001I have read meeting for start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag >> of the United States of America, to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, recognitions. >> Yes, so exciting this evening towards the end of the year and certainly we had at our last meeting as well. It's an opportunity for us to recognize some of our finest students for some of their accomplishments. We did some of the art last last time we were together which was extremely fun and tonight we have the Cade Leadership Awards which are two awards at the middle school and two awards at the high school. So we have invited our building principals and those students out tonight and they have brought
002some supportive guests. So I am going to start with Mr. Baker from the middle school to get us rolling. >> Speak around there. >> All right, yeah. Come out come out front. >> All right, so this is one of those exciting awards that all the teachers get involved at Henry James where it's a team of team approach. You know, anytime we look at a leadership award at the middle school, there's probably a hundred kids who would fit the criteria of kids who are doing a million things after school and outside of school and with their own you know, their own time in the community and and these two students are no exception to that. But we weigh heavily on leadership in terms of how you carry yourself day in and day out at Henry James.
003So that's our deciding factor when we look at this. Every single teacher votes that have had the students and so it's a very well thought out process. So I always come and I I instead of me doing the speech, I give it from the teachers. So this is your team. When I get together with team leaders, Um, they said about you. So we'll start with Catherine. So, Catherine's teacher said, "We're pleased to nominate her for the K Award as she is certainly a deserving student. She consistently demonstrates a willingness to take on challenges with confidence and thoughtfulness, showing her ability to make difficult decisions while considering the needs of others. She is exceptionally kind, non-judgmental, and truly a ray of sunshine in our school community. Someone who gets along with anyone and actively looks for
004students who might feel left out, making sure to include them. Her positive outlook and growth mindset drive her to be motivated, hard-working, and continuously improving. She collaborates effectively with peers, approaches commitments with dedication and integrity, and follows through on every responsibility. Catherine is a respected and trusted member of our community." CONGRATULATIONS. ALL RIGHT, AND OUR NEXT UM uh recipient is Kingston Penny. Um, his teachers say that Kingston epitomizes the qualifications for the K Award. Kingston is reflective, diligent, and responsible in his efforts in and outside of the classroom. He strives to understand content for himself, but is willing to work with peers and explain concepts to them so they'll understand as well. He has an incredible ability not only to work with others, but support everyone he's working with. He's empathetic and genuine in nature
005genuine and his genuine nature is noticeable in the quiet way he comforts a friend over a hard day and uses humor to make someone smile. He's capable of making difficult decisions when he chooses to work independently rather than with a friend he knows will distract him. >> [laughter] >> He is genuine He is genuine in his efforts and care for others, diplomatic in the way he encourages all members of a group to get involved with an activity, and is flexible to work with students on all levels and abilities. He commits not only to partners in groups, but to himself as he has great personal goals including moving to Great Britain as an adult, and is dedicated to his personal study of trains. Kingston is a student who out to all of his teachers and is
006well deserving of THIS AWARD. CONGRATULATIONS. >> CAN YOUR WINNERS TELL US WHO THEY BROUGHT with them today? >> Oh, yes. Would you like to introduce your special guest, Kingston? >> Um this is my father and grandmother. >> Okay. >> And this IS MY DAD. >> KINGSTON, CATHERINE? >> UM I BROUGHT MY MOM, my dad, my two brothers, and my grandparents. >> OH, WOW. >> I USED TO WORK WITH ONE OF THE GRANDPARENTS. >> WELL, I'LL SAY THIS, JEFF. Jeff is here tonight, our former athletic director of many years. So, it's it's it's good to see you back, and I can't believe you're going to high school. >> It's It's weird. >> It's a lot. >> Everybody's getting older but me, but I I don't I don't know I remember you driving around in the cart
