001e e e okay it is uh March 13th at 6:32 p.m. and I would like to call the Stonington Board of Education regular meeting to order and I'll ask she'll lead us in the pledge of Le thank you um next item on our agenda is communication recognition turn it over to the superintendent thank you um I first want to recognize the High School drama club by directed by Aaron Stanley for the susal the musical that was a wonderful performance that I got to enjoy um little few weekends ago I can't keep track of time so I can't swear to what day it was but I also would like to uh thank the parents faculty staff and board members uh especially Farooq who sat alongside of us at the coffee panel with cabinet members to discuss
002the short and long-term plans for Stonington Middle School um we had an a tremendous turnout on February 26 um and really it was a I think an education for some of the pr parents on what the process is for making some of these changes and um and working with us as we navigate through the bud budget season um and I want to also related to that coffee give a shout out to the parents who have been in constant communication about what they can do to support our our budget as we move forward the next few weeks uh and a special thanks to FR Katie Sarah and Chris for attending the uh action-packed Board of Finance meeting last evening it's always a pleasure I know to share that with you that's okay you have um I
003don't have anything specific I just want to give a shout out to like the sports teams in general I mean girls made it to the semis and they played Windom for the fourth or fifth time and we lost in overtime and it was a bummer but it was in New London so it was close so we all got to go and watch and then Cooper light who's also on student gov won class s state championships for wrestling and he did that back to back years so awes cool thank you thank you by uh I wanted to thank uh faith and Jackie at westvine middle uh westvine middle school did you know that that's where the middle school is going just kidding just kidding um at West Vine for reading day which was Tuesday y'all was
004that what happened on Tuesday that was an amazing day it's it's always a highlight um and a special shout out to Mrs Ross's third grade class they were an absolute Delight um and I'm really looking forward to going to Dean's Mill next week to join uh Mrs bast's second grade class and I'm glad I have leftover books that I can take for for next week but I just I really appreciate that the board is included in those kinds of events it just it it really means a lot it's one of the highlights of my year um and I wanted to give a shout out to the voice program Katie and I were able to attend uh a women and Leadership panel in February thank you I won't forget that day like ever it was just
005very special to be a part of the panel uh the conversation and again just any opportunity to be in school uh with y'all is is a highlight of my day my week my month my year so thank you for that kitty Sarah took all my comments uh but but um I actually get to go read at West fine tomorrow because I'm scheduling but we're going to make it work andan next week but the voice program for the women's leadership event at storington high school I commented as we started that you know we were there to kind of support the high schoolers but in the moment it kind of felt like support for you know I was getting just as much out of it as I hope the high schoolers were so it was a great
006program Lindsay good job mcing so that's it um it was yesterday Wednesday it was it's just hard to keep track and then I couldn't make Deans because I thought it was just that one day maybe I should put in a special request like Katie to read different day I know but like I'm jealous that you get special um so I just want to also uh recognize the administration team that been working very hard diligently and and meeting uh with the board of Finance on regular basis and I'm sorry I wasn't here too ago but I appreciate your you know you're you're showing up in representing on behalf of our um children and uh staff members so that's mine and um next item on our agenda is board presentation turn it over to Maria so I
007think it's fitting in the month of March seeing how you're knee deep in the budget season and read Across America and a million other things that we take a moment to say thank you for volunteering I think um people don't really realize the commitment that you make not only when they see you on TV but the meetings and the long hours we've had an unusual year of long long negotiations five different contracts um on top of uh the normal the quote unquote normal things that we do so we we really appreciate that in your bags you're going to find a new it just arrived today a personalized um item for you that were was made by Mrs laris's uh stem class so you're going to notice your name um I think they made their 3D
008printer that that you used I think it's in the smaller bag um isn't that pretty cool I know see everybody wants one I maybe maybe we can just use those in front yeah yes isn't that great how about that I'm yes no I'm keeping it for the you also have you also have some homemade napkins and some homemade goodies from um Mrs Lance's uh life skills trans transition kiddos and then some uh cards and other uh goodies from the kiddos from the different elementary schools um and then also you have your latest chachki uh swag from Stonington Public Schools you have matching kind of rain coats if you want to take those out and take a look let us know if the size those are in your striped bags if we didn't guess right let
