Waterbury Board of Education Workshop - January 8, 2026

001Heat. Heat. Everyone, good evening everyone. Welcome to Walsh School and the Waterberry Board of Education workshop. Uh we'll begin with a silent prayer. Do we have any memorances? >> Good evening. Not tonight. >> Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Next will be the pledge of allegiance by our student representatives from >> Oh, from Walsh School. Okay, so this is Okay, perfect. 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. Okay. Good evening. We have a presentation from Dr. Maren Wilson from uh the principal of Walsh School. Welcome. >> Good evening. Welcome. >> That's right. You should welcome us. >> Can you hear me? >> You're good. Good evening, Mayor Peruski, President Brown, Board of Education Commissioners,

002Board of Ed Student Representatives, and Superintendent >> Mic's not working. Just tap >> it. Oh, thank you. Maybe he could use Tom's uh have use Tom's microphone. >> Yes, Tom. Time >> give her Give him your Give give her your microphone. >> Yeah, that works. Well, is that how we get the mic away from him? >> There you go. And speak loud. >> Okay, better. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Good evening, Mayor Kernerki, President Brown, Board of Education Commissioners, Board of Education Student Representatives, and Superintendent Dr. Schwarz. That's better. Thank you. I am Dr. Moren Wilson, the principal of Walsh Elementary School. And with me today is Mrs. Courtney Piering, our vice principal, as well as some student representatives. And we'd like to welcome you to our school. Good evening. There are several Walsh programs that

003we are excited to have uh that make a positive impact to our students and families through extra academic support, creative expression, and enrichment opportunities. One program is our ESH extended school hours after school program with Walsh teachers that serve our first and second grade students. This program focuses on math and reading fluency. Our students enjoy vendors such as Maritime Aquarium where they see live animals. We also have talented art where Mr. Rickio, our art teacher and last year's Walsh teacher of the year, has worked diligently with his talented art students on enrichment projects. You can see their work displayed on the walls over here under the windows, as well as the beautiful all are welcome mural in front of you in the cafeteria. Beautiful. >> We're also excited to share information on our Walsh safety

004patrol. It's one of my passion projects. Uh this includes responsible fifth grade students that patrol our hallways during arrival and dismissal. We have some patrollers here to share what being a safety patroller member means to them and our school community. Hello, my name is Jos May. Being a safety patrol has helped me as a student by asking students to follow the rules which helped me learn about responsibilities. This helps the school make sure people are doing the right thing. Thank you. Do I talk? >> Hello, my name is Jaci. Being a safety patrol has helped me as a student by being a role model for the younger students as well as helping others. This helps the school become a safer place for everyone. Thank you very much. >> Hello, my name is Valentina. Being a

005safety patroller has helped me as a student by talking more to kids and being more responsible. This helps the school by helping kids be respectful. Thank you. >> Thank very nice. Thank you for representing Walsh School Safety Patrol and for coming here tonight and being a member of our Walsh school. I neglected to let you know that there are folders with the slide presentation in front of you as well as a small token of our appreciation uh gift with the Walsh cup and some goodies for you. Thank you. So, we believe our schools are the heart of our community and every stakeholder plays a vital role in that shared mission. I'd like to take a moment to recognize and sincerely thank our teachers, school counselor, social worker, support staff, parent liaison, paraprofessionals, administrative assistant, maintainers,

006families, and community partners for their dedication and for being such an important part of the Walsh family. Some goals for Walsh school this year include increasing student academic growth, decreasing chronic absenteeism, and implementing ways for all to feel welcome and part of the Walsh community. So, we believe that comprehension and fluency will have the greatest impact across all academic goals. I did a walkthrough today and I was pleased to hear academic vocabulary by our students as a result of our benchmark reading program which also has a writing component. I also witnessed students being excited about including dialogue in their writing this week. For math, we are using I Ready as a high lever strategy with students passing three or more I Ready lessons each week. Students are very excited about our building thinking classrooms where

007they get to discover different ways to solve problems. Our goal is that by focusing on these areas, we will see a student growth by the end of the year. In grades K through two, we're seeing strong literacy momentum across all three grade levels. There's been a significant decrease in students scoring well below grade level, which is exactly where we want to see movement. Even more exciting, grades one and two show clear growth in students reading on or above grade level. Early evidence tells us that the district-wide ECRI phonics program is working. Students are entering classrooms more prepared with greater foundational reading skills. Great. >> In grades three through five, we see both challenges and opportunity. Grades three and four are welcoming more students who begin the school year well below grade level, which helps us

008sharpen our focus. In grade five, we're encouraged to see students moving forward with a decrease in the percentage of students in need of more intense intervention. We are strengthening tier one instruction across all classrooms through coaching cycles and highquality small groupoup instruction while the benchmark reading curriculum is creating greater consistency across classrooms. The takeaway, early literacy systems are paying off and we are committed to highquality instruction to accelerate growth for every student. Our I Ready math results from last year are a real success story. From the beginning to the end of the year, every grade level showed growth with more students performing on or above grade level. At the same time, we saw a consistent decrease in students performing below grade level, which confirms that our teachers dedication and the district math curriculum is having

009the impact we hope for. When we compared this year's beginning of the year data to last year, the progress continues. Grades 2, three, four, and five all show an increase in students starting the year on grade level, which tells us students are leaving the previous grade more prepared. Even more encouraging, grades 1, three, and five show a reduction in students needing the most intensive support. Clear evidence that fewer students are entering at high risk. The takeaway is powerful. The district math curriculum is not just supporting student growth for this year, but building readiness for the next grade level and strengthening outcomes for all learners in both reading and math. Our focus is on strengthening core instruction through coaching cycles, smallroup instruction, and collaborative data analysis during IDT meetings. With support from Cormier consultants and our

010reading and STEM coaches, teachers are implementing the district curriculum curriculum and progress monitoring with fidelity. Classroom walkthroughs ensure students are consistently engaged in meaningful grade level work while tools such as MClass and Benchmark support strong reading instruction and assessment. To address chronic absenteeism, we closely monitor attendant attendance through bi-weekly CAT meetings, conduct home visits, and host family engagement events, including an upcoming attendance event on January 21st. Partnerships such as with Grace Baptist Church have provided incentives that encourage family engagement and consistent attendance. To strengthen school climate and discipline, we continue to build a supportive culture through every Monday matters morning circles, restorative practices, and PBIS. Lunch Bunch supports a monthly lunch bunch supports and a monthly school climate committee comprised of staff, parents, and students help us to respond proactively to student needs. Together, these

011efforts support strong instruction, positive relationships, and equitable outcomes for all students. Our attendance goals show that we believe that by increasing multi-ingual outreach for parents, encouraging friendly competition between classrooms and grade levels, as well as connecting staff members with students in need of support. We will see an increase in parental involvement, an increase in daily attendance, and a decrease in our chronic absenteeism. We are excited to share that our current chronic absenteeism is lower than it was last year. We have more work to do, but we like the direction we are moving in. Our SEAL and school climate goals show that we believe that by implementing restorative practices and community circles that promote positive relationships as well as conflict resolution with our students, they will strengthen their self-regulation skills and this will have a positive

012impact on school climate. Next, we have our community outreach. Uh, Walsh is fortunate to have a wonderful community partnership with Pastor Christopher Ree and the congregation of Grace Baptist Church this year. In my experience, this partnership has been particularly impactful with their dedication to the growth and acknowledgement of our families and their needs. Dr. Wilson and I met with Pastor Ree, Dr. Schwarz, and Bob Hy about ways to support Walsh throughout the year. Pastor Reese came with a lot of enthusiasm and a long list of suggested supports, including jewel of the month to recognize student characteristics that align with portrait of a graduate and Walsh's reach expectations. As part of this partnership, we also adopted two Walsh families that were gifted holiday gifts from the church congregation for the students and their families. We are

013greatly appreciative for this partnership. Equally as impactful are the donations from Scott and Linda Peterson. They have been extremely gracious by donating various supplies including clothing, shoes, school supplies, and essentials for the Walsh community. This allows us to have ways to help our students in times of need throughout the day and year. We are truly grateful and appreciative of these relationships. our structural school improvements. Uh we want to greatly thank the board for our school improvements, including the new cooling system, which our students and cafeteria workers appreciate during warmer temperatures. Uh you can see it behind us. Uh the new floors throughout the building and freshly painted classrooms have created a cheery atmosphere. Uh visitors often comment on the floors and I hear all the time, walk on the rainbow line as students and classes

014pass safely through the hallways. The freshly painted classrooms that will be completed this year support a calming yet bright learning environment. Again, thank you to the board for the structural improvements that Walsh is so grateful for. So, we'd like to celebrate some of our wins. So, these wins are made possible because of the hard work and dedication of teachers and staff and the commitment of our families, the district, and our community. So, we'd like to thank you for the opportunity to come and listen to the highlights and the dedication of the hard work that it takes that takes place every day here at Walsh. We are excited and committed to ensuring the success of every student this year. Thank you. Nice. >> Do commissioners have any questions for Dr. Wilson and the team? Teachers from

015>> Yep. Would you like to acknowledge your wonderful staff? >> Yes. Thank you. >> Please stand up. The staff from Walsh School. I think somebody just walked out. >> Kathy Dente, kindergarten teacher. Mike, one of our maintainers. There's another teacher stepped out. >> Thank you again. >> Thank you very much. >> Okay. All right. Next is um Mrs. Davis. Uh school culture and climate. Thank you. >> I I just passed it on. >> Yeah. >> Good evening, Mayor Perooki, President Brown, Commissioners, Student Representative, and Dr. Schwarz. So, I uh brought a pinch hitter with me today. I asked our manager of family and community engagement to join me tonight as we talk about these two indicators, attendance and discipline. I want to thank the Walsh team because they actually just set me up to talk

016about why it's so important for us to have this conversation um tonight. So, thank you Walsh for making this task a little bit easier. Appreciate you. And so when we look at chronic absenteeism, it is important for us to talk about it because it is an indicator of future success for students individually and it's an indicator of how our buildings are doing in terms of school climate. So in this picture you'll see um our welcome center. And so the very first message, one of the very first messages that families receive when they enroll in our district is that showing up matters. That we want our students in the buildings with us from day to day. And so again, this is uh the justification as to why we track attendance. Attendance helps us to be more

017proactive and um preventative when we're looking at student success. So we know that if a student has good attendance, it is a good indicator that they would be proficient in both reading and math by grade three. It is a good indicator of their social emotional health. And it also unfortunately poor attendance is associated with the possibility of dropout rates in the future. And so we want to make sure that we're not waiting until students are sort of in an academic crisis. we can look at where they're performing now and be able to provide them the support they need um for the future. So, for those of you who do not know what chronic absenteeism is, chronic absenteeism means any student that is missing 10% or more of school days for any reason. So, that's excused