007with dad. It seemed like yesterday, and truly amazing, and it's it's wonderful to see the great things that our middle schoolers are doing. So, congratulations. >> Great. And in no time at all, they'll soon be >> [laughter] >> seniors. So, I'm excited to stand before you tonight to honor our high school Cape Award winners. And just like Mr. Baker said, this is a very interesting process, and that there are so many eligible candidates that really embody the Cape leadership mantra. And these are two individuals that I've gotten to know over the last few years, and really cannot echo the sentiments of the group that chose. So, this is done through the school counseling department with input from teachers, and also extracurricular So, the first person I'd like to nominate tonight for the Cape Award is
008Fiona Gallo. So, Fiona is an outstanding student who ranks in the top 5% of the graduating class while tackling a highly competitive curriculum including nine AP classes. And beyond that, she is an empathetic and humble student leader. She's involved in a multitude of athletics and activities, the arts, and student government, and she holds officer positions in the student council, National Honor Society, and several other specialized honor societies as well. While also serving as a peer tutor model in our school's writing center. As a varsity captain in track and field, two-time CCC qualifier in the triple jump, and a four-year athlete in field hockey as well, and a leader in school and regional music groups, she brings an inclusive spirit to her every endeavor at Simsbury High School. You are a role model and you generously
009lead your time and support to elevate others in our building. Fiona, you are the type of student that every educator hopes to work with. A motivated, engaged scholar genuinely invested in making our school community the very best it can be. CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING ONE. I LITERALLY I THINK IT WAS LAST YEAR I watched you come off the field hockey field, switch into a robe for National Honor Society, and like be up on stage right now. That's impressive. >> [laughter] >> I like that. So, truly involved in so much and such a leader in so many different ways. And Jonah LaParr, I'm so excited to nominate you. Jonah is an outstanding candidate for our Keefe Award for your consistency in leading with integrity, empathy, and action. Whether it's in the classroom, through extracurricular involvement, or service
010in our school community, Jonah models responsibility along with a growth mindset while inspiring others to do the same. Throughout your time in high school, Jonah has been a contributing member to not only the walls of Simsbury High School, but the Simsbury community as well. In working with the Simsbury Land Trust, Jonah founded the Youth Conservation Corps, where he has worked on projects like trail building and invasive plant removal. He also sets up guided teen hikes so that more kids can get to know the great trails right here in town. And additionally, Jonah founded the Science National Honor Society, where I got the opportunity to see him in that light, where they literally brought it from the ground up, and as president of the Simsbury High School National Honor Society as well. He also finds time
011to lead the Earth Advocate Club and the Simsbury Green Team, where he focuses his passion of sustainability and conservation efforts. We are super proud to honor Jonah as well for our Cape Award. And this love of conservation and the Earth started, I know, back at Henry James in seventh and eighth grade, where I think you founded the Earth Advocate Club there as well. And has brought it um all the way up with some actual items. If you don't know, they've actually done a trash audit, where on a Saturday, we've kept all the trash for an entire day, and he and the group go through, where we actually look at what we're throwing out. Um he's brought together so that we're trying to recycle the the milk containers. Um but literally looked at everything we threw
012out in a school day from white paper to um you know, recyclable items to try to bring an awareness to what we are doing to our Earth in our little arena of Simsbury High School, which was absolutely overwhelming. Um I think you've done that not only once, but twice. >> We tried to. They They put the trash out for us. >> [laughter] >> But when I tell you the entire East parking lot was dumped with every bit of trash to really know what we are throwing out. His dedication um to again, not only Simsbury High School, but our greater community is significant. SO, CONGRATULATIONS. >> AND AS AS TARA ASKED BEFORE, WHO who's who's with you tonight? >> I brought my mom. >> [laughter] >> My mom and my dad back there. >> Great. Great.
