Regional School District #19 Board of Education Meeting streamed live Tuesday, April 7th

001and so on, allowing um only what is needed for school. And number three is for the school to provide a weekly report to parents listing how many hours a student is using the school provided Chromebook, what websites or platforms were used, and for how long. Um, two weeks after we sent the email, um, there was a New York Times article that you might have seen that was on March 29th titled, "Chromebook remorse tech backlash at schools extend beyond bones." Um, I and I have a couple of quotes from the article. The first one says, "Studies have found that digital tools such as Chromebooks have generally not improved students academic results or graduation rates. Some researchers and organizations like UNESCO have even warned that over reliance on technology can distract students and impede learning. At least

00210 states, including Kansas, Vermont, and Virginia, have recently introduced bills to restrict students screen time, require proof of safety and efficacy for school technology tools, and allow parents to lock their child out of using digital devices for learning. Utah recently passed a law that would require schools to provide monitoring systems for parents to see which websites their children have visited and how much time they spend on school devices, which is what we were asking for. Um, finally, the final quote was, "Google said it provided tools for schools to lock students Chromebook screens, restrict the content they saw, manage their YouTube access, and disable Chromebooks after school hours." The company said it also turned off YouTube by default for K through 12 students with schoolisssued Google accounts. However, on the um Chromebooks that our children are

003using, YouTube is still active. This article underscores that our concerns are not isolated. They are shared by parents and educators across the country, reflecting a broader recognition that unchecked technology use in schools can undermine both student well-being and academic success. As the national conversation continues to evolve, we believe that our district has the responsibility to take intentional steps to restrict Chromebook usage to protect our children's mental health and help them develop the focus and study habits they will need to provide. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> We wouldn't typically make a comment um except I just want to acknowledge that the letter from Mr. Trindage >> is part of our agenda tonight. Um, and we will have a a brief discussion about where we send that information. So, thank you though for reading it. We

004won't need to read the whole thing then. >> Okay. All right. Someone else who'd like to speak. >> Hi. >> I normally would have done this at a budget meeting, but the one on the 17th I I got this on the 10th. The one on the 17th I guess was cancelled because I came up here I wasn't here and I could not attend the 24th for personal reasons but um so it's just a couple of quick things budget related. Um, oh, Terres John by the way. Thank you. Mansfield resident. I like feel like every, you know, everybody knows me, don't they? No. Um, so at the 10th, on the meeting at on the meeting on the 10th, you talked about you all are going to be doing a retreat and you were talking about, you

005know, making budget more accessible, more transparent, easier for people to read. Yay. Um, I agree with that. Um, for instance, when you look at the it's on C8, when you look at the faculty and staff census, what is a teacher on special assignment? I don't I I don't know what that is. Um, and it looks as though like some administrators are put into their like it shows seven administrators, but there's 11 cuz four of them are department heads that are but they're in their individual budgets. I think they should be separated out. Um, so that's a couple of things. Um, but the three things that I really want to say to make it quick, you know, there was a lot of talk about declining enrollment, which we all know is happening. So, and there's teacher

006attrition. Yay. I mean, that there's the only way you can do that. Like, if there's not enough students, there's not enough teachers. We still have a lot of administration. So, maybe looking at that. Um, I think the process needs to start earlier. even by March if you have want to make any meaningful change it's too late like we talked about that at that meeting you know we were talking about transportation and things like that it it was too late at that point to do anything meaningful the process needs to start earlier um and lastly this is sort of budget related but and we know that Sharon is moving on um congratulations I think yes you're retired hiring. I would really like to propose and I would really like you all to think about hiring an

007interim before you go and hire the permanent person. I think to take the time to look at where you all want to go, where this school wants to go, where this towns want to go. I think it's really important to hire an interim. Um, but again, I just feel like we can't get anything done. It's too late to talk about things in March. if you want to do something big in terms of like significant cuts or transportation, I I won't rail about it tonight. We did the other night. So anyway, that's all it was. Just looking at this. There's just some things I think that could be easier, clearer, more concise to give to people and people might be more engaged in the budget process if it wasn't this. Thank you. >> Thank you. another

008person or there will be an opportunity at the end of the meeting if um anyone else would like to talk. Um being nobody else, we'll move on. Next up, um our committee reports. Um so committee chair if you would give your reports maybe we could start with building such you're on this end of the table building committee met right before this meeting. Um we are still discussing options and plan for the star depot facility and next steps for what that will look like where it will be. Um we are also still getting information and making a plan regarding the HVAC updates. um which ones have already occurred, which ones need to occur, um what the cost and timing and logistics looks like for all of those. Um we also have a new one-year lease for

009the um bitten school site that we will um be reviewing and looking at for the star program. Um and I think that's it. >> All right. Um policy >> policy met on the 26th. Um we continue to work on the AI policy along with the u telephone policy. Our part of our discussion which is now leading to a special meeting this Thursday for 9530 here at the library media center is discussing the results of the teacher survey of the grading and reporting policy that we sent out. Um we had 65 responses. Uh we appreciate all that participation because all the information was very helpful. Um the policy committee is going to go through those results and kind of compare analyses as as to how we feel um the teachers feel on different parts of that

010policy. And then um I have an idea of where we should go from there. But I want to hear what everyone else what their analysis is there. And then our regular meeting is going to be on 423 5:30 here again library media center. That meeting is going to be focused on coming up with focus group questions for students surrounding the possible cell phone policy and the same grading and reporting policy. So, lots to go. >> Thank you. I just have a point of information. >> Sure. >> Um, and so Arthur, I was looking at the agenda for Thursday and I see that we have this like really crucial responsibility of parsing the recent results of the teacher survey to get through. Um, and of course is a special meeting. Um, and so some people looking

011at that agenda might be confused about why the first item of business is this question of uh sort of a committee member's conduct. And I'll just say right here that that committee member is me. Um, and it sounds really serious, right? Um, and uh, so I'm concerned because this is about my the office hours I held at Starbucks. Um, and they've never quite been so popular, which is kind of stunning. But um uh Deb has promised me that we'll be addressing the matter of my conduct in the second half of this meeting under that second item of new business which is entitled board member guidance, communication and training. Um so my question is is the policy committee also going to be spending time on this on Thursday? >> Depends on the results of today's meeting.

012>> Okay. Um so it seems like people in town might like these venues. So again it's 5:30 on Thursday. Right now >> on Thursday right here. >> Great. Thank you. personnel >> um personnel met we met on um Thursday, April 2nd. Um and we basically two major points during our discussion um was discussing the superintendent search and how we were going to proceed with that. So I think we're talking about that in executive session tonight. Um and also the superintendency evaluation forum format and moving forward with that as well. Um and also structuring things a little bit differently um so that as we um as the new superintendent comes on board and is reporting to the full board we'll have a different schedule for um listening to those reports and then also for evaluation. Um

013so those are the two major that we spoke about. Um so we'll talk know about that in a second. >> Okay. Thank you. Finance >> um finance did not meet. We've been working on the budget um and so there is a and then we do have a uh superintendent's proposed budget that we're have a motion on the um on the agenda tonight under new business. >> All right. Thank you. Uh curriculum >> um curriculum met March 12th and we um got another update from Dr. Laro on the curriculum work that's going on throughout the school um in preparation to post um uh the basics of the curriculum on the school website in accordance with the state mandate um by this summer. So we spent a good amount of time on that. Um and then we

014also talked about um math. Uh we had had an earlier meeting where we talked about the Smith's um efforts to intervene around the literacy. So we started talking about math briefly um and then wrapped up talking about um connecting with the AI policy development etc. So our next meeting was supposed to occur on the 23rd but that date is not going to work anymore. So um we're going to be reaching out to the committee members to find a new date. Deborah. >> Yes. Go ahead. >> Um, so our sound is not picking up our voices. So if everybody could just raise your voices a little, not yell, but at least raise your voice just a little bit so people can hear us that are watching. >> Your voices are heard over the stream, but the

015audience members are not as well. Just mind speaking out for the audience. >> Thank you. or EDJ >> and the equity, diversity, and justice committee met on the 24th of March. Um we heard some updates um from Dr. Dorettto uh and members of the community about u some celebrations that took place during during the months February and March. There was a Ramadan celebration that was held in the OSI cafeteria. Uh several board members, I believe, were in attendance. Um Coach Kelly shared information about Black History Month celebration that was held uh it was originally scheduled for the end of February, Black History Month, but it the the snow had went into March. Um and it was well attended. Um I do think yes we had uh three to believe several members of the board were

016also president at that meeting. I unfortunately was out of state at the time. Um and uh which led us to a little bit of a discussion about you know several years ago actually started during COVID you would have uh community members and student who would attend um our EDJ meetings and we have missed that I think in the last couple of years and we're looking at ways to try to have more engagement with the community and with the students. and student affinity groups uh in connection with our EDJ meetings because I think we benefited a lot from hearing perspectives and bringing back to the board ideas for direction which we go to to uh address equity diversity and justice in in in Edio Smith. Um Sarah Smith reported and I guess it's happened already that

017um Amy Knox did not invited members of the board to the U deliberation discourse at the Dodge Center which was on May 30th and you may want to say something some >> it was amazing. Um we all learned and when the students were um discussing their different roles, you know, I uh I I learned something. You don't want to be the problem person and you don't want to be the one who uh dominates or takes over. So there was something to learn from everyone. and because of your generous uh invitation to in you know that I could bring Javina with me. She loved it. She thought it was fabulous. And then we went and looked at some of the schools. So you were like a good PR person for building. We saw the excuse me,

018we saw the brain exhibit. I could not drag Javina out of there. So, this made a great impression and it made us feel that um you know our students of color can come here and have a really great experience. Thank you. >> Okay. We also I I actually brought up a discussion and it was partly based on some of the department presentations we had this year in particular the math presentation and I may have something to say about that later at the end of the meeting but um I think the board uh and certainly the EDJ committee are interested in making sure that we are effectively allocating our resources um u so that every student is benefiting from from these ideas with education. And I think based on the numbers I was I was pulling

