001Good evening everyone. Call to order this meeting of the board of education of Rocky Hill, October 16th, 2025702 in town council chambers. If everyone will please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, welcome everyone. Thank you for coming out tonight. Moving along to agenda item number two, special presentation, Dream Academy, Pathways, and the Dream Cafe. Dr. Zto. >> Oh, thank you. So, uh, tonight we asked, um, some folks who represent the, uh, school district running the Dream Academy, the Dream Cafe, and the Pathways program to come out. We have some staff members here tonight. They're going to just kind of give an
002overview on what goes on in uh, programming. As you know, we have five schools in the district, if you will, but sometimes these special programs u, very often we haven't heard directly from the staff. Sometimes you get reports from central office. So tonight we asked the staff to come and give the board an update on how it's going in in these three very important programs. >> You guys can come up and introduce yourselves. Mario, we'll start with you and rest of the staff. >> Am I supposed to speak into >> one of these micro? >> All right. Uh Mario Moreno. I'm the special ed teacher at Pathways. >> How are you guys? My name is Ian Lard. I am the transition coordinator and special education teacher of uh the dream academy. >> Good evening. I'm
003Erin Herald. I'm the culinary director of the Dream Cafe. >> All right. Um excuse me. So, the Dream Academy and Dream Cafe are in district initiatives designed to support students through individualized instruction focused on life skills development and vocational training through meaningful hands-on experiences and strong partnerships with families, staff, and the wider community. We empower students to develop independence, build employability, and foster a lasting sense of belonging. Additionally, the district's pathways program provides individualized academic instruction and social emotional support to students in grades 7 through 12 who require a therapeutic learning environment. Uh the pathways program, I'm going to speak a little bit to it. Um we have a low teacher student ratio. Uh right now I have uh seven students in the pathways program. Um it's led by myself, the special ed education teacher
004along with the school psychologist that we share with the the high school. We have a BCBA um related other related services providers and a one par educational support. Uh we're set up for students grades 7 through 12 who are not successful in the larger school um setting. Uh our main focus is on providing a therapeutic learning environment that is designed to support the mental, emotional, and academic well-being of students. Our goal is to eventually get all these students return to a larger school. I also want to add that for the for the dream cafe, our students uh from Pathways has been going over to the dream cafe for the last few years to acrew volunteer hours that they need at the high school. Um but the administration has been very kind to us and they
005actually now are going to set that up for a half a credit class. So I am very appreciative and the students are very appreciative that we were able to get an extra credit for that. Half a credit for that. Um I know the students enjoy going over. We go over, we help, which whatever is necessary. We do uh cleaning the tables, we work the cash register, we uh go into the kitchen, clean, uh make sandwiches, and whatever else is needed by uh for our kids to go over. So, we're very appreciative to the administration for setting us up for us. >> All right. Um first, I'd like to thank you guys all for your time. Um and let it allowing me the time to give a little bit of insight into the um Dream Academy.
006Um, so the Dream Academy, we are developing responsible, engaged, achieving members of our community. Um, and that means anything from job experiences to social groups, um, to really allowing those students, we create and we foster their individuality. Um, so if a student comes in and has an interest in a job site, I'll explain our job sites a little bit later, but if a student comes in and has a different interest out of those job sites um or completes a interest inventory of that nature, um we would go out and try to um get a job site of that nature for that student to experience um those um opportunities within the classroom or within the community, sorry. Um we empower and explore those diverse interests and opportunities. Um, and myself and my staff really do a
007great job of keeping that individuality of that student and growing it. Um, and really allowing them to be who they are and growing into who they are and allowing them to successfully navigate the community. >> Oh, perfect. Sorry. All right. Um, so within the Dream Academy, we have 13 students. Um all these students have wide ranging levels of abilities whether it be learning dis ability, behavioral, social, emotional or anything of that um nature. Um some of these students are verbal and non-verbal. So like I said before each students program is very individualized. Um and within the scope of these 13 students um is one the transition coordinator and then I have eight staff and including in those eight include um staff that have one-on-one students and then also job coaches. Um and these job coaches
008do a great job of like I was talking about fostering that independence within the students. Um, for instance, if a student is on a job site, um, and is really kind of struggling, whether it be self- advocacy or learning a new task, um, the student or the job coaches really do a great job of assisting and modeling that student until that student is able to grasp that task and then be able to complete it independently. Um and as they move and gain more independence in a certain task, those job coaches then um move back a little bit to promote that independence and allow that student to independently complete the task um of that job. Um so some of the main components of our program we really try um each day we do daily living skills
009lessons. Um whether that be on banking, time management, um hygiene, anything along those lines that would help a student on those daily bases. Um we also promote self-determination. Um like I talked about as well, self- advocacy on the job site. Um whether the student had a question or didn't know how to complete a task. um the job coach would really help that student in breaking down the steps into tinier steps and allowing the student to complete that task, whether that be who to contact on the job site or whatnot. Also, um we also do a great job of working on communication, socialization skills, um which I'll get into a little bit in a little bit later in regards to our community Friday aspects. Um, and we also do a great job of uh community participation,
010whether that be in the job sites, whether that be our dream cafe and all the voluntary opportunities that the students have within that as well. Um, and these this is just a list. I'm not going to list them all, but you can feel free to read it. Um, of our job experiences. So, two or three students stay within the cafe um and a job coach or two each day. And those students assist Miss Aaron in anything from packaging food to making the sandwiches to um just maintaining the cafe tidiness and register in that nature. Um but then we also go out to other job sites as well each day whether that be CVS, Uptown Consignment, um just to name a few. Price Chopper, we do they do a great job of opening their doors for
011us as well. And then this is just some of the community Friday outings that we've done so far this year. Um so every Friday we go out to a social gathering, promote those social skills for the students. Um about 50% of the time we also meet various other local transition programs as well. Um and that's a great opportunity for our students to maintain friendships to work on those socialization skills. um and then really be able to maintain those friendships after the Dream Academy as well once they graduate or um reach the age of 22. Um so some of the sites that we've gone to so far this year is the Berlin Fair. Um we've gone bowling, we've gone to Dinosaur State Park. Um a lot of the students I allow them to pick activities that
012maybe they saw over the weekend that they passed by with their parents um they didn't get a chance to go. uh the students come in and say, "Hey, can we try out this um opportunity?" And of course, if it's within the realms, we um certainly do that so that students have um a say and interest in where we go on Friday outings. Um some Friday outings we're also looking forward to this year, um we have the opportunity to go to a yard baseball game, uh the Wolfpack hockey game, and a lot of students are excited about some of the nature centers we're going to visit as well. And then now leading into the dream cafe. This is just a daily schedule of the events that go on um each day. So like I said before
013um my students, 13 students are split into two different groups. Um for the first half hour, half the group does life skills um or daily lessons with myself. The other half hour they go and work on cafe skills. Um and then we switch in the morning. Um, and then for two hours each day, the students either go to the cafe or work on other job sites as well. So that's just a schedule. And that leads me to Miss Aaron in the Dream Cafe. >> Thank you. >> All right, get the clicker. Hi everybody. Thank you so much for listening to us tonight. We're really excited about everything that we're doing. Um, and I appreciate everything that you guys have said. I'll speak about the Dream Cafe since that's where I am. Um, and these are
014kind of the activities, events, and initiatives that we've got going that we've done so far and that we're going to be doing through um the end of winter, end of um 2025. So, our goals are to continue to grow the program and ensure a positive learning experience for the students of Dream Academy and Pathways to create inclusive events, activities, and immersion experiences, and to increase our visibility and community awareness about what we do. Um, one of the first events that we had this year, uh, we were invited by the Rocky Hill Commission on Inclusion, the Unity event on September 20th. This was a great event. Um, we were invited to provide the coffee and pastries and our volunteers, Daniel and Justin, did a great job. And then John Fabbritus was our was our guest star.