013All right, THANK YOU. >> I'M CURIOUS, WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR? >> Um I'll be attending the University of Virginia studying English with a concentration literary prose and a minor in French. >> Beautiful. I'm impressed. I'm jealous. >> Yeah, that's a good one. >> I'm going to University of Washington to study physics and atmospheric science. >> Wow, congratulations. >> Congrats. >> No way. >> Wow, that's really that's really great. >> POOR MOM. >> [laughter] >> IT'S PROBABLY A GREAT PLACE FOR his interests. >> Do you want to get a picture with all the award winners? >> do that real quick? >> Sure. Of course. >> Put you through it a little bit here. >> That makes sense. >> Award winners need photos. >> I'm not sure if >> All right, so where we
014going? >> Right there. >> Perfect. >> We'll start with the high schoolers first and so the closest. Do you want to get in that shot with you? >> Happy to. >> You're good. >> Let's get this underway. Let's get the aesthetic going. Lovely. Oh, >> [laughter] >> good idea. I always get feedback from my daughter. So, like All the angles. Yeah, go ahead. Chest up, thank you. >> Just the face. >> Yeah, my [snorts] bad. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> That's two award winners in a row. >> I'm loving [laughter] >> You're timing. >> You can't please everybody. >> All right, CATHERINE KING. >> [laughter] >> AND MR. BAKER. >> All right. >> We've got the got the full work in. >> Excellent. >> Great. >> Lovely. >> Sorry, Karen. >> It's great. Congratulations,
015but that's wild. >> Fantastic. >> Cute as a little plumber running around with all the games. >> Thank you all for coming. So nice to see you all. >> And Maggie, you wanted to talk about student reps a little bit? >> I do. So, um I'm also very excited and I don't know whatever um new reps is not here yet, but um wanted to first of all say thank you to Eva and to Cedar for their role as Simsbury Board of Ed chair representatives from Simsbury High School. So, thank you for all that YOU HAVE DONE. AGAIN, MANAGING TWO VERY BUSY people managing so many things. Um so, we are very excited to welcome and um share with you our new representatives for next year. Um this year we had eight different individuals who came
016forward through our interview process was that it's just an incredible amount of students who were so thoroughly prepared, so excited for the role. Um so, we did uh come down to two final recipients and um Mr. Curtis and Mr. Tyndall and I were talking about a way that these other individuals would be able to get their voice um their ideas shared with the board. So, I'm excited to share with you that our two recipients who will be our Board of Ed reps will also be um joining six others as we're calling it the Board of Ed Advisory Committee, which will meet monthly uh with Mr. Curtis, myself, actually any other member of the board who wants to come to really learn about what's on their minds. What should we be sharing here? What should we
017be, you know, letting people know is coming up? Um so, really excited to bring all of them and each and every one of them was so excited and I think it brings a slice of life from Simsbury High School that's very different. Um so, we're already working on setting up those monthly meetings so that we can have them a part of really what we're giving to the representatives to be sharing here at Simsbury High School and maybe also gathering some feedback from them um on what they might be wanting to share back if there's questions or concerns that the board wanted to know more about. Um so, that's exciting for next year. But, tonight I would like to um honor and really welcome Yusra Ali. She will be our one of our Board of Ed
018reps. Um she's a member of our student council, our Trojan newspaper. Um she's co-founder of the math lab at the Simsbury Public Library. So, a volunteer role that really um you know, she showcases that ability to take what she's learned and give back. Um and it's at our public library, which I think is a really awesome aspect of the of the what she's set up. She's co-founder of that. She's also a member of the debate team. She's an AP scholar and she's an aspiring medical professional club member um and also part of our youth advisory board. So, I think she brings a lot of different angles and ideas and you know, one of the things that really stood out in her application was that she said, "I want to understand the effective change required far
019more than just bringing ideas forward as a representative. It requires collaboration and meaningful solutions. I want to focus on communicating student concerns in a way that is both constructive and actionable, while also helping students understand the reasoning behind board decisions." So, she really has a sense of understanding that, you know, changes maybe not always have what the student perspective understands, but there could be a way to think about it from the greater good. And the other individual I I had him printed because I knew he wasn't going to be here. So, this is Trevor. I'm sorry Yusra. I thought I thought she was able to come, but Trevor wasn't able to be here. So, I figured I'd introduce you to him. He's on the lacrosse field as we speak. Um but Trevor is a varsity
020hockey um athlete, a varsity lacrosse member, and he's also um a CIAC sportsmanship conference member. Um he volunteers at the Gifts of Love. He's on all academic teams, and I think he really brings a sense of uh maybe the athletic side of things at Simsbury High School as well as a really strong academic um and in you know, interest in many different things when it comes to his um academic levels. One of the things that made him stand out in his interview was um that he talked about AI. He really wants to bring that perspective of student voice from the around the topic of AI and is willing to you know, look into it and research and wants to know more about it, especially with the way it's going to be hitting not only here