019together from that data um across our three district towns in the aggregate we had in the high 30% 37 to 38% but not even close to meeting math goals. uh if you if you added the towns that are contract towns, the number higher. I think I know that's something the math department is talking about. Sounds like something that the curriculum department is looking at, but I think it's also something we we need to we need to pay attention to. I finally want I finally gave an update and I have a further update on the school meals u u bill before the legislature. The governor had proposed that go universal free breakfast and that any student who was qualifying for reduced lunches would also get also have free meals. That proposal um or that bill has

020now gone to and come out of appropriations without any without any funding issues. So it looks cautiously optimistic that it will enact it law. Thanks. >> We don't usually have a group that spreads out that far. So hopefully this will help everybody in here. Great. Um all right. So the only other committee is our ad hoc rolling average committee and they did not meet since the last meeting. So now we're on to student reports. Um Faith, it looks like you're it tonight. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Hi everyone. >> Here. Send this to Faith. I can't keep. Hi everyone. So I want to start off with like highlighting the superintendent advisory council. This past Thursday we got to go to the NEAS connections conference and some of our students got to give presentations there. So, Hassan

021Le and Kayla Mona gave an empowering presentation about student leaders or student led leadership and it it seemed like it inspired a lot of other students to want to take up leadership positions in their schools which was really nice to watch. It was really empowering and myself and Hobson, we also gave a presentation about the nuances of the nword and we got to have some pretty powerful conversations in there and I think it went really well. And this on March 20th, we had a blood drive and we got 68 pints of blood donated, which I thought was pretty impressive because for each donation, we get we are able to save three lives. So really we save 204 lives, which I think is really another thing that's really impressive. And we also receive some really generous

022donations from teachers and businesses across the street. So we're really thankful. Um and today or tomorrow starts the start of the fourth marking three. So since today was the last day we had the snapshot and spring sports have also started up and we're halfway through the cell phone policy pilot. And so from what I've seen or what I'm like collected from my peers is that in upper classman like classes, it hasn't been that big of an issue or a difficulty with like putting your phones away in the pouches. You're having too much um I guess back and forth with students and teachers about it. It seems to be more of a issue with underassmen where they might have a little more difficulty or more push back with putting their phones in their pouches. So that's

023what we've noticed. And one more last thing I wanted to add is that a lot of UN had their New York trip and they got to go to New York for a weekend and they represented Tunisia. So um thank you. >> Thank you. Um and uh congratulations. >> Yeah. >> Thank you for that. All right. Uh moving on, we have a presentation civics in action from um students Margaret Owen, Dakota Ingram, and Sage Anthony. Um let's you're going to be at the podium. We don't need it. You got heat. Hi everyone. Uh my name is Andy Lamba. I am a fifth year master student at the University of Connecticut in the social studies education program. And part of my fifth year program um I'm placed at a school for an internship and I was lucky

024enough to come back to EO where I graduated five years ago. Uh and the social studies department and one of the things I've taken on as the intern is our civics and action project that the seniors need to complete before they graduate. So it's a two semester thing. students take it in the first semester and then a group of students take it in the second semester. Um I have some students with me that will share their projects from last semester. But I just wanted to give you like an overview first of what the civics and action project is. So it's designed to encourage students to become more uh born and more involved citizens and then also become an active participant by observing and act actively engaging in the civic process. So what they need to

025do at the start of the semester is pick something that they're passionate about and they go out into the community whether that's volunteer at a food bank u volunteer work with a political campaign uh and then at the end uh they put together a written report on it and then they also uh do a presentation to their peers about what they came up with. So this is kind of the outline of the project. This is the arc that we look at. So step one, like I said, is picking something that cares deeply about. That's the important part. If you pick something that you're not too excited about come, you know, two months down the line, uh, and you realize that you need to do your civics and action project, you're not going to be as

026excited. So picking a really good topic is really important. Uh, using reliable sources. So that's step two to educate yourself on the topic. Uh step three consider purposeful action steps that will help address the issue. Uh step four reflecting on the process. So like I said around three-page paper reflecting on the experience and then step five presenting the project to peers. Um and they need a product or a visual to do this and it's really really awesome. So I have three students that will come up and share their present uh civics and actions projects with you. Uh Sing Ingram all seniors will be graduating pretty soon. They already completed their civics and action project last semester. But I think I really wanted you to see the amazing work that the seniors are doing when it

027comes to civics in action. Hi everyone, my name is Sage. I'm a student athlete here. I play field hockey, lacrosse, and I also do unified basketball. And my civics and action project was on student athletes mental health here at EO. And I did some research. I collaborated with Mr. Mr. Bowman and my research teachers in Sar and I sent a survey out to coaches outside of region 19. So like golf coaches things that and then I created a survey for students here. I had to get permission from our principal Dr. Gilto and then once I got that back I was able to like put together a graph of positive and negatives. I got about 50 responses for the survey which is pretty good. But the top graph is the positive trees identified from my application.

028Um at the top it's been stable groups and they're supportive and caring and are like balanced and fair and create a positive culture for our teams. And then towards the bottom you can see communication and feedback which is on the lesser side which goes into like more negative traits for like and you can see that poor instruction and feedback is one of the bigger ones. And then one thing I think like do some people one of those sections is physical health and safety for that it was really identifying like sometimes like athletes can be told to be playing through injuries or like if our athletic trainer says no don't play the coaches will push to have them play anyway even if they're yeah So, hi, I'm Dakota. I'm a senior at my project is on

029domestic violence awareness and um the disrupmentation in the media. So to do this, I had a partner and we kind of had like a four-step plan. Our first part was we read um the book ends with us. Um, and we finished in mid November. Um, and while we were halfway through the book, we met with the local domestic violence child advocate, Paige Briggs, to talk about um what we thought were some of the negative aspects the book was portraying that could be harmful to both um victims of domestic violence who were reading the book and then uh people who unaware are not as knowledgeable about domestic violence and the issues that come with it. Um so then our next part was we had a speaker event at EO in the lecture hall and also in

030the library um where we had a health class and a civics class come um and Paige Briggs who's the child advocate talked about um some signs like domestic violence and um how it can present itself throughout um different age groups and warning signs and uh support services that are available. And then our third step was we watched the movie It Ends With Us. Um and then we had a final meeting with Paige Briggs where we discussed our total findings about um as I said the parts of the um media that was being harmful. And then we wrote a letter to Colleen Hoover, which is the book's author, um explaining why we thought that some of her aspects were very cool. That is amazing. I'm actually a junior, so I took this class a year early.

031Um, but me and my partner who's sitting over there focused our project around period poverty. Um and we kind of started that like focusing off of the tampon tax which is luckily not um in stated in eticate but basically focuses around the idea that u medical products are like classified as um non-necessary uh hygiene products. So they get to be taxed extra. Um, and so we switched our focus kind of to period poverty specifically in Connecticut and found that one in three teens and one in four adults in Connecticut um, struggle with period poverty. So after doing some research, we ended up partnering with the Holy Family Home and Shelter in Windham and um, we met with the shelter director who was Sarah Defrain. um once just to kind of talk about the ideas that

032we had and how we could further implement that with them. Um and from there we kind of we started fundraising. We set up a give Butter page which is like a fundraising site that doesn't charge taxes for nonprofits um through her. So all the money was going directly to the shelter, not to us. Um, and then we made flyers and we also made an Instagram account um, to kind of spread further knowledge about period poverty and what it is. Um, and we started collecting uh, money. Um, it I think that was in Novemberish and we ended up reaching our goal of $1,500 in December. Um, so from there we then set up another meeting with Sarah. Oh, and before I had also gone to the board to just like we had already gotten approval from

033Sarah, so we didn't need board approval, but just to kind of tell them what we were going to do. Um, but after we reached our fundraising goal, we went back and met with her um to kind of decide how we wanted to go about purchasing products um and setting up a date for when we would actually pack the kits. So, um, we ended up doing an Amazon order with her of a bunch of different stuff. As you can see in that picture, that was not all of it. There was probably a good 15 other boxes. Um, but we ended up totaling 144 kits, which looked like this. So each of them has everything you need for a regular 7-day cycle and also a extra pair of underwear just in case and some hygiene wipes and

034stuff like that. Um and our goal was I believe 132 kits which was meant to last the shelter for a year for all of its residents who menrate. So that's over a year's worth of supplies for them. Um and yeah amazingly great. Um, we're inviting all of you and board members to come to our civics and action expo event on Thursday, May 2nd, uh, 12 to 200 p.m. in the LMC. And with this actually that date, >> what >> is it? April 30th. >> It's in May. >> May 7th. maybe uh >> we'll clarify that. >> Yeah, we'll clarify. Uh >> uh but this is your formal invitation to come to this event. Uh and why >> yeah and why I said that you'll like that is because we'll have a lot more students here

035uh presenting on their civics and action project um from last semester and this semester as well. So it's a really cool opportunity for you all to see the amazing work that our seniors are doing um and you know to give them credit because this is the whole semester project like they have to do. this isn't, you know, a week effort. This is they're putting in a lot of time and I know that they really appreciate your presence um at this event. This is some pictures uh from last year. We held it here. I wasn't here. Um this is what it looked like. Also, something else to point out about the civics and action project. Uh when I was here as a student, it was freshman year that you would do your civics and action project.

