001Roll The silence. Roll Gentile Rainer Rosner is absent. Richard Connor Here. Joey Blashe Here. Jason Naves Here. Anthony Smirgliano Here. Carol Panozzo Here. Patricia Moonan Here. Pete Cutajar Here. Also in attendance Dr. Ken Serranich, Jackie Toolings, Kristen Santilli, John Calhoun, Stephanie Seaborn. Take the legal 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. I would like to move for all of the sentences to So moved. Second? I'll second it. Aye. Uh yes, actually I would. >> But I know and I'm going to go off the agenda with your permission. Uh what I would like to do is uh the month of March uh Cave, which we are members of, uh look at the
002month of March as board member appreciation month. And as we do every year on the month of March, I just like to say a few words about our board members. Uh first of all, the biggest is is thank you. Thank you for all the work you do. What people often forget about our board members is they have volunteered to do this position. Uh they do not get paid and it comes with a lot of hours and they are true advocates for our school system and they are committed to the best wishes for all of our students and our city. Um as a sign of my appreciation, I'll be getting the board members all a gift that they're aware of that will be forthcoming that I don't have with me this evening, but I explained to
003each one of them. Um and that's just a sign of my appreciation from myself and the staff um for all that you do for the Shelton Board of Education and from the superintendent, we just want to tell you thank you. So, thank you for everything. Thank you. But I also do not want to forget and one of our student board members is he's not here tonight. He was supposed to be here. Yeah. We met. He was supposed to be here. Um I also want to just recognize our student board members as well. Um as we know, they they are elected by their peers and they represent our student body and they are members of this board um by policy. So, with that, I have You have their gift certificates. Even though Mr. Titus But thank
004you again for representing us. That's all my presentations. Uh hi. So, today we had our world language induction ceremony at the high school where we um recognized students in Spanish, Italian, and French for maintaining an A average in level two of the language or uh a B average in levels three, four, and five. I think we had around 80 new inductees, which is very exciting. Um for capstone, juniors are picking their capstone projects uh until May they have. And in the coming weeks, our seniors will be presenting their capstone projects. Uh we have spring break coming up. Uh we have a school trip to Italy at the high school for our Italian students. I think that's a week on the south of Italy. Um our high school our musical is this week from it's 7:00
005p.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the high school. It is High School Musical. Our elementary schools are having their spring book fairs this coming weeks. Um our school sports have started. Our spring sports um have begun. Robotics has started. They've had two competitions they've done very successful at. And recently, we congratulated five of our student athletes who signed to continue playing sports at the college level. Uh today actually, we opened our Thrifty Gail, which is a thrift store in the library of the high school. Um the clothes are donated by the community and the store is run by the transition students who are 18 to 22 and the life skills students at the high school. Oh. Excellent. Thank you very much. Had to ask any question. And as always, they are don't stay something.
006Appreciate you coming. Bailey, any public comments? Okay. Take one call for public comments. Is everybody in now? Anyone? Seeing none, I'll move on to reports of standing committee. P&L, please. Uh teaching and learning committee met on Tuesday, March 10th to review mid-year test data as compared with fall data. Uh content tested included the full scope of learning goals for the year. In language arts, grades K to 4 were tested using IXL and DIBELS, which is a screening required by the state. Reading performance remains stable from the beginning of the year to mid-year with kindergarten and grade one showing the strongest gains. In grade two, the need for more targeted instruction is noted. Third grade text becomes more complex and slight movement toward lower performance levels highlights the need for continued intervention. Fourth grade exhibited a
007notable shift to above benchmark, which indicates a need to build our enrichment opportunities. Intervention at the elementary level is a push-in model as opposed to pull-out small group instruction like in the past. Reading growth was less pronounced than math growth from the beginning of the year to mid-year. In ELA for grades 5 through 11, results were as follows. Grade 5, 43% above the national average. Grade 6, 54% above. Grade 7, 45% above the national average. And grade 8, 39% above. At the high school level, grade 9, 54% were above the national average. Grade 10, 49%. And grade 11, 44%. Students well below benchmark decreased by anywhere from 6 to 34 percentage points depending on the grade. In math in grades K to 4, all grade levels showed growth from beginning of the year to mid-year
