this and central office
042has been really helpful with this uh our weekend and weekday operations people that come here and work and assist because uh it is a lot especially with uh six seven horses up in the facility every day and it's a lot of stuff but we're we're getting it done. And then just to have a lens of uh continuous improvement is the goal. you know, there's always stuff that we can improve and we we'll see it together and this department knows what is good and bad, too. So, there's five of us here that are trying to always improve. So, it's really really a good team we've got. I'm sorry, Angela. I think I took too long. But, is there any uh questions? >> Anybody have any questions? >> Question. probably should be for later, but I was
043afraid that uh you wouldn't be here. Um, how many people do we have going to the FFA convention? 20. I want to say it's sign it out for me. >> 40 40 people. >> 40 kids and then how many chaperons? >> 40 kids and four chaperons, I think. >> How many buses does that require? >> Just Just one. Just one. >> Okay. >> Getting my signals from >> the last I think >> that we shared a bus with with with somebody else, but we we filling the bus up ourselves. >> Yep. Last year, I think was actually the first year, second year that we've we've gone ourselves. >> Uh three years ago, we did join with another school just because the cost worked out better for us that way. But then the last two years
044we've uh been able to to fill the charter bus and uh with all of our own kids. >> Okay, great. That was my question. >> And that event has also grown each year um because of her. Really? So >> absolutely. >> Yeah. >> No, that's great. >> Anything else? Can you tell me the two uh what are the two plant science classes that you're teaching right now? >> Plant science 10, plant science 11 and 12. Just the uh core classes. And last semester I taught landscaping >> and just we service the mowers and just did some land maintenance and just as a way to get those machines running. >> Yeah. >> Um as one of those useful elective classes. >> Yeah. >> And then next year we're offering uh I want to we change from
045landscaping I think to maybe aquaponics or something like that. And then it it really depends on the request too. If 20 kids want plant science 10, we'll teach that two semesters. >> So when I throw out ideas, you can roll your eyes at me 100% because I'm really great at the ideas. >> I won't do that. >> Oh, you can. No, you 100% can. But um and I because I did not know about the the floral arrangements because I have not been on I didn't see your um your story or whatever on Facebook but but um I for your students if I because obviously the weekends are hard for not for you and certainly not for you but for your students if they were ever to sell at the uh Roxberry market if they had
046like 10 or 15 to sell at the Roxberry Market, the Bridgewater Store, and out in front of the Washington Market on the weekend. Um, it would be a great way for uh a couple of reasons. One, to get their um branding, right? Just to get their face out there to see for showing people what they do outside of school. I think it's a great opportunity for for people to get to know who they are and what you are all doing up here would be a great opportunity to then pull them up here. >> That's not an eye rollable idea at all. Uh >> because I don't I just know that you all do such you work so hard on during the week. I don't want to see I'm not I don't want you guys to
047work the weekend. So that's not what I'm implying. But I just think it would be a great opportunity for uh the community to see what you're doing outside of school. Yes. And I'm I I would even be happy to stand at the table and help um so you guys don't have to do it or any of us would do that. Um because I think that would be just really a wonderful opportunity >> um to to do that because I think that um it's really hard to get community up here sometimes just the the average or non- average Joe's that live in our community so to speak um to see what you guys do. So, I just think that would be really wonderful. And it could be anything, right? It could be your your beautiful floor
048arrangements um for spring, but it could also be anything that you guys are doing, >> the Christmas stuff or >> any of that. But I just think that if there's something that you guys are really doing and it doesn't have to be all of your stuff, but if you just thought like did 20 stuff and then it's sold out, it feels really good too that you're selling it out and you're done early and you go home and you're like and then people kind of want you you leave them wanting more, which always feels good, too. Um because it's just an opportunity to just market and brand what you guys are doing up here. >> Yeah. No, that's Thank you for that. I think uh that just makes me think we're doing an event, the Garden
049Pooa this year for the first time. That's the week after the plant sale and we're going to have flower arrangements at the plant sale. So maybe we can if we have extras. We didn't last year, but if we do, I can bring them down to the garden. >> Like just maybe plan it for you just put a few aside and just bring them down and talk to the people at the markets and just say, "Hey, can we come down for a few hours?" >> I just think it's a great opportunity to connect to the community. >> For sure. Yep. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thanks. >> Thanks. Okay. >> All right. >> And I just want to thank you, Tyler, and you, Megan, too, and all of your staff because I know how hard you
050guys work, and you do an amazing job with the students. >> Um, and so, thank you. >> Thank you guys for always uh having our back and helping us, too. >> Jesse, thanks again for this equipment. >> Thanks, Sarah. Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay, awesome. Um, great. Uh, moving on to, uh, board chair's report. I'm going to defer because we're really lucky to have, uh, Lexi Thomas here. So, I'm going to, um, use all of my board chair reports from here on for the rest of the, uh, year for any, uh, senior that comes. So, I spoke about Lexi Thomas, who does, uh, the Spartan um, the Spartan Times. She's gonna be coming up here to talk about her senior project and we're really happy to have you and she waited um to come here.