036Uh and it was recently changed to senior year uh for students to participate in. Um and we think that because of that students are closer to the age of actually being able to civically participate uh in our democracy. And what we've seen is that because of that, students are way more engaged than they were because they're able to create a lot more meaningful change that way. >> That's it. I'm happy to answer any questions or if you have any questions for the students as well. Yeah, >> it's not a question. It's just I am so proud of the young women and thank you. you're you're doing really meaningful things which uh you know we we do not realize the privilege that we have and when you said one in four adults and one in three

037young women >> are facing this I I'm going to donate stuff to where I can find you know this type of work and you all were truly amazing uh you you are addressing what really happens to women globally. So, thank you for that and the athletics. Woohoo. You guys are great. Thank you. >> Well, thank you all very much. >> Thank you. >> All right, we have a presentation on our Italy field trip. Um, Are the students here? Paige and S. >> Bye. Thank you. All right. So, we wanted to make >> All right. So, we learned to make a presentation. >> All right. So, we wanted >> I think the button is not great at this great. >> All right. So we wanted to make a presentation on the importance of our particular trip

038to because we heard that we just want to like make sure that it stays in the program because it's more than just a a vacation away from school. It's really a emporium experience. What about that? >> There we go. >> Okay. Um, so you can see in the top corner, that was a photo out from my window. Uh, so we landed in Rome and the first experience that we had landing in Rome was walking downstairs. I thought that was absolutely the coolest thing I've ever experienced in my life. I also learned that Irish has their own language. So that was really fun. Um, so in the beginning when we got to the airport, the first thing we did was transportation and personal personal belongings. We had our passports the entire trip and that's just saying

03916, 17, and 15 year olds with a passport, which is basically your route home and your route back. So that was that was something important that we had to have going around. Um and then once we landed in Rome, we were rushing to make sure that we could make our first stop which was at >> Ara which was a really cool virtual experience which you can see us in there. And then um we got to explore the streets of Rome for the first time with a few limits of like blocks and then streets double pass here or there and we got to talk to new people, hear language a little bit and we got to just experience new food which is really cool. And there was a lot of time management and communication that was

040going on on the first day and that was that was really cool. >> All right. And then the second day, this was a very long day. We woke up early, got to bed late, and this was like our most pack day, I would say. And here we really we faced adversity with getting into places with tickets. We had some uh ticket times that, you know, they didn't work out or we couldn't find the guide. So, we got to practice some patience and really trying to figure out how to move everything around so we could still fit everything in. And so, we got to um we got to visit the coliseum, go out onto the column floor and see how it actually worked. Then we also got to see uh the pantheon Roman forums really explore

041a lot of the Roman roads that are scattered throughout while you know trying to get into everything with all these slow um day was our last dayish in Rome um for everything. Um one of our first stops was bright and early in the morning we went to which is this really really pretty castle right off the piper. Um and they got to experience um public transportation in Rome on a public bus and validating your tickets. Um Mr. McMaster was telling us a very funny story about him in Australia and why it's so important to validate your tickets. And later that night we had a valid policeman come on to look at our validated tickets. So that was very fun to hear. Um, and then also, um, I think that was a lot of that was

042a very long walking day. We walked all the way from our hotel all the way to St. Angelo, which is like 20 minutes. And then we walked along Tyber all the way up to an orange garden. And then we went to go see the keyhole. We didn't have time to see it, but it was still walked up there. And then we walked all the way past the Circus Maximus, which was their chariot racing. And then from there, we went to Gladiator School, which you can see up there. That was that was probably one of our other really long days. And there a lot of physical movement. So, it's kind of seeing our letters and communicating. Hey, like, all right, let me head back next. >> All right. And then on day four, this was our

043day of transitioning over to Naples. So, we had to ride a train and a subway. We had to like figure out how do you do all this stuff? How do you navigate the train station? How do you make sure no one steals your luggage? Stay together as a group, keep track of everything while putting in times for food and just making sure you, you know, can get through the day. And then we also got to remember the name, but we got to visit another castle, St. Um, so we got to, you know, still fit some things in. We also a finicular up there. So we got to experience how do you travel throughout Italy while you know fitting everything into your day still >> and also just suggesting a little bit I'd say a little

044bit more rural and more touristy and then went straight to Naples which is like like our Boston so it was like rural the city so that was a really good experience too. Um so our good day was our layered layered day. Um we spent most of our day in the ancient Rome ancient Naples um with Pompei and that was probably the sole one of the sole main things that we did and we all look forward to going that way and Seth wasn't in Latin one but I was and that was the coolest thing ever because that was our entire Lat one. It was based off Pompei. So just walking the actual streets being in the amphitheater and everything was really amazing. And then after we did the Pompei with our amazing tour guide, we walked

045all the way up Mount Vuvius. And it was really, really cool. Unfortunately, it was really foggy, so we didn't really see the crater that much, but he did pull out a book and show us what it looked like. But >> it was really cool to experience walking up there. And thankfully, we had amazing weather the entire time we were there. We did take a car, one raintorm on this day, but it was very short. So, at least like figuring out where is everyone, are they getting rained on, where are they right now, and are we going to go eat right now? because people get more angry. So that was that was a really interesting day. And this was our last day in which we spent some time enabled at the start going to Herculanium which

046is sort of like Pompei but the way it was destroyed on Mount Pubius leaves it more intact which so we got to see like twotory buildings and more a complete Roman type city which was super interesting. And then after that we headed back to um Rome. So we took the train back and we kind of dealt with the fact that hey now our trips ending. We got to we might not see these people as much. You'll still see them in school. But we had to like you know this is our last day. What should we do? So, um, we went out for gelato all together and then we took this amazing walk to the coliseum at night, which is super cool. It's all lit up in all the arches. So, we got to like have

047one last moment together to kind of enjoy the trip and and reflect on, hey, this is this was a really fun trip and even though we're going home, it still impacted us a lot. We all learned possibilities and things traveling and I think a lot of stories that we will absolutely never forget. Like they're same patients when they're trying to help you get a ticket for change. Elvis >> and we're spread out through Latin >> Latin all the way. >> Thank you. Great. >> I just I just want to make a comment. taking um students out of the country is a huge responsibility on the part of our teacher and our and our staff who who do that. And Joanne does an absolutely amazing job making sure that >> every detail is taken care of

048um so that the kids can have that experience. and it seems seamless, but it is a tremendous amount of work and energy that she go that that she puts into making sure that's a fun trip, but also a safe trip for the kids. So, it's huge. So, thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next up is our special report from our assistant principles, uh, Cara Guru and Dave Hannard. Floor is yours. That follows exciting. >> Find the mic. Find the mic. I don't think we can use our teacher voices. >> If the people in the back can hear you, you're good to go. >> Guys, tell me if I'm not speaking loud or not. So we we primarily have two responsibilities to oversee academic supports and and the behavioral interventions. So um

049we're starting with a slide that have our program additions from 2023 to 2026 for those of you who can't see it. Um we're we work on preserving instructional time. So particularly this year we're looking at cell phone use. Um the idea of the first 10 minutes of class and the last 10 minutes of class and this year we instituted a hall pass system. Um we're still looking at at the um the implications of that. But we had a student center redesign where we added a huge component of peer tutoring uh and the idea of consolidating interventions. Um, previously the academic supports were kind of separate and by bringing more students into the student center, they could accomplish more in um on different subjects. So, it wouldn't just be in a a match support, which is

050our math academic study halls. They might get math and science. Um, the peer tutors could support multiple subjects as well. Um we implemented a dress code um to some degree or not of success. Um we have bait detectors again with some degree of success. But they what do we say about our students? They're getting more sophisticated in their um evade evasive attempts to avoid um the bait detectors. Uh our reach program is for chronic absenteeism. So that is something that has been implemented more recently. Um our social workers have started um groups. Uh we last year for example we had a decision-making group. Um some of those students again returned for that decision- making group and others said no I think I've gotten what I need. I'm good. Um there's some social skills groups. Um

051I think we had one this year where um again it related to decision- making but it was more specific related to peer interactions. So it was a it's a really interesting opportunity. Um and the last thing is um our smart recovery which was for addictive behaviors um we didn't have a need for groups. we didn't have as many kids so it it morphed to a onetoone support with a social worker from Mansfield. >> So I think she mentioned on the academic support side um really it starts with tier one classroom instruction that is the biggest the most significant intervention period. Um the academic studying halls are loose. Student center um has we've seen a pretty significant uptick in terms of students assigned there and students hard scheduled in. Um peer tutoring programs grown pretty significantly

052in the last year. Uh and literacy literacy support school has changed significantly uh with Kelly Ricardi joining us. I'll show you some numbers for that event. Uh in terms of academic study values kind of moving year-over-year. Um, again, this is as of April 5th compared to all of last year. So, it's not exactly applicants, but it gives you kind of a trend in what's happening. Um, math and science are kind of on the same path. Um, science probably finish somewhat about where they were last year. Math will probably exceed a little bit. Um, English and social studies are both slightly up from last year. Um, student center numbers are the most significant change. The traffic in student center has really grown quite a bit this year. Um this is kind of the trend line for

053student center traffic just to kind of give you an idea. Um it's it's an interesting graph when you look at it from the standpoint of it's great that we have that much traffic. But the counterbalance of that is tier one instruction and the balance of intervention at the secondary level. You really don't want to see that secondary intervention numbers. If those numbers get too high, that question of efficacy in tier one, we can't that that outside the classroom intervention is not as effective in terms of solving and helping to address student needs for learning as what happens in the classroom. So, we do want to be careful looking at that. Yes, it's great. Yes, we have a lot of traffic, but there may be more in the data there uh to interpret. >> Um in

054terms of again student center this this year as of April 5th, we have 296 students um are scheduled in 104 of those are unique students. Uh compared to last year how we finished in 235 and 71 unique students. So the uptick is significant but that isn't necessarily a good thing across the board. Um literacy support seen significant uh increase. Again we have single staff member responsible for literacy support. Um we've got 51 seats with 37 unique students as of April. Last year the room finished with 32 seats and 21 unique students. So it's nice that we're serving more kids. I think the data is telling us that our literate our literacy needs are really higher. They're they're increasing. Um, and so that's something we really have to pay attention to and that's something that's going

055to have to be probably shared across the building as we move forward in the next few years. And we mentioned peer tutoring. Um this year we've got we've had 170 peer tutor requests so far this year. Got about 112 peer tutors. That's the data on the left hand side for 2025. Over 112 peer tutors in play right now. Uh compared to about 98 at the end of last year. Uh two week sampling in terms of what's on the calendars. I just pulled two calendars uh from each of the years. If you can just see that we're we're up about 70% 60%. So a good impering component of this is great because it really gives you an indication of students taking an active role as participants in the learning in the school and not just recipients

056of learning. So I think that's really positive from a leadership perspective. Our peer tutors have received a couple of trainings this year. They've really been very active. Um student response has been pretty pretty positive. I wish Faith were still here because I believe she's a very effective peer tutor and I think she could speak to that. >> How long are each of the sessions? >> It's basically a class period depending on if it's a Monday the periods are slightly shorter. Um this the peer room is that corner room over there. That's typically where most of it happens. Sometimes kids will find other locations depending on schedule and need but that's typically where most of the peer tutoring happens. So sorry you mean like every like a student comes in um one student so it's one-on-one