021in high school, in college, and beyond. Um so, that was something that really stood out. But again, I can't say enough about the eight different students who came forward um and we're really thinking differently about how we want to use their voice and their interests and ideas moving forward. So, congratulations to both Yusra and to Trevor um as they will become our new student reps. >> I COULD JUST ECHO WHAT MAGGIE SAID. RIGHT, it was a classic good problem to have, right? We had eight phenomenal applicants. All super smart, all super friendly, all involved in 8,000 clubs, you know, who just a great great pool. Um and that's I'm really excited about the solution we came up with to try to involve all of them. With that said, they've got huge shoes to fill. Cedar,
022you and Ava have uh been clearly the best student representatives I have been in my tenure of over 10 years. We club we usually get the student reps who give the rep the the reports and then that's it, right? >> [snorts] >> You guys have just dove right in and and you're not afraid you've never been afraid of sharing your opinion on no matter the topic and that benefits all of us. So I greatly appreciate your time on the board as well as Ava. I'll repeat this next time when she's here as well. So thank YOU FOR EVERYTHING. WITH THAT BY NO MEANS DO YOU YOU DON'T HAVE TO STAY. >> [laughter] >> You guys can >> Have a wonderful night. Thank you everybody. >> Bye. See you later. Congratulations. Good to see you. >>
023See you. Good luck with the end of the year. >> Hold on tight, right? >> Yeah. >> Scott, thank you. >> That's exciting. >> Thank you. Have a wonderful night. >> [laughter] >> Feel like you're all alone. >> [laughter] >> All right. >> Uh with with that said, obviously we move Well, I should no more recognition train. Um any public audience? Okay, moving on. So committee reports, Cedar. >> All right. So uh obviously things are >> They're going to be good, Cedar, right? >> [laughter] >> So obviously things are gearing up for the end of the year right now. Uh we've got graduation coming up on the 18th. Uh we had Capstone Day last week uh which um according from what I saw going to the presentations um and from uh Ms. Seidel was great
024success. Um overwhelming positive feedback on all all uh around. Um We recently had uh the uh uh Make Us Count AAPI Heritage Month um assembly with best-selling author Celeste Ng who came and spoke. Um that was through the Asian American Studies um, class that Ms. Henry teaches at the high school. Um, additionally, uh, there are state tournaments um, are around just around the corner for all spring sports right now um, including the girls rugby team which will be participating in the state championship game uh, this coming Thursday. >> Ooh. Where is that? Do we know? >> I am not sure. >> it up. Thank you. >> But yeah, they won last year, I believe. >> Yeah, pretty cool. >> Pretty cool. Um, and then we also have senior prom obviously this coming Friday and then
025the senior award night next Tuesday. >> It's busy. >> It's a lot going on this season. >> Um, Cedar, can I ask you a question? What did you do your capstone on? >> Uh, my capstone, I I actually didn't present this past uh, week. I presented back in November. Um, Ms. Lam Q was one of my evaluators. I directed a one-act play. >> Oh, perfect. >> For uh, through the theater course. >> I think that was a good choice. >> Steve? >> Cool. >> Excellent. Josh? >> Look. >> Brent? >> No committee reports but um, junior prom was last week and I heard it was went off quite well. All the kids seemed to have a good time, I heard. >> Oh, it's new this year, right? Didn't they do it >> Yeah, they did
026it outside. >> They did it outside of the >> Yeah, I heard the venue was nice, so. >> [clears throat] >> Good job. Jim? >> All set. >> Jim? >> All set. >> Sue? >> Cedar covered all my >> [laughter] >> He's got it. >> Yeah, I think tonight >> Kim? >> Okay. Nothing for you? >> Nope, just thank everybody that supported the budget and uh, always an important milestone to get over every year, so. >> Absolutely. >> So, with that uh, the approval of the May 12th minutes. We'll get a motion >> Motion to approve the minutes. >> Second. >> Uh, all those I'm sorry, any discussion? Any uh, all in favor? >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Thank you. First select. >> Yeah. >> We have two items for your action tonight. One is
027uh, the notice uh, a notice of intent to retire. Betsy Zaccario is an incredible math teacher at Simsbury High School. She was an incredible math student at Simsbury High School years and years ago. And Betsy is not only the teacher of our most advanced course of BC calculus. Sometimes if you walk into that room like what's going on like the symbols you don't >> [laughter] >> like is this is this still math? Like but in addition to that she also teaches like our students co-teaches with special education some of our students who are several grade levels below where they need to be. So she's working with both extremes of kids incredibly effectively. Betsy has been um 31 years in the classroom the last I believe 25 of those at Simsbury High. Taught in Bolton for
