001Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Hey. [Music] I rule the world. Yep. Yep. Good evening. Today is July 10th. This is the notice of a workshop committee meeting. We'll start off with a silent prayer. Dr. Schwarz, can you lead us in the pledge? Absolutely. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. No public speaking. Nope. Okay, moving on. No public speaking. Oh, we're going into an executive session now. Yeah. Okay. Secretary Srano Dorno, could you bring us into an executive session? Yes, Madame President. Give me one second. Motion to convene into executive session. No, you have second. No, I didn't finish yet, Miss Sorry. Sorry. Thank you, Vice President
002Brown. I move to convenience executive session for discussion concerning the appointment, employment, performance, evaluation, health, or dismissal of a public officer or employee. Second. All in favor? I oppose. We are in executive session. Thank you. That's okay. Allergies. [Music] Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Hey. Heat. Heat. with the record reflecting there were no votes taken. Second. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Okay. Item number one, information. Oh, we're skipping that one. Right. Well, I can talk about it if you want. Go ahead. So, number one, uh you have the information your packet. This is based on the student uh comments from last board meeting. Uh and then next uh workshop, Na will come and present on what's in the packet. But we wanted to provide
003you some of that workforce internship uh information that students brought up at the last meeting and um like I said Na will be here next workshop to discuss it. Nice. Thank you. Item number two, academic officer update. Jan, I can actually see. Good evening, President Hernandez, Vice President Brown, Secretary Serrano Adorno, Commissioners, and Interim Superintendent Dr. Schwarz. I'd um like to take a little time to update you on some of the newer programs that we implemented this year. give you a little peek into some of the things we're working on next year. So, one of our our big programs that we rolled out this year was ELA K5 benchmark education. Um, it was the first time we had this district-wide implementation and it wasn't just the core program. So, benchmark advanced is the core program.
004Adelante Benchmark Adilante is the core program in Spanish for bilingual students. Uh Benchmark Express was specifically designed for um English language learners to support the core program and steps to advance is an intervention that targets um language comprehension skills. So, it wasn't just the core program, it was a lot of different pieces to support the core program for our special populations. Um, beginning of the year, professional development really focused on an overview of the program. Um, taking a deeper dive, making sure that teachers knew how to utilize all the different components of the program. Um they worked on writing tasks in December and benchmark coaches also supported our lit facilitators who coach in every building in elementary so that they could support the program um as we're implementing. We also implemented enhanced core reading instruction
005throughout the district. That is not a program. It's not a set of books that you buy. It's a set of explicit teaching routines that focus on foundational skills like phonics and fluency and vocabulary. Um, our former supervisor, Dina Mortonson, did a pilot in four or five schools for two years with Yukon utilizing ECRI and the students did really well. They performed well. And so in addition to the new core materials, we're also focusing on these strategies for K2 to enhance their reading. The reading program once again was supported by Hill for literacy and the um and they went into schools and the lit facilitators gave the school-based training. In addition, um there were trainings added later for um the multilingual teachers because they felt that they needed more supports. So we implemented a new program.
006We did not change the assessment that we use with the children every year. So we use McLass. I don't have the clicker. uh we use MClass as an assessment three times a year and what we saw was um there was an increase over last year 4% um over of proficient students 4% of students moved a category or more by the end of the year. Now can we say it was based on the new program? We really can't tell that yet. But um it it's helpful to have the same assessment um so that we can measure yeartoear. But there was um 4%'s a pretty nice gain. So looking ahead to next year, we still have a lot of supports from Benchmark to get into the schools and to work with the facilitators. Um we're going to
007focus more on Thank you. um language comprehension, writing, uh word study. That also is not a program. It's an instructional method based on um based on exploring the connections between letters, sounds, word patterns, and meanings. And we'll be implementing more um interim assess smarter balanced interim assessments through the school year to try to measure um what kind of gains we might see. Now, we also implemented a new ELA program in grades 6 through 12. Uh the name of the program is my perspectives by Sabis Learning. Uh again, the beginning of the year really was program implementation, knowing that how to uh create the lessons, uh how to navigate the platform. In December, they started digging a little bit deeper. So, in secondary education, those teachers were basically trained to be English teachers. In their teacher
008training, they weren't really trained to teach children how to read. And so in December there was a shift and we've been focusing more on scaffolding so that secondary teachers can also teach some reading comprehension and that's that's a bit of a shift for them. Um and it and it's a heavy lift. And then in January um they started going to trainings on building thinking classrooms. What that is is a method of making students thinking visible. It started in math and now they're they've branched into other subjects. It it's based on tasks. It gets students out of their seats. It gets them um critically thinking and collaborating and then proving uh the argument that they're trying to make. Savas came in, they worked with the um secondary facilitators and the content coordinators so that they can
009help support the teachers all year long. Um they received um coaching on making sure that their tasks are rigorous and they also went on learn learning walks. They took new teachers out of their classrooms and brought them around so that they could see more experienced teachers teaching. Um, now we do have a few pieces of data from for the secondary program. However, it's a different assessment than what we administered last year. So this year they switched over to SAVIS um assessments and so we don't really have any data to compare the growth that they made this year. So it'll be another year before we see that. And of course um our test scores, our smarter balance scores will be released soon. We should be seeing those multilingual literacy. Um, this year was the first time
010I I'd say in 13 years where I saw so much collaboration between the multilingual department and the ELA department as well as other departments. And so, um, our multilingual supervisor, as he went around meeting all the teachers, seeing how they liked their program components, what he found was bilingual teachers pretty much across the board said, "Look, we don't have anything for those newcomers. We really need something to support the newcomers." And Benchmark does happen to have a program. And so we used uh bilingual funds to purchase that benchmark hello program which it got implemented halfway through the year. So we don't really you know we don't have a full year of data to see but the teachers were very happy and again this was designed to support the core program in elementary. At the secondary
011level, there is a program called IIT within the Sabis program that really is an intervention support program. They have an eyelet ELLL and we piloted it and we will be continuing with that in coming years. Uh again there was the departmental planning that I witnessed was great. They were talking about PD in the fall and how what PD will become to, you know, the uh ELA teachers and and how we will support the multilingual teachers as well. And they're working in a partnership to make sure they're flip-flopping. So, regular ed classroom teachers will also be getting SCOP strategy training. So it's going to be a partnership u very much looking forward to looking ahead um there is a new curriculum out it's called open sed it's published by open educational resources so it is free
012curriculum that anyone can use and modify uh it got a green rating rating from Ed Reports. When you rate curriculum, the rubrics are pages and pages and pages long. Ed reports does that for all new curriculum that comes out. And we look at that a lot because it saves us a lot of time. Um it's very hands-on investigations um that that are uh kicked off with a phenomenon which is NGSS aligned. And we're going to pilot that next year in grades um four and five uh four, five, and six. And so, um, we're also buying the materials to support those investigations and we'll be gathering data to see, um, how well it works out. And we're, you know, thinking about moving towards that rather than sticking with the program that we've had in at the
013elementary level. K8 math. I was hoping to get this through tonight, but it'll have to be in August. We went out to RFP for K8 programs. The way it was written, we would, you know, we wanted to have one program, but if we didn't find a program that we liked for both, we could have split it. And for the first time since probably the 1990s, we have a common program for grades K through 8. Right now, we had this program in K5 for the last four years. they had a different program um at the middle schools. They did give us access to their assessment for the middle schools this year. So, the teachers know what the assessments like um and how to administer it. So, it won't it won't be completely brand new. It is
