001[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] the state. Good evening. Today is Wednesday, April 9th, 2025, a rescheduled regular board meeting. Dr. Schwarz, do you have any remembrances tonight? Not tonight. Thank you. Can I have our two ladies say the pledge of allegiance? Whoops. Silent. I'm sorry. Oh, I thought that was Let's do our silent prayer. I'm so used to having remembrances. [Music] Now, can we have our two water career academy ladies do the pledge of allegiance? I pledge of 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 Anthony Ireland, present. Commissioner Latoya, Ireland, here. Commissioner Jackson, present. Commissioner Lopez, Commissioner O'Brien, Commissioner Orso here. Commissioner Serrano Adorno, Commissioner Van Stone, President Hernandez
002here. Commissioner Anthony Arling, may I have a motion for communications? Got it. Got it. I motion to receive and place on file communications as listed. Second. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Do we have any public speakers? Okay. Interim superintendence announcements. Thank you. Shorts. Thank you. Good evening, President Hernandez, Vice President Brown, our commissioners, student representatives. Uh tonight I have a uh presentation for you, but I think it's behind me. There we go. little different tonight um here at Westside School uh in our brand new auditorium. Uh looks great here. Uh some great news we just uh received yesterday. We put in for the Connecticut Department of Transportation active transportation micro grant program for 31 schools and received $5,000 for every single one of our schools, which is a total of $155,000 to be
003able to provide bikes and helmets for students to use as attendance rewards. So, um, we're going to receive it and, uh, get the bikes and helmets as quickly as possible. on probably is going to be a fall implementation, but I want to thank Louise Brown and Sandro Rome. Uh it's a great initiative and getting uh that many bikes and students learning how to ride the bikes uh safely is is going to be great. SPTO. Um, I want to uh give a big shout out to two parents, uh, Jackie Smith and Amanda Solo, who uh came to me with an idea of starting a special education parent teacher organization. Uh, many other districts in the state of Connecticut already have this uh established and uh we've been meeting with them uh regularly, myself, Wendy Johns, and
004Amy Sims. and um they just wanted to start an opportunity where parents can come together as a parent teacher organization to be able to discuss uh not just current issues and needs but also what can we do as a community to raise up our special education students and to uh uh uh and and to and to create a better environment for all of them. So really uh our work the the working draft they have right now for a mission is the Waterberry sped uh special ed parent teacher organization supports students from prek through post-secary programs focusing on special education in Waterberry public schools. Its mission is to educate parents advocate for their needs and help them connect. Uh Septto meetings u would give parents a chance to gather information and receive support. This organization also
005allows parents and educators to work together to improve educational programs for children's for children with disabilities. So we look forward to continuing that conversation and a launch uh somewhat soon. I think it's a great idea. Again, we've looked at some other uh SEPTOS across the state to kind of look at what they do and what they don't do to help uh help guide this information. So looking forward to establishing that in the district. Um April uh among many things is also also National Child Abuse Prevention Month. The city of Waterberry and Waterberry public schools will be collecting donations during the month of April in support of the Exchange Club of Waterberry's Blue Ribbon campaign. If you'd like to make a donation uh uh for those that are in schools, go to your philanthropy team leaders
006uh or you could come down to the Chase building and ask for Sydney Molina. She uh and we'll we're collecting money through the month of April for this uh worthy cause. Willby Culinary was able to go to um Grace Baptist Church today and uh the students were at it again providing a lunchon for senior citizens there as part of their community outreach. Students received uh not just high marks for their food but also just high marks for um um just their ability to to communicate and work with uh the senior citizens that they were able to interact with. A special thanks to Dr. Baker, Joe Begnel, and teacher Rick Terry for putting this event together. Uh, and again, they wowed uh, the participants. Wallace uh, pizza celebration. The mayor hosted a pizza celebration for the
007Wallace Middle School girls basketball team who won the Nagatuk Valley uh, uh, league junior championship this year. Uh, I believe they beat Seymour by quite a hefty margin and so uh, hopefully they can have another repeat next year. But we wanted to say thank uh congratulations to the team and thanks to the mayor for providing them a lunchon. We were able to celebrate national school library media uh specialist day last week on April 4th. As you know our library media specialists play an integral role in our uh students education and we wanted to give them a big shout out. And this week is happy assistant principles week. So, a happy assistant principal week to all our assistant principles out there, uh, backbone of many of our schools, and we wanted to thank them for their
008service. And that's all I have for my, uh, presentation tonight. President's comments. Um, we also, the mayor also did a pizza party for Warberry Career Academy. Yes. Correct. Um it was really nice. The boys really liked it, you know. Um we kept telling them, "Yeah, you can have more. Come on up, have more." They were like, "Okay." So, um it was really it was really nice. So, uh kudos to the mayor for doing that for for our basketball players. I really don't have anything else, so I'm good. Student representative comments. Waterberry Career Academy. Please introduce yourselves. Good evening, President Hernandez, Vice President Brown, Commissioners, and Superintendent Dr. Schwarz. My name is Tiffany Rodriguez representing Waterbury Career Academy and I'm currently in the 12th grade. I'm going to give you an update on our academics. In