018absences, unexcused absences, or suspensions. And so, I believe today was day 78 of the school year. So any student that has been with us from day one who has 8 days or more out would be considered chronically absent. And so to put that into context, that's only 2 days every month. And so that doesn't seem like a lot. You know, it's like, oh, okay, I only missed two days this month. It doesn't seem like a lot. But the problem with chronic absenteeism is that's lost instructional time for our students, and that compounds over time. So, if you miss two days this week, you're missing instruction time with your teacher. If you miss two days next month, then you're missing more instructional time. And it kind of adds up. And so, that's why we want to

019make sure that we are letting our families and students know the importance of showing up every day um and supporting them when there are barriers that uh may get in the way of good attendance. And so chronic absenteeism is a part of our district school climate plan. So one of our goals in our school climate plan for this school year is to decrease chronic absenteeism rate from 25.35% which is where we ended last year to 22% or less by June of this year. And so that is an ambitious goal. However, these two slides kind of outline how we are going to achieve that. And so, I know at this point you're probably wondering, so how are we doing? And so, this is our attendance this school year compared to where we were this time last

020year. So on the left hand side you'll see a chart that shows by month what our chronic absenteeism rate was between August and December for last school year versus where we are from August to December of this school year. And so you will see that we have been trending down. You could see it in the chart on the right hand side. So blue is where our chronic absenteeism rate was last school year and red is where we are now. So for August we were down by 4%. December we were down by my math isn't math 21% down to 14% and then October by 2%. And so what ends up happening is so for example in December it looks like our rate kind of match where we were at this point last year. And so one

021of the reasons why we track attendance is to look at patterns and be able to identify what that is. So is it that by December, you know, that's when flu is starting to ramp up and you know, you see some of those patterns that are going to happen regardless of your interventions. And so looking at the data helps us to make informed decisions about how to continue to improve. And so this is the first time tonight that I'm going to show you our multi-tiered systems of support pyramid. Um I'm going to talk about it again later on when we look at discipline. But when we are looking at how to support our students, we want to make sure that we're connecting our students with the right support. So tier one is our universal efforts. That's

022the interventions that we offer to all students. So for attendance, that's messaging, making sure that everyone in the building knows the importance of attendance. Those are our campaigns. So if they have an attendance challenge, that's a tier one um intervention. That's something that we offer to all students. Tier two is a little a little bit more targeted. So for those students that are either currently um moderately chronically absent or at risk, we want to make sure that we put supports in place that don't um contribute to students trending higher. Tier three is our most intensive support and represents about 3 to 5% of our students where we offer the most intensive wraparound services for our students, connecting them with community supports, making sure that we're identifying whatever barriers they're experiencing and helping families to address

023those. And so at this point, I'm going to turn it over to Sandra to share uh what that looks like, some of the interventions that we've been doing this year as a district. >> Thank you. Um, Sandra Romero, family community engagement manager for the district. So to strengthen our work here at the district, last school year, our district hired our district attendance coordinator. This role serves a primary contact of the for the district wide attend wide regarding attendance and data. This person helps us create you know branding u spreadsheets to ensure consistency messaging and and and tracking. Um the other uh the other task that she also does is that she facilitates our district uh chronic absenteeism team and provides hands-on support at the school building with CAT teams. Um one thing that I really

024like about the the district attendance coordinator is that she she began holding attendance cafes for staff where she provides supports um and she's able to um update our attendance classroom where she provides resources for for our staff. Um, what the other thing is that I that I love is that she is placed at our welcome center like Jackie just shared and she is our point of contact for families if they have questions around attendance or they're confused about the messaging or anything that's related around tenderness. She she will be our go-to and we'll connect her to to our family, but also to educate their families around attendance. She's also our point of contact with family registers that she goes and she talks about attendance. So we we're not starting those conversations when they're, you know,

025chronically absent. We started it from from from day one just connecting her and connecting the family to that person. Uh as you guys have heard um the the chronic absences in the building is very important right these are these in order for us to be able to do this work we all have to work together. So you know it is in each building has a multi multiddisciplinary team that exe executes the following you know they detail analysis of attendance and absentism data to identify students in need of supports like Jackie was mentioning that tier one tier 2 and tier three is very important for us to be able to follow to provide those supports. Um we also did they we also discussed during this attendance implementation interventions and students unique you know and be able

026to understand their students um unique barriers referrals is very important when we are working with families um you know one of them is our waterberry youth services and I'll talk a little bit about our our partnership with them but also like formulating actionable and recommendations to provide positive schoolwide um messaging around attendance LEAP, as you guys probably have heard, it's is one of our programs inside um six of our seven of our schools. It is a grandfunded program. It was launched on April 2021. They're located in three middle schools and three high schools and one alternative which is enlightenment. LEAP is composed of a team leader and home visit specialists between seven six and seven. the the this specific teams at these schools are between our supports between tier one and tier two. They step

027out to do home visits to families. So, as you have heard from Jackie, we want to be able to start building those relationships. So, all these seven schools have the LEAP teams in the schools to be able to provide support. So, collaboration is is is key to the work that we're doing. We can't do this work by ourselves. So two of our partners that we have strongly been working um you know for the last couple of years is Waterberry Youth Services and Bridge to Success. So Waterberry Youth Services serves as a tier three intervention support. Um they be they're able to provide support with families who are starting to show those red flags around um struggling to make it to school. The services that they have, they work directly with families to identify and resolve

028deep um seated barriers to school attendance. They they also direct bridge to essential services. So I visited water uh water waterberry youth services and I was very I was very amazed about the the supports that they have medical care social services and after school programming which is some of the barriers that we have encounter with kids not wanting to come to school right I you know they they're looking for all these services and just to find it at that at that one place was very very helpful for us they also provide tangible attendance incentives to celebrate students milestone and growth and I'll talk a little bit about what the work we have been doing there bridge to success is a community school integr progression integration. They are located in six of our schools. Um they

029provide dedicated site coordinators within our community. Our site coordinators, you know, part of their work is attendance and you know, we we we tend to meet with them and discuss strategies what they're doing at the schools and how can we support and and be able to collaborate with them. Um they also support with district data analysis and you know, one of the things that I want to share is that they have helped us with the nudge letters to families. They send out letters to families not because they're struggling with attendance but they want to show the parents where they are compared to the district just to make sure the parents are aware and then they facilitate lunch groups after school programs um and early care and after care to the school building. So one of

030the things that we had discussed is that lunch groups for provided by bracelet is amazing because sometimes students have expressed that you know they don't want to come to school because lunch is boring. So, Bridge of Success has been able to incorporate those kind of activities to make it fun and for kids to look forward to coming to school. So, um you know, like I said, being intentional leads to great outcomes and collaboration. So, you know, um here you can see pictures of a of a of an idea they came about last I think last school year towards the end. um you know we identified through data analysis that the transitional grades K6 and nine are the peak of chronic absenteeism right um so collaborating with our two partners and I said there's more partners

031obviously but these this specific partner we started having conversations we started talking about the the the challenges that we were experiences at the school and waterberry youth services was able to step in and supported us with us our district attendance coordinator and myself we did some data analysis. Obviously, we wanted to target kid uh kindergarten, sixth grade, and ninth grade, but we wanted to be a little bit more intentional. So, Wilby will be had the highest chronic absences last year. And then we what we wanted to do was welcome the incoming ninth graders in a positive climate and culture. So, we ended up pulling data and we focused on our atrisisk students who were eighth graders and were coming into Wilby. We identified 91 students that will be able to be part of our challenge

032which is a 2020 20-day challenge and with the support of Waterberry Youth Services um you know we were able to do that. So here you see some pictures of you know we celebrated with pizza our district attendance coordinator was able to do some certificates pictures we had an amazing CEO from YMCA stepping in and just giving that positive message. So very small things like that that we ended up out of 90 students we have 47 students who were able to meet that challenge. So you know it's it's small but you know we have to start very small. Um you know it's it's the kind of work that we want to be able to do and take our time to start building that culture. Students were excited were happy they were smiling and then we came

033back as a team and we said okay so what's next? We can't stop here. So now we have again the 20-day challenge. We're going to start it by the end of January just in small pots, you know. Um the other thing I also want to see share with you, there is work with kindergarten that we're doing as well. So we have been partaking in family meetings that are happening at schools and our district attendance coordinator steps in to educate our families from day one to be able to help them understand the importance of making it to school. So, um, that's that's a little bit of what the work we're doing, but there there's a lot more. You know, sixth grade, we've been working with our parent leaison to be able to do that transitional when

034fifth graders are are ending and they're coming into sixth grade is identifying, you know, what school they're going and just sharing data with our families because I think that's being very transparent with them and helping them understand why are we so focused and why are we having these conversations. Thank you so much, Sandra, for sharing all of the great work that's happening. And honestly, we can go on gone on and on and on about our schools and the creative things that they're doing for chronic absenteeism and making sure that we have welcoming, warm environments for our students. So, I'm going to shift now to looking at our discipline data. So I'm going to go through the first couple of slides kind of quickly, but I just wanted to make sure that as we're looking at

035the data, we're looking at it in the context of school climate. And so making sure that the behavior we're responding to behaviors in a way that ensures safety, belonging, and accountability for all of our students. And so as you are most most of you hopefully are aware that Connecticut passed legislation a couple of years ago on school climate. Um a lot of the changes that are written into this legislation are things that Waterberry have been doing um already. And so we are moving right along in terms of making sure that we're meeting all of the mandates um in terms of shifting towards a more restorative approach with discipline, making sure that we are intentional about being data driven, that we have the systems in place to look at where each school is um excelling, what

036are areas that we need to improve on. We are right now in the midst of um planning our school climate surveys. And so hopefully we'll have some data to share how the community feels about our school buildings. And so one of the things that I wanted to make sure to mention tonight is that there is in the legislation this concept of challenging behavior. And so challenging behavior is an expanded definition of in the past the legislation focused a lot on bullying. And so this legislation looked to expand the definition because sometimes there are behaviors of concern um that don't necessarily meet the criteria of bullying, but we want to make sure that we're addressing them in a systematic way. Um and so challenging behavior in the legislation is defined as any behavior that negatively impacts

037the school climate or interferes or is at risk of interfering with the learning or safety of a student or employee. And so within that definition, bullying is a subset of challenging behavior. So bullying has not been replaced. Um I think that that has been one of the misconceptions in this legislation is that bullying has been replaced, but it's actually a shift to have a broader look to make sure that we are addressing any behaviors of concern that impact our buildings. And so this is an overview of our data so far this year. So, challenging behavior reports across the district, there have been 64 reports. And so, I want to note that those are reports that have been received from either a parent, a student, a teacher. Those are not necessarily verified acts of bullying. So,