014the newer copyright, so there are some changes for the elementary, but again, it should not be a heavy lift. This whole program is based on the diagnostic assessment. It's still the best math assessment that I can find out there. It gives you two measures. One is grade level proficiency. The other is growth based on their performance on the test. And it's calculated exactly like Smarter Balance. And it's also highly correlated to Smarter Balance. So if I'm a student and I finish at the end of the year on the green level, there is a 90% likelihood that I will be proficient on Smarter Balance. and that that statistic has held up for at least eight years. Um there's we also purchased personalized instruction. So we get the whole core program, but based on the diagnostic assessment
015if we were all fourth grade students, we'd get a report saying what we do well and what we need to work on. We can also pull reports to see who we can group together to pull for small groupoup instruction and it gives you the lessons to go with it. Um, students get personalized instruction so they can go off while the teacher's pulling a small group and they can work on lessons that are um, tailored to them based on how they scored on the assessment. So, um, we'll be bringing that through next month. And finally, I the last time I came in front of you, I talked about this project that we're working on defining highquality instruction. We spent a lot of time, had a lot of people involved, and we did develop a framework defining
016high quality instruction at Waterberry Public Schools. We did pump the brakes a little bit. We didn't roll it out this past year because we needed to get leadership um settled. This when we roll this out, it's going to be a heavy lift for the entire district. uh we didn't want to get halfway down that road and and then have to, you know, turn a corner and do something different. Um we will continue to work on this this year. I know that we will be working on a strategic plan in the coming months, but this year we're going to work on defining um highquality instructional leadership to support highquality instruction. And when we're done with that, we'll look at high quality central office supports in service to high quality instruction. And that's what I have for
017you tonight. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Commissioner Vansstone. Thank you, Madam President. Through you get back to the pages I have marked. Open science. That was my first one I want to ask about. Um, the science program we have for some other grades isn't that old. Is this going to merge in with that or the elementary science program? It's kind of like what happened with math when when we switched over to NGSS. We went out and we looked for the best program we could find. The programs weren't really written for NGSS yet. Mhm. And so is it a bad program? No. Is it the best that's out there right now? No. Okay. It's also getting excessively expensive for the different comp components of because that was very much internetbased and Yeah. Yes. Yes.
018And also consumables, but it hasn't been updated either. So, it's been the same program and it really hasn't been updated for NGSS um in six, seven years. Okay. Uh next is the K to8 math. Um you didn't say it and I hope we're not saying it that you say the model works right into smarter balance and if you do well in assessment there in in class, you're going to do more than likely do well in smart. There's some predictability. Okay. Yes. And Tara Bastoni didn't trust the company's word, so she's been running her own data for years. And it and it doesn't know that. Yeah. Uh but we're not saying test to the test, right? We're not saying we're just or teaching to the test, I should say. No test. This isn't a summitative test.
019You take a test, you get your score, whatever. This is a diagnostic test. And the reporting system is so robust. I could drill second grade down to different classrooms down to a student. And I can print a report that tells me what level the student is, what grade level they are in in four different domains and what exact skills they own and what skills they're not there yet and what they need to do to get. Okay, good. That's great. That's a good one. That's a real good one. Okay, I got two more. Um, on on high quality instruction, you say it's a heavy lift. Are you being uh nice and saying that it's not going to go well with the teaching force or No, I'm not saying it won't go well, but it's something that
020um it's new. It'll be new for every single person. Okay. And when you take people out of their comfort zone, uh you know, it it can be difficult. Um trying a new program. You know, you have people who, you know, they they feel reluctant because they're not comfortable. It's not what they know. Um, I think the whole idea of doing this was to build coherence in the district about what highquality instruction looks like. We did involve um our partners like David Cormier. We involved administrators so that there would be buying and and we we involved the standards and the research on high quality instruction and on the flip side of that to complement the teachers you mentioned earlier about some of the uh you know the curriculum teams and in the summertime and I visited
021them and their involvement and their being able to have a voice in how we implement curriculum and don't just take it off the shelf and shove it down their throat. wrote, I think goes a long way and I see it when I go visit in the summer those curriculum teams and then I hear it from the teachers in the course of the year. Um, you know, the English that you talked to ELA that we incorporated last year was a big change for everyone whether you're taught math, science, what have you. It was a big change and I just heard nothing but good things and the teachers were involved in how we rolled that out and I think that makes a big difference. I think teacher involvement but also teacher support and implementation. It worked both
022ways, right? It was excellent. Thank you. Thank you, Me. Thank you. Are there any other questions? Commissioner O'Brien look. Just a quick question. um with all these new curriculum changes, is there flexibility in it where it for the special ed teachers or for those special ed kids that are in the mainstream? So there there's flexibility in general because they've all set set up feedback loops. So, you know, if we're getting a lot of feedback from teachers, we're going too fast, we need to take some things out, we do that. But what I what happened in this past year was we were special ed teachers were looking for materials. Well, if I'm a special ed teacher in a resource room, let's say in high school, I'm not looking for materials that are on a high school
023level, right? Otherwise, the kids would be. So, what we realized, we have to start giving high school teachers access to middle school curriculum and sometimes even elementary depending on what that specialized program is. And not just in ELA, also in math. And so, we're we're looking at all of that. Uh we're trying, you know, to get better resources for our special populations. Thank you. You're welcome. Are there any other questions? Thank you, Jan. Thank you. I move to move item number 14 prior to item number three on the agenda. Can I have a second? Vice President Brown. Okay. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. So, good evening, uh, President Hernandez, Vice President Brown, Secretary Serrano Adorno, Board of Education Commissioners. Uh, just a few updates, uh, for the summer. Connecticut edrising at nationals. If
024you recall, we had some Connecticut edrising uh, cabinet officers participate in the 2025 Educator Rising National Conference in Florida at the end of June. And I'm happy to announce that Cori Rodriguez from the from Career Academy uh was uh placed as the number one winner and then uh I'm sorry placed at 10th in the children's lit prek2 Spanish uh column in the nation and we are very proud of her accomplishment that she was able to make top 10 in the nation for uh her commitment to uh writing children's literature in prek2 to Spanish. So congratulations, Corly. Summer school is off and running. It's officially begun on July 7th, and both students are teachers are hard at work in the classroom. I was able to stop at Reed and Dugen earlier uh this week, but it's
025uh it's it's definitely students are there smiling, happy to be uh there learning with their teachers and uh everyone was in good spirits and I think uh I was happy to see a lot of the the hands-on learning occurring within the classroom. So, that was fun to fun to watch. Uh I just want to give you the latest update. I've given you a few updates this year, but uh in terms of FASA completion in the state, we have the top two high schools in the state and fast completion. So, thanks to the academic office and the work of uh Na Tuset and Dr. Bry and all of our counselors at the schools, uh Career Academy is number one in the state and Waterberry Arts Magnet School is number two in the state. Um and so
026that's a that's an amazing accomplishment uh for fast completion. And finally, I want to make an announcement of an appointment for deputy superintendent here in the Waterberry public schools. Um, go read a little bit about our appointment. Uh, I've chosen Juan Mendoza as the deputy superintendent and I'll say a few words about him and invite him up to the podium to uh, also say a few words. Uh, Juan is a son of a Cuban and Ecuadorian immigrants and is a proud first generation American and is also a waterbarian. went to East Farms, also known as General Ali, went to uh also Wallace Middle School and is a Crosby Bulldog graduate. I won't send I won't say when he graduated. Uh he earned a bachelor of science and elementary education from Central. He's also earned a