015Um, he came in and, you know, John always makes everything so much fun. So, it was a great event. Um, the event goers ate and drank everything. We sold out of everything I could think except for a couple of coffees. It was just an awesome community awareness event for us. People didn't know who we were, what we did, and so we really chatted it up and Daniel and Justin did a great job of of doing that. So, it was a great way to kick off the year. Um, the other thing we did this year on October 2nd was our open house. We opened the cafe to the families of the Dream Academy and Pathways um families. The students were able to share their experiences with the parents and siblings. And we really wanted to have
016this as a closed event so that the kids could really feel free to be themselves and to show their parents what they really do. And I would say it was a huge success. The families were able to tour the kitchen, the workstations, the craft stations. Um they were so chatty and so excited. And you know some of the kids that don't speak a lot around me were chatting it up with their brothers and sisters and families and it was really awesome to see them in their familial environment. um because you know when they're at school they're a certain way but it was really awesome. So it gave us the idea to have in the pipeline a spring dinner where families will be able to see the improvement um in their student and their growth in
017real time. So hopefully that's going to be a little bit more of an involved event where they help um prep the food and serve the food, but I'll get to that in a little bit. Um our lunch delivery program is ongoing for the schools. Um, we have lunches that are delivered to each school on a designated day and the students help with every aspect. We've got some kids that are actually making the sandwiches now. Um, we have a a workstation that's set up for practicing how to make sandwiches with laminated ingredients. And so, some of them have graduated from that into the actual kitchen. So, they help prep sandwiches and salads for the teachers and staff. Uh, they label each lunch with handmade stickers. They set up the bins for each school delivery and organize
018the drinks, sides, and cookies. They pack the delivery bags with the correct items and utensils. And then those who come with me in our beautiful minivan, who I've named Sheila, um they pack the they carry the deliveries into the school, they set up the lunches in the designated areas. Uh the they collect money and then they organize uh all the supplies when we get back to the cafe. And then each week we are now choosing a raffle winner for everybody that's ordered. Um, so they get to pick a name out of a hat and we send pictures of that and the staff the staff really loves that as do the kids. Um, I'm excited to report that today we had our first um, corporate business lunch cater. Uh, Justin and Daniel came and delivered an
019almost $300 order to ACOM. Um, this is something that I have been working on diligently since last year and you know just kind of knocking on doors and cold calling and sending emails to try to get some of the local businesses to support. Um, and ACOM actually found us organically from our website. So, that's super exciting to me. They were thrilled with everything. They loved it. They loved how we came in with Justin and Daniel. And so, I'm hoping that this is really going to take off. And then, you know, I I was joking with the boys. I'm like, "How about if we do one of these a day?" I said, "I don't know." But, you know, it helps with revenue. It helps with practice. It helps with everything. It's another opportunity for the students
020to um produce a large order from start to finish. So, it was an exciting day. And then our next initiative tomorrow we launch our holiday greeting card and craft sale. Um well the greeting cards get launched tomorrow. The craft sale will be part of a later event. Um as some of you know we did Valentine's cards. We did Mother's Day cards last year that the students are making. Um and they're really awesome. The next slide shows a little sneak peek and you're going to all be very excited about what they have been working on. But we'll have single cards and multiacks available. Money holders and gift card pillow folds. We've got um the cards on sale will go through the public school network and as well as on sale at the cafe and on the
021website for the public. Um where they're also working on craft items. We've got keychains. They got a knitting wheel. You can see Trey in one of the pictures and Ben up top working on this knitting wheel. It makes cute little hats. So, we're hoping to have those for an event that we are going to do on December 6th at the cafe. It's going to be our first annual holiday bazaar. Um, we're going to have I'll talk about it a little bit later, but um, we'll be selling these items there. So, the student tasks that are involved, you know, it's like a craft wonderland. They're stamping, gluing, assembling, they're running the Cricut machine. Um, they're using the loom to make the crocheted hats. And then we have these ornaments. They're rolling dough. They're painting. They're cutting
022and um, packaging the items also for sale and delivery. Sorry that I'm not turning this much. My eyes are terrible. So, I have to read from here. And this is the sneak peek. So if you can see um these are made mostly with the Cricut. The green card in the top that was Justin Naidu. He designed that from beginning to end. That was his his idea, his creation. He's making the whole thing. It comes in a fourack. Um the pictures, the photo cards, uh Bed Conington has done the photos for that. It's just it's a really cool collaborative um thing for the kids to be to be doing. So that sale will launch tomorrow and believe me, I'll be sending out lots of emails. So, you guys will be sick of me by the time
023the holidays roll around. Um, another super cool exciting thing that we are doing this year is we're going to be making dog treats. Um, we are in the middle of the process. Actually, the two recipes that we have featuring oats, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and bananas. They're healthy ingredients for phto or Freya, who's mine right there. Um, we just sent them off to the lab for the analysis. Once we get that back, um, we can send it to the Department of Agriculture and be licensed to actually sell dog treats. So, it's going to be a fundraiser. We're going to partner with Stephanie Malcin and the animal animal advocacy club at the high school. Um, we're going to donate a portion of the sales to a local shelter. We're also going to set up a dog food
024and blanket donation collection at the holiday bazaar. More about that later. And the students have already been helping baking and drying the treats. They'll be packaging and labeling the treat bags. They'll be delivering the orders to staff. And then they'll be volunteering for the holiday bazaar as well. So, another way to keep everybody engaged. And then this Halloween on October 31st at 8:45 in the morning, we will be with the kids at the community senior center. They're going to help deliver and package and set up and serve the baked goods. They'll probably help bake them as well. Um, and then we're going to visit with the guests. The kids will be dressed in costume and it's just going to be a really fun event. So, we're looking forward to that. And then here we are
025at the big shebang, the first annual holiday bazaar. So, it's going to take place at the cafe December 6th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. It'll be open to the public. We'll have the craft setup and greeting card popup shop. There'll be the coffee bar and pastries will be for sale. We're going to have gift wrapping stations for people to bring gifts in. The students can wrap gifts, a hot cocoa bar and cookie decorating station. I'm hoping to do a collaboration with the music department at the high school. We're going to have a Santa Claus and do some photo ops. And then we will also have student volunteers from Dream Pathways and uh the high school as well for that. And then what's in the pipeline? So those are the events that we've got really
026in the works at this moment. Um I know Mario talked about the getting the credits for doing some work at the cafe. So we're going to try to do some more structured lessons. So, we'll cover various topics, food safety, kitchen safety, customer service etiquette, money handling, um, and counting, allergy management, what to do when there's an unhappy customer, all of these kind of scenario-based learning kind of module things that I would like to do. Um, I'd also like to look into becoming serve safe instructor. I'm certified, but that way I can uh certify the kids. So, once they leave and they go to work someplace else, they're already going to have their certification, which is a really cool thing. They offer it online and it's a really hard thing to do just by yourself. I
027think in a group setting, you know, we can role play and get some of the ideas across a little bit better. So, more cards and crafts of course for the spring. The Valentine sale last year was a huge hit. Um the more local uh business lunch orders, really trying to do that. And then of course the spring dinner. So, um that's going to be a big big shebang for us at the end of the year. And then it brings us to our why. What what are we doing? Why are we doing this? um to build confidence in social skills, to teach students the skills they need to become employable, to help students overcome obstacles, um to create an environment for multitasking, you know, not just doing one thing at a time, but figuring out, you
028know, how do you have a sense of urgency? Okay, we have, this is a silly example, but we've got, you know, seven ham sandwiches on four different kinds of bread. Do we have to do two at a time or can we lay it all out? You know, these are the kinds of things that employers want to know you are, you know, you have the ability to do. So and then where will we be in 5 years? Um we hope to be improving the experience through increased visibility and revenue. Um our training will become more streamlined and more efficient of course especially if we have those um you know more structured lessons in place and then growing a number of students. And then my final slide is just a typical look at a day at the
029cafe. So we do cooking classes with the kids, you know, two or three students, smaller broken down classes in the morning. They help with the lunch prep work. There's cleaning projects and uh some of the kids work the dishwasher and the dishwashing station. Um customer service of course and stocking the coffee stations. Uh coffee and merchandise inventory we do quite often. And then we also have you know workstations set up. I I mentioned the um the sandwich one with fake ingredients that are laminated. We also have an iPad where we do cashier training. We have different drills on how do you ring up these five things. Um sandwich making practice workstation. I mentioned measuring dry and wet ingredients. We also have a money um counting station because I think it's really important that computers go
030down and kids need to learn how to count money back manually and not just with you know a computer and they are all do really well with that skill actually. Um and then crafts, lunch labels and greeting cards. So that is what we are looking at for this semester I suppose at the dream cafe and this is um hopefully where we're going next spring with some more exciting initiatives. So, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it very much. >> Thank you. >> I also just wanted to say too, um, the students take the, um, skills that they learn in this cafe and then translate them into other job sites within the community, too. Um, so just to let you guys in on a little story, um, one of the students we had
031at the beginning of last year was deathly afraid to work in a grocery store, anything of that nature. um this past year in the cafe he really gained his confidence um did the iPad um kind of learned how to use the register throughout the year then he was on the register um gaining that confidence um and then now this school year um we're in a cashier program in Price Chopper um hopefully for him to get a job so those skills within that cafe really do transfer into within the community jobs as well um and now I would just like to call up Miss Genta Rambolaku to give a little Testament as well. >> Oh, baby. >> Let's go again. >> Ready to come here from work. >> It's going to be a from the heart.
032I should have prepared notes seeing how many people are here this morning. You saw all the slides. Very professional presentation. This is bringing it to life. My name is Gentiana. I have three kids, 18, 11, and six. My 18-year-old said he's a student at the Dream Academy. He was born in 2007. He has gone to Rocky Hill um bright beginnings. Stevens GMS cosmos wasn't a thing then. Rockill High School and now he's at the Dream Academy. He was uh diagnosed with autism when he was three years old which was a my first born and quite a shocking diagnosis to our family. Um, I remember sitting there and thinking day was upon us and what are we gonna do? Fast forward, um, Stevens was beautiful. Um, middle school was beautiful. He actually ended up, um, doing
033boy scouts and challenger football and, uh, challenger baseball and, um, Cubs, Lions. Life was looking good. What put seeds on the spectrum? There are two types of people. Neurotypical, which is most of us what people like to call normal, and I don't like the word normal because none of us are really normal. And then we have the neurodeiverse. What makes people diverse is something else. Technically, it could be diabetes, but in this world, it's autism, ADHD, some sort of diversity that makes your brain works a little bit differently than others. My son specifically is superior IQ. Some sort of psychiatrist sat with him and said, "Oh my god, this guy's off thecharts smart. Superior IQ, superior memorization. He can remember everything." There are a lot of superiors there, but what is not superior is communication.
034My son technically is non-verbal. Communication level is what they say a level one or a level two, which means this brilliant mind is trapped in a body that cannot speak. He cannot self- advocate. He cannot ever communicate what he needs, how he feels, what his emotions are. Um, who he is, how does he see the world, how does the world see him, how does he feel about this world that is mostly neurotypical, but here he is, an 18-year-old being neurodeiverse. Now, as a mom of three, I raise my two younger kids. The the world does not owe them anything. I raised my two younger kids to not for the world not to bend over for them, but for them to bend over for the world, for them to stand up for the little guy, for
035them to teach the kid about neurode diverency and that the neurode divergent people need to be seen like people. And then I find myself in a tough balance as balance as a parent having a neurode divergent kid. As a parent, when I'm not here, I want to teach my son to be the kind of person to not bend over for not have the world bend over for him, but to be able to survive in this world. And the world became a very very tough environment to live in when high school rolled around. Up until high school, he didn't even know he was neurody divergent. if you asked him, which I asked him, we read a book in seventh grade about a kid that had autism. And I looked at him, I said, "Do you know