009us know we will um happily make uh a right fit for you you know it's like Christmas and Santa's not here just for this just means you have to come back you're very welcome and thank you Anna for putting all the packages together thank you Anna great thank you so much what do you want more money in the budget is that what I all right anything else no excellent next item on our agenda is comments from citizens regarding item on the agenda you're welcome to come up to the podium please state your name and your address my name address your name and your address Mary Lord 38 rally Drive um we were just going to talk about the SAT day on yesterday because we thought it was like kind of not great for like the
010seniors to have to go in after cuz we were supposed to go in from 7:30 to 11:00 and there were no plans for the day and we just had to sit in the Commons and do nothing and then the Juniors took the SAT and then they had to stay the rest of the day and take classes when all of them were like definitely burnt out cuz it was the same with us last year and like I remember years ago we got to go home after that after the PSAT and I just felt like that was a lot more beneficial to the students and I also like from like the past few years of like me taking sat like I remember like even last year after rsat when the rules changed we went home out we
011went home after the SAT and I just I kind of felt like same thing that Mary said like the school didn't really have anything set up for us to do like I know I think I know maybe three seniors that went in like all of us stayed home and just took the morning off like if the school had May set more things for us to do that revolving around our senior project or just like getting ready for graduation that could have been one thing but everyone just sat in the Comins for five hours and there was nothing really for anyone to do it was just sit here and almost it felt a little pointless and then also I know a lot of the other schools around here like I know e slime and like a
012bunch of other schools they all get that day off where all all the seniors like when the kids take the SAT or PSAT like they all get that day off and I think we're the only school arounder that has to come in so thank you for your comments Miss vender Street and uh we'll make sure that it's uh Miss buler took your comments and she will uh review them and give back to you thank you any other comments not tonight we're good up to you Ashley to 113 thought we were gonna print this on here yeah happy birthday thank you delated um so I just wanted to just thinkk um I've had some board members and the administration kind of like reach out through this whole budgeting process I think the workshop that we did
013here or the coffee chat whatever it was I think parents like really appreciated just kind of like the open communication and there's just been so many questions going around um so I think doing stuff like that especially when we have these big questionable items although there's not all the information that we're still waiting for the end of the year but I think it's gotten parents really engaged in the process which is what I have continuously wanted um and I think that especially with the budget process um so just want to say thank you for that I think the parents are really engaged right now and I hope that stays strong um we'll see you know what happens over the next couple of weeks um but I've been asked a lot there's a way and I
014don't know if this is something we could do districtwide instead of like just independently with the schools but a way to communicate out to parents a little bit more like a concise like this is happening these are the meeting dates like you know and I know they can all go online and like look at it but like maybe in like the newsletters we start including like Board of Finance meetings too especially around budget season just because we look at we look at like the newsletters that go out we kind of say okay we plug this stuff into our calendar and the extra step of going and remembering to look at the board of finances calendar putting that stuff in too um so I'm just wonder maybe there's a way because we're talking of ways to
015do it like independently at like the schools we're in like oh we can use this program we have at this school to do it but you know does that solve the issue at the high school no does that solve the issue at West bu no you know it's we're kind of peac mealing here as parents and I just don't know if there's maybe a better way to do it without like overloading because we get so many messages but maybe make it part of something else um so that we could kind of include that I think that would be really helpful going forward now that people are engaged and they're kind of looking for that information say we give it to them um but that was all me I just got a lot of checking items
016today so um but I just want to say it's been it's been good and I would like to kind of grow off of this and continue to provide parents with more information so they continue to attend when they can and maybe someday we'll get the funds to make Board of Finance uh on Zoom as well because or YouTube I think that would be really helpful thank you we're happy to broadcast them if they agree thank you Ashley okay next item on our agenda is report from the superintendent schools thank you um I just wanted to give a quick update on where we are with the the Middle School um educational specification committee we are booked uh Katie is going to be the board representative and a parent representative along with Ashley on Monday um we're