027master's degree at educational leadership at um Central as well. He earned his 092 certification at Sacred Heart University and he you he earned his 093 certification for superintendency at the University of Connecticut. Uh Juan has worked as a dual language English teacher. He's worked as a math instructional coach. Uh he's worked as a curriculum specialist. He also was a resident elementary school principal in the Hartford Public Schools Travelers Leadership Academy. He also served eight years, as many of you know, as the Reed Elementary School principal, the first principal at Reed Elementary School, where he won numerous awards, including the Rivera Memorial Foundation Inspiring Educator Award. He's been recognized by the Connecticut General Assembly uh with an official citation. He's been recognized by the Secretary of State, Denise Merrill, for his inspiring work at Reed. Uh
028the city of Waterberry has also recognized him uh for his inspiring educator award. He's been acknowledged at the Connecticut office of the state comproller and the office of treasurer, both awarding him citations for his outstanding commitment to leadership and education. He's also been uh uh recognized by Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman and uh he's also was recognized by his colleagues as a candidate for administrator of the year when he was at principal of Reed School. Um when he was at Reed School, they uh were consistently one of the highest ranking schools and was a designated two level two school out of five in the state of Connecticut. Um, and more recently, uh, after, uh, Juan was doing such a great job at RE school, he was asked to be the interimm human resource director in the
029board of education, and he was, uh, asked to do that. And then a few months later, um, you know, as COVID was ravaging the the country, he had that interesting human resource job of trying to manage uh, the district during COVID. And he did an amazing job. And it wasn't just him. I know that if you asked him, he would say it was a lot to do with his team, many of who are here tonight. Uh, and after uh uh being the interim human resource director of for the board of education, he was appointed to be the assistant superintendent in January 2021, where he has remained overseeing labor relations in the day-to-day operations of the human capital department. So, we are thrilled to announce uh his continued leadership and commitment to our district. And it
030gives me great pleasure uh to have Juan Mendoza come up and say a few words uh as the new deputy superintendent of the Waterberry Public Schools. All right. Uh, thank you. I want to take I want to take a minute to thank everyone uh, Mayor Peruski, the board of education, and superintendent Dr. Schwarz for your trust and confidence. I'm honored for this opportunity to continue to serve the water public schools. As a proud product of public schools, from East Farms to Wallace and to Crosby High School, this moment brings my journey full circle. I'm deeply grateful to my mother and father for their sacrifices and for instilling in me the values of hard work, resilience, and the belief that education transforms lives. To my wife, Carol, thank you for always holding down the fort, juggling
031our kids schedules, and supporting me every step of the way. To my daughter, Sopia and my son, Clark, you inspire me every day. A special thank you to Mr. Henry and Mayor Olri who pushed me to grow beyond my role as principal and to attorney Sha will Clark for their steady guidance as I transitioned into the human capital director role. Your support gave me the confidence to lead that department. I want to acknowledge the incredible team I've led for the last 5 years in the human capital and talent office. Their commitment and resilience has helped transform our department into a more efficient, responsive operation. Together, we've tackled the challenges of the pandemic head-on, filling vacancies through strong partnerships, targeted outreach, and innovative pipeline strategies. I'm proud of what we accomplished, and I'm even more excited
032what we're going to do moving forward. I recognize that I didn't get here alone. From my early days as a classroom teacher to my time as principal and as an assistant superintendent over human resources, I've been shaped by exceptional mentors, colleagues, and students. I'm excited to continue serving under the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Schwarz. And alongside our dedicated and hardworking cabinet team members, I will carry those lessons forward, leading with integrity and always keeping students at the center of everything that we do. Thank you for this opportunity. You've seen this done enough times to know you supposed to be in there. I want the hug. You're nervous. Don't cry. Beep beep. Mr. Mendoza and can you introduce us to your family at least I want to just introduce my my wife and my kids are
033here to support me I have Clark he's in the back just give a wave my my wife Carol and my daughter Sophia. Thank you, Mr. Mendoza. All right, Questions? Oh, are there any questions on Dr. Schwarz's report? Commissioner Ireland. Thank you, Madam President. Dr. Schwarz, I just have one question uh for the summer school and your update. You gave us an update. I just wanted to know about the enrollment. Um this year was new for most parents and students because of the $200 cost and fees. So, I just was wondering about the enrollment. Yep. Yeah. Thank you for the question, uh Commissioner. So, uh again that during the ESSER, uh Esser years, we were able to fund summer school for high school students. prior to that uh summer school was uh was a cost uh
034previously before that and so uh during those SR years we were able to cover that cost. Uh since then uh we uh we did go back to the uh the pay to come to summer school opportunity. Uh again students need 25 credits to graduate high school through their high school career. They get 32 credit opportunities and they also have opportunities to earn uh credit uh to make up credit throughout the school year as well. There's classes to make up credits as well for them to to be able to do that after school during their school year. And uh and so this year with the cost coming back, we're slightly under where we were prior to the pandemic. we were around like 90ish uh students and now we're in the 60s to 70 uh range of
035students that uh went to summer school for for the summer. And so uh it's a little bit of a reduction of where we were. Obviously when we offered it for free, we had even more students that attended. Um, but we also are in a situation where we're offering seven additional credits during high school, uh, throughout their high school career, uh, to be able to earn their 25 credits. And, and so, uh, a little bit of a tick down, but, by the end of the summer, what we'll be able to do is compare this year to those previous years and give you a fuller report on on how we how we do. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Item number three,formational school climate plan. This John's. Good evening, President Brown Hernandez, Vice President Brown, Secretary Srano
036Adorno, Board of Ed Commissioners, and Interim Superintendent Dr. Schwarz. Uh this evening I will be reviewing with you um our district level um school climate um improvement plan um as part of recent legislation that actually began on July 1st. Um as a district the plan should align to our future strategic planning but it should be a working document. Um we obviously have to make sure that it is flexible uh for different state level initiatives that often sometimes pop up throughout the year. Um and we need to make sure that it's based upon data. So what we did um as a cabinet is look upon district data, discipline data but also variety of factors to ensure that we were making the best decisions looking forward um that we needed to. Um, and based upon that, we
037came up with three different goals that were utilizing the Connecticut school climate standards. What you have in front of you, um, is goal number one, and we're focusing on reducing the district-wide chronic absenteeism rate. Obviously, we know that students need to be in school to learn and we're looking to decrease that from 25.35% which was our end of the year chronic absenteeism rate um to next year have ending the year at 22%. Our second goal is to ensure that all of our schools establish and actively utilize school governance councils as well as parent teacher organizations. And we're looking by June of 2026 for 100% of our schools to have these organizations in place. Our third goal deals with making sure that our impact on results and our progress monitoring is in place. Um so by
038June of 2026, we are going to make sure that 100% of our schools are conducting data reviews. So part of the school climate legislation is that schools have to meet monthly and review their discipline data. they have to meet as the school climate committee with their school climate specialists and other members of the committee. So part of what the district school climate coordinator will be doing is monitoring that and making sure that they are meeting monthly and they have to report out. So this goal will be making sure that progress monitoring is occurring. I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Commissioner Vance Stone. Thank you, Madam President. through you. Um, you know, I'm really glad on on goal number one, you you were realistic. You just you didn't like try to