036anybody that has autism?" He goes, "Nope." >> I said, "Do you have anybody in class that has autism?" "Nope." >> I even said, "Do you think you have autism?" He goes, "Nope." And that was seventh grade. And then high school comes around. I'm sure many parents here went to high school, have kids that went to high school, and the world became very real. And all of a sudden that superior IQ that is both a burden and a blessing became the burden because now all of a sudden he could see how people saw him. He could see how kids saw him. He could see how staff saw him. He the golden hour in my house is dinner time. It's the only time it's 7 o'clock. I just got out of work. We sit down and we
037eat together. It's a time where the nonverbal kid actually gets some kind of verbal. He cracks a joke. He laughs. He stopped coming at the dinner table. The first two years of high school, he would close himself up in his room and cry for hours. And if anybody has a kid here and he's nonverbal and you're longing to find out why your kid is crying for four hours with his door shut, it hurts. And even though you want to prepare them for the world, you want to fix the world for them. He entered high school with high honors. He qualified for the um steam program where they do the engineering, the bright math. And then on April of this year, I found myself parking in front of the dream academy. Some dreams were shattered. I
038sat there and I remember crying. I had to compose myself. I had requested to do a tour at the Dream Academy to see what this is going to be like for my son. And I remember sitting there and thinking, I held my son in my arms when he was an infant. I dreamed of the day he would wear a tux to go to prom and I never had that. I dreamed of the day he would go to college and I dreamed of so many things. And I sat there and thinking, why am I in this place today? How did we get here? I felt like I let him down. I felt like we did not promote whatever. We were at a place, but I sat there and I reminded myself, we're at a place where
039we're sitting at the dinner table and he's there, but he's not there. I have not seen the light in him for years. So then I went in and I met Mr. Ian and I went in. I remember shaking. I remember my heart racing. I remember white noise in my head. And I I I went there thinking, I don't even know why I'm doing this. this is not the setting for him. He should be taking college classes, he's capable of doing college classes. And then at that as lovely as that personality is again to bring it to life, it was besides preschool and and elementary years, which are elementary years. The kids don't know that they're different in elementary years. The kids are born thinking that we're all the same. They learned later on that we're
040not technically inside. We're all the same. Um, but I spoke to him for half an hour. He gave me a tour of the place. He told me what the kids are going to be doing. Um, and I got this sense, this personality, this very empathetic personality and this sense that I'm here. I see you. I see your kid and I want to be here for your kid. And then we went to the cafe. We I want to say that last year we had an 80hour contract signed by a nonprofit organization to send him to a job site where they could coach him one-on-one and that was Savers in Newington. He loved going to that place every day. He loved being there. He loved that he could be a productive member of the community. He loved
041that. You know, even people think I may not do a lot of things, I'm actually capable of doing something. That one-on-one coaching wasn't every day. It was more like 12 hours. And I met with the manager of the place multiple times because I really wanted him to have an opportunity to have a job. I don't care what job it is. just throw him out out there in the world and find something to the slightest glimpse of typicality so he can function when I'm not around when my husband's not around and that he doesn't become a burden to his sisters. And I the the manager of the store told me I've never seen a guy that wants to work so hard. He actually competes against time. He really wants to work hard. But he said, and
042I'm being upfront with you, I have two kids. Tears in his eyes. He said, "My staff does not know how to approach Sid. We don't." And there is another aspect of him making him neurodeiverse is when you say something, you need to give him 20 to 30 seconds for his brain to process what you're saying and actually respond. And during those 20 seconds, he may look like he is not even listening to what you have to say, like he's defined or he's ignoring you. His brain is actually trying to put together what you just said and react to that. So to a lot of the people that were working at Savers, they didn't know what to do with that. Like, is he listening to me? Imagine having a a person like that at your job
043when you're giving like a command and they're not reacting at all. On the surface, they're looking very bland. So going through the cafe, that was the first glimpse of hope. I said, "Okay, it's not college." Because he said absolutely no to college. Like I said, there were no during high school, there were no clubs, no sports, no colleges, no proms, no dates, nothing typical at all. It was a door in a room shut in his bubble by himself. Fast forward, he's only been going for two months. Sid sits in the dinner table and he laughs with us again. Sid goes to a speech therapist every Tuesday from 4:00 to 5:30. And he actually told the speech therapist that I'm open to exploring college classes again, which was an absolute no. In May, April, March, February,
044January, an absolute no. He in that little bubble of the world, he is seen. He's accepted. He's promoted. He is lifted up. He's made to feel like there's no neurode diverency. There is just you and these other kids that understand you and us that get you and us that are going to lift you and constructively prepare you hopefully for a world that you will be able to function that you will be able to produce and hopefully one day you will be able to give your 110 beautiful neurodeiverged self. So thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. I just wanted to bring it to life. This is a very happy parent with Dream Academy. My life purpose, I didn't even know. I knew slightly about it, is to bring as many customers to
045your door and get as many customers to order from there. All my family and friends are going to be regulars there. So, please, from this mama's heart to yours, I know all of us have kids that we love that are our own or from our beloved. This is a beautiful opportunity where we create a little bubble for the world to bend for these kids that so desperately need it. And then they will come a time that they will bend for the world and make it a better place by showing their true colors and by giving their true production to it. Thanks. [Applause] Thank you so much for coming out tonight. Um I know that was um I mean that was incredible. Um and to just you know really experience um Thank you. Thank you very
046much and thank you um Erin and Mario and Ian for coming out. Um, that was a great uh update on what's going on, how it's progressing. Um, and a little bit of an insight more into kind of the day-to-day activities, which was much appreciated. Um, I know this was kind of a an endeavor that really has never been done by a public school before. Um, and it's just great to see it progressing the way it's progressing. So, thank you. I know that's due to really wholeheartedly to your guys full commitment and full belief. And thank you. [Applause] All right, moving along to agenda item number three, audience participation. This is the portion of the meeting that is open to the public. If there's anyone uh here to address the board tonight, uh this is the
047time and we just ask that you state your name for the record. Uh name and address for the record and um try and keep your your comments to two minutes. Is there anyone here to address the board tonight? Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening members of the board, superintendent and school team members. My name is Natasha Fatu and I'm a resident of Rocky Hill at 10 Hair and Drive. I'm also a transportation engineer who likes to promote STEM learning. I'm very enthusiastic about the work I do and I think it's very important for our community. Um the Connecticut Connecticut Department of Transportation has partnered with ASHTO which is a transportation organization on a STEM outreach solutions program which is a national hands-on initiative connecting middle and high school students with real world learning in
048science, technology, engineering, and math through the lens of transportation and civil engineering. Why am I bringing this to you? Because our workforce today faces a critical shortage of engineers and technical professionals. This program helps close the gaps by inspiring students early, especially in middle school where studies show most children lose interest in STEM without early exposure. Through collaborations with the Connecticut Department of Transportation, schools, and industry members, st students will learn to link classroom concepts with realworld careers, whether designing bridges, exploring magnetic levitation, building model highways, or testing transportation safety design. What I've shared with you is a packet about this ASTO program and the modules and a description of all of the modules. Um, how the program works is that teachers receive training and self-contained learning modules that m meet national math and science
049standards all at no cost. The Department of Transportation will pay for the program and modules that you choose. These modules cover topics like bridge design, highway safety, environmental engineering, traffic technology, and connected vehicles. Each kit includes materials, software, and teacher resources. Everything needed for classes of 30 students. KONDOT has also committed um engineers to mentor students in classroom, turning math and science lessons into hands-on explan exploration and problem solving. I'd like to share some of the impact and opportunities of this program. Students gain skills in inquiry, so critical thinking, um, design, data analysis, teamwork, and technology. Teachers strengthen STEM instruction with ready to implement resources. Communities benefit from a pipeline of future engineers, technologists, and innovators ready to address transportation and infrastructure needs. And membership in the program provides national recognition and compet and competition
050opportunities like ASHTO Bridge Challenge. I have encountered some resistance to learning more about this free resource not only of materials but also for engineering professionals time. My understanding is that the school curriculum is decided a year in advance. However, outreach about this program occurred in April, May, June, August, and September of this year. So, I'm really hoping that the board will encourage our administration to at least hear and listen to what is available to the teachers and students at no cost. In just a few years, this initiative can transform how our Rocky Hill students see math and science, not as abstract subjects, but as gateways to solving real world challenges. I, as a a resident, would like to invest not just in education, but in our community's future workforce. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone
051else here to address the board tonight? >> Good evening. Um, my name is Jenna Milman. I have lived in Rocky Hill for the last 10 years with my husband Eric. We have two daughters, Sophia, um, who has just started at the high school and Emily, who's just started in sixth grade. Um, both girls have been in the Rocky Hill school system since they were in kindergarten. Um, I'm addressing the board this evening with some concerns that I have around a change in um, the foundational math model at GMS. Um, and I'd like to talk to the board as well as the community about my concerns. Um, I did share a letter with Sean on the board. Um, I will go through the highlights and then have also um spent time talking with Jay at GMS
052and others about my concerns. Um, but I did want to bring them to the community. Um, so I'm I'm writing to express concerns uh about a recent change with the elimination of the foundational math and reading program at GMS at the start of this intro academic year. Um, this is being introduced as a a reduced in-class support model for the tier 2 students. Um, I understand that this change is presented in aligning with the safe school climate and restorative practices law. Um, but I've spent time with that law and um, trying to understand that connection. Um, I did get the opportunity to connect with um, Mrs. Duran today about better understanding that connection and I do have a better appreciation for where in the law there is a reference to the concept of a evidence-based
053or researchbased intervention model. Um, and while I understand that reference, as I read that regulation, it is not a mandate in how we address evidence-based learning in our schools. It is a term that is loosely defined. It is a term that is open for each school district's interpretation, I believe, intentionally. Um, and I would not classify it as a mandate by the the state to change um the support models that are being provided at GMS. Um, I would like to talk about my family's experience with this um, foundational math program. I mentioned I have a daughter Sophia who uh, participated in the foundational math program at GMS for two years. She did exceptionally well in that program. Um did not uh participate in the eighth grade. Had sort of um gotten to a level of
054support that she was able to move into um a social studies class and just continue with her core math class. And that was very very effective for our family. My expectation of having Emily um move up to GMS being in a very similar place as Sophia was as far as needing math support was that this program was going to be available for her as well. My understanding is that the beginning of the school year, this program was eliminated and it is being it is in the process of being redefined um to more closely align with the district's definition of evidence-based um interventions. Um I worry that um this does is very much still in process. Um my understanding is that there are um consultants involved. There is training that is going to be happening. There's
055schedules that are still being adjusted but um the support model has sort of gone live. Um I'd like the um board administrators and community to be more engaged on this change um in understanding the the law change with the safe schools um and climate act in Connecticut. That is actually something that is explicitly outlined which is community engagement involving parents in decisions that impact um the academics of the children. So I'm asking for um more engagement on this topic. A um recognition that this is you know given it is not a mandate that we take a um measured approach and make sure that our administrators, our teachers and our specialists are set up for success to deliver the best support that they can for our students. Um I also was in talking with Mrs. Duran
056this morning. Um we were talking about these sixth graders being our COVID kindergarteners and um in my observation and and my sense is that in looking at some of the data as well um this is a special group of students and employing this type of change at this time and at this pace feels um as though we should pause and make sure that we have the right support models in place for these students um before we move down a path. So I I wanted to articulate that to this board, to the community. Um I thank uh Mrs. Durand for uh having uh robust conversations with me. I thank the administrators at GMS for also sort of educating me along the way as well. Um this was information that was new to me. Um, I was