038in the new legislation, it doesn't talk, it kind of moves away from that um language of verified acts and shifts more to what is your response? What are you doing number one? what are you doing to create a positive environment that does not um lend easily to bullying? Um but then it talks about when those situations do happening do happen, what is your response? So again, that 64 number is the number of reports and not necessarily verified acts. Um, as of this week, we were at 1,230 out of school suspensions, 1,11 suspensions, 26 expulsions, and 12 school-based arrests. And so, to put that into context again, here is a breakdown of what um our discipline has looked like over the years. So, above the black line is yearend data, right? So it looks at data

039from school year 2021 until last school year. And so the first column represents the year. The next column represents the number of students enrolled for that school year. The next column is the number of out of school suspensions. So you can see that from the 2021 school year there were 4,694 out of school suspensions. Last year we were down to 3,860. The next column shows the number of distinct students. And so the reason why you will see a difference between those two numbers is because you can have one student that had more than one suspension. Um and so there were in 2021, 1945 distinct students that received an out of school suspension. And by last school year, that was down to 1875. And that next column shows what the percentage of our sto total student

040population have received at least one suspension. And so we hover around about 10%. And so the next three columns goes through the same data for inschool suspension. So we are down from 3,912 incidents of inschool suspension in 2021 to last year we were at 3370. The percentage of all students that that represents again is around 8%. The very last column looks at where we are in terms of our school-based arrest. So in 2021 we were at 284 and last school year we ended at 63. So to break that data down even more so we can see where we are in terms of this school year below that black line you can see our data from September through January of last year to September and January of this year. And so of note is that we

041are down um both in out of school suspensions and in school suspensions and the percentage of students that have received at least one. Um notably for school-based arrests at this time last year we had 28 school-based arrests. This year we are at 12. So this um graph just shows a little bit more detail about the comparisons between um our discipline from September of September to December of last school year to this school year. And so I'm sorry for the last four years. And so you can see that we've been trending downward. And so when we're looking at our discipline data, we are looking at it through the lens of that same multi-tiered systems of support. So at tier one, we're looking at building a strong, positive school climate where students feel welcome, they feel like

042they belong, they're proud to be in their schools. Um at tier one, we're teaching them what the expected behavior is. At tier two, we are correcting students if they have um behavioral issues in the class or anywhere in the school building. And tier three again is our most intensive supports. And so again, this this slide just gives um some of the supports that are available to our students who may need some additional mental health supports either at tier 2 or tier three. um and in in in some respects tier one teaching what good social emotional learning looks like. And this graphic again just shows what our model is. I thought it was a beautiful graphic until Walsh came up here and showed you in person what good positive climate looks like. So I won't go

043through this slide because you already heard from the buildings about the effects of having a good positive school climate. Um, but again, all of this work is done within the lens of restorative practice, which means building those positive relationships, repairing harm when it happens. Um, it's done through the lens of positive behavior interventions of support, which means we're making sure we teach our students uh behaviors and what the expectations are and also making sure that we have a traumainformed lens as we're supporting our students. So, that is our presentation for this evening. We will take any questions at this point. >> Thank you so much. I think we do have some questions. Uh, Commissioner Van Stone, followed by Commissioner Munos. >> Thank you, Madam President, through you. Uh, great presentation. You know, I love data.

044Uh, and and yes, Walsh did a great job with theirs as well. You know, it was a it it did put a little more life into it seeing that it was this building doing good things. And I did hear and I asked about it that the Walsh is going to have an attendance awareness or some I would like to get that information. I would love to swing by and and visit that day if I may. Um, so the one thing I did notice though, you listed about five or six bullets for Bridge to Success. I'm doing it from memory. whatever number it was. How does the most recent um you know, they they had some funds pulled back in early December. They uh they applied to get them reinstated and that was denied. So, is

045that going to affect the community schooling that you discussed in this presentation? >> Dr. Schwarz, did you want to >> That's right. That's a that's a heavy question. So, uh thank you Commissioner Van Stone for that. So, you are correct. uh Bridge to Success uh was granted a five-year uh federal grant that was worth $2.5 million, $500,000 per year. They're in their um they've they've they've we've gotten a million of that funding, but they've lost the three years for $1.5 million. They've um they they asked the federal government to reconsider. Uh they were denied that reconsideration. And so, um, there are some options though for right now. As you heard, Bridge to Success does provide, um, a lot of before school, after school, even during school support for students. And so, um, the good news

046is is that, uh, Althia has been on top of it from day one and she's been, uh, emailing just about everybody multiple times, uh, on a daily basis about what we can do because in the end, it's about it's it's impacting families and kids. I mean, that's what it's about, right? And so uh the good news is for this current year we seem to be okay you know but there are other uh grtors that are interested and supporting bridge to success in the lapse of this federal government uh uh reduction of funding and including an opportunity to apply to the state because the state has a fund that is uh basically set up for anything that's been any federal funding that's been removed. um organizations can apply to the state to be able to uh

047have that filled through a $500 million fund the state put aside uh in case this did happen. And and I know Althia is going to be pursuing that. In addition, um Althia has reached out to the uh uh uh commissioner Russell Tucker from the state department of education. and she'll be setting up a meeting soon that uh we'll be participating in just to talk about the impact and the amount of students impacted by this uh reduction you know so I think the immediate impact the good news is the immediate impact right now is is is minimal it's uh I think with the due diligence and planning between Althia working collaboratively with me and the board of education in addition to uh finding other grtors to continue the good work that we started to make community

048schools I feel posit positive where we are. I don't feel happy about how it was done, but I feel positive in terms of the direction of how fast we were uh and specifically at the end and and and the organization was able to pivot to be able to find ways to continue the work. >> Great. Thank you. I hope it gets pieced back together. I've been at Driggs and a couple others when we the community comes in and does awards and it's just an amazing uh day when the community does come into the school buildings and the enthusiasm at some of them is amazing. And >> Commissioner, just so you know, um I believe I talked to President Brown and Althia. Uh we're going to try to have her come in in March to give

049a more of a full presentation by then. We should have a better idea. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Uh switching over to climate. Um although I do understand the change over to challenging behavior as someone who is uh spoken very often about bullying. You know we were on a good path a few years back we I mean the bullying piece of uh although it was always in the climate part of you know the legislation bullying was highlighted. I mean, years ago, you I'm sure you remember, we even added uh issues with dating, even outside of the school building. We were really going after this bullying. And for me, this minimizes it. It really does. Uh and it bothers me. U challenged behavior can be so many different things, but bullying is bullying is bullying, period.

050um both in and out of school, the buses, etc. Um you know, we've even seen issues at sporting events. I hope we continue to highlight bullying. Um because in fact, even the uh you know, the visual you gave with the big challenging behavior and the smaller like one-third bullying, it it just bothers me because I've always put tried to put so much on such a highlight on bullying and and I'm really concerned um you know that even when we the cases when you you gave the numbers on the next page everything fell into challenging behavior reports. So how many of those are bullying? I'm sure maybe we have the data somewhere how we categorize it but when you look at the highle numbers it it went away. It's not on the chart anymore and that

051bothers me. It really does. Uh, so I like to see that get highlighted. Um, I mean, we do things so well when it comes, you know, to um to climate in our schools. I I don't want to lose the focus we've put on bullying over the years. Okay. So, I would appreciate that if we continue to do that. Now I thought you were going to when you broke down the individual uh students on the discipline data snapshot and you gave us the number of students who make up the numbers. I thought you were going to give me what I've been asking for for years and that is how many students make up the arrest number but that column didn't appear. So I see we have 12 and it's down. I mean the number 284 years

052ago was just it was a different environment. We went by a totally different guideline, >> right? >> And and that's fine. But I still would like because I want to highlight the fact that our kids aren't really a lot of our kids are just not getting arrested. I mean even when it was the 284, we never really knew how many students made up that 284. And I really think it's a very small number. Um, and it's obviously small now with 12, right? But I I would guess that it's probably not 12 different students. You know, there's some subset of that that is smaller than 12. I'm I'm certain, but I don't know because I've never been given that data. Um, whether we share it in executive session for sensitivity reasons or what have you, I

053would like to know what that number is because I I think our kids get a bad rap. um you know when we say all these arrest but it's very to me it's a very small number. >> Yeah. So >> so if we can continue on that I would I would love to see that. So otherwise these are you know the numbers are in a direction that uh you know we've been tasked with to look at climate differently. Certainly since I've been on the board for over you know 12 years now we look at it very differently than we did back then. and um you know, so I'm glad we're including things, but I'm still concerned about bullying. So, please bring that back to the forefront. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. >> Jackie, do

054you know how many of those 12 since you deal I mean, you deal with that data on a daily basis. Do you know if those are individuals? >> So, that 12 is 12 individuals for that data. Um I could still go back and look at what that looks like for the previous years. We could also get that information for you. Um I just want to with that 12 a third of those was from one incident. So there were four students unfortunately arrested at a um event that was at the stadium. So it wasn't a school-based event. And I think there's another another one that was like community based but it was a school sponsored activity. And so a third of that 12 is represented by one incident. >> Yeah. Okay. uh through the president. Um

055thank you so much for the presentation. I think like Commissioner Van Stone, I'm I understand right the the the reasoning for the change in vocabulary of challenging behavior reports, but I am concerned that students who are getting bullied will get lost in that. Another thing that I was very intrigued that I didn't see was what are the safety plans for the students that are getting bullied? What is the followup the support systems that happen? Um may you please answer that for me? >> Absolutely. So I want to I want to address the graphic. So um the way that bullying is represented in the graphic is just to show that bullying is one type of challenging behavior. It does not at all reflect our sort of make sure students are safe before the bullying happens. How

056are we setting an environment where students feel safe where um if something goes ary if there's a student that is picking on another student, we're able to identify that and then if it does happen, what is the response? What are we going to do? And so within district, we do have um some forms that have recommended responses based on each situations, things that administrators can do to support students. >> Um but there's also the option to make sure it's tailored to the specific situation. And part of our protocol is once we investigate it and determine that this safety plan needs to be put into place, we make sure that parents are a part of that process. So the parent of the alleged offender as well as the parent of the victim. So they would get

057information about um what the original concern is and what the response of the building is. What is going to be done to make sure that it does not continue. >> Thank you. Thank you Madam Chair. >> Commissioner Lopez. >> Yeah. Um what is the timeline to set up the safety plan? are aware um that are aware um that this is what the school is going to do to address the situation >> and and are we expecting the child to return to the classroom that they were bullied in um while they wait for that safety plan to go into place? Like what is what's the process there? >> Yeah. So once it's made once the staff is made aware of the situation, they can begin right then and there addressing it. So just because a formal

058safety plan is not in place does not mean that we're not responding and doing what we need to do to make sure that we're responding to whatever the concerns are. So whatever that would look like for each individual individual situation. >> And if I may jump in too, thank you. Um you know the uh it's it's a good question and every every incident is going to create a different response too, right? So there could be an alleged an allegation where you don't want to jump and se and then a kid that's an alleged perpetrator with very little detailed background around it. Now you're taking them out, removing them. Now you might be traumatizing them without having the facts or the details of the case. So every case I just want to emphasize has to be