008with significant reductions in students performing well below benchmark and increases in numbers of students performing above benchmark across all grades. Strongest acceleration was in kindergarten and grade one aided by early intervention. Grade one showed the largest overall growth with nearly half of them being above benchmark. Third grade showed a significant increase in the number of students above benchmark. In math, 62% of grade 5 were above the national average. Grade 6, 65%. Grade 7, 61%. And grade 8 48%. You'll note those are all higher than the ELA scores. Strongest performance was demonstrated in grade 6 and 7. At the high school level in grade 9 51% were above the national average, grade 10 44% and 39% in grade 11. Science assessments were written by our teachers assessing students on half of the full year's content. In
009grade 5, now these are um these percentage scores are not national but around national average is percentage of the test correct. In grade 5 46% was the average score. Uh grades Guys, that was grade 5. Grade 6 47%, grade 7 40% and grade 8 48% average scores with growth growth demonstrated across these grade levels at midyear. And you would expect at the end of the year for these percentages to be closer to 75 to 100%. At the high school level assessments were subject specific and again written by our teachers using NGSS standards. Average scores were as follows. Environmental science average score at midyear 43%, biology chemistry 35%, physics 42% average score. So for midyear those are around middle of the road. Because students are only halfway through the content, we would expect the percentages to
010be significantly higher at year end. Social studies was assessed in grades 5 through 11. And again, assessments were written by Shelton teachers using national standards for the grade level and measured the full content for the year. Average scores were as follows. Grade five, 48% grade six, 70% grade seven, 63% and grade eight, 56% on mid-year learning. High school assessments were again subject-specific. Average scores were as follows. For US history and AP US history combined, 52% was the average score. US history two, 61% and modern world history AP world or AP world history, 75% average score. If you wish to study the data in more detail, the present presentation is available on Shelton Public Schools website attached the agenda for the meeting where there are extensive bar graphs and comparisons presented by each individual grade level.
011I couldn't put all that data in here or we'd be here till thanks. Um the next meeting date we we were we postponed our May meeting to June 2nd so that we can take a look at end-of-the-year data as compared to beginning and middle. Any questions for Kate? Seeing none. Finance. Uh we did not meet earlier this evening. Um so nothing new to report. Our next meeting is Let the record show I believe your daughter is getting an award, correct? >> I'll talk about that later. That was the most important thing. I'll see. Joke. Uh besides the policies that were passed in the consent agenda, uh we're just again looking at uh revisions to the bylaws the bylaws section of our policies and then uh additional policies as uh members get them. You have a
012minute. I I have a question. Yeah. I think I probably should direct it to Dr. Sarnes. Do you want us to send our suggestions to you via email ahead of time or bring them with us? I have several things highlighted. On the policy side? On the on the bylaws. On the bylaws? The probably the right thing to do is send it to the chairman of the committee. And then I would CC Dr. Sarnes as well. You know, that way they both have a look at it, but it definitely should go to the chairman. Okay. And then you know too, are you on a committee or not? Yes. Okay. Any other questions for policy? B&G, Jason. Yeah, it's uh kind of hard to follow Mr. Well, we we didn't have a meeting this meeting uh this
013month. Our next meeting will be held on uh May 20th. Um but Thursday, March 12th, uh the BOA approved contract amount to the new turf field. That was the base price of the turf that they approved. Everything else will decided once once the build gets gets up and running. I believe that's what that's what I was Um Friday, March 13th, uh five bidders joined myself, Mr. Calhoun, and Scott Snell on a new scoreboard uh job walk-through. Went through different uh site conditions, uh questions they may have had. Logistics, um power, uh any questions that they had we answer Well, we answered and then we also put them on the uh opengov.com uh platform that the city uses. So, everyone look at the the bid bid answers and the questions and answers. Um Also on the
014agenda I coming up soon, Mr. Calhoun continues to work with uh DRIP, which is a state program where helps uh fund small capital projects. um I I believe Mr. Calhoun and his team um decide to use that those funds to upgrade the uh Shelton band um area um to get that to ADA compliant, which is probably right at Yeah. Well, that's that that will be coming in the near future. Um and then finally, over the April April break, um we are getting rid of the uh the tall grass in front of Central Office here. John took it upon himself to get a piece of equipment and and tackle this over April break. I've been in contact with our Parks and Rec Department to go ahead and uh supply us with the with the soil to
