001Good evening everyone. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Um can I'm going to open the floor up for nominations for a moderator and nominate Mattie. Second. Thank you. Um is there any other nominations from not for a moderator? Okay. There is none being made. So I'm going to ask for a motion to close nominations for the moderator for the region 12 district 12 annual district meeting. Thank you. All in favor? Anyone opposed? Extensions. Moving on. All right. So now I'm going to ask uh the board to vote on the moderator, Mr. Mattie. Mr. Patchy. Notice of annual district meeting. Shap Valley Regional School District 12. Notice is hereby given to all those entitled to vote in town meetings in the towns of Bridgewwater, Roxberry, and Washington that a district meeting will be held
002on Monday, May 5th, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. at Chipog Valley School, 159 South Street, Washington, Connecticut, to present for approval the annual budget for the year 2025 2026, prepared by the regional board of education for Chipog Valley Regional School 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, Chapag Valley Regional School District 12, Bridgewater, Roxberry, Washington by Jennifer Pod, Chairwoman, Board of Education, Washington, Connecticut 06793. Chairwoman Pod, I now turn the meeting back to you. Thank you, Mr. You're welcome. I now present the budget for the 202526 school year in the amount of 26,498,71 in accordance with section 10-51 of general statutes. Dr. Rodriguez, superintendent and director of finance, Nicole Grant. There were um I'm asking if there
003are any additional changes to the budget that need to be present for consideration before. Thank you. So, do I have a motion to adjourn until tomorrow, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, and the polls open in each of the three member towns for the purpose of the voting for voting of the question? The meeting shall be considered as adjourned following the close of the polls and the three member towns and announcements made of the results of voting the question. Bridgewater Senior Center, 132 Chestnut Hill Road, opening 12 opening at 12:00 p.m. closing at 8. Roxberry Roxberry Town Hall, 29 North Street, 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. And the Washington Town Hall to Brian Hall Plaza, 12 to 8. Oh, is that Hutill? Thank you. Hutill, not 32. That's the old Hutill. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate
004second. All in favor? Anyone want to oppose? Extensions. That was great. Now we're moving on. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Mr. Angley, can I please uh maybe Joe Abdullah, Greg Cava here, Victoria Salon here, Stephanie Cole, Angela Matthew, Alex Mcnauten, Justin Angley here, Jen Pod, Jane Sergeant, Pete Tagley, Mary Weber, Christine Wid. Um, I just want to raise a parliamentary position. It looks like the agenda for the meeting called it at 7:15 p.m. early district meeting. I hate to say it. I think we need to wait 9 minutes. Otherwise, we'll be violating the the uh the meeting's warning. Don't worry. Let's take a quick break. There's coffee. I do. Don't tempt me, Mary. Don't temp me. So we can pass actually please help yourself to uh refreshments. Thanks Greg. I appreciate it.
005It is now officially 17. Greg, you agree? 7:15. Great. Then I would now officially like to call this meeting to order. Thank you for keeping us on. Yes. straightening now just in case. He's not ready. Oh, good. Okay. Joe Abdella, Greg Cava here, Victoria Son, Stephanie Coler, Angela Merula, Alex Mcnaut, Justin here, Jen Pod here, Jane Saragley, Mary Weber, Chris Christine Widig, like to call Dr. Rodrigue the recognition of the elementary student writers. Good evening everyone. We're excited to be able to recognize our student writers this evening. We've we've done this in the past with our artists, but we are really happy that you're here with us tonight to celebrate the wonderful achievements of our elementary writers. So students, I'm I'm going to call you up. uh when I call you up, I'm going to
006shake your hand, give you a certificate, and then we'd ask that you stand by your work uh which is on the table over there. Um and then at the end, I'm going to say a few words about each of your writing pieces and then at the end when everyone has been recognized, uh Mrs. Pody will give us a short break and so we'll be able to to go over and talk to you about your wonderful works. So, we're going to start with Sarah Bomblasi. Sarah. Sarah's work stood out during our opinion writing unit on favorite ecosystems. Sarah impressed everyone with her thoughtful use of descriptive language, her growing phonetic skills to independently encode words, and her ability to support her opinion with clear evidence. Her writing showed both creativity and a strong understanding of the