039come before the board and say we're going to increase by 10%. You know, you took a realistic approach and, you know, it's three and change, which is a challenge in my book anyway, but you didn't try to come in here and tell us you got some crazy, you know, and then of course next year we don't talk about it, but obviously you don't make the goal. This one I think is, you know, something you can make. um you know and then on two and three you know I look at it in two ways um they're important things and and having a goal 100% and trying to really instill that in everyone is great but um I also on the other side of it I look at it to say it it almost shouldn't be a
040goal it should be it should be what has to happen I'm trying to think of the right words or requirement it should be just a requirement it shouldn't it shouldn't even be a goal. Um, so I I'll give you a pass for one year as a goal and then next year I like to see these turn into requirements. Okay? Because I I think I think we could do it. I really think we could do it. Uh, and uh, but it's good work. So, thank you. Thank you. Question, Vice President Brown. Good evening, Wendy. Thank you for your hard work and putting this together. I had a question because I remember when all of the schools did have a school climate committee, they had a CAT committee, chronic absentee committee and you know every time we
041went to the schools for our workshops, we did get reports on them. So that kind of went by the wayside. So part of the CAT teams, I remember going to several of those meetings and they were doing a lot of home visitation. the teachers were doing it, the the uh the you know, it wasn't just one person in the building. Everybody felt it was their responsibility to do that. So, I know we have the LEAP program and so forth, but I'm wondering I I maybe it's because uh Mr. Mendoza was the principal. I remember going to Reed school years ago and the teachers, you know, if the kids were in school, they were going to visit them, you know, uh so I'm just hoping that that's a component of it again or at least a
042phone call uh every day to the to the kids or some kind of communication every day and not just wait for, you know, the assigned person, you know, everybody in the school should be embracing this. So that's my goal. But anyway, thank you for sharing. Obviously, each building will have a committee. They're going to be talking about a tiered response, which is very clearly listed in the legislation. Um, and something that they have to include in their school climate plan. So, I think it's important that not only with a CAT team, there's different interventions that they're talking about. And that shared responsibility is something that I agree with you needs to occur in buildings. And I think with the committees that should be happening. Thank you. Are there any other questions? Thank you. Thank you.
043Request approval of a memorandum of understanding with Connecticut State Community College Native Valley for renting of classroom for the school to work transition academy. John's. Good evening again. The special education department requests the approval of a memorandum of understanding between the city of Waterberry public schools and Connecticut State Community College Nagatuck Valley. The purpose of theou is to provide a classroom space for students ages 19 to 22 to participate in the step 2 transition program and the school to work transition academy. Um the term of this will begin August 15th, 2025 and terminate on June 30th, 2026. Uh, this is at a cost of $13,938 for one year and it will be paid through IDA 611 funds and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Commissioner Van Snow, I I kind of
044have a Thank you, Madam President, through you. I I just have a com I know North Valley does a lot for us, but for 14 grand, they they can't just give us the room. I mean, really. But so that's a comment. I didn't I just 14,000 I guess we don't normally talk about but in this case I'm like really it's a the state but okay I'll stop thank you jokes today any other questions okay item number five committee on finance I thought that was right there She's five. Good evening, President Hernandez, Vice President Brown, Secretary Serrano Madorno, Superintendent Schwarz, and esteemed commissioners of education. Um this evening we're before you to request approval of a professional services agreement with Equinox Home Care Services LLC um for the provision of nursing services on a onetoone basis
045to um children with special needs in the schools. Any questions? Commissioner O'Brien, do we have a rough idea of how many of our students are medically needed at home for these nurses? And approximately how many I believe um we've been working really closely with um Miss John's in the pupil services department and I believe over the past couple years it's been approximately 13 students. Um my other question is okay he disappeared. Um the funds of 3 million approximately is that something that we is this a new program or we re renegotiating is been three 3 million that we've been doing. The amount of three million is based upon what's been spent um on average over the past three years. This is a contract um to expand the number of um service providers um to be
046able to provide the level of care um that the students require. The current staff um that are available through the existing contract are um don't have that home care specialization. And so we feel that there are certain students who would benefit from a higher level of of care, a higher level of nursing care. So that's why we're expanding to add this um this contract with Equinox. So with the approximately 18 students, does that mean 13? Does that mean 13 nurses? Yes, they're all one to one nurse. They're all one to one. Okay. Thank you. I have a question. Commissioner Arley. Thank you, Madam President. Just one question. Is Equinox the only home care uh nursing services that Waterberry Public Schools use? This is the only one that responded to the RFP that we put out.
047Okay. Thank you, Commissioner. I mean, Vice President Brown, I apologize. It's okay. Thank you. Uh good evening. Good. I had a question. Uh these are nursing services. uh are they all insurance, you know, reimbursed and so forth? So, where does where does the money come from? It comes from our budget and then do we get it back with the Medicaid funds in our budget? The um people services office does billing for all of the services that are delivered uh to all of the um insurance companies. So, for those children with Husky or Medicaid, they do bill Medicaid. Okay. And does that money go back into our budget or it does? Does Okay. All right. Thank you. You were going to ask that. Okay. It does. It goes directly back to education. Thank you. Are there
048any other questions? If I could offer just for context, um, hold on one second, Dorene. Good evening. So, the reimbursement revenue received from Medicaid does come back to the city. It goes to education revenue, but it doesn't really come back into the budget. It's just part of a revenue that goes to into the city into education. And it's kind of like how they build part of our budget. using some of that revenue costs. So, it doesn't really get reimbursed back into like the budget as an as a to offset the expense. Does everybody understand that? Yes. Well, so you're saying that it goes back to the city education and it comes back with the 158 million or whatever we get. So, that's correct. So, they keep So, we don't get no revolving fund. It doesn't
049offset the expenses of of the Thank you. That's what I thought. Okay. No, Tom. Commissioner Van Stone. Thank you, Madam President, for you. Um, there's there's so many other funds that go right to the city, too, that this isn't unique. Correct. So, I you know, that that didn't surprise me. Now, what I'm curious is if it doesn't actually come in back into our fold, there's no way to then because this special ed, no way to get any reimbursement from the state. Well, I mean, it does come back. It is coded into special education revenue under education. Um, and again, it just it's part of a revenue. So when the city comes up with 158 million, that's part of it. Okay. So So it's probably not eligible because of the way we do that. I'm not
050sure to be honest with you. The way you say it, I'm thinking it's not eligible because it's not in the end it's not really ours. In the end, it's really as you always I always say to you, city hall. Yeah. Okay. As opposed to Chase building. So Okay. So, I think we're not going to It'd be nice if we get reimbured, but it sounds like we can't. Okay. We could look that into that a little bit more. I could get that back. Okay. Thanks. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Dory. You're welcome. Does anybody else have a question? Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Amen. Did you have something to add? Thank you. Um, no, just I was going to say for context, um, because the health department is overseeing the schoolbased health cent's contract and
051we oversee all of the school nurses and all the public health assistants, this is just one more opportunity where we can ex expand our or lend our expertise um to the oversight of this contract. So that's really the intention behind um initiating this looking at the level of care that's provided with the existing contract and recognizing that there could be a greater level of expertise offered to the students um by specifically looking for that home care experience and and specialization. Thank you. Uh committee and finance uh request approval of amendment one. We have one more six. That's where I'm at. You're right. Keep going. Community Health Center. Do we do that? Yeah, you're right. Keep going. Number six. Oh, okay. Request approval of amendment one to the professional service agreement with Community Health Center, Inc.
