001All right, I'm going to call this meeting to order. Costeration School District 19 Board of Education, Tuesday, May 5th to 20 26. Welcome everybody. Um, we start our meeting physically with an opportunity for the public to speak. Oh, I'm sorry. Roll call. Roll. >> Are we all on? >> Yeah, we just waited. Julie's not >> here. >> Dan Chamberlain here. >> Sarah Smith >> here. >> Jim Ro >> here. >> Morgan Dolls >> here. Greg Miller >> here. >> Alan Eric >> here. >> Kathleen Tre here. Arthur Christensen >> here. >> Julie Marshall. >> We just have to keep an eye on this. All right. Now we can back it up. So this is our opportunity for the public to speak. Is there anyone here who'd like to speak tonight? Some of you are going
002to speak to the board tonight. All right. Um there will be an opportunity um before we go into executive session if anybody else has anything. All right. So we'll start with committee reports concern with personnel. So um personnel um met actually twice on the 20th and then right before this meeting um so the minutes from the meeting on the 20th are in the well the the motion mostly motions because we went into executive session at the time. So the motions are present um on the current um I think on the um so there were a couple of things on that. So one was um and I think some of those things we might want to talk about session or not like the appointment of just the consent agendum we discussed Um we we wanted to
003move ahead with um appointing someone for the interim superintendent as we're going out on the superintendent search um with in anticipation of Sharon leaving us on June 30th. So uh we we approved the appointment of Dr. Cher and Hill as an interim superintendent. Um that's been recommended by the personnel committee. Um and that's on the consent agenda for the rest of the board to go back tonight. We also another motion on the on the consent agenda was for the um approval of the payment of um an exit payment of 2000 for the administrative contract uh to be made to Renee Narin and um Karen um two of our administrators who are leaving um this year on 2026 instead of 2027. I'm sorry to see that but Best of luck. And um we are um that's
004on the consent agenda. Um that and then today we have another motion that after coming out of executive session for the president was um and that I would probably have to put under business I got a request for a microphone. Oh, sorry. >> Oh, there it is. >> Sorry about that. >> I can speak fairly loudly. >> Okay. So, today we met right before this meeting. We went into executive session again and uh under new business, we'll have another motion for the board to consider um which uh personnel committee um had basically approved the payment of up to 50 vacation days for Sharon upon her leaving based on her administrative contract. my policy. >> So the policy met on 23. Um the main part our meeting on that day was to design focus group questions
005for the students with regards to the grading and reporting policy. Um we did a fairly good job there. Um we did a good job there. There were some outstanding things that we've been talking through to try to figure out the best possible uh questions for the students to get the best possible feedback on the policy shared page. >> I believe it's the 12th. >> 12. Okay. >> I'm sorry, the 11th. >> Next week, >> but next week students will be meeting um to discuss questions and we're hoping to get some feedback by the next meeting. I don't know if that's going to be the focus of the next meeting. It's a quick turnaround, but it' be something should be there. The focus there next meeting is 521. Um the main focus on that is there
006is a library policy that we need to get off our books. So, >> great. >> Finance finance metar finance met prior to this meeting. Um and um as of the our last quarter report as of March 31st, 2026, according to Amanda and and reviewing it with us, things look in pretty good shape. Um few areas that we were a little bit over budget. We have some um we're basically a little over by 9,500 because of the superintendent search. Um and then also in the special ed budget 103,6 103, 2016. Um the cafeteria fund, we're trying to um we're going to keep an eye on that because we do have um we are over spent in the cafeteria fund as well. Um, and we will probably be looking at how possibly pulling staff out, staff positions
007out of that um, cafeteria fund to and try to figure out how we're going to try to bring that into um, into line. The freeze really helped us to >> we just add that the cafeteria fund is a shared fund with the town of field that is not solely a regional fund. Um and then also um Sharon had had to put a soft freeze on to try to keep things on track. Um looks like that has really helped us stay stay in line. So So there is a motion that that the uh finance committee recommended to the full board to receive the core statement and that was in your board packet as well and that's on the consent agenda. curriculum >> curriculum committee met on April 27th and Dr. Laro gave us an update on
008the posting of uh curricula on the school website which is the state mandate. We're required to do that by July 1st. Sounds like it's going quite well. Um we're waiting for some updates from the um the current negotiations around the state budget to see whether that mandate shifts a little bit. Um but we'll know quite soon. Um then we heard from Seth Purilla about a curriculum dashboard and we looked at a few from different districts that we thought were quite good and talked about ways that we could make the curriculum kind of accessible and um digestible by uh families, students, and the public. Um so we're moving forward with that. Um, we heard from Ashley Ruig about the pathways, math pathways, um, and some exciting developments in that area. Um, really trying to support students
009in, um, pursuing advanced mathematics even if they did not have opportunities to accelerate middle school. Um then we've talked for a little bit just opened a conversation about AI and its place um in the curriculum at EO that's beginning a conversation that will continue in our next meeting on um May 27th at 430. >> Thank you. Building >> building met prior to this uh this meeting several topics. First of which was the fine star depot potentially a drug that's talking about important news was that we've got feedback that a scenario where if we add a new program multi use uh facility would in fact um be reimbursed at the levels that we were used to. So that that's important for us uh and and certainly opens up our our options and how to execute that.
010So we had some discussions about um so follow on to that somehow economics in terms of the program costs and and uh potential dollars out dollars in um you know separate from the student benefits that that you heard about last night. Um and so at this point we're moving forward with all response to begin to formally identify the needs and provide um eventual input to uh more specific design guidance. think you can have a site firm of a candidate um site but beginning the process of really firming up the details of the needs that would then be executed into something more of a design concept. Secondly, it's going to seem silly. We've had some very long overdue uh turf field uh loose ends to clean up and the contractor has has finally done that. So
011we were able to check that off and get that off ours only paid paid that long. Uh in fact though they did that. So Dennis has been great about ensuring that got paid for that um that project. Uh third uh main topic was the uh our indirect quality discussion that that has been ongoing. Everyone's aware aware of that. At this point, we are preparing narrative to provide some guidance on the report that we did receive and um in terms of what's been done to date and some of the next steps on that and that report and then there it'll be posted to the website um for you. We'll also plan a follow-up meeting to have some community discussion about the um the needs and the costs and costs involved with that. um just to again
012answer questions before we look to see how that's going to get funded for how long um that sort of thing. So >> for us DJ >> DJ did not meet although we are we are trying to schedule a meeting um for the end of the school year. Sharon, can I mention date? You know, we're looking and the members of the committee and anyone else in the public might want to attend. We're looking at whether June 3. I do and and the purpose of that meeting is that we're going to uh take a look at the work that is now underway at the Smith including in significant ways by by a number of students to address how pathways as well as barriers to social mobility impact equity and assuring that all students are afforded equitable access
013to all available opportunities for success at Smith. So, um, that will be the focus of that meeting. And I just wanted to just, um, update. I've been reporting on the the bill before the Connecticut legislature to, uh, fund free universal free breakfast and free lunches for those students who qualify for reduced fee lunches. That bill um was included in the uh governor's budget beginning of the legislative process. Tomorrow is the last day of the session. Uh that bill was passed the governor's budget and those and that item were passed. So that will go into effect on July 1st. So for the next school year, there was also a lot of activity and a lot of uh several additional bills u promoting of going to a total universal free breakfast and lunch program. Um projected additional
014cost in the appropriations commission uh committee would be that would add about an additional $64 million a year um to the budget. that's not going to go forward this year, but it's it's not going away continue pushing that. So, we'll keep looking at that next year. I'm sure it will be a radar group. >> All right. Um, next up is our student report from Faith and Yasmine. Um, are the You're here. Let's send this down. Oh, send the microphone. >> Hi, everybody. So, this past Friday, our seniors had decision day, so they got to wear either like apparel or just were able to show where they end up, where they're planning on going to college. It was very bittersweet that day. And also for P&H, Per Natural Helpers are starting to pick up again. And
015pre natural helpers is how it's like a club that help focuses on aiding in the transition from 8th grade to 9th grade. So this past Friday we had a um a retreat and we focused on well one uh introducing our freshmen saying goodbye to our seniors and then also just focusing in training for our middle school visits where each we sent groups to the middle schools to discuss about what they can expect when they're coming to Eio. Um, we also did our ninth grade orient or we talked about our ninth grade orientation, how we're going to plan it and then also how we're going to organize eighth grade activity night which is going to happen sometime this June where eighth graders get to come to Eio after school and it's just a place for them
016to socialize so that way they can get to know people from different towns and hopefully make some new friendships that can make it the transition to high school a little bit easier because you have some familiar faces in your classes. And then this past weekend, our drama club also had student written and directed plays. So Oz was written by Don Zolitis and directed by Julia Burns. And we had seven minutes in heaven, written by Steven Levenson and directed by Evelyn Sinclair. So those were really good. And we're also coming towards the end of the school year where we have some fun events planned like prom and field day. And we also have some not so fun plans like finals and AP testing. And then lastly, I just wanted to recognize our school because US was
017named the 2026 CIA SOC unified school of the year. And if you go out in the front there, you can see our big trophy. It's really because of our amazing best buddies program in our unified program here at this school. and two students Fiona Orfas Diana and Aaron Rouette received the Daherti Savage Teammate Award which was really impressive. So I'm just proud of everything and everyone at this school. So thank you. >> Thank you so much. Um all right so it's time for our first of two student presentations. Um, first up is Hana Davis and um, Kayla Lynn. Yes, there you go. >> So, just as a quick introduction for our our two students, we had two groups of students present. I've I've discussed at the past couple of meetings at the um NIAS connections
018conference and um they did an absolute amazing absolutely amazing job and so I really wanted them to come and share just briefly what their presentation was about. they presented to students and to staff of schools all over New England did an absolutely amazing job representing Eio Smith and um I'm not going to steal any of their founders so I'm going to be quiet right now but um both Asana and Kayla and their um teacher coach uh Dr. Lo did an amazing job representing Eio Spence. So take it away. >> Hold on just one second. Are you going to have visuals? >> Um this is your slideshow. >> Yes. So any of the public who wants to see what's on this screen, you can move your chairs anywhere accordingly so that you can see the screen.
