001Although few are welcome to the board of education meeting uh being held in our regular meeting room in person at 382 Long Avenue, first floor, Wednesday, May 28th, 2025. The time is 7:02. Call to order. James Orizetti, present. A Coutach here. Lorraine Rosner here. Jason Ne here. Patricia Munan here. Jim Fen, Amy Romano, Anthony Sparagino, and Joan Littlefield are absent. Also in attendance, Dr. Ken Serinich, Kristen Santelli, Glenn Newman, Jacqueline Tulings, Axido Aier, and Eli Elias. Hey, rise for the pledge of allegiance, please. To the flag of the United States of America, to the republic and the nation under God, physical liberty. Can I get approval of the agenda, please? Move. I'll second that. All in favor? I. Any opposed? All in favor? Motion passes. Uh let's uh item number three, approval of the consent
002agenda. A motion. Okay. Cutesh. Motion by Miss Goutes. I'll second it. Motion by Jason. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Seeing none. Motion carries. presentation and recognitions from the Shelton Economic Development Committee art contest winners. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm going to turn over um tonight's presentations to our our curriculum coordinator, uh Ron Gidus, who who would like to give out the presentations honor our student. Thank you. Good evening, members of the board, superintendent Dr. Serinich, and community members. I'm Ron Gidus, Unified Arts Curriculum Coordinator. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. I'm excited to introduce to you a meaningful initiative, the SEDC Art Contest, a cooperative effort between the Shelton Public Schools Art Department and the Shelton Economic Development Commission. This partnership has brought together creativity, community, and education in a
003way that truly celebrates our students and their talents. The contest invited participation from students in grades K through 12 uh across each of our schools, providing a unique platform for young artists to express their creativity while connecting to their community. A joint committee composed of members from the art department, the student body, and the SEDC thoughtfully selected the winners who will be awarded monetary prizes in recognition of their outstanding work. The members were SED representative Bing Carbone, uh, SED member representative Alita Miner, SHS art teachers Nicole Madiola Cordigiano, Rebecca Kershaw, and Rebecca Laquire, and SHS student Jordan Nisper. Art plays a vital role in education. It fosters critical thinking, emotional expression, and cultural awareness. But equally important is the connection between our schools and the broader community. Efforts like the SEDCR contest show what's possible
004when we come together with a shared vision to support our students and elevate their voices. I'd like to acknowledge and thank a few individuals who are instrumental in bringing this contest to life. In the back, Nicole Mola Cordigiano, art teacher at Shelton High School and Alita Miner and Bing Carbone of the SEDC. Their leadership and collaboration made this opportunity possible. At this time, I'd like to invite Nicole to speak briefly about the contest, and then she's going to turn it over to Mr. Carbone, who will also say a few words. Nicole will also be announcing the winners this evening. Thank you all of you for your continued support of the arts and our students. And I'd like to congratulate all of tonight's winners. Thank you. As Nicole is coming to the mic, I just want
005to point out to the audience of the board that all of the art projects are on the display in the screen there so that we can evening everyone. First, thank you Mr. Gidus for that warm introduction. I'd also like to sincerely thank Mr. Spinich, our superintendent and Shelton board of education for graciously hosting us this evening and their continued support on the challenges here at Shelton Shelton Connecticut. For those of you who don't who don't know me, my name is Mrs. Magdalie Portagano, but those of you may know me as Mrs. MC. I'm honored to stand before you tonight as we celebrate the incredible achievements of our young artists. This marks the second year the SEDC awards have returned after a brief hiatus. Last school year, I was asked to bring back the program with
006the strong support of Mr. Carbone and the Shelton Board of Education. We were able to make it happen along with Alita Miner from Shelton Life and the SEDC team joined me in that effort. Together we rolled up our sleeves and had a very successful first year. We built on that success this year and I can confidently say that next year will be even better. We're cultivating a program that highlights our students skills and creativity and helps them learn, grow, and thrive. Programs like these uplift our youth place a sense of identity and the confidence to express themselves our teachers preservation problem solving empathy and the courage to take creative risks all vital life skills beyond the classroom. Thank you to Mr. Corbone for his generosity and unwavering dedication to our youth. Thank you to Miss
007Miner for your time, passion, and many hours she spent planning and running this event by my side. And heartful thank you to our hardworking judges whose efforts are deeply appreciated. But most of all, thank you to the artists, which is the reason why we are here for you today. Your work inspires and moves us and reminds us why these programs matter. Before we announce our winners, I invite Mr. Carbon to say a few words. His leaderships and belief in the power of our students and the power of art and education have been a driving force behind this program. Now, do I have to stand right in front here? I don't want No, you can face the audience. Yeah. As long as you hold the mic so we can hear. So, you can hear me, right?
