001[music] Good evening everyone and welcome to the Waterberry Board of Education regular meeting on January 15th at Waterberry Arts Magnet School. Uh I just want to remind everyone that we're here for a business meeting and remind everyone that our mission is to inspire and prepare every student to be successful in and beyond school. and our vision all Waterbury public school students will graduate ready to transform their world. So we'll be inspired as we begin this meeting. Uh begin with the silent prayer. Do we have any memorials? Go ahead. >> Yes. Uh thank you president. In our moment of silence this evening, let us remember former members of the Waterberry Public Schools education community who have passed away. Marie Chrisfano, retired food service worker, passed away on December 8th, 2025. Yolanda Lamprron, Department of Education employee
002for over 50 years, first as a custodian and then as a secretary in the education grants office, passed away on December 18th, 2025. Alice Denver, retired teacher, passed away on December 20th, 2025. Justin Kenquinn, Willby High School 12th grade student on homebound, passed away on December 22nd, 2025. Raymond Melanowski, teacher at Stage Street School, passed away on December 25th, 2025. Eric Aken, 9th grade student at Crosby High School, passed away on December 27th, 2025. Tina Marie Greco, former bus driver for Waterberry Public Schools, passed away on December 28th, 2025. Sylvia Sakard, former teachers aid, passed away on January 1st, 2026. and James McDonald, retired physical education teacher at Northn Middle School, passed away on January 12th, 2026. >> Thank you. >> Now, we'll have the Pledge of Allegiance by our Kennedy High School students, Jaden
003and Yuri. I aliance >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Commissioner Hayward Bowen, Commissioner Anthony Ireland, >> present. >> Vice President Latoya Ireland, here. Commissioner Jackson >> present. >> Commissioner Lopez >> present. Commissioner L. Commissioner Munes >> present. >> Commissioner Orso >> here. >> Commissioner Van Stone >> President Brown >> here. >> We have a quorum number four. Commissioner Munos. May I have a motion? >> I motion for the items on the communications from A through L. >> May I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Discussion. All in favor. Okay. Number five, public address to the board. Uh, Secretary Lopez. >> A motion to suspend the regular
004order of business to hear from the public. All speakers are encouraged to submit prepared written statements to the commissioners. Comments shall be limited to a maximum of five minutes. There will be no responses this evening to any questions or concerns raised. They will be referred to the administration for review and response. >> Second. >> Discussion. All in favor? >> Opposed? Abstain. >> Thank you. Do we have any We have a couple of guests this evening. Evelyn Devin, 406 Anna Avenue. Good evening, Superintendent Schwarz and members of the board of education. My name is Evelyn Devon and I reside at 406 Anna Avenue. I am the parent liaison at North End Middle School, a parent of children in Waterbury public schools and the vice president of UPSCU Local 69, which represents the administrative support staff in
005this district. Our union has 120 members, of which more than 60% are 10-month employees. Our members include parent liaison, behavioral counselors, prevention specialists, attendance and truency coordinators to name a few. These are the very roles responsible for the district priorities discussed at these meetings again and again. Attendance, student mental well-being and family engagement. When families call, when attendance concerns arise, when a student is in crisis, when technology fails, we are the ones answering. In April, I sent a formal letter to this board documenting concerns about payroll, last minute schedule changes, and reductions in work hours. I reported employees receiving as little as 48 hours notice before being required to take unpaid days off. I warned that these practices were creating financial instability for working families. Many of those concerns remain unresolved. Since then, the notice
006period has dropped to as little as 24 hours at times. Since the new contract interpretation was introduced this school year, the cumulative impact has escalated quickly. Staff are now being asked to absorb six non-paid days within a 3-week working period, and most 10-month employees have no personal time left to apply to closures. Simply put, the math does not work. At the same time, the district has declared family engagement a priority. I believe you truly mean that. But over the last year, I have lost a month of working hours and my family engagement budget was reduced by 35%. The reduction in August hours forced the cancellation of beginning of the year events that historically bring hundreds of fam students and parents into my school. My deadlines do not shift when buildings close. It just leaves essential
007family engagement work undone and due to the recent closures has left me weeks behind. And while I understand that federal grant funding has been reduced and that title one funds were redirected to cover the cost of parent square which I can agree was a necessary investment. Understanding the decision does not erase the impact. In November during the SNAP benefit lapse staff were instructed to support families experiencing food insecurity while many of those same uh staff were navigating that crisis in their own households. That same week, employees were told to stay home without pay. Workers were asked to hold school families together while their own were pushed to the edge. Now to the immediate crisis. On the morning of the snow cancellation, union members told me they could no longer see a way to make January