007curriculum. Congratulations, Sarah. Next we have Oliver Herget. Did I say that right? I hope. Oliver is an enthusiastic writer. During the fictional unit, Oliver was introduced to story elements and used that learning to create a fictional story of his own. Oliver's story included a thorough description of his character who experienced a problem that needed to be solved. Oliver's story illustrates strong word choice, dialogue, and just being clever. Congratulations. Next, we have Theodore Lord, first grader. Eddie Lord's work stood out during the narrative writing unit, which focused on family stories. His writing showcased strong use of detail, a clear and logical story sequence and effective use of dialogue to bring his story to life. Teddy's piece was both engaging and well structured, demonstrating his growth as a great storyteller. Good job. Next we have Avery Gustiffson,
008fourth grader. Avery's historical fiction writing stood out for its impressive blend of fact and creativity. She skillfully incorporated real historical events into her narrative, creating a story that was both informative and engaging. Avery made her main character feel authentic to the time period while also relatable to her readers, and her vivid descriptive details brought the historical setting to life through the characters observations. Congratulations, Next we h have Eliza real Eliza dove deep into the study of wetlands as part of the fifth grade ELA and science integrated unit. She studied the key elements of non-fiction text and writing structure and began her research on the wetlands. Eliza's writing integrates her reading and writing skills to create a non-fiction informational booklet on the wetlands. Eliza's writing is characterized by engaging word choice, varied sentence structure, effective organization,
009and voice. Wonderful job. And finally, Sienna Hamcar. Sienna. Diana's mystery writing stood out for its depth and suspenseful storytelling. She skillfully used dialogue and emotional expression to develop her characters while also weaving in internal conflict that added complexity to her plot. Sienna built suspense effectively, keeping the reader engaged and curious as her mystery unfolded. Wonderful job. Great job to all of our student writers. And now I'll turn it over to Mrs. Pod. Well, thank you so much. And now we get to take a real re recess to come over and enjoy our new writers and ask some questions. Thank very many. Oh, that's so nice. I' just like to thank everybody again for coming tonight. It's always so much fun when we can highlight our students. So, thank you all so much. Quite an amazing
010magic. Thank you all for coming. Hi And what's really amazing too is that we know that all of our students kindergarten through fifth grade have all done the same had the same opportunity to write the stories to make their own creations. And so it's just nice to see beautiful sample of all the work that's being done that all agreed. So thank you all so much. Thank you. Okay, now moving on to public comment on agenda items. Is there anyone that would like to say anything? That was fun. So fun. A fun group for sure. Okay, moving on to the consent agenda. There anybody who has any changes that they would like to make? Just just one. That's okay. We could do it after we done. Oh, that's right. I It It just says that I
011said that the meeting was uh June 6th and it's June 2nd. Now we have to approve those. Thanks, Mary. Thank you, Mary. Can I have a motion to amend the um Go for it, Alex. Men, can you have your microphone on, please? I make a motion to approve the minutes of the meeting of the board of education on April 28th with the one correction of the date of the Agra Science. Next meeting will be June 2nd, not June 6. Second. All in favor? I. Anyone opposed? It has been adopted. Thank you everybody. Okay, moving on to the board chair report which I guess is it. So obviously we know that tomorrow is the school budget. So just friendly reminder that the polls are open from 12 to 8. So make sure you get out there
012and vote. Um, and also I just want to um highlight this amazing publication that was um sent home. I also would just like to add that Greg wrote a beautiful um synopsis to the whole board and included Dr. Rodri that I just thought was really top-notch. So thank you very much Greg that was beautifully said. But just to sort of uh share that the pictures and the content I of this publication I I have to say I think is my favorite this far. It's really just amazing. So I know that there are so many people um that uh have a hand in it but Dr. Redig, I'd like to thank you because this is really exceptional. Um and obviously we always like to throw a little uh prop to um Mr. Ben over there because
013these pictures are really remarkable. And you also, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you also help arrange it? Yes. So, and Debbie too. I was going to say Debbie Libbon works really, really hard on this and Ben. So, you guys did a wonderful job. So, thank you so much. And this just makes us so proud to be a part of the genity to see this just in a snapshot. Um, it was commented uh in Greg's letter that uh the realators tend to have brochures of the public of the private schools and I think we should make a strong effort to uh to let them know that they should have this with it and if not We're not going to sell through our houses through their firm ever. Well, I know that Lori ordered extras,