059investigated and um there has to be there's always a lot of thought about making major changes to students environments but at the same time ensuring that they're safe. So sometimes you will have a separation of students. Sometimes you'll have like like a mini safety plan that isn't necessarily in writing, but that everyone's agreeing upon that we're going to do, you know, either ensure that they have different lunch waves now because it happened at lunch because maybe it's just not a a a class thing. So, u maybe it's because you maybe have to change change a bus route around or put a student on a different bus because so those things can happen in in between. Uh but we're also very cognizant of making sure that the process follows the in place and that we're we're

060we're cognizant now and ultra aware of between this student and whatever students they might be impacting that we're also not jumping to conclusions uh regarding regarding the case. So each long way of saying each case is different, but for the most part, you know, I've seen really quick really quick response on the administrator's part to put something into place to that puts everyone kind of at ease for the moment while the investigation occurs. And the investigation usually doesn't take much more than um you know, a day or two uh typically. >> And then just a final question, um besides the safety plan, what else do we do for the child that was bullied? How do we support them and bring them back, you know? Yeah, who got hit? >> Great question. And so we want

061to make sure that we are helping that student process whatever. So the person that would be the victim, make sure that we're helping them to process whatever, you know, has occurred, giving them the social emotional supports that they need, like what what what are your what are what are your um what are your strengths? What are some things that you can do to lean on when you feel like um you're in a situation where you're being bered? What are the things? How do we empower students to be able to take control of their situation? So, those are things that we can do to support a student that feels as though they're victimized. >> Commissioner, then I'll come back to you. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a quick question. So, what happens to the person?

062What resources and support do we have for the person that is actually doing the bullying? So yeah, again I think it's on a case-byase basis. And so we do all of our buildings do have people that are trained to be able to identify like what are the needs of that student. You know, there's that saying that hurt people hurt people. You know, so how do we get to the root cause of that student's behavior and how do we support them in putting in putting in more um pro-social um interactions with students? Like how do we teach them? Again, that goes to that tier one. How do we teach the expected behavior? You know, if you're upset with a student, how do you handle that? You know, if someone has um made you feel bad, you

063know, they they they've made you feel angry. What are ways that you can respond to that in a way that is helpful and not harmful? >> Thank you, >> Commissioner Munes. Thank you, Madam President. Um, now, thank you so much for answering these questions and um, and your patience with us. Um, a follow-up question is how do we handle the um, what protocols do we have for online bullying? Although I understand that that's not within the confines of our schools, that's still impacts our students coming in. So, is there something that's there that parents should know and how to navigate and students and all that good jazz? >> Absolutely. So, if it's online and it impacts our building, that is within our confines. And so, within the bullying reporting form, there is a place to

064indicate if it's something that is online. And so, if that is the case, we would usually ask families to kind of share with us some of those posts so that we're able to address it. Um again the remediation for that might be talking about you know what is appropriate online behavior. You know just because I'm not talking to you face to face the words that I share on this screen may still have an impact on you. And so making sure that our students are aware of that. Um sometimes it is a lot easier to say hurtful and damaging things online when you're not looking at a person. And so being able to talk through that with our students. Um again I think that particular issue is um can show the the impact of a tier

065one intervention. You know having those conversations before it even gets to that point like what what are the impacts of social media? What are the impacts of you know technology and how we use it? How do we use it responsibly? So >> and one followup question to that if it's all right. >> Sure. >> Thank you. Um, and is there organizations that we're partnering up with to like talk about like social media and bullying and that tie like IPV and DV and all of those things? >> So, we do have a number of partnerships with um different organizations. I'm trying to think in terms of on online cyber bullying um >> that is covered in the um P and health curriculum just so I mean it is covered through their typical classes students do get

066um that because it is now part of health curriculum about how you interact with communication devices such as your phone and your computer but also how you interact with others now because it's become so universal um it is now part of the students It's also part of uh some of the SEAL and the counseling work that students get throughout that curriculum as well. >> Thank you so much. >> Okay. Uh I just have one last question. In this data, are you including special ed students? >> Yes. Okay. And are there specific interventions in the tiered system that acknowledges the the the student with the special need? uh because I think sometimes uh they they lash out when they're being bullied and end up getting into a fight or something. So then they're they're looking at

067the school's looking at the action as a discipline issue and not kind of tracing it back to the actual bullying and helping the student especially with emotional needs themselves and how they react. So I'm just wondering if if that's being taken into consideration. >> Yes. So absolutely. So, our data does include special education students. Um, anytime we're looking at discipline, we do look at whether or not the behavior is a manifestation of the students identified needs and making sure that if there needs to be adjustment to the supports that they're receiving based on, you know, what's happening in the building that we can monitor that and adjust the plans of each individual students as necessary to respond to what we're seeing in the buildings. >> Great. Okay. Well, thank you very much and I'm sure

068if you have other questions, you know, superintendent will be glad to answer any questions. Uh, and really this is the most comprehensive data we've received in a long time. So, really appreciate your efforts. Thank you so much. >> Before I continue to the next agenda, I was remiss in not recognizing our Kennedy High students, Jaden Achea and Yuri Thomas, uh, from So, welcome. Welcome. Do you want to say hello? >> Hello. My name is Jaden Aso. I'm from Kennedy High School. Um, I am a senior. It's my last year. >> Okay. >> Good evening. My name is Yuri Thomas and I'm a junior at Kennedy High School. >> Great. Well, welcome. >> And I just learned Jaden was has been accepted to two universities and waiting on a few more. So, congratulations to you, J.

069>> Great. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Next on the agenda number two, uh, uh, Mrs. Frenis and Mr. Moratti. >> So, I'm going to be all front for the next. >> Okay. I see it's just Mrs. Frenis. Okay. Good evening. >> Good evening, President Brown, commissioners, student representatives, and superintendent Dr. Schwarz. The academic department respectfully requests approval of amendment one to the agreement between Trinity Health of New England Corporation, Inc. and the city to continue our partnership with St. Mary's Hospital and Abbott Terrace. Now, some of the legislation around the required CNA hours has stated that it has to be um in an elderly care facility. >> Um they've allowed us to continue our work with St. Mary's Hospital because obviously we lost Abbott Terrace. Um we spent all of last year um going to contract.

070We finally contracted with another agency called Benchmark. And so um this will allow us to continue to keep those nursing uh CNA programs going and having the students meet their clinical hours so that they can test later uh to get their C certificates to move on. And the other question is uh for the members, is this part of is this an extra cost or is this part of the program already uh in our budget? >> There is no cost to this partnership with St. Mary's. >> Okay. All right. Commissioners, any other questions? Commissioner L. >> Thank you, Madam President. Yes. I had a quick question. How many students uh total number do we have in the program as of now >> from Waterberry Career Career Academy? I believe there's usually 12 to 15 and they're

071they're in different years. >> Okay. >> Um and and so some of them do, you know, um classwork. Uh Kennedy, I would have to double check, but I think each building it's it's really only about 10 students and we're really trying to grow our CNA and our nursing programs because uh there's such highly skilled jobs and and we need our students to go into these areas. And when does recruitment start for those programs like the interest? Does it start in eighth grade and you kind of, you know, get a feel for it and then tell them they can sign up for the program or how does that kind of >> and once they get into really into freshman year >> when they get exposed to uh career pathways? >> Okay. And how much space do

072we have total? We have 10 of each school now. How much can we actually afford or >> We'll make as much room as we can. >> Yeah. If if we have students who are interested into going into these programs >> and of course towards the end of the senior year when they do their testing for their servitations, we help them do everything. Correct. >> Yes. >> Okay. All right. >> And if I may, uh, Commissioner Lot, one of the things that we've changed over time is now we have one common program of studies. So students are able to select their courses. And so it's really students vote with their with their course selections on what they're interested in doing. And so like Miss Brena said, if we if we have uh many students who want

073to who want to apply and get into these programs, it will be then on human capital to try to figure out all right, do we need more teachers to try to figure out how to do this? It is a very difficult um position to fill for us as you can imagine. >> Um but it is one that we're interested in and I know we talked about about 10 to 15 at a time. Some of that is is the limit of how many students you can actually bring back and forth through the facilities. Um, but there are approximately 200 plus students on the Health Strand and Career Academy that that that can at one point be a part of of a similar programming. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Okay. Thank you. I

074think you're up for the next one. >> Good evening again. The academic department respectfully requests permission to apply for the Connecticut State Department of Education First Robotics Mini Grant. The competitive this competitive grant is for existing high school robotics teams and can be used for materials and supplies, transportation and competition registration fees. The Willy High School robotics team has expressed an interest in applying and grant writer Louise Brown will assist in preparing the application packet should this request be approved. The due date is January 16th for the grant. >> Are there any questions? How much money uh can it can they apply for? What is the limit? >> It's up to $6,000. Okay. Um just would like to remind you that we have a very generous robotics grant through Yukon as well. And so this

075is an addition. Um Willby is in terms of they're probably our most advanced robotics team in terms of having students repeat year after year and the same coaches. And so I think um they have a a a more developed plan and vision for their team only because they've been working together uh for longer and so they there were um things that they would like to obtain with this additional money. >> Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Van Stone. Oh, >> you should have or so. >> Yeah. You going to get you the mic? Is that on? >> Tap it. >> Yeah. Tap it. See? Tap it. >> It's not. >> We're being silenced. >> Talk close. >> It wasn't on. >> Oh, yeah. Um, the timetable for this is the 16th. I believe our next meeting is

076the 15th. Is that going to be enough time for Are we going to lose this because of the time? I believe this is on the special meeting agenda for tonight. >> Tonight >> it's that I believe >> it's not a >> So it's not on >> Yeah. >> Do you need a vote to be able to apply for the grant? >> Do you need a vote to apply for the grant? >> I don't. So I don't I don't think we need a vote to apply for the grant. >> We don't we don't need to vote. >> I think we can apply for the grant. Okay. >> Without necessarily a vote, but I would I would have to defer to >> Carrie. Is that your understanding, too? Okay. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? Okay. Well,

077thank you. That's exciting. Are are there reasons why the other schools aren't applying for it or is it we just limited to one school? >> It we we were not limited to one school. Um, Wilby was the only school that expressed an interest. Again, those robotics teams have some new coaches and they do have quite a bit of funding available to them and so we've spent the last year >> uh buying additional materials and and parts and things like that. We're waiting for the reveal for the new competition which will happen later this month and then we're going to have to buy new kits and things like that. But um there is available funding to those teams um for the new build season. >> Thank you, Commissioner Van Stone. >> Thank you, Madam President. Through

078you, yeah, just to highlight that, Jan, it's it's correct. The way this works is when the theme comes out, you must buy a kit from First Robotics. >> So, that's an expense there. Everything else the material wise is in addition to to help you in in performing and building and having the spare parts etc that you're going to need. Now, you know, I've been with this robotics competition for many years now, >> and when I see the other teams from the other school districts coming into these programs, and now that we have all our schools participating, >> you know, years ago, Kennedy was the only one that had a team, >> right? >> And we could centralize everything and we could make it work. I see some of these other districts from around Connecticut and

079actually around all of New England because we get when we do it, it will be in March. >> I did see the email now. Um the third weekend of March, >> these teams from around New England, New Jersey, they've come in from Maryland. Their resources are tenfold what we have. >> So I applaud Willby for going after this. And in some ways I'm a little upset at the other programs for not following suit. Uh but with the 16th it's going to be awfully difficult. >> But um so I applaud you guys for at least getting this one out because >> our teams do very well. >> Yeah. >> With the limited resources they do have. Um, and for the new commissioners on the board, I strongly not just welcome you, but recommend you do come

080by and see the robotics competition at Willby. It's absolutely amazing. the enthusiasm. It It's It's amaz It's We fill the Willby gym, which I don't even think we do for basketball anymore. Maybe for the NVL championships, but the Phil will be gym is is pretty good accomplishment. It's a big place, but um please come to it and and again, thank you for putting this together. like all our contracts that we apply for or uh you know grants we apply for, we got to start getting these dates on because I see it going again with something we kind of cleaned up a few years ago with these dates coming in that are like tomorrow. Um and we really got to see these ahead of time and and and get them into us in a timely fashion.