008rent. Three unpaid water main closure days, a snow day, an additional unpaid closures in January. total six unpaid days and three working weeks. Over 25% of our monthly income. That is rent money. That is groceries. That is utility bills. Would you be able to make rent if you lost a quarter of your income in one month? Making up days in June may look balanced on paper, but for families living paycheck to paycheck, making up three days six months from now does nothing to help families pay their bills. Members are now visiting food pantries and contacting social service agencies despite being fully employed by this district with many holding second jobs. During the water main closures, we were ready and willing to work, but were explicitly prohibited from doing so due to the policy change this
009year. We were not permitted to use sick or vacation time to cover the losses. Other employee groups in the district had options to avoid loss pay. We had none. When we returned from break, we requested a meeting to find a solution. That request was declined. We were told this could be a trust and contract negotiations I do not expect to conclude until summer. I'll leave you with this. We are the families you are trying to engage. 70% of our members live in Waterberry. Many have children in Waterberry public schools. You speak often about caring for school families. When those families become employees, that care should not disappear. You have the power to prevent working families in this district from falling into crisis. If family engagement is truly a priority, this is the moment to prove
010it includes the families who work for you. Thank you for your time. And I have some submissions to make. >> Thank you very much. Next, uh, Julio Gutard. Uh, first and foremost, I'd like to say good evening. [clears throat] This is pretty cool. It's my first time here. Um, I'm Julio Bardo. Uh, I'm coming on behalf of my support staff team over at Crosby High School. I'm a former Crosby alumni, Waterberry resident, been here my whole life. Um, I'm a behavior counselor. I've been there now. I just hit my third year this month. Very proud to be back in the school system. Being back home, I've started my career. Um, I want to say probably like 12 years ago, uh, at the Boys and Girls Club, former alumni I board. Anthony Ireland has been made
011a big impact in our community um, as well as working alongside him at the school as well. Just wanted to give my perspective. Um, aside from everything that Evelyn mentioned, coming from being a kid raised in this city, uh, watching the good, the bad, the gray areas, now giving back to the youth more than ever before. I had a lot of support as a child growing up. We had a lot of poor structured uh, stuff between activities, after school programs, and um, you know, influential support in our community village when you raise a child. My biggest thing to just conversate with you all to leave you with food for thought is me being a support staff. It was definitely a beneficial thing to take this role on. I feel like it's a blessing for me
012to be there and the kids generally love us. They need us. The parents are very grateful for who we are, what we bring to the table. It's very tough in this time. Um I understand that, you know, it's not something that anyone here in this room is at fault for inside of our control. Um, it's just a little frustrating really being somebody who was very passionate about my job. I came back home to work here, giving up a job that I was out of town for a couple years. It's been nothing but a blessing. I'm very grateful for my administrative team at the school. A former teacher of mine is my boss. He's my principal. Love the man to death. Um there's just certain things that I don't know if this is necessarily the right
013platform to take to ask for help for us as a support group overall in the city but I know that these kids look forward to the staff members between apparent leaison but support staff VPs school counselors social workers I just can't imagine how they would manage or survive on top of their family and things that go on at home if we were not in these positions. So, it's tough for us to have the motivation and structure to want to go to work every day when we're having to take two, three jobs on trying to figure out how we're making bills, rent, uh people have, you know, car notes and stuff like that. It's not an easy thing. Um I sent out emails during the water main break. I got a lot of wonderful feedback which
014I was grateful for cuz I I really didn't expect to hear anything back. But, um if I could just leave, like I said, food for thought. if there's any way possible down the road, either this school year or next school year, there's just um more support needed for the 10-month employees. And it's kind of tough when you work all year. We're battling between mental health, our own well-being, you know, the weather and school in general. Um obviously life's getting a lot tougher. It's not getting easier. Things are going up in price. It's just a bit difficult to try to manage that. also be a core support to these children who do need us and rely on us and then also you know try to just make it through everyday life. Um with that being said,
015I appreciate you guys for your time and thank you. >> Thank you very much. Are there any other members of the public who wish to speak but did not have an opportunity to sign up? >> Okay. Good evening. >> Good good evening. I'm uh Reverend Ali Grad, 2929 East Main Street. I'm here a little late because my grandkids got out of school at 2:50 and they didn't get home till 4:50 with the bus situation. So, I apologize for that. And I just want to say um you know, as commissioner, I to the commissioners, to the president, I thank you for everything you do. As both a resident of Waterberry and an employee of this city, I and many others were directly impacted by their circumstances beyond our control with the water main issue. Lack of