057for an hour or or sorry like >> yeah depending on length and the you know the efficacy from at the secondary level and sometimes the model at the postsecary in college the drop in model has higher levels of efficacy in research at the secondary level that onetoone relationship building has a really strong um it's a strong indicator of success in the program The drop in model in high school where kids don't develop some trust with each other doesn't tend to have longevity and kids don't tend to engage as long. So we really do try to foster that one-on-one connection in the modeling that seems to be pretty effective. >> So um the numbers look fine but how do you measure the success of this? So it's the hard the hard part >> successful in there

058there but afterwards or what's the >> so it's really a lot of it is anecdotal data collected on surveys um to actually to actually measure it from a learning perspective we probably need a math intern from Yukon to stay with us for a year we did that in oral language a number of years ago where we actually had intern stay with us for a year and do statistical analysis of the impact. Um I think that from that standpoint yes there is impact but I think the anecdotal when you think about about the feeling about learning the feeling about yourself as a learner and I think that's really where the impact is that helping students build some confidence as learners as feeling like they have agency in their own learning experience. Um I think that's where

059the peer component really plays in and that's what the the feedback that we get from surveys is really positive in that respect. And on the other side the experience the tutors get not necessarily as recipients of the tutoring but as actual agents behind helping others. That's really significant and kids feel really positive about that experience. Again, it's that agency as a high school student, and we heard that from some of our speakers earlier, to feel like they're more than just recipients. They are actively they're actively engaged in as partners in learning, which is great. And I think, you know, from a community at the high school level, that's such an important component because we don't have enough teachers to just spread them all around and help everyone. But we do have a lot of students

060that um that question about you know does it work? I know the data question is always out there. Um this is just a snapshot again as of April 5th. Um we know we know historically the last couple of years math science have the highest rates of use of interventions. Their their great their great profiles seem to support that. This is not um this is not evidentiary. This is simply looking at data and saying gee okay this kind of represent representatively looks like we might expect it to look but this is just something we kind of keep an eye on. The administration sees this regularly. >> Um you want me to talk about anything? I can I mean so we don't last year we had some more specific data from the is it Halo Halo >>

061Halo is the company that we use for the vape detectors we were not able to access the data um for this presentation and as I mentioned before um I would say our vape detectors are going off less frequently but I can't promise you that there is less vaping I think students have figured out ways to um because we hear again it's more anecdotal that students are vaping in the bathroom. Um you know we'll go in we we will sometimes walk in and catch students doing that and are unclear as to why the vape detectors are are not going off. Um but it is an ongoing problem. You know, I I think the the ability for students to go online and there's video there's videos and resource resources on how to defeat school bait detectors. It's

062a whole little cottage industry. Um and so we do still the vape detectors still go off. We still do catch kids. We we run out of regular procedures in terms of if you're in the bathroom, the vape detector goes off, we conduct a search, we call the parents, play that we play that out. Um but the kids have got more sophisticated. Uh we do not basically search students. Um so they've also figured that out as well. So if there's time uh we we frequently when we retrieve students, they're watching hands to see where they're what they're trying to do and where they're trying to put devices. It's not uncommon to see kids tuck them in places. So that's a game that we, you know, continually involved in. >> We've found tapes in the ceiling. Um

063>> yeah, all kinds of places. I know when this uh came up as discussion I think last year when the the main concern was students didn't feel comfortable using the bathrooms has have students become more comfortable being able to use that one >> I think during the class periods yes they depending on we the other strategy that students have found is if a large enough group of us goes into the bathroom at the same time and we use in a larger group it's very when you have 12 15 students and the bait detector goes off it is a very hard shuffle to try to sort that out. I think the students have figured out that if they overwhelm us, it's from a strategy perspective, it's fairly effective approach. We still will at times bring the

064large groups. >> We brought 15 in yesterday to do that because we were sort of like, okay, you're going to challenge us and we're going to call your all your >> bluff >> call your bluff and took some time, but we did. >> But it is a you know, we it's it is a little bit of a cat master. there's a game being game played. They've gotten much more sophisticated since last year with how to you know how to play their side. Um but I do think from from a bathroom perspective um you we we still security does their sweeps. The bathrooms aren't as crow aren't crowded like we used to be and we aren't getting reports like we used to >> part of that is a hall pass system as well. that we helped,

065>> but it's credit during passing time. >> Passing time. Anytime you dump 900 students, it was always the same time. >> Sure. I did learn that um vapes can come in the shape of like AirPods that >> Yeah, there it's it's amazing how you can disguise um a vape. Right. Um in terms of in the just overall instant referrals, this just gives you a trend some trend lines about incident referrals. Um majors are in red, minors are in blue. Um minors typically are not where teachers are submitting uh incident referrals, not requesting action from us. Most many of these are just document documentation. So we have it on record. Um trend line for minors is fairly flat through the year. Majors were we've seen a little bit of increase. You can see that in the

066trend line. The most popular reasons, um, cell phones, cuts of academic supports, and students being out of balance. Those are the three big ones. Um, then there's there's a lot of other and a lot of a lot of smaller most frequent incidents. >> I will say once we started the cell phone pilot though, we asked teachers to submit those as majors. So, you'll see cell phone both on major and minor and it it they're really the same and we treat them the same. Yes. >> And then this is just kind of another look in terms of instant referrals. You can see it's really 10th graders, ninth graders to to a slightly lesser extent. Those are where most of the referrals are coming from. Um we've had 315 students with one or more referrals this year.

06784 staff members have submitted a referral. Um but that just kind of gives you the big picture in terms of what's happening. You want to move that a little bit more. Any questions? >> All right. So, how do the referrals relate to the minor and major? Is it just for majors? >> So, when when staff puts in a referral, you have a minor category, which really the the um the goal of the minors is to create a documentation trail. So, you might have to cue a student to hey, you know, please quiet down or I gave you a reminder. write it down. So, I'm going to put that in as a minor. Parent gets a communication when the teacher submits that. We see it. Um, most of the time the minors are documentation. We are

068going to approve that. It gets kicked back to the teacher, the parent sees the approval. Sometimes if we've seen the student in other places, we might meet with the student and have the feedback and there could be a consequence assigned to it. But minors typically are documentation. majors where teachers requesting action. Most most majors have an outcome to it. Sometimes there may be other circumstances which have a put them on a different pathway. >> But this is majors and minors. >> This is Yeah. And sometimes we'll look at a referral and the teacher will check doc minor and be oh no that's not a minor that's a major. And we'll treat it as that. So the teacher makes that decision but we we might override it. And can I just ask like how do these

069compare from precoid? >> Um, >> it's hard to compare just we introducing the miners as a category for documentation. The old the old system was we started with paper when we first got here. We moved to a Google form then we moved to powers school and now we've moved back to kind of a web app. Um, this form is a little more efficient. Um, so we see more more documentations than we've ever seen. And that's actually really helpful because the communication trail that comes out of this system as soon as the teacher submits it, the parents of the parents on record get an email, counselors get an email push, resource, teachers receive it, we see them, and the teacher gets a copy themselves. So that communication trail is a significant change which you know kind

070of creates a reinforcement system where it's not uncommon that a referral will get submitted the parent will call us 15 minutes later and kind of know you know what's going on. So it's really nice to see that there is you know there's there's engagement on both sides. It's not that everyone's always happy about them but people are seeing them and they're which is great. Um we also have a seven oh I'm sorry. Um, does the teacher have to submit this in real time? >> No. >> Okay. Because I'm wondering about the amount of time to fill this out and get it to you and you know I I'm maybe not understanding the full process. Is it like um later on in the day when they get a minute they can fill this out? >> Yep.

071>> Yeah. We got a we received a cell phone referral I think at 5:30. Oh, okay. >> So, you'll deal with that in a minute. >> And then it just goes out there. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um, our cell phone pilot group, we had 33 teachers participating in it. You can see the trend line of referrals uh since we started back in January. Um, so the pilot group that the pilots were that's really what the data is suggesting. um consistency, daily consistency from the staff participating is the biggest indicator of success in this. As soon as people become inconsistent, students figure that out and the games are the games are fun. Um but the 33 staff that are participating, we've met with we haven't because of some of the snow days we've

072had, we haven't been able to see them as often as we wanted to. Um but the feedback generally is pretty positive from the pilot group. Um we have 61 teams sweating. >> Sure. asked like what do those dots represent? Those are >> so that's frequency of referrals on a given day. >> Okay. >> So you can see like >> what's on the bottom >> January 5th there were six six cell phone referrals out of the pilot group on that day. >> Gotcha. >> And you can see kind of the trend line in this. >> We're not seeing as many. There still are some peak days where we'll get multiples. We had a few today. Um but it's really not as not as frequent as we saw initially. >> So those are individual days over the

073full course of the pilot >> since since January when we started in semester. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> And then this is just a comparison. So we have 33 teachers in the pilot. They've submitted 58 referrals as of I think was Monday. We have 61 teachers not participating in the pilot. they submitted a total of 29 reports. Um I think this is and this is really the challenge question behind you know from a policy perspective the pilots's work how how we enable all staff to participate at the commitment level the pilot really is a question um that's and if that's in any organization that's always the question the pilot itself is so that's really positive questions Right. The other question >> I think that do we have this data some >> um yes I do

074have it >> I got it at 6:30 tonight so it will be in that um drive. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. All right. Thank you for >> All right. I think our next order of business is our superintendent report. Yes. So, as um Can y'all hear me out there? >> Yes. No. No. Okay. Is we'll get you. >> So, um as always, I'm just going to highlight some of the more um significant pieces from the um this month. One of the things I'm really excited about, I' I've been meeting with um Mr. Little points video production class over the course of the past um few weeks. Um they are working on a project to be working to develop a short public relations video. They are the most enthusiastic, excited young people um with this project

075where basically I said I kind of want this but I am not artistic at all. I don't know how it works, but I would really love something to kind of look like this. Go free and and see what you can do. And so they will show up at my office and ask for a meeting so that they can show me their progress. Um they get it. And it's absolutely amazing what um young folks will do when you allow them to be creative and to kind of lead the way. So I'm really excited about that. I'm excited to see the finished product. I met with them this week and they uh give you a little snippet of of where they are so far and their enthusiasm is absolutely contagious. Um I presented or I attended an