081So thank you >> Dr. Schwarz. >> Yeah, thank you. I think um so my mother always said if you mess up you fess up. >> Yeah. >> So uh so uh Commissioner Oro is correct but I we've um we have a meeting next Thursday on the 15th which will allow us to apply on the 16th if approved. >> So Commissioner Oso publicly uh thank you for uh for pointing that out but we will make it in time for the approval on the 15th. I do think it speaks to a larger, you know, applications to apply for grants, especially for smaller grants. And I think Commissioner Vansstone, you're absolutely correct as well. Um, one of the things, as you know, because you've sat on the board, uh, for 12 plus years that, uh, sometimes these timelines

082get so tight because of when they release these grants as well. And so, uh, I just want to put that out, especially in this case here with they'll release it and they'll say you have a month to to not only put your application in, but get approval from your board. Um, and in this case, we did have a tight timeline again, but we will make it uh uh by the 16th, Commissioner O. So, thank you. >> I just had a question. Uh, Dr. Schwarz, if it's approved on the 15th, does it have to go to the board of alderman? >> No, this is just to apply for a grant. >> Okay, good. Thank you. >> Yeah, sir. I have nothing to turn on. Turn down again. >> Oh, your mic is working. >> Yeah, it's

083working. I can catch what I'm saying. >> Okay, I guess you're up again. >> Keep my mouth. >> The academic department respectfully requests approval of a memorandum of agreement with the Connecticut Association of Schools Connecticut Interscolastic Athletic Conference in order to accept grant funding in the amount of $19,143.25. This grant funding will be used for a 12-week elementary unified sports program for disabled students and non-disabled peers at Chase, Walsh, Kingsbury, Washington, Gil Martin, and Reed schools. The program will run from February 23rd to May 16th. >> Any questions, Commissioner Lopez? >> Love it. >> Are those the only schools that meet criteria? like why why were those schools selected? >> So last year there were only four schools um I believe it was the first four who showed an interest. Um this year the grant

084was increased so that we could add two more schools and again it was you know two additional schools who showed interest and had the staff. Part of the issue is this happens very quickly. Um, and you have to be able to have coaches and so it was a matter of finding schools that had people who were willing to be coaches, students who were, you know, able to participate and so we actually are expanding it a little bit this year. >> Great. And then just a followup, um, do we have anything like no middle schools were interested in participating? >> U, this was just the elementary level. >> This just for elementary. Okay. Is are is there any opportunities for middle schools? >> I can look into it, but m most elementary schools don't really have

085sports programs anyway. There are, you know, other opportunities at the larger middle schools for students to participate. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Commissioner Van Stone. >> Thank you, Madam President. Through you, I'm I'm so happy that we're doing this finally, you know, down to sports and it was the kids were, you know, having a blast. all kids, the mentors as well as, you know, the athletes, and it was an amazing thing. So, I'm really glad we're doing it. Um, I do want to see the high schools get beefed up a little bit. And what I'm curious about too with this is I would like to I can ask some other ads that I know, but if we ask the ads because the unified sports at the high school level is part

086of the NVL. It is now part of the NVL. They sanction it and I'm just and and we do have a little NVL for the middle schools. I don't know how official it is, but they call it the little the little NVL. And u I would love to see the NVL do this as well, which would then hopefully let the high school students teach the elementary kids how to be a mentor. Um it it's challenging. It's a challenging thing for the students to do and I applaud them for doing it. So I'm I'm going to make sure I mark on my calendar that May 23rd event. um you know and see how this is uh coming to fruition. So this is great. Thanks. >> Thank you. Uh number five, >> you're up again, Jen. >>

087The education department respectfully requests approval of an agreement between the city and Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board, Inc. for the Capital Workforce Partners Adult Education Remediation for Career Connect Connecticut program. All prospective students were required to take an assessment administered by the North Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board. Students identified as needing remediation in mathematics or English language arts were referred for additional support to Water Adult Education. The contract will fund remediation services up to $49,92783 and up to an enrollment of 18 students. The contract period will commence on January 12th and will terminate on June 30th, 2026. >> Any questions? Commissioner L. >> Thank you, Madam President. Yeah. Quick question in regarding to the grant here. It said if the funds were to roll out that the city may be liable for the funding of

088it. So if we start the program there two weeks in the funding just stops at the federal level, would the city be not be liable to reimburse for all costs? the documentation that I saw had that dollar amount of 49927 approved. >> Um >> I'm just looking the contract here to just says if funds were to go out that we they would not be liable as far as the WHI then we won't be liable for any um funding and we will have to cover it as a city. So it says on the financial obligation on page four of 11 it says that federal state local or private funding sources in event such funds are unavailable web contract terminate immediately subcontract receipt notice US mail uh return receipt requested subcontract will be reimbured allowable um crossed

089and cured and the web is not liable will not reimburse any expense for activity occurs the notification determination so pretty much once they tell us that they're out they're not liable for any expenses after that So would that cause come on to us now? >> We would just be out. >> We wouldn't continue to >> provide those services. >> We haven't we haven't funded for that. So obviously we wouldn't, >> as you know, there's a lot of things that come up through the school year, things that we have to maintain and we bud budget for, you know, the whatifs. >> But in situations like this, you know, we don't we don't have the 50,000 laying around to support this program. So as long as that funding is there, it can go. But if if a

090program like this uh we would terminate it immediately, you know, uh it would be very similar to if if BTS didn't have the funding for the rest of this year, we would have almost no choice. Like we don't have $500,000 to continue that programming. >> We would have to do it that way. So yes, in this case, we would terminate that program. >> Yeah, completely understand why I just don't want, you know, the students getting involved in the system program four weeks in all of a sudden, hey, tomorrow nothing. You're done. You're done. We wouldn't want that either, but um I don't I just don't think we would have the funding to be able to to fund it if that did happen. >> Okay. And then as far as the student selection there, is there

091are some residency points for Waterberry um students or residents or No, that says Northwest Regional. >> I don't think so. >> No, that's so >> Yeah. Yeah. But it's on the bottom there. It says the requirements. It let you know like 18 over lives in a certain area, but just letting if it's watery students would get like some type of residency points for um scoring and testing. >> There are other locations. I know that one of the other locations where students can choose to go is um Nagata adult education. >> Okay. >> And so um they're the students are engaged in the WHIB's um workforce programs, right? And they need some remediation. And so the WHIB contracts with different um school systems uh in order to provide that remediation. And so it would really be

092a choice of the student probably based on where they live or what's most convenient for them. >> Oh, perfect. So they're doing their own. Okay, that's great. That's all I wanted to make sure that they're paying for themselves. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. Uh next would be uh number six. The academic department respectfully requests permission to accept the Connecticut Department of Agriculture Connecticut grown for Connecticut kids grant and approval to enter into the grant contract. The Waterberry grant application was submitted and selected funding in the amount of $49,887. The grant project is a farm-to-school initiative that will greatly strengthen Willby High School students agricultural program by providing students with opportunities to prepare, plant, and maintain raised beds and hydroponic towers. Some of the produ produce grown will be used

093by the culinary program in the food service departments um in preparing lunches for school. happy to answer any questions >> and just for the members and maybe Darren you could uh to during part of will be uh their renovations we renovated the whole greenhouse >> and it's beautiful and I think it's really and we hired a fantastic teacher so we've really revitalized that whole career path so I'm excited about that so this grant would you know be very beneficial to that >> I I concur. >> Okay. >> I can >> I don't know who was first, but anyway, Commissioner Monz and then Commissioner Orso >> through Madame President. Um, Miss Fruses, if it's all right, may you clarify how long the grant is for? >> I believe it's a 2year. Let me look. 12 to

09424 months >> and we are able to um reapply for that again for the kiddos. >> I don't know if they will offer it again at the end of the 24 months. Okay. >> We don't know that. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome, >> Commissioner Oro. Oh, good. Okay. >> All right. Thank you. Okay. Going on to number seven. Tracy, >> you're off the hook. Number seven, Tracy Menise. >> Good evening, President. Good evening, President Brown, commissioners, student representatives, and Dr. Schwarz. The special ed department requests the approval of amendment number one to the agreement between the city of Waterberry public schools and Capitol Region Educational Council CRE out of district special ed placement. This amendment will be paid through general funds. The purpose of the agreement is to continue to provide a special program

095including instruction and related services suitable for those children to be served in the accordance with Connecticut general statutes, the individuals and disabilities act IDA and their respective regulations in each individual students IEP as developed by the city and the PPT planning and placement team. The original three-year agreement was executed on October 4th, 2024 for the amount not to exceed 985,790. This amendment number one to the agreement shall add compensation in the amount of 846,7183 for the remainder of the three-year contract concluded on June 30, 2027 for a total contract value of 1.8 1,3832,49183. The purpose of this agreement is to continue to provide services for raises in tuition and an additional student placed midyear at Capitol Region Education Council CRE out of district placements. >> So how many students altogether are under the are in

096the CRE program? >> Um I can give you the exact number. Um I looked over this earlier. Um we had four at the time. >> So then we we'll have five. Then we'll have five. We're looking for a fifth, but right now it's four. Yes. >> Okay. Four. Okay. >> Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Lopez. And then Commissioner Orso. >> Yeah. Um I don't know if I should ask you this question or maybe Go ahead, >> Dr. Schwarz, but you know, the public is very concerned that people are coming and using Waterberry addresses to obtain special ed services. >> So, I'm wondering if we have any credibility or any evidence uh about this. >> Yeah. No, thank you for for that. Um, I I I I was just talking about this actually today. We had a