051And did you win? >> We did not. >> I'm sorry. >> Okay, good job. >> Who'd you win? Who Who'd you play? I mean, >> uh New Milford. >> Oh, >> yeah. Sorry. >> Okay. >> My latest edition in February. >> Uh or from February. Yes. a couple weeks ago. Um, first of all, thank you for inviting me to present um, my project and share everything that I've been doing. It's something I'm very passionate about and have worked very hard on this year. Um, my name is Lexi Thomas and I'm a senior here at Chipog. Um, and for my senior project, I've taken over the Spartan Times, which is a school newspaper. Um, so what started as a love for telling and writing stories all throughout my childhood has grown to something like um, much
052bigger in my life. Um, I'm actually planning to major in communications, I think, at Yukon next year. Um, >> yes. Um, so I have not only looked up always looked up to my brother Payton, who started the Spartan Times last year, but again, I've always loved writing, so taking this over as my senior project felt natural for me. Um, it's it's a project that's always keeping me busy. Um, whether I'm interviewing a community member, sending out emails, or writing my own articles, or editing other students articles, I'm never bored with my project. Um, so in the beginning of the year, um, I created a an essential question, which was, how can a student led newspaper inform, engage, and empower a school community through, uh, ethical, creative, and inclusive journalism? So, I created this with my
053senior project teacher, Mr. Simpson um early on in the year and then just to guide me and then from there I kind of just did my thing and took off. Um I chose this project because I wanted to empower student voices. Um again I've always loved writing. Um I wanted to connect with my community which is a huge part of senior project. Uh I wanted to collaborate and um bring students together all from out from out from throughout um from many uh grades throughout the school. Um I work with sixth graders who have given me um Netflix show reviews. Um but I've also worked with Mr. Dave Reovven this past week interviewing him about um the Chap past and history um in Washington High School, which will be a feature in my next um newspaper.
054And I just wanted to be a leader in in my community. Um I've always loved working with other people, so again, this felt natural to me. Um some things that I've learned so far this year are journalism basics. This started off in semester 1 when I took um a virtual high school VHS class called journalism. I did this all online all by myself and it was very independent and I just learned many basics from there. I have also learned the difference between digital versus print journalism. As you can see I print um copies. I work with Miss Livingston in the front office and then I've worked with Miss Lamont, one of the librarian staff, uh to link all of the uh copies of Spartan Times that I've produced so far in chronological order on the
055uh Chap Library website so anyone can access them at any time and so that I can just keep track of them throughout the year. And um yeah um I've learned the importance of responsibility and how to write ethical journal journalism um and then also professionalism um and how to be taken seriously as a student and a young kid. And I think the most important thing I've learned this year is how to talk to people and put myself out there. The way I distribute um each copy is hand delivering to um stores and places in my community. I literally just walk into stores and say, "Introduce myself and my project and I say, "Is it okay if I can um leave a few copies on your table?" Um, some of these places include the Poe, Marty's,
056Hickor Bookshop, the Washington Market, the Broxberry Market, the Bridgewater Beastro. So, yeah, I've been to many places and then I keep returning and that just connects me directly with my community community. It shows my face to people, gets my name out there, my project and Chap and what we're doing there. And then obviously people take it from there from all from many towns and see what's what we've been up to at Chipog. Um, some skills I'm still working on uh and I'll continue to work on throughout the year is how to manage my time efficiently. Um, with the newspaper there's many deadlines, so I have to keep myself as well as other students on track. So, I have learned to um follow up um with people and make sure they really get stuff to me.
057Um how to use feedback effectively. This is something hard for me, but I'm still working on it. How to problem solve on the fly. And then how to make big decisions and feel confident in them as I'm publishing my work to my community. So far, I I've published three editions. I'm currently working on my fourth, and I will publish that um this month, April. And then one more right before I graduate and that'll be it. >> Great. Wonderful. That's all. >> Does anybody have any questions for Alexi? >> Yes, Joe. >> Do you have a su successor for this uh >> project? >> So, I'm currently working on getting Luca and Glaze to take over my project next year. Um, he was very good friends with Payton and he's very into the role Pog thing.