076online presentation states uh the state department of education uh regarding the district repair and improvement project. That's what stands for because I always forget. Um, we will be receiving from the state uh $90,575 to be put toward uh building repair, which is um timely and very much needed. Uh, interviews were held for the assistant principal position. Very excited to announce that the committee chose uh Mr. Dan Yurano uh to be the new assistant principal at the high school uh beginning July 1. So, we're very excited about that. Uh as Faith Mea mentioned earlier, two groups of our students presented at Vance, this was a big deal. There were a lot of districts that submitted their proposals for presentation to the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. This is a big conference that they um

077joined with Sutton High School last year. Supposed to be presented at Clark University. We had some weather issues. They rescheduled it and presented convention center in Marboro, Mass last Thursday as Faith said. And we had uh Hana Davis and Kayla Lynn present a presentation called Leaded Life where they sell they they shared what they've been involved in and and how to encourage students to take the reigns and to step up as leaders and how to facilitate and how to advocate for that within their own school districts. They were amazing. Um, both of these sessions were filled. Um, I was actually because I'm associated with NIASK on the board of trustees. I was in charge of the rooms. I was the room leader. I actually had to ask had to turn people away because our room

078was too full. Um, Faith and Aisa uh presented the power of a word examining the nword in history and modern culture. As Faith mentioned, very powerful. We had a room full of students having very very challenging conversations. Our students do did an amazing job facilitating and maneuvering really difficult conversations with adults and with students. We had teachers from other districts coming up to Faith and Ia after that presentation asking for copies of their presentation so that they could bring them back to their school. Really, really proud of our kids here. They were absolutely amazing. and my main job was pushing the button on slide projector to that PowerPoint played correctly was all I had to do that day. Uh we've had some meetings with uh Dennis Sanovich, Seth Perilla, and Amanda Bakus to quantify the

079amount of money that we spent between 2015 and 2026 in regards to security upgrades. So, we've been talking over the past few months about the fact that we were granted the 2023 security grant that initially state said we weren't going to get and then uh EO as well as other schools in the state were then told that guess who are getting the um grant. We had put in a total grant amount um for $1,918,362.38. It was a really big deal for for this to be granted. Um, our portion of that grant based on our reimbursement rate of 81.0% is $363,180. Dennis and Seth are quantifying how much we've spent since 2015 because that amount that we've already spent counts toward that portion of what we kind of owe to the state for that part of

080of the grant. Right now um according to Dennis um this afternoon we're at about um actually the the numbers shifted since I spoke with him last. So we're at about um $650,000 um that we've already spent. So, we've far surpassed our grantee match and now that's money that's being that will ask for reimbursement from the state and that will be put into our capital um our capital budget which is um again a huge area of need. Um I was honored to serve on a panel with Ryan Ellsworth and Amanda Bachis and representatives from Ellington at the Eastcon partnership and PA uh practice conference where we talked about shared services. when you start really talking about what we do and the the services that we share and the collaboration, the communication that has to happen between

081um between Mansfield and the region as well as the communication between the region and Asheford and Willington even though we don't necessarily have shared services. It was a really powerful conversation. It was it was a great opportunity to be able to um be a part of that. I was I was very excited about that. So it's been really busy that above and beyond the whole idea of budget budget season but um that was uh that was my month. >> Any questions? >> Yes. >> Um but then you have presentations from the students. Yes. Love to get a copy or if they could come for example or something. >> Yes. So, um, so Nick just asked for a copy of the presentation or things to to to present. Um, their presentations were 55 to 60 minutes

082long, but I would be sure that they would be really excited to share the presentation. >> Thank you. >> Okay, next up for us is the consent agenda. Are there any items that need come off the consent agenda people are looking forward? Not seeing any, I will need a motion to approve agenda. Nick and Morgan. >> All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. All right. Consent agenda moves forward. Okay. Under new business. Um we this the finance committee has sent to you the regional school district 19 and um budget for the 26 27th year. And we need to um I'll make a motion that the region school district 19 board of education adopt the superintendent's proposed 2026 uh budget for um 26,23,960 as recommended by the finance committee. Did you all hear? I'm

083just sure. All right, we have a second. >> I'll second. >> Uh, any discussion? >> I just wanted to add that that is a 3.5% increase from the previous year from our previous year. >> Thank you. Okay, no discussion. All those in favor signify by saying >> I post extensions. All right. So that that budget um will go to referendum on May 1st 50th >> first 50 of May May 5th >> and all three panels will go on that day. All right, moving on. Our next item is um more discussion than anything else and I'm just going to introduce it. um is listed as board member guidance, communication, and training. These are opportunities to explore what we can count through as boards. I'm just going to introduce this. Um as a board of education, we

084have strict rules about how we communicate with the public beyond our open meetings. The FOI freedom of information rules are very specific and I think it's a great idea um to review some of the parameters that impact us as the regional school district board of education. Uh this will also be the focus of our board training with our board attorney on April 20, 2026, 6:30 p.m. We specifically ask him to help us be aware of what we how we get what we need from the public, but how we do that within the Freedom of Information rules that we are really held to. So um my intentions here tonight are just to reinforce what most of us already know. We're one body with representatives from three towns. Our role require us to serve the regional school

085district. Our primary constituents are the students and families of the regional towns as well as the students and families who come to us by tuition. All of the actions we take must consider the entire body of the region. This includes how we communicate with our constituents and how we make decisions. The fact that we are elected by three towns to be on the board does not mean that we are three separate bodies. We all answered to the same reason. Uh we have many vehicles at our disposal to collectively gather information and make decisions within the legal framework of both our bylaws and our state and federal laws. Our committee structure is one of those vehicles. At no time do individuals have the right to independently solicit information on issues that are actively being addressed by

086a committee or that the board has not established a plan for obtaining such input. Obviously, we also have the portion of our meetings where the public and any of our communities may address the board event both at the beginning and the end of our meetings. Likewise, our committee meetings are advertised and offer another avenue for public input. As a board, we can determine that we need more input from our community on a specific issue and can devise a plan for obtaining that input from all of our constituent communities. that can include but is not limited to properly noticed open meetings or some type of survey. Likewise, committees have similar abilities to devise a properly noticed session designed to obtain public information. While individual board members may hear from the public while in the community andor

087receive some type of written communication or had some this week or or any other uh response. Um but that information needs to be referred to the appropriate administrator or committee or the whole board. Um and any other way of doing that is not acceptable. In other words, board members can't solve problem um except by referring to the places in the school where the problem can be solved. Um, as we represent the entire region, sessions held in the board members town with just constituents of that town and without a board committee authorization or event/committee authorization may both violate FOI rules and risk the appearance of devices. Additionally, any independent action of this kind of the trust that the board members need to have with each other to be effective in serving this region. Social media including

088Facebook, Instagram, etc. is not recommended as a vehicle for board of vet communication with the public. It automatically prevents access by anyone who doesn't use that tool. It's hard to imagine there isn't anybody who doesn't, but I I don't use it. And in our case as a regional board, it may automatically exclude member towns if we use a Mansfield page, for example. Using this tool to publicly invite individuals to comment on named topics currently in committee or in some other working state is problematic on many levels. Not the least of which is that invites a series of comments that can set off unne unnecessary alarms um among select users of that platform. And the cave materials are pretty pretty guiding in that regard. They really encourage boards to avoid using social media unless it's part

089of a big PR plan that the community has in place. So any board member can recommend to the board as a whole or a committee a manner of obtaining public inboard there. Um using Robert's rules, decisions can be made by the entire group on whether or how proceed. Our role as a regional board and the fact that we are elected by three towns separately does not change the fact that our overriding responsibility is to the constituents of all three towns. This in effect is different from a one town board event in many regards. However, it would be just as problematic and divisive for a single board member in a single town to decide to host their own public meetings. On a practical level, um, in the event that a decision is made to do some

090type of public input activity, in addition to the freedom of information requirements, a setting that allows privacy and plenty of seating needs to be selected. The obvious problem with public um, and I put in parenthesis, restaurants and small spaces is the limited physical access and privacy. Um and so a small space such as Starbucks, especially in stores, is um automatically um a problem in terms of access. So I spent because this just presented a unique opportunity and I honor Kathleen's desire to get more input from um our voters in town. It prompted a good investigation of what we should and shouldn't know as a board. and I met with our board attorney Ken um Weinstein and we got input also from the cape attorney Patrice McCarthy who supported what I've just said. And so in

091fact um we're hoping that through our board training and through some other communications that we have collectively that we can really make sure we get what we need uh in order to do our business in the with the public u in mind but that we're also very um sensitive to the fact that we are one body serving one region of many towns and and in the case of Smith we also serve some other communities by tuition and that's our constituency Um, and that includes the public in all three of our communities. So, in a perfect world, Starbucks would be bigger and that Ashford and Willington would have been able to participate. And that's that's as simple as it gets right now, but it's a great opportunity to explore this further with our entire board. Yeah,

092>> I appreciate um the chance to have this in a public forum because I think originally Deb, you really wanted to have this in an executive session where we wouldn't actually be able to talk openly or or really kind of think about um the publicness of the forum, right? Which is sort of my point. Um, so I want to suggest first that this board does really need to rethink um our relationship to our communities. And by community, I am not referring to the very cozy relationship of this board and the EOSmith administration, but by community I mean the actual lived communities we serve, the communities of parents, teachers, and students across all three towns. So that message was sent really loud and clear when a large crowd of teachers showed up in this space last

093June to say that their voices hadn't actually been heard, right? Um and it was sent again in the dead of summer in Mansfield when a lot of folks showed up um at what was supposed to be a rubber stamp caucus and it's being sent again now when people are here on a Tuesday night in the middle of the really crazy busy weeks of April. And it is extraordinary, I think, that this message has not been received. And it's been extraordinary to me that we are here discussing not policy, not the school climate, not the many things that need addressing, but instead we're spending this time here um to call out my efforts to create more dialogue and to hear from Mansfield residents. And there are hundred ways to dress this up in language and to

094contemplate far-fetched technicalities, to slow roll events off the calendar, to find ways to say no if you don't want genuine dialogue with your communities. And indeed, this board has become very accustomed to telling parents and teachers and students and board members what they cannot do. And I'm here because I really want to dedicate some serious effort to thinking about and making possible what teachers, parents, and students in this extraordinary community can do. But to get there, we really have to listen. And we have to listen not just to our board. Um our board our students are not our constituents. Our students are largely underage as far as voting. Our constituents are the people who are elected us in all three towns. This is constructed as a power structure from the bottom up where the people