097really important meeting and I just to paint a a quick picture for the board because I know we've had a transition here midy year. Um, the security department doesn't doesn't ever stop working and supporting student safety and two of the major initiatives this year for students. Uh the first initiative was ident and the second initiative speaks to what you just talked about. For the first two to three months of the year, ident has really allowed us to identify that students who are coming into the school belong to that school. We don't have um like we don't have the IDs, right? So we have IDs as staff members, but we're a district that never went to student IDs. uh most other districts went there and then it you hear all the pain of they have to

098keep reprinting IDs as kids lose them over and over and over again and becomes quite costly. We've gone to identic system that uses a finger scan or punching in your your your unique student ID code to be able to get into the school to be able to to know that you know you're entering those safe spaces. But it also allows us to do a few other things safety wise uh that allows us to make sure kids are safe. We spent a good amount of time updating also photos of students. We had most photos like Jaden would have been from like sixth grade uh when that we had in the system which um wasn't always helpful to keep Jaden safe and and others. And so we've also updated photos that went with the identicric system. The

099second place where we've transitioned to over the last uh few months is and what I've noticed so for the last um 12 plus years I was in Waterberry um there were definitely uh instances where we were consistently being told by administrators like hey we have we don't think these students live in Waterberry either they never lived in Waterberry and used an address from grandma or auntie to come here or they were in Waterberry and then they left Waterberry but they want to keep their kids because they love that wall school because they want to keep them there. So, um, at any district, especially of our size, you're going to have, um, that type of instance. And I think in from parents perspective, they're just trying to keep their kid at the same school. Unfortunately, from

100the taxpayer perspective and the education department, it is it is it is fraudulent. You can't the state law is very clear. You cannot just keep your kid in a in a in a town you don't, you know, pay the taxes in or and or live in and reside in. And so um there uh what we've done and actually just this week uh we have started to identify uh the families and students who are um who have been given uh false addresses. We use a system called clear ID. You might know that system because it's the same system that um I'm sure Commissioner Lot uses in his profession, but also TSA and different um um different um agencies use and allows us to triangulate a lot of data that says your actual residency is right here.

101But then you just can't take it for what it's worth because then you actually have to go out there and kind of check it out and you have to have some manpower to go look at it. So, so that's a long way of saying actually just this week we've had two students unenroll because we have given them the proper letters given them uh the proper you can come to the hearing but this is what we have and we had one person who cha chose to come to the hearing said they had all the information when we requested that information uh they never came back and they just they exited the school system. We had a second person who was presented with that they just they just never even came to the hearing and they just

102they left the district. We have several more in the hopper, but just understand we're also starting from a place of zero where this has never been done before. Um, and so we have a lot to clean up. Um, what that number is, we won't know until the end of the year, but we can get a list again that what Clear ID gives us, but it's always going to take a little bit more. Especially in Waterberry, we have a transient population, right? Like you started in this apartment, you're over in this apartment. I'm not so worried about you moving from one side of town to the other just yet because that that's a that's you're still in the city. I'm worried about those that are using the system to your point that actually don't live here.

103And uh Danberry uh Jackie um and the and the team have been meeting on how to properly go through this and give every parent also the opportunity to have that hearing which they have a right by law. So it's a long way of saying um we're on top of it. This first time we've ever done this. Uh we want to make sure that um that students that are coming to Waterberry live in Waterberry, reside in Waterberry. Now some students who don't live here may uh uh be coming here for Mckin Vento purposes um and or because they come and have been applied to a magnet school and have been accepted. Those are the only two reasons that you should be coming to Waterberry Public Schools outside of the the normal uh situation. So we've had

104two uh so far. We have many more uh from the list that I've seen that we're we're going to continue to look at. Um but in in those cases it was more of a convenience thing for the parent, not because they were seeking out some um top tier special education programming. I think I I've heard that too, by the way, when I was like, you know, when I when I started here, people come to Waterberry for the special education. Um we're finding more and more that it's more of um like a relative lives in the neighborhood and it's just that's where they drop their kid off in the morning and then they go to work. It's a it's mostly convenience and or it's mostly because they've had their child in that school, they've moved out

105of Waterberry, but they really don't want to pull them out. Um, but uh I'd be happy as we go up throughout the year and especially at the end of the year to give you a fuller report about how many of these cases we have found this year and um and then I can give you some anecdotal information about what was the root cause of why they chose to try to keep their child in Waterberry public schools. Commissioner Orso. >> Hi. Uh, thank you. I just want to try to get my head around something here. So, this contract originally was $985,790. >> Correct. >> So, you're coming back from amendment because you ran out of the money. The money is gone. >> Well, we we also have a student that came midyear. So that we had

106to add to that tuition and the raise they're raising the tuition rates for the next for the rest of the contract. >> Okay. So So how did that's my question. How did that you determine the $846,71? How how did that come about? I mean uh you know you talk the next a year and a half um to use that money. Uh who came up with that figure? I mean, is is it >> correct? Correct. >> Correct. I mean, >> so it's based it's based on the student the students individual identified needs and then how much they're apply to how much they're charging us for those needs. You bring up a good point though, Commissioner Orso. One of the things that we're fighting for and you know we know we have a legislative breakfast tomorrow and

107special education is going to be definitely talked about is that these these one of the things we've been fighting for is like these these random rate increases that they get to set all by themselves and so you know they they get to set these rates and we kind of are stuck with this isn't the student's IEP. It's, you know, we have uh we we bring as many kids back as we possibly can, but there are just some students we cannot house in the water public schools and when they set their rates >> or if we have a student move in that uh is uh sometimes it's not even us identifying a student. A student moves in from another town city. And so it's it's it's I think this board has seen and and then commissioner,

108you've seen this over the years, the numbers are exorbitant. And when you start to look at all the things we want to do in the city and want to do in the district, um obviously our most vulnerable students and our special ed students, we're always going to take care of them. We're always going to do what's rightful and what's by law. But you see those numbers and you see what else we could do when you talk about all the things that are happening in the city. This is why we're fighting so hard >> with legislators to um um reimburse the excess cost grant at 100%. So like these students once they once they um hit over a certain amount, we actually get reimbursed for some of that money but not reimbursed 100%. You know, we

109also are fighting for um rate these rate changes to to be regulated by the state as well. And so I just wanted to provide that context for everybody. I know Commissioner Orso, you've been here, so you've seen uh and heard this fight over and over again and uh we're going to continue to advocate, but that those numbers are really they're set by by Crack and we're kind of beholding to them. >> And thing we have, like you say, a new student came in. So we get a new student in June could be another $800,000. >> Yeah. Or a student could leave and then we don't use all the funding that's appropriated in that in that contract obviously. And so, um, or we can find ways to try to bring certain back certain students back, which

110we I know the spread department does, but it's, um, it's certainly, yeah, and you can see for a city like Waterberry, obviously one that struggles with funding to begin with, it's difficult, the smaller towns actually are even more exasperated by these situations. Whereas if you have a small town with a small budget, you have one student move who moves in that requires 300 $400,000 a year. It really can sink a a small town's budget. So um yes, Commissioner, it's a good point. >> And and correct me, you said this is all for students. >> Four students. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Commissioner Munos. >> Thank you through Madame President. Um my question is is that what is the time frame in terms of approving this? >> Well, I think you know, >> you know,

111I don't want to speak for uh Miss Menses, but um they're putting this request in in in that date today. We'd have to get back to you, Commissioner Munz, but there's going to be a point that unless you we up this contract, we be in violation of basically federal law because it's the students PPT that says they're placed here. >> So, um but that we usually try to come before that gets to that date. >> So, we're before right now, obviously. >> Um but, uh do do you have that exact date uh by Miss Benze on offhand? If not, we can get it to the board. >> No, we I we can get it to you by tomorrow. >> Okay. Good. Um I'm sorry. Um a follow-up question to that then. Um if we get

112that designated date, um is there a possibility that like we can get a further update after um the legislative breakfast that you go to? because I think I'm very intrigued as to how Crack is doing this and it's none of the fault of the student and very much like it almost feels very predatory at this time. >> Yeah, I can I can give you an update. I can also tell you for the last 12 years we've been banging >> like this has been a this is this is not new today and it's not just crack. You know, I don't want to disparage Craig. Um right, >> you know, obviously, you know, CRE is basically doing what every other um um approved program is doing in the state >> and sometimes it and and I know

113they require very specialized people and they get raises every year just like our teachers and administrators as well. So that the costs go up. Um, but that's why we're fighting so hard for number one, anything that excess cost, which is like something like four times the amount it costs to um, educate a child in Waterberry. Let's say it's it's not 20,000, but let's say it's 20,000. You times it by four. Anything above 80,000, you should be getting some reimbursement back. Well, they're not even reimbursing us 100% above that 80,000. It's like something like 70% above that 80,000. So if every you know so you'd get only get 70% reimbursement of 120,000 if we spent 200,000 if that makes any sense for mathematics for anybody. So it's it's it's really exorbitant the costs have skyrocketed uh

114over the over over the time. Um but we certainly can give you an update on how it goes with the legislative breakfast. We're going to have another legislative >> we have another legislative breakfast with our local legislators coming up as well. Um but is also this is something that has to be decided during the session and so I will certainly keep you updated if we make any progress there. >> Thank you Dr. Schwarz and that ends all my questions. Madam President, >> thank you Commissioner Van Stone. >> Thank you Madam President. Through you just so everyone knows correct is one of five groups around organizations around the state that are or you know sanctioned by the state. >> Correct. And in respect to that, did we look at ACES for this particular student or any

115of the other four? >> Yes, we also have contracts with ACES. What happens is that we do send out to all the different RCS. Um they do look at the profile of the student and these students um were not accepted at ACES. They were accepted at CRE because of the needs. So we do look at CRE. We do look at our Ben Havens. We So we have a long list of um schools. Um the students were selected for um CRE because that was the acceptance. Okay. Now, and in in the paperwork here, it says uh the IEP as developed by the city. Now, if this is a new student, we didn't develop the IEP. We may have reviewed it. >> Yes. >> And probably concurred, >> but we didn't develop it. Now, in years past,

116>> some money should have followed the student. Do we know why that's not happening in this case? the the the district that wrote that IEP >> still holds some responsibility for that student. >> Not anymore. They move in. They change that. >> That's ours. It's been like that for since I've been since I've been here. No, no, no. >> I've sat down with Wendy John's over this this There should have been some money followed as student. And I wish we would look into that. >> No, that's not Well, I I don't know what Wendy told you, but I I know that's not accurate. >> Well, okay. >> I would still look into it because I believe it is still on the books. because that's a lot of money for one student. And to the point