057not aware of this change as a parent of a student who would be s receiving sort of a level two math support. Um, and that felt um uncomfortable for me. I did appreciate engaging with everyone to try to understand this. But at this point, I am asking for um that consideration, perhaps that more measured um engaged approach to this change to ensure that our our students are set up for success. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Milman. Anyone else here to address the board tonight? All right, seeing none, we'll move along to report from student representatives. Up first is uh members of the high school student council. Yeah, high school student council uh to report on activities of Rocky Hill High School. >> Good evening everyone. I hope you guys are doing all well. Um
058my name is Johnny Patel. Um I'm repres representing the Rockill High School. I would just like to apologize for not being able to come last meeting cuz I was sick. You know, I was hoping I didn't catch that September flu, but sadly I did. But um I'm honored to be here once again. So, let me just start. The past few weeks have been busy and full of exciting events at our school. And it has been wonderful to see students, staff, and families coming together and celebrate achievements and get involved in our community. On September 27th, the marching band had their first show of the year. Everyone has been working hard since summer and the performance are improving every week. It was impressive to see the dedication of our students. The precision and energy they bring
059to every performance is truly inspiring. On October 1st, we had the National Honor Society induction ceremony where we welcomed the new members into NHS. This was a very special night celebrating students academic achievements and their commitment to our school community. On October 9th, we had Lendipa, a community service event for freshmen that brought students together to make a positive impact. The freshman got hands-on experience in helping the community, which is crucial skill to double up in high school. It is always inspiring to see students giving back and earning volunteer hours while doing so is a welcome bonus. Events like this show that our students are not only committed to learning inside the classroom, but also dedicated to making a difference in the community. Looking ahead, I'm so excited to share this, but Channel 3 will
060be coming to our school on October 17th for the game of the week. Our students will be featured on television, which is exciting for everyone. We're all looking forward to showing our school spirit on camera, and we hope that everyone remembers to smile and maybe avoid waving at the wrong camera. It is always exciting to have our students in the spotlight, and this event is a great way to highlight the hard work of our athletes, coaches, and students who support them. Tune in tune in at 9:00 a.m. on channel 3. Fall athletics are also in full swing. From soccer and volleyball to cross country and football, our teams have been working hard and representing our school with pride. Balancing academics, extracurriculars, and athletics is not always easy. But our students continue to show dedication, teamwork,
061and resilience. It is inspiring to see them push themselves to grow both on and off the field. Overall, it has been exciting start to the school year and we are looking forward to many more achievements, events, and moments of our school pride in the weeks ahead. We're proud of the energy, commitment, and spirit our students bring every day and is a truly and it is truly a joy to watch our school community thrive. Thank you and have a good night. >> Thank you, Miss Patel. Moving along to a report of student representatives. Next up is Moer School. Please come to the microphone. >> You ready? >> Good evening. My name is Amelia Whitaker. I'm a fifth grader in Mrs. Carson's class. >> And my name is Wesley Gory, also a fifth grader in Mr. Basserun's
062class. We are happy to be reporting to you tonight on Moer School. Our presentation will fill you in on what we have been up to so far this year. In September, we practiced Alice drills. We had a fire drill and an evacuation rally point drill. Students, including myself, feel safe and are happy that staff makes safety a priority. In gym, we talked about safety on the playcape to make sure no one gets injured. We also discussed how to use the gym equipment safely in addition to respecting each other. >> Moer students and staff traveled the world over the summer and sent in postcards to prove it. From Turkey to Bar Harbor, Maine, look at those cards and maps. PBIS monthly themes. Our PBIS action plan helps us focus on our monthly themes to drive what
063we do each day. It's se in September we focused on friendship and in October we are striving to be more creative. These are some of our Friday Raptor ticket winners. Pictures are taken as each one is the eye in kind. Then each winner chooses a prize. Doing good deeds earns you a Raptor ticket. Every Friday, each Raptor ticket holder has a chance to be chosen. Team 42 award recipients for each class. These are the students who modeled our PBIS goals for the month of September. Congratulations. Each grade has a goal chart in the cafeteria. It looks like a thermometer. Raptor tickets for the month will be counted. Also, a suggestion box put out for October 2nd and 3rd. Students put in suggestions for rewards for reaching grade level goals. Suggestions included extra recess, movie day,
064PJ day, and ice cream as a reward. The box now sits on the main office counter and is ready for suggestions. Meet and greet was held and students got to see our classmates and meet our teachers. It was an exciting time. It's so much fun to walk our families around the school and show them where we learn, play, and spend our time with our friends. Most your mornings gang getting off the bus or getting dropped off and starting our day. Our pledge of allegiance and morning announcements are brought to us by our fifth grade classmates every morning. We also have birthdays for the day read and sometimes even a joke too. One of the jokes was, "What did one Dorito farmer say to the other farmer?" Cool. Ranch. >> Getting breakfast from the cafeteria. The
065cafeteria staff greet everyone with a smile and the food gives a much needed boost of energy before the first period. Passing time on our way to specials, lunch or recess. We see so many of our friends in other classes during passing time. Fifth grade students have made displays in the cases of their favorite collections. Examples are beats, baseball carts, Legos, and even perfumes. And here are specials. Instructional technology, art, library, music, and band, and gym. At Moer, we love attending art, music, gym, media, and band. Because these classes spark creativity, movement, and self-expression. Whether we are painting a masterpiece, learning a new instrument, exploring digital media, or playing a team game, students look forward to these engaging and hands-on experiences. These subjects offer a fun and exciting break from traditional academics while helping students build
066confidence, teamwork, and lifelong skills. Reading with Zoe, all about Zoe. Zoe is a burner doodle that weighs 65 lbs. She was born on June 12th, 2016. Her favorite foods are cheese, strawberries, and peanut butter. She also likes playing ball with her handler, Tracy. Zoe is calm and a friendly dog. Something really cool about Zoe is while sometimes when kids are reading to her, Zoe likes to put her chin on the book to show that she really enjoys the book or she wants to be rubbed. A few fun recess pictures. We love playing on the playscape, games on the courts, four square courts, and fields. Foursquare has been a huge hit at recess, and we love to have the chance to play each day. And then there was a day a rooster visited Moer School. Mr.
067Fanza shed him back to his home, but he sure was cute. some fun pictures and a few fun views of cafeteria at lunch. In step lab, fourth and fifth grade students worked on some interesting projects like a pumpkin catapult, building a tower, and balancing a marshmallow, and even earthquake resistant structures using jelly to test it. The connections program works hard each and every day. They even start their mornings with the sensory activity station to help prepare for the day. Um, National Custodians Day. Here's the whole Moer team. The custodians work extremely hard each and every day to make sure our school is clean and running smoothly. We appreciate everything that they do for us here at Moher School. Student council working on posters for upcoming events. They will be hung around the school to advertise
068the fall ball. And we will be honoring our veterans by displaying photos in the main hallway and creating heartfelt appreciation cards to send to our local veterans home. We had 19 high school students come to Moer to help out all around the school. They helped with whatever staff needed help with. We think we might want to be participated in Lendipaul when we get to the high school. We had a drum assembly on October 8th. It was great and we all got to participate with our own drum. We learned about team building, having a growth mindset, songs from different cultures, and having cooperation. Moer future events. On October 29th, we will have our first ever Moer fall. Costumes are encouraged. On November 14th, we are going to the Rocky Hill High School football game, and we
069will have our winter chorus concert on December 8th. Thank you for having us present our raptor report. [Applause] >> Thank you guys. I think I speak for the full board when I say that's the best that's the our favorite part of the meeting is uh is always listening to the student representatives, particularly the younger ones. Um it's always uh great to see a glimpse into the into the schools. Um, with that, we generally take a fivem minute recess uh to allow people to take pictures or to and also so that people can sneak out so you don't have to stay for the whole meeting. So, with that, I will entertain a motion. >> Motion to take a five minute recess. >> Moved by Mr. Costco. Do we have a second? >> Seconded by Miss Tucker.
070All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All right. The eyes have it. We are adjourned for or well, we're in recess for five minutes. I have an All right. Call back to order this meeting of the Rocky Hill Board of Education. Our typical 15 minute, five minute recess. Um, moving along on the agenda. Agenda item number four is approval of the minutes. Uh, on the agenda tonight, we have September 18th, 2025 board of education meeting. September 18th, 2025, Board of Education School Safety Committee meeting. September 23rd, 2025, Board of Education Curriculum Committee meeting. October 7th, 2025, Board of Education special meeting. Any corrections, uh, deletions, or insertions for the minutes? Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve the minutes. >> Motion to approve the four board meeting minutes as listed. >> All
071right. Moved by Miss Tucker. Do I have a second? Second. >> Seconded by Miss Lefredo. Any discussion. >> All right. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All right. The eyes have it. What are we eight tonight? >> 8 Z. >> We are. >> Agenda item number five is correspondence. Dr. Zto. >> Yes. Uh we received uh four communications um from parents who have students in the uh Dream Academy. Um I'm not going to you heard a lot from the program tonight. So you have the letters uh Mrs. Christopharro, Mrs. Sanchez Ventry, Mrs. Angel, and Mrs. Mortivanic. And basically all very positive about the impact that the program has had on their kids. Uh essentially talking about how kids are learning work skills, developing confidence and independence and so forth. So um in
072the interest of time, you know, you have those letters. We just received them in the last couple of days. Uh, but I do want to acknowledge those parents for reaching out and uh, demonstrating their support for the academy. Thank you, Dr. Zitto. Does anyone have any questions for Dr. Zto regarding correspondence? Seeing none, we'll move along to agenda item number six, which is the consent calendar. On the consent calendar tonight, we have approval approval of the board of education meeting scheduled for 2026. uh approval of Rocky Hill High School class of 2025 graduation date, which is Monday, June 15, 2026, uh proposed and approval of the uh Rocky Hill Administrators Association contract for 2026 2029. And does anyone on the board um want anything removed from the consent calendar? All right, with that, I will
073entertain a motion to approve the consent calendar. >> Motion to approve the consent calendar as listed on the agenda. All right. Moved by Miss Tucker. Do I have a second? >> Seconded by Mr. Clemens. Any discussion. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All right. Consent calendar is approved. 8 Z. >> Committee reports. Up first is curriculum committee. Miss Tucker. >> The curriculum committee met on September 23rd. We had a very full agenda. Um it was a it was a very good update for the beginning of the year. much of the information that was shared, Mrs. Duran's going to be including in her report. So, I don't want to overshare and take away some of her highlights, but in general, um, we talked about the, um, program of studies, we talked about the
074career pathways as well as the credit recovery, had a good discussion on that. We talked about the career center update, um, having examples of the various programs that will be available within the career center. Um, we had an assessment update which will be a part of the presentation as well. We talked about the phase two of the textbox ordering for the world language and we had an update on the artful um artificial intelligence and the different softwares and and how we're going to be using it and incorporating it throughout um the district. >> Thank you, Miss Tucker. Any questions for Miss Tucker? All right, moving along. Number agenda item number eight is >> No. No. Go ahead. >> You sure? Uh, facilities committee, Mr. Gavin. >> The facilities committee has not met since our last
075meeting. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Gavin. Agenda item number nine is finance committee, Miss Tucker. >> The finance committee has not met um and probably do not have a need to meet until the budget sessions. Thank you, Miss Tucker. Number 10 is personnel and negotiations. Mr. Gavin, I don't believe there's been anything that >> No, there won't be any need for a meeting for a couple years now. >> Thank you, Mr. Gavin. Uh number 11 is policy. So, we did just have a special uh not a special, we just had a committee meeting this uh today regarding policy. That was to review um the changes to Connecticut changes to Family Medical and leave act. Um, it's on the agenda for a first read tonight. Um, and does anyone have any questions with regard to
