001Let the roll call show that all the federation commission members are here and looking for a motion to approve the agenda. Second question, we have our agenda. public participation. Is anyone from the public here to speak? Okay. Please introduce yourselves. after we display and so on. For participation, members of public and staff may bring to the committee subtension, information, ideas or matters of concern related to all the duties and responsibilities of this committee. This committee will not allow comments regarding specific staff members or personal or grievances. The time for individual remarks will be a portioned according to the number of speakers. I will be limited to five minutes per speaker also chair. >> Sure. My name is Agata and three different schools, high school, middle school and intermediate. Um, anything else? I teach Pilates, so
002um, my child stands. You can stand up. >> My name is Kale Blakesley. I am a mom to a kindergartener here at Southwest School and a fourth grader who formerly attended to court. So, first I would like to say that I have nothing but absolutely wonderful things to say about our experience at Touring Ford in Southwest. Um, [clears throat] beautiful um the women who run the team who run so helped my child so much. Um, we suffer with anxiety. We were school avoidant. I thought I would lose my mind and I would have have to quit my job. And they said, "Well, we'll help you. We'll get we'll get Clark to law school." And they did. And so he was so excited to go to TIS. Now, Anna was really nervous to go to Southwest
003because for 4 years we were part of the uh touring for a tiger family, but she is now really loves Southwest and Peter is amazing and he's an excellent administrator. The teaching staff here is phenomenal. The It's a beautiful facility. We are so happy here. But what I would like to address here, >> sorry, great PTO, too. Oh, yeah. I I am the on the PTO. So, um but I'm not here in that capacity. Um I'm here in the capacity as a mom and I just am here to address the Torington Intermediate School um playground slash lack thereof situation. And I understand that um I don't see principal or superintendent Wilson, but uh I understand that the plan was never to have a playground available this year. However, where is the playground going to go?
004What's the plan? Because there's three daughter kits that have been purchased and they've been at the school for at least 5 weeks and they're not they're not out yet. So for 938 kids, there's four basketball hoops which are on loan from PAL. There's maybe two soccer balls. Um there's a fitness trail that the kids can't reach. Um my son does not have recess until 2:15 in the afternoon. Um he's expected to sit in school all day um from 8:00 a.m. till 2:15. He is not with anybody he knows from touring for um I know it's a transition year. However, this has been in the works for 3 or 4 years and I'm just wondering I know there was a grant that we did not get. So when you write a grant, you have to be
005very specific, right? what what was intended to be purchased with the money and where was the playground going to go because it's my understanding that it can't go on the soccer fields and I don't know about the baseball area so it's hard not to feel like we were sold something that doesn't exist. Um, so extremely happy with Torington Elementary Schools and I will tell you that I'm a high school teacher in the neighboring district who receives many students from Torington who have very negative things to say and I have always supported Torington. My husband is from here and went here. That's why we I chose to live here for the last 25 years. That's why I chose not to move to Lfield where I'm from and where I was educated. I believe that my husband's
006generation received a better education than I did in Torington versus Lfield. Um, my niece and nephew graduated from Torington public schools, their 28th and 24th. They received a phenomenal education. Um, I I've never had a bad word to say about the education and the teachers here and the students who come to me. I say it's like a pair of shoes that just wasn't the right fit. And sometimes I go back to Torington cuz we need choice. But um I'm very worried about Torington Intermediate School. It's um my son went so excited. They have the fourth graders on in the eighth grade wing. There's nothing visible different from it being eighth grade. Um, it feels really developmentally inappropriate to me. So, I hope this doesn't count as a personal grievance. I'm here to offer help and
007support. I I will have an army of moms to help with whatever you need. And anyone who knows me over the last um four years [snorts] knows that I will do anything to support the schools. I'm not asking you to do anything. I will do it. I just I would like to know what the plan is and how I can help. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Anyone else from the public? >> There's someone from the public. >> Nice. >> Yes, you can. Please come up here. Speak loudly because I have old ears. >> I'm Laura Kovox. I've written an essay for the board of education about elementary school history and I'm going to read it. Dear Board of Education, I feel like students should have a history lesson as a part of
008their school day. Let me explain why students should be having a history lesson as a part of their day because it is important to share history to make sure it is not forgotten. As one of my family members says, we must share history so it doesn't repeat itself. In fifth fifth grade, students are learning about the bill of rights which is history and is very important to learn about but there's so much more to be learned for for instance the world wars, 9/11, the moon landing etc. We should be having the lesson during students ELA or science time because it is the time where we usually do reading and writing. Both grades should be learning about history. Maybe fourth grade a little calmer. Fifth grade a little more serious and younger grades more learning about
009other topics. I know many kids who would be very interested in learning about history because they have heard stories from a family member, a book or a friend story about history. Another reason is because we need to learn how we got where we are and why we live the way we do. Please put this into consideration so history won't be forgotten. Students may also want to have a history lesson to show their classmates their family history or diversity because I know many students who like sharing their culture with friends talking about their family history. History teaches about perspectives as well which can help students understand the reaction of how these people or things would react during something serious. History also teaches students the reality of lives such as racism that people still face today and
010what you fight for can matter more than you think. It also teaches students how to survive during a serious situation. Through history, students can learn about how almost anything was invented. They could learn about how M&M's were invented or how she was invented. They could also learn about their school's history or their town's history. Teachers might not know how to teach history to keep students entertained, but there are plenty of ideas. Teachers could have students read about historical events or a person and act out the scene that they write about to the class as a visual vis visual representation. Also, if teachers get tired of teaching, they could also set up a place for their students such as Cahoot, which many teachers do, and other subjects in elementary school. Teachers could also have a show
011and tell one day where students could bring an item from their ancestors or just a historical relic they have in their household and give it to history or show what it does to the class. With my history being in elementary school, I noticed that during kindergarten through third grade, we never learn about basic historical events, only social studies that happened around once a week. Most children's brains will also improve to connect with others because with history comes geography. So students who are real with me that they can teleport places on a map to help other kids with their struggles. I've also noticed in elementary school social studies is part of a child's school day, but they most likely only do it once a week. It mostly teaches kids about how things were made for instance
012chocolate or paper and never talks about past like Athens or ancient Rome. In conclusion, I call on you to add 30 minute lesson two on history in an elementary students day to boost their information about the past. [applause] My sister superintendent is here and and has heard everything. >> Yes, [clears throat] >> thank you. You can't stand but you don't have to leave a comment >> and through the agenda uh early elementary school report today we're doing the prek through three schools and uh before next tour go through uh first would you please on your visit to >> Sure. Um I went to Twin Fort on um Halloween. Um the kids were all dressed up in their character um outfits, which was awesome to see. Um but I couple things I did learn is um
013Detroit. Well, now that it's a K3 school, it has 460 students, which is down about 200 uh from previous years uh when it was a K5 school. Um, also, um, there's 120 staff. Um, used to be 100, so the staff to student ratio is a little better. Um, they do house, uh, two life skills and three races classes, as well as a full day prek. Um, as well as 22% um, special ed all at um, the full [clears throat] day prek, I'm sorry, the full day kindergarten uh, is a full experience for these students. um busing, lunch, recess, specials, the whole the whole thing. Um one thing I did learn is that busing is still delayed. Um they have a start time of 8:45 and last buses are arriving at 9:10. Um that is not
014good. Our students are missing out on 25 minutes of education. Um and they do have buses coming as late as 4:12. Um so they are it has improved but not great and we are paying uh overtime for those uh staff to stay late. Um the uh math program is going very well I'm told. I got to see some of the vertical grades uh in action. They're in every classroom now. Um focuses on student centered uh instructions. Um let's see. Um attendance is improving drastically due to the efforts of um Mrs. Glo and Mrs. Austin. Um they do have um a program where some of their families can sign up for a food bag on Fridays. Um some families who um need some assistance throughout the weekend, which was nice. I actually got to see that.