052for schoolbased health center services. A good evening. Um I believe several times we've um come before this body to provide updates on the progress of the schoolbased health center. Um we as you know last year did a major renovation to the Driggs elementary school. Um there was a classroom that had been used as a art and music classroom I believe. Um and uh we applied for funding from the state ARPA funds um first for 20,000 and then for an additional 20,000 to renovate that space. Um we've successfully turned it into a a suite of medical offices including a dental office, a behavioral health room and a uh a medical exam room as well as a waiting area. And um so now the contractor who's our existing contractor for schoolbased health center services uh community health
053centers incorporated um is going to apply for expansion of their scope of services with um the health resources and services administration in order to approve the incorporation of those additional services. Up till this point, we've only had medical um excuse me, mobile dental services offered there. And we feel that um you know, the students aren't really availing of that service by itself. Um they're enrolling in the services that are available at Crosby and at um will be uh for medical and behavioral health and we'd really like to offer those services there at their own school as well as to the students at schools surrounding Driggs. Um so with that in mind, we're asking your approval of um an amendment to the service contract with CHC in order to um incorporate medical and behavioral health into
054their contract. Um as well as permanent dental um in addition to the mobile dental for which they're already, you know, contracted. Commissioner Vance Stone. Thank you, Madam President. You gave me a week off. I know a lot of time do homework. Um, this is a great program, you know, and always has been. I've loved it since day one when we started these up. Um, but we've always had a problem and a stigma that students that don't have the facilities can't take advantage of the services. And I and and I think we've had this conversation every time you come here. What are we doing to make sure that other students realize these services aren't in a school for a school? They're in a school because that's where we had a place to put them. Um, we
055really need to get that out because I think that still is out there that and that's why when you said that they're not taking advantage of the dental, I couldn't believe it. So, what are we doing to really promote this? That's a great question. Thank you. Um, so our current numbers are very encouraging in that respect. Um right now of the um of the 129 students that are enrolled with schoolbased health centers um 983 of them are at one of the schools the the two complexes will be um North End and Crosby Wallace. Um but an additional the the remainder 230 students are from the other schools. So I think we are definitely getting the word out and kids are starting to enroll, their families are starting to enroll. Um, as you know, we've done
056several public awareness campaigns. Our most recent was, um, running our public service announcement in the movie theaters all spring and summer. We, you know, just finished the campaign at the end of June. Um, my kids were featured in it, so we got we got free labor. Um, and, uh, several other other children from from our staff. Uh yesterday we filmed another public service announcement for the same purpose reminding kids of the importance of accessing the schoolbased health centers to get their back to school vaccines and physicals. Um so we will continue to utilize our funds and creative ways. We also are doing a lot of outreach both we the health department but we've also exerted a little bit more pressure on the contractor to um take advantage of opportunities. So, I have a listing here,
057if you'll permit me, of um events coming up. um the Waterbury YMCA healthy kids day. Um Harry Potter day, Brass Mill um community pop-up event which is led by the police department. Um North End Rec community block party, the back to school um back to basics event at Reed um and the back to school rally, the the mayor's offices rally. Um where they're estimating approximately 700 kids will be attending these events. And um in addition, we're sort of, you know, gorilla tactics trying to just every time we come in contact with um students in the community, really encouraging them to, you know, pull out their phone, learn more about the schoolbased health center. So all of our staff are crosspromoting whether they're sanitarians or whether they're um our immunization coordinator, they're always promoting the schoolbased
058health center. You know, I'm glad you and you mentioned that the non school-based kids are are finding it, but the numbers you gave us compared to 19,000 students is a still pretty big discrepancy. So, I'm glad you're working hard. Yes. But, um, you know, this because you hear how many people say, "Well, we can't get this. We can't." Well, we guess what? You can. So, yeah. So, we I'm glad you publicizing and and and maybe if we end up having a communication person, uh you know, that person can even do more because we don't right now. So, Thank you, Madam President. Dr. shorts. I just wanted to chime in and I want to say that the work this year of the school-based health and wellness committee with leadership of President Hernandez and Secretary Serrano Adorno
059and Commissioner O'Brien along with Nick Albini and a few of our uh colleagues at central office really honed in. This is one of the three areas we looked at this year and so I thought that collaboration was a great one. uh we've seen the numbers move up throughout the year and we think that trajectory will remain the same as we as we increase our uh presence uh in social media and communications and yes I think having a communication specialist will also be able to help out with uh what you're doing but I know that collaboration really has made an impact so thank you thank you commissioner O'Brien and then Vice President Brown that's sort of a question but is there any way or anything we can do with the kickoff of school to send mostly
060the prek K and one through power um parent square thank you where we can you know like initiate don't forget these are available to all students yeah absolutely I mean I think that some things we have done in the past but I you know obviously reaches out quite often and provides us with a flyer or some information and then we post it right away we don't hesitate with that and we do a a mass distribution. Uh obviously we get a lot of requests for parent square. Um so there's mass distribution parent square lists but also um direct uh messaging and of course we can we can do that at the beginning of the year. We also um have been working with corporation council to develop an enrollment form so that upon registration for school because
061we have the welcome center right in our building. um students can enroll for services with the schoolbased health center. So all summer CHC the the contractor has someone stationed there to enroll students. But um we also would like to send home with the package of you know papers that every parent has to fill out at the beginning of the school year an enrollment form so they can just fill it out, send it back. the school nurse will pass it along to the schoolbased health center and just you know everybody enrolled. Vice President Brown. Yeah, these are great ideas. The thought I'm having is I saw in the paper um the many food sites we have this summer. I mean we're I'm really proud of the fact that we are serving food to so many children.