014so that wouldn't for sure. So, thank you. Okay, mine is short and sweet tonight. Uh we have a lot going on as you know preparing for uh year-end activities leading up to concerts and eventually Aloha ceremonies which are my favorite and then finally uh commencement at Chipog. Um students at the high school will be as you know presenting their senior project and I know so many of them are busy putting the final touches on these and we will definitely send you a schedule as you typically get um again so that hopefully if you're available you can stop in to see one or many um and I I know u we just talked about it but I did send that brief uh email out to families and staff um not just about the publication but by
015kind of using the publication as a a launching off uh point for talking about the wonderful SAT scores uh that we're we're so proud of. Um and uh so I hope people uh really understand the great work that's really going on here in in the district and I want to it's a team effort. Um and so uh everybody's staff and leaders and um district leaders uh need to hear what a wonderful job they all do. There's no personnel receiving treasures report. Thank you. Um I have no report uh since the last meeting. Thank you. You have to put your back your um Thank you. Is there any way to get into the news media when there are successes like that? So, it works as an advertisement for the educational system. Yes, typically the uh media
016will reach out to various districts. So, I'm really ex hoping uh and if not, we could reach out to them. Um but I want to wait. It's early yet. Um Okay. I know some districts didn't even see their data or analyze it yet and I want to look at us comparatively as well. Yeah. But yes, the answer is yes. I agree. The level of what we're doing. Sure. I just want to give a huge shout out to the district. Uh my son took the SATs and he was very very nervous going into the SATs but he participated in the after school preparation and he said to me without that he would not have been able to get the score that he received. And um I have an older son who went through a different district
017and I have my younger son who has come here and it is night and day. Um, so I just want to give uh, you know, kudos to everyone who helped these kids achieve this amazing amazing scores. Thank you. Right, moving on. Committee reports aggra science committee. Mary um there's nothing no report for the Agra science committee actually but I did want to point out that there the Agra Science students are having a plant sale this Saturday the 10th from 2 to 10 from 10 to 2 excuse me and and then the uh farmtotable event which is the big fundraiser of the year from the parents friends and FFA alumni support group and that is on the following Saturday on the 17th and um tickets are still available and it's really something to to go to.
018I mean I went to it for the first time last year and it was fabulous and it's nice to see all these people that you know and and it's it's very good and usually the food is fabulous. This is a little bit different. They're going to do it a little bit differently but I I'm sure it'll be wonderful. Yes, I believe it's at 7:00. It's at um it's at the silthing new. Our next meeting is June 9th. Uh nothing new. I was unable to attend the uh meeting last Thursday. Nothing new since last week. Thank you. Uh nothing new. Our next meeting is May 19th. Longage planning committee. Nothing new. Moving on to new business. Um, did I read it first and then you'll to consider and if appropriate pursuant to CGS section 10-215F, the
019region 12 board of education advised that all food items offered for sale to students in the school under its jurisdiction and not exempt from the Connecticut Nutrition Standards published by the Connecticut State Department of Education will comply with the Connecticut Nutrition Standards during the period July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026. This certification shall include all food offered for sale to students separately from reimburseable meals at all times from all sources, including but not limited to school stores, vending machines, school cafeterias, culinary programs, and any fundraising activities on school premises sponsored by the school are non-school organized organizations and groups. Is there anything you want to talk about or should we do a mo make a motion? We're just discussing, right? Please second discuss. Is I understand there are two ways we could have gone
020on this. Is that correct? So the motion that you're considering right now is what we do annually and it's part of the National School Lunch Program. And because we agree to comply with those standards, the reimburseable meals um that are were paid by the federal government to at Advance, who's our sponsor of our food service, are greater. It's 30 cents more, I believe, per meal because they participate in the these standards. We have historically done it since I've been here. You can opt out of it. Tonight, it's a two-part question. It's two separate motions. The first motion is to opt into complying with the healthy certifications. And the second motion would be to exempt ourselves after school and at special events and for special programming so that we don't have to comply with the healthy