015Uh one of our board members actually dropped off the food as I was leaving, so that was nice. And there was three families that were going to sign up but hadn't signed up in time. So she provided extra food for them which was awesome. Um let's see. Uh the age change for kindergarten has shown um that they are better prepared for kindergarten. Um the student service supervisor is covering all three schools um and prek. So, it's a little uh she's a little stretched. Um let's see. Um I got to see some classrooms. Um like I said, the vertical boards, the flexible seating, um different ways to solve math. I got to see some double facts. Um yeah, it was a really nice visit. Um, thank you to Kelly and Georgia for your hospitality and spending
016an hour and a half of your time with me. It was great and uh I really appreciate it and beautiful school teachers and infant spirits staff loved it. Thank you and I went to the web and southwest report there who seems to be in her role. Uh we we toured some of the some of the classrooms um um looking looking at at the at the different uh subjects that they were learning. One of the things that I thought was really interesting was a um out of out of out of the box um teaching for English um English um he had us with the English language um um drawing pictures with the words and and uh yesterday um he um strategies like that to to to and to be able to um to um we also
017um class some of the students who were um just Okay. And we went to Southwest School here on Halloween. We saw a building filled with people who believed just as the characters from their favorite books. That was a real real treat to go through a elementary school on Halloween. I thought, you know, this is Halloween, so who knows what's going on. But, you know, it was all business and everyone's having a good time at it. But it was it was business. We saw math. We saw some some language arts program going on and and a really and I'm sure Bill and Christ could have included this in in their reports. really healthy atmosphere in the in the school. Just a healthy classroom atmosphere and relationship among the students and teachers and and the principal as
018we as we went around. So, uh just a really positive experience uh all the way around. And now I will turn it over to [cough] >> Please stay here. speak loud. >> So this is the new configuration of the prek to third grade and the administration for all three schools. It does feel different to be in three schools versus two schools. We did take on the preschool that used to live at Forbes. So that is living between the little wetmore and 44. So I mean it's definitely not 610 students anymore which feels a lot different um and in a nice way. I know you guys could say the same. Um the district mission and vision kind of guides our school improvement plan and what we're doing as far as being aligned to what office of
019teaching and learning and central offices plan for us. All the goals that you'll see coming up are in line with these graduate which you're all familiar with. Um but we are now at the point where really we have three different schools than we did last year in a whole lot of ways. Um you know here we're made up of kids that came from both of the other two schools and um I think I don't even know anybody that works there anymore. Um, so [clears throat] we go backwards a little bit with our portrait of graduation and really work with our reaff students to make sure that we're preparing them um to graduate with all of the skills that that they need in the portion of the graduation. [music] So, um these are pushing back into
020some of the skills that we look for. Um starting in preschool with a lot of these skills, of course, very age appropriate level of where we want them to be. um a lot of work on things like collaboration um with a math program that's really really giving us a lot of amazing opportunities um to have kids working together um in order to learn. Um so we're really thinking at very early ages about all of these um skills. Um yesterday during our professional development um that we had at the the new campus um we talked about a lot of these things and not not directly talking about it but there were so many connections from um the amazing amazing that we got yesterday was one of the best we've had in a long time at the
021prek3 level. We've been very excited because the Office of Teaching and Learning has really welcomed us and received our input and feedback onto their high quality instruction. You know, you might think, how could that pertain to the CA preK3 level? They came to all three schools and did a faculty meeting where they gave us the opportunity to have prek3 including our nonverbal and our programs to have input into what highquality instruction looks like, what it feels like, what it sounds like in all of the prek uh three classrooms. What's exciting is our teachers were really engaged in that practice and the office of teaching and learning came back to us with a revised outlook output of what highquality instruction [cough] is which was inclusive of prek to3. So the one vision, one team, every student
022lives at Torington public schools. This slide really just covers our new demographics based on the reconfiguration. So our total enrollment, um the different race breakdown. At the bottom, you'll see the percentage of EL students and students with disabilities. I did put an asterisk on mine because I do have six self-contained programs living at Toringford School that are district-wide programs. So, it does say 22% but there's almost 60 students in our self-contained program at Toring. >> Yeah. And similarly at Global um we have one self-contained program and then um the two full day prek and three halfday programs which are integrated classrooms. So, there's a high percentage within those rooms of special education students. So, not in any way to say that's a bad thing, but there is a little bit of a discrepancy there. And
023that's why >> and we don't have any programs in this building. We don't have anywhere to put them. Um, but that would explain why our percentage isn't here. >> So, on to the data. It's unfortunate that we are always first because we you get our baseline data and you don't get to see the amazing growth that we make. But I think um Michael Wilson shared some of the amazing growth that we made and Toringford was identified as a school of distinction based on our growth from last year. So this what you're looking at now is our fall baseline data. They just came off of 10 weeks of summer and they're given our district assessments in September. And this is where we came out as far as reading um and star mass and dibbles. These are
024typical. I know you see, oh my gosh, there's that big red line. That's kindergart. It's very typical in kindergarten to have them come in and not master that that initial dibble screening assessment. And we typically see that almost completely flip over by the end of the year. In the spring, I always share the spring results so they get to see the growth. Yeah. >> So, I'm not scared or worried about this. I miss my points. It's actually exciting. >> Yeah. >> So, here's Vogetmore star math data. Um, we This is where we are. This is our baseline. We know we have a lot of work to do. We're rolling up our sleeves. Um, the coaches are doing coaching cycles in math with all of the teachers. Our grade level meetings are really focusing on analyzing
025our um checkpoints and our assessment datas to inform our next steps with instruction. Um and we're really um looking at previewing the next units and seeing you know unpacking those standards and seeing how how that all fits together. So, um, also to note at Bogle Wetmore that 56% of our staff and our students are new to our building this year. So, over half of our building with staff and students are new folks. >> Um, so here at Southwest, um, you can get >> Well, this is Yeah, this is the Sorry. No, I just I just will add that it's [clears throat] a rebuilding year for us for all those reasons. There's a lot that we're trying to reestablish. You know, saying new new schools, we really feel that way. Um, and that's been a big