017going to visit gron Middle School uh it's the first of hopefully three tours and I'm going to pick on all the parents on the board to take a turn coming out to different sites um we want to we will have a Google form for you to fill out you can use it paper or you can use electronic form to kind of give feedback on what you see about the different aspects of the room of the rooms in schools and the facilities everything from you know traffic flow to cafeterias to Media centers and things like that uh and I think that will be really valuable and we have a cast of thousands joining you on on Monday so it'll be fun it'll be fun for us as former Gren people to go back and see what
018that's about so I want to give a shout out to Peter bass for putting up with us uh I do have a call with the superintendent in Middletown um Bean Middle School was uh renovated not too long ago and it's supposed to have a pretty unique design and I also have a I was talking with Captain Schneider and asking him if from the safety lens does he have any ideas about schools that might be worthwhile to to look at and he referred me to Mike kaplet who's heavily involved with the Southeastern um Port par of the state he said that he does have some schools he would recommend that um not only from a safety standpoint but also from an Aesthetics and future Focus standpoint that he might point us in the direction of so
019that's going to be really fun uh to to take a look at that um we also I think based on the conversations the other night with the board of finance that were um surrounding uh the Portables the possible uh input of Portables at the middle school on Field Street and the timeline that they're projecting that it will take to do anything for a long-term solution I'm going to includ include district office educational spec specifications along with high school because if they it's going to take this long that the folks who are going to be on that building committee hopefully will be seated by September and they need to look at the whole the whole plan not just one one solution if it's going to take this long so that's where we are um my most
020exciting and you guys gave me a G great segue if you want to see something very fabulous I want you to write this date Down May 23rd is senior presentation day at the high school we have an especially exciting senior presentation this year and I want to give a shout out to Alicia strippling and Stephanie Dies who have been working with five of our seniors and they've been working for about a year now um looking at the possibility of a food truck that has been ordered and it will be here for graduation but on May 23rd that team will be defending their senior project the research they've done about that everything from the responsibility it will be in a shark tank format uh we will work on the music and the props and everything else
021but um it would be great for you to be there I don't know if the truck will be there yet but we'll have another ribbon cutting or something I'm sure the kids are so excited um I don't know if you want to just say something Alicia about the bid specs today that or the the bid process that they went through today so the the bids were just due at 11 o'cl this morning and so um Captain schider was nice enough to get us the community room so the kids could walk across the the street and come and do the opening with us um the lead time was 16 to 20 weeks which obviously 16 weeks we counted July 4th um but we called the it wasn't actually the low bid but they deliver and the
022other one that was 10,000 cheaper is in Florida and we would have to do a road trip and go get the said truck and drive it back yeah I don't know if it I don't know if it would be as fun family engagement family engagement yeah um so we called and they happened to have another with another project and so they're able to get us in and he's he's confident that he can commit to um drop dead date of um June 13th so super excited the kids are really excited and um Stephanie and I will go over and they'll do like a rehearsal on us beforehand and I'll fire some shark like questions at them to to get them ready for you so and I want you to know you know you folks asked about
023future focused F you know focus on future focused things and this came out of crazy conversations that started about a year a little over a year ago about wouldn't that be great if we could do this and then through Alicia and Stephanie in conversation Stephanie's like I think I can I think I can make that happen with some of the funding that I have through uh covid funds and uh what an authentic opportunity for our students to put it all together and then have something that they leave behind that will be a benef a benefit not only to our food service program what could be used as a a supplemental station but also through other programs with our culinary students our um our entrepreneur students and our transition students who have been practicing their cooking
024skills for quite some time so stay tuned we're pretty excited designed the the logo and the name of it so they'll they've done all of it and so be so if any restaurant tiers are lisening we will be taking applications for partners um should they want to work with us and just to be clear this was not taxpayer funds this is um some leftover covid money that the state is really hounding Stephanie to spend we can't we're not supposed to have more than 3 months operating in the bank um and so this is something that could generate Revenue in the future uh when we don't have that type of funding so that's it thank you so much um next item on our agenda is consent agenda and I'd like to ask for a motion to