019There's a limit to how far back we can put that thing before it doesn't work anymore. So I would encourage you to just come come be with us over here with your chair so you can see this and the rest of you can just turn your chairs around. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Let's just let everybody get a chance to read one thing, too. >> All right. So, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Gila. I'm currently a senior. Um, and thank you all for being here tonight and for giving us the opportunity to share a little bit about our experience at the NEAS presentation. I'm Hassana, also a 12th grader at EO. I'm super happy that I'm here to be able to share the work that me and Kayla were able
020to do a couple of weeks ago and be able to help kids all around New England also make change at their school. So, we're super appreciative that we're here and then start. Sounds good. So, a little bit about this conference. Um, in the past like couple years, I've done like a several conferences, but I think that this one had a particularly large impact on me just because of the way that it was formatted and because of like the autonomy agency that was going to give students. So, our role was we ended up writing a pitch to ask and we wrote about what our presentation is going to be about. currently you can see it's a little bit about student leadership and how to build the supports in a school system in a community whatever it
021may be and so we wrote this proposal and we ended up getting selected and it was great because we and Hana were able to share the things and the scaffolds that we kind of built up from the past couple years um at Yosmith and it was a great platform to try and inspire new students and there are also teachers there from all around New England and that was very special because the conferences that I've done in the past have all been very uh Connecticut center. >> Yeah. So just to add on our presentation being about student leadership and staff support, we wanted to highlight to students that students moving from participants or from participants to partners in the educational space is going to enhance the educational experience for all people. So shifting that voice from
022students and just being talk to rather than being a part of the environment is something that we want to change. So being able to talk to these students around New England, we were able to help shift their community and the culture around the building. And so being able to do that, we wanted to share a couple examples that we gave the kids and the types of framework that we also use. One of the things that we talked about was instilling confidence in our children. Kids need to be confident in order to lead. If kids don't believe in themselves, they're not going to think that they can do it. Additionally, when kids are confident enough to participate in their school environment, they can design plans that can change from design, that means follow through. So, this
023is like the three-part framework that we kept pushing throughout our presentation. You can see it up here for those of you who can't see the screen. Uh, number one is confidence, number two is design, and number three is follow-through. And I think that me and Zana both really realized, especially in junior and senior year of high school, we had some sort of like shift. Maybe it was like an emotional shift where we felt like we were the the space and the capability, like being upperassmen to make change and to do things. And it was a type of confidence that I really did not think I possessed my freshman and sophomore year. Even though what I had been doing throughout those two years had been very like fundamentally similar to being an upper classman. So that
024was a really important part of it. Confidence is like the first propeller to get students engaged in work or or somehow like captivated by something that they're passionate about. And so that was the primary thing that we wanted them to walk away with. Um, we can talk a little bit about what we did in terms of sustainability because I think that was like my biggest takeaway from this too is that once you once you give this presentation, you need to have your students walk away with something either tangible that they are going to bring back for sure or some sort of mental shift or click that you know will be sustained after they leave that room. And that's the sort of like same impact that we have been wanting to make at Gossmith like we
025want to create the structures that will last far beyond us after we graduate. Um and so these are I'll let talking about these but um these are a little bit about like what we've been doing and this something that we shared with the students there microphone's making me nervous. Okay. One of the first examples that we shared was the equity council. The equity council is a student-led think tank that is meant to include the student voice in the decision-making process. So that means administratively, socially, educationally. We want to involve students at all levels because the equity council is completely student involved. This means that we are able to highlight diverse perspectives from all groups, pounds, ages, and grades. Additionally, the equity council is able to function with a high level of staff support. So that
026means having supportive adults like Dr. on the road, taking minutes, notes, helping with logistics, safety management, whether that's booking the space, anything that goes into something that's more on paper that kids don't have access to. Additionally, because of that student support, we were able to work on a two long-term project, which we already presented to you, but with that support, we were able to do professional development, make a Thrive guide to help the transition from 8th grade to the freshman year for our students, and also add that to the curriculum. So highlighting those examples to kids, we wanted to show that through student support, confidence, that design, the follow through, you can make substantive and real change. >> So mine was something similar. I also went with I I tried to align something that I've
027done with each of the frameworks. We have confidence, design, and follow through. And I think that to to summarize these concisely, I think that the biggest lesson I've learned throughout high school is that we see so many things as like very disperate. Like when we talk about classes, they're like very intellectually desperate. Like, oh, I'm going to psych. I'm going to my genocide class. I'm going to stats. But I think that there's so much value in what we learn in that like the connection or the bridge between them. And that is a realization that I wish I had come to much earlier than this year. Um, and I think it's something that we don't emphasize enough as educators or as teachers or as community members. We need to emphasize the fact that high school is
028the only time where students can go consecutively like one class to another. Um, so I can take something that I learned from my genocide class to my genetics class. We talked about eugenics. I can use stats in my English research. Like there's a lot of connections and a lot of bridges to be made. And so I I say that because I with these with this slide, I was really trying to emphasize the fact that these are all very connected. So the first thing was I'm I'm part of the council of chashier and we do a lot of like confidence building. This is all student led. You're surrounded by an environment of very capable, very talkative, very like interesting people. I think that's the biggest confidence builder. Um the second thing is I invited a guest
029speaker a little while ago and that was a great example of follow through and design because of the logistics. Um, and very connected to that, I think there was Oh, yeah. The last thing was a staff volleyball game hosted by our senior class officers. And that was a another great example of following through and connecting different people. So, we had um the sports people get involved. Our we we had to do a lot of emailing, a lot of logistical setups and making sure that people actually showed up. So, those were the three things that I ended up talking about. As well as showing students what they can do to make change, we needed to show them to expect the unexpected. When planning events, working on projects, initiatives, people, things can go wrong. So, we wanted
030to share a couple examples on how students can improvise, work with others, and collaborate to solve the problems that they need to. For example, our first Black History Month event, we needed an emergency speaker, and also had to plan a second date due to a snowstorm. So as kids being able to work together, talk to others, work through our connections, and ultimately be able to move through those challenges because of the confidence that was instilled with us, we were able to have a Black History Month event. Additionally, our student cap rally, we had to figure out funding as students. So that means talking to adults, searching around for extra funds, maybe considering fundraising as a possible option. These are all things that as students doing planning that you need to think about. So showing kids
031that there are multiple avenues and paths to get to your ultimate result was especially important. So this is the final thing like artifact that I will share. This is my favorite one. So I left it as a it had its own slide. Um this is the intergenerational book club. Some of you might might know about this slashart in it. Um and this was sort of like a brainchild project between me and Dr. Laro. This initially started as like a hallway bump in and she's like, "Have you heard of this guy, Adam Grant? He's amazing." And I was like, "No, well." And then um we ended up picking a book and during my study halls, so I was sitting in the library doing my work, I went to um her office and we talked about the
032book and we realized there's so much to gain from what we what our conversations and our experiences. And we were so similar in many ways but also had vastly different backgrounds and different pieces of ourselves to like contribute and the book was something that was like very harmonious. So it it ended up being able to consolidate our experiences into like one little little like passage that we were talking about. It's so cool. So we wanted to expand it to a broader audience and that was sort of like the birthplace of generation print. And through this I had gained a lot of skills in terms of organization and um learning how to be able to be like I was I was the facilitator slashmodderator for a lot of the discussions. So it was great to be
033able to step back notes and be able to observe. Um and we took it upon ourselves to reach out to Adam Brand the author and we actually got responses from him which is super cool. So he answered some of our questions. Um, and this, yeah, I shared this with them. And I think that the things that me and Sana shared with you guys are things that like a lot of students would like to hear. Um, and just know that they have the capability to do things when people believe in them. Um, for example, when Dr. stops them in the hallway and tells them about a book. There's there's a lot of impacts to having teachers believe in you and just like know that you can do something that might sound a little crazy or a
034little um over the top, but I think that there's so much uh to to gain that like you uh as a student feel very like seen when someone is able to instill that confidence in. >> Yeah. And so just touching back on adult support, in the picture shown is a Zoom meeting between a couple of our staff members and some students for an educational and equity project that I had recently told you about. That project, yes, spent two years, but that's including summers, weekends, back and forth, emailing all day on the computer with just Dr. Lauro and I. That is true adult and student collaboration. Again, that student support comes from things listed like offering guidance with our logistics, right? Assisting with paperwork systems, booking the rooms that we can use that space to host
035that event as students. Um, as well as collaborating on projects and as well as Dr. from other support staff holding high expectations for us as students. Kayla and I have been held to the highest expectations I think possible and because of that we have risen to those expectations. That goes back to the confidence. If every kid is believed in, if every kid is confident and they have high expectations up there, the kids can rise. We want every kid to be able to come up here and be able to feel like they can also make change in their building because of the student support that they have and the confidence that has been instilled in them. >> And I wanted to add one more thing to what Asan was saying. I think we have this notion
036that in order to be an inspiring educator or supportive educator, you need to to go to great lengths and and create massive projects. But Dr. Lauron and I talk about this all the time. like sometimes she's here taking minutes for us during your meetings or taking minutes during generations impression helps you bring in snacks or tablecloths. Um and it's like the little things that can really make the journey more smooth for the students and also help them believe that they can truly do what like the big things that they want to do. Um okay so in this slide we are talking oh this is our sort of like our activity for the students and we had them write down all their ideas. So after we gave our spiel, uh we wanted to have give them
037the creative liberty and platform to do whatever they wanted to do. And so we had them write down all their ideas and it was great. We got to talk to a lot of them. Um and they had some fantastic ideas. If you should >> Yeah. So we started off with the five fifth grade where our kids had five minutes. They walked around with a piece of paper. They talked to three people and they got some notes about how other kids make change in their building, how they worked with adults. We wanted to keep this interactive. Eventually, once we get to the end of the presentation, we gave times kids we gave kids time to work on actual projects. So that means having them out their objectives, goals, who they're going to talk to, when and
038why. Additionally, we wanted to make sure that with this plan, we keep our kids accountable. Yes, we put something on paper. Yes, we talked about it. But in 60 days, did it happen? So, we had our kids scan this QR code. We collected their emails, got a couple couple we got we got a ton of responses, and at the end of this month, we're going to be reaching out to all the kids that attended our presentation. During the time of workshopping, kids asked us wonderful questions. How do we get funded for this type of event? How do we talk to an how do we talk to an administrator? How do we send an email? How do we start this? How do we do that? and we were able to use our experience as well as
039our skills in order to help these kids be able to make change. So whether that's small or big, it still meant a lot. >> So they will be getting an email from kayla.t very soon and it'll be a scary email because they need to know that that leadership stage. Um yeah, that's about it. And any questions for us? >> Hi Oh. >> All right. Next up, our student. Sorry. >> Yeah. I just wanted to say um I'm incredibly proud of both of you and that was an amazing presentation and I got the opportunity to go to one of the sessions for generations in print and it was equally as impressive and I learned so much and my question would have been what can we do as a school to make sure we are supporting students
040but you laid it out for us. You put it right there. Um, and I just want to uplift a couple of the quotes that I wrote down like Judy said. Um, one of you said, "Students have the power when we believe in them." And then the other quote is, "If every kid is believed in and confident, the kids can rest." And that's what it's all about. And I'm just beyond impressed and grateful that you guys came tonight. And um this is I think what makes the work as teachers and as a board member so rewarding. Um so thank you for outlining the positives and uh I think this is really you've outlined the best of the Smith and I mean that genuinely. Um so thank you. >> All right. Next up is Aisa Hop and
041Faith Lumbi. Finisha also presented at the connections conference. They um sent out a completely different um type of presentation that shows the diversity of the types of presentations. They also had to present or to submit a proposal that was accepted by NAS. Um and it was um actually YAS was really um excited to be able to accept two proposals from EOS Smith. So um they did an amazing job. So thank you. >> Hi. >> Okay. Hi. My name is Faith. I'm a junior here at EO and yeah, this is our presentation. Yes. Hi, I'm Raisa. I want to thank you guys all too for having us here today and being invested in our work. Um, I'm a senior here at EO and we did cut out like a little bit of some of the interactive
042stuff that we did in the presentation. Um, we're reaching that given read over and context and kind of get that. But before we start though, I do want to kind of like I did just want to like say why we wanted to do a presentation like this with like this heavy topics like or with things with heavy topics like the nword often in spaces like these where it's predominantly white, it's a topic that gets pushed to the side or is kind of just nudged out of the conversation just out of uncomfortability. But what we wanted to do, we got to present this last year at our teaching, but we wanted to bring it to like a larger scale with different people simply because we think it's a conversation that needs to be had and it
043shouldn't be overlooked anymore and something that we should talk about, especially within the black community, but also in like an educational sense and how we deal with it when it's in schools. So yeah, so our presentation was called the power and like examining that word in the kitchen. Yeah. Um, so I'm going to learn to turn this video over. We just kind of get a brief interview and we got really nuanced with it and we like we're going to learn about the origins of the word, how it's used to degrade communities, how the word's hurtful, the reclamation of the word, um, and how it's handled, especially like we did a whole segment how it's handled by schools and education, which we'll get into. Um, and then important allyship too and how you can be an
044ally and the difference between being a bystander and being an ally. um especially within schools and how like you can like think that you're doing the right thing but um we kind of went over how to how to how to actually do the right thing and also how to prevent the word how to be how to prevent becoming before we went to this slide though we did have a key quote that we highlighted or just a question that we wanted the audience to remember as we went through the presentation is just focusing and highlighting on the nword and its nuancess and we also gave like before we started any of this we also gave like Um, just like >> trying to talk. >> Yeah, a it was disclaimer. Sorry, a disclaimer. And the disclaimer was
045essentially just reminding everyone to keep it positive cuz like we said, we we wanted this really interactive, but we wanted to make sure that we maintain it a positive space where we didn't get too upset or too aggressive with our comments about it and our like views and everything. Yeah, we want to make the safe space but also like be open or like I guess that the ideas kind of have to leave that room and that environment in order for change to actually be made but with all of like the personal stories that people share and personal experiences and the debates like all that stuff was going to stay like within the room and and people were really good about that like a lot of people shared their stories and we had a really interactive
046bunch and even at the end we had like a whole line on our table people asking us questions and um even a couple people emailed me like asking me to share the presentation with them so they can share with the school and um yeah But this is the historical context we went over. Just before we started the presentation, we wanted to make sure we gave everyone some background info because like we said, we tal we asked questions, some really thoughtprovoking questions. So having some background info about the historical context and just how the word originated and where it came from because I'm not sure a lot of people are aware of that. So we just really wanted to prioritize that as well. And that kind of leads into our next slide of the reclamation resistance.