026focus for us. I'm glad that you guys felt you had a good experience when you came to Boke. We've been working really hard to create that atmosphere for our students and our families and our and our staff. So, we're excited, but we're feels like we're at the beginning. So here at Southwest our um numbers of new teachers are small but our number of new teachers to the building are are very large. Um almost all of the teachers were either at Tory Ford or Volo Wetmore last year. Um so it's really building a new school and new community and 100% of our students are new to Southwest this year. Had never never been students here. So this is truly our beginning data. um that doesn't look too bad for the beginning of the year. We're happy
027with where it is and um optimistic about where we're going to go. So, we want those green lines to be a little bit taller. Um and we we know we'll get there. And um reading data as well or star reading a little taller in those green lines in reading. Um, the other thing this year, just clicking back to math real quick, is we do have a brand new math program. And typically what happens when you uh get a brand new program in any subject is your your numbers will dip a little bit. I don't feel like that's going to happen with IM. Um, it's really really a great program and we're working hard to implement it well. Um, so I'm I'm hopeful that we're still going to see a lot of great growth because I
028see a lot of kids really talking more deeply about mathematics than than I've seen before in 2010. So I have I have hope and the teachers are sure working hard too. And these are our double scores. And again, kindergarten, um, you know, we don't have a a whole lot of, uh, control about what the numbers look like at the beginning of kindergarten. Um, cuz the the kids come to us and some are coming from our preschools, some are coming from private preschools, some did not go to preschool at all. Um, so you just get a huge mix. Um and you know like the other principles were saying ensue we by the end of the the year um the change that we see in kindergarten tends to be just incredibly impressive and we're already seeing that
029start. >> So we have two focus areas right now across all three schools as far as our improvement goals go. Um and I'll talk about the first one. High quality instruction being a district goal is also built into our school improvement goals across all three schools. Um, like Georgia mentioned at the very beginning of the year, the Office of Teaching and Learning came around to each of our schools to give us the run rundown of what happened over the summer, what went into that high quality instruction definition, get some feedback, really refine it to meet the needs of the prek to three level students. Um, and we build this into everything that we're doing. Mary talked about grade level meetings, coaching cycles. It all goes back to this vision of high quality instruction. The goals
030that teachers are making and our T valet are all aligned back to this vision for high quality instruction. So, we're really finally seeing a through line between what the district mission, vision, and ideas for high quality instruction are all the way down to our preschool. And one just if if I could add the the HQI is what we're referring to on the high quality instruction, but it aligns really really well with what we've already been doing. So um building thinking classrooms or books. Is that what we talk about next? We're going to talk about that next. >> But yeah, but it's just it's really exciting to watch the teachers happy to be doing this work because they can see the connections. Um, and it was like you could feel the excitement when that feedback came
031back from our um, our office of teaching and learning that really was clear that they had listened to what they said and it was really exciting to see how exciting everybody was. Excited. >> Sorry. Go ahead. I was going to say important too because while we're very excited about the program and I think we all see the potential, it's a very new model for how to teach math from the previous program that we had and it does require a big shift in terms of how teachers are teaching and that's where I think our coaches have been so critical because they're really helping to support the teachers to make that leap because you have to make a leap. You got to do something different than what you did before. Um and they're the ones the voices
032and as well as the teachers who piloted um who can say this is going to work. Hang in there. it makes sense. Keep going. Um because it is a big shift. So something else we've started this year with the office of teaching and learning is walkthroughs. They came for their first walkthrough in October. Um getting to see in classrooms what's happening and then getting feedback immediately right after those walkthroughs together as the administrative team from the building with the coaches and the administration from office of teaching and learning. It's really been helpful to kind of get some feedback on what we're seeing and we have high quality instruction walkthrough look fors that we're looking into classrooms to see are we meeting those expectations? What can we do? What is really the next step? Just like
033in instruction, what's the next step for the staff? Um and and we've been following that model and putting that into place in our grade level meetings and trying to really get everybody on the same page. So the other um goal that we all share is working on building our school climate and culture. Um and that takes a lot of force whether it's the work that we're doing with kids to recognize them. When they came here, we were working on we're awarding some kids for their positive bus behavior, but supporting still students to have good behavior across the school and have a positive environment where everybody feels safe. Um part of that is having schoolwide celebrations and assemblies and spirit days. Um, and then, um, we have, all three of us have new PTOs that are
034trying to get up and running and have been an amazing source of energy and positivity. I know the PTO at Bobo came in the other day just on a random day and stocked the teachers room with just some nice treats and it was such a boost like the way the way those kind actions ripple out across the community and then you see it build and and just, you know, happy teachers help make a happy school. So, we really appreciate how the PTO's been pitching in to help with that. Um we're working to develop our third grade students as leaders and thinking about that trajectory of kids growing along the um portrait of the graduate and um getting our kids to be the leaders in the building to model those behaviors for younger students. Um a
035big part of our success is the support we have from our behavior team. So having a BCBA, having dedicated RBTs in the building that can help us work with kids who are really struggling with some emotional regulation, that I think is one of the biggest pieces. When we have that under control and students and staff feel like they have a positive learning environment, that is massive. So that support is really appreciated. Um yeah, and then cultivating a culture of gratitude for our staff so that they understand that we know how hard they're working. Um, and then other things that we're doing just to try to empower teachers to feel like they're part of these new schools is that distributed leadership and positive proactive communication. So, what we're working on, >> all right, let me uh
036make sure the sound is working here because [laughter] you have to hear the song. I think I heard it on TV, but it's not. >> I hope Peter didn't write a rap. [laughter] [clears throat] >> Maybe didn't want to see it [laughter] >> live. >> Yes. A reenactment. >> Mhm. Yeah. >> [music] >> Touring to schools. Shining [music] bright southwest leads the way tonight [music] Michael. So we're on a road building minds that's our goal my said [singing] in every class we move fast three great [music] schools standing stronging [singing] tongue where we belong together we rise [music] with every cheer. K3 learner [music] wet more. We're on fire. Principle pay you [music] inspire. Face you while we reach the star. Our spirit days make us who we are. Toring fun. [music] We're never done.