009our education and training academy, we are proud to announce that our ed rising students recently participated in the state competition with five students advancing to compete at the national level at the end of June. Additionally, Ed Rising successfully hosted its first blood drive resulting in 30 generous donations. There were also two students who were elected to be part of the CT Ed Ryzen student cabinet officers, assistant to the president and vice president of service for our health academy. Our Yukon Allied health students recently had the opportunity to explore Yukon Health in Farmington where they attended presentations from various healthc care professionals. Over the past few months, we have welcomed a medical examiner, athletic trainer, physical therapist, and medical lab scientist to share their insights and experiences. Later this week, our juniors will have the chance
010to participate in a presentation by a respiratory therapist. Additionally, last month, juniors were offered the opportunity to obtain their CPR and first aid certifications. In a manufacturing academy, our students will be participating in a job site visit to explore the mask program. The 10th grade students have successfully completed a CAD project. The 11th and 12th grade students have recently finished their NVCC project with their final project being a ring toss game. In IT and engineering, our students have had the opportunity to enroll in a new course game design and we have recently received positive feedback. Um, additionally, we are proud to recognize that our teacher of the year is one of our IT teachers. And now for an update on clubs and activities. Four students participated in the HOSA state competition. Our robotics club competed
011for the first time at Wilby High School and also participated in events in Harford. Additionally, they had the opportunity to observe a regional competition in Springfield, Massachusetts this past weekend. Earlier this year, our student council took a trip to the state capital to participate in a mock legislative session with other Connecticut schools. Our school counseling team hosted a junior college planning night on March 18th and a financial aid review night for seniors on March 25th. Juniors participated in SAT on April 8th. The National Honor Society successfully completed their spring carnation sales while DECA concluded their Easter basket sales. A total of 175 students at our school have completed their FASA applications placing us currently at number one in the state. All right. My name is Annalia Bayas. I am also representing Waterberry Career Academy. I
012am currently in the 11th grade and I will be updating you on our athletic and student accomplishments throughout our school. Early earlier this year, our boys basketball team won the third NVL title in a row. Our school hosted spring sport tryyouts in March. Our softball team had their first scrimmage as well as our baseball team. The baseball and softball teams both had their first game. The outdoor track and field team had their first meet on April 8th, while our boys volleyball team will be holding their first game against Kennedy this week. And for our events that will be happening in the upcoming months, there will be an upcoming opportunity for juniors to visit the colleg's University of New Haven, Southern Connecticut State University, Yukon Stores, and Central Connecticut State University. We were given the opportunity
013to have another upcoming college fair which will be held on April 10th. Juniors that are currently taking the A push class are given the opportunity to go watch Hamilton. Seniors from our Yukon Western traditional history and AP government will be taking a trip to the Intrepid Museum in New York City. Our National Honor Society ceremony set to be in May, while a senior awards night will be held on May 14th. We have our upcoming prom, which is set to be on May 23rd. Our senior and junior classes both have their class field trip set to be in May. We have our upcoming field day which will be held on May 30th while senior decision day will be held on May 1st. Our school will additionally be hosting our annual talent show this month. Moving on
014to a student narrative. Earlier this school year, we have noticed a concerning shortage of support for special education teachers. One of our special education teachers will be transitioning to a new position, raising concerns about the impact on students who rely on this essential support. Additionally, our ESL teacher is shared with Wilson Elementary School, which has posed challenges for students who need assistance. As students, we hope by the next year there'll be more support for these students and hopefully more teachers for them. Any questions for our student representatives? Thank you, ladies. Thank you very busy busy school. Consent calendar. Does anyone wish to remove any items from the consent calendar? 9.1 request approval of amendment one to the professional service agreement with positive coaching alliance for leadership support for accelerating learning 9.2 request approval of amendment
015one to the agreement with New Opportunities Inc. Muriel Moore Child Development Center for subgrantee services under the school readiness program. 9.3 request approval of an agreement with Clingberg comprehensive program services incorporated Raymond Hill School for Special Education Services. 9.4 Use of School Facilities by school organizations and or city departments. 9.5 use of school facilities by outside organizations and or waiverss. Commissioner Jackson, may I have a motion? Um, let's see. Um, I motion to approve the consent calendar items um 9.1 through 9.5 as read. Second. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Item number 11, Vice President Brown. Thank you, Madam President. 11.1. Ladies and gentlemen, I move that the board of education approve a facility use agreement with the American Cancer Society, Inc. Second. Discussion. Can uh who's who's here to discuss? Mr. Albini, can