047Again, we just wanted to give some more background info on the topic that we were discussing just so that they had more just information about it. Yeah. >> Yeah. On this side too, Faith and I actually we had a little bit of back and forth on this slide. Um I think like when we were working with student as well, it was really important for us that we kind of pushed I guess different perspectives that happened within the black community because me and me and Faith do see the word differently, I guess, and like the use of the word differently. Um and so we kind of a little bit back and forth. Um, I wasn't comfortable reading the word, but Faith was. So, she read it and it kind of just like that's a perfect example
048of how I guess like the word can be harmful within or how the word breaks down within the black community and you know that it's definitely harmful when it's said from black person to a black person. But there is controversy within the community and how like I guess how do you navigate that especially multiracial spaces when everybody's like especially with music and when everybody just like um I guess is in that environment where they're working for. Mhm. >> So, this is one thing we wanted to highlight before we went into like one of our most like the most interactive parts of our presentation was how basically what Aisa touched upon, but how in the black community the use of the word is viewed differently with some people thinking that it shouldn't be used at all
049or whatsoever by anybody. and how some people in the black community think or feel as if it's okay to say the nword as long as it's said in a non or as it just depends because it honestly depends how you say it, who you say it to, where you say it, the context in which you say it. It's just so many different nuances to it. That's what we just wanted to touch upon in this slide. And we wanted to say that because in our next part of the presentation, we had everyone breaking up into small groups. And in each small group, we gave them like a I guess yeah scenario of the nword being used, whether it be by a non-black person, by a black person. And we just changed the context of it, how
050it was said, where it was said, who it was said to, the setting in which it was said. We gave like the scenarios differed. And then each group once we like came back as a group, we'd have each group share what their mini group talked about and then we'd open it up to the whole uh group. Yeah. The whole room. And it was interesting to hear how some people agreed on certain scenarios and how some people differed cuz on some of them it was a unanimous like no, the nword should not have been said. But in other instances, there was some sort of like there was a discourse between the different groups thinking, "Oh, well, the nword was okay to be used here, but then it wasn't okay to be used here." And it it
051was a good it was a good way to see how this conversation can happen in the black community cuz the room was majority black students, but it was interesting to see the different perspectives and how it comes through. And it was refreshing to see a such um responsible group and how they handled it. So, it was really nice. >> Yeah. I don't know even an example for one of the scenarios we had there was one about um a teacher and she was reading to kill a mocking murder um like um and in class and like the end came out but she didn't want to she wanted to say the word out of respect to the author and like is that okay and kind of where that breaks down and that one had a lot of
052debate going back and forth between our room so some people were like oh yes it's okay because some people were like absolutely not and kind of um we got like personal experiences from there um and then also entrepreneur she gave us the posters that we put around the room of kind of just like it's not just a joke um and and forget along like the policies or the steps that >> work from our um equity consultants from focus and and the action steps. >> Um so that was really helpful to be like you can look around to kind of look at like okay do this scenario fit fit the policies or the steps that we take and um and like what context the scenario fell into. We also talked about um the lucism of the
053term right the turning it around and how um it sang the word itself undermines the whole history that we talked about on the first slide and um again among students and faculty and communities I think a lot of faculty a lot of students rather see faculty respond incorrectly than not at all and a lot of faculty rather not respond at all than responding correctly. So kind of back and forth with that between navigating faculty and like student engagement when faculty hears the word sad or when um when a student says they're joining faculty or or another hears it goes to faculty and faculty doesn't do anything. So kind of navigating that loss of the term and also the history that it represents right how important that can be um um especially within school community and
054also with other communities too. We talked about like athletic communities we talked about um in environments where there's music being played in environments where you know someone looks like their favorite artist and kind of how the work breaks down there. We also talked about education and the role of educators like if the nword is said in a multi-racial space and it depending on who it's said and we just also touched upon that with everybody. We'll also talk about it later but just understanding or just like like I said earlier it's dependent on like students rather see their teachers respond than not respond at all. And we touched upon that and how it can really cause it can really cause some damage when you see your teacher not like let's say I get called the nword
055and it's it's damaging and it's hurtful to hear your teacher not respond at all and just kind of move past it. And so we talked about that is just how any sort of response even just sort of attempt to try to help the situation help you make you feel comfortable after that happens is really important. >> Yeah. We also covered how a lot of faculty they try to balance freedom of expression and like okay but we want you know black students to be themselves or whatever but also with like maintaining a respectful environment and um and then we also raised debate kind of the question of like when we learn about this history of like the Edward and like black communities that like who's does it matter who's teaching the history and how we receive
056it right and how we act about it and how we engage like if we have white faculty teaching a certain topic of done word of slavery like how does it impact how the work gets done then thrown around how students are receiving it and then how um kind of I guess that culture of I guess racism in our school as a whole and as our community. And then on this slide, this is when we talked about what we do at our school when a non-white or non-black person says the N word. And so we had talked about our policy and how if someone says the n-word who isn't supposed to, how they are they're faced with a punishment that is determined based on the impact of or the harm of them saying the word based
057on how many people it affected. But then we also talked about the restorative aspect where if the perpetrator or the person who says the nword, how they are required to watch videos, essentially informing them about the nword's history, kind of what we touched upon in the last couple or the previous slides, and why what they said was so wrong and so damaging and so hurtful. So hopefully the whole point of that is to teach them that or hopefully inform them to not make that decision again and not say that word again because now they understand the history of it. And so also when we were on this live we asked once we shared that we asked the audience what what do your schools do in that sort of instance and we heard some stories and
058it was honestly it was crazy how much they differed hearing how some students were able to get away with it. They'd only get one day suspension. how they wouldn't face any consequences at all. It was really it was really disheartening to hear honestly if I'm being honest. But it goes to show how much this conversation is need needs to happen because these are all schools in Connecticut or Massachusetts schools but these were schools in Massachusetts and Connecticut and it's unfortunate that so many students from those schools felt that that was the response they faced when they were being discriminated against. >> Yeah. A lot of students didn't even know that their school had a policy. And then we also asked them initially with that. We asked, well, um, if you if you agree, do you
059agree with your school's policy first of all? And if you don't agree, what would you change? And kind of how that raises a little bit debate, too, like, oh, we do this differently, you do this or um, so that was also interesting to hear kind of see from a student perspective, what students feel should be the right or wrong, punishment or consequence for uh, >> wait. Also, sorry, but also we asked them, what do you think should happen at your schools? So, a lot of them said they really like the restorative aspect that we had where teaching the perpetrator or the person who says the nword why they said was so harmful and so damaging. So that way it's hopefully not repeated because they felt that a lot of the students who say it or
060end up saying it are just uneducated or maybe they're not or willfully uneducated. But if they had some sort of if they were shown why what they did was wrong, then maybe they'd understand or they wouldn't repeat it or say it again. >> Yeah. Also, it made me personally appreciate the ESmith courts in general cuz I saw some schools don't even have a protocol for this is such how much you like our community is trying to grow. And I also talked about how to go from being a bystander to an ally, right? And kind of why do we make the choice to act or not act, right? And if we do, why do we do that? So we first had them reflect okay is there a time that I witnessed something I didn't act and
061then think about why didn't I act or like what could I do better why or what could I have done to act and if I acted what would I do and then we also told them to think about themselves of how would you feel for part of your identity that's being used as a casual slang term or a punch line and kind of a lot of self-reflection on this one too um to kind of explain how we can go from being parents to being allies or if you are an ally whatever you're doing well how can we outreach that to others right how can we get others to help support because the more educated you are, the more like the more willing you are or the more willing you are to help inspire change. And
062we haven't talked about creating more open inclusive environments in school. Um and then it's never just a joke. Don't call it joking. And um to reach out and try to reach out if you see someone not even like being a target, but also just like clearly affected by their community in some kind of way. And then we also talked about preventing use of the n-word by educating yourself through videos, movies. There's plenty of resources online. But then asking also asking questions from friends, families, and teachers. And also learning how to identify when a racial slur is used and knowing what to do when that happens. So where do you go? Who do you talk to? And so for some takeaways, we really push that like um we should acknowledge that intent does not outweigh impact,
063right? So hate whether it's hateful intent or counties whatever it is like it still is like affect offensive um and then also highlighted kind of listening affect the communities right and also knowing it's not the responsibility of the black community to educate others and what not to use just as a vice and vice versa on how we have to like to respect the communities that are affected by this issue and have been historically targeted and continue to be historically targeted by this. And then we also kind of touched on normal normalizing the silence and encouraging the idea that skipping the anywhere in songs and your favorite artist's song or um not reading it in the book or you know kind of just like silent like using that silence is not out of the loss of
064freedom of freedom of personal expression but as out of respect for black community out of respect for the history of the word and not just like a loss of personal personal freedom. And then I also really encourage not to interact with um any type of rhetoric in general of any community online discriminatory um information of any community online and how we can identify those those um those posts that might be offensive or those texts. So we did a little bit of that with the scenarios about like you know oh a girl post this is about and how that can impact the community as well and affect the community as well as like avoiding texting the word saying the word um or just like promoting any hateful question. Well, first of all, thank you for your
065enormous privilege and I love the takeaways and I'm just wondering did you get a sense uh through your educating people, you know, that they were getting the idea of how this this is not this is no joke. This is not something casual. But did you feel that people were quite responsive? Yeah, I was personally surprised by like the line of people we got at the end too because like the session was it was lunch time so I was like okay we're going to lose everybody the food like it's lunch time and no one's going to stay but we had a group of people and they were asking questions and we actually had one girl too who asked how she could um kind of take this and bring it to her school stuff cuz she's been
066trying to do it but there's not like like you were lucky to have like the BSU and kind of these like affinity groups that like help um encourage talking about race a lot more but at her school she said really nothing um so she was really inspired by it take that to her how she can to her school and kind of the questions you were asking. I didn't know how to answer it. People were really analyzing me and taking it in depth and um running with it. So that like was like a thing. >> Yeah. And I appreciate you telling uh adults even though you you don't know uh if you're doing it right. Uh in my classes when I was a teacher they oh god don't say anything because we'll be doing she'll be
067talking civil rights. She'll she'll say, "Do you know how hard I have worked for it? Nobody causing drugs child. You don't want to hear all this stuff. Just good." And uh you know, but it it did pop up. Like you said, don't make people feel like they're worthless, you know, being. But you know, I said they said, "Oh, you don't know, Mr. Smith. You're out of it. You know, this is how we talk to each other." I said, "You want me to call you grandmother? have come said no that's okay. So who you are as an adult in your classroom or in the school you carry whatever your dignity is and your students in general will respect that no matter if you have a little gray on the top or what car dignity and the