058So, I'm hoping that'll um give him some motivation to really like stick with it next year. But um I have a few other people in mind. Um if Luca doesn't want to take it, I will reach out to other juniors, but obviously I have to do that. Pretty sure by the end of this month just so I can like like 100% hand it off. But um one of my biggest like selling points is I'm giving you a senior project. Um, I mean, taking this from my brother Payton, he kind of he gave me an outline of what to do, but he kind of left me hanging. Um, I in the beginning of the year, I bought my own MacBook with my own money because the Chromebooks um don't support an app called Adobe Inesign. That's
059where I uh create the entire layout and put everything together. So, from there, I was like, "Okay, Payton, like maybe we'll FaceTime or maybe you'll come home." Cuz he's in New Haven, so it's not that far away. And with baseball and school, it just didn't work out and we couldn't um uh create a time to to work together. So, I just had to figure out figure it out all on on my own. Um so, I feel like this was probably a better thing because I learned to be more independent from the start. But, um I don't know. I made a plan in the beginning of the year. um my proposal, my senior project proposal was due I'd say beginning of November and I had to make a timeline of um like everything in my project
060and I chose to publish by monthly and that really gave me like a set um timeline and goals and um I feel like it's not that hard of a senior project, but um it can be seen as like a handoff, but I don't know. I've leveled it up so much compared to my brother last year that I feel like I've told him that I've made it way more organized. I create templates um for my um writers. I reach out to them. I meet in person if they want to. I do one-on-one editing with them. I brainstorm ideas with them. I hold a club meetings. Um I I do a lot. And so um I feel like I have created a plan for someone else to take this on. So, um, I mean, the end of
061September, I was already planning or writing articles for my first edition while my classmate, some of my classmates didn't even know what their senior project wanted to be yet. So, I feel like someone may want to take this over. So, not yet, but I'm working on it. It's great. >> You've done a great job with it, and I think I think if you handpick the right person, it should be a pretty smooth transition. Thank you. But you've done an excellent job with it and I hope it continues to look the same >> and uh good luck. >> Thank you. >> You did a wonderful job. Anybody else have any other questions? Christine, >> Alexi, you're a great writer. What I did notice in the paper is you write a lot of the articles. How have
062you found uh the task of attracting writers from the school to also participate in the paper? Uh do you think that there's a lot of interest? Did you have to really kind of sell it? I'm just curious how how that worked out. >> So that's actually something I've struggled with this year. Um I wrote a lot of uh articles in the first edition, which is what you guys are looking at right now. From there, um, everyone saw my first edition and I remember walking past Ben Churk in the in the mall and he's like, "Wow, this is actually a lot of work." And I was like, "Yeah, it's my senior project." Um, and from there that kind of got my project out there and my name out there and people just naturally came to me
063and asked like, "Hey, I um I'm an A student. Can I write an article for A?" And I was like, "Sure, that's awesome." Um, and then I worked with them. Um, I have taken over the newspaper club. Um it's very small but that has gotten some people as well. And then um I mean I'm a senior so like if I approach you it's probably scary. So um but I have uh lots of friends uh who are willing to write um articles for me. So, I just I tend to go to um like my friends who I think would be willing to write for me and whether I work with them or they write the article independently um I just reach out and say, "Hey, would you want to write an article about your sports team
064or this club you're doing or something you're interested in?" So, it's been a struggle for me and I'm still working on getting a bigger um writing team, but I've found my ways around it. So, yeah. >> Great work. Billy, >> thank you. >> Hi, Alexi. >> Hi. How do you get your ideas for stories? Do kids approach you and say, "Hey, you should talk to you should go to this event or you should talk to this student. They have a great story." Or do you seek out stories? So, I actually come up with every story all on my own. I create a Google Doc. Um, in the beginning of the year, I created one and I looked at Mrs. Magners's um like I don't know what it's called but she sends out every month or
065every couple weeks like an agenda like uh of like updates in the school and I'm like okay graduation and then under June I'm like graduation article and then from that I just start thinking I'm like okay senioritis um that's one I just wrote right now um ending of quarter three how are kids feeling like I just go talk to people um from graduation I add that into a clue in my uh last page of the word search. Um or um advice from a senior to a freshman. Um I kind of just I don't know that's like a really fun creative part that I've found very fun to me and it comes natural. So I come up with it all on my own. I lay I lay it out like the first page and then you