016access to safe, reliable water made it impossible for some employees to report to work. Yet, these absences are currently being treated as unpaid or charged against personal time. While contractual language may not explicitly address this situation, this issue goes beyond contract interpretation. The city declared a state of an emergency and employees should not be financially penalized for complying with the public health and safety realities created by that emergency. This is not only a labor issue, it is an ethical issue. City employees should be supported, not financially harmed during a crisis caused by municipal infrastructure failure. I strongly believe the city has a responsibility to compensate employees for those emergency related absences and to establish a clear and fair policy. The board of education, I'm hoping you guys will take steps to ensure equitable treatment during
017future emergencies. And the other situation I want to talk about is the school bus crisis. In the past 20 days, my grandchildren have come home late from school 15 times. Um, and I believe personally that the most problematic place for my two grandchildren this school year has been on the school bus. They've been bitten, scratched, there's fights taking place on the bus, and many other issues occur on the school bus. I really believe we need bus monitors on every school bus and we need to look at our contract with Durham services because they are not getting the job done. We are not getting our money's worth and the bus situation is unacceptable and I hope you will address it immediately. God bless you all. Thank you for all you do. Praying for you guys every
018day and praying for our kids in our city. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. I motion to return to the regular order of business. >> Second discussion. All in favor? >> Opposed? Abstain. Motion carries. Um number six, superintendent announcements. >> All right. Thank you, President Brown, and for our board of education commissioners and our student representatives. Thank you for being here tonight. Uh I wanted to start it off with some uh fantastic news that I learned about uh recently and so many of you saw uh Major Arasco uh here. So Major, could you come up to the podium, please? I know this is a a little unique for superintendent comments, but I think uh uh this situation calls for something a little different. the Connecticut Veterans uh of Foreign Wars uh named our own
019Major Arasco teacher of the year. And so Wilby High School teacher, Major Ryan Arasco, United States Marine Corps, retired, was named the state Connecticut Veterans of Foreign Wars High School teacher of the year for the 2526. So I want to say congratulations to you. >> All right. Woo. [applause] >> [applause] >> So this award recognizes educators who demonstrate exceptional commitment to promoting patriotism, civical responsibility, and the teaching of American history. In recognition of this achievement, Major Arasco also received a certificate of special recogn recognition from US Senator Richard Blumenthal. And um I want to give you just a moment to just speak about all the wonderful things that you're doing. I see principal Pier Saint here and your other will be staff here to support you. And I want to let you know that I
020um I talked to Darin Biolo because we have uh some district supply funding that um I was uh was slated for one project, but I decided that it would be better used if we can give you an extra $300 for your classroom to be able to support your students. And so we'll get you that information about how you can use that in recognition of this um oper this uh this recognition tonight. So congratulations and the mic is yours. >> Thank you uh superintendent uh superintendent Schwarz, ladies and gentlemen of the board and uh mayor uh the mayor's uh liaison, all the uh all of the district staff. Um first of all, thank you for the recognition. Uh I I do appreciate it, but I do want to thank those that are resp um responsible for
021success, which is all of us. It's all of us. First, my wife because without her support, I wouldn't be able to do what I do. Um, I would like to thank the Veterans of Foreign Wars for recognizing me. It's it's nice to once you've once you finish serving, find a different way to serve. >> The thing I truly enjoyed about being a Marine and being a Marine officer for 21 years was the opportunity to mentor Marines, help them change their life goals. That's why I became a teacher, so I can do that for our next generation. wanted to thank the uh yourself and principal uh Pier Saint for their support and their uh and their trust in what I do down there in the basement. uh good things come have come out of there come
022out of there and almost double the spot having doubled the enrollment there in the last couple year in the last couple years 82% increase we have kids going to being accepted to the global leadership institute program over at Taft we have students that are being accepted to Boston University on full ride scholarships we have students that are being accepted to naval flight programs we have students that are applying to Yale young global scholars we have students that are enlisting and considering officer programs I don't doesn't matter to me if they enlist. It doesn't matter to me if they go into the military. What matters to me is that they're better people and that they can succeed at what they dream for. That's why I do what I do. So, thank you again. Thank you again.