068and your students will reflect that. So thank you so very much. >> Thank you. Um I just also wanted to say um thank you so much for this and um it's clear that you're both really excellent educators as well as peer leaders. Um so thank you and this is such a thorough and wide-ranging um presentation but also tight. Um, so I was wondering um well I was struck by um one thing you brought up at the very end that you said it's really important um to uh respect um students of color and not expect them to do all the work um too. Um, and so I just want to say appreciate um and uh how how can we or how can we support as a board um that work kind of the wrong way here
069Smith going forward because you're both seniors. >> Sorry. So, so what happens you know next year um you know and how does that work kind of get dispersed and what can we do to support you? Um, and are there any ideas specifically from the other schools that you've heard that we can support you as you bring it back to you soon? >> Honestly, I think one of the main things is just having more talks like this cuz last year, like I said, we were able to do the teaching and I think that's kind of what sparked this like this desire on this and me to continue educating cuz we got from that we got such a positive response. We got so many questions from that and I that's when I truly realized there's a lot
070of people who just simply don't know who just simply aren't educated in the topic and would like to know because and they're too scared to ask because I was scared of sounding too ignorant or things like that. So I think honestly giving us more spaces to have talks like this and and not just in the black community but for like our other affinity groups as well because I'm sure there's problems that are going on in there as well that they would like to see changes in here at EO. So, I think I don't know maybe maybe like another teaching, but like something similar to that that just gives us the space to talk to our our peers or at least our white peers about what we're facing and just also educating them because I think
071that's what we I think a lot of people need is just education. Yeah, I agree. I think knowledge is power. I think that like that allyship piece is really key because um the more you know like the more you're able to I think a lot of the issue is there is too many bias statements which is why these kind of like microaggressions see things under the table but people can't um be an eye if they don't know what microaggression is they don't they don't know those more nuances so I think just educating yourself >> thank you so much a comment too yeah I I agree a great presentation that both you know very very poised uh present it very well and also good educators, you know, because it's if I've heard it once, I it's
072good to hear it again and again and again. Um, so I'm wondering, so your group was mostly uh students of color or adults and students of color and would you have wanted to be um have more involvement for stu other students and you know kids who are white? >> Yeah, we had >> I was just curious to see if that would you know if you were hoping to have more. Yeah, we had mostly students of color, but there was two or three white faculty and those two actually came up to me at the end and asked me to give them um email them this presentation so they could bring it to their school and they representatives that came with. So I thought that was interesting because there was like a couple black faculty there but
073only white faculty came up to me and it's like oh you have come to me and they want to share with their school and I thought that was really interesting. I do wish that there was more diverse like more racial. Sorry, I kind of bounce the question. But yeah, >> if we could have we were initially hoping for a more diverse group of people cuz honestly the majority of the people there were black students, which I liked because when you have when you're in a community that looks like you, it's kind of it's easier to talk about the things you're struggling with or what you're going through, what you're facing with. So I think that's what made it a lot easier for them to open up about some of the things they're facing. But on
074a broader scale, we want this everyone to hear this so that everyone can learn because everyone can benefit from it. >> Super comment. I I know that I'm going to reiterate this point. I think it's really powerful that you started with education um and ended with uh prioritizing impact overt. So when you focus on impact, you can't claim and I think that was really powerful that you started with education and ended with the impact. >> Thank you. >> Stephen, are you >> Yeah. So, next up I believe is Lauren. And Lauren has a presentation for the building. Oh, if she needs the mic or her cousin First >> talk loudly. That's be fine. Yeah. Um, thank you for in your student report talking about the award that Unifi received and that is actually what I'm
075here to talk to you about thoroughly. Um, my name is Lauren Savowski and I am a special education teacher here at the Oak. I run our functional life skills program for the students in our district with the most significant disabilities in grades 9 through 12. Um I'm here today to present to you about eo movement environment programming. As they told you um you we were selected as CIA as OC unified school of the year 2026. So, I'm going to start by explaining what this means and how it differs from previous recognition that our unified programming has received. The CIA SOC unified school of the year award is given out by the Connecticut Intercolastic Athletic Conference and Special Olympics Connecticut. It was previously known as the Michaels Cup and is Unified Sports Connecticut's high highest honor.
076This award is given annually to one middle school and one high school across the state of Connecticut and recipients serve as models for other schools to emulate. Applications were evaluated by state officials based on four criteria inclusion, unified sports, leadership development in athletes and partners, and whole school engagement. EOS Smith has previously been recognized as a national unified champion school by Special Olympics. This recognition is given to all applying schools that are found to meet the 10 standards of un unified excellence. Schools can reapply for this recognition every four years. But again, this recognition is given to all schools that meet the criteria. These graphics show all of the schools in the nation. and then in Connecticut specifically on the corner there um who currently hold the designation of a national unified champion school. This
077graphic shows all the high schools in Connecticut designated as the 2026 unified school of the year. >> So why did we why did we receive this? Oh no. What happened? Something. >> Okay, that's good. >> Okay. Um, while he's working on that, this is the resume application that I submitted to the CIA on our behalf about everything unified at EOS Smith in 2025. You should all have a paper copy and you will receive it electronically as well because everything that's highlighted in green is actually an external link to a video or social media page with additional content. >> You click it should go forward, right? Yes. >> All right. >> Okay. >> No problem. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um, so ES Smith currently offers three unified courses throughout the school year. Unified PE and
078unified health are two year-long courses that originated as an adaptive PE program and have evolved in the past 10 years under the leadership of Cassandra Mario. Uh Cass has helped to build an incredible foundation of inclusion through these classes that offer health education and inclusive physical activities to students with and without disabilities. Her program runs many special events throughout the year including a fun motor at ECSU which we just did yesterday actually again um a rhythmic drum circle inclusion campaigns and a senior celebration and hate breakfast has also has developed a partnership with ECSU's physical education department supporting the next generation of PE teachers. These ECSU students learn from EO's unified model in hopes that they will then take these practices to their future school communities. This past year, um, Cass has taken on a
079new role at EO. She is now splitting her time between teaching our unified PE and health program and teaching multiple courses at ETSU. As a result, this year, unified PE and health brought on a wonderful co-teer, Taylor Hall, who I don't think is here. Um, but she's been learning from the unified model and adding her own perspective. Um, roll through some of these fun things we've done. Okay. In 2025, ESM added a new elective course unified theater under the leadership of Denise Alberti, the first teacher. Unified theater is a halfyear elective currently offered in the spring that gives students an inclusive opportunity to learn about performance arts. Unified theater is currently in its second year running and has opened a new pathway for our students to connect. Denise Abberi is retiring this year after teaching
080at EOSmith for 38 and a half years. I would like to thank her immensely for not only her efforts in developing this new unified cross for our students but for all of her contributions to ESM for the past nearly four decades. Um we also offer a variety of extracurricular unified activities. We offer two unified sports teams basketball and cheerleading. both run in conjunction with one another during the winter sports season. In 2025, both teams participated in practices, games, tournaments, awards celebrations, and special events like our staff versus students game, a sweetheart dance, and a brilliant tournament and skills camp where both teams got to play on the court at Gamble Pavilion. Um, unify basketball has existed at Neo for decades. But in 2025, our team boasted 33 participants, including 18 athletes, which would be students
081with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and 15 partners, which would be students without intellectual and developmental disabilities. Unified basketball is coached by Kila Price. There she is. Kayla Price and myself. Um, unified cheerleading existed around 15ish years ago. >> 18 something like that under the coach of our 2009 2009. So, um, anyway, existed under Sandra Reed here who She was our former varsity cure coach. Um, and she returned to EO about four years ago alongside her assistant coach and former unified cheerleader Caitlyn Paul who reinstate our unified cheer program. They currently volunteer their time to coach our unified cheer team. It has been a privilege to witness the redevelopment of our unified cheer program over the last four years. In 2025, Unified Cheer had 10 participants, including four athletes and six partners. Trying to scroll a
082little bit. Um, Coach Reed and Coach Kate have some big plans for next year. So, we can't wait to see where they're going to go next. Thank you. Um in addition to unified port also has a robust Oh, here's some other special event. Um a robust best buddies chapter that maintained over 60 participants in 2025. This program is advised by Michael Price and Tori Gloria and Tori along with their inclusive student leadership panel organized over 20 official chapter events in 2025 including after school parties, friends giving, mini golf brunch, attending eo sports games, movie night, feed the kinds campaign and more. We also offer an extracurricular performing art option in the form of star makers unified theater. Star Makers mirrors the model of best buddy the unified sports and is directed by our choir teacher
083Amanda Hanslet. In 2025, Amanda led participants in a beautiful rendition of Tangle. This spring makers is working hard to put together a performance of Snow White. Say the date June 3rd. this year's show 6:30 red carpet in the atrium 7:00 um there are many additional initiatives listed on the next few pages but I'm going to highlight the two of them first is the special Olympics torch run special Olympics law enforcement torch run every June Connecticut law enforcement officers run special Olympics porch across our state on its way to the summer game for many years our unified group has gone out front is meant to watch as the torch has gone by. In 2025, however, seven senior unified students, including three athletes and four partners, joined in the run, helping to escort the torch as it
084passed by our school. The students were cheered on by countless members of our EO community, and it was a moment that became an important core memory for so many. You can get probably on your own, too. Um, the other one I wanted to highlight was Eio Stitches. Oh, there we are. Um, EOS Stitches is a studentled program based out of my life skills classroom that provides on-site embroidery to all of our community members. This program gives our students with significant disabilities a platform on which they can practice their leadership and vocational skills while meaningfully contributing to their school community. On the last two pages, you will see a bunch of photos of inclusive friendships that didn't quite fit into any designated initiative. We believe that the foundation of inclusion is friendship. All of the efforts
085of all of these incredible educators would lead to nowhere if not for the meaningful inclusive friendships that our students create. These photos show who we are and what it is all about. Um, lastly, I'm going to leave you with a story from EOS Smith Prom 2025 that was not a part of this presentation. Um, so every year we put together a best studies table at prom to make sure that students with significant disabilities have friends with them to ensure a great experience. Last year, a few students from my classroom attended. One student in particular decided that she was ready to dance even though dinner was not quite over and it really was not time stamp yet. Um, but she was ready. So, she ran out into the middle of the completely empty dance floor in
086front of the other 470 attendees and started jumping around in a way that might not make sense to most. My instinct to protect her kicked in. I started trying to figure out the best way to divert from a potentially uncomfortable situation. But before I could even process the thought, one of her very favorite friends, a partner or peer from Unified and Best Buddies, jumped up from her dinner table, ran out onto the dance floor with her, and started jumping around in the same seemingly nonsensical way. Mere moments after that, countless other friends from Best Buddies and Unifi joined them from all across the room. And suddenly the dance floor just held a group of 25 friends all ready to have fun at prom. So together our students took a moment where a student with significant
087disabilities could have been otherred and instead made it just another moment where she belonged. This moment and countless others just like it are truly what makes the high school unified school of the year. Thank you. Thank you so much. I was hoping you could see the whole thing. Thank you for that. Um compose myself. Uh, now we have a special report from um school counseling. Oh, I must give you. >> Thank you, Lauren. I just want to say that um EDF that's what you actually sent to the committee correct. So >> yeah, >> and you had been applying for a few years, many years >> was ready to give off one last shot. So >> let's give it up for Lauren. I'm sorry. I know it's your space, but I just wanted to say also