095elect us to represent their concerns from our three towns to Eio Smith which is a blend of all those. So we have to listen. And in these last few weeks I've heard a few things mostly from the Mansville members of this board. I've heard reason after reason not to take a few hours to listen to the opinions of the community I represent. Reasons that range from how Starbucks was too crowded to how we had to get it approved not by the lawyer I spoke with at K also but from another lawyer. How I was rushing things. How we needed to wait and have more meetings to discuss a general plan. These are all reasons not to just simply listen to people. And so this whole time, I've also really been wondering, I have my own

096question, which is what exactly don't we want to hear? I have a lot of other things to say, too. Um, and I know you have a prepared statement about for you. Um, but if you'd like to address that, I'd be happy to hear. Um, but I also have some additional information I gathered specifically about FOYA. >> I think what um I would like to do is see if any other board members would like to comment. Um, >> I just have a question a couple questions. Um, approximately how many people? >> About 8 to 10. >> 8 to 10 out of 11,000 voters in Mansfield. >> Um, I just don't understand what I would do with this data. um 8 to 10 people that showed up first things that were specifically asked. Um and so like

097if 8 to 10 if 100% of 8 to 10 of those people that showed up were concerned about AI, I don't know if that really is that is that useful to me. I guess that's the problem is that this whole process like well intended it doesn't actually give us any useful information at the end of the day. like you can have eight people come, but if you advertise on Facebook, you know, and then like it opens up to comments. I can't use that information. It's not helpful to me that that eight people out of 11,000 are concerned with something that you promoted. >> Um Kathleen, >> please. >> Um this I want to give every board member who wants to say something an opportunity to speak. The intention of this um session done this way

098is to just set the stage for us pursuing this further with the um lawyer who who guides and supports our board. So this is not a debate about at this point whether um you you did the right thing or not. Right now, the advice we've been given by our attorney who represents our board of ed and by the cave attorneys is that um while intentions might be good, it's not an appropriate vehicle for obtaining information. >> I think you said that was because of FOYA, right? >> It's way more beyond FOYA. Um it it goes back to our entire committee structure. Yeah. >> Yeah. I think it's important that we identify what the acronyms are because not everybody in the community knows what the acronyms are freedom of information, >> right? >> Thank you. And

099CAB is um the Council of Boards of Education in Canada. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks, Janice. That's great. Um at this point, anybody else like to make comments independent? >> Yes. >> Yeah. I mean, >> speak a couple of things. I I don't really need the >> Okay, there you go. >> The community for purposes of this board is not the community the master votes to elect you. Once you become a board member on this board, you represent the entire community. You represent and I'm going to take this parab by an individual board member does not represent a factional segment of the community but is a part of the body of the body that represents and acts for the community as a whole. The board of ethics of future 19 board members and the superintendent are

100committed to providing the opportunity for high quality education for every student and making the well-being of students the fundamental goal of all decision making and actions. They are in fact our constituents. The students recognize this is also the word of ethics recognize that they serve as part of an educational team with mutual respect, trust, civility and regard for each other's respective roles and responsibilities. In addition, board members represent, this is again an order of code, but recognize that they represent the entire community and that they must ensure that the community remains fully informed on school related matters. You focus on the last part of it, not on the first part of that. And that's critically important. And these technical far-fetched technicalities, which are law, can get us all in a lot of difficulty if we

101don't follow them. And that's why they're there. And no single board member has the authority to take upon themselves to decide. I talked to a lawyer. I talked to K. We don't know what she said because none of that's been disclosed to us. We don't know what those conversations were. We don't know how you presented yourself at that meeting. We don't know anything. And that's the problem. >> Are you that we are all responsible for the actions of this board? You as a board member need to recognize that. >> Are you worried that I did something illegal? >> I think you did do something illegal. >> What is the part that I did illegal? You conducted a a meeting on your own, a public meeting which you which you scheduled been announced to with only

102a faction of the community without inviting the full community and with no oversight, no talk to the board, no recognition by the board that you were doing this. And we also don't know what any of the information you're bringing back because it's only you that heard it is is accurate. That's why these are problems. It's divisive. We can't afford to be divisive. We have a struggle ahead with declining enrollment and budget struggles that we're going to have. We need to be able to act together. And the actions that you've taken are divisive and are not conducive to that. And you're a brand new board member who hasn't even gone through a train board training yet. >> What does that last point? I'm not sure. Um I'm brand new. you haven't gone to a board training.

103>> The state, and I'll clarify, the state requires that new board members participate in training within a certain period of time. That's partially why um we've gone ahead and scheduled another training session um so that we can try to take care of some of those issues. And so hopefully you you both new board members will participate, but it's in our best interest that we all participate so that we all hear the same information at the same time. And what we're not going to do tonight is is is uh participate in name calling or accusations. That is something we have never ever done in my tenure on this board or when I worked for this school. >> Um to have this type of of of angry exchange happening um when it's clear that more information and

104more training is required by the board members. You had a comment. Yeah, I was just wanted to I just wanted to reflect on this. Um, so I uh, you know, I appreciate um, everything that's being said and I understand and I do appreciate that it's our duty to work together as a board. I mean, and um, and you know, the the bylaws are not they're plain English. You know, they're it's not the Dead Sea Scrolls, you know what I mean? And so I feel like um you know I feel like this is much a do about nothing actually because what Kathleen did was she met in a Starbucks by herself and I I would say the thing the only reason that we're actually talking about it is because she was trying to be transparent about

105it by announcing it in advance. any of us can meet alone with anyone otherwise we would be we would be um sequestered to our houses you know what I mean for 4 years I mean she met alone with people I mean maybe the data is not reliable but I mean she can come in here and tell us you know tell us what she I mean she's taking notes she I mean she was her full intention was to come back to the board with the information she came with. I mean, maybe it's not reliable. I mean, that's up to us as a board collectively to decide. Now, the other thing I wanted to point out is that, you know, I heard from people in the community that were like, "Oh, wow. You know, uh, I saw

106what Kathleen was doing. I mean, that's really great." Now, I want you to just think for a second about the people that got excited about what Kathleen was doing, who are now watching this, us reprimanding a board member that decided who had the guts to go against like, you know, this resistance to to now, you know, be reprimanded on the live stream. I mean to me I find it to be shocking for a a a board member to meet with somebody. You know she she merely announced it. You know a meeting by the way according to the state statute is a has to have a quorum has to have seven people. If you meet with less than seven people it's not a meeting. Um, >> Greg, I'm gonna stop you. One of the one of

107the reasons why we asked our attorney to get involved is to clarify these issues. >> Yeah, let's clarify. >> Yeah, but the the and it was not um at all my intention to turn this into a shame anybody session. I hear it. >> Um, >> you took care of that yourself tonight in terms of of being on the defensive and not on the receiving end of let's work through this. The reality is is that um we are more than happy and excited to hear from the public using the vehicles that we legally can do and that includes the things that I referenced earlier. Um but it also and and just speaking to the issue of can we um have a session in the public similar to whatever and it if we did that we would

108publicly announce it. It could be with two board members. It could be with one but it would be publicly announced but it would need to include the entire region. And the reality is is this particular situation may have satisfied the needs and the wants of some of the people who participated but in no way did the entire community of Mansfield or any other community know that that opportunity existed. So the problem is inclusiveness of the entire community. This board is absolutely interested in feedback. We can't do our job without that. How that feedback is obtained is very very important and um I appreciate your comments and I would just ask that you be patient, wait and learn. No, I'm quite patient and it's April and um the uh I want to just answer a couple

109of things and and maybe um share with Tony who was worried about the meeting and second um Greg. So, I did talk to um there's a a commission um called the uh Connecticut Freedom of Information Act Commission um and there's a very friendly lawyer um who's very willing to come and actually train us um on what foyer requirements are and that would be a really useful thing to incorporate as far as trainings. But I have some written um uh uh notification here that I think would be useful for this moment which is Hi Kathleen. As we discussed and this is from Russell Blair, director of education and communications. Yeah, thank you. Um this is a communication from Russell Blair who's the director of education and communications at the Freedom of Information Commission uh here in

110Connecticut. that's the body that adjudicates um uh actions around freedom of information which is really what this is about right he says as we discussed the key thing under FOYA freedom of information act um when it comes to public meetings Tony is that a meeting must be noticed whenever a quorum of board members gather to discuss or take action on board business a listening session is okay provided that less than a quorum of board members attend so if one member or a small group of members wants to invite the public to discuss a topic that does not run a foul of foya. Um they can bring the thoughts and and that does not in other words that meeting that that listening session does not run a foul of foyer. They can bring the thoughts and

111comments they hear to the next full board meeting where the topic can be discussed and voted on if necessary because the listening sessions are not quote unquote public meetings as defined in FOYA. You do not need to notice them or take minutes. If more than a quorum of board members wants to participate in a session like this, then I would advise noticing it as a meeting, which is what we are in now. And so I agree that it might not be like terribly um representative of an entire community to have eight people or 10 people um come to a meeting. It's a start. Um and uh you know, I I don't think it's a bad start. Um, not everybody can make 7 o'clock on a particular Tuesday um, every once a month. Um, nor can

112they make many of the committee meetings which are earlier in the day. Sometimes they start well before people get home from work. Um, and there are many members of our communities, students, teachers, and parents that we do need to hear from to make certain policies work. >> So I Yeah. Sorry. >> I'll just say um I appreciate your desire to learn more and I think that's something that we should all think about how we can as a board learn more and hear more from um the communities that we serve. I do just want to point out that in our policy meeting, we had started to make a plan for collecting data on the things that you talked about with this group. Um, so we were talking about surveys, we're talking about focus groups with students

113and parents. Um, so I was confused to hear about it because I thought we already had started on a on a path towards developing a systematic way where we could collect data from the stakeholders on the very topics that you were um wanting to hear from and improve. So that's that's that's my main concern here. I'm very actually much looking forward to hearing from the attorneys what we can and can't do because I think that's it's um some of some of the parameters are are to some extent counterintuitive. So I think it would be helpful to clarify for all of us about this um and and so we can make sure that we gather the information uh while also staying within the bounds of the law. sir. Um, first of all, I don't think we're