066open it and it's okay second and third but they're next to each other so they should probably go together and blend together and be kind of similar articles and then um from there I solidify it and then I I'm like okay I can write this article, this article, this article. I need to find writers for these and then I reach out. So I do it all on my own. >> Great. Do you um plan on So Yukon has a Connecticut Daily Campus, the CBC. Do you plan on continuing up there? Yeah, I'm planning on majoring in communication and then minoring in Spanish and journalism. So, and I mean I just want to continue connecting with people and I love Spanish so that's another part of that could that could help me with that. Um, but
067I actually just went to Yukon Bound Day last Saturday or two Saturdays ago, and I went to a lecture with the dean of liberal arts, I think, and then just walked around and saw like the little tables and I talked to the um one of the journalism teachers, and he said that a group of students actually got sent with the men and women's teams, Yukon's teams, to >> like follow them and uh with their basketball team. So, I don't know, that's my dream. um like being on the court or the field with players and interviewing people and talking to people. Um I don't know if it ever happened, but um >> absolutely. >> Yeah, my favorite part about like writing or like section is uh sports journalism. So I'm planning on continuing there and I
068feel like Yukon's going to give me lots of opportunities and practice in college that I can use in my real life. >> That's great. >> Great. Yeah. >> So good. >> Anything else? Well, Lexi, you did fantastic up here. So, I think that your presentation's going to go really well and we're so glad that you came today. So, thank you for coming. Thanks so much. >> We um did >> put this up on um the board of ed bulletin uh board for the uh board of ed page website page. And you do have your own website page that I think you said that um >> uh the librarian helped you create your own website page as well. Yes. Yeah. >> So, um, we're very excited for you and we're so excited. And you don't have
069any senioritis, right? >> Not really. Not with the senior project. It keeps me in line. >> You're so great. Well, thank you for coming. So happy for you. And you'll let us know when your presentation is. >> Can you email me and I'll share it with the board? >> Yeah, that would be great. Thanks, Lexi. Well done. >> Thank you. >> Awesome. So great. Thank Payeyton. Come join us. Come on up. Welcome. How I'm supposed to follow that because I'm not as prepared as you are. Um, my name is Hayden Fischer. Um I'm a senior in the A program here at Chapod and instead of doing a senior project I decided to go with capstone. So uniquely um I kind of applied late. Um so I think that recently we have done a lot of
070work to get kids to understand what capstone is but in past years it was a wasn't as advertised. So, I wasn't exactly sure what it was until over the summer I had my SAPE visit. So, one thing you have to do over the summer is for your project, uh, one of the ACT teachers comes and just looks at what you're doing. Um, and during my visit, my teacher, Mr. Bolinsky, he said, um, well, this is a perfect project for a capstone. Why don't you just apply for that? And actually, um, very like right after that, I got the papers. I ran over here like during the summer. Mr. Creines was here and he signed it and so I turned my senior project into a capstone during the summer and um that that really got it
071started for me. Um I decided to um do my project as some as a so I have a job I had a job for two summers over the bordering property right here actually these woods. Um, I work at Lynen Hill and over there I do a lot of different things. I do landscaping and I do gardening and beekeeping and taking care of the alpaca they have over there. So, it's not exactly in line with my career, which is an ecoin vet, which is a lot of what my classes are geared towards here. But like taking care of alpaca was cool. Um, but it was interesting because I'm I wasn't usually a plant person. I'm not very good at keeping plants alive in my own house. Um, so it was a quite a learning opportunity. I
072learned how to prune. I learned how to take care of a garden. And um, it was quite it's quite a big property. So what I also do is I helped build trails in the woods. That was a very fun project. Actually, this past year when we had a load of dirt come in to layer um one of the new trails, we found a bunch of turtle legs in in the dirt. That was pretty fun. Um I I think um like other it was Claire Weaten and Dylan George were two students that I worked with there over the summer. I was the only one that stayed for both years so far. And um I think that if other students want to come work there, they would love it. Um they could always use help over there.