088thank you. It shows like what kind of program you've built that all these folks are here too. Um like clearly it's a community as well as just a program and that came through in in spade and so they can get >> So hi everyone. So, I'm going to give everyone an update. Can you show? >> Yeah. All right. >> Thank you everybody. >> Okay. Hello everyone. So, special services 2026. The issue twist is get blasted right there. So, it is a little weird though, but I will leave it. So, highlights of the year. I just wanted to start off with some accomplishments for the year. Of course, winning the the unified school of the year was a great it was a great accomplishment. Building on the work that Denise did developing our unified theater program,
089we are working on actually um having a unified arts class next year which will provide the best of unified theater but also we are going it will be a collaborative experience with art teachers and music teachers. So it should be a great opportunity for students as they prepare for their star making student. Um, another thing I'm proud of is our student led led IEP initiative. Um, historically students with IEPs often would go to a meeting and they wouldn't necessarily say very much and adults did all the talking. So, we started this really focusing on having students participate in their PTT meetings about three years ago. So now you will see students at the meeting presenting on their goals, a transition plan, talking about what works for them in the classroom. So that's what we really
090want students really to do is to embrace embrace who they are as people, their strengths and and the needs they have. Um so we that this is just an ongoing something that we'll be doing every year going forward. um students transitioning age appropriate roots. We have our third annual dance May 15th. It's a regional dance and the reason I'm highlighting this is because it's very unique where we're able to invite other transition programs in and it is because of our wonderful space at the Blinton School and although Faith is here, Pure Natural Health has used that space for their retreat. So having that space for groups to go to outside of the Smith is really important. Another newer initiative that's in its second year is our school social workers and school psychologists run groups during
091lunch. They run social skills groups on various topics. Um we were able to do this by freeing up their duty responsibilities during lunch because we had some additional staff and we felt this was very important. We again freed up staff so that they can meet with students during what would have been a duty where they're standing in the cafeteria. Now they're actually working and we're also making an improvement on some of our state indicators which I will get to in a few minutes. So special services programming in my department it's really or all of the programs address the needs of high need students special ed and then students eligible for free and reduced lunch. So primarily the program is special education. We have research students at EOSmith course the star program dbo but we also
092have students outplaced and smaller special schools. And if a student is at a magnet school we also provide support there. Magnet schools don't provide their own we we fund their special education. They do have staff but we we can fund it. Uh we have 193 students and 45 staff. We also have a title one reading program. Uh provides literacy support schoolwide and individuals. One thing we've seen this year is that students when they up when they do go for reading the the reading is generally individual. It's highly targeted with specific goals. So students often go into reading and they're able to exit within six months. So it's it's a great program. Some of the money also funds our family and community partnership coordinator and he's focusing on food and school attendance. And then we also
093provide some transportation services to homeless students as needed. We have a English learner program serving our English learners and multilingual learners. We have one teacher about 20 students. Some of the languages as you can see over the years spoken by students include Spanish, Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, Turkish, Spanish, and Tidal. And finally, we do have a homebound tutoring program. So in some cases students aren't able to attend school for medical issues. It can be for financial issues, social emotional issues. You know, if that's the case, we have a tutor either meet with them the li the library or go to the home. So it's a very important program to keep kids engaged school. The ultimate goal is to work with them if they have temporary setbacks and help them get back to school. Just wanted to
094highlight STAR for a minute for the STAR will be the topic of conversation at least the location of STAR going forward. Um it's a you know students with an IEP are eligible for services through the year which they turn 22. So that law changed a year or two ago. So the increase the amount of time student is eligible. Currently at the Benjamin school. We were at uh Yukon years ago before co COVID happened. We we left for various reasons and we weren't able to return. So we do have a great location at Benon that is working out with us. So start provides instruction and support in the areas of activities of daily living, functional academics, vocational training and leisure act leisure activities and believe it or not that's an important skill. What do you do
095with your free time? You take it for granted but you know we have engaging activities for students dances. Um well yeah one thing I wanted to mention too this year we do have a a school psychologist who's able to go over and provide uh some social skills for students. So STAR is growing. We have 26 students scheduled to attend next year which will be our highest number of students ever. This slide just shows some trends. I included this slide just to as you can see you know it goes back to 2017 so we're anticipating pretty consistent number of students districtwide these are district numbers we're at 19%. So even though we have been in declining enrollment over the years, our numbers in our special ed program have remained pretty consistent. And in 2022, we were
096EOS Smith Region 19 was recognized as a blue ribbon school for our work closing the achievement gap with high need students. So I just included these two graphics from Edsite Secure. On the top it's indicator seven is uh a measure of the number of ninth graders earning six credits and passing core subjects. So that's important because we did our own research here in EOSmith and we found that if you're failing a class or two, you're the likelihood that you're going to graduate on time decreases. pretty dramatically. So, it's really important to try to kids try to keep ninth graders passing home classes. So, on the top the top uh graph is the num is our total population and the bottom graph is our percent on track is our high need students. So, you can see
097the numbers from 18 to 19 the percentages are pretty high. Then we had COVID and we really, you know, the number of students nailing dropped. But I just wanted to point this out that we are, you know, heading in the right direction going back up. Finally, this is another graph showing the school day SAT scores for high need students. So on the far left, you'll see from the 2018 18-19, we were at an average score of 495. So for 2425, we made great progress. We're at 504. And that's for English. For math, we've seen a more dramatic dip, but we're still making progress. We're still, you know, our scores did improve. Looking at the 24 25. >> So sorry. Um those are just for this. Um this slide seven is is for high needs students.
098>> High needs. Yes. that these exist behind the schools. >> How many students about? >> Ah, that's a great question. Under 200. >> It's labeled, right? Yeah. I just can't see. Maybe >> the dots are labeled. >> Oh, yeah. >> It says 504, but that's >> So, we have 20. It's 11th graders. So, >> not not even 100, I >> So, that's an update from special services. Does anyone have any questions? Thanks. Sorry. >> Clarification again. So I know continue to receive services until there's the age 22. Is is the is it when my birthday happens? So if on my birthday I turned 22 and it's now March it stops there or I can go the rest. >> So I turned 22 on July 1st I get the whole year. >> Whole year. That's co
099but I just went. >> Yes. So it used to be when you turned 21 you finished the year. >> Right. So then it slowly turned up to this point. >> So that's important for us in terms of budget. >> It is and that's why you see the numbers so high and that's why planning for STAR is so important because more students are getting into STAR. They're staying longer. Yeah, we're serving a a more diverse group. So it's students with significant disabilities, but we have a student drive to the program. We have a student we're going to help um acclimate into community college. So there's just it's a large group of students with very needs. That's why it's so important. I just Before I start, it's been about 14 months or so since C9 presented and
100we've had some change and I know that some of you have been on for about six months, but I just want to say welcome to you all. So, thank you all the very appreciative of being here tonight. And pretty much what I'm going to present, it's going to be a bit of a pokey and um you're gonna get a lot of data, some snippets for people too. I'm just going to have some basic information about school housing and welcome your questions and dialogue and and look forward to this. Thanks for letting me. So um you also have a packet of about five items and I'll be leading to them along with the slideshow. So first and foremost um things really haven't changed but in focus with school counseling continues to align with the district's goals
101of equity student centered learning and social emotional learning students. We will continue to work on building relationships with our students and families and provide comprehensive school counseling programs that support all of our students in three domains which are academic, career, social, emotional development. Um, for some of our new people, there are six school counselors and two administrative assistants. And now um so two of the flyers that you have um tonight basically kind of outlined the visitors that we've had as Smith this year. Um on September 26 college we had our first college fair actually since I've been in school counseling which is in 2008. And really it came to fruition with the aim of bringing together many of the college representatives that would visit our schools during the fall and the winter. And generally there
102would be 30 to 40 to even 50 schools that would visit. So we decided to try to consolidate and bring everybody together. And if you look at the flyer it's really a lot of small colleges and more New England colleges and we also invited the military. Um, but moving forward, we want to really work with our students, not only the ones that are advising seniors, but also our 10th and 11th graders. And I think one of the one of the wonderful things that we saw from this first fair was when we brought students together, it was an increased visibility, but it just wasn't for our seniors colleges. was for our ninth graders or 10th graders or 11th graders to really start thinking about hey in 9th or 10th grade but yes I am I can
103go to college and it's kind of nice to kind of start that that dialog up early. Another highlight and this is our fourth year doing it is our college application night and it continues to be a big success. This past year we had about 65 students or so that took part of it. We always have it in October which coincides with that three college application day and I say day slashmon now because it's changed a little bit and what I mean by that essentially is new always has the one day but the other Connecticut state universities now have extended to a week to possibly a month which is really really helpful for students and what we found with this is that yes there's students are in there that working on applications but there's also students
104in there that completed their applications and they just want to be there and be with each other. And we also we have our three senior counselors that are always there. We have English teach senior English teachers that will will be there. And I I think really the biggest takeaway that I've seen each year from this event is really just marveling at the camaraderie of the students of just having an event to do something that we know is very stressful and coming together. And of course, we serve food and pizza and candy and all that, but it's something we learned a number of years ago that yes, it's about filling out college applications. However, I think it's really more just to bring that group together. So, again, that was one of our another one of our
105highlights. And then last week, this past February, this is the second year that we've held this and I think last year I had a flyer and it's gone a little bit larger. Um, was our second annual postsecary fair and much it's basically the game here is to kind of look at alternative careers that won't typically require a two or four year degree. So if you look at the flyer, we have quite a range whether it's state police, um different types of masonry, trades, that type of thing. And again, what we found is we saw a lot of our younger students going going to the fair, interacting with the people, um our police, our state police, and we had police there at the fire uh local fire department. the kids interacting and really starting to learn
106and really starting to think about, okay, you know, what what what are my interests? What do I want to do? And again, trying to get them to do this earlier, not just junior, senior year. So, the next piece I'm going to talk about some data. And I'm sure there'll be some questions from that which is going to be great. But I'll be sharing updated data on postsecary destinations from the class of 2025. I can't quite get into the 2026 yet, but we're working on it. Yukon, EC, and AP enrollment for 2025 2026 along with Leo Smith student performance data. So the first slide shows our two and four year postsecondary enrollment over the last five years. And if you look at it, you can see if you look at it from 2021 to 2025, you
107can we can see over the last three years that you know we've had 85 70 and 80% of our students moving on to a two and four year college university. Interesting thing when you think about the 80% and the 77 and the 85 from from 2023 um the class of 2025 students from Asheford, Mansfield and Willington basically showed they entered the workforce directly. So 14% of them entered the workforce directly which is in line with the class of 2024 that had 13% of of the student bottom enter work force. For further comparison, if you go back to 2023, 7%. So, some of the things I'm going to show you, you're going to kind of be able to see kind of some of the trends um that that either kind of stay the same or changing.