076that? All right, moving along to special education committee. Miss Tucker, >> we have not had um a meeting for this school year as of yet, but it was it was really good to hear about the Dream Academy Pathways and Dream Cafe tonight. I appreciated that presentation. >> Thank you, Miss Tucker. Any questions for Miss Tucker? All right. Correct. Councils number 13. Uh Mr. Tra, Mr. Shabber is not with us tonight. Um he will report when he uh when he gets back. Number 14, school safety committee. Mr. Clemens. >> Uh yeah, we have not met since our last meeting. >> Thank you, Mr. Clemens. And committee number 15 is technology, Mr. Gavin, >> we have not meet uh met since our last meeting. >> Thank you, Mr. Gavin. Moving along to agenda item number 16, which
077is what I previously mentioned that is review of board of education pol policy number 4630, which is the family medical leave act. Uh this is a first down for a first reading. So, Dr. Yeah, just uh we met earlier this evening with the policy committee. Uh there are changes uh that are specific to the Connecticut Family Leave Act, FMLA. Essentially, um prior to the change on October 1st, school districts were exempt uh with with respect to non-certified employees. Uh that means anybody who's not in a teaching or administrative role with certification. Now, non non-certified employees are eligible and will be um dealt with accordingly with Connecticut FMLA. So, it's an actual benefit for non-certified employees. Uh what you have in front of you is changes highlighted in yellow to the new policy, which again went
078into law October 1st. Uh the original policy, it's simply a first read. We kind of got into the weeds tonight. I appreciate the job that uh Dr. Diaz did with Gina Munch from HR. If you have any questions, we'll put it on for second read at the next meeting and we'll move forward. But first read, no no real issues tonight in terms of action, take it with you, go through it, and let us know if you have any questions. >> Thank you, Dr. Zto. Any questions for Dr. Zto? All right, moving along. Agenda item number 17. Authorization for Dr. Nosik to serve as signatory on the BOE school lunch account. So, our school lunch account is uh managed by Webster Bank. We actually had Mr. Zedigrine come back a couple weeks ago and we drove
079over. He had to fill out some paperwork. Um I'm asking that the board um authorize Scott in his role now as our assistant superintendent for finance and operations. Scott needs to be authorized as a signatory on the board of ed school lunch account. Requires board action. Webster Bank will need a copy of the minutes indicating that the board gives Scott that approval. >> Thank you, Dr. Zto. Any questions for Dr. Zto? >> And with that, I'll entertain a motion. >> I make a motion to authorize Dr. Nosik to serve as signatory on the board of ed school lunch. >> All right, we have a motion by Miss Tucker. Do we have a second? >> Seconded by Miss Lefredo. Any discussion? >> Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> All right, the
080eyes have it. 80. Scott Nosik is now um authorized to serve as signatory on the BOE school lunch count. Agenda item number 18 is approval of varsity softball spring break trip to Orlando, Florida. That is to occur uh 413 to 417 of next year. So, uh, this evening I asked, uh, our softball coach, Mattie Darita, to come here along with Dan Trudeau, our athletic director. Uh, this is a trip that's been done in the past. It's an out of state trip. It's an overnight trip obviously to Florida. It requires um board approval. Um, I've reviewed the information. You you have the packet with what the uh activities entail. Uh we've sent in the past typically baseball and softball in my experience here have gone and had very good experience. the kids I think uh and
081they can come up to podium and answer some questions but typically it's a couple of league games that are scheduled against other Connecticut teams typically some scrimmages against some non Connecticut teams an opportunity for the team to bond in a kind of a skill building competitive training environment almost like spring training if you would for for the major leagues uh with the kids going out of Florida for for you know a 4-day trip um I think the the trip has been beneficial the feedback has been great The supervision is always my concern. Uh but I'm confident that they have a good plan to keep the kids safe and supervised. And typically uh we've we've seen parents also accompany on their own dollar going down and support their kids. But but Dan and uh and coach
082Darita, if you guys could come on up, invite you to speak about it. I've just kind of given an overview and then um board may want to ask you some questions. >> Yep. I wish I had like an awesome story that was like super meaningful like everybody else, but I really don't. Thankfully, I just want to take the kids down to Florida because our baseball team does it a lot. Um, and I think it'd be a really cool experience for our girls. Um, I have a lot of pricing information, um, you know, with rooms, um, with supervision. You know, whatever questions you guys have, happy to answer them. Three coaches will be attending, um, the three current coaches. Um, so there will be plenty of staff that, um, will be available and I know most
083of the parents already have expressed interest in attending as well, again, on their own dime. Um, so definitely we just want to create a cool experience for the kids. We've been building up a good program over the past um, couple months and years. So I think it just would be um, good spring training for them and we will be playing league games down there. I got off the phone with them the other day. Um, right now looking at two league games um, and I think six games altogether, three will be official, three unofficial. We've got a team from Alabama that wants to play us. U, we've got a team from California that wants to play us and then Maine as of right now. So um, that's kind of just forecasting what it's going to look
084like. just to double down. It's it's a great experience for the kids, a good team bonding experience. Um and it also gets a unique level of exposure for these athletes um that they're not going to get from just playing in Connecticut. Um which, you know, I believe is a pretty significant added benefit to the trip. >> All right, thank you both of you. Um does anyone on the board have any questions? I can say, you know, some of the best memories I have is doing trips like that. I think it's a great uh it's a great idea. >> Thank you. >> We need board approval for this trip. >> All right. >> A motion to approve this softball trip. >> So with that, uh, no one has any question. Any questions for Dr. Zto on
085it? Any Anybody have any questions? I I just have one question. Will there be any fundraisers to uh curb the cost of the trip for the families? >> Yes, we've been doing non-stop fundraising throughout like the past year. We pretty much have one going going on almost every single month. Um but right now we've got significant amount of money that are going to be going towards the players just to help offset the costs a little bit. >> That's perfect. Thank you. >> Want to try and help the families as best as we can. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Man. All right. With that, I will entertain a motion to uh approve the varsity softball spring break trip to Orlando, Florida, 413 2026 to 417 2026. Mo uh motion for approval of the
086varsity softball spring break train trip to Orlando, Florida, 413 2022 to 417 20226. >> All right. Moved by Miss Tucker. Do we have a second? >> Seconded by Miss Manella. Any discussion? >> All those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed say nay. All right, the eyes have it. 8 Z. Varsity softball's going to Orlando. >> Thank you guys. >> Um All right. And good luck. Yes. Um >> you don't have to stay. >> You guys are free to leave. >> Yeah, you're free to leave. >> You have to stay this. >> Well, I will actually before you leave, I do want to say one thing. Um Mr. Trudeau. Um, I've been since the start of the year, I've been to a bunch of um athletic events. I was at the um the
087fall sports uh parents orientation and I just want to thank you um for and on behalf of the entire board um both the both the family um meeting and then just being at the events and seeing you're present at every event. You're um holding the kids accountable, holding can the parents accountable. I just think it's uh you're you're a huge asset to the to the district and I just want to thank you. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. >> I was going to do that in my chairman's report, but I figured before he >> left report >> that does shorten it by a little bit. other stuff. >> All right, moving along to agenda item number 20, which is class size analysis. Dr. Zto >> 19. >> Oh, did I skip 19? You did. >>
088Yeah, it looks like I checked in advance. Um, agenda item, sorry, apologize for that. Agenda item number 19 is approval of community service hours with a new option. Mr. Fod and Mr. Ran will present. >> Who wants to go first? Um, I can I can start explaining and then John, if you want to go up to the mic, that'd be great. >> I'm gonna go. >> So, we do have a memo in your packet. We had a um really great discussion about this in our curriculum subcommittee meeting and um we talked about the value of community service and the board's commitment to making sure that our students do participate in their community and giving back in the value. Um and then we talked about um the new career center and the opportunities that that will
089also hold for our students. So, what we'd like to propose is that students have two options for completing community service. Option A would be that they complete 50 hours of community service and then option B would be a reduction to 40 hours of community service with the addition of two job shadows. And when we say job shadow experience, um what I want to just clarify is that within the career center, we are um providing opportunities for in-house job shadow experiences. And um I'll ask Mr. Fod for the term that they're there is a different term they're using for the in-house. It escapes me at the moment. >> Yeah. So it's a a a career pathway presentation. We call them CPPs. So basically, just to kind of piggyback what Mr. Ran said, so job shadow, you
090think leave the school, stay there for the entire day, but we're actually bringing those um presentations into the building. And so um >> Mr. Chagel's already put a menu of uh individuals to come in and talk. He's had somebody come in from the financial world world to talk about what it is to be, you know, a financial adviser. He's had the military in the last couple uh weeks. And so what he's doing is he's putting all these things together. And we think that it's a way to get students to go into the career center. It's a way for them to become more and more educated about making the right decisions when they go into post-secondary opportunities. >> And so um I think it's a great way again to to highlight the work that's been done
091so far with the career center. So >> great. >> Um and kids get a lot done when they're there for the eight hours. So, we think it's it it'll be very helpful. It all this also came about too because um although we value community service, 50 hours doesn't seem like a lot, but it can be for for students that I'm pushing like crazy to be involved every >> athletic season and every time there's a club. So, like I'm really pushing for them to to get involved. So, you know, you start thinking about their day being till 3:30, 4:00, 4:30, and now you got to come home and have dinner. And um and our kids do a nice job already of that community service element and thinking about the community. So, we thought we give them
092a little grace and if you would consider the two opportunities to give them what best fits for them, I think it would work out. >> Yeah. Thank you. one just so just to clarify so we would um allow either an in-house experience or >> because I don't know that we'd be able to provide enough offsite job shadow experiences. So either or would qualify for the two >> and the recordeping would be through guidance still because they do the uh community center I'm sorry the community service hours already so they would monitor that because obviously it being part of the graduation requirement they're the wants to to know what the profile of every kid is as they get close to graduation. >> So, if you have any questions, we're happy to >> I'm sure they would
093love it if I >> tried. I tried. >> It's a little too cheap. >> And then there's going to be and there's going to be a reflection with with all the job shadows kind of working that out right now, you know, kind of building the airplane as it's as it's flying. Um and then but there'll be some type of feedback that we get from the students as a result of doing the two job shows if they choose that option. >> All right. >> Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Fod. Does anyone have any questions? I got question Mr. >> Ker. Yeah. Um so I love the idea. Uh having taught a number of years ago at a high school, we did a lot of job shadows and all students, actually all students had job shadows
094as part of their graduation requirements. So I love the idea. I don't love that like the in-house piece is sort of presentationbased, you know what I mean? And they don't get that actual job shadow experience. So, just my thoughts. Um, are they going to are you going to try like so if someone does like a I'll call it a act real job shadow where you go and you watch the nurse do their job or watch the teacher which you could do in house but um is is are those going to be like approved by the career center or do I just go out there as a parent and you know student and get set up with a job shadow and >> like who approves like that? >> We have to have a way of tracking
095them. So it would be through the career center and then you know if a student wants to do a a a particular job shadow that we haven't offered yet. I'm sure we can we can work with that. >> Right. If they come in and say, "I'd love to shadow a auto body shop." And and they want to go to the auto body shop and shadow that for their >> and there's no hours to it, right? So, I mean, it looks like it's five hours per job shuttle, but that's not necessarily the case, right? >> Because it sounds like a presentation is going to be much shorter than five hours. >> No, no, no. >> Right. So, be like an hour type of situation. Correct. Okay. >> Yeah. So job shadow just is like sort of
096a description of it but like if they're coming and presenting it doesn't feel very job shadowy you know what I mean in my >> experience with job shadows it seems >> I can share with you the I hope you come to the open house because the way he has it set up >> um when they present some of some of the time they'll be in the room and some of the time they'll be virtual and they're going to be able to have that kind of dialogue. with a camera that follows the voices in the room and um they'll be able to show the space and and kind of walk around while they're while they're explaining as well. So, I think being that it's in its infancy, we have to have some flexibility. We don't have
097a budget per se to be busing kids and as you know, busing is not cheap. So, so we are we're really working. I mean, Jordan Chagel, who's leading this, he's such a go-getter, and I have no doubt that he will be doing a fantastic job fundraising, bringing in um sponsors through the corporate side of things. He's doing a ton of networking. Um but we also need to just start small. So, >> and I think we I think you make a great point. We can kind of look into like the value of a job shadow. >> Yeah. Like a job shadow when you think of it is like you go you go to the job site, you check it out, you shadow the person, right? That's why it's called the job shadow. >> More in depth.