114all against you and I appreciate if we can all just be respectful and like somebody told me that this went out just to Mansville people. I would love to have at least been invited. All of us I talk to uh Sharon, we are all in this as colleagues. I would uh I think what Tony said and what you read to us as um you're as our chair and Tony is a lawyer so he knows a lot about board policy. This is not personal. I don't want to be sued. Thank you. My last this is my third trip on the board. I really don't want to be sued. Okay. And it it is little things that you really have no idea can come up. I mean if if if somebody asked you in that meeting something

115did did you at any time feel like it was confidential and did you at any time say geez I really can't tell you that >> on sorry I'm a little bit >> you had eight people okay >> right >> did anybody come up with a question that you felt was uh not something that you could state because you know the laws that we are governed under >> you know um I really wish more people had joined me and this was a just to answer um >> just a yes or no >> whoa >> we're talking about respect >> respect >> no do you know but do you know what they said >> I asked you a question >> I I can't really understand the question >> the question is >> did anyone ask you anything

116that you felt was not something that you could answer as a board member? >> No. >> Okay, that's a problem. You need to know what we are bound by by our code of ethics. >> They didn't ask me anything. Okay, >> they told me that they didn't like the website. >> We We're gonna have to move on. No, I I would like to >> Well, I'm not finished. Please listen to what people are trying to tell you are the laws that we are bound by and >> sir, can I? >> Yeah. I mean, I guess they're not getting it, but I really do pay attention to that. Okay. And if you don't, I think you I think you're going to appreciate the K framing. And we're all going even those of us who have been

117here three terms. Okay. >> Um I'm Nick. I'm a Mansfield board of ed representative. I'm also sort of a new board member and been here I've been here for like a few years so I also consider myself new. Um if it's okay with the Mansfield reps I want to take a step back and if I could go through the conversation we had the four of us before this event happened. Is it okay if I break that down a little bit? >> Sure. Is that all right? So, Kathleen reached out with the idea to do the event at Starbucks and I think I was the first one to text and I said that's a great idea because it's community outreach and as a board member I want to hear from everyone whether it's eight people at

118Starbucks, however many people who are here tonight, I want to hear from you all and I understand that not every single event is going to be fully representative of everyone in Mansfield. definitely not representative of everyone in Asheford, Wilmington, Mansfield, Columbia is a southern town as well or tuition town. I understand that. So that is why when Kathleen brought up the idea, I said that's a great idea. I also said that we need to make sure that as board members we are holding ourselves to the positions that we're in. And I think this back and forth tonight is sad for me to see. Um, I don't want any of us to get singled out because I've done things I messed up. I've done said things I shouldn't have said, whatever. And I think that goes

119for everyone. And I'm reminded by the event that Amy, you invited us to with dialogue and discourse and students had, you know, it was a training. So the conversations were mock conversations, but students were able to have open, honest conversations, respectful, and I would like to see more of that at the board level. And so as a board member to get invited to something like that, having been involved as a student was meaningful. So I know I'm talking in circles here, but back to the conversation where Katherine brought up the start. Yes. Um, we had a little bit of back and forth and I had asked that we have a caucus of four Mansfield members because I number one want to get an understanding of where is everyone in the community at? What are your

120perspectives? Where do you stand on the issues? But I also want to make sure we're doing it in an appropriate way. So that's why I wanted Greg, Kathleen, myself, Deborah, the four manual members that Kathleen reached out to. I wanted the four of us to have a conversation. That conversation didn't happen. I'm not going to say publicly why that is cuz I'm not going to be calling people out. Um, it didn't happen. I asked that we could have that conversation before we did a public event and that caucus did not happen. Um then Kathleen posted on Facebook that the Starbucks event was going to happen. Um I had a conversation with Kathleen said that we should you know try to find a time that works for everyone. I personally I was at work at the

121time that the event happened. I'm a man still rep. I would love every single possible opportunity to talk to people in Mansfield, talk to people in Ashford, Willington, whoever wants to talk, I'm all yours. Um, I couldn't go. I was at work. Um, and that's where a caucus is helpful because we can plan it out. We could have made sure all of our Mansfield drops were there and we could have made sure maybe the broader board was there. Um, anyways, I think it's a great idea. It's always a great idea to get community feedback, but when we're reading through bylaws, we're looking for specific language. Everyone has an attorney that's agreeing with what they're saying. It gets really tense. And I think we all feel that tonight. It's really, really tense. And not only is

122that not productive for this conversation, it's not productive for the reason we're all here. Why are we here? Why are all of you here tonight? It's not the Starbucks event. It's not because maybe you specifically don't feel heard. It's because you want to make sure we're doing our very best every single student at the O Smith. And for too long, the conversation has not been about what is best for students. And as an individual board member, I'm sick and tired of it. I don't want to be reading between the lines of who did this, who did that. I want to know what we as a board, what I as a board member can do to help every single student in Mansfield, Mansfield, Ashford, Willington, everyone at Yale Smith. And so the more we have this

123sort of conversation, this back and forth, it's not productive. And I want to move forward, Kathleen. I want to work with you. I want to work with Deborah, Greg, Tony, all the board members here so that we can have effective conversations with everyone in the community. I think that starts with training. God knows I need more training. I think all of us, all 12 of us can benefit from more training. And I'd like that to be where we start. And then I think a caucus would be great. Maybe a broader board conversation would be great on how we can engage with all of you going forward. So I think I more than used my time, but thank you. >> Thank you. Nick, I want to give another any other board members an opportunity before you

124go on the phone. I'm not gonna need it. Don't worry. >> All right. Anybody else? Oh, yeah. No, if you don't need it because you're I'm fairly loud. Um, so I'm I honestly don't know where to start, but I I guess I'm going to look at this through the lens of as the chair of the policy subcommittee. Um, forgive me if I jump around because a lot of the stuff has already been covered and I don't want to waste everybody's time by covering it again. Uh but when I got word of the Facebook post, I sent it out to all the policy subcommittee members and advise that it was unacceptable. And at no time did you ever respond to me and just inquire as to why it would be considered unacceptable to which I would

125have referred you to death to get that straightened out. After the fact, after this had all had taken place, you had come up with a list of excuses in your email and one of them which was this was not a board meeting. This was not a meeting. It was not a discussion of policy. It was an informal chat. I can tell you that formal chats don't require a specific meeting place or time. They don't require topics of conversation and they certainly don't require you to wear an EO Smith shirt because people might not recognize you. Formal chats happen between friends and community members when you happen to meet up with them by happen stance and unrelated conversation. What really bothered me about this, Kathleen, is your post specifically referenced three policies. This wasn't just a

126hey, I'll be at Starbucks. It had three policies. Two of which, the policy and the cell phone policy are not published. They're in draft process. We are actively working on them. And quite frankly, as far as the grading reporting of policy goes, as the most junior member of that committee, you have the least experience and the least knowledge to discuss that policy with anybody. That's a policy that's been two years in the making that we now have. I'm going to pretend for a minute though that this was allowed and this was okay. The other problem is we're all part of the policy committee. It's not you. It's all of us. Every single one of us. You only posted this in Mansfield. You only posted this to Mansfield residents and you only asked for Mansfield reps.

127I will remind you and I will remind the town of Mansfield. The school will be might be on your town's land. You do not own the school. You do not run the school. You have two other sending towns who all have representation on this board and on that committee that are going to do that are have the ability to talk to everybody. I have spent so much time working on feedback on a policy that started with issues back in July. We spent an entire policy committee meeting designing questions for the teachers to get their information about what is going on in an appropriate and controlled manner. We're going to be spending another special meeting two days from now to discuss all the data we received. The next meeting, that meeting is dedicated to designing questions

128for the students and then a meeting after that is going to be dedicated to designing questions for the parents. We spend nothing but time in the policy subcommittee working on getting feedback from all appropriate parties, but we do it in a manner that's under the guidelines of this board and it's in an appropriate manner. And even when we do, as you can see from the data I sent all the policy committee members, even in a controlled format, you get information that can cause issues. Okay. The end of your email closed by saying, quote, I trust all of you to work knowledgeably and within respect to our shared goals. I deserve your trust as well. Kathleen, that's laughable. And it's laughable because at the last policy committee policy committee policy subcommittee meeting, you would have heard

129me tell the teachers in this school that they should not trust me because I didn't earn it yet. And I have to be on my way to earning their trust. It's not given. It's earned. Trust is an earned thing, Kathleen. It is not given. And quite frankly, as the chair of the policy subcommittee at this point, the information that you received, I don't trust that it hasn't been disseminated somewhere else where it shouldn't have gone. How do I know that there was there was no owning up to the fact that this was not a thing you should have done or you should have at least waited to get feedback from other people, from more experienced board members, something along those lines. None of that was here. So in our board, the chair is the sole

130determiner of the makeup of subcommittees and who those chairs are. With this information, as a chair of the policy subcommittee, at the conclusion of this meeting, we making my recommendation to the chair of the board of ed that you be removed from the policy subcommittee placed on a subcommittee that doesn't does not require as much trust or discretion. >> Very um I would just entertain a motion to continue this conversation in a future meeting. We obviously are going to need more time. We also, I think, should participate in the training that our board chair um that our board attorney is going to hold for us so that we have all the facts all at one time together and not the the debate about who's right about um this event is not productive and and it

131u certainly serves to be a public spectacle, which it is. My apologies, but it's it's good to see we're human beings over here and not just uh stiff board members, but that I would just entertain a motion that we continue this >> and I'll second it. Discussion. >> Fine. Discussion. >> Well, discussion I would >> discussion >> would be this is I understand why you want to kind of move it down the road into May, right? Um, but no, but I'm saying I have, you know, it was supposed to be a discussion and really it's not. It's just the mic being passed around. We've spent a lot of time um and you've decided to move this time into here and now it is public. Um, and the whole issue is about public communications. So, a

132few people thought things wrong. I understand that uh Morgan um you said you know like you were surprised to see like kind of policy committee um uh kind of things um discussed. Cell phones are a community concern. Um AI is a community concern. These things do not belong to the policy committee because it is a policy committee. the things that we are discussing are things of the world that come into our school and I did not discuss pilots or anything else. Um but nor did anybody ask me about them as you saw on the the my Facebook post and the responses to it. A lot of people actually did didn't know anything about the policy and I would have liked to actually just refer them to the policy but it isn't on the website. So