108Okay. So, the next two slides are going to depict destination data. I'm going to start with so I'm going to show you data from asteroid, Willington, and then I'll show you the answer. Um, so I'm going to give you a minute or so to look at these, but as you're looking at it, I'll just talk briefly about them. So when you look at the destination, top destination data for Ashford in Wellington, um, it's interesting because the top one for Nashville is eight students going to work, seven going to the CT State Community College, and six going to Yukon. And then when we look at Willington, we have eight CT State Community College, eight going to Yukon going to work. And then when we compare it with Lansfield, it's not really comparing. I apologize. I look
109at it. It's a lot more students. You're going to see I'm going to get into the Yukon case in a moment. You'll see that the top destination is not a surprise. It's 39 students that attended Yukon. um 16 CT state college system and 16 to work. That was part what I was saying that you're seeing more and more students off the map going into workforce as well. So those are the top three. >> Sure. Um what um could you give examples of what work is like is that something they learned here at is it totally random or is it like something they learned here at EO is it just a family business? >> It's it's all it's all and some people ask well how do you how do you receive your data? So, a lot
110of our data is through through student mouth, student parents. Um, as far as what they report to us, we also provide surveys to our students. We actually hunt hunt a lot of kids down to make sure that everything's accurate. And there's sometimes students that don't know. So, we'll go into the summer still trying to help and support or even into September. So when I typically compile this report, I wait till like October and November to be had. >> Okay. So I did tell you I was going to talk a little bit about you know right next door performing as well. But when you look at it right now, okay, they they'll look you see that if 66 of our students are attending tending time this past year. What's nice to see and this has been
111a bit of a trend and believe change about two or three years ago. We started seeing a lot of our students being branched out. So not as many students on the store's campus. Class of 2025, when you look at this, we have 54 students that are actually on the stores campus. 66 total. But you can see the other branches. We have eight in Harford, 28 point, and two. So again, I think we all know we offer tremendous amount of courses here, but I don't not sure if everybody knows how many and how they're distributed between VidCon, Eastern, and the United States. So I think sure of so uh for Yukon we offer so basically this year we're offering 48 and that again those are those three schools Yukon Eastern Connecticut State University and Connecticut State
112System 42 are University of Connecticut accredited three for Eastern Connecticut State University and two for state system. What we've learned over the years, and this isn't rocket science, we know that earning credit for concurrent courses in high school is a game changer, right? And we know the cost, the exorbitant cost of college and and and we also know with a student that's looking to go to maybe that highly selective school, okay, we want to accumulate as many um advanced level classes, including AP classes, be taking courses on campus where typically we'll send 20 to 25 per semester taking courses over there. My goal was always 8050. I fell a little short and apologize, but it's quite an opportunity. But the big thing that our obstacle is it's not that we don't have students that are
113even dates trying to get to the local schedule over there. With our schedule, a high school schedule and what we see at Yukon, the only days typically it works for students are Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's during the school day. Now, if they're not involved in action curriculses at Yukon, it gets a little bit tougher and tougher. But I've been happy to report for really the last five, six years. It's very rare we don't get a student on campus if they're looking to take a course on we have such good relationships with people over there and and the professors really they get to know you the EOSmith students and they know the caliber of EOSmith students and so that's something in the future I hope we can continue to build and increase because it's just a
114tremendous opportunity for all students. Sorry, I just I wondered um for the EC E enrollment and then the next page the AP what percentage of let's say the senior class has taken either an EC or an AP class. So I can't give that number off the top of my head. I'd have to get it to you. But in a senior class or just a senior class >> or Yeah. I can tell you 40% of our population takes CC at least one. >> Okay. Yes. Right. Right now, actually, with with the numbers I'm I'm showing you on this next slide, 40% of our students, grades 9 through 12, take ECE courses. Right now, it's predominantly 10 through 12, but we do have a handful of ninth graders come in now and will earn earn EC credit,
115whether it's taking calculus, and they're pretty advanced in math or even the AD biology now because our students can come in as freshman take biology. So, it's it's it's kind of a nice thing. We have more kids now taking the ad chemistry which should just be considered one of the hardest courses that we offer and I just did an AP exam today and there were 10 kids taking the AP chemistry and the majority of them were 10th graders. So it's really nice to see when you're looking at the enrollment piece. >> Sorry, I just had one. Sure. >> I was just curious who you contacted over at EON for the ECE classes >> for the campus. >> ECE. Yeah. Um well I work I work closely with the ECE office so I mean I work
116closely with Chris Todd over there and Todd Blajett is really our person but I work with all of them that's what's really wonderful and remarkable and even with getting teachers certified and sharing knows because this is something that's really changing right now and is a huge concern because we're losing teachers that are certified TGC and there's such some in some areas it's such strict parameters to be certified. I actually I I thought um sorry I miss uh misspoke I I meant really the early college opportunities person um like do you have somebody in the registars's office that you weren't um with because I know that that's been a little bit glitchy in the past it's not too glitchy our hair is why I'm so glad it's still good so in the past we always relied
117on the register right and then paying customers and they should they did it first and so we would kind of have to wait and when those openings would happen in classes right so Um now cloud logic has has registered thoughts. Yeah. So that's why in the last couple years actually the last two years had that's why it's been so great. But also in certain areas such as computer science or math everything's changed as we know right but we have really good relationships with people and again they respect our kids and they know that our kids we're not going to send kids over that we don't feel ready. Um, so they will enroll our students in both computer science and math, but Todd has kind of gone through qualified students in other areas. >> Oh, that's
118great. That that's why I was wondering I thought maybe our board support you if it wasn't like a particular person because that could be just difficult. >> Well, I do want you to support us because again different areas and things change, you know, but right now it's pretty good and we hope to continue that. So, thanks. So, I just want to jump back to the enrollment piece. you're going to see, okay, that this you look at from 2021 to 2026 and you see the big boom in 2023 with, you know, 411 students, 421, 431. Well, we're finally seeing the dip. And I talked about this a little bit last year. We hadn't seen it yet, but now we know our student population has decreased. Okay? So, so you say 383, what does that mean? Well,
119we still have before we were 42% of our students taking it. Now we're at 40%. if we had dipped down to like 30 or something, I'm like, "Okay, what are we doing? What's going on? Who are these kids?" You know, what's know? But we're not there yet, you know. And when you kind of look at the numbers um for this for this population, the school year, you have 239th graders, 252 um 10th graders and 11th graders, so 252 each and 264 that are in city seniors. Now with that 264 you have to understand that we have kids at Star, we have kids to depot. So that brings that that number down dramatically, right? So when you kind of look at our average, we're probably about 240, okay, per class and what's coming in is about
120240 again. So So maybe we're not we're going to stay steady for a while. But again, 383 the number's down, but I still feel encouraged because I think we offer a lot. As long as we can keep our teachers certified, I think we're still going to have a lot of opportunities for our teachers. >> Yeah. Can you explain why certification is changing or or maybe I'm understood correctly? Like is it is it changing or is it uh any >> I'm sorry. >> No, >> sometimes our teachers leave. So, so we're having less teachers that are certified and there are strict requirements in certain areas. So, for instance, I'll give you an example, a class like chemistry. Well, it's not just taking, you know, four or five chemistry courses. It's organic and inorganic what they are
121trying to do at the BC office because we're one of few schools that offer the chemistry. They're offering summer courses, but again, those summer courses come with a bit of a hefty price and it's a tough ask. You know, in the summer you work students are working hard all year. now you're going to say, "Hey, maybe you need to get one or two courses and you get certified." So, those are some of the things we're trying we're starting to see, but we're also trying to stay up on it and we're trying to, you know, plan ahead, you know, and and know, okay, we're going to have these needs in two years or three years with failures and we're trying to provide funds and incentive for our instructors to to take some classes and so I'm
122not worried about it like we all know the sky is falling, but we are starting to see some changes. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Another thing I wanted to show is, you know, we talk about AP, right? But a lot of you may not not really know what we offer. So, as you can see on the slide, we offer this this year we're offering 11 AP courses, but for next year, we will be adding Latin and microeconomics. Just a little bit of a story with that. We're not necessarily adding a class or adding a teacher. We have a situation, well, not a situation, our Latin teacher teaches two EC course, the Latin four and the Latin five. So, she said, you know, she got certified on her own for AP over the summer that
123I didn't know about because he has a process to go in and get to go in through and get certified there. So, so we have kids that basically we have some ad classes. So, that Latin the Latin courses can be add. Another trend that's changed a lot is if you look at the personal finance requirement now that is in place for the entire state and it started with this junior class. Okay. So, so now moving forward it's going to be for everybody. We're finding more kids signing up for microeconomics. That's one of the courses that kids that students can take. The course is taught by a wonderful teacher. The kids love it. Um he does a wonderful job differentiating. So at numbers this grows from three sections of micro for five five sections request. So
124you know we want to try to help kids get credit. So we adding the an component so we can try to get more kids in the reg. So that's something that is kind of innovative and exciting and we actually have a teacher that will be certified and teach that. So we'll see how that's going. We're working on the master schedule right now. Hopefully we can get those classes filled to three months. >> Sorry. Um while you're still on the PP um uh I don't I don't think you hold like all the scores in your head but um but uh I'm assuming that a lot of students took the AP test out of the support this year. How did they do? >> So we just started so yesterday was so AP testing. So, we just started
125yesterday. We um we had three tests yesterday. Today we had two. It goes on for about two and a half weeks, which I'm going to share a little bit. Obviously, a very very stressful time for kids. >> Um but looking at the numbers, so when you look at So, I just pulled up an AP slide. Same trend, right? The trend we saw through BCE, we're also seeing it um with AP. that again when you kind of think of the population um you know we have 242 kids taking EP and almost 400 from 400 courses which means they're taking multiples so again the opportunities there kids are taking we do have many teachers that are certified to teach AP and you know the goal is is that every kid they want to take the AP show