023One last note. I think we can all It's we all do this together because we trust each other. Students trust us. students trust us to mentor them, guide them, give them a little discipline kick in the pants every once in a while. But in the same thing, we're the investment we have in our students and what drives me is that we're going to in they're we're going to invest in them so they can invest in us. We're all going to get old. They're going to be in charge. They're going to be the voters. They're going to be the lawmakers. There's going to be the congressmen. They're going to be the president. They're going to be the boss. They are going to be shaping our future in our old age. Let's invest in them so they
024can invest in us. Thank you very much. Thank you and congratulations. [applause] And this is the only marine program in the entire state of Connecticut. >> Wow. >> Thank you again. Um now this this next slide seems so dry compared to that. So strate just a strategic planning update just a me so the purpose of the strategic planning uh reminder for the board especially for the new board members is to establish direction aligned with our vision mission and core values. Typically strategic plans last five to seven years in school systems. Um [snorts] our goals are to prior prioritize our efforts and resources to improve student outcomes. There are a lot of directions we can go as a district. There are a lot of new things off the shelf that always look good. We what a
025strategic plan helps us do is prioritize what we said what we want for this district and what our community says they want for the district and be able to put that into a achievable plan with goals and timelines attached to it. It's really important document. Uh the uh the upcoming next steps now is to convene the first strategic planning committee with a cross- sector representation. So, I'll be reaching out to President Brown about um who she'd like from the board to be part of this um cross- sector representation as we engage in the strategic planning process that will conclude um and we will have one for the upcoming school year. We want to um also in the next uh in the next month, we're going to be engaging stakeholders through a survey to gather their
026information to understand how they're feeling about the district and directions they'd like to see it go and then ensure that a timeline is established and adhered to moving forward. And so looking forward to that process. Uh it's really an important one and it's going to guide all of our work uh really moving forward. I was able to attend the governor's preventure prevention school-based mentoring conference. Um and you might notice someone right in the middle of that picture who was also there. Uh the conference was the power of connection mentoring for engagement academic success and workforce readiness held at the University of Hartford where I was uh joined by other professionals at a fireside chat. I didn't see the fire, but it was a fireside chat panel discussion where we talked about the importance of mentorship
027and um uh myself and uh there was also the the superintendent from Norwok who has had a long time mentoring program in our district where we're trying to get build that type of work up in ours and we talked contrasted each other about where we are in the process. But in the end, the the some of the big take takeaways were we have to make sure our schools are open for business beyond the typical school day in that mentors uh played in a significant role. The school system cannot do it all by itself. So I was so happy to see YMCA Waterberry Youth Services was part of that um as long as as well as now I believe was there. United Way was there. So it was a great event and I was happy to
028be asked to to be a part of that panel. not one to give up an opportunity. Uh when I was on the University of Harvard campus, I actually also made an appointment with the provost where we discussed opportunities to help create a more a pipeline to Waterberry public schools uh and specifically in our special ed department. So I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with for that opportunity. So, a different board of education, the Walling Wallingford Board of Education, actually re recently announced that principal Vincent Bosamo from Wallace Middle School will be receiving their distinguished alumni award and will be formally honored at a banquet in May. And so, we organized a little thing with the staff there to be able to surprise Mr. Balsamo, not just with that announcement, so that his
029whole staff could share in that um in that awesome recognition. He was the actually the valadictorian in Wingford in 2000. And um I'll skip everything that they say about uh Vinnie, but I I will say this one quote because if you know him, this will make sense. He is known for his relentless attention to detail and organization, and we often joke he thinks in spreadsheets. So if you know if you know Vinnie, that's that's awfully true. but he's a tremendous asset here to the Waterberry community and we wanted to uh honor him here tonight with that that great award that he's receiving. >> That's great. >> Um I thought it was a very successful uh Cave area legislative breakfast hosted by Commissioner Van Stone and we had several commissioners there as well um there that
030night. Uh and and it was just an awesome discussion. And I believe every every seat was full around the whole day about 30 35 uh in attendance plus students and um great a great opportunity to discuss the upcoming legislative session and what is important not just for Waterberry but you know the broader Connecticut community and um I'm sure some people will have some comments on that tonight but just wanted to say how impressed I was not just with uh the showing but also the C I wanted to thank Crosby Culinary for doing an amazing job to to to host that as well as Wallace uh school. Speaking of board members doing a lot of sit-ups there, Commissioner Van Stone, I see. Uh so, as a result of that um that legislative breakfast, it was Commissioner