037Principle gulo. We're number one. K3 [music] learners. [music] K3 learners productive [music] struggle portraits clear brain level meetings that's persevere [music] of teaching guiding the way in the school we see today. [music] Three great schools standing strong in Torington where we [music and singing] belong. Together we rise with every cheer. K free learners future is here [music] is available [laughter] in the packet for anyone who wants to see it again and again and again or hear it again. >> Thank you very much. [laughter] Before I open it up to group questions or discussion, I just want to point out that if it doesn't happen here, we know we know this. If it doesn't happen here, it can't happen later on down the line. So, thank you for sending kids who are ready to go to
038media school and beyond. Uh, questions from the committee first comments. >> No, thank you for the presentations. Yeah, good, very comprehensive presentation. >> Great information >> and reasonably quick too. I will thank you for that. Bill, any you want to say? >> No. Okay. Anyone else who wants to say something? >> Who wants to ask something? >> Well, I guess you did such a good job. You're all set. >> I'm good tonight. That was excellent. [laughter] >> Thank you. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. >> Appreciate it. And just as I've said before, if it uh you know, you don't have to stay for the rest of the agenda if you don't want to leave. >> We don't take questions from the audience at this point. You can ask people individually anything you want,
039>> but uh we it's not a public participation format. >> Uh election day PD results. Okay. So, I will just give a little overview and then um our team can fill in the details. Uh it was a great day yesterday. We were so excited that we were able to host the entire faculty at the new complex. So, we were able we thought parking was going to be our wrinkle, but it all worked out. So, the middle and high school campus was turned into TPS University for the day. Um, you've heard about uh highquality instruction. There were sessions on high quality instruction. We had uh sessions on our new math program. We had sessions on productive struggle, which you heard mentioned here. So, I'm going to turn it over to Lisa and Mary and Michelle and
040Joanne and see if there's anything you guys want to add or anybody at the table because everybody, all the administration was part of yesterday. So, I think it was a great day. We had good feedback. We got to enjoy the new building. I think it's especially nice for staff from other schools to be able to spend time on the new campus. Um, and it's just a beautiful space to learn in. So, anybody want to chime in? >> Well, the teachers did a fantastic job. We um we did an an opening session on um speak louder. >> Sorry. Struggle is where learning happens. Empowering all learners through challenge and perseverance. And teachers came away understanding what productive struggle looks like, sounds like, and feels like. Uh they learn strategies that are evidence-based to uh support students
041to empower students actually to persist. Uh we connected productive struggle to standards and assessments and explored high impact strategies and then teachers went off and designed or revised a lesson to reflect what they had learned in the morning. So we really did a deep dive first into what into the feeling piece of it. What does it feel like when students are really confronted with something that is deep and meaningful and how do we help them to persist and what are the tools that we can share and and learn from to make that really visible in our classrooms and to empower our kids. [snorts] Uh so that was a a really it was a wonderful session. The teachers worked really hard. They even took an assessment to see a a smarter balanced um next generation science
042or SAT to see the depth and rigor of what our kids have to do and then figured out okay so [clears throat] what how can we really onramp those skills for our kids um and then the afternoon there were a number of different sessions and teachers did a lot of curriculum writing um and illustrative math I don't want to take your thunder but illustrative math um worked through lesson pacing optimizing assessments supporting ing fact fluency with centers, enhancing math for linguistically diverse students uh from observation to action, using student work to drive instruction, building thinking classrooms. We're continuing with that work and then also understanding understanding by design. So that is really about anticipating student need and in your lesson design, which dovetailed beautifully with anticipating need and where students might struggle and what the
043difference is between a productive effort and an unproductive struggle. Um, so that's a thumbnail of of what we did >> and we were fortunate in math to be able to offer enough sessions where teachers were able to choose and really meet uh their own needs and be able to identify if they wanted to go to planning or thinking classroom or the centers. So it really was a nice choice for them to have in the we actually had trainers come in from our program our vendor that was part it was built into the cost of the program. some professional development. So, we had experts, you know, from the actual uh company. So, that [clears throat] was really nice. Joe, do you have anything? >> Well, I just wanted to add that I think that all of
044the offerings supported the one vision, one team, every student, and that was really powerful throughout the day in every session. >> Right. And I can't see you, Michelle, but I know you're down there. And just want to [clears throat] thank you for so Dr. Baker's team, it's really all of our kids, right? So all of our special educators were part of the same sessions uh that all of our general educators were. So we're really that's very important to us this year. And other administrators chimed in, too. Kelly Gula ran a Kelly and and Georgia ran a session on um learning based play for our specialists. So for art, music, PE, CTE, how do you engage learning through play for our littles? And so that was a really really great session. >> Very productive use of
045the day. >> Yeah, it was a great day. >> The buzz was incredible. I have to say for the first time in a long time there was really positive buzz up and down all of the floors throughout the entire school. Um just hearing positive positivity about what teachers were learning and excitement in how they were going to implement their new learning. It was neat. It was really neat. >> Yeah. >> Anybody members any questions? just want to add, we also had um some sessions that were led by teachers um in the district that you know that those that are an expert in one area or another um stepped up and led some too. And I think that that's a resource that we have to make sure that we're always taking advantage of it. The one
046that I sat in was great. >> That was my only complaint is there were not enough time slots for all the sessions I wanted to go to. I couldn't see everything. And just as a a little bit of um an aside, Kristen Gagden, our food services director, and her team put out a beautiful sort of continental breakfastish spread, coffee, tea, water, some really pretty um pastries, and you know, it just parfets that. >> Yeah. It just added to how special the day was. You know, we're in a beautiful space. We had this beautiful table and you know I think everybody came away with a a smile. >> Good. >> Anyone else? Last chance coming up. Okay. >> So that was for teachers. What about paras? So paras had already worked their quota of additional days.