062So that may be, you know, over the summer just, you know, even to have flyers there because, you know, we're we're everywhere. I mean, it was an amazing what do we have 20 sites it look like? Yeah. I mean, in all, you know, small sites, larger sites. So, I think we're doing an amazing job of trying to make sure that kids have food and those sites are in neighborhoods. So, that might be something to capitalize on. Thank you. That's a great suggestion. Are there any other questions? Thank you, Acean. Thank you. Committee on finance request approval of a purchase service agreement with the state of Connecticut office of early childhood for funding of early start CT formerly known as school readiness. Miss Bergen. Good evening, President Hernandez, Vice President Brown, Secretary Adorno, Secretary uh Serrano
063Adorno, Commissioners, and Superintendent Dr. Schwarz. The education department respectfully requests the approval of an agreement with the state of Connecticut for funding of the early start classrooms in Waterberry Public Schools. Are there any questions? Commissioner O'Brien and then Commissioner Van Stone. I didn't see any hands. Literally, do we have an idea of how many um early childhood um places we're going to be able to accommodate? How many what places? Early childhood centers that we'll be able to accommodate. We have 27 classrooms in Waterberry and uh but we also have I believe 11 community sites that will be a part of the the early start network. Thank you, Commissioner Van Stone. Thank you, Madam President. I'm still feeling refreshed. So, um thanks. Um you know, this big part of this is awareness, too, right? And just
064like I was talking about the other programs, you know, we we have to make sure people are aware because, you know, we hear a lot of um things about people being able to have child care, etc. And this program goes very deep into it's more than I mean, if you look at it's in section B3, they talk about service 6 weeks to three years old. 6 weeks old and you could have that child in a care facility which is also a learning environment because of this program for 35 to 50 hours per week. That's why I say we're in this because this this can help so many people when they take advantage of what we offer. Um, you know, we're putting a lot of money into this and those ser these services are there and
065we really need to be able to help parents especially single parents to take advantage of these programs and their child could be in a service for 50 hours a week and it's a learning environment just not just a day not just a babysitting service, right? And so I really, you know, um really I really we really need again to publicize these these uh you know and it's like you said it's not just in our buildings. You know we we utilize outside services. I don't know which ones we're using these days but hopefully we're watching over the ones we're using. Um you know we've had some issues in the past. It is very it is very needed in our community and I can tell you from working out of the office of early childhood there's we
066have to get a shift in thinking that school doesn't start at age five. Yes. That quality program as you heard um Mrs. friend talk about earlier starts at birth and that starts with the programming in our community sites with highquality homebased child care centers and then continued on into our public school programs. But I can tell you Kristen I have a lot of work to do to change that way of thinking that school really only starts at age five. This is also an area which people need to recognize that our school system is organizing and responsible for much more than just the classroom buildings that we have these students or or children going outside to others but we're still in charge of all this right and I don't think people necessarily realize that so thank
067you for that uh vacancies it's uh in the contract also that we report the vacancies to United Way. Why is United Way? Why what do we have to do anything with United Way about vacancies? I'm not sure about that. That's a question. We can get back that information. Section B also number five. Okay. Okay. And I because Bridge I hope there's no vacancies. Marine is that because Bridge to Success is a subsidiary of the United Way. Yeah. And is not why that would be in there and Bridge to Success is now I don't know that they have our attendance records. I know preschool in in the Waterberry public schools, our attendance is really pretty is really good. So, we've worked really hard the last couple of years on our attendance. So, yeah, check that that
068paragraph because uh one, I hope we don't have any vacancies and then two, we don't need them. We can handle it ourselves. There are there are certain schools that we have here in Waterberry that when there's a vacancy we have it filled right away. Well, that's my hope that that's but in the case that there is one I'm not sure why we have to report to United Way. Yeah. Sure. Okay. Thank you. And we'll make sure uh commissioner that when the questions are asked uh we have a new system in place. Carrie will email me and then we'll get it to Marine and we'll get it back to you as soon as possible. Thank you. Are there any other questions? Thank you. Oh, you're next. Request approval to apply for the family resource center program
069grant for Reed and Wilson schools. Miss Bergen. The education department respectfully requests the approval of an agreement with the with the state of Connecticut for funding of the family resource centers at Reed and Wilson School. Are there any questions? Commissioner Van Stone. Thank you. uh in the letter in the letter that you have here written from uh lawyer Brown, it says, you know, our piece of the pie that we have to pay and and I added it up to be 28K, which is nothing in in this world, but it does say that CFO Darim Biola has to approve anything of cost between 14 and $15,000. So, this is over that amount. So if she's still here, was this approved by our CFO to spend 28K? Is this uh as our part of this? We generally
070follow the guidelines by set forth by purchasing. So we stay within those guidelines. I love when our piece is only 28K. That's nice. This is the uh I believe resource center grant. Yeah. Was and this is the match. It's our benefit. Yeah. It's a small grant. It's 113K but our when I do the math of 25% it's 28K. Yeah. I believe you could come up with that. Yes. Yes. It was a fringe benefit I think um match on this one. Uh I think that is what it says. Yes. Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Vance Stone. It was in our communication that she approved it. I need moving on. A week is too long for him. Item number nine, monthly expenditure report for May. Good evening again, President Hernandez, uh, Vice President Brown, Secretary Srano, Madorno, commissioners,
071and Dr. Schwarz. Um, so this is the monthly expenditure report for the month of May. This is the 11th month of the fiscal year. Um, you know, as I had said previously, we know that we're not going to use the contingencies of the 3 U, 625,000 because that is offsetting the current year budget. Um, we do plan on having a surplus. The amount I don't really know as of yet, just because we're still closing out um and still paying down um some of our invoices um and just making sure there's no extra little surprises. Sometimes with special education, you may get like a bill here or there. Um so, one thing is is you did um vote and approve on a transfer of 1.4 million 1,460,000 into the sinking fund. So you'll see that is
072um already been projected and it's already happened. It's in this report um on that line item. Um one thing I want to mention, one of the reasons we really were trying very hard to cost contain throughout the year and to put money aside into that syncing fund at the 1.4 4 million because as you know um our ESSER funds uh we had applied for the liquidation of the 1.4 before we needed just a little extra time to spend down the RBSER funds um because we wouldn't been able to finish all the projects and commission them by the end of uh January. So, we needed a few more months um and then we were denied. We were approved and denied, but you may know now that all that has been restored um by the federal government.