031Van's idea to also have more students involved who were writing sticky note questions as we were discussing and engaging in the process. uh and all of those sticky notes couldn't be answered at the time. So, Commissioner Van Stone and President Brown revisited those students uh and their school governance council to answer some of those questions where Commissioner Van Stone was roped into uh dressing up as the mascot and attending the pep rally. And I heard uh he's he's not he's not the best best uh shooter with that mascot uh costume on, [laughter] but he tried, which is important. So, we appreciate that. And I know the kids really appreciated you coming back and showing that you you cared about their questions is really the most important piece. And finally, the Black History Month is upon
032us in February. Uh we are prepping now for schools across the district to celebrate Black History Month through a variety of events and activities that honor Black History culture and contributions. And I will be sending um all of those events out to the board shortly once they're finalized with all of the schools. And with that being said, just a reminder to follow us on social media. Thank you. >> Any questions for Dr. Schwarz? >> Okay. Thank you. Um >> Oh, just one question. Um for the strategic plan, you mentioned engaging stakeholders who are considered stakeholders, students, parents. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. >> Yes. Yes. So typically in the strategic planning it gets so in the end the ultimate strategic plan um there's going to be levels to it. So there'll be opportunities to engage whether
033it's just through your feedback in a survey. There'll be opportunities to engage whether it's um a live session or a virtual session where you can kind of hear what we're talking about but then also um give feedback on what you're hearing. In the end, the ultimate writing piece will be done um at a with a smaller team, but the engagement is really just to get as many voices as possible so we can hear and try to um code uh is the best way to put it as is, you know, how many times we're hearing certain things come up and so that our strategic plan does a balance of knowing what the educators know in terms of where we need to go. You know, it might not be um every kid kids kid kids thought at
034this point to say, "Hey, I'm really interested in how you're going to adapt to individualized learning through AI in the next five years." And that might not come uh from necessarily c some some of them. They might just say, "Can you fix the launches?" You know what I mean? And so, but if enough people say that, then that's something that we want to think about in terms of putting in our strategic planning and then having so what does that mean then for the next five to seven years and how are we going to do that? Because if you don't put it in the strategic plan, then everyone's just going to keep saying, "When are you doing and how are you going to do it?" The beauty of a strategic plan is you can point to
035it and say, "We're going to do it this this year and this next year, and it's going to build upon itself." So, there's an answer to some of these lingering questions that I think we all get from the community and the public. So long answer to yes, students, uh, teachers, administrators, staff members, but also, um, parents, business, um, nonprofits. >> All right. And we'll announce all that, all those surveys and things like that. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. And then I just wanted to say to Tom that he did a wonderful job organizing um, that uh, the event on Friday, McCabe, and even like the walkth through with the principal was awesome. Um, we got to visit some of the kids in their in their classrooms. Um, the robotics room, uh, the band, um, the culinary,
036um, which we got to experience or try out some of that mac and cheese. The seventh graders and eighth graders were kind of competing like who had the better cheese sauce. We all had opinions on who who did it best. So, I don't know if we want to say who it was, but eighth grade knocked it off the park. Um, so I just wanted to say that it was a wonderful experience and I love that you made sure that the students had a voice there. Um, and that was very powerful. So, thank you for doing that. >> Thank you. Okay. President's comments. Tom. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Commissioner Vance Stone. >> Thank you, Madam President. Through you, I'm not talking about the lion. Um, I passed over to the to the table so we can
037send it around. That is just the sticky notes from the students the day of the event. In an hour and a half, we received that many sticky notes. Their next meeting as a group that grew to about a 2in President Brown and I saw them. We couldn't go through them obviously. >> And [snorts] of course, Principal Balsamo had already categorized them all and paperclipipped them. >> So organized >> by category. So, of course, I asked him to please turn into an Excel spreadsheet. I I really did because that's he's that organized. So, we're going to probably get the spreadsheet from the rest of the questions and uh they really want to be heard. Um they love the fact that commissioners came and talk to them. Uh they love the fact that they were able to
038come to the breakfast. Um, and they asked that we do it more often. >> So, um, I think that's something we should probably put on our radars, not just the Wallace student council. I'm sure they're all just as good because it was amazing how many kids we saw there. We saw maybe a dozen at the breakfast. >> President Brown and I sat in front of probably 35, 40 kids that were the entire student council. It was amazing and they were asking great questions. of us tough ones. Um Jeremiah though was sitting in front of myself and Commissioner Brown. He's actually in the picture from the breakfast right out in front and he is also one of our students that uh went to the TAF summer program and he was talking to us prior to the
039meeting and we were giving him a couple responses and this and that and he I think he's only a seventh grader and he looked at us and goes always go back to money. [laughter] I'm like >> very astute. >> You're going to be on a board event someday. I'm going to tell you that right now. So the students want to be a part and I think it's um we have an obligation to make that happen. So thank you. >> Thank you. It was a very moving experience. Um, [clears throat] I just want to uh notify the public that there is a free flu clinic being sponsored by the Waterberry Health Department, especially for preschoolers who by state law have to have the flu shot before they can attend school. And many of our students are