021standards then we just have to comply during school. And this is something we do every year or the second part is new this year? We do it. every of course thank is your point of view I'm trying uh and if I recall this is no burden on us because we're providing independence correct and with advance of our sponsor it's even more true because I think if we were independent if we were self op we might say there's opportunities to explore different things that we would want to provide but with ed advance operating so many programs, they operate each program similarly. They're not going to deviate if one school were to deviate from being part of healthy food. They're still going to participate because they their program participates. So, um, in Connecticut, there's Connecticut's a little
022different because there's the federal standards and then the Connecticut standards. The Connecticut standards are a little more strict than the federal standards and there are certain things you have to comply with in Connecticut. If you opt out of healthy certification, then there's a different set of standards you have to comply with. And they're pretty similar. So even if you were to opt out of this, you still have to comply by the other statutes. So you don't get much leeway by opting out. And here's the question. If if for whatever reason the federal government decides that maybe it's not going to fund this anymore, um do we get to opt out? So I think um I if the federal government decides not to fund it, then we go up to the states. I think in the
023state of Connecticut since they already have nutrition standards that are um equivalent to or more strict than the federal standards. I think in the state of Connecticut, we don't see a huge change. I do think the state legislature would adopt a nutritional program to support food insecure kids. So I think it's one of those things that we're lucky we're in the state of Connecticut. Um so I think we would see something almost parallel to what we already have if the federal program were to end. And there is a push right now in the Connecticut legislature. I think they actually just it I don't think it got out of committee, but they were looking at universally funding breakfast and they have been looking at universally funding both breakfast and lunch for a couple years. This year
024the push was more focused on breakfast, but I think it just got stalled in committee. Is if I'm not mistaken, we are not allowed to sell in our vending machines things like milk because that's part of our meal plan. No. So, the rule with the vending machines is they can't be turned on during regular meal times. So, when we're serving breakfast or lunch in the cafeteria, your vending machines have to be turned off from 30 minutes before our meal service and 30 minutes after. And the reason is they want the kids to go into the cafeteria and eat there. So, once that 30 minute time frame on either side is over, the vending machines can turn back on and you can sell anything in those vending machines as long as it complies with those rules
025and milk would. But are I don't think we sell milk. We sell water, sugar-free drinks. Um I I dis vaguely remember once there being an issue that we weren't allowed to sell milk because advance with doing it. We didn't want to be a conflict with them anyway. Okay. Um, so all in favor? Anyone opposed? Thank you. to consider and if appropriate, the region 12 board of education will allow the sale to students of food items that do not meet the Connecticut nutrition standards and beverages not listed in se section 10-20 uh 221Q of the Connecticut General Statutes provided that the following conditions are met. One, the sale is in connection with the event occurring after the end of the regular school day or on the weekend. two, the sale is at the location of the
026event um and occurring after the end of the uh regular school day or on the weekend. No, I already read that one. Three, the food and beverage items are not sold from a vending machine or school store. An event is an occurrence that involves more than just the regularly scheduled practice, meeting, or extracurricular activity. For example, soccer games, school plays, intercolastic debates are events, but soccer practices, play rehearsals, and debate team meetings are not. The regular school day is the period from midnight before to 30 minutes after um the end of the official school day. Location means where the event is being held and must be the same place as the food and beverage sales. Motion second. Any discussion? Seems you're getting more honorary every week. They know they're being replaced. My my is this
027is this only the rules here that having to meet the three rules have only applied solely. Is that correct? Yes, that is correct. If the if they're having a musical or a play rehearsal and there's a parent that brings dinner in for them, that's okay. That still go. Thank you. All in favor? Anyone opposed? Stain. Moving on. Great. uh for a consider for approval first read of policy 1230 school security and safety. Justin, do you want to take that? Okay. Okay. Um so both of these policies have been uh looked at uh and again when I mean both uh they're both related but um one is focus 1250 on visitors and observations in the schools. We have the current and you see the redlinined um we can start there if you want. Um that's policy