073So, so we have we got one good news in the week and then we got bad news in the week. So um so as of July 1, you know, the federal government sends um to the department of education. Uh so we received our IDEIDA grant and we received our title one grant. We have not received our title 2A, our title three, and our title 4 grant. So that's in jeopardy at the moment. We don't know if that's going to stand that way. um if it's just it's saying it's being reviewed on the federal level. So, we don't know what that means at this point. And that is a total for uh for title for title 2A that's $946,85. Title three, that would be $481,023. Title 4 A is 945,349. And there's a title 4B which
074is really the 21st century after school grants and that's 622,500. So we are in jeopardy right now of losing 2,994,957 and of that 150,000 is for non-public uh portion from title 2 to title 3 to title 4. Um obviously this was a big shock to us. So we're just kind of waiting to see what happens. Um Dr. Schwarz um team, you know, we're going to, you know, look into these grants. Um there are some positions. Um that's what we're worried about. Um maybe some of the other programs that we do in here, we if we don't get the funds, um we may not be able to. Right now, we have a kind of a hold on any of the positions that are vacant, not to hire. Um, and we're really looking at not putting in
075any requisitions currently for any of the programs other than what is in some of the carryover because title 2, title three, and title four, they're two-year grants. So, they do have some carryover. So, like the busing um for the summer school under the carryover, obviously that went in that went in. Um, but we're really looking and kind of holding back till we get a little bit more word and then, you know, if we know that this is really going to stand, then there's some decisions that will have to be made. So, I'll answer any questions anybody has. Vice President Brown. Yes. I This is of course very scary, frightening stuff. So, is your understanding that these that they're reviewing that there is money in the federal budget for these titles, but they're not sure if
076it's going to be allocated or there's no bud no money in the federal budget. I mean, I believe money allocated, but I it's under review. So, I don't know. Like, we received our title one and we received our idea and that's kind of been said that that was not those two grants weren't something we had to worry about. However, I think it kind of came as a shock that, you know, we weren't receiving these when we heard that at the end of last week. Okay. So, that's almost $3 million we're talking about. Okay. And um so, do we have a time frame as when we we may know or just we don't we don't know anything. Um Dr. Schwarz received u notification from the state department of ed the end of last week. I think
077it was Thursday right before the holiday. We found out June 30th. Yeah. Uh that this wasn't um coming in and then uh we did receive some information, but it was just a reiteration of right now we we don't know and I know the state department I did have a meeting with them this week uh regarding of end of year alliance review asked them a question about you know do you have any information for us and they said no. Okay. Well, I guess we'll just have to then we'll be looking at the budget to see where we can make it up or go to city hall and see if we can get some more money from the city, which is a possibility hopefully because I'm I'm sure a lot of these these allocations are important to
078our school district, you know. So, anyway, thank you. You're welcome. Are there any other questions? Commissioner Vance. Thank you, Madam President. through you. Um, yeah, after that kind of what I have to say is pretty minor, but just to go back to that, they are congressionally approved. So, it is money that should have come our way. Um, hopefully they stop, you know, playing games. But anyway, as far as we're concerned, I'm I'm seeing another increase in overtime. We're now at 300 projected $335,000. Um, again, I'm not liking the way that's going. I know that's you're only reporting those numbers. I don't think your department is racking up quarter million dollars in overtime, but um and I know some of it's necessary, but if that's the case, then we have to start, you know, in next
079year look to budget differently. My real opinion is there's overtime out there that isn't necessary. So, I think we need to take a look at that. Uh the other thing I not on you I want to thank Eversource for the fact that we are projecting to be half million dollars over budget on electricity. Uh wonderful. So that was editorial. Thank you madam president. Are there any other questions? Thank you Darren. Request approval of amendment two to the maintenance service agreement with SNE Building Systems. Mr. Albini. Good evening, President Hernandez, Vice President Brown, Secretary Serrano Adorno, Board of Ed Commissioners, Interim Superintendent Dr. Schwarz. The education department respectfully requests amendment to the agreement with SNE for our building controls. Uh presently, uh originally in the uh first contract there were uh nine schools, excuse me, 11
080schools. We added two more. So now we're up to 13 schools. We'd like to add um u um money to the contract for a three-year extension. Um that will increase the number of hours uh for working on these controls from 676 hours to 780 hours and also for remote controls so we can control some of the heat and cooling remotely without necessarily going to the building. Um this so this would be amendment two to the contract. Commissioner Van Stone I figured I'd just save a little time. I love that. Mr. Van Stone, do you have a question? I do. Okay. Thank you, Madam President. Through you. Welcome. I'm reading the letter and I'm reading the contract and I can't find anywhere in this document what these guys do. So these are controls on the cooling
081zones, the exhaust fans, and the upgraded controllers. These are all a lot of electronic uh controls for all the heating and cooling to set uh the um the the low point and the high point. So we get alarms if it goes below a certain temperature in the winter or above a certain temperature in the summertime. Uh and this is unfortunately a proprietary uh item that we can't uh in order to not get away from this we'd have to change the controllers which is quite expensive. So uh this is something that if if we do that you have to do a little bit at a time. It's very difficult. But it talks about labor hours. So, are we like giving them all these labor hours to like look at TV screens and and computer monitors and
082say, "Oh, you went to 72°." That that's uh that only goes from 33 hours to 60 hours, right? But the onsite goes from uh 676 hours to 78. But again, in the contract, it never says what they're doing for the on-site. just says they're on site for any repairs, for any adjustments. A lot of times these electronic uh controllers don't stay in a certain time. A lot of times there's uh if there's ever source again a spike and it turns the controllers into an alarm. Sometimes you can reset remotely, which is great, but sometimes we can't. So during the day, during work hours, they will visit each one of these 13 schools. All right. So we're we're almost prepaying for these labor hours in a sense because we're signing a contract and paying them. Or
083do we pay them when they do the work? When they do the work. So So this contract could potentially in the end pay out less. Correct. This is not to exceed. Okay. So not to exceed, but it still could be less. Correct. Okay. Now that sounds good, but it doesn't really say that in the contract. Now, there's also in each given year, there's a city controlled contingency of $30,000. And this contract's already been around for about six years. It's or four years or thereabouts and we're really ex keep extending it cuz like you said, there's no other no other game in town. How many times have we actually utilize that $30,000? Do you know? Um, I couldn't tell you, but that um I could get that information because it's budgeted for. That's why I worry
084because we budget for things and even if the end of the year we spend less, we can't really touch that money because it's budget for this, you know. So, we're put we're setting aside that money and and it it may just sit there. So, but and the contract never gets relooked at to see what actual spending was it it appears because it's it's already preset for 10 years. Yeah. I don't want to speak for Mrs. Be, but I believe if a contingency is not used, it comes back. Oh, I know that.udget. I know that. But what I'm saying it's budgeted for, so you can't touch it. We're putting money in that kitty. Correct. Correct. And we're putting it there. But if if every year we're using $5,000, why don't we redo this and only budget
085$5,000? Um I have to come I'd have to come back for amendments all the time. So if No, that you don't. If you redo the contract and if that's an amenual on an annual basis, well, just review the numbers. If we keep putting aside $30,000 and we only spend five, we're we're sitting we're putting $25 in like a non-interest account and that's just ridiculous. And we've been doing it for 10 years. That's a lot of money, you know. So, I just don't understand why we don't relook at contracts. We sign these 10-year contracts and they just sit there and if they're not spending all the money, we still have to budget for it. We could use that money elsewhere if we're not you if it every year it's just not used. It it's just to
086me I can't believe we don't relook at contracts. It just amazes me. So I wish we would start doing that. Thank you. Okay. Are there any other Commissioner Srano Adorno? Thank you, Madam President. Mr. Albini. Um I I my question is more or less um if there is a power outage or something happens with the HVAC system, especially the schools that have the schoolbased health centers that might be storing vaccines or something like that, who reports to CHC so that they know. I I don't know if they if they do carry vaccines if every day they take them out and bring them to CHC or bring them back because if the temperature goes on there's no generator then those vaccines are kaput. So, like is there a plan for those schools that have school-based centers?