073Um things that I've learned besides how to garden better because I was not good at that before um was communication. Like I'm not I was not big on talking to people I don't know. And that is what I had to do a lot there. Worked for a guy that I basically never see. So I had to go talk to all the the manager there and the all the other people that work there. One of the guys, he doesn't really even speak much English, so I had to bring up some of my Spanish classes to uh talk to him. But he's he's very nice. Um I have built very good connections there. like uh her name is Kyle. I believe she's kind of the manager, but also Josh is too. I'm not really sure which one
074of them is the manager. I'm pretty sure it's Josh, though. Um but Kyle, I've built a very good relationship with her over the last two years. Um actually, she this past year, she even uh texted me. She's like, "What dress should I wear to my daughter's wedding?" I was like, "Uh, I like this one." Um, so I've definitely built some friendships there. If I need any sort of letter of recommendation, um, they would gladly give it to me. Um, Josh has been very helpful with my, uh, state degree application and, um, my other SAPE applications that I have to do. So, for capstone, because it's not senior project, I do have to do things that senior project people do have to do. um like give presentations and uh get some hours done. So over the
075summer you have to get at least a hundred hours in before the school year. Um but something different is an application to national national application for SAPE competition. So there's a lot of different categories and Mr. Bolinsky told me that my SAE fit under one of those categories. um which is why I was able to turn it into a capstone project. Um yeah, so that that whole process is during the school year, which is what I've been doing during class. It was quite a long process, but I finally got that in and now I just have to work on my final presentation for the end of the year. Um what else haven't I talked about? >> It's hard to make sure. >> Yeah, I'm sorry. Sorry. I have like a whole like slideshow, but it
076>> No, it's okay. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I mean, we could connect it, but there's quite a lot of pictures. >> Oh, really? I have my computer. I've I've been there. It's pretty >> It's basically >> Oh, yeah. The cucons. We can pickle those. And they have another garage. >> They do do that, too. >> Y >> uh there are I think four or five separate hives, but they're like five or six boxes tall. They're huge. >> So, yes. Thank you. >> It does. Yes. His property I think is 200 acres including his wooden his wood trails um which we do maintain and it's quite a lot of maintenance after storms especially because there's a lot of sticks and stuff everywhere. Um taking care. So he has a long driveway and he has a lot
077of these like beautiful um bark like wood chip um beds with beautiful oak trees. And in the front he has um a red salvia garden in the front of each of them. And just watering all of those plants by myself takes four hours. So it's quite a project cuz they're huge beds. You have to connect at least five hoses from one spigot, drag it up the hill, water, and then keep connecting, bring it up. Luckily this year, um as opposed to last year, I was allowed to drive the golf cart everywhere. So that helps with bringing things around. Um but yeah, it is quite a big place. Every Thursday or Friday, depending on the weather, we will collect um flowers from the cut flower garden down by the vegetable garden and we will make arrangements
078for the weekends because um what I do what we do during the week is eight hours a day we maintain the property, make sure everything looks good and then over the weekend is when the boss comes home and he has a nice place to stay. Um he goes to New York, so it's a nice place to come back to over the weekend. Um they do have a pool that we help maintain up there, too. There's a lot of grasses that need cutting. Um the vibranium in the front by the stone wall needs to get trimmed a bunch, too. And there's a lot of little projects that somehow pop up. So, one thing that I had to tackle by myself uh this past year was like it took me three hours to clear this one tree
079and it's a little one by the barn. So, we didn't really notice it as much, but there was like thorn bushes and these little like sucker plants that that's what we call them uh around the base and it it was just quite a project. So everything, every little corner of the property needs to get maintained and checked at least once a week. And especially the flowers and the vegetable garden, those have to get constantly checked and watered. We have this little thing called a moisture meter. It's like a little metal stick with a meter on the top and when you stick it in the the dirt, it tells you how much water is there. A lot of the plants, especially the the fruit pots up by the house, need to get watered quite often because
080it gets so dry. Um, what else? The alpaca and and chickens. There are chickens there, too, that we take care of. We collect eggs every evening. I think our record is 14 in one day. >> Um, maybe more than that, but we always get quite a few eggs. They're very healthy chickens. and Liam. Liam loves his chickens. And the alpaca, they're very sweet. They're they're the best to take care of. Um I've actually gotten to participate in two of the vet visits, so I come watch them give the injections. Of course, they don't like that very much, but um they're still very good about it. Um >> Great. >> What else? Talked about the trails. Oh, we did used to have quail. I forgot about that. Um, they didn't last as long as we were
081hoping, but we did have quail eggs for a little while, and that was very fun. Um, >> is there anything I forgot to talk about? >> Okay. Are there any questions about what I do? >> Nice work. And it's good to see for both our students that you're so into it and you're finding a >> path that I think will be portable and carry you forward. >> Thank you so much. And Kyle, >> you spin your own honey? Uh, I help the guy who comes and works on them. We we helped collect all the frames for him to make honey and he also uses them to make beeswax and makes them into chapstick and other products. So, we didn't personally spin it on the property, but we did help him go in and collect all
082those frames. >> Well, thank you. Do you have a question? No. Do you have a store where we could purchase the honey and these wonderful vegetables and fruits that >> definitely spoken about? >> Yeah. So, a lot of the stuff that gets grown there is for the chef to make all the meals for the guy there. >> Um, but I think for at least the Bethlehem fair, they did enter some stuff. Um, the farmers market in the depot, they might have some things there, but I would have to ask Mr. rubler. What they do with all the honey? Um, I think they have a ton of honey in in the little uh like house they have at the end of the property where we do all the like jarring of the the beans and stuff.