126right so and same thing with DC so that's kind of what we're trying to stuff. >> That's I noticed the AP psych is not on the list and >> but I miss that pretty that's a very popular class. >> It is. How did I miss that? Okay. So that there's 12 AP. Sorry about that. So the last remaining slides are going to pertain to our SAT. And there's going to be different types of data that we can look at this at. So what we're going to look at the first piece is first of all what was nice is you're going to see that we have five years of data here. Okay. And it started um we just got the 2026 data last week. So I had a chance to kind of get some of this
127information in. So you see, so basically look from 2022 to 2026. When I reported last March, we hadn't taken the 2025. So that this senior class hadn't taken the SAT yet. So the last scores I had reported to you all was was in 2024, which is a 1044 total score and a 507 math and a 537. So since then, now we have two census scores. So when you look at it, you know, it's it's this areas we can still do better, but one of the questions I got asked last year was, well, how do we compare to the rest of the state? How do we compare national? And we're doing better than the state. We're doing better in the national average. And next, you're going to see some trend line. That just kind of gives
128you an idea over the last five years. So there's the total store back then right down a little bit. So this slide shows cohorts and actually I added one so I'm not sure. Do they have it? Yeah. Okay. So, you're gonna see two co cohorts because we just got the data on 2026. So, you see data on the class of 2025 last year and then you're going to see this couple this year's class of 2026. When you look up top, okay, what you see in green basically means our students met the benchmark. Okay? And if they're in red, you can see they're a little bit short. So, you'll see the benchmark in both math, you'll see it both in reading and writing. Okay? And you see it in 2027. So when you look at that
129probably the first thing is okay so ninth and tth rate you know for the most part it looks like we're on track right we're meeting benchmark so then the question is what's kind of going on kind of once we get senior year and if you look if you go to the next next slide I also left these as handouts this for you this is for you because you had asked that last year but actually I It's very telling because again we know when you have an average it's skewed or can be potentially skewed either one way or the other. So so you see with the the ELA and the mathematics that's right out of Ed site. Okay. And you won't see 2026 on that. We just got that but this is a state department of
130ed that put basically um how our students have done since 2015 16 all the way to 2425. And you can kind of see where where our students have been at. Okay. So, as far as as far as not meeting the benchmark, meeting the benchmark in yellow. Okay. Green where they met it and then whether it's the so for the class of 2026 in ELA, which is reading and writing, you can see 76% meeting or exceeding the benchmark. And then it's roughly 12% approaching and 12% not meeting. This was SAT, right? Is that right? >> So, no, this is last year's now because this is this is the state department of ed. >> But what what outcomes? >> Is it SAT? >> It's FAT. Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. Yes, it's SAT. Yes, it's SAT and it's
131based on the benchmarks. But you can see now percentage of our students that met the data. So, I I kind of have a question though when you kind of look at this. So, and we looked at the previous slide, we saw that ninth and tth grade in in one cohort, they actually were reading both the reading, the writing and the math. And so, what's happened, you know, and something when I was looking at this the other day, I was thinking, okay, so in mathematics, you know, that group that's basically 28.63 and 15.31 that's either meeting or exceeding, what math do they take, you know, because we know the SAT covers up to a certain point. So my thoughts are okay well who are these students? What math are they taking? Is there content that the
132other students aren't getting? These are just some of the things like how how can we do better? So that one occurred to me today. Well, if we looked and saw that all these students that gotten through TRIG as there is TRIG, there is statistics now and the math SAT then you know how do we prepare all of our students is some of this some of this, right? And so that was one of the thoughts that came to me. I have thrown a lot of data out at you. Hopefully it wasn't too much. Again, it was just a snippet, but I'm certainly happy to entertain questions or get more information to leave. >> Thank you so much for all of those. I just wanted to go back to um uh one of the things we made
133at the beginning. Um and I was looking at that college fair flyer and I know it's the first one since 2008. So >> No, no, sorry. No, I I've been in school counseling since 2008. I don't I don't remember one. I don't know if I don't know who's going to get longer than me now. What's in this room? >> But, uh, >> yeah, >> well, I was thinking in one of my first court meeting January, um, we heard a presentation from a couple of students, um, that had gone to Farmington um, for um, some H.B.CU presentations. Um, and I just thought that's that's really valuable. Um, but they're not represented here at all. Um, so, uh, I was just going to sort of put a little glove in their ear that reach out and see
134like how because those schools are coming up obviously, but that's a long way for our students. So, beyond, >> right? And again, this all originated for reps that would come to our school all the time. If you imagine they come, we we house them in here. And again, I'm gonna pick on Nick a little bit, but there are times these reps would be here and be by themselves, right? So, we said, "Okay, you get video." So, this is a way of kind of now we schedule, we get people in. Yes, definitely HBC News. Um, I spoke with someone from Molio the other day and she said, "I'd love to." She says, "I'd love to." So, you're seeing some small schools here, but this is something we could expand, but we also have to have some
135limitations unless we can have both gymnasiums. Again, I won't be here for this, but it's I I always kind of dream big and this is something and and just to give a shout out. Um, one of our one of our assistants to school counselor, her name is Connie Mains. She's incredibly passionate about she's the career fair about about this college fair and she this is one of her roles and she handles that. So, um, she's going to take this information and she's gonna she's gonna go for it. So, thank you. >> We do this in pardon. We do it annual. >> We're going to do it annual. Yes. This was the first year we did it for the college. This the second year we began doing career law. Yes. >> And it makes sense. So
136they had we had reps here, students that we wanted to meet with reps also have to miss instruction. We don't really want to do that. And again the benefit of having the underassman coming in too and starting to make connection say yeah I go to college. You can start talking to us. I just wanted to say uh thank you for all your years of service >> and um you know uh so many countless students have thrived as a result of you. I just want >> Well, I appreciate that this place has been incredibly people kind of just adopted and brought me in. There's not a better school that I would ever want to spend 36 years. So, I've learned just as much from the beginning as I'm learning as much now as I learn. So,
137I appreciate that. You tried so hard to get my >> All right, we're going to be shifting gears to the superintendent report. I'm keeping it really short. you have it in front of you and I'm just going to list up a couple of things bring to your attention uh find it um one of holds the athletic director I'm happy to announce that John Hodgson has been next of athletic director Smith High School so that is very exciting um what's lovely is the last meeting I announced that Jen Mariana will be the assistant principal here at the high school. So, it's really nice that of our in-house folks. Um, so John will have something to help support him as he um adjusts to his role. So, that's really exciting. Um, second thing that I wanted to
138lift up was um if anyone went to the coral concert on um it was amazing. I ugly pride. I think I talked about that before, but I think the the most thing was um what had happened previously in number five was the tour of the guy up day and just a really great example of um you know Hanick inviting in and um the the middle school Morris from Wilmington, Ashford and Hansfield and they come to the high school and they do workshops with the high school students and they learn and they perform together. Um, which is really um really what it's all about. Really activating kids to the CEO and helping them learn to know what it's all about. They even have their first um eighth grade orientation. So just kudos to Vanda for for
139doing that. It was a beautiful uh concert. It really was. I actually kids in June, but they have concerts at that. It's their annual concert even though board meeting. So um we may have to see what we can do to arrange our earlier meetings. They're going to be performing outside at 6 o' on the night of our meeting. So we may want to that the numbers um the musical numbers that they have chosen or that she's chosen are just so amazingly time. It was it was it was awesome as always. she's she's not um and so everything else you could you can read about I've mentioned you know some of these things before they're just things that are in process one thing that's not on the report that I do want to mention to you
140that we do have a trip going into France in June that was approved by this board last year I just want to let you know that we are keeping an eye on that considering the state of um kind of the world um right now the Uh the alert uh status is still at a two. Um we're always at a two. Um if anything happens um the two advisors is Pam Fisher and Portland. I've met them already. They are parents. They've sent letters to parents. They're in contact with the company um in regards to kind of that whole process. So while we'll keep you informed um about right now the um the trip is still um to go and um that alert stats from actually the um the parents have that I've asked them to reach
141out to any concerns there as well. a good question by any further support. >> Yeah, everything I I believe already been booked. My concern was you know what's theation policy. So, um, up until really crank close to the end, there's% fun, uh, that's chosen. Okay. So, next is the consent agenda. Um, I think a consent agenda agenda, is there anything that needs to be removed from that agenda and discuss the review? >> I just have a point of inquiry. >> Yeah. >> Uh, on the Renee and Karen $2,000, we need to split that for one vote for Rene Karen. uh because >> I don't know if that's >> we're pulling that off anyway. So um it's got a it's got a title. >> Yes, it is. >> I did. I was embarrassed until >> there
142are there any other writers that need to come along? >> Yeah. I just had a couple of questions. Um this point of information um uh is Dr. Terrell Hill going to be in a position to also apply for >> No. >> Um and then um um in health uh he currently teaches that right or no Okay, that's >> okay. >> Great clarification. Um, any other items need to come up >> the minutes. >> All right. So those items will address after we take a motion to accept the consent agenda. >> Janice and Right. All those in favor of the consent agenda items say I n. Um all right. Starting with the easy one, the minutes. What? >> I only want there. So I think that >> Oh, all right. So we just move to accept
143the minutes. >> I said thank you. All those in favor of accepting the minutes from the April meeting, say I. I post sections. All right. And the other item, regional school district. Oh, it should say it should say Kent is a word. >> Is that a friendly amendment? If we have the word each friendly amendment any opposition to doing that does >> someone do you want to >> No, go ahead Nick for a friendly amendment. >> Well, first we have to make the motion just to >> Okay. >> So, >> Oh, all right. >> I'll make the motion that we that we uh >> there's two amendments here. So, Yeah. >> Well, I make the motion that we that we get a second. >> All right. Second finance. >> Yeah. >> All right. And then
144the amendment that uh board of education approved that each andor you want to ask that we change it to accept behind It's a little >> J making a friendly amendment for both for both. Yeah. So for David and then for Karen to be to each be paid. Yes. >> I have accepted and you have to accept. >> Yes. >> And we can vote on it. >> Perfect. Thank you for the procedural. All those in favor say I post. >> No, I I appreciate that. >> All right. Um into the consent agenda. So, we're on to new business and we need a motion um to add money. >> Yes. To add Okay. So, why don't you start? Go ahead. Then the first thing would be that um we or the um >> add item to do