016you just give us a little rundown on what this will entail? Thank you. Certainly. Good evening, President Hernandez, Vice President Brown. Um, Board of Education Commissioners, Waterbury Career Academy Board of Education student representatives, and interim superintendent, Dr. Schwarz. Um, this um the American Cancer Society and Relay for Life uh came before you back in October for building use approval, which was granted. Uh, but it did require a contract. Uh we did make a visit there today. Uh I met with uh three members uh from American Cancer Society along with uh Mr. Verinold the pres the principal at Crosby our school uh inspector uh Mr. Kopka, Mr. Catalani. Um to go over some of the specifics of what they needed there. Uh they'll have porta toilets there. They'll have golf carts for transportation of u members
017up to the track. Uh our biggest concern was to make sure that the turf was not um affected in any way by someone putting stakes into their tents which will be inside the uh the center of the track for the cancer survivors for volunteers. So uh we'll have a dumpster for them for garbage. So they had quite a few questions uh that uh we were able to fulfill their needs and they reassured us for damage. So it was a quite successful meeting today and this will happen uh June 14th. Uh it really is from 10:00 a.m. to 1000 p.m. but they'll need time in the morning to set up. So it really starts at 8. Um and it's a worthy cause. So, we wanted to make sure we w could accommodate uh all their needs
018and and we are Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Arland. Just one question. Um during during this event, is the track and Crosby the school is going to be open as well or just the track? It'll be the the school will not be open. Uh but we will have a representative in the event that they do need it. Uh but they they will use their um dog pound where they serve food. So they'll use that. Uh they'll have some food trucks up there. Uh but they won't need the facility at all. They'll just uh the volunt the uh the people who participate will just use the track so they can uh track their miles for reimbursement so it gets donated to the cancer society. Any other questions? Thank you. Thank you. All in favor? I oppose.
019Motion carries. Before I move on, um I had met a gentleman yesterday uh at a meeting and he was telling me about the National Science and History uh geographical B regional tournaments that Wallace Middle School was in. And I told him that we would give a shout out to those winners cuz we did have several. Nice. Um, Dr. Schwarz. Yes. So, thank you, uh, President. So, uh, I I put this on one of my slides a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago, that Wallace was going to be hosting this be and, uh, our fourth to eighth graders, uh, in the academy, uh, and in Wallace Middle School were part of this. And I'm happy to announce some winners. All right, so bear with me because we have a lot of them. Uh, in eighth
020grade science, Faren Tunstall took gold place, first place in the competition. Uh, Amari Rodriguez in eighth grade took bronze. In sixth grade science, Eritan Roage took bronze. In fifth grade science, Marker took silver. In fourth grade science, in silver, Anna Rodriguez coffee. Um, so we we cleaned up a lot on the science. In history, we had one winner in seventh grade. For silver, it was Jeremiah DeLeon. And in geography in seventh grade, we took a bronze by Brenda Leia. So great uh great showing uh for all those winners for our first time taking part in this and they they competed against kids across Connecticut and so I'm really excited about the results there. So on behalf of the Warberry Board of Education, we'd like to say congratulations to all those winners. All [Music] [Applause] right.
021Item 11 two. Vice President Brown. Thank you, Madam President. I move that the board of education approve to file a grant application for the proposed Roberto Clemente International Dual Language School Expansion Project. Second. Discussion. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. 11.3. Vice President Brown. Thank you, Madam President. Ladies and gentlemen, I move that the board of education approve of the preparation of schematic drawings and outline specifications for the proposed Roberto Clemente International Dual Language School Expansion Project. Second. Discussion. All in favor? I I oppose. Motion carries. 11.4. Vice President Brown. Thank you, Madam President. Ladies and gentlemen, I move that the board of education approve of the establishment of a building committee for the proposed Roberto Clemente International Dual Language School expansion project. Such committee shall consist of commissioners Latoya Ireland, Elizabeth Brown, Jacqueline
022Jackson, Roco Orso, and Melissa Serrano Adorno. Second discussion. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries 12 item 12. Commissioner Orso 12.1. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I move that the board of education uh of a professional agree to a professional service agreement with RFP 8212 with Bees Vending Incorporated to provide local carrier service. Can I get a second? Second. Discussion. Commissioner Orso, is this a carrier service for the male? No. Okay. Sorry. Thank you. Any other more any other questions? All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Superintendent's notification to the board. Commissioner Orso, may I have a motion. Okay. Interim superintendent notification to the board. I motion to receive and place on file the superintendent's notification to the board items 13.1 to 13.4. Second. Discussion. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Do I have
023any committee report committee chair reports? Seeing none. Item number 15. May I have a motion to adjurnn? A motion to adjurnn. Second. Discussion. Oh, sorry. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. We are adjourned. That was Thank you everybody. Yeah.