015grow grass shortly after. So, we won't look at that tall grass. You know, maybe we can see maybe we can see the building in in May, you know. So, that's uh yeah, and again, our next meeting is May 20th and that's it. I have one question for Jason or John. Um please refresh my memory. What is the amount that has to um for a project that has to go out for bid? Above 35? 70 7,500. So, if you have a project that you think will run over 7,500, you have to go out for for a bid? And is that in conjunction with the City of Shelton? I believe it is, yes. I'll have to let John speak. The city would would actually you know, they would they would take care of the bid process. But
016there's also there's also um caveat in in the charter that if it's if the company is on state uh state contract, you don't have to bid. Thank you both. Any other questions? Rocks going into, Jason? That we're going to get rid of the rocks. That's the plan. All right. If you want some, uh, uh April. Have a brick or shovel. In a in a pail. Athletics. Yes, a couple things to report. Congratulations. I've just been on the edge this year and they do Spring sports has started. Prox done. High school. Eighth grade strengthening. Conditioning. Very good for them. High school. They also do freshman boys, girls team. And myself and Jason Mac Bar, who something really digging into. Effective. For people quickly change of menu. And Any questions for athletics? I have one directive I'd
017like to go back to policy if I could. Dealing with athletics. I'd like to see the athletic committee, uh, change from ad hoc to a permanent committee of the board. And if we need to adopt a policy, if you could take a look at that. And, uh, I would like to see that or at least so that it could go in front of policy, discussed. But I think it's important that it becomes a permanent committee in perpetuity. But let's take if you wouldn't mind bringing that up in policy, see what the feeling is. That was actually one of my suggestions with cleaning up the committee list. Good. Okay. I like that idea. Liaisons committee, see yes. Say again. Uh the CES rep council met on Thursday, March 5th. Dr. Chip DeMayo reported that he is
018elected again to serve as president next year of a national group of public school principals and superintendents. This year's focus has been on AI humanism. He also recently submitted testimony to the state legislature supporting magnet school funding. Chris LaBelle, associate executive director, highlighted success in retention of staff. From a high of 120 resignations in 2020-21, this year only 34 resignations have been received from both certified and non-certified staff. This school year CES has hired 14 new certified staff, seven of whom were previously paraeducators who preferred who pursued bed certification. The ES professional development team is serving on the statewide multi-tiered systems of of support advisory committee, otherwise known as MTSS. And they are charged with updating the MTSS guidance for districts. Virtual focus groups of teachers, leaders, parents, and BOE members are being formed to
019gather in. You can contact CES if interested in participating. CES special ed services hosted an annual transition expo on March 12th for families of graduating students to help them navigate services post graduation. One feature of the evening was a panel discussion led by families of previous graduates. Enrollment will be opening for the Regional Center of Early Learning preschool program for next year for students of all abilities ages two to five, and and that includes towns outside of Bridgeport now. It used to be just Bridgeport towns, but now it's throughout the area. CES has been notified by the State Department of Education that they have been approved for magnet school capital grants in the amount of $2,057,178, but is awaiting approval by the Bond Commission. It will be used to fund maintenance projects at the six
020to six magnets. And like everyone else, no removal expenses have exceeded the allotted $195,000. They're over by 5,000. Open choice applications closed as of March 15th and are above last year's numbers. Open choice is the program where students where families living in cities like Bridgeport and Danbury can apply to attend school in the suburbs. Um superintendents will notify CES of any openings they have by after April 15th. The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, one of the best tech programs in the country, has accepted RCA student for next year for the third year in a row. So, that's quite a significant accomplishment for Regional Center for the Arts. And thanks to a grant from the CES Foundation, RCA's theater department welcomed Mina Hartong for a week-long stand-up comedy and spoken word intensive. Hopefully, somebody recognizes Students grew