083Oh, yeah. One big part of what we do is harvesting all of these things that we grow. That that takes a very long time. and one of the fields that they have with a boardwalk through it. Um, we have to set up Japanese beetle bags and that it's not very fun, but they have to get switched out like pretty much daily because there are so many beetles. Um, and we also maintain the pond that's up by the the house. So, we get in these big waiters and we go in and we trim all of the cattails. There's a lot of like sections with different plants around the pond. So there's like a flower garden right there that also has to get watered with the red salvia. That takes up a lot of time, too. It's
084blue salvia, though, so it's much prettier. >> Quite the property, for sure. >> Yeah, it is. >> And Josh and Kyle are pretty wonderful people, and Kyle's hysterical. So, thank you very much. And if I were to live there, I would live in the treehouse cuz that's my favorite place. Beautiful. It's really great. Crazy. >> Thank you so much for coming. Really, thank you. appreciate it. Thank you. >> I look forward to your senior project. >> Yes. Please let us know when your senior project is as well so we can I'll let the board know as well and we'll come and watch. So, thank you. I appreciate it. >> Great. I love it. But uh superintendent's report. >> Just one quick announcement. Um this Thursday the um world affairs forum is going to be returning
085to Pog in its latest incarnation. And the biggest part of that is really finding an exciting keynote speaker which the folks at Chipog and uh Mike Croft managed to do. So, uh, on April 9th, Thursday at 9:30 in the group room, group room east, I think, we're going to have a panel of Shap students, excuse me, who research this topic and are going to present on it, but also Miss Carolyn Ree, who I think lives locally and um has been connected with the United Nations, had a pretty eminent career in the topic that she's going to discuss. uh she is the president and co-founder of something called the shift project which is um a leading nonprofit center of expertise um on the UN guiding principles on business and human rights. So this is going to
086be a student panel students who have been researching this topic with their teachers um and the in the humanities department uh where they're going to be discussing the intersection between human rights international human rights and business practices. It'll be a nice thing. Um, there's been a long history, a long-standing history of the World Affairs Forum here in the region and it's starting to get back to its former luster. So, certainly the board's welcome to uh visit that event. Thursday, April 9th, 9:30 a.m. That's my announcement. >> Great. Thank you. Treasures report. Alex, >> I have no report. >> Right. Committee reports. Agra Science Mary. Um Tyler said it all, but I just want to remind everybody that the plant sale for Agra Science is uh May 9th from 10 to 2. And also the uh
087on May 2nd we're they're having the farm-to-table dinner to support the Agra Science program and the students. And that's on May 2nd and you can purchase tickets through the parents, friends, and FFA alumni site. >> Great. Thank you, Mary. curriculum. Uh Justin, >> so we just had our our meeting earlier um this evening and we we began a discussion on the math pathways. You know, trying to figure out well what is the best way to sequence the math classes in 8 through 12 in order to make sure that our students are set up to be as successful as possible. And this is certainly something that we foresee, you know, an ongoing conversation um for the next few meetings. So, we'll have more to report back next time. >> Great. Thank you. At advance, Joe, >>
088we had a brief board of directors meeting on April 2nd which had discussions of the officer appointments and an overview of the process to evaluate our executive director. Both of these items we will be uh handling in our annual in-person budget approval meeting for the 26 27 uh year which is to be held in May. So it was just a brief meeting and an overview of what our uh what our meeting in May our in-person meeting in May is and that's all I have. >> Thank you Joe. Uh finance and operations Alex. >> Yes. Um, we have not had a meeting uh since uh our last meeting. We had it on uh uh March 2nd. Our next scheduled meeting is not until May. So, I'm thinking that uh Nicole suggested that we have a another
089meeting maybe sometime in April. Um and uh we will send out a uh uh uh invitation to the to the committee to see what dates are available and would work. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh policy Justin. Oh, I'm sorry. Labor negotiations Vicki. >> Nothing new to report. >> Policy Justin. >> Um nothing new. Our next meeting is April 27th. >> Thank you. and nothing to report for long range planning. Uh, new business uh to consider and if appropriate approve a trip request to the FFA National Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. >> So, this is one of our most famous events, but we always have an expert come and talk about it so the board knows >> everything that's going on. So, here we see Miss Barry who's going to talk to us about our signature a
090trip event. and I'm thrilled that you're here. Thank you. >> Thank you so much everybody. Um I don't have a formal presentation. I just wanted to be on hand um in case you all had any questions. Our national convention trip continues to evolve. Uh we started out with six kids my first year in 2021 and now we are hoping to take between 35 and 40 this coming year. Um we are still waiting for some CD competitions to occur later this spring at Yukon. Um, we did also just have a student place first in the district for extemporaneous public speaking and he will be going on to states here in May as well. So fingers crossed he's very excited and we're very hopeful for him. Um, it'd be really cool to see him compete on the