098Yeah. >> That's why you're shadowing it, you know? You're shadowing someone a presentation. So anyway, and there's some there's some crazy stuff these days. I mean, I just went to an event the other day and they had VR thing where you had VR goggles and you can like literally shadow someone doing a whatever. >> Oh yeah. you know, uh, thing DS and VR goes and that's expensive to buy those and stuff, but like there's different ways to do it rather than busing and getting out to a place, but and some people have those connections. But anyway, um, yeah, we did it at at the other high school and there was no budget to it. We didn't we didn't pay anything for it. They just the kids figured it out. But, um, anyway, cool. Thanks. I
099love the idea though. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Mr. Costco. >> Any other questions? And that open house or grand opening is October 30th, I think. Yeah. All right. >> One thing we didn't mention is um and I it's not in the memo, but um this would begin with the class of 2026 2027. >> Correct. >> So I just we're phasing it in. >> Thank you, Mr. Dan. And those um CVPs are during periods five, six, seven, and eight dur. Yeah. So >> is when they would happen. >> That's pretty much Yeah. >> Excellent. All right. Thank you, Mr. Stan. And doc, uh Mr. Fod. >> Thanks. >> With that, um that probably have to do that by motion. >> Yeah. >> With that, I will entertain a motion to approve community service hours with
100a new option. I'll make a motion to approve the community service hours with a new option which is to reduce the 50 hours of community service to 40 hours with of job shadowing opportunity. >> All right. Moved by Miss Tucker. Do we have a second? >> Seconded by Miss Manella. Any discussion? >> All right. All those in favor say I. I. >> All right. >> That is approve. That option is approved. uh 80 and thank you again Mr. Dan and uh Mr. Fod for putting it together and figuring it out. All right, now moving along to agenda item 20. Um class size analysis. Dr. Zto, >> thank you very much. So you have the uh class size report. You've seen this before. October one is the official date uh where we report our enrollment to
101the state of Connecticut and as we work through the budget I will continually refer to the October one data uh both with the board and with the town council. It's also where we we measure yeartoear because enrollment fluctuates but the the the standard uh measuring stick is October one year over year to kind of track where we are. As a general rule, we're up slightly this year overall in enrollment. I'll get to that a little bit later in the report. I uh been through this report. I don't really see any major issues. Um at the outset, I want to remind you of board uh policy 6120, which is the guidelines for class size. You see that the u the guidelines have a maximum size K1 of 20. >> Uh for grades two and three, it's
10222. for grades four and five it's 25 and actually actually four through grade 12 is 25. Uh importantly um the wording here in the board policy is that at no time should these guidelines be interpreted as absolute numbers. It's important to keep that in mind as you look at this report. So if we look at the uh elementary enrollment um we talked about this a little bit uh when we didn't have the October one numbers in yet you now have them. you could see where we are. Um, kindergarten at Stevens School, we have classes of 20 across the board with one class of 21. Um, numbers look a little bit more favorable at the other grade levels. Um, other than grade two, you see again 89 students in grade two. So, uh, you know, one
103one student over what would be the ideal max of 88. West Hill. Uh really no concerns at all with enrollment there. A couple board members asked me about the low numbers in kindergarten. They are low. We typically seen cohorts the last few years of 85 to 95 students. So that's a little thing we're going to have to keep our eye on there. And then you can see at Moer, we're pretty much right close to the cap. Uh the cap across the board for grade four would be 225. Right. Right at max. And for grade five, we would have a max of 200 students. There's 194. The big thing that jumps out to me here is the fluctuations from school to school. And that's simply a function of the grade cohorts as they move through. So
104you see that Moer's enrollment is up this year uh roughly 50 kids and that's a function of a pretty large fourth grade that came in out of third grade. We saw a corresponding reduction with a smaller third grade class this year. So basically just kind of um an overview there. Uh middle school and high school numbers, nothing really was alarming to me. Um you know, there's not a lot of room as we look at next year's budget. I don't see a lot of room to reduce positions uh even through attrition or retirement. So that is something I am concerned about. Uh the numbers are tight. Uh but they're efficient as well. From an overall standpoint, if you go to the back of the report on page 15, it kind of gives you the big picture
105view of where we are, where we were last year. Um, our current enrollment for the five schools is 2541 students. We have another 14 students at the Dream Academy and 16 that are outplaced. So, our our district enrollment um is 2571. That's an increase of 44 overall K through 12 from the prior year. So, you know, not a massive increase. Um, a little bit more than maybe uh kind of closing in on 2% or so. So, not huge, not a wild fluctuation, but certainly, you know, nothing that I'm overly alarmed about. Happy to answer uh any individual questions board members might have. >> All right, Dr. O, if you could talk about I know this came up in our um in a committee meeting. Obviously the numbers at West Hill um are more favorable than
106the numbers at Stevens. >> Yeah. >> And what is that a product of? >> Well, the biggest issue that I've pointed out is that the enrollment in kindergarten at West Hill is uh you know low this year in comparison to prior years. previous cohorts were mid 80s to mid 90s. It's that's basically the difference. Uh you know, I don't really see a major difference other than that. If if those numbers were at 17 or 18, still a little bit tighter at Stevens. Uh just something I think we need to keep an eye on going into next year. Again, I I don't think we're in a crisis situation. And as I had said earlier, uh before we had to reduce the board's request by $650,000, I had another teacher in the budget. Um that would have
107been assigned to uh kindergarten at Steven School to bring those numbers down a little bit, but that position went away with that uh that additional reduction that we had to make. >> All right. So the disparity though in the two schools was mostly based on >> Oh jumps out is the kindergarten unexpected lower number. >> Again it's it's you know we we could have transferred a teacher that would have been disruptive. You would have >> broken up classes first or second week of school. We've typically had kind of a late rush. We still had students coming into Stevens in late August and enrolling. Um I checked the date on that. It was right, you know, right as school was opening. Kids were still coming in. So again, is it a crisis? No. We have four
108classes of 20 and one of 21. Um to quote the board policy, at no time should these guidelines be interpreted as absolute numbers. The other advantage in kindergarten is you have a full-time parrot in the classroom. So that's important to keep in mind. And then I don't want to get into too much in the weeds, but in in terms of specialized programs in that kindergarten situation, there are four kids within those 101 students who really spend very minimal time in the classroom. So they are spending most of their day in special services programs. So yes, on paper they're assigned to a home room, but the net impact students not in the class for most of the day, the students not in the class most of the day. >> Thank you. Welcome. um morphia. >> Yeah,
109I I mean I do I know they're in the guidelines. I I feel like this is something we we we should maybe look at again or maybe think about redistric redistricting. Um I know that always scares all the community when we say things like that. But um I think it's time that we start looking at it. Um, and I understand we're in the guidelines, but um, I've noticed just even with my daughter being in second grade, if you think about those kids are learning at this time to read, to have 23 kids read out loud in class, that doesn't really give them much time. Same thing when I was just looking at the Spanish numbers, the classes, you figured the whole point of is speaking and and learning and and practicing. If you got 25
110kids in a class, I mean that gives them what a minute in the class or two minutes in the class, but I don't know how long the class is, five minutes or whatever. Um, it doesn't really give much time. Uh, so obviously the lower class sizes is going to help. Um, and I I I totally get it was the budget we got cut, but I I really do find it concerning just seeing that many at the lower levels, especially something to consider for everybody. Thank you, Miss Barry. Morphia, Miss Alfredo. >> Um Dr. Zto, I know the last time that we talked um which I think was September when you presented these numbers originally, and I know you said you were going to come back. It sounded like we could we did have room um
111to add some classes at Stevens if need be. Correct. >> Yes, we have space there. We moved um we moved the Bright Beginnings kids over. Uh they're all over at West Hill now. So, there is physical space at Stevens. That is correct. >> Okay. I just wanted to um clarify that. Um so I I'll piggyback on what Miss Morphe just said. You know, I I know we're not in a crisis situation. I understand the numbers as you've explained them. Um but I do think that research and best practices for students is really to have the lowest class sizes possible. And so I would urge that the b the the board look at the guidelines for class sizes when it comes to budget time. Um I do think that our numbers are still on the high
112end. Um, and I think that they could probably be lower. And if we could fit in some more classrooms and add some teachers um into our budget for next year, I think it would alleviate some of the stress that might be felt in the classrooms. >> You will get no push back from me or or the staff if you want to add positions. >> I'd much rather hire people than uh look at transferring and consolidating. I I performed a lot of uh >> kind of gymnastics last spring when we reduced by 650,000. But again, I'm going to say I felt very good about uh nobody losing a job. Not a single person was laid off uh despite the budget tightening that we had to do. And again, in fairness, we still had a 3.6% increase
113uh on our budget, which is which is better than some towns. >> Uh but again, we had some factors driving our budget. negotiated salaries are roughly 3% across the board. And then our insurance was up driving another percentage on the budget because we got a huge savings the year before, but we know when you make a move, when you go from Sigma to Anthem, you save money, you see a drive the following year. So, we were at 4.1 before I put a pencil on paper last year. So, you know, you've all heard this 50 times, but I just want people to understand I don't enjoy uh trying to, you know, reduce staff. It's not but but I also have to deal with fiscal realities and when a number comes in it's my job to figure
114it out and do the best I can not to lay anybody off and still try to keep class sizes at a reasonable level. If the board wants to have conversations it's up to the board to set that max. If the board wants to reduceuce the max that's the board's decision really is so it's a fiscal issue >> right >> and I think the educator in myself has brought this up numerous times with you Dr. Zitto. So, I do appreciate you listening to me. Again, um I I do think that it is something that we should consider looking at um going forward and um and you know what, maybe um making sure that the community understands that our budget um it is sometimes very stressful to do more with less. Um and when you look at
115those class sizes, um I think um parents at Steven School might be um feeling the same. Thank you, Miss Lefredo. >> Tucker, did you >> um so two quick things. One, just a clarification, Dr. Zto, on the outplace students. Is that where the pathways um students number comes or where are they in? >> Pathways kids, I believe, are included in the high school >> in the high school numbers. Okay. So, they're somewhere they're >> coded separate. >> They're somewhere in there. Okay. I just wasn't sure because I we looked at >> a lot of those kids return back to the high school so they're captured in the high school >> in that high school numbers. Okay. All right. So that helps. And then my other question is um I know on some of the classes
116obviously at the high school level our numbers are 25. By the way I appreciate this analysis. It's super helpful for me for us I think as a board for the community because I know there's always concern about class sizes are too big and we hear the rumblings all the time and I I think this is showing that we're doing our due diligence to make sure it's you know we're doing our best to keep it tight. But uh the SD classes >> um has it ever been discussed to like consider a different I the way I understand those classes from my experience is there's a different level of need of student in those classes and that I know that probably can be said for a lot of different types of classes but has there been a
117thought of maybe having a different max number? Uh, again being a teacher myself in the past, I had classes of 28 or 30 of honor students. I could handle 28 or 30 honor high school honor students. My freshman class of nth grade algebra who had a lot of high needs as far as, you know, >> mathematical support. It was a lot harder to handle 18, you know. So anyway, so it's just a thought I had if that's been discussed in the past and it's something we can discuss down the road, but it's just something that popped out at me. >> Those are small classes, SD, those are skill development. That's what that acronym is for. And >> that's typically um you know special needs kids the numbers are low. Um a lot of time >>