087So, if they do carry vaccines that if there's a power outage or something um and there's no backup generator that who would then report to either CHC or the school director so that they can somehow go on site and remove those vaccines. Do you understand? I I do. This is really if if the HVAC or the if the heating or cooling isn't functioning, not if there's no electricity, but sometimes if there is uh a loss of power, um school inspector and uh school in uh uh safety and security gets notified and either it could be um it could be get put back on remotely or have to go in person. Gotcha. But um there isn't an actual notification to the schoolbased but there could be and we could make that. So like maybe will the
088director like contact the school principal and then maybe the principal could then either contact the you know a lean or I think I think probably it would be best to skip all that and go right to Gotcha. Okay. I just wanted to make sure I'm not sure if they're doing vaccines. I know at the health department we're trying to kind of offset some of it and help at our clinic. Um, but I think that was something that they were trying to do at the schoolbased centers to kind of help those kids get them in school quicker. So, thank you. Yeah, we only have a couple of schools that have generators. Unfortunately, they're very uh expensive. Yeah. So, there's only two or three that we have. Okay. Thank you. I just wasn't sure if like CHC
089takes them every day at the end of the work and brings them back to a local center and then comes, you know, I don't know what their plan is. So I just want you could put that as part of if in Driggs Crosby and uh will be we notify someone about that if there's a loss of power for a lengthy durational period. Perfect. Thank you Mini. Thank you Madam President. Are there any other questions committee on building and school facilities? Mr. Albany. With the approval of the committee on school facilities and grounds, the superintendent of schools recommends approval of the use of school facilities at no charge by the following six school organizations or city departments as listed in the report. Are there any questions? Thank you, Commissioner Van Stone. Um, Committee on Building and
090School Facilities, Mr. Albini. With the approval of the Committee on School Facilities and Grounds, the Superintendent of Schools recommends approval of the use of school facilities by 10 groups and organizations as listed in the report. Are there any questions? Thank you, Mr. Albini. Thank you. Number 13, Dr. Schwarz. Thank you, President. So, uh, and I want to start off by saying I we had a good meeting with the personnel committee to discuss this job description, made some of the adjustments discussed at that committee. I want to remind the board um and Gene, you can come up to the table. Uh, remind the board that this position was budgeted under the new budget. Uh we uh we did have a director position and as you recall earlier with Miss John's presentation about school climate there is
091a lot of legislation coming out that is new. There's a mandatory district school climate team and school climate teams in all the schools and there are mandated procedures now in place for all of those um for all of those initiatives. And so this position is accountable for leading the district-wide initiatives that promote positive school culture and student success which we all want. Director oversees programs addressing climate, alternative and innovative student placements, discipline while fostering restorative practices. This position leads the district school climate team in achieving district goals. The role serves as the primary liaison with community partners, state agencies, and district stakeholders that support promote access to supportive services for all students, particularly those at risk for academic or social difficulties. Position the position ensures compliance with state and federal guidelines. Um, in front of
092you, you see, uh, the job description before you that went through personnel. Uh, tonight's an FYI only, but here and happy to answer any questions uh for the board tonight. Are there any questions? No questions, Jean. Thank you. That's the one that Good job, Jean. hours. Superintendent notification to the board. Okay. Can I have a motion to adjurnn? Motion to adjurnn. Second. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. We are adjourned for two minutes. Make sure she's still alive. I'm crying. Yeah, I know. I'm going to tell her. Sorry. Here you go, look at I thought you were going to ask the question. Except Oneita with her side eye. You don't even realize Heat. Heat. depending on you. What the heck was her last name? What's Wendy's last name? Good evening. Today is Thursday, July
09310th. This is a special meeting of the Waterberry Board of Education. We'll start off with a silent prayer of Dr. Schwarz. Do you have any remembrances? Not tonight. Very good. Secretary Serrano Donor, can you lead us in the pledge? Yes, Madam President. I pledge allegiance 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. Vice President Brown present. Commissioner Ireland. Commissioner Laoya Ireland present. Commissioner Jackson pres. Commissioner Lopez present. Commissioner O'Brien present. Commissioner Orso here. Commissioner Srano Adorno here. Commissioner Van Stone present. President Hernandez here. May I have a motion to remove item 4.2 from the agenda? Commissioner Orsel. Item 4.2. I move to remove item 4.2 from the agenda. Second. All in favor? I oppose. Motion
094carries. Thank you. Item number 4.1. Item 4.1. Is this on? Commissioner Orso. Item 4.1. I move that the Waterberry Board of Education approve the appointment of Nicole Rivers as special education supervisor effective upon contract signature. Second. Discussion. Dr. Schwarz. Thank you, President. Um, I'm pleased to support the appointment of Dr. Nicole Rivers as supervisor of special education. Miss Rivers brings a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to student success. Grounded in eight years of teaching as a special education teacher across various districts including region 16, Cheshure, New Haven, and the State Street program in Waterberry. She holds a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Bridgeport and has demonstrated strong instructional expertise throughout her career. In her previous roles as an ESY administrator and testing coordinator, Miss Rivers has consistently shown her dedication
095to fostering a culture of continuous improvement where both students and staff are inspired to reach their full potential. Miss Rivera uh Miss Rivers is passionate about empowering educators through meaningful professional development and remains focused on creating an equitable and supportive learning environment for all students. Her leadership reflects a clear vision of excellence in special education and we are confident she will make a positive and lasting impact in this role. Any further discussion? All in favor? I I oppose. Motion carries. President Hernandez, Vice President Brown, Secretary Serrano Adorno, Board of Education Commissioners, and Interimm Superintendent Dr. Schwarz. Uh, I thank you for this opportunity and as someone who spent part of my time teaching in Waterberry public schools at the State Street program, it means so much to me to be receiving this board appointment tonight.
096I am passionate about giving back to a community that shaped me as an educator, and I am excited to serve the students and families and staff of Waterberry Public Schools further. I know from experience the wonderful work that this district and its dedicated staff does day in and day out, and I'm eager and honored for the opportunity to enter into this role and to serve this community again. Thank you. Trendset. Congratulations. Said all my meetings were virtual. I didn't realize that. All right. Item number five, consent calendar. Does anyone wish to remove an item from the consent calendar? Okay. 5.1 Committee on Finance requests approval of a memorandum of understanding with Connecticut State Community College in Agatuk Valley for renting of classroom for a school to work transition academy. 5.2 2 Committee on Finance requests
097approval of a professional service agreement with Equinox Home Care LLC for nursing services as submitted by Ashlin Mclennic, Director of Health 5.3 Committee on Finance requests approval of amendment one to the professional service agreement with the Community Health Center, Inc. for school-based health center schools as submitted by Aane McLaclin, director of health. 5.4 Committee on Finance request approval of a purchase of service agreement with State of Connecticut Office of Early Childhood for Funding of Early Start CT, formerly known as School Readiness. 5.5 Committee on Finance request approval to apply for the family resource center program grant for Reed School. 5.6 Committee on Finance request approval to apply for the family resource center program grant for Wilson School. 5.7 Committee on Finance request approval of amendment two to the maintenance service agreement with SNE Building Services
098Inc. for maintenance services for building management service system. 5.8 committee on building and school facilities use of school facilities by school organizations and or city departments. 5.9 Committee on Building and School Facilities use of school facilities on outside organizations and or waiver requests. May I have a motion? Commissioner Arland. I motion to approve the consent calendar items 5.1 through 5.9 as read. Second. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Abstain. I abstain. Okay. Oh, okay. Interim superintendent notification to the board. Superintendent. Commissioner or Commissioner Orso. May I have a motion? Superintendent. I motion to receive and place and file superintendent notification to the board items 6.1 to 6.9. Second. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. May I have a motion to adjurnn? Make a motion to adjurnn. Second. Discussion. Yay. All in favor? I.
099Oh, I'm sorry. Commissioner Van Stone has discussion. I have nothing to say. All in favor? Opposed. Motion carries. Good night, everyone. Good night. in August. He has nothing to say. I'm going to go and buy a lot of tickets. Let me know so I can book it. We're going to do And how long you want me to do