040staying home because they're not vaccinated. So, just call the health department, make an appointment, and it's on Jefferson Street. Uh, and please get your child vaccinated so they could go back to school. Uh, also in our Wallace Crosby campus and our North End um, Willby campus, we have school-based health clinics and they also are available if you make an appointment, register, you can get uh, your child vaccinated. So, we're trying to reach out to the public so that your children uh, can go to school. it's very important that they get back to school. So, if you have any questions, uh please free please feel free uh to call and we'll try to answer your questions. Thank you. Uh I just want to um just wish everybody uh as we celebrate the life of Martin Luther
041King on Monday uh January 19th that we we stop and reflect on his words and his actions during uh his life and that we try to uh inculcate in ourselves uh the values that he demonstrated throughout his life and uh have a good day off. Thank you. students. >> Yes. Okay. Uh next uh is the student representative comments. Who's going first? Okay. >> Speak speak loud into the microphone. >> Sorry. >> Good evening, President Brown, commissioners, and superintendent Dr. shorts. My name is Jaden Asavdo. I am the 12th grade representative from Kennedy High School. A little about me, I'm also the president of National Honor Society, the president of DECA, the founder and president of math honor society, and the vice president of the senior class. >> You say that all [laughter] going on to
042my second year here, it has been an honor to serve as the as the Kennedy representative. Yuri and I are here tonight to share all the positive impact and growth Kennedy has experienced recently. In terms of student welfare, during the fall, our seniors have been submitting their college applications. It's a little early now, but students will start receiving their admission letters in the spring. We wish them all luck in their journey. Uh, tomorrow marks the start of our midterms as we reach the end of the first semester. Many of the students have enjoyed our recent events like our senior sunrise, which we've had a turnout of over 100 seniors. uh our Halloween movie night, homecoming, our senior trip to New York, and our trivia/game night that was just last night. We are actively planning spring
043events like senior night, prom, and we're also filming our senior video throughout the year. Our marching band and robotics team have hit some milestones recently. Throughout their competitive season in the fall, our Kennedy marching band has achieved multiple first places in competitions around neighboring cities. Our band also placed third in their state competition and fifth in nationals in which they traveled to Pennsylvania for the second time ever. Not to mention, our competitive band have has has had the most members they've ever had before. Many congratulations to our marching band. Our robotics team had had their worldwide kickoff this past weekend. The kickoff is streamed worldwide and teams receive a challenge that they are expected to address in building their robot robot for the season. They are now engaged in an 8-week building process in order
044to get the robot ready to address this challenge in the spring competitions. Now, moving on, I think as the founder, it's my honor to say that our math honor society is officially up and running. We've already started raising money with the spice fundraiser that we held in the fall and applications started going out to students recently as we continue to expand our honor society. Um, some of Kennedy's community outreaches include Yes Club, which hosted our annual trunk or treat again, connecting local kids with students and staff on the widely celebrated holiday. Our trick-or-treaters received candy from many of our student clubs. Our DECA club donated toys for Toys for Tots, and our Italian Albanian Club has donated pasta to seniors in the area. We'd like to take a moment to recognize all of our accomplishments
045thus far. Would not be possible without your continued support, and we thank you for that. Now, I'll pass the microphone to Yuri to continue our report. >> Thank you, Yuri. Take it away. >> Um, >> good evening, President Brown, commissioners, and Dr. Schwarz. My name is Yuri Thomas, and I am the new 11th grade representative at Kennedy High School. I am also a part of the SORE program as well as the talented and gifted program. I also love to take part in various extracurricular activities such as DECA and the Newfound Math Honor Society. and I am also honored to and excited to be a Kennedy representative to the board of education for the next two years. Now, a little more onto our building. Uh we held a winter door decorating contest right before uh winter
046break, livening the hallways tremendously and also showing the creativity of our students. Our beautifification club has been working diligently after school every Tuesday and Thursday to create a warm and welcoming environment within our school, adding festivity in the hallways during the holidays. And they have just started to put up the Black History Month decorations. And also the recent water mane break showed Kennedy's resilience as we minimized any disruptions to learning. Um, our staff and students handled the situation very well and the bottled water provided to us was very much appreciated. Um, some of our plans further include our Black History Month showcase which is coming up next month in February 27th. Um, we've already begun course registrations for next year. Uh, students grades 9 through 12 have had the opportunity to register through P school
047and are meeting with their school counselors to review these requests. Our 530 and 480 SAT prep clubs start right up after exams and students are registering for them in preparation for the upcoming SATs. Our marching band also continues to fund raise for their trip to Hawaii next March in March actually, excuse me. Um, DECA is going to the SD SCDC state competition held at the Aqua Turf very soon. Uh, also several students >> February 26th. Thank you. February 26th. Sorry, the date was not provided. Um, several students had also signed up for a future bankers and financial professionals camp, which is an intensive 12-week program where students build financial knowledge, uh, career readiness and professional skills through classwork and internship and earn their bank tellers certificate. And we'd like to mention Oh, excuse me. No.