028a little while and then came to back to home at Simsbury High. She is giving us the three-year notice. So fortunately we have Betsy through 2029 and the motion is there for your um action. >> Move that the Board of Board of Education accept the intent to retire Betsy Zaccario effective June 30th, 2029. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I I am in favor. >> Thank >> And we had a recent resignation of a middle school science teacher Susan Bohm. Susan's been with us just two years. She's actually a field scientist. This is the only person I ever interviewed the first interview she was on a submarine under the North Atlantic and by Zoom we interviewed her. and [clears throat] she's been great for 2 years. She's got some situations in
029her personal life that are weighing and not feeling like she can properly balance her teaching and what she needs to take care of. So she's going to take a step back, but she has resigned her position effective June 30th. >> Move that the Board of Education accept the resignation of Susan Bow effective [snorts] June 30th, 2020. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? >> I was there. >> I. >> Any opposed? Thank you. >> Uh question bar. >> Yep, still with me here. This is the [snorts] collective bargaining agreement that we've recently reached with the SFEP. That is the uh Simsbury Fedja Federation of Educational Personnel and best described as a combined union of our secretaries in the schools and our paraprofessionals. So two different types of employees, but they are in the same union. Um
030we uh met with the Board Personnel Committee to set goals for this negotiation negotiation in the early spring and then carried it out over four sessions um in March and April. So at the end of the day, we reached um agreement on a 3-year agreement of um and I'll just highlight from the uh exhibit what the main outcomes were. That in terms of wages, which is always the most important issue, we came right at where the state averages have been for non-certified groups um in this coming year, the general wage increase will be 2.95% and then in the out years of years two and three of the contract, it would be 3%. In terms of insurance, we these are out of all of our unions, these are our lowest wage employees, especially in the para
031side of things. So we left the current premium share where it is for this year at 18.5% but then it goes up half a percent in years two and three to 19 and 19 and a half percent. They also agreed as the teachers did to take on some prescription management that Cigna had recommended to us as a board and we pushed in these negotiations. That's item C on your exhibit with the Cigna 90 now and the Cigna clinical day supply program. Just some clarifications on some other insurance things, one of which our contracts were not specific about when you sign up for long-term disability or life insurance, extra life insurance, you have to do it within the first 30 days of employment. So it's an onboarding thing and our that's in the fine print of
032those policies but it wasn't in the contracts. So we wanted to make sure that that got framed. It's really no change but that you can't go do that 10 years into your employment. We had already increased dental benefits from 1500 to 2000 which is really where the marketplace is for annual maximums and that's just captured here. And under working conditions, the most important thing that I would highlight as you will remember from the teachers, there is [clears throat] leave provision um where the legislature in its wisdom had allowed people working in school systems to take sick leave on hourly increments. It doesn't really work for school systems to say, "Hey, I need a sub for an hour." Um we just can't manage that. So, as we did with the teachers, the the secretaries of Paris
033now will have [clears throat] to take either a half day or a full day increment if they're going to use sick time. And that was important from a managerial standpoint for us. Um a little bit of an increase in longevity and otherwise it was a very um good negotiation in terms of getting some things on the table that they wanted to talk about. Not necessarily that we reached final language on that, but raised some awareness. Sue partnered with me in reaching this negotiation and I certainly want to thank Mary Dwyer who is a paraprofessional who's the president of their their union to and five other members who participated from their union uh a good outcome. They ratified on May 15th. So, we actually finished this quite a few weeks ago. They they were not able
034to hold a ratification meeting for a few weeks. So, we couldn't put it on the last agenda, but they voted unanimously on May 15th to accept the deal. >> Thank you for that work. >> Very important group. >> Yep. Read the motion. >> Move that the Board of Education ratify the proposed changes in the collective bargaining agreement between Simsbury Board of Education and the Simsbury Federation of Educational Personnel for the period July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2029. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Thanks to all on that one. Acceptance of the anonymous gifts. >> Yes, there are two gifts for your consideration this evening. They are both to the robotics team. The first is an anonymous gift in the amount of $2,486 to be used for
035the project optimizing our pit. There is a motion there for your consideration. >> Move that proposed gift to the SHS robotics club at Simsbury High School from anonymous donor valued at $2,486 be approved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Thank you. >> Uh all those in favor? >> Aye. >> Any opposed? >> Great. >> The second gift is from the Hartford in the amount of $2,020. Funds were raised by the team and there was an April double matching month. So, the Hartford said, "Okay, multiply that by two, $2,020." So, there's a motion there for your consideration. The donation will be used for parts, materials, and travel. >> So, the students raised a thousand bucks and the Hartford matched them. >> Yes, they did. >> Very nice. >> Yes. >> Very nice. >> Wait, they matched