047So they have training but it was not yesterday. They are not they [clears throat] have never historically participated in every one of our days. Bless you. And yesterday was just not one of the days. [snorts] >> But we do have training. >> The par I was going to say the PAR training this [clears throat] year has been very aligned to um again all around productive struggle and strategies to support students and giving them the extension to be able to have that productive struggle so that they feel safe in that environment in doing [clears throat] so. Um and we do that all through the PLC's now. So everything is based at the school run by the supervisors on site. So it's very collaborative but again it's all that same theme so that we're all working from
048that one topic. >> And our staff meetings um this is the second year where we're able to include paras at our staff meetings and they're often we call them staff meetings but they're really just our PD that we lead at the building that they come and participate in as well. >> Right. Just not yesterday. >> Yeah. I just wanted to say from the high school perspective, the afternoon session in particular was very powerful. We were with their um department teams which we never there's never enough time. There's always you know we run into that um in education everywhere there's never enough time for the teams that need to meet. So it was a very powerful session for us to be able to continue to work on curriculum in the afternoon. >> Yeah. Yeah, and I
049just piggy back the um piece about choice because I think it was really critical that all of the folks who were teaching our new math program had learning about math, but the fact that we were still able to offer choice around that, I think that was um very empowering for teachers and wellreceived. Okay, >> moving on through the agenda. Uh, probably no reason to talk about it, but it was sent out electronically with the board of ed self evaluation instrument. Uh, and that was sent out this afternoon and I hope everyone had a chance to look at that. That will be going out to the after we've talked talked about it here if there's anything to add or subtract. Anyway, okay. We will run that past board for dealership and then send it out. Um,
050probably send it out. That's probably what I want to do. So, we have it in advance of the >> You want to send this out to all staff? >> All staff. >> Okay. >> Well, all board, >> right? >> Yeah. Thank you. Uh preliminary discussion unearned first marking period grades. Background on this is once upon a time the superintendent of schools had the idea that uh giving a kid anything less than a 50 for the first marking period would doom them to failure [clears throat] for the rest of the year. And when they caught fire and became a students right away, they still couldn't do well. I'm sorry. And I can't say this with a straight face uh because in fact many of those kids don't get their act together and when they do to
051me teachers deal with that. But anyway, the policy was and we keep seeing in expulsion hearings, for instance, when we see report cards and so on, we see that [clears throat] a student got a grade of a 50 only because of board policy or school policy, whatever the exact comment says. And um so that's why that was on has been on for a while, our list of topics for future meetings. has finally come to the top of the heap and uh Mrs. Ferguson has some input to that. >> Mrs. Ferguson actually is going to ask Aaron Sullivan to give a little bit of history because I think you've been at the high school is really where this plays out, right? And I think you actually even have dates in your head about this. >> Yes.
052So, the board policy in my research was that was in place um and I don't have the policy number with me. I apologize. um was rescended in 2022. Um but with that rescending, it did not originally come out of the student handbook. So it was still a policy in practice um at the high school. has since been dictated as a lapsed policy and we have been instructed not to [cough and clears throat] adhere to any previous practice in regards to giving a 50 um for that first quarter. So it is not a policy in practice this year. the messaging has has been changed specifically and the directive is clear to not alter grades to provide 50 per board policy if the student did not earn that 50. >> So it's something we don't have to
053deal with around this table then from what you're saying teachers know and teachers areware and yes don't practice it. >> Correct. What about at the middle school? Do we know >> that? I don't know. at the so it would be the same because the policy is applies to all >> the only thing that I'd like to just throw out there um is that you know we have another policy about social promotion and retention that is a fairly new policy and there is language in that policy around making sure that we at the schools are providing enough support and enough opportunities for students to be successful and That includes monitoring success, right? Making sure that we're aware and and as the adults in the building, making sure that students who are in danger of failing are
054made aware of that at at a very early, you know, time so that there is still opportunity to recover. Um because there is some validity to the claim that you know I if if you receive a a 16 or a 20 the first marking period it does become mathematically impossible to to recover. Um >> can I speak to Yeah. the So in the past 2 years the streamlining and revision work that we have done at the high school on the MTSS protocols um have really sharpened our ability to provide that monitoring and support as needed and um we're seeing great work out of that MTSS protocol. >> Yeah. So I would think you know that midway through the first marking period right students who are in d and we're doing that we're looking at the
055list of kids who are bubbling up and saying okay those phone calls need meetings with students phone calls need to be made home counselors are involved making sure that there's constant communication and that kid there is a safety net and that children are being supported and encouraged to bring their grades up before they they find themselves in a situation from which they can't come back. Yeah. [clears throat] >> Okay. Anyone on the committee want to ask anything or say anything? Okay. So, this is gone and we won't be seeing it on on comment lines on report cards anymore. Right. Just for school policy. >> We should not. No. Right. >> Okay. That's a mechanical. That's a a list. You punch which comment. >> Oh, you're talking about like the canned comments. Yeah, that comment has
056been removed. >> It's been removed >> from the canned comments. Correct. >> We will never see it again. And the kid will get the grade that he earns, she earns, whoever. >> Correct. >> Good. Thank you. Appreciate that because that's been something I've had to uh listen to for a while. So now I won't have to anymore. Um, pretty much the end of the agenda except for the mechanical stuff at the end, topics for future meetings. Uh, one thing I I want to add to that is prompted by what Mr. Wilson said at the meeting on Monday night, that fizzed problem that's that's keeping us keeping us back, maybe keeping everyone back. In fact, the Waterberry paper had a an article on the front page and it was this morning. uh about that problem statewide.
057You had some insight into that, Mrs. >> Yeah, it's a it's a problem nationally, right? I mean, across the nation because I I mean, I know John, you were trying to you know, being tongue and cheek, but when you do this all day, right? You're you're not you're not getting the physical activity that and we only can control what we can between the you know, within the hours that that a child is in school. So we are working um closely with uh our medical advisor. We are working with our health and fizzed coordinating teachers um to try to put together a a plan where we can address this during the school day, but we also need to involve families and to help families understand this is a crisis. Um [clears throat] the information that Mr.