118well some of them are higher. That was my point. Some of them are closer to that 20 25 range you know. >> Yeah. >> There's an SD of 25. What page you refer? >> Well maybe not 25 but they're up in they're up higher anyway. But >> can you can you >> uh Sure. I I can I didn't hold on a second. Let me turn to that page. Where was my SD? Um sorry. Um, so yeah, SDM math at Griswald, for example, had 2421. So it wasn't 25, but it's 2421. Those are pretty large for an SD class. >> From my experiences, you know, I was a high school math teacher, not a middle school math teacher, but >> still pretty high numbers. >> Um, SD language arts were 20 and 17 were two of
119them. >> The other ones are seven and two. It's just generally you would think like, oh, those are going to be like in the teen range, you know, at the max. So anyway, those are just some numbers that popped out at me. That's all. So it's just something that we can think about again as as the ladies here has suggested like as we look at these numbers and maximums like maybe there's a space for you know having different maximums for those sorts of classes. So >> you know again the board can certainly uh convene a meeting. We may want to look at it through either policy or curriculum committee and really >> have an informed conversation about class size. The board did uh one I've been here this is year 14 now and I want
120to say about maybe nine or 10 years ago the board revised the class sizes a full committee meeting full workshop. >> Cool. >> And they went through and revised class sizes and we've had those since that work was done. >> Okay. >> That's that goes back before uh >> Brian Dylan that was Frank Morris's chair at the time. So it's quite a ways back at this point. >> All right. Thank you. >> Board always has the flexibility to do that. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, thanks. I appreciate it. Thanks, Steve. Thank you, Mr. Kosker. >> I do I do have one question, >> Miss Tucker. >> Um Dr. Zto, I think I think when you went over this last month meeting as well, you mentioned that at the younger levels, maybe more so fourth and fifth,
121these class sizes include all students. So, every student is placed in a home room. >> That's correct. >> But they may not be in the room majority of the day. So while there are 24 25 students in grade four or five and maybe in right at that max in kindergarten that's not how many students are typically in the classroom. >> Yeah. Again without discussing you know individual students which I would never do obviously there are >> um even at the at the K3 level for example there's there's 52 students in what I would consider to be specialized programs. Mhm. >> So even though they're assigned to a home room and you see that on the report, you also need to understand that for those 52 kids, they're spending the vast majority of the day in
122a specialized classroom in a specialized program. So while they're listed technically as assigned to a home room for this report, >> they're not the practical reality is they're not spending much time in that classroom. >> Thank you. >> So it's essentially one or two fewer students depending on which class they're coming from. >> Right. Okay. I appreciate that. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Dr. Cedar. Thank you, Miss Tucker. That's a very good point. Um, and to Miss Tucker's point, that means they're not okay. They're not in the educational setting necessarily all the time. >> If a student's in a specialized program, they it's all driven by the individual education program that the kid has, the IEP, but as a general rule, specialized programs, kids like Compass, TLC, and so forth, they're not
123spending much time in the regular classroom. That's just the reality. >> Thank you, Dr. Zo. Thank you again, Mr. Tucker. Mr. Gavin, >> are you talking about literally considering a hard maximum? Is that what I'm just You guys keep talking about guideline maximums and maximums? >> Who Who are you asking? >> I I guess I'm asking everyone because we talked about maximums five times. They're guidelines. But then someone says, "We might want to set a hard If you had set a hard maximum, you're gonna >> Well, I mean, if you're asking everyone, if you're asking me, I can't answer you. I'm I guess I I'm just trying to catch up on the conversation. >> You can go, >> Steve. I mean, >> was that what we were talking about? Is >> I guess Dr. Zitto,
124I guess the question. >> I never I never discussed uh creating a hard cap. What I did is I reviewed your policy as a board, which has been in place for a while, which I I read it. The words have meaning guidelines. These are class- size guidelines and in the language of the board at no time should these guidelines be interpreted as absolute. >> So when I look at that and I see, you know, one class of 21, knowing to Amber's point there's a couple kids that get pulled out aren't in those numbers very often, I don't see kind of a flagrant violation of even the spirit of the policy. I don't see it. With that being said, my other comment was the board has the authority at any time to convene as a board
125and change these. This is a board policy. It's not my policy. It's the board. So, the board can reduce it. The board can raise it. It's really within the purview of the board as the elected officials in Rocky Hill to determine the best class sizes. My job is to follow policy, adhere to it, and balance that with the fiscal realities that I deal with. And I think I do it pretty effectively to be quite frank with you. >> No, I I just wanted to make sure we weren't talking about setting hard caps because that's a year toear thing. Very difficult. >> I'm not recommending hard caps. >> Correct. Okay. I just want I just wanted to make sure being stated because >> we got guidelines because these things change from year to year. >> That's
126it. >> And and piggybacking off of Mr. Gavin's comments. I think it's important also to understand that we're we're we're we're setting the bud we're making budget decisions a year in advance. So, we don't know uh necessarily how many kids are going to move in or how many kids are going to move out. Um in particular, looking at the fluctuation between Stevens and and West Hill, it may very well be uh an indication of a changing um of changing >> I don't um >> demographics are moving into >> changing residency patterns. I mean, we we've historically seen a late rush each year. >> Um, West Hill, you know, there's a lot of apartments over there called Spring Road. Everybody knows that area. And we didn't see the typical numbers that we've normally experienced. So, that
127that would that would, you know, but again, this is not drastic. We're not talking about classes of six. Um, if you look at, you know, first grade at Stevens, the numbers there are pretty close to the kindergarten numbers at West Hill. I mean, it's it's the schools have fluctuations. The the first grade classes at Stevens are 16, 16, 16, 17, 17. Not too far different than the kindergarten classes at Westill. That's going to happen in a small school district. If we had one large, you know, K6 school for the whole town or a K5 school, you'd get a better economy of scale. When you look at Moer, we typically can manage those numbers pretty well. All the kids, all the fourth graders in town go to the same school. So, you know, we have similar
128issues at the high school. I've explained this for years to people. If you go to uh Glastbury High School, New Britain High School, these larger schools, Southernington, you're going to you won't see as many fluctuations because you get a better economy of scale. You put 2,000 kids into a school, you schedule your school and most your class sizes level out. Here, the high school, for example, we have certain courses. We run it one time. So then we get into tough conversations. Latin one, do we offer Latin one if only nine kids want it? If only seven want it? At what point do you Italian faded away. It wasn't feasible financially. >> Italian at Southernington High probably could have 20 kids every year taking Italian for one class. >> This is an issue. It's it's a
129great community. 750 kids makes for a really involved high school. It's easier to make the basketball team in Rocky Hill than it is at Southernington when you only have 700 kids in the school versus 3,000. Those are just I've been doing this a long time. Those are blunt realities. However, there are issues sometimes with maximizing class size. You're going to see those fluctuations in a small high school. >> All right, thank you for all the questions. Thank you for all the answers. Um, I think that was a robust discussion. Um, moving along to >> Can I just say one one quick comment? I will say that looking at these numbers when I'm dating back to when Mr. Nosik was was principal at West Hill and when um my my oldest Michael was in kindergarten. those
130class sizes were a lot smaller than these or not a lot smaller, but I'm just saying that it looks like the sizes are bigger than what I'm used to seeing when when my kids were in elementary school. When I look at kindergarten classes like at Stevens for 21 20 I mean those class sizes back then was like 15 14 15 years a I'm talking about years ago. So >> okay I don't know if you remember that. >> I'm not entirely sure. It's just it's just a statement saying that the class sizes have gone it's gone up. The class sizes for kindergarten the primary grades have gone up within the past eight years or so. >> We have apartments going up all the time. Yeah. >> All right. >> Town is growing. >> Thank you, Miss
131Manella. Uh moving along to agenda item number 21 is interim assistant superintendent for personnel and student services. Dr. Diaz. Thank you, Mr. Slatterie. Good evening. Uh, this week we distributed a district-wide flyer to support our recruitment efforts for non-certified positions, specifically targeting substitute teachers. Um, because our goal is to build a strong pool of qualified substitutes who can step in when needed to ensure continuity of support for students. As we recognize absences and emergencies do happen, we want to stay ahead by having reliable coverage in place. I've reached out to nearby universities such as CCSU to expand our outreach and also asked our school principles to include the flyer in the school's newsletter. Um the CT FMLA forms are posted in our district website within the faculty portal portal under human resources for easy access
132for our staff members. I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you, Dr. Diaz. Um I don't want to put you on the spot, but can you give We had a special meeting. Um but I'm going to um we had a special meeting regarding um the correspondence that was presented last time. Are you in a position to give just a quick summary of some of the stuff that we discussed with regard to um with regard to um implementation of the >> uh civil >> civility framework? I'm going to talk about the um civility committee in my um in my chairman's report, but I I think it uh would be nice to share some of the just some of just a brief outline of kind of what we discussed. Um if you could Sure. Um so
133in that meeting I had shared a framework where um miss Mrs. Wendy Duran and I uh worked on and it's we called it civility framework. Um, we think that it's important that we go back to the basics in regards to having the conversation around nondiscriminatory behavior or just mean-spirited behavior at the forefront. We know that schools do a really nice job knowing that they have their core values um, and they do address student behaviors and discipline in a restorative way. So the way that the framework is outlined is in three phases. Phase one is a needs assessment um which is looking at our current practices, policies and the things that are happening at the district level that are great but also identifying needs on where are the areas where we can be a little bit
134more robust and specific. Um the second phase of the civility framework is focus on intentionality. Um really educating our kids and about respect about uh when they come to school these are the behaviors that we're looking at. Um so digging in a little bit deeper involving youth and family resources uh and collaboration with them assemblies. So really diving in into that work. And then phase three is um focusing on the community outreach and really doing a campaign looking at words matter and words have meaning. Um and letting kids know, you know, this mean-spirited behavior, the way that some kids communicate unfortunately on social media and even with each other. Um, we need to make sure that we stay at that forefront and letting kids know, you know, these behaviors that are disrespectful, that are mean,
135um, will not be tolerated in our schools. We will support them. Um, but we will create partnerships and continue those partnerships with community programs and our families. So that's kind of the overall framework of civility, the civil civility framework, excuse me. >> Thank you, Dr. Diaz. Um, I know it's still a work in progress, so I I do appreciate the update. Um, and um, thank you for that. >> Welcome. >> Any questions for Dr. Diaz? Uh, no, not really a question, but I guess a comment slashquest, but I appreciate Mr. S you asking for that update because it was great. I I forgotten that we did that during a special meeting, which the public didn't necessarily see unless they were here in the room. So, I I appreciate that and thanks for the update because