048Okay. We thank you for your time tonight. >> Great job. Thank you very much. Do members have any questions of our students? >> Commissioner Orso, >> it's more of a it's more of a comment as the major said before. Uh it's the young people that's going to be our future and old people like me. But looking [laughter] at these two young men, we're in pretty good shape for the future. Thank you, boys. >> Thank you. >> Great job. [applause] Okay, moving on to the consent calendar. Does anyone wish to remove an item from the consent calendar? Seeing none, I'll read the consent calendar. 9.1 Request approval to apply for the Connecticut State Department of Education First Robotics Mini Grant. 9.2 Two, request approval of an award agreement for funding from Special Olympics subawwarded through Connecticut
049Association of Schools and administered by the CASCAC Unified Sports. 9.3 Request approval of amendment number one to the agreement with Capitol Region Education Council for Special Education Programs for Children. 9.4 4 request approval of a services agreement with Parent Square, Inc. for a school district communication platform. 9.5 Use of school facilities by school organizations and/or city departments. Um, can I have a motion to approve the consent calendar? >> Motion to approve the consent calendar. >> Second. Discussion. Oh, no discussion. Uh all in favor, >> opposed to abstain. Motion carries. Thank you. Okay. Uh 11. Committee on finance. Commissioner Orso. >> Item number 11.1. Ladies and gentlemen, I move that the Waterberry Board of Education approve of a service agreement with the music team LLC provide afterchool history, art, and science of the DJing. It's a
050new word. Lessons for and funded by the 21st century learning centers and state department of education after school programs. >> Second >> discussion. No discussion. Uh all in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Opposed? Abstain. Motion carries. Thank you. Number 12, Committee on Building and School Facilities. Uh Vice President Latoya Ireland. I move that the Waterberry Board of Education approve the use of school facilities in or waiver request of various groups and organizations as listed subject to fees and insurance as required. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. 12.2 Two. >> I request approval of the project manual and associated professional cost estimates SCG-042. Request for review of final plans for the elevator project at Driggs Elementary School. DAS project 151-03. >> Discussion is okay. 15 L UE limited use of elevators.
051>> Second >> discussion. Commissioner Van Stone. >> Thank you, Madam President. Through you, uh, I don't believe this or the next one went through a workshop. Is that correct? It went through committee right to vote. Right. >> So, could we get some information on this because otherwise the board is sitting here voting on something that we have no idea what it's about. Absolutely. Uh, Mr. Albini, >> I mean, it's pretty obvious it's an elevator and Triggs and, you know, Wilson need it. However, >> good evening, President Brown, board of education commissioners and board of education student representative representatives and Dr. Schwarz. Um, Commissioner, these are two elevators. Uh, one slated and this started over a year ago. It just takes that long now with the new regulations with DAS. But, uh, this is an elevator
052at Wilson School and at Drake School. Um, that will be functional. Well, excuse me, will begin groundbreaking. We're hoping in June, right after school ends. Uh we do realize that there's some uh initial work that we want to get done before school opens in September and August. So, uh, this is hopefully going to be completed, uh, with approvals next month and go out to RFP in late February or March. And, um, and then, um, select a contractor, uh, do the interviews, and hopefully have that ready for towards the end of June. So, we're going to pull all this off in five months >> for for that. That is absolutely doable. Yes, because we have a lot of the work done. We are meeting tomorrow for four signatures to send and we have our meeting already
053set up for DAS. It was originally set for yesterday and today. We did have to postpone it because we just couldn't meet those deadlines. But I think we're meeting in two weeks. >> Has to go to board alderman. >> It has to go to the board of alderman. Okay. Um, when we sign this contract with whoever we do, I'm assuming both elevators are external to the building, >> correct? Yeah. So, we can't they all are now. Um, whatever timeline they agree to for building, >> I really don't want to hear later that their suppliers would delay things. If they sign up to a timeline and they do not meet it, I want this contract to have some financial penalties because we in the last few years have not built anything on time. It gets delayed.