0281250. You'll see the blue lined uh well it's redlined but it's in blue. Um and there there's red as well. Um, but it shows you the additions and things that were deleted or modified. Um, and in talking with shipman, um, this one in particular, um, both actually, um, are closely related to ICE agents, federal, uh, immigration officers coming into the school. Um you will see all the new language is focused on that in both policies whether it's of a visitor coming in or asking for information or actually coming in for a purpose uh with a say a judicial warrant. Um and there is a difference between the admin warrant and the judicial warrant. Um what Shipman has said to us is um there should be someone at the school that is the representative that will
029speak with them, not just the security person, but that would be the principal. So we've met on this, just so you know, in advance. Um and then I would be the key um to the entire district. So they would inform me. And basically what Shipman says is we're on speed dial. So, if there's a question you have about a specific warrant um then you can you can call us right there and and we'll guide you. But, um I one of the questions I did ask was has this happened at all in Connecticut or and they said no. Um doesn't mean it can't, but just knowing that I wanted to know what are we talking about here because it does make staff and leaders very nervous. Um you know, especially my admin team who are like
030what if I don't know what this is this truly a judicial warrant? what do I do with it? So, we went through all the protocols which are laid out. Um, and we had I had shipman um come on, representatives come on and speak um briefly to the admin team just to kind of go through all of those processes and protocols if this should occur. So, that's basically what these both of these policies if you look at the language it's all based on that new language that Shipman has put in for us. Greg. Yeah. I read the public act 25-1 which basically this this policy is sort of a shell policy because the real question is what are the protocols and how do you deal with it? But the but this the act requires that the
031superintendent appoint someone at each school to be the designated person to to deal with with the ICE people and what have you. And um and and there's you know the there are certain things that have to be done and you and you get the opportunity to inquire what type of warrant it is. You get the right to see it. You get the right to ask for their credentials and you check the credentials of the party. In other words, it's a it's a good framework to make sure that things are done in a in a proper and orderly manner. Um but it's scary. Totally. But I did read the statute and this this policy is literally incorporating the statute that Connecticut passed. Greg's final comment may have answered my question, but it was really about what
032precipitated the update of the policy. Was it a change in state law or federal law? State. Okay. And was that intended to align with new federal policy or was there a different impetus? And you might not know the answer to that. I'm curious. Yeah, I I I don't know that there's been any change in the federal law. I think it was I think what's happening is the states are trying to sit down and figure out how to deal with this on on at various locations and various uh venues. uh you know having people removed from a building, you really need to make sure that this is a proper situation. You need to make sure that the person is legitimate. It's not say a non-custodial parent attempting to grab the kid. Uh because you know, you
033never know what happens. So the whole point of this is to is Connecticut took the initiative uh to go out there and to pass a set of to pass a statute that would create a structure for this to be done in a proper and uniform way statewide and that you would have designated people at the buildings who would be the ones that were responsible to respond to this. And I think I think that's what it is. That that's my that's my guess. I haven't seen anything on the federal level. Well, and actually I know a lot of questions were coming up in Connecticut and they're very good. I have to say Connecticut is is one of those states where they're very responsive and they were getting really hit hard across the state from leaders and
034uh just asking what happens if. So, um that was part of this too. Thank you. Any other question? Yeah, a question. I'm not so concerned about the students. Do we know if we have any undocumented employees at school now? [Music] That's right. Yeah, that's okay. Any other questions? Okay. All in favor? Anyone opposed? Extensions. Okay. Moving on to consider I'm sorry consider for first for approval for first read a policy uh 1250 visitors and observations in school. No, you're okay. Um, so this one is similar. Um, it's just under community relations and this is visitors and and observations and you can see uh from the blue line. Same thing about um federal immigration um and what that what that means. So again, Greg's right in that they added language to both similar and just trying
035to give people some instruction as to Can I have a motion? Second. Any questions? All in favor? Anyone opposed? Great. Extensions. Moving on. Can I have a motion to adjurnn? Not all at once. Second. Okay. Thank you.