Weston Board Of Education Meeting 6/15/26

001Mhm. >> there. Um we just had our senior trip to Six Flags last week. It was awesome. And our underclassmen uh freshmen, sophomores, and juniors are going into their finals week this week. And they just had their review day today. Um Aside from that, I also, because I'm leaving, want to introduce our upcoming executive board um presidents. They'll introduce themselves. >> Hi. Uh my name is Calvin Marvilla. As you could probably guess, I'm a junior. >> I'm Jamie Stammer, and I'm also a junior. >> Hello. >> Yeah. >> Awesome. I don't I don't know. I don't know if that warrants clapping, but we're very excited to have them. Welcome. And that's all we've got. Happy summer. >> Well, you two, and we look forward um to the um rising seniors, and good luck to you,

002Izzy, and congratulations. And thank you for being you generally um as a student government, as coming in every single one of our meetings. Really appreciate it. So, thank you for doing that. So, enjoy your summers. >> And enjoy your post-graduate event. >> By 5:00 in the morning, we will still be trying to do that. Yeah. Okay. Uh next on the agenda is the approval of minutes. Um May 4th, Board of Ed executive session, May 4th, Board of Ed special meeting, uh June 1st, Board of Ed executive session. Is there a motion, or is there are there questions? All right. Is there a motion to approve, David? >> Move that the minutes of the meetings were presented for review. There being no corrections, the minutes are approved as presented. >> Okay. Is there a second? >>

003I second. >> All in favor? >> I apologize. If cuz I wasn't present for one of the minutes, does that mean we have to do them separately to vote on them? >> Oh. >> Okay. Good question, though. All right. All in favor? Any opposed? No. Minutes are approved. Uh public comment. Um the board always reads an intro to public comment, so here it goes. The Board of Education welcomes the opportunity here from members of the public about matters concerning the Weston Public Schools. Public comment is an important chance for the board to receive input and feedback from our school community. We listen attentively to all comments shared. While we value and pay close attention to public comment, it is our practice not to respond substantively or sometimes at all during public comment. There are several

004reasons for this. First, engaging in a discussion on a non-agenda item could violate our obligation to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. Second, the board or the administration may not be prepared to discuss certain matters right board of education at westonps.org. All right, with that, is there public comments? And if so, please come up. >> Hi, good evening. Hear me all right? Okay. >> Yes, if you could just state your full name and your street address, please. Thank you. >> Anna Hafner, uh One Banks Drive. I'm a parent to a third and a first-grader, and I'm so happy to see their principals over here. Um I spent 17 years in leadership roles at Google, um and it's with that perspective that um a real first-hand knowledge, uh I should mention also my husband works

005for Netflix, um a first-hand knowledge of how technology devices are designed and sold, um that I just wanted to join this evening to contribute a perspective on EdTech in our schools. Here's There's I know first-hand from my career in tech. Most of the Silicon Valley executives I know keep their kids really far from screens. They are proponents of educational methods like the Waldorf School. Their children are busy in screen-free educational environments developing interpersonal skills, handwriting, and musical abilities long before they're taught to type, swipe, or consume educational video content. That gap between what tech leaders choose for their own kids and what gets sold to ours is really worth sitting with as a district. And for nearly a decade, schools nationwide, including ours, have bet big on tablets, Chromebooks, and one-to-one device programs. The pandemic

006supercharged this growth overnight, and our heroic teachers made school happen virtually and at home to keep us all safe. And now parents, teachers, administrators, and school boards everywhere are rethinking that bet as new neuroscience reveals what screens do to kids' brains, and the AI tsunami that we're living in is really accelerating everything. We pledge allegiance to the flag. I personally pledge allegiance to this book, which I've been sharing with our school leaders, and I would impart the board and everybody who's looking after our children in our district to take a look at this. It's called the digital delusion. If you've read The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, people are saying that this belongs next to it on every educator's shelf. It's written by a neuroscientist who just testified to Congress. And um I think that

007it's really worth a read before this summer um meeting adjourns. Let's just zoom out and I'd share a quick anecdote of what technology use has felt like as a parent with children in our own classrooms this year. My first grader starts every day at age seven with 20 to 30 minutes of phonics lessons on a tablet. My third grader types instead of writing by hand and plays some math games that I view as built on the same engagement metrics as social media and slot machines. This isn't just anecdotal. We have broad consensus across the parent base. There are petitions, communities across the country are wrestling with this. And I want to acknowledge how fast this is all happened. Pendulums pendulum swing quickly in education and the the pandemic really supercharged the proliferation of devices. But

008I just want to point to some of the research. Across more than 20,000 studies, the neuroscientist who wrote this book and testified to Congress earlier this year finds the same pattern. More classroom tech leads to lower test scores and kids off task nearly half the time they're on a device. Last month, the American Federation of Teachers which has over 1.8 million members called for a smart 10-point plan. I'd urge you all to have a look at it if you haven't seen it yet. It's called devices down, eyes up, hands-on learning. And in May, the US Surgeon General urged schools to protect screen-free time, prioritize pen and paper learning, and confine technology to a computer learning lab environment, quarantine the devices. So that kids learn about technology, but not through it all day. Yale University, down

009the road, actually just quarantined all of their devices. No more device use in the classroom. Tablets, laptops, cell phones bell to bell to encourage presence and deeper learning in their classrooms. And the second largest public school district in the country, Los Angeles, just banned all device use from