117that came up originally about students moving in, I mean, they'll all move into Waterberry and bankrupt us, >> especially if we don't get 100% reimbursement, >> it's it certainly has been an ongoing issue legislatively uh for all the districts. It's been a top priority. last session uh they the legislature did give us additional dollars and we were grateful to get uh what was it an extra few million right >> $2.5 million for the seed grant which >> allow which is there's there's a lot of stipulation to it which >> well as much as the 100% reimbursement really what we need to talk about tomorrow is getting to that point of a u a rate chart that's approved by Absolutely state. That's the bigger issue >> because I know I sit on ACES >> and I'm

118also their financial officer and I just had brought to me was their new rate chart and they're going up quite high >> for their special ed services. >> Y >> so you know the state's got to step in and I know we talk all the time to these legislators but quite honestly I don't think they listen >> because nothing ever changes. Um, so tomorrow maybe we'll we have quite a few actually legislators coming tomorrow, more than normal from uh throughout Litrio County. Uh, and maybe we just got to team up on all of them and tell them they got to come do something about it. >> Oh my goodness. >> We'll put the welcome mat out. >> That's the reason that's the reason we asked them to come, right? We I didn't invite them just

119so they could eat that great food from Crosby Culinary. >> We're going to butter them up with Crosby Culinary and that's it. Not to belabor the issue but I I think it might be helpful for the members to have an idea of what services we are paying for because I think in the past we have most of these students need nursing care. Uh you're talking about transportation uh feeding tubes uh I mean these are high-end children that need specialized care >> and they need a nurse to go in the car with them to the facility. So >> and some are 24/7 >> in 24/7. So I think it might be helpful for everybody to understand exactly uh why the ex just seems exorbitant which it is but it but I think we have to understand

120these are very very high-end children. So if you could give us like a snapshot of what all these services are that would be great. >> Sure. So I don't have these students in front of me but I can just give you an overview. When we talk about related services, we're talking about um OT, PT, speech. Um you have students just as you're saying that need that one-to-one pair of support. So we still do pay for that even though if they're not in district, but they require that. Um so those are a lot of the related services that brings up the tuition plus the related services and that brings up the costs. >> And then the nursing doortodoor transportation >> nursing if you you know you have some students we at St. Vincent um you which

121is our medical fragile students um they have nurses that ride you can talk about an RN rate versus an LPN rate that so depending on the need of the student what type of nursing they're going to need that's also another cost um all of the different related services does bring up the cost across the all of these >> and we have seen the rates and as as commissioner Van Stone said most of the providers have have really raised their rates and we don't negotiate those rates That's the problem. That's as as Tom is saying. So, we have a lot of work to do, but thank you very much. Appreciate your >> your presentation. >> Okay. Um Dorene Viola. Good evening, President Brown, commissioners, student representatives, and superintendent Dr. Schwarz. Um before I'm before you with

122the monthly report through November. Uh this is our fifth month of the fiscal year. This is the month where we start to see um a little more actuals. Um, so we are able to maybe project these line items a little bit better. Um, this week I started to work on the December report. So we've been getting more um more actual so our projections again can can be uh much more accurate um because this is where now we're starting to see where the payrolls are hitting and how they're hitting um the the align item along with invoices now that we're being build for things start coming in. So we could see where transportation's coming, seeing invoices where special educations are coming in at. >> Um we keep various uh Excel spreadsheets on many of these major

123accounts, our own. Um we've developed actually a spreadsheet over the years for special education that's really been very useful um month by month that we project um how each facility is charging um so on and so forth. So um you know at this point we plan to stay on budget um unless something drastically happens. Um we have put many cost containment measures in. We're really watching the overtime. Um we pretty much are doing it by approval basis and you know in accordance with the collective bargaining unit that that employee belongs to. Um you'll see like through um the first page the salaries um we're seeing that we should you know balance out in uh the black whereas you're going to see purchase services we're showing a deficit in that area but we're going to make

124it up through other uh categories through supplies um and so on and so forth. So of the 158.4 4 million general operating budget. Um we should remain on target if not surplus a little bit. Um the alliance if you look on the last page we can never talk about this budget without talking about the alliance grant because the alliance grant has a majority of operating costs in that grant that belong to this operating budget. So because this operating budget does not get increases over the last 10 years, the increases went to the alliance grant. Most of the operating costs are pushed over there. So that $71,617,91 that you're seeing um under alliance non-reform reform, that's the budget that's really for this operating budget because the alliance grant is like 87.9 million. So, of that 71.6

125is for this this actual operating budget. Um, we do have some contingencies that we've been holding off that offsets our budget. Um, I will probably in the next month you'll see that I should not plan to use that. So, when we move forward working on the fiscal year 27 budget that those contingencies which total three 3.6 6 million can still hopefully offset that budget for fiscal year 27. Um, and just with a little quick heads up on fiscal year 27, which we're continuing to work on now. Um, at this point, we don't have an increase in the alliance budget. We don't have additional ECS money. Um, which is going to make it very challenging for us. So, I just kind of wanted to point that out. Anybody have any questions on the monthly report for

126November? I just wanted to know if you had in front of you, I know you had submitted a timeline for the budget. I have maybe we could you could remind people that uh that we will submit our budget and then we'll have through the finance committee and then there'll be hearings and then we send it over to the board of alderman. >> Yeah, I have the budget timeline. So, this is a proposed budget timeline for the fiscal year budget of 27. So currently um we start working on the fiscal year the next fiscal year's budget in November. So my office staff we begin from November through January working along with Dr. Schwarz central office team and all the various departments in education uh to prepare a proposed budget um for next year and then we'll

127have to determine dates between January and February where we meet with the board of ed finance committee and any of any other members who are not on the finance committee are more than welcome to come to those meetings as well and we will review we will discuss the proposed budgets we will hear your recommendations um and then we will also set up a special meeting to meet with the committee of the whole to review the finance committee's budget recommendation to the whole entire board. Um, also in February, we have a special meeting where the board of ed will adopt the budget request and then send it off to the mayor. From February through March, the proposed education budget is considered by the office of the mayor and the office of budget control on the city

128side. By April 1st, the mayor has to submit a proposed city budget to the board of alderman. April through May, the board of alderman will hold budget subcommittees for review and meet with each individual department of the city. By June 5th, the board of alderman must adopt the budget according to the charter. the first week of um between May and the first week of June, the board of education finance committee we will meet again to discuss final budgets and that's however many times the board of um the finance committee wishes to meet. Um and on June 4th at the workshop, the board of education will consider the the board of education's final budget for adoption. And on June 18th, the board of education meeting is when you will vote on the adoption of the final

129budget. >> Thank you. >> I'm sure everybody gets that. I got I think we did get it, but >> uh just so that you know that it's it's a tight frame, >> but I think it uh it's going to be very important for everybody to be really uh focused on it because as she said, we're losing funds or we're not going to be getting new funds. So, we're going to have to prioritize. So, thank you. Any other questions for Dorene? Thank you so much. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. And uh next number nine, uh Mr. Albini, please. >> Are you giving the superintendent's update? >> Yeah, I have a brief. >> Did you want to talk? >> It's okay. I'll say the update. Good evening, President Brown, Board of Education Commissioners, Board of Education

130Student Representatives, Superintendent Dr. Schwarz. The Department of Education respectfully requests your review and approval of an agreement with Parent Square Incorporated for an electronic communication platform with notification system servicing all schools in the total amount of $48,74120 for a period of five years. Funds will be provided through title one and title 4 grants. This is our communication system that we use for parents, students, staff, and we've had this in place for uh the past five years. Uh we found that it was a uh a very good uh program that services our parents. They're used to this. >> Uh it is very easy to use. It's very compatible. Um you can use communication through email, through text, through apps. Um there areund over 190 languages in Parent Square. >> We have 50 languages uh spoken in

131our schools. Uh the beauty of this program is um one of the beauties uh um other than the familiarity that the staff and parents have is that um I can send out a parent square message in English and the recipient can translate that into their language, read it, speak back or excuse me, email back parent square back rather or message back in their native language and I would I can translate it into English. >> Wow, that's awesome. >> So, it is a very universal program. >> Um it's uh we have I think 99% um connectivity with all of our parents uh at this point. It's just um one of those things that it works very well for our for our needs. >> Any questions, Commissioner Lopez? >> It's not really a question. just more of

132a complaint. I'm a parent on Parent Square. I know that there's tons of messages. You know, over time it gets to be too many. >> So, that's number one. And number two, every so often the the app kicks you out and you have to log back in. And that, thank goodness I have a kid that knows how to get me back in. >> It's all about technology. >> But why does it do that? >> That I don't know. Um but we'll try to find out for you. And um I I'm on the phone all the time with Parent Square, so I'll ask and find out what that is about. I don't know. >> Thank you. >> They just don't like you. They kick you off. >> Any other questions? Thank you very much, Nick. I

133guess you're up for the next toot. >> Good evening, honorable Board of Education Commissioners. The education department has received nine requests for building and school facilities use by schools, school organizations, andor city departments as listed in your packet. And they request board of educa request board of education approval. >> Any questions? The next one, please. >> Once again, good evening, honorable board. The education department has received two requests for building and school facilities use by outside organizations. They are Countrywood Hills Condo Association uh for Wallace Middle School Media Center, Children's Dance Workshop, Kennedy High School Auditorium and CAF. The education department has received four requests for building and school facilities use by outside organizations and they request a waiver of fees by the board of education. They are Hoops for Life, PAL, Waterberry Patriots Cheer,

134and the American Cancer Society. And thirdly, the education department has also received four requests for building and school facilities use by outside organizations and they request a waiver of fees by the board of education as they were granted waiverss in the past. Waterberry Knights Chair B. Foley Pal and Waterberry Patriots chair. >> Thank you. Any questions? >> Through you, Madam Chair. Um, I just have a question because I was looking at all these waiverss and I do see that like the school education department is definitely um it seems like every time we talk it's like we're looking for money more money but if we're charging programs and they're waving our maintenance fee, can't they give something? That's all. you know, I I know it costs everything is going up in pricing, but if we're charging

135um I mean 50 60, but I'm looking at the prices here of waving custodial fee. I mean, that's where I'm at with that. >> They might come back to kick me and you know, whatever, however. But >> so the way that ask question is your it is your discretion as a board. you know, it's something that, you know, whether it happens openly now and and or uh you know, it's something that you want to put off and debate at another time. But it is it is it is your purview as the board of education and we do have historically eaten those costs for sure and it does cost it does cost the custodian the overtime and and and that is that is the truth. But we are we are at the mercy of your decision.