008Um, first of all, thank all the parents and the family and friends uh for showing up here tonight. This is a really great occasion and I had so much fun. This is my second year involved with this. Um, unfortunately, I wasn't not able to make last year's meeting, but I insist that I I was here tonight and there's a couple of reasons why. So recognizing the board as well and all the wonderful art teachers um just fabulous work. Well, most of all for the students um who uh the artwork let me put it this way when I grew up long time ago um there was you know when we had a contest and an event there was a winner. Now, there might have been an honorable mention. Um, but the first thing that I thought
009about as I was walking around and looking at all the artwork from the students, gosh, every one of these are just fantastic. I mean, it was unbelievable. And in one way, the judging, it was horrible for me. How do I walk out and and just pick, you know, a a winner in the different categories? It was very very difficult and as far as I'm concerned, you are all winners and the passion and the creativity was just unbelievable to see. I paint as well and if anybody wants to come down to Modern Plastics right down the road over here, I have a long hallway with a lot of my paintings. And the one thing about painting that I love each one of my paintings, I can go back and I will remember that time when I
010painted that particular piece of artwork and it brings back a memory. It might be a good memory. It maybe was a not so good memory, but it brings me back to a place and a time and your artwork as you get older and look back on it, it'll do the same for you. And I know they're going to be great memories. So, I want you to remember one thing as I shut down over here and no more Mr. Carbone. It is big. Um, if your dreams don't scare you, your dreams are not big enough. So, dream on young students. You have done a great job. As the chairman of the economic development commission, I was able to get some cash from Mayor Larrett. That wasn't easy. I won't get into that. Um, so I don't
011know how we want to go from here, but uh there's a pile [Music] here. Okay, thank you. All right, you guys ready? So, without further ado, we're going to start off with our winners. We're going to start off with our elementary school winners. So, our first place winner for elementary school is from Moheaggan School and it's from for Lauren Sophia um Silva Defaria today. Our second place winner is Addison Heredia from Long Hill. [Applause] Congratulations. And our third place winner is from ESS and Elelliana Reand. Nicole, if I if I may just interrupt what the principal's here, since we want to make sure that the student receives them, if the principal can accept the the check on the behalf of the student and make sure it gets delivered to them when they come back to
012school, that would be great. Welcome. All right. Our honorable mentions are Lily Anastasio from Booth Hill. Catherine Lin Larson from Milhagen [Applause] School. Shauna Ala Alien from Moheaggan. Ava Gordon from the house. Madison Spanolio from Hill. and our middle school and intermediate schools. First place from Perry Hill is Masha Morzovva. Our second place winner is Oliviana Rodriguez. Congratulations. Our third place is Zoe Lazarus. Zoe Lazarus. Congratulations. Our honorable mentions are Isabella Montano, Gabriella Quinn, Emma Cormanski, Leo Kuram Hers Shelton Intermediate First place is Demarcus Wolf. And got a code. Hi. Please just wait. Yep. Perfect. Third place is Alexa Bernard. Anything you want? Honorable mentions are Michaela Tira, Elizabeth Zagui, Leani Lopez, Aan and Haro and [Applause] Konam. Okay. On to Shelton High School. Um Michelle High School is divided into 2D into 3D categories.
013So for 2D um which is just drawing and painting. We have our first grade winners is Sierra Toron Lobo. [Applause] Second place is Jello Lopez. Third place is third place is Josephine Lassus. Honorable mention is Rya Patel. Second honorable mention is Elena Gasparo. Third honorable mention is Sylvester Ilman. Fourth is Sylvia [Applause] Wolf. And last honorable mention for 2D is Maya Prisbilo. [Applause] And the 3D category for sculpture is first place Mallerie Ber. Second place is Eden Sherman. Third place is Maline Martin. Honorable mentions are Tessa Varsci. Blake Hall, Elena Gaspro, Naa Campbell, and Ariana Franc winners. I know I could speak on behalf of all the art teachers, but we are very proud of each and every one of you and keep doing wonderful things and keep showing us your work even after you
014graduate. We love seeing your work. Email us, show us. Thank you very much. and we appreciate um everyone's efforts and it's we love an opportunity to showcase um our students and the work that they've done. Thank you everyone involved um for making this event happen and and on behalf of the board of education I could just say that was wow that was great Jason very good turn in your crayons you're gone that was fantastic them over fantastic thank you very much okay item number five of the agenda student education reports so last Friday we had our quill and scroll ceremony we We had our we had our book and achievement awards last Tuesday and our senior scholarship award yesterday. Um finals start tomorrow. Senior period 18 senior finals are tomorrow and underassman finals are next
015week. Senior week started which includes field day, the ice cream social and the Six Flags field trip. And graduation is June 6th. And on May 10th, we had our prom and most sports have ended, most of the spring sports. Track had their SEC championships yesterday where girls placed sixth and boys placed ninth with Fola Shade Denhola getting first in the 300 meter hurdle and many people prred in that meet. And girls track has also had their fourth undefeated season in the regular season in a row. And we had our volleyball semi-finals game today which we won 3 0 a couple of minutes ago. I just came from there. But uh yeah, and we have uh SEC finals for volleyball on Friday. Mr. Chair, before before we move on to the next agenda item, um, and
016I know we'll be going into executive session, I just want to take this opportunity to recognize our student reps for the work they've done all year. This will be their last meeting with us for this year. Um, you've done an excellent job representing the student body. We wish you well and hopefully we'll see you back again. Thank you. Thank you. Great job. All right. And uh before our next item, we're going to ask anybody else wishes to depart the meeting, do so now. Very good guys. It's not easy in front of a crowd. You know, you have to take the time, get ready to prepare for Good job. Really enjoyed having you on the board. Good job. Okay, with that we'll resume our meeting. Uh fresh. Okay. Item number six, discussion and possible action on
017the worker compensation case by Michael Charity. We will be uh can I get a a motion to enter into executive session? Motion to go into executive session, Mr. Chair. I'll second that motion. Motion by Miss Koutach, Mr. Nevs. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Mr. Chair, before we move into executive session, you just have to note for the record who you're inviting into the executive session. Okay. Mr. Chairman, superintendent, you want to which my recommendation would be myself and attorney Tom C. Why don't we? No, no, we are we're in conference room. So, okay. So, the superintendent and Mr. Tom Carter will be joining us in executive session. So we have a motion on the floor. Vote was taken. Uh motion carries. Any oppose? Seeing none, motion carries.