133actually the thing that people talked about if anybody wants to know because nobody's actually asked that they all wanted more communication with the school and most of them found the website terrible. And so it's it's not uh it wasn't particularly um uh you know it was a good session. I'm glad people came but it was a listening session. It wasn't a meeting. And that's where I think a lot of this has started to go abroad. A listening session is not a a sort of you know one board member kind of um giving her uh opinion as um is a listening session and an opportunity for people um to come and hear and I can I this was again supposed to be um kind of like a a discussion um but so far um it feels

134like a lot of scolding. And again, my my point was that this board needs to rethink its relationship to the community. This session doesn't really hold a lot of like promise for that, but I'll still work to change it. >> Um, we have a motion on the floor, second. um any further discussion because >> I have >> this is this is clearly a conversation that we will have with our attorney and that's super important because we have to clarify what we can and can't do legally in representing all of our constituents. the um issue um of whether um the Starbucks thing did what it was meant to do will have to be discussed further obviously, but we need to have the right people at the right time telling us and talking to us about this

135and facilitating that discussion perhaps. But this has now become a very highly charged and emotional session and that is never what we wanted this to be. I was hoping that we would be able to um agree that we're all going to get more training and that we're going to agree to find out whether or not that type of a forum can be used anywhere in our communities or whether we need to come up with other ways of accomplishing the same thing within the confines of Freedom of Information Act. Um any further discussion, Nick? >> So discussion on the specific motion to move this to a future meeting? >> Yes. Um, I would say that what the policy chair said in terms of removing someone from committee is worrisome. And I'll say publicly, I don't think

136that that's a good idea. Um, do I wish that we could have had a conversation before Starbucks to plan it out so that it could be more beneficial to more board members? Yes, of course. the event happened and moving forward. Yes, I agree to I think it's great for all of us to have more training, myself included. But part of that conversation, I would like to focus on what we can do. >> Yes. >> What legally can we do as a board and get on the same page as what we can do? And you know, I get in reflection, we're focusing on what we shouldn't have done or couldn't have done and all that sort of stuff. It's like, okay, great. But I want to focus on what we can legally do and have the

137conversation focused about what we can do. So I think reframing it a little bit not a reflection on oh this rule was broken that rule but I want to know as a board member how I should conduct myself in order to engage with the public. I want to have as much public comment as engage with the public as much as I possibly can. I just need some guard rails to get a sense of what I can and can't do. And so that's how I would like to frame that conversation. Agreed. >> If that's how we're moving forward with this and that's how we're gonna frame it, I would be more than happy to vote in favor of having a future conversation on this. But in all due respect to Arthur, I just think that removing

138a board member from a committee uh is just it's not appropriate. And I say that for board members that I agree with certain issues on or disagree. I mean, we're all here because we disagree. I mean, that's the nature of a board. We act we act as one and and it's good to have disagreements. I'm not going to agree with Kathleen on everything. I'm not going to agree with Greg or Allen on everything. I mean, Allen's a Red Sox fan and all due respect, I'm a Reds fan. No one knows who's the Red Sox. So, it's like we have disagreements and that's healthy and that's good. And we need to think of this positively. And I would just highlight how we can look at this positively and not looking in the past of oh we

139should have done this should have done that. >> Message received. Thanks. Thanks Nick. Um my my comment was only that I think that's what Ken is going to do and that was the purpose of doing having a structured session with Ken to retrain or to provide training and guidance for everyone so we're all operating from the same viewpoint. Yes. >> And that makes Yeah. And last but not least, I mean I just will also say that I am not someone that participates on Facebook. So I wasn't even able to participate if I even if I wanted to participate. So I think those are different ways that how we communicate even is important and hopefully we'll be covering that with Ken. We have a lot to do still tonight. Um and so we can continue this

140conversation. >> The question. >> Yeah. So I'd like to move the question. >> I would like to say one thing. I I'm I don't know if you understood what I was trying to say. Sorry. Which is just basically going by what we legally have to go by. You know, I I'm sorry that you're feeling that everybody thinks you did a bad horrible thing. I'm I'm not really thinking that. I just think it's incredibly important that we all know uh what we are supposed to be doing as a board and that's it. We need to cut this. And I I really love you, Nick, but honestly, you kind of went off the rails tonight because it's not about I'm sorry. I'm being honest. Right. I think that we all don't have to make this bigger than

141it is. And I'm afraid that's where you came in. You made it bigger than it needed to be. And I'll just respond that um I appreciate you Sarah and you know um and I think I think a lot of things um I have a lot of points moving through my mind and uh uh one of them um that hasn't been said a lot is that of course we discuss things as a board but we're all here um for four and four from three different towns because obviously our towns have different needs and different constituents and we were elected by our towns not by the whole region right so we come and represent our towns to the board and we kind of blend that all together and we work for our collective students so what I

142say on the policy committee and on curriculum is for all the students >> right and that's the work that I'm here to do for all the students. But I represent that with a voice that is Mansfieldia, right? And I think that that's also important to have in mind because that's also the way that this v this board is organized as far as weighted votes and everything else, right? Like it's really important to kind of understand as a regional school that we do have regional differences as well as strengths um when we come together. But I think what I meant by like our constituents aren't just the students. Our community is the students. That's who we're working for. But representing Mansfield, they didn't try to to sort of open it up to everybody. If it was

143region 19, I think all of you should do that, too. I think you should go to with Ashford. I think you should go to Willington. We can toss that over that with a lawyer. um you should have your own listening sessions because you might not your opinion might not reflect really very broadly what those communities have to say. Um that's my intent. Um and uh that was a first draft of listening to people. Um and that's what I'll say there. >> I'd like to call the question move that we table this until another disc. >> Is there a second on calling the question? Second. >> Any further discussion? >> I just had a quick question. I just want to ask is the motion on the floor um to push it to after we have met

144with a lawyer? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I want I want >> Excellent clarification. >> Yeah. Let's not discuss it anymore without >> agreed. Agreed. and and that will be um >> maybe yeah we're not able >> Oh, I'm sorry. I said what I said was I asked if we could push the meeting to after we met with a lawyer. >> Yeah, >> absolutely. Question. Thanks for clarifying. >> All those in favor of moving this discussion to a later, >> you have to you have to vote on the call or >> Oh, yes. Thank you. All those in favor of calling the question saying I I opposed. >> Okay. All those in favor of moving to another date to continue this conversation. >> I opposed. >> All right, that passes. I'm sorry. >>

145I have another motion. I have a motion. >> Okay. motion rel relative to this conversation >> to the next we're done with this conversation right >> so which is just simply that um on the agenda we have a a potential executive session right about personnel um and we always have a period for public comments I was just going to suggest as we did before that the public comments be moved before any potential executive session so that we can join after um and the executive session ends it. That's my motion. >> I would say thank you. >> Any further discussion about that? >> It's good. >> Um I understand may not even need a motion. But all those in favor of of moving to public discussion, >> public comment before we talk, sorry, I'll sign by

146saying I >> um >> is there any further public comment tonight? >> Come on up. >> You have two mics to choose. stand. >> Hi. Um, my name is Stephen Martin resident. Uh, I have a daughter who's at currently at MMS. She's an eighth grader. She'll be going to EO next year. Uh, I'm also a elected member to the zoning board of appeals in Mansfield. And I bring that up because um the zoning board of appeals has a similar rule to the one that seems to be discussed tonight um with regard to Kathleen the Katherine Tombry uh discussion and I think that in the context of zoning board of appeals it makes a lot of sense because we're not a policymaking board. We are a we are adjudicating questions of fact uh or factual disputes.

147But in terms of like the board of ed where you are a policymaking board and in fact as Anthony helpfully pointed out it is in your board of you know in your uh ethical guidelines that you're supposed to maximize communication with the public. It seems to me that you are making an overly in my opinion not a legal opinion an overly narrow inter taking an overly narrow interpretation of the rule. But if you're telling me as a member of the community that the only options I have for communicating with my representative is either to sit through a a two-hour meeting and limit myself to make perhaps a two-minute comment or to send an email or to hope that I by hanging outside the five guys Greg Miller walks by and I have a chance encounter

148with him. I would say chance of not >> to meet your ethical obligation to maximize communication. Um I think that the board should be encouraging greater communication. I do not think and not all board members, but I think some of the animosity we've seen towards somebody who I do think was honestly trying to increase feedback with the uh with the public with um the community. I think does speak to a certain dysfunction on the board and I think that unfortunately for those of us who were at the caucus last year. I think it serves to validate a lot of the complaints that people heard at that caucus. And I so I would urge the board as you move forward to try to arrive at the most expansive definition possible of the policy that allows for

149maximum communication and outreach with the community. I personally as a community member would appreciate that. And I think that, you know, if you take the opposite approach, unfortunately, I think you're asking for a repeat of what we had at the last caucus meeting. Thank you. Is there anyone else uh who would like to touch me? >> I just want to say a couple things because I feel like I'm in a kind of upside down episode of Parks and Rack. Um I just kind of I want to move backwards to last summer when 150 people chose to take time that they didn't have and energy that they didn't have and show up to fill a room because this community is really unhappy with what's going on in the school. >> What? >> Just say who you

150are. >> Oh, sorry. Elisa Brown, I'm Mansfield resident, parent of a student here. Um and and a future student here um maybe hopefully um um and because people are unhappy. People aren't happy because they're not getting information. Teachers showed up. teachers who are our very best thing that this school is only as good as our teachers are. Teachers weren't being listened to. They weren't happy. People showed up to support them. So, here we are back again. And what I heard was our feelings are hurt because some towns got hurt and some towns didn't get hurt. But nobody said, "Why don't we do more of these?" Ashford didn't get hurt. Let's hold one there. Columbia didn't get hurt. Let's hold one there. What we heard is what we keep hearing, right? things aren't working, so let's

151bring standards down. Equity is not working, so let's bring standards down. Let's, you know, I I heard about, you know, like trying to stop vaping, but kids these days. I heard, you know, cell phones, kids these days referral. Like I I want to see the energy that we're putting into this persecution, but into problem solving. >> Thank you. Anybody else? All right. Motion to go into executive session. >> Second by Tony. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Extensions. Right. Thank you for coming out tonight.