091national stage. Uh, so we're looking forward to taking a great group of kids with four adults and I'm here to help answer any questions about the trip. >> Are the kids required to pay part of the the trip? >> Yeah, great question. Um, we are lucky to have the district support to help offset the cost of the trip, but there is a student family cost to it. We try to offer multiple fundraising opportunities so they can choose to meet that cost in other ways than besides just out of pocket through the family. >> What is the cost per student? >> Um, at this time we're looking at about $300 per student. Um, we also do have a scholarship opportunity available through our parents, friends, and FFA alumni association as well where that will take care
092of that cost too. Do does it feel like some kids aren't going to be able to go because of the $300? >> Um, at this point we haven't run into that situation. Um, but we are very lucky that our alumni has an angel fund where if we were aware of a student or a family came to us and said this is cost prohibitive, we can help make that go away to make sure we can meet the needs of the student. We don't want that to be a limiting factor. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else have any questions? No. Obviously, you're gonna go. >> Thank you. >> Are you going? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> This is a great way to see what's going on and stay relevant. >> Yeah. Your students are so lucky to
093have you >> and we're so lucky to have you. >> Thank you. I'm very lucky to have you. >> Very lucky to have you. >> It's a wonderful place to be. Honestly, >> you're an amazing teacher. >> Thank you. You >> Thank you for all that you do. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> You go above and beyond. >> Yes. >> Thank you so much. >> Absolutely. >> So great. And everybody knows that last was it last year? >> Yeah. >> She left an infant at home. How old? >> Um at that point she was uh two months. >> Yeah. An infant at home so you could give the time and the energy to your students and for that we are so grateful. Thank you. >> So grateful. >> Thank you so much. >> It
094really is a wonderful place to be here. We have a really fantastic group of kids and a great staff. We're very lucky. >> You're so great. Thank you, Megan. >> So do we have to >> Yeah. Make a motion. Can I have a motion? >> Some So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Anyone? Anyone approve? I mean, anyone? >> No. >> Thank you. I'm in. >> Thank you. >> I'm like land at the moment. >> Um, thank you. >> Well, thanks for making it happen for our school and our kids, Megan. Appreciate it. As the board just said, thank you. >> Yes. Great. >> Thank you. We really appreciate your support. >> We appreciate you. Um, moving on to consider and if appropriate to approve uh revisions to the board's meeting
095schedule for 2627. >> Yeah, this is a relatively simple one. The version that you we approved last time had a typo in it. It had the budget hearing occurring before the budget workshops, which is just out of order. So if you look at the March sequence now on the corrected version hoping there's no snow next year to cause any problems in the March sequence that's now corrected the budget workshops come before the district budget hearing which is appropriate. So we just ask that the someone make a motion to uh approve that amendment. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Anyone opposed extensions? When do the committee uh uh schedules arrive or who is in charge of that? >> I think that happens after July 1. >> Yeah. Um so moving on, obviously that was just
096approved to consider and if appropriate approve modifying the school calendar to address the excessive snow days. >> Excessive snow days. Um, and as I forecasted in my most recent, um, update, um, after caucusing with after discussing with our bargaining units, we >> all agreed that Dr. Shells loves the word caucus. >> So, I'm going to buy him a t-shirt. >> I don't want to overuse a word. >> Caucus. >> Yeah. I have to be aware of my audience and caucus is not the right word. >> So, I like to tease him about using the word caucus. after deep discussion with our bargaining units and um the SVEA included and just you know the folks that would be part of this. The recommen recommendation that I want to put in front of the board is what
097I said in my latest update that we would forgive two days run school on June 19th which we would have otherwise been closed as a half day with programming to respect the history of Junth so that our students get that experience as long as they're here. that would allow us to end the year that week instead of going into the later part of June, the latter part of June, and it protects um some instructional time, but gets us out in a way that's mostly reasonable given what we've been through. So, my recommendation would be um to ask the board to support that proposal. >> Does anyone have any um So, we make a motion first and then we can discuss. Can I have a motion to um have the last day of school before June