136If I may, >> well, I would just just say you have raised an excellent point that we have all struggled with since we've all been on the board. A lot of these are nonprofits in the community and serve our children and they have ties to the community and uh they make a good case for you know how these are municipal buildings and you know so we've we've heard a lot of the uh you know the reasons why they should not have to pay. But that said since we're facing you know budget shortfalls maybe it's time to look at it. Maybe uh we can ask uh commissioner Ireland who's in a head of the facilities department I mean committee to kind of look at that. >> Sure. Absolutely. We can also have a meeting or just

137a follow-up discussion with the commissioners. >> And with my followup question, maybe you're making a donation uh something something's better than nothing. That's you know cuz we can all give something. I'm not I mean I get it. I understand it. But there's a lot of dates. >> There's a lot of dates and I get it. I understand it. There are a lot of people who definitely do great things in our um community. I'm all for it. But at some point, you know, we can't keep going red, negative red, and not moving forward. So maybe a donation, you know, I mean, give something 4,000, whatever it was for each time they're in there. Just something that's not a hard ask, I don't think. >> I think these are good things to be discussed at the committee.

138Commissioner Orso, >> I was I was going to say, don't feel bad. I've been saying this for years. So, >> yeah. Well, as I said, we've struggled with it for years. Uh, and we do hear it from the community and so forth, but um, maybe it's time to revisit it. Thank you. >> Yeah. And there there have been Thank you for that, Commissioner. That's an excellent point that we've been talking about as everybody has said, but just uh for instance, uh some things that go wrong when we had the inclement weather on the weekend and we were cancelling everything because we couldn't get the sidewalks cleaned in time. We wanted to use the maintainers outside, not to be inside to empty the garbage pales for the the renters, if you will. Uh they showed up

139anyway. And so how do you turn them away? So now we have to transition. So some of these things are are difficult points to maneuver. So uh excellent point and we're glad it's uh a conversation this evening >> and it shall continue. Uh Commissioner L. >> Thank you Madam President. Yeah, just to piggy back off you. um when these programs go in there, can we request like uh I don't want to say a roster, but you know, I I have no problem kind of helping out Waterberry residents, waterberry students, but a lot of these programs also cater to outside students and you know um players. So we kind of want to be sure >> 50% or more are water bay students than or water residents then you know you so you could create a policy

140that basically states that you know they have to submit that with their application and then that would allow you to to make those decisions. Uh but yeah I guess the short answer is you can create the policy anyway you want. >> Thank you. I also want to make it clear that I'm not saying those who are actually impacting the programs that are already in place >> because there are some organizations that are definitely doing the work. >> Um >> you don't we the schools don't have to pay because they're inside the buildings. Um so I do get that part, right? >> Um because there are a few I'm not going to name them because I don't want you know my head is like hot right now. I feel the heat. But there are certain organizations

141that are pouring into our students um based on the grants and the fundings that they're getting. However, >> let's not get it mixed up with those who are >> and uh that we are doing our due diligence. So, I think that's really what we have to do. Commissioner Ireland. >> Yeah. Just just one question. did um what are what what are the policies that other you know other districts what what are what do they usually do? >> They charge almost every well because if you think about it why do I need to own a dance studio if I could just use >> way school every day and if you keep giving me the studio then that's fine. So I don't think that's an actual case by the way. So that's why I used it. Um,

142but I mean I think I think to to you know commissioner to your point you know there are there there are nuances to this right and so but but I can I can certainly uh grab some policies and protocols from other districts to help facilitate that conversation of coming up with something that is fair and judicious. >> Okay, Commissioner Munoz. Yeah, >> thank you, Madame President, and through you. >> I I am really looking forward for us to review this because that is $14,46150 in 2026, the year of our Lord. And um that's a lot just for custodial fees. And I'm I'm going to say this now from the perspective of like I've had family members who were custodians that goes to them. And I I I respect um our nonprofits that do the work

143and also corporations that are doing really good things, but that's a lot of money in today's America. I'm sorry. Thank you. That's all. >> Commissioner Van Stone. >> Thank you, Madam President. Through you, oh boy, I wait at the end. Carrie's laughing because she knows years and years and years ago I used to take this part of the meeting and keep it going till about 10 o'clock at night. >> Oh, please, please. >> And uh because it drove me crazy because if you watch some of them, I don't know which ones are on this cuz to be honest, I put the white flag up on this a few years ago because it was just crazy. But you're also going to see every now and then um well not now with Kennedy pool but Westside Pool

144there are definitely nonwaterberry organizations using our swimming pools. I'll guarantee you that right now. U technically the all the dates you see there when it lists like 40 dates any city uh any school that requires that date the outside organization gets bumped. So, just so you understand that piece, but we do we get these organizations come in and they they wipe out, you know, like 30 dates for swimming pools and um and they're definitely the outside schools that um one is Westover and I think they definitely could probably afford >> a couple bucks. I think >> the pools are a little different because you do have to pay some money for the pools you're because of the liability. So, the pools are different, but there's definitely outside of Waterberry organizations >> using our swimming pools.

145>> So, um >> I'm just sitting back listening to this because it used to be one of my favorite parts of the meeting. >> So, thank you. You guys are all entertaining me tonight. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Albini. And let's let's move it along here. Uh superintendent's update. >> Oh, thank you, President. >> That's an introduction. Good evening, uh, President Brown, commissioners, student representatives. I'll be brief tonight, uh, because we've had a long break, but a few things I just want to highlight for you all, commissioners, is I just wanted to, you know, I know it's after the holidays, but the Rat Pack motorcycle club does adopt a class every year at Dugen, and it was a co- talk kindergarten class where they came and, you know, brought cheer to all the

146students in that Kota talk class and it's a tradition that they look forward to, not just at the Rapack motorcycle club, but also at Dugen. So, I just wanted to thank them for that that support. >> Um, timely discussion here as as discussed at our last board meeting. When are the surveys going out? They're going out from January 12th to the 16th for grades 3 to 12. Be happy to update you once those surveys are completed. We had a great conversation earlier today at a committee meeting with Adam Shaven, the director, who will be back here at the next workshop to discuss some more of his plans. So, uh, I had the opportunity this morning to, um, every every morning Crosby the Bulldogs, they do a, um, uh, Principal Verono gets on with a couple

147of students and they they do like the like the updates, the news updates for the school. And I was able to log in this morning and, uh, because they screen it, they um, stream it in every classroom. And uh Miss Suarez is a teacher at Crosby who because of her ability to speak two languages uh was able to avert a disaster on an airplane ride home on January 1st because there was a lady who was having a medical issue on the on the plane and she was the one that was able to speak Spanish and kind of communicate with the medical professionals on the plane. And so I wanted all of Crosby and all the students there and all the teachers and specifically Miss Suarez to know that she really is a community hero. I

148wanted to thank her for her um heroic efforts and um she she she definitely confirms that bilingualism is a superpower. >> All right. Um, as you know, uh, I I believe this came up at a board meeting, but if not, then, um, um, I want to give you an update based on just the Kennedy High School and Highland A, um, and what's going on out there because there's some there were some safety concerns about Highland A and specifically Kennedy and um, so the engineers and Roy Kavanaaugh have been working uh, to uh, develop some more safety measures on Highland Avenue near Kennedy. We're going to they're going to eliminate two crosswalks at Kennedy and put one main at the school entrance. They're going to change their crosswalk signs to be solar powered LED lights so

149that they um you'll see those most other places that you have the solar powered LED lights that alert the driver that there is a crosswalk there. Uh we're going to install sidewalk bumpouts, shark tooth pavement markings at the crosswalk. Um and then a crosshatch 25 foot on either side of the bump out with yellow paint to lineate no parking zone as well. So, the engineers have really kind and I want to thank Roy Kavanagh, the engineers who are going to be working with our safety teams to um make it a little bit safer uh to get uh to and from Kennedy High School. Um I'm I'm sure that's needed. We have Kennedy High School uh students here tonight, but then they're going to move on to also down the road to Tinker after this >>

150and then um be be more than happy to entertain any other uh schools with the engineering department after after that. But those are the first two that we wanted to look at. Speaking of Kennedy, uh Kennedy, as you know, the Marching Eagles are headed to Honolulu. They're I thought I was going to make it. They have a concert tonight at 7 o'clock. Uh but uh so I apologize that I I wasn't able to make it tonight. Uh they were putting on a concert tonight to raise money for their trip to Honolulu. But um um if you weren't able to make it tonight, it's okay because they have a pasta dinner fundraiser on Monday, January 19th held at the Elks on 283 West Main Street. Um fill your plate with pasta and meatballs, salad, and bread

151with a 50/50 drawing. Obviously, we're very uh excited about the Kennedy Marching Eagles being selected to to take part in this opportunity and uh everything raised will help defay the cost for um students. I can send this to you all board this pasta dinner as a a separate email once I make a note. Uh just as an idea innovative schools and programs uh we're having a lot of open houses. So I just want to encourage everyone to go on uh which is the next slide our waterberry public school social media page to be able to learn more about all the open houses all the amazing programs that we have here as a choice for Waterberry uh students. I'm not going to do it tonight, but maybe at the next uh board meeting, what we can

152do is go a little bit deeper into what Dorene talked about tonight about, you know, the board of ed uh your responsibility in terms of line item budget approval. Uh whereas board of alderman and the difference between what their approval is and the board of ed approval um line item versus a general uh number. I' I'd love to educate the board a little bit more too on what MBR is, the minimum budget requirement that the city is is a lot that that is required to give to us. Um, so I do look forward uh to to to talking a little bit more about that uh at our next meeting. Thank you. >> Good. Thank you. Lots of good things happening. Okay. >> All right. Uh superintendent's notification to the board. Any questions? And could I

153have a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Abstain. Motion carries. Okay, we're going to go right into our special meeting. Okay, good evening everyone. Uh, welcome to the Waterberry Board of Education special meeting at Walsh School on January 8th, 2026. We'll begin with a silent prayer. And now I will ask our Kennedy students to lead us in the pledge. for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all >> preser >> vice president Latoya Ireland here commissioner Lopez >> present >> lot >> here >> munz >> here >> commissioner >> here >> commissioner van Stone >> President Brown >> present. Thank you. We have a quorum. Uh does anybody like would anyone like to remove any items from the consent

154calendar? >> Seeing none, I will read the consent calendar 4.1 request approval of first amendment to education affiliation agreement with Trinity Health of New England Corporation, Inc. to provide students with educational experience as part of their professional preparation. 4.2 request approval of a contract with Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board, Inc. at no cost for CWP Adult Education Remediation for Career Connect CT clients. 4.3 request approval and acceptance of the Connecticut Department of Agriculture Connecticut Grown for Connecticut Kids Grant Contract. Can I have a motion? >> I motion um to approve the uh items 4.1 through 4.3. >> Second. >> Discussion. No, no discussion. Uh all those in favor? I >> opposed. Abstain. Motion carries. Thank you. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Thank you. >> I wanted to talk

155about this little >> Okay. You just jumped me. This is a very