021in confidence, stage presence, and comedy writing. CES next meets on April 2nd and the CES Foundation fundraising gala takes place on May 1st. Any questions? Abe? Abe? Yes. Um we had arcade mandatory training this past this month um for new members um and four mem- four of our members uh attended. One could not because they were in a uh very long meeting. So, uh important meeting. So, I guess that will be rescheduled um to help her. Um, CAPE Day on the Hill happened on March 11th, and that is the opportunity for board members to go and speak with our legislators concerning education funding and laws coming up with our state legislature. Um, this uh CAPE stresses advocacy, board member advocacy for legislating books legislation supporting education. So, we can do that by either providing written
022testimony, going in person to provide testimony, or we can actually sign up to be on a Zoom to to be able to provide that testimony. I was able to do that provide written testimony for the ECS grant. That there are two bills up on. So, I you know, just to let you know that you too can do this to push these bills. I think the more people they hear from um, that we really need to up that since 2013. It's not been increased. This is um, the grant that actually uh gives money for reimbursement for the cost to educate a child. And right now it's at 13K. Shelton spends $19,000 approximately per child. So, um, the proposals are to raise that year by year until it's at a at an appropriate level, and then they
023will be raising it by the rate of inflation. And let's hope that that passes so we get some money somewhere from the state increase. Question for Anyone? Dr. Saranac? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh for those of you who have not read Kathy's Riddles Twitter account in the last 30 minutes or did not pay attention to the consent agenda, I I to thank the board for setting our high school graduation date has been set based on the voting of the consent agenda. Um that will be the Friday evening of June 12th. I thought it was 12th. I didn't have it written down. June 12th. Uh we do meet the statutory guidelines with the state by going beyond the original 180th day. So we'll be able to have a nice hopefully uh good weather uh summertime Friday
024night graduation. Uh each board member has received their board packet. We were able to give it to you last month because last meeting was virtual because of the weather. We switched it so you you should in front of you should have a copy of your board packet. Um as everyone is aware the mayor made his announcement of his budget proposal on Thursday presenting the Board of Education with a 0% increase. Um we all know that without proper funding we may suffer significant increases uh significant cuts in our school system um if that zero was to still pass. On April 7th at 7:00 p.m. that will be the joint meeting of ANC and the alderman in which we will present our Board of Ed budget and work collaboratively with them. I will continue to remain optimistic
025um as we work with the city in the best interest of our school system and of course our taxpayers. Also in front of each board member is a copy of the book Wish Tree. We are extremely excited um because we'll be launching our district-wide events of one book one community on April 6th. I will give uh copy to every board member. Um we've been working. We have a committee that's been putting the work together. Um each school is prepared in terms of that celebration that will run from April 6th through the first um week of May. We're working collaboratively with our public library which you're planning on running events while school's not in session during our April break and it should be a fabulous event all along. Uh we have yard signs that we've made
026that I would be happy to give copies to board members who may want one to hang in their yard and we'll be putting them out throughout the city prior to the event publicizing that it's community effort that we're doing. I have a posted over the QR code cuz I don't want anyone to scan the QR code yet cuz it's not finished. But the QR code brings you to a website that we put together for this event. It talks about the event specifically, talks about the book and the author, has listings from all of our sponsors cuz this event was funded completely by sponsorship which we're very excited about. And there is a video audio by chapters of guest readers reading sessions of the books that families can follow along and that'll be accessible right before
027April 6th and there'll be signs throughout the city of Shelton. And if any board member would like to take some signs and put them out around the city of Shelton, you're welcome to do that. I think our target date is April 2nd is when we're going to This This Santilli and I are going to drive around Shelton and start popping these signs up everywhere we can. So if any board member would like a sign for their front yard or anywhere else they'd like to put one, we have plenty to put them out there. So it's a great event that we're very much looking forward to. And lastly, I just want to say break a leg to the cast for Shelton High School's musical. I'm looking forward to it. I will be there on Friday night.