058Wilson shared the other night. Um I saw ahead of time and you know he shared with you the composite scores. There is a physical fitness assessment that has not changed in 20 years. It happens to be my opinion and only my opinion but I think it's shared with others that the assessment itself is flawed. um the fact that it hasn't been looked at in 20 years is a problem, but it consists of four subtests. And when you look at the breakdown of how not just Torington kids, but kids all over the state perform on that test, the two there are two of the four that our our children really can't they can't succeed at. Um it's the aerobics test and so it's the mile run or the pacer. uh they don't have the cardio endurance
059and the push-ups. Um you it's on EdSight. It's one of the assessments that you can go on to the Edsite public platform and look at and it's it's really stunning when you do when you look at the breakdown and you can look at every district in the state. um we have to do something about this, you know, and it's everyone's the conversation that we're having is that it can't just be the responsibility of the health and fizzed teachers while the kids are in school. It's got to be everybody. It's easy to to um attack [clears throat] this that way at the K to3 schools because they're always getting movement breaks. You walk into the classroom and they're dancing to the alphabet and you know those kinds of things. We need to figure out a way
060to embed movement throughout the day in our our upper grades um without I mean I I'll just share a little anecdote. If if you've been around a while probably 15 years ago, you might remember we got ourselves in trouble because we were requiring children out of recess to do laps at the playground. And it was because of this because this is not a new problem. And we ended up on the news, you know, in the news forced marching. Do you remember that? And um and that's not at all what it was. We were just trying to do right by kids. And so we [clears throat] just have to be careful, which is why we're kind of um you know, recruiting the experts to help us out. >> I'm trying to get a playground put in
061at the intermediates. >> Exactly. Thank you again for bringing that. >> Exactly. Yeah. Yep. >> Yeah. That's >> Yeah. I'm going to I'm going to agree with you on that. Um very random, but I picked up my daughter the other night from cheer and she gets in the car and she goes, "Mom, I'm going to fail gym." >> I said, "Why?" And she's an honor student, so failing gym would prevent her from making high honors. I said, "Honey, what's what's going I can't run a mile. I just can't do it. I'm out of breath." and she she's an athlete and she still can't do it. >> So, I mean, yeah, 100. And she says, "None of my friends can do it either. We run we run out of breath. We our chest hurts. We can't
062do it." Like, "Well, stop complaining and do it." But I get it cuz I can't do it either. [laughter] But yeah, it's definitely an issue. >> So, I think we'll be putting that on the agenda sometime in the future. maybe hear a little bit more about it, hear ideas about what can be done [clears throat] and I think between our curriculum responsibilities and maybe policy maybe I don't know we'll have to talk about that will be on some future [clears throat] agenda uh comments for the good of the order and I want to take the first comment and that is just that we just had an election and some of us had our contracts renewed and we have board at the CAFTA forum last week. The six of us running for the board had a
063chance for an hour and a half to answer questions as posed by the audience and by the moderator. And at the end of it, and I I've said this at the end of it, that there wasn't anyone on that podium who wasn't fit ready to serve on the board. Only five got elected the way that was going to work. But uh we will have new board members and new ideas. And I suppose that what I'm talking to uh the point I'm talking to speaking to is to just thank everybody who was involved in the process the the political people who uh are finding finding candidates and promoting candidates and helping run elections and to the candidates themselves and I suppose to the to the voters who showed up and voted for voted for people with
064any luck with good reasons for voting the way they did. So, I just wanted to say that. But, so we'll start with start with Bill. >> It was a um good meeting. The presentations were in uh were in informative the people who who who put those together because I I I know how how um how labor intensive that is. >> Um a good meeting. Um I just want to say I'm glad to see uh AI concerns the topics for future meetings. Um might be stepping above you know my bosses had to say directly to you but it's a a big concern for me um to not have a sort of board guideline on it. We have some teachers using AI actively in class, some that want it banned entirely. And so we could really use
065some guidance, you know, from a higher level. >> And that is get in front of it before it gets in front of us. >> Just a big thank you to the um primary schools for putting together such a great presentation. So thank you. as always. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and to be at the table. >> Thanks. >> Just inspired by the work that they continue to do. It's wonderful. K3. >> I feel exactly the same. It was really lovely to see. Thank you. >> I think that in addition to the collaboration and watching the office of teaching and learning join forces to ensure that really all students are represented in high quality instruction, it's been amazing experience. And that was a lot of the feedback that came from our teachers too.
066Um was just more [clears throat] ways better ways to make sure that everybody is included. Um just to book end the other Michaelelsson on uh AI. Um something that I'm pretty passionate about too. And um the song that you heard was completely done with my input by AI. And no, that was not my voice. It was completely madeup voice. >> No wonder your son sees the problem before. [laughter] YEAH. And during our tour, I had to say that Mr. Good night, I was very pleased to learn a little more about your sense of humor because it matches with mine very nicely. So, so thank you for that and thanks for the opportunity for us to be able to present. We appreciate it. >> Great meeting, great presentation. Great presentation by especially by the K3 preK3
067folks. And it's so exciting to see this this building of these new schools. They're new schools and new school communities and and the three administrations are working together and it's just it's it's really powerful. It's going to make a great difference. [snorts] >> Excellent presentation by K3 and I prek3. I will say that it's one of the best ones I've seen. you know, I I didn't have any questions and I think John asked me twice if I did. [laughter] Um, but really that you you guys started with not only just a fully encompassing presentation, but you talked about the struggles. So, so often a presentation comes through and says, "Hey, here are all the fantastic things we're doing." And we get to acknowledge all those, and then some of us ask some questions. But you
068started with, "Hey, we're splitting up into three different schools. Here are the struggles we're having. Here are the ones we can control. Here are the ones we can't control. Here's how we're going to address it. and we look forward to telling you about it as we make that progress. That was fantastic. So, please share with the rest of the team that that was an truly excellent presentation. >> Great presentation and I'm constantly impressed by what you do and on top of your own work. So, thank you. >> Uh great presentations. Thank you uh for everything you do. Um, I did want to ask, this might be a question for Sue. Um, I ran into one of our other board members at the post office this morning. Um, it's more of a topic for a future
069meeting. Um, he had asked mainly to see, I guess, the curriculum for each grade level without making it too much work specifically. Those were his words, don't make it too much work. But he wants to kind of see what the kids like, what their classes are. And uh >> yeah, I could talk to you about it offline, too. Okay. But I can tell you more like what the concerns were about. >> Okay. I think >> I [laughter] said we could bring it to I could bring it up tonight and then >> Does it have to do with Argentina? >> No. [laughter] No. Exactly. I don't know why. >> At least not yet. >> Okay. [laughter] >> Thank you. >> Not that I'm aware of. >> Right. >> And one last point, Mr. Colossa, would you
070like to introduce yourself? You've been sitting back there. >> Yeah. No. Uh I'm Joe. I just uh was elected as one of the board members this year. So yeah, just uh excited for the opportunity. Just wanted to listen and learn from you guys. This was definitely a good good first step for me here. So excited for the opportunity. >> Congratulations. >> Welcome. [cough] >> John, congrats. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Thank you. Looking forward to working with you [cough] the next four years. >> Yeah. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it as well. Absolutely. And now I will pick up and let you ask your question from earlier. Was it a question or just a pick up? >> Thank you. I just my son was here and you wanted to speak but we were we're not
071in the public participation but he had to to go. So I was hoping you would make an exception to let my child speak out of turn but it's a move point now. >> Okay. So I guess I'm looking for a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. All >> in favor? I we are ajourned. Thank you all very much. this policy meeting to order at 6:40 p.m. Uh, Marissa, you got the role. Let the record show that Gary Ukalito is absent this evening and I'm chairing his place. Uh, we have other two members here as well. Do I hear a motion to approve the agenda? So move. >> All in favor? And do I have a motion to approve the minutes? Second. >> All in favor? I do. We have anyone for public participation the policy?