09819th, 2026? >> Can I have a second? >> Is there any discussion? Questions? All in favor? >> Anyone opposed? Abstensions? Last day of school, June 19th, 2026. >> I have a quick question. Are we going to make any do we make any adjustments on the calendar for possibly more snow days than we allotted this year? >> You mean for the calendar next year? Yeah. >> You know, it's it's a rational question. >> I find that whenever people go through snowmageddon like we went through this year, it's only natural that they want to right away shore up the next year's calendar. And it's which is um not an not a crazy reaction. It's a rational reaction. But most times, you know, you don't face that cataclysm again over and over. And it's best to sort of
099in in the years that I've been in this business, the calendar like the one we've adopted will hold will, you know, serve us in goodstead. >> So, the answer is no. >> Yeah. I I I haven't I think that we've got a good system in place this year, brought it, you know, maxed it out and stressed it out, but overall, we've got a good system that goes over the state minimum. We almost always deliver that. um which is good for our kids, good for the system. Um and we still we start early and we get out early and it's a pretty good pace and I think we shouldn't mess with it right now. >> Okay, Don, the the >> the last time we had snowed was when my kids were in school and that's how
100we came to start school in August instead of September. So, it's already been adjusted for snowageddon days. >> Yeah. folks a boards when they have a year like this they do things like start earlier in August or they take away what might have been a February break that some districts have um and yeah and that's how they get to the place that we're at which I think is mostly again serves us well some folks feel especially if you're from Jersey like you and I Mary right you might think what school starts before Labor Day but um >> oh we never did that there and they still don't by the way >> yeah they don't there but here it's not uncom common and I think when it you're getting out in the second week of June
101which is mostly what happens most people are happy that you started a little early. So >> okay moving on to consider for approval the contract with the board of education of the town um of the town of Sherman commencing 2027 through 2030. >> Yeah. So, we had an opportunity, Nicole and I, um, with also the presence and guidance from Jen, which we appreciated because we know how busy you are, had a chance to meet with board members and the superintendent from Sherman to talk about how we'd move forward with our arrangement with them, uh, their tuition in and what the increase would be. Uh after um several meetings and some discussion and some negotiation which was not cutthroat um we were able to reach what we think is a reasonable adaptation of the tuition rate
102that reflects our rising costs and keeps us in parody with the other venues where um Sherman kids might might attend which I think is New Milford and New Fairfield. And um Nicole, would you want to speak to the nuts and bolts of the contract? Sure. So, we really didn't change anything. Um, the contract that is in the board packet is redlined. So, you can see the changes we made. We obviously made changes to the dates. We made changes the tuition in year-over-year. It's a 3% increase in each of the three years that the contract is for. Um, we did look at uh New Fairfield's rates and New Milford's rates. We are in line with them. were a little bit lower, but they actually also provide transportation we don't because their kids come in on the
103exercise bus. So, that's a cost that New Fairfield and Milford have that we don't have. Um, which is why our tuition is a little bit lower per student. Um, the thing I think that one thing that that Don and I discussed and we discussed with Dr. Kazantino is that um the number of kids that we're getting from Sherman is falling off pretty drastically. So where we used to have about 40 to 45 kids at any given year, the existing sophomore class is three kids and the existing freshman class is four kids. So um one of the issues we we tried to sort of delve into why that's happening and it sounds like a few of the issues are one it fell off the year that New Fairfield opened its brand new high school. So more
104kids shifted there. Um we do have a couple of kids in the aggra science program. So those that three and four doesn't include the kids that are in agra science. They come in through the aggra science tuition schedule. Um and it's it's a much longer bus ride for the kids to get to us than it is New Fairfield and New Milford. And that's definitely been a deterrent and there's not really any way we can fix that. So um we're looking at ways to to try to work with Sherman to to recruit more Sherman kids, but right now our numbers are low. What is the rate as of this year? What are we charging per student? >> So, um the 26 27 year is 16,289 per student. >> 16,000. Okay. >> And then they pay um
105they also pay uh if any of the students that we have get any type of extra services, there's a schedule for extra services where they pay additional. >> Thank you. Did you somebody else have a question? I thought someone Anybody else have any other questions? Anyone else have any questions? No one. Um, okay. >> I know. So, can I know I just didn't know I thought I didn't know if she was doing something. Uh, so can I have a motion to consider for approval the amount? Do we need a motion? Can I have a motion? >> Okay. All in favor? >> Anyone opposed? Abstensions? It passes. Okay. Can I have a motion to adjurnn? A second. All in favor? >> I guess we're all really ready for the Yukon game. Five.