028They always put on a wonderful show and it's going to be great. So thank you. I have a I'd like to put a couple of signs. Healthcare update. Healthcare. Okay, as of February, the year-to-date expenditure was 6.9 million representing 84 84.6% of the allocated budget and 15.4% remaining. The district anticipates receiving 51,000 in stop-loss reimbursements and approximately 200,000 in RX rebates. Based on the current trends, the projected annual health insurance costs will be 10,364,519 dollars. At this projected level, the district is expected to exceed the adopted budget by approximately 2.19 million with the overage beginning in April at an estimated 467,100. Um, I did want to point out on February 25th, the district received the projected health insurance renewal amount, uh, which totaled 11,435,038 dollars for next fiscal year. That combined with the projected custodian
029insurance renewal of approximately 1.6 million brings us to a total projected health care cost for fiscal year 27 at about 13,019,499 dollars. Any questions for Jack? I have a question. Perfect. So, um, I don't know if this would make any significant impact on your health care line, but have you taken into account if you have any resignations or vacant positions throughout the course of the year? Does that impact your health care line at all, and how do you account for that? So, I would not put those numbers in because that is a a what if and basically when we bring someone into the district, they typically need health insurance. So, it just is it either replaces with a single coverage or the the difference gets accounted for if it's a family versus a single. And
030that number is is is fairly low. And as far as retirement those individuals will be replaced. So, there's there's really not much of a difference when you do that calculate. So, there's no no significant impact. >> There's an impact, but it's not significant enough to show. Okay, thank you. >> Exactly. You're welcome. Other questions on the health care update? Seeing none, I'll go into comments with the board chair. Uh first item um you're everyone's going to be receiving uh I've been working with the secretary of the board uh Lorraine on a letter to to the editor. Uh once I've gone through it and perfected it, I would like to put everybody's on the bottom. There is no requirement to do that. It's going to be addressing the budget. Uh I'm going to send that out
031to everybody once I've got it done. I'll definitely happy to hear any revisions or thoughts. And then take a look at it and if you don't want your name at the bottom cuz it will be going to a letter to I get in the press, you're you do not have to put that. I'm going to tell you I'll my name on it. Uh you're welcome to join on if you wish. It is again discretionary. With that being said, and I'll everyone will get a copy probably in the next week or so. Um the I have been going out to the PTOs as promised and I've been enjoying it. Uh I was accompanied by Ken the other day. We went out to ESS. Uh great time going out there and I wanted to give everybody on
032May 3rd they're doing something really pretty cool. I don't think I'm going to do it. They want you to run like 3.8 miles. Was that the amount? How much was it? She said like 3 miles. I was having a heart attack thinking about All right. Oh, okay. All right. Yes, you do. I said to you, I said look at the size of me. I don't go out running. But the fun part of this is is that I guess they're going to take cornstarch and coloring. And as you go by, I think you're going to be peppered with colors. It was a color run. I thought it was pretty >> run. I think it's a damn good fundraiser. So, um May 3rd everybody, if you have the ability to go. And they said we could just
033go there and, you know, egg on people or even throw. So, I don't know how they're going to do that. But if you're available, please go. The other uh thing I'd like to address is unfortunately the 800-lb gorilla as you they say in the corner of the room is a 0% budget increase. Uh to say that uh I'm shocked would be an understatement. And there were some statements made during the proposal that I think just have to get addressed uh out to the public cuz I I just don't think they're factual. Um you know, first off, I don't think the school district can operate on a 0% at at the same level it is today. I There's no way that we can. We have contracts we've agreed to. I sat on with the nurses. I
034know we did the uh uh teachers as well. So, if you give somebody an increase, how can you have a 0% in your budget without significant cuts? I really believe that this is going to be catastrophic to the district. And there was a statement made that's going around town uh that we hired 44 new people. That's just untrue. It it's it's It didn't happen. Since July 1st of 2025, we've replaced 22 people total. Actually, it's uh 21 we replaced. And we did hire somebody new. It was a pre-K teacher that was already in the past budget that we outlined for a grand total of 65,000 out of a $90 million budget, we're able to find one teacher. So, I don't know how we go from one to 44, but that's some really good math. The