054Some work at Kennedy, we almost lost the money because of the delay and it was on the contractor, their fault. So, whatever we sign up to, let's make sure we have they have to remember we're the customer. It seems like our contracts forget that. Okay, we're the customer. >> We also have a school building to reopen. If they say they're going to have it done for September whenever >> done beun. No, it's going to take the better part of a year. We want to get a lot of >> It will be working while school's in session. Yes, we're trying to get some of the work that's um I'm sorry I wasn't clear before the work begun where they're excavating, making a lot of loud noises, breaking through that initial wall for uh indoor air quality.
055>> But to your point, and it came up in uh the building uh committee that uh it was brought up that liquidated damages should be part of the RFP. so that if if the timelines aren't met, uh the contractor will pay some money um if they don't meet those deadlines. So, we'll have >> whether it's progress payments. I I I'll look over at Commissioner Horso. I don't know if our contracts allow things like progress payments, but to me, that's one of the best ways to do a contract because >> it's amazing how many times people will be on time if they have a payment upon a completion. You are absolutely correct commissioner. >> So again, I know our city rules sometime aren't the same as what I dealt with in public life, although I did
056work with the the go US government, but it it seems like our city rules and thankfully the commissioner also always can help us with those. But um we really need to keep these their feet to the fire. >> You are absolutely correct, sir. >> Okay, that's what I'm going to be looking for. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. I'd also like to mention that uh these do not have to go to the board of alderman. Oh, >> in this at this point they go to the board of alderman when we're ready to sign a contract. >> Point taken. Yes, that's correct. U once once we um sign a contract, that contract has to be approved here and at the board of alderman. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh Commissioner Orso, >> a couple of
057things. uh was brought up uh at the uh at the meeting like like Mr. Armeni said all the construction work will be done on the outside but some of these projects they did the elevator parts except themselves are like a year to wait so I mean and then you know everything will be done and then when that projects come in and then they put the uh the elevator together but also like Mr. Van Stone says commissioner says that these contracts have to have liquidated damages. And it could be if they're going to done by September 1st, it's $1,000 a day or $2,000 a day that they have to pay if they're not complete. Um, and and this has been done in some other contracts. And also, as we say, is that they're going to the
058state, but we got 79% reimbursement on this. Uh, so it's not everything's coming out of our budgets, but it's 79% reimburseable. >> Correct. Yeah. is and and with the landscape that transpired up at the state everybody's familiar with there are a lot more steps now than there were in the past that really extrapolated this out to a far longer project. Like I said, we started this a year ago, but they um have the uh other meetings now that we didn't have to have that we have to have now. And and one one other thing quickly and and you said it too at the meeting and I asked the question there's only like what three other schools that just need elevators. We put elevators at all these schools. I think it's fantastic. >> Yeah. After this
059there will be um general Tinker which have already been approved but because of money we're trying to space it out. >> Um and um adult edard school. So those will be the only three after this. So we try to mix in elevators, roofs, some big capital projects because we have to find that matching money. >> Thank you. >> And just just for the uh the committee members who are new, this does come out of the education budget, >> correct? >> Money is set aside. It's not capitalized by the board by the city side. So this is our education budget >> which has already been allocated. >> Correct. Correct. I just want to be clear with that. Commissioner Munos, >> you're good. Okay. >> All right. Any other questions? Thank you, Mr. Albini. All set, everybody.
060Okay. >> Oh, forgot where we were. Uh, all in favor? >> I >> opposed, abstain. Motion carries. Okay. >> All right. >> Okay. Do we Okay. 12.3. Commissioner Ireland >> request approval of project manual and associated professional cost estimates SCG-042 request for review of final plans for the elevator project at Woodro Wilson School DAS project 151-0316 LUe second >> discussion Okay. All in favor? >> I opposed. Abstain. Motion carries. Uh, superintendent notification to the board. >> Could I have a motion? >> A motion. >> Good. >> a motion to approve the notification >> to the board. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Can I have a second? >> Second >> discussion. I just note that it's items 13.1 through 13.7. Uh, all in favor? >> Opposed? Abstain. Motion carries. And Commissioner Munes. >> Oh, no. I'm
061sorry. Uh, committee chair reports. Do we have any committee chair reports this evening? Okay. All right. Um, executive session. >> I move to convene into executive session for discussion concerning pending claims. Am I Am I reading that part? Litigation and discussion concerning security strategies or the deployment of security personnel or devices affecting public security. >> Second discussion. Those in favor? >> I opposed. Abstain. Motion carries. We'll go to executive session, then we'll come back and adjourn.