036them or they doubled? >> Yeah. >> They matched. >> Students raised a thousand and then they said we're going to give the gift 2020. >> So the the total is 3030. >> Yes. >> Moved that the proposed gift to the SHS Robotics Club at Simsbury High School from the heart for totaling $2020 be approved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Aye. >> Again, hats off to the Robotics Club for their work in this area. Just just to clarify, this goes to kind of Steve's question. We never saw the first a thousand because it's underneath the $1500. So that's why it may have been a little confusing. >> But I think it's really good for the students to be participating. >> Absolutely. >> And then it's really nice not just getting money,
037they're actually working towards the $2000. >> Yeah, absolutely. Great stuff. Great stuff. Uh unaffiliated salary, Justin. >> Okay, back to me. This one is also uh agreement with the um unaffiliated employees. This is about 40 to 45 employees who don't neatly fit into a category that is um a union. So it is um people like our um our technicians for computers. Most of the people who work up here at Central Office um uh like uh physical and occupational therapists don't fall into the teachers union. So it's a it's kind of a hodgepodge of people. Um as a result, they don't come to the negotiating table. We each spring sort of just year by year, unlike unlike the unions where you see typically three-year agreements, these are year over year um look at where we are,
038what what did other groups get for salary increases, where should we come in with unaffiliated. So the answer to that question, we met with the personnel committee 2 weeks ago. We said um we think a 3% raise for next year general wage increase for this group is appropriate. Again, they don't negotiate. So, um I informed them assuming a positive vote here, I inform them tomorrow morning of what action you took. Um they also will increase a little bit with their insurance premium by half a percent. We also would put in the same kind of prescription management that um the other groups with that bargained accepted. So, those are the three main tenets of what we did with the unaffiliated group. Um and I'm assuming the motion's in the folder. >> Mhm. >> Motion's in the
039folder. >> Move that the salary range for the unaffiliated Board of Education employees and salaries for the central office office administrators be increased by 3% for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. >> Second. [snorts] Any discussion? >> Can I ask a question? I'm assuming that this aligns with what we put in the budget. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Absolutely. >> Yep. >> Uh all those in favor? >> Aye. >> Any opposed? >> Great. >> Thank you. Textbooks. >> Yes, at our last board meeting I shared that there were three texts for your consideration. One was to be used in the writing center with our writing tutors, and the other two were presented earlier, well, they all were presented earlier in the year to curriculum council, but the two remaining texts were to be used for AP English
040language. So, they are certainly listed in the uh exhibit for this evening, and there's a motion there for your consideration. Move that the board approved the textbook adoption for the 2026-27 school year as submitted by the administration. All right. >> [laughter] [laughter] >> I got through it. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Great, thank you. Any discussion? >> No. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Great, thank you. >> Three books, yeah. >> Yeah. >> I'll see this. >> Okay, we've reached the end, hopefully, of what this very uh deliberate process is for the Board of Education where uh policies are reviewed by our policy committee first and then brought to the full board for first and second readings. That process has already happened, followed by a third meeting where
041we vote. So, with five policies came through this uh annual cycle. Um and we vote on each one of them separately, so get ready for your firsts and seconds here. Um uh family medical leave policy having to do more with Connecticut family leave for our non-certified employees. Second [snorts] policy is age of entering kindergarten, given that the legislation has changed the rules related to babies born in September, October, November, and December starting next year. Um [snorts] and about an every three-year process where we update our wellness policies through Miss Lomicky's committee. A challenging curriculum policy, which is not about challenging or opposing curriculum, but it's making sure that you offer rigorous and advanced curriculum. Um and we took care of that with a policy we always had, sort of changed the name. And then new
042policies that were required through legislation about things like library collections, library displays, and what people can do if they have any questions or objections to what's in the library. So, each of those has to take a formal motion and vote. And that they're all there on your exhibit. >> I'm going to ask the question that I'm sure is on everybody's mind. We can't We can't vote on them collectively. Do we have to vote individually? >> You could. In the past, there was a request to do it this way. >> Okay. Okay. Is there a feeling one way or another as to if we want them >> I'd vote to do them together. >> I don't mind reading them. >> [laughter] >> You get that second in there for me. >> No, I said I don't.