136I think just we're doing some really good things. We're taking some steps, some some good proactive steps to address some issues that we've heard in our school system. And I think it's important for the public to hear that and to hear some of the details behind it I think is is really good and and thank you Dr. D for the work you did and I know a lot of us thanked you at the last special meeting but I think it's really helpful for for us to acknowledge that and for us for the community to understand there are steps being taken that I think are are helpful and um anyway so thanks. That's it. >> Thank you Mr. Costco and we did have that meeting in chambers um in order to hopefully have it on camera
137and it didn't happen. It didn't it didn't the c the camera people weren't here. So, >> so thank you again, Dr. Diaz, for uh a little bit of an update and I apologize for putting you on the spot because I did not give you a heads up on that. >> Um any other questions for Dr. Diaz. All right, moving along to agenda item number 22, assistant superintendent for finance operations, Dr. uh Dr. Nosik. >> Hi, good evening everybody. Um, included in your board packet is a financial report reflecting the year-to- date figures for the month ending September 30, 2025. I've included a projected financial report for September 2025 in accordance with board policy. That's essentially just a quarterly uh projection. Uh, the following accounts though um I'd like to highlight at this time. Line item
138113 salaries. Our prof uh paraprofessional account is currently in deficit due to the needs of students requiring paraprofessional support. And uh once again line item 561 tuition uh in and out of district is currently reflecting a deficit. This includes tuition for both magnet schools and students with special education needs. There will be future offsets against this deficit from the excess cost reimbursement grant that we received from the state. Uh and of course we'll continue to uh monitor this and keep you informed of our financial outlook as we progress through the year. >> Dr. Nosek, I just want to let you know that there's a few of us that are missing that report. Um I know we could probably click on the link, the hyperlink. Um but there are a few of us that didn't receive
139it. >> It was in the envelope that was delivered. It wasn't given to >> It wasn't in mine. >> It wasn't on the desk. >> It wasn't in my envelope. It's okay. >> We'll get it later. >> It's empty. >> Give everyone an opportunity to look at that before I ask if you have any questions. Dr. knows it. Does anyone else not have it? >> Good question. Any questions for Dr. Nosik? >> Thank you, Dr. Nosik. All right, moving along to agenda item number 23, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instructions report. I know that the plan was to go through assessment data. Um, >> I think the front portion of our meeting went a lot longer than expected. Um, for good reasons. I, you know, I think that a lot of what we heard today
140was was very important to hear. Um, so with that, >> I would recommend that you, if you want to table it, I understand it, but most of you have been here since before six o'clock already. Um, we do have some really good news to report. Maybe Wendy wants to give you just a quick kind of shout out highlights and then we can get into detail at the November meeting. >> I like that. >> Yeah, I like that idea. >> Um, >> anyone opposed to that? >> So, >> I know I've been here since 5:30, so I'm with you all on that. >> I would ask her to do some quick highlights and then she can do the report again so she can just give a very report. I know we got some really good news
141on the SAT that you wanted to share. >> Sure. >> Yeah. Um, so I I totally understand. It's past my bedtime, so I'm not at my best at this hour and not fresh anymore. So, um, tableabling it is fine with me. Um, so I will I'm not going to follow the PowerPoint. Um, well, actually, maybe I will. I'll just go up and click to the few slides. >> Sounds good. >> I'll be fast. >> I think it's important. >> Absolutely. We will revisit it at the next meeting so that if there's be a more in-depth >> discussion puts a lot of effort into think it would be 9:15 already. >> Yeah. No, I totally understand. >> A lot of people have long drives including Wendy. >> My son is out. >> Yes. This evening is
142a stay at the sister's house, not driving home. All right. So, um, real quick, I'm going to pass through these because I do want to explain the district performance index, um, to you because it's one of those that takes a little bit of explanation. Um, I'm just going to quickly highlight. So, for our DUR, for smarter balanced in ELA, um, we are third in our DUI and you can see that our where our state average is at 58.3. our um number of students who achieved a level three or four were at 70.5%. And the state average is also highlighted in purple on this slide. When we look at our math performance for smarter balanced within our DUI, uh we are second with 66.8% 8% achieving a level three or four and um the DURG average
143at a 55. So you know when we look at these numbers um it we are we are doing fantastic within our DUI. Um we have a lot to be proud of. Um, and we are a a district that is always looking to continuously improve. And when you look at what our state averages for math and the national average is even worse, um, you know, it it's something that we we're really striving to continue to improve upon. Um, I'm going to skip through our comparison with other DURGs and just go to our SAT data within our own DUI. So, within our own DUIRG, um the evidence-based reading and writing is what you're looking at here. And, um we are third in our DURG. This is uh a nice improvement over last year, um at 76.4% of
144students meeting a level three or four and the DURG average being 67.8. We did run a program at the high school last year um through advisory for our students to try to familiarize them with the um elements of the test, the components that they would need to know, and then um just some general taste uh test taking strategies that are helpful when taking a standardized test. And as a result of that, um, you know, you'll see with our math scores, we are first in the DIRG at 54.4%. Um, and I'm sorry. Yep. On the SAT. So, >> the score is we have the highest score. Our percentage is a little bit lower, right? >> Yeah. Right. Yes. >> But the mean score is the highest in the >> 546. Correct. Yep. Yeah. So, we there's
145different ways to look at the data. if you in the the far column is the average score. Um but if you look at the percent, yes, there are some if you're looking at there's different ways to sort it, but basically um this is really great news. If you look at last year's data, which I was planning to share with you, and I'll do it next month, um there's a nice improvement. So that is really the the most important things I wanted to talk about just smarter balanced um SAT I'll go into next time the district performance data as well as the um NGSS data loss links data and um I did have some really nice sprinkled in highlights for you um and I do want to just hit one real quick um and I left
146it at my seat. So, but for our career center, I just wanted to remind you that the um open house is October 30th, which will be before our next meeting. You did receive an invitation in the mail. Um it's from 6:00 to 7:00 at the high school and we have invited a lot of community members. Um we did a lot of networking here at the town hall. people from the town hall have been coming um over to me and talking about how excited they are um about the open house, but even more so about what we're doing um at the high school and they are very eager to be a part of it and to come over and participate. So, I just wanted to at least touch on that because that's going to happen before
147our next meeting and I wanted the community to know as well. So, um, so I'll wrap it there and, um, and I'll go into a lot more detail next time. And I got a clap from Sean, so that's a way. >> I'll take it. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Yeah. >> We got an email. Yeah. >> Did you respond? >> I can't remember. That's why I got >> All right. Agenda item number 24 is And thank you again, Mrs. Durand. Um, >> you're welcome. >> I look forward to the more in-depth analysis. Agenda item number 24, superintendent report. Dr. Zto. >> All right. In the spirit of brevity. Just one quick announcement. Tomorrow we are the featured school, Rocky Hill High School for the >> game versus Northwest Catholic. Uh Mr. Fod and Mr. Trudeau
148are excited about this. WFSB will be doing their channel 3 game of the week at our pep rally at the high school tomorrow at nine o'clock. So, uh, want all our high school kids to come with their Rocky Hill Terrier swag, dig it out of the closet, Mr. Fod, wear something, and, uh, >> you're probably going to see me sneaking in the back door for that thing tomorrow morning, too. So, uh, that was cool. >> That's all. It's exciting for the kids to have, uh, channel 3 highlight our our school as we get prepared to play Northwest Catholic. And I thank uh, everybody for all the information tonight. It's a long board meeting, productive meeting and uh appreciate everybody's uh efforts to advocate for kids on Rocky Hill. That's my report. >> Thank you, Dr.
149Zto. Any questions for Dr. Zto? >> All right, moving along to agenda item number 25 is my report. Um first, I want to start off by uh thanking Sean Gavin um for your service for your service on the board. Um, seriously, I know it takes uh the the time and a lot of time out of our lives and some people in the public don't know that this all this is volunteer um even all the way up to the mayor's office. So, um I think it's important that um uh that you understand that. Um, additionally, I did want to um I I did I did uh at least introduce the idea at the special meeting. I did want to introduce it here. Um, I'm going to be starting or appointing an ad hoc committee uh on
150civility and respect. Um, and the um at that meeting, Dr. Diaz uh went through uh kind of a framework that she's been working on. Um, and some of it is tied to to uh safe school climate legislation that we're that we're um being forced to incorporate. Um but I want to make it clear that you know this committee on civilian and respect is is something that is um although there's a lot of overlap is something that's much broader than just uh implementing this state legislation. Um you know part of our responsibility as a school board and uh here as a district uh is to prepare students to be productive members of society. Um, and the purpose of this committee is going to be to address the everchanging world our youth are growing up in, a
151world that seems to be drifting away from civility. Um, we see it in the news. We see it in social media. Um, and maybe it has something to do with social media. Um, you know, social media wasn't something that existed probably 25 years ago. And I think that, you know, although social media isn't all bad, um, you know, I think there is at least an opportunity for a lot of bad things to happen there. Um, and with it being so accessible and in your face both for us as adults and for kids as they're growing up, I think it's important to um to address that. you know, social media is, you know, I've been thinking about this and if you, you know, why social media results in such behavior and if you're you're essentially taking
152the human face toface um the human face toface kind of uh interaction out of human interaction and what you end up with is a situation where inhumane be behavior just becomes that much easier to engage in. Um and so I think it's important that we kind of uh um that we focus on that. Um you know we live in a free nation and core concept of freedom is civility. Civility is the Greece that makes freedom work. Um civility and respect. If you have freedom and you don't have civility and respect, you get chaos. And ultimately, you know, whatever the cause is, I think it's important that um that we all take on the responsibility as parents, as board members, as teachers, as you know, just in our daily lives uh to make sure that we
153acknowledge that. Um and so the purpose of this committee is to be is to make sure that everything that we're doing as a district is seeking to incorporate that. Um you know, it it Civility doesn't necessarily mean just walking around agreeing with everyone. It doesn't mean that you're, you know, can't stand up for what you believe in. But what it does, what what it does mean is it means that you respect the people around you because they are part of the community and you start with that premise in mind and then if you have disagreements, you talk about your disagreements, different dis different beliefs that you have and you work through them. And that's how we used to all agree to disagree. And I just think it's important that we try and um shape our
154students who are the future of our, you know, they're the future. They are the future um to try and get back to some of that. Um so I don't know exactly what it will be focused on as far as a rubric. I know we're going to work through it. Um but you know, age appropriate discussions, presentations, assemblies, visitors, just to encourage respect in all the interactions that we have. Um my hope is that you know even if we're not checking off boxes by making it part of the discussion both in the school district and in the community and hopefully ultimately in the nation we can get back to some sort of civility where people can respect each other and then disagree on whatever they want to disagree about. And so my hope is that this
155committee can help to move us in that direction. So, with that being said, everyone have a wonderful evening. Uh, and >> uh, no, I think it's been long enough to >> add something about a motion to adjourn. >> At that m at at this time, I think we are done with board business. So, with that, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Moved by Mr. Gavin >> seconded by Miss Tucker. >> Do we have um any discussion? [Music] >> Seeing none, I will uh all those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed, nay. >> Eyes have it. 8 Z. We are adjourned. >> 7 to1 >> at 9:36. The one.