145business. That's the first. >> Okay. I'm adding an item. This is for um to discuss um or at least to to verify um one of or to appoint some of or to go into negotiations with Dr. Terrell Hill. Terren Terren is Terrell. Okay. Sorry. Dr. failed to um to negotiate um this I want to add that as an item to the to is that >> yeah we have to we have to agree if we're going to add these items to new business that's the that's the procedure >> right so >> so we should name them all first >> no one has objection >> let's name them all first then we can go payment for Dr. want to take two additional business >> and um the first is to establish and appoint a superintended search committee
146to conduct search regional district 19 superintendent and the second one that I'm going to read it first and I'll explain why it's there to ratify and confirm the retention of a contract with consulting firm cooperative educational services in connection with conducting the search for a new region built uh district 19 superintendent. The reason this is here is because when we reviewed um what was the notes and the minutes or what's in the minutes for the last meeting. It's not clear that the original motion remember we had the motion that came by personnel was for a different entity. It's not clear that when that motion was put on the table was ever second. So we then amended it. But I think for the to be sure we've got this right, we're just going to re reo
147make basically ratify confirm that appointment and exit the contract is already signed. Ratify and confirm contract which was signed. So those will be the two additional items that would be added. I can pass if anybody needs to read the bill. We have >> Oh, you have everybody has >> but we have except it >> right and it has to be that's super >> yeah so we're wanting to add we need motion to add these three items >> and it's not it's not the bottom it's just the top >> oh just the top items >> three items of warning and Vietnam to um authorize um to authorize I would say to authorize the um I was going to say chair to enter into or the personnel for chair and the personnel committee to enter into um
148negotiation with the interend um regarding compensation regarding >> that's that's the first that's the one to add it to the >> yeah right >> so now we I can make a motion that we add all three of those um items to the third Tim >> any further discussion what do you want >> those come after because those are the actual once added to the agenda and we could vote >> is one of them established committee >> for sort of that related to the CES >> that's the first one you look you look at look at the very top of the page one of the items we're adding is that we actually set up a switch >> and we'll be able to discuss that I'm sorry I I thought you >> we'll have discussion. So, >>
149all right. All those in favor of adding these three items to our new business part of the agenda. Say I extensions. All right. Let's go with one item at a time. Ben. So, um, can someone capture D's? >> Yes. I just want to make sure to have the language to authorize the board. Someone's going to make a motion to authorize for the board to authorize the board chair and personnel committee to enter into negotiations candidate >> candidate regarding >> well >> it's a little negotiations and contract Yes. >> It's coming. Yes. So the motion would be to authorize the board chair and the board of education to authorize the board chair personnel committee to enter into negotiations and contract with the interim superintendent candidate regarding >> any discussion about that. Seeing none, all those in
150favor say I. Opposeions. Second item. >> I'm going to move I move that the regional district 19 board of education establish superintendent search for a new district 19 superintendent designate as members thereof all the members. We'll discuss it. >> Discussion discussion. >> Well, so I'll I'll start discussion. >> Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So um >> last month's meeting was packed with all kinds of things and we did discuss the um intention that the whole board would be part of the search committee. >> Okay. >> But in reviewing the minutes it does not look like when we came out of executive session we actually voted on it officially. um some of us thought that we had done that and and we ended up in a consultation with um CES that we thought that we were all
151set on which would have been an executive session but when u when we got started there and they asked about executive session and I asked for explanation it was clear I couldn't remember what we had done or not done and it it became ambiguous and so at that point we stopped stopped that session. Ethan was very good in pointing out. Yeah. So, if we go were to go ahead with this without a clear understanding that we're in executive session, then we're violating echo rules, >> you'd be subject to >> we would be subject to point and that. So the way this works is once we're all designated as a search committee any further work we do to work with this agency um on doing interviews looking candidates is all executive session the agency or they're
152called an agency right consultation services they will be talking to us about focus groups that will be focus groups of teachers students families those will be public sessions but consultation to us as a search committee will be considered automatically executive session if we're all on the search committee >> as well as all the interviews of any candidates need to keep an executive session because we're set up meetings. We don't have to don't have to announce ahead of time that we're having these meetings. We don't >> Yeah. So we we just >> Yes. Yeah. No. All we need is to identify all of us as being on the search. >> Yeah. Executive session or is it the non require meeting? >> Yeah. Consultants mentioned two different versions of that, but I think it's you're right. It's
153a non meeting. and ask about that. and I check I check I checked the K guidelines for for search committees and the statute and as long as we designate a search committee and then appoint members to it that makes it that that's all we need to do then so >> yeah no so yeah so that it was a procedural um thing we had to fix because we didn't get that right and so we're want to get it Well, we didn't really start. >> No, we never they never said anything. >> No, what they did say put us on alert immediately that we were probably on thin ice beam here. So, that that was on purpose. So, anyway, >> so the motion has been made. Is there a second? Um, we already >> we're having discussion.
154>> I just want to um point out that at some point in time there are some chocolate coverage drivers which also wait some point. Um, so any further discussion? All those in favor of this motion say I opposed abstensions. Great. Item three. >> Okay. This is the motion that stems from the fact that I'll just clear it. We have our second request. So that the regional district 19 board of education firm and ratified one the retention of the consulting firm cooperative educational services for in connection with conducting search for regional district two by two the statement of agreement entered into between CES and regional school district 1910 26 a copy which agreements attached as reference reference number Five to the May 5th 2026 meeting revised agenda. >> Okay. Motion made by Tony, seconded by Morgan
155and and Sarah. Third any further discussion about >> I just I I just want to glad we're doing this because last >> that's what we decided. Yeah. >> Yeah. And um it it's a good reminder that it is helpful if we all thoroughly read the main one. Uh because those kind of things get picked up. We have so much stuff we're doing to read. It is super helpful. Anybody falls any of us down minutes not being cleared and and they're not unclear because they're being taken clearly. They're unclear because we're getting tired or we're uncovering whatever. So any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Abstensions. All right. Those ones pass. We're on a roll. Um. >> Oh, yeah. There was one that was already on exist. That taken care of. I
156This one. >> No. No. The first forgot about that. Oh, is that a separate? >> Yeah. >> And we have that base. >> Yes. Okay, the motion's already on. So the um >> somebody just >> Oh yeah, somebody would make the motion to enter into the lease property. >> All right, there's something. >> Okay, second. All right, any further discussion about the we need to secure that thing. All right. And that is for our star for next just for the sake of of discussion for folks on the committee that has been reviewed several times by building committee. It's been a couple times and put over to that. Right. All those in favor say I post extensions passes. This was super. All right. Um John, do you want to say anything? >> No, I'm good. Thank
157you. >> You're my only public, I think. I don't think you said anything. Um well the personel committee met with 15 days so that's already done so we don't need executive session all right any yes thank Okay. >> And just uh >> oh, just the CES dates. >> Yeah. So, we're trying >> to reschedule the meeting that um we weren't able to have and I'm going to mention these, but I'll write out you an email and then please tell us if you're available. But just for thinking about it, um they're available at 6:00 p.m. All at 6 p.m. these meetings, Sunday, May 10th. >> They're very flexible. Mother's Day. Mother's Mother's Day. Children come >> Yeah. Tuesday, May 12th. You don't have to answer. Just this is just for initials. >> If you want to
158everybody Well, you could shoot your hands up if you know where. >> May 12th. >> Tuesday, May 12th. >> Available or not? >> Available. >> 6 p.m. Sorry. >> 6 p.m. >> Yeah. These are going to go out to you as an invitation. So, don't feel like you need to look. Tuesday, May 19th. I have to zoom in from Ireland, but I could do good. Two, Wednesday, May 20th. Thursday, May 21st. Be great if you all could do Tuesday, May 12th, but I will do my best. Calculate the time zone differences. >> Can you read it? I have polic Well, why don't we go ahead and just send out the invitation? We'll see what we can get there. And um we don't need to have a 100% of you if we get the majority. We
159got to get this thing started and we can report back. So all all CES is going to do is take us through their whole schedule of of activities that they'll engage in and get our input into the things that we think are best for this school. Um because they offer the entire menu and then we can really be selective about yeah we want to know what this group thinks. We want to know what that group thinks and uh try to get a plan of action in place a few minutes. They had a staff member to get them started on time. >> Yeah. for this particular this is the introductory started >> but it didn't correct >> exactly that >> all Right. So, >> so one more thing before we go for a motion to adjourn.
160Um, we do have this opportunity if anybody wants to say anything and we'll all have point. But, do take a chunk of coverage strawberry with you. That's our reward for what I assume probably a pass budget tonight. >> Ashford did 19 with 315 pass said yes and 265. >> Yeah. Asher, did you see? >> Yeah. M still unofficial was plus. >> Yeah, >> that's the most people have ever come out. >> Unofficial total. >> Wow. >> They were at 87. >> Yeah. So, the efforts um to get that little postcard in the mail were well worth it. and thanks Amanda for helping me and also um Margaret Cheney was a big help in that in getting that um first time ever people in town no >> but said that the total was like 35 that's
161not >> yeah but that's I mean just on the fish kind We're soliciting thoughts. >> Yes. Any other thoughts? Folks. >> Sure. Sure. So, um I guess relative to the superintendent surge here. Um it's you know amongst a lot of change especially here. So we're you know there's quite a few that are either uh you know they're changing the new laws going to be replaced shortly or basically on notice. Right. So of the I want to say six positions the only one of them currently doesn't have an end date. So that's a lot of change. So as we think about these positions I would say special leader of what's going to be very approved um keep that in mind process candidates that put that >> would you share that >> I can yeah I was
162trying to get my head around that I sort of mapped it out this visual our personal committee meeting. He's sitting there, you know, putting all these administrators on paper. Our process you different colored. It was really easy. >> Yeah. Well, the tenure of the live waves is But sort of >> yeah it's more my point is more in terms of you know obviously looking for diversity in a bunch of ways right but also >> in experience and in skills right all the pieces there exist the board brings a lot really big attacks at his team. Um, and uh scripted off >> we need to be thoughtful. I give up. Any other thoughts tonight? Please make chocolate. I'll have to eat them all myself. John, you too. >> They're really yummy. >> All right. motion to
163>> Oh, sorry. >> We're not We don't need one. >> Yeah. No, we that got resolved. >> We voted within two. >> Yeah. There's a lot of people back and forth, but we actually already voted on the issue earlier. So, we're we're we're good. We don't need to do that. Are we good for make a motion to adjurnn? >> Second by Tim. All those in favor of adjourning stop by the table. Thank you everyone. Congratulations on top.