072>> Yes. >> I do. >> Okay. Uh do we need to read it again? >> Yes. >> Okay. Uh members of the public and staff may bring to the committee's attention information, ideas, or matters of concern related to the duties and responsibilities of this committee. The committee will not allow comments regarding specific staff members or personal grievances. The time for individual remarks will be [clears throat] I'm so sorry according to the number of speakers and will be limited to 5 minutes per speaker unless extended by the chair. Okay. Hi for the record. My name is Haley Blakesley again and I'm here as a mom of a kindergartner and a fourth grader. Um, I am a teacher at a local high school and uh, currently what I'm wearing is against your uh, dress code policy and
073so I my question is if do you think I'm dressed unprofessionally? So I implore you to revisit the policy that you just established last month and to take away the gendered language and the uninforcable parts like the 2 in and the 1.5 in is that if somebody tried to measure the length of my hem or my um blouse, I would have a title N complaint on your desk quicker than you could say dress code violation. Um there's a model dress code that's uh excellent. That's what we implemented at explorations. It's through the um Oregon now and OW National Organization of Women and it it's everything you want for your teachers and your students without singling out the clothing that women wear. Um so I know that you just passed this policy. I chose not to
074get involved because I don't work for Torington [laughter] and I have actually a lot on my plate. Um, but I just had to advocate for the teachers as a teacher. Um, thank you for listening. My second question is what is there a policy regarding district district-wide mascots and is there a policy regarding contractors and using local Torington contractors first before you contract to outside vendors because we parents at the Torington Intermediate School received a communication regarding um sales of spirit wear and the company is in Ohio and we have at least five printers in Torington that would probably like that business. So I wonder if that was thought of. Um without any discussion, we were told that the mascot of Torington Intermediate School is a Raider. Um [clears throat] my question is is it a
075Red Raider or a Raider? because yesterday of the 11th uh month, fourth day, uh the Connecticut Insider called us the Red Raiders and I can share that article with you. So there is confusion. Um, and this was in response to an article that they did visiting the new gymnasium and listening to the last presentation and hearing other meetings about trying to unify the district. Uh, for the record, is there a plan to unify the district as the Raiders? And [clears throat] will you allow parents and students to be involved in that decision? because that's best practices according to CADE and according to um culture and climate and um we expect our students to use inquiry and be curious and I'm wondering what my kindergartner will find if she starts to research a raider. 58% of
076students in Torington are Hispanic. And when you Google the word raid, the first thing that comes up is ICE raids and immigration rates. And I wonder if anyone has thought about that. Now, I sent a very detailed nice email last week to the superintendent and to the principal of Torington media school and I got a form response and I have not had they did not answer my question. So, now I'm here. Um, has anyone actually researched what a raider is and what that word means? And outside of an athletic, um, context and it being a positive that we're going to like surprise attack you on the field, what that actually means. Mr. Kisco is a history teacher. I'm a history teacher. We can tell you what that means. And growing together, building Torington, uniting Torington
077in the year 2025 to have our district associated with being the Red Raiders, the financial implication of that, um, the cultural implication of that. I never wanted this to be about changing the high school or or middle school mascot. But now that you're asking my nine-year-old to be proud to be a Raider and my kindergartener soon to be proud to be a Raider, that's disturbing to me and a lot of other parents. And it should be to you if you think about it deeply. And if you choose not to think about it deeply, then how can you expect our students to be critical thinkers? >> Thank you. >> Um our assistant superintendent. >> Yes, we she's taken some very good notes over here. We can we can't respond to you unfortunately. Okay. Uh discussion and
078next steps. We have the family and medical leave absence policy number 4005 and we need to review the shipment and goodwin model policy. [snorts] So this is all me. Um so I will give you the cliffnotes version of why uh we have brought this revision forward. Um, for those that are not aware, um, you may recall, uh, last year we brought forward some amended policy, uh, adjustments regarding a new law that had been implemented January 1st regarding Connecticut sick leave. Um, that then now affected some of our staff members. Well, as of October 1st, 2025, there have been two new components added now, which is Connecticut FMLA and Connecticut paid leave. So there's three whole new laws that have well they're not new but they're new to educate. Previously educational entities were exempt now as
079of October 1st. Some of our staff are now qualified to be able to apply for Connecticut FMLA and Connecticut paid leave. So the adjustments that you see the are just really kind of have added the components that apply for Connecticut leave. You can see on the shipment model policy at the top, it kind of explains the the leave uh the regulations and then throughout uh I'm sorry, page 16 of your packet is the top of the shipment policy. And that just kind of gives you a paragraph to kind of outline the change for October 1st. And throughout the policy, those changes have been put in place just to showcase where the Connecticut FMLA, you can see on page 18, there's a section specifically about Connecticut FMLA that's been included. So throughout the policy, just anything
080that applies to Connecticut FMLA, Shan has added the applicable language. Um, two things that I wanted to specifically bring to your attention is, uh, there's one part on page on page 19, it says the board, you know, the employer has the option of selecting the method. And if you refer to page 13 of your packet, um, you know, I would propose that we keep the method that we currently use in our packet for calculating FMLA. Um, so we currently use uh the method to where we go back from the date of the leave and that's the method that I would propose that we use. So it's method number three on page 19. But that's the method we currently use in our current policy and I would propose that we do the same thing cuz you
081can see that at the bottom of the highlighted note it says if we're going to change our calculation method, we have to plan ahead and give at least 60 days notice to employees. I think the method that we're using works. So I I would propose that we just stick with what's working. And then the other piece that I wanted to just uh give for the board's consideration on page 21 and at the top of 22, there's some other highlighted portions. Um the light duty piece, we actually don't have that in our current policy. And I would I would propose that we put that [snorts] in cuz I do think we do that. I think that's been our practice to allow light duty for people returning from FMLA. So, I would I would propose that we
082add that into the policy and include that um because I think it's just been what we've done. And then the top of page 22, uh there's language about the board's policy governing supplemental employment, but in our existing policy, we had a paragraph that was written by the attorney at this at at the time that this policy was implemented. And I would propose that we just take the paragraph that is on page 15 of our current policy and and add that into that provision of the shipment policy. So those are the only other changes that I think I had to reference. Other than that, the recommendation would be that we adopt the shipment policy as presented. So I'm happy to entertain any questions. >> Thank you, Kim. Any questions? regarding this change. Yes, Mr. Walker, >>