043And if we do them all together, I'll just read them either way. >> He's saying it doesn't matter if you read them individually. >> Oh, oh. >> I think we do them all together. That would be my recommendation. >> Is somebody >> Go for it, Josh. >> Can we Do we have time to motion to do them all together? >> I make a motion that we No? Okay, so then we don't. >> Yeah. >> Just do it. >> Yeah, Josh. >> Really just how long of a breath I take between them. >> Move to adopt the revised policy 4260.5 family medical leave effective May 26, 2026. Move to adopt the revised policy 5112.1 age of entering kindergarten effective May 26, 2026. Move to adopt the revised policy 6114.2 wellness effective May 26, 2026. Move to
044adopt the revised policy 6115.5 challenge of curriculum effective May 26, 2026. And move to adopt the new policy 6152 library policy effective May 26, 2026. >> Second. >> [laughter] >> Any Any discussion? >> I just have one question. You know, um the the challenging curriculum one, is that due to changes in legislation? >> Yeah, they they came up with um um Yeah, they it's a assurance that's that you when kids are entering high schools that you are making sure that families are aware of advanced coursework that will be available. >> Which we do. >> I would say that was the >> Oh, just >> That was the general push for the legislature. >> Yeah. >> Obviously, we've been doing that for years and years and years and years. For For us For us, we took
045a policy that was called >> Advanced coursework and now we call it challenging curriculum. >> And it had very little strikethroughs in it, right? >> Yeah, very few. >> It's just renaming it. >> Yeah. >> It's on the books. Thank you. >> Good. That's Anybody else? All those in favor? >> Aye. >> Any opposed? >> How does it look for next year? Were there a lot of changes in curriculum and policy? >> I I will tell you not a lot of policy changes based on what came through the legislature. Um there are going to be some interesting things to um talk about. A lot of it was the the financial side of things. Um they are uh there was a little push of some money that we're going to receive. The town is going to
046receive um that is meant for so that came post budget. Um >> Yeah. >> uh sort of a nice-to-have. There was a big push around There had been previous bills around timelines for electric school buses that were starting to become pretty unrealistic given where the infrastructure for such a thing is. Um So, uh we contend it'll There are deadlines for getting away from diesel buses. We right now are in a process where probably 75% of our buses are propane buses now. So, that will continue to be the push for us that we're going to we're going to make our fleet entirely propane. Um and then [clears throat] we'll see where it goes on the electric school buses in the future. But, I think the legislature spent some time There were deadlines for like 2035 to
047make school districts have like electric buses and there was no way across the state of Connecticut that you could have done that for 160. So, they backed off some of that. Um But, I have a 35-page packet if anyone would like >> [laughter] >> to read it. >> So, that's always part of what we summarize and then come back and hit highlights. >> Yeah, we usually we usually give you figure it out over the summer and then in the fall give you highlights of five or six things the board should be aware of. >> Great. Any other questions for Neil? >> No, I would just say initially for this meeting we had planned on Tecton. He had a unanticipated schedule kind of shake-up. So, Tecton will be coming back to the board to discuss um
048kind of that second level of of detail on a potential Squadron Line project. So, I am going to Did we send out We did not send out to the new board members Neil's >> No, we're not. >> Yeah, perfect. So, we're going to be sending the new board members some information that was initially presented uh by Tecton earlier in the year just so you're up to speed on where the conversation was. All right? >> With [snorts] that we come to our second public audience. >> Um So, now we're going to adjourn recess >> uh into >> go into Thank you. Go into uh executive session to discuss the evaluation of the superintendent. Yes. >> Do we need a to We need a so we need to make a >> I make a motion to go
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