035other thing that was said is this thing called modest funding. And I don't I don't think everyone understands, and I think people you know, maybe who other elected officials don't understand what modest funding is. I think it's probably should be called lack of funding. And what does it accomplish? 200 Since 2005, we've lost 200 positions. We've eliminated programs. But here's the worst part, our pupil spending is 19,330. Where does that put us? 150th out of 165 school districts in the state of Connecticut. I don't think that's good. I mean, we talked numbers, then you talk about our dirge, which is similar groups. We're number 22 out of 23 of equivalent districts. Doesn't sound like modest to me. Modest would be in the middle, maybe closer to the top, but it sounds like we're almost dead
036last. And then I I I've heard that you know, we decreased in our student population. That's probably the only thing that I heard that was correct. We decreased by 103 students. Yet, we're expected to take a 0% budget. It represents less than a 2% decrease in our student population. That's a snapshot. And we all see the the progress being made in town with new housing everywhere in town. Just drive along River Road, look to your left, right? It's there. Those numbers fluctuate up and down, and this number of 103 is is not a large number when you consider the number of classrooms we have. But I I think there was just too many myths that were getting out there. And with that, um, Dr. Serencha, I'd like to uh direct you to address all those
037and get the facts out there. And I'd like that to get out to both the aldermen, um, our unions as well as to our parents as well as any other elected officials that would care to actually hear the facts. And please make sure And again, I'd like you to put this in writing if you could. And please make sure that everything is double and triple checked, uh fact check wise. Oh, and by the way, I forgot to mention one thing. Remember I told you about the 21 replacement people we had? Well, we took off from the top and we dropped down to the bottom. You know what the savings was? 349,000. We didn't go spend that money. We watched our dollars and we hired that one pre-K teacher. That's all we hired. With that being
038said, I'd like to go on to celebrations. Um, I'd like to give a I'm I'm just going to jump the gun on this one if I may. Jackie? Congratulations, Grandma. Thank you. Thank you so Well, tell us the name and uh Yes, his name is Allen Tooling. 8 lb 16 oz. Big boy. Congratulations. There's a different celebration that was brought to my attention tonight. And that's for Anthony. You all saw the crash that happened at LaGuardia this week. His nephew was on the plane. How's he doing? Okay. Thank you. >> Well, wishing him all the best. And if Haley, if you would please send a card from the district and the board, please, as well. And glad to hear that. Communications, any other celebrations that I want? If I may, I got a couple. Okay,
039go ahead, sir. How's my bridge? How's my bypass? So, I had the privilege of attending the fire prevention poster contest award tonight over at SIS. Uh there were 30 students recognized. Over about $2,000 in cash awards were presented to these students. Uh there were It's amongst fourth and fifth graders. In fourth grade, it's part of their art instruction in in the classroom. Fifth grade, it's done at home on their own. Uh so, breakdown, there were 11 students at Perry Hill that were recognized, one of whom is my daughter. Lilan Sunny Side had three students that were recognized. Mohegan had five. And last, but certainly not least, Booth Hill had five as well. But the icing on the cake was they also had the overall city of Shelton winner, as well as the Fairfield County winner.
040Wow. So, that student will now be going on to the states. And I guess that will occur I think at the end of April. I'll fact check. End of April, we'll know how that student did. Uh but very cool. Um second, another dad brag. Um so, earlier this month, my daughter Arya, who is in eighth grade at SIS, she and her partner Anna Campbell were representing SIS at the state uh Connecticut Science Fair at Quinnipiac University. Um, they had a project that was entitled "The Impact of Varying Wavelengths of Light and Controlled Environmental Conditions on the Degradation of Vitamin C Potency in Fruits." Which sounds very interesting. Um, and way above my head. Um, but all of their efforts won them second place overall in the life science category. Um, and they were also a
041finalist in the women in uh, STEM uh, sponsored by the Petit um, school foundation. Dr. Petit. Um, so it was it was a good month for me and my kids. Um, but also proud of all of the students uh, not only at SIS that were part of the science fair. There were also two other projects that made it to at least the initial judging uh, through Quinnipiac. So, congratulations to them and also to the 30 students uh, at the um, fire prevention and I That's it. >> You want to BRING UP CONGRATS. ANY OTHER CELEBRATIONS? SEEING NONE. Communications to the board, Kaylee, anything? Anyone else? Any communications? Uh, your enrollment number and your staffing numbers are there for your review. Any questions on those or any discussion? Seeing none, I'll take a motion to adjourn.
042So moved. I, Ms. Ferrugliano, is there a second? >> I'll second. Seconded by Ms. Wrenn. All in favor say by saying aye. Aye. Any being opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Meeting's adjourned at