025approve consent agenda is item a through C so moved is there a second any discussion on the motion or the items hearing none all those in favor please indicate by saying I I I that was unanimous for the record item number eight on our agenda I'll turn it over to Kevin uh yes we'll entertain a motion to ratify uh the par educator collective bargaining agreement for the years of 2024 through 2027 motion there a second second all in favor please indicate by saying I I I any Nays and abstentions good yeah thank you thank you item number nine on our agenda is subc commmittee um reports and we'll start with teaching and learning with Kevin uh yes couple excuse me couple items on the agenda uh for first read so there's no vote required tonight
026um available on your agenda are three curricula it's Ela um for kindergarten first grade and second grade um for next month there will be uh the math um for kindergarten first second grade as well as geometry um for first grade next month um no vote required tonight great thank you um next item on our agenda is finance and facility subcommittee report there was uh no meeting this evening and uh so there was no report to share next item on our agenda is policy subcommittee and I'd like to share with you that policies listed in item number one under c um there's no vote required please review those policies for next month vote as well as number item number two which is uh policy for first seed as well and number three item is uh policies
027that were listed on our last month and it's under item uh C well it's uh wait it's n c subcategory 3 and items a through e and i' like to entertain a motion to app approve those policies so moved is there a second second any discussion hearing none all those in favor please indicate by saying I I I also under item nine subcategory c subcategory 4 these are policies for repeal on a second read I'd like to entertain a motion to repeal those policies listed there so moved is there a second all those in favor of any discussion all those in favor uh of repealing those policies please indicate by saying I I I that was unanimous for the record thank you um next item on our agenda um our monthly reports are there any
028questions or comments on the monthly reports hearing none we'll go to next item on our agenda which is board comments and items for future agendas uh yeah I just like to say thank you to the administration for our uh board appreciation gifts um and thank you to all of the students who played a part um in our board appreciation gifts as well um I always like seeing the cards and the artwork as part of it um my kids get a kick out of it as well I think last year's card was awkwardly taped to our dining room wall for about 8 weeks um so it's very much appreciated we read every word a million times um so thank you to the administration to all the kids thank you any other board comments I just wanted
029to second that I have a little heart on here that says Dear Mommy thank you for everything you do and only because I don't cry in public has it not happened but this was just all very very sweet and to Sarah's Point earlier that when we get to be in the schools when we get to be around the kids when we get to be doing concrete stuff that shows the value to the children to the ad ation to the staff that's the best part of being on this board so thank you all I just wanted to thank all the families who have been showing up to meetings that start at 700 p.m. at night and go to 1100 p.m. at night and happen night after night and week after week it's a lot after a
030long day of work and taking care of your families and then coming to to these meetings um but sitting in an audience and bearing w winess to this these discussions it it matters it makes an impact it it really does make a difference um but I want to recognize that it's a really heavy lift to just to to do the work so I'm really appreciative every time in the last couple weeks where I've come in this room and I can't really find a seat unless it's like getting in front of everybody and like in the way to find a seat because the you know the seats are filled people are there people are staying and and not not leaving until the end and that's very inspiring and empowering and I just I I I really
031think the parents and the families because y'all they're y'all are putting in the work and we really appreciate that well it's Bo appreciation month and uh I wouldn't let it go unnoticed that that woman right there Anna is the person who keeps see a check at all times and is very persuasive detailed and committed and I just want to say thank you and I appreciate you and we appreciate you as a board because we recognize that all this hard work doesn't just happen it happens because you you make it happen so thank you Anor and I also want to um recognize and appreciate all our par Educators who worked very hard to uh get us to a Finish Line along and they were committed in showing up to every board meeting and uh spoke passionately
032about um their agreement and their commitment to the children to the school and to the board of six who kept meeting and talking and meeting and talking and uh to the administration that got us uh to get a vote tonight so thank you all and I just wanted to say I I miss them they're not here tonight but uh and uh just uh we appreciate you and we thank you for everything you do all right next item on our agenda is Sarah I would love to make a motion to adjourn this March meeting meeting is there a second to that motion all those in favor please indicate by saying I I that was unanimous for the record