083just looking at the four options because that that option um and going back to what our current policy is for calculating um the the option three there's no possibility of stacking. Correct. So, um, if a a person were to take 12 weeks or 12 weeks at the end of the school year, they could then potentially take beginning of the school year for a total of 24 if we went with option one, which was the calendar year. >> Correct. And the other concern would be if we use like the rolling method, and it's complicated, and I've never actually worked with anybody that's used the rolling method, but my understanding of how it would work, particularly with this new component of Connecticut FMLA and federal FMLA. Somebody could at one point in time be eligible for one
084but not the other and then because of the rolling method become eligible for another one and be able to stack Connecticut FMLA and federal FMLA in the same space in the same year >> and and just being the the TA union [clears throat] rep the most beneficial to teachers would be the calendar year. the least beneficial would be that rolling method or the current method within our policy as far as giving us that amount of time that we can use um for a family medical leave. >> Can you clarify that which one would be most beneficial for >> the first one? The calendar year >> so it resets every January 1st. >> Okay. >> And Kim, what are the drawbacks of that? that somebody could take 12 weeks of FMLA in November to December and
085then in January be able to take another 12 weeks of FMLA. [clears throat] So we would be down for a total of 24 weeks instead of the way that it works right now. You get 12 weeks within a 12-month period and it resets after the 12-mon per after the 12-month period following the first date of your FMLA. So, >> and the only reason I bring that up is just because it was confusing to me and I did a deep dive of researching into what it all meant in the amount of time that having a for having used FMLA and knowing exactly how helpful it is. Just wanting to have that clarification for myself and wanting to give the board that information as well. >> Okay. Any questions or feedback? Josh, >> just that I I'm
086pretty much in agreement with Kim. If that's the HR point of view on these issues, then I think we should go as employers, [cough] we we should go with that. >> Jeeoff, you had something? >> I did. Um, but to your point, the rolling would be the the least beneficial for sure. So, I'm glad that we're not, you know, we're taking a continuation of the existing policy. But the other question is Kim, I believe that paragraph on outside work we talked about, that was a shipment approved paragraph in the first place. an updated shipment model policy. Yes. That we're going to take a little bit of our old previously approved shipment verbage and add to it. >> Correct. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Um do we need to decide which one of these numbers we're
087going to move forward to the full board or discussion at full board to decide which is the best option? >> Well, you can recommend to the full board from this policy. Right. number three. >> Okay, >> that's what they've presented. So, >> as presented, right? Okay. >> If other members are in agreement with that number, >> I'm good with whatever Kim recommends. >> Okay. >> Which was the year, right? PB. >> Yeah. Uh if you look at page 13, it's the 12-month entitlement period is measured forward from the date of the employer begins the leave. And that is what is outlined in number three on page 19. >> Okay. So, >> and I think that's the one that's most widely used by >> correct. It is. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, do I have a
088motion to send this policy to the full board with the using number three in this highlighted paragraph as the language on the proposed policy? >> So, >> and including Kim's thing on the u >> on light duty and outside employment >> adding in the the light duty >> as well. I will amend my motion. >> I will second the amended. Okay. All in favor? I >> motion carries. Thank you. All right. Um, thank you. >> Um, we have uh topics for future meetings. Um we had discussed at Monday's special uh meeting um a proposed policy for uh in district staff members uh to allow their children to attend Torington public schools for a fee. >> Yep. >> Uh we have theou being put in place y >> while we have a policy being looked at.
089>> Perfect. You want us to develop something? >> Correct. And we will look at that next meeting. Um, I brought this up to Gary with permission. I would like to see the student dress code looked at as well. Seems uh even though I voted for the student dress code and voted against the staff dress code, I I feel that they're still both very vague. Um, and I know that we are dealing with the staff on a side note, but I do think the student dress code needs to be addressed. some of the vagueness of it that is being um I guess for lack of a better way to explain it. Some students are being dress coded for the same thing another group of students is not. >> Okay. >> Or vice versa. So I think
090it really needs to be a little bit more black and white, a little bit more cut and dry. >> So you want it to come up as discussion. It needs to Yes. Okay. I spoke to Gary about it as well. Kristen, we also we talked about uh >> in that dress code meeting that you guys were going to give some feedback from the staff and everything from how that was going. We talked we thought it was a first revision. >> Yeah. >> And it would need may need some tweaking, but you were going to >> for the students >> from the student one. What was the feedback from staff? Cuz that probably helps me. They're the ones out there enforcing it every day. So what the what the number of infractions was some of that
091data just to kind of compare from the old to the new. >> Okay. >> And see what the impact had been. >> I think it's it's becoming um a [clears throat] bit of an issue um where there's not really a lot of clarification and parents are sending their kids to school thinking that they're within dress code and turns out they're not or might not be. Okay. >> Uh any other topics for future meetings? Eventually, we'll have to look at AI through policy as well. I'm not sure any put on immediate list. >> That's a good idea. >> We did add some language into our existing technology policies for staff and students regarding AI a couple years ago, but I'm sure it probably does need to be updated and added. It probably as fast as we
092get it in there, it'll need to be updated. But if it gives anybody a little comfort, there is some broad language in our existing policies right now. >> I don't understand it. I don't know how to use it. So, [laughter] I don't know. >> I'm old. Um, okay. Anything else? Topics for future meetings. >> Okay. Uh, comments for the good of the order. I'll start with John. >> Good meeting. >> Quick. >> Yes. >> Anything Ferguson? Thank you. >> Thank you for um couple things. Number one, congratulations to those who were elected yesterday. Um, look forward to seeing your work on the board in helping students and staff and Torington move forward. Um, this is my first policy meeting as the TA rep. So, thanks for welcoming me. Um, I [clears throat] do know that
093Red Raider, Red was taken out of our mascot um, many years ago. We have no control over how the media uses it. So, um, Red was not something that we condone anymore or use. Um, as far as the previous meeting, Troy Middle School, we have not gotten communication about a change of the grades for 50. So, if that is no longer policy, if we can make sure that's communicated because I have not gotten that communication. So, I was glad I was here to hear that. Um, >> all right. I will speak to your principal. >> Yeah. Um, and so, yeah, otherwise, good meeting. >> Thank you, >> Mhm. >> Thank you. Great meeting, Miss Ceden. Thank you. >> Good meeting. And you guys are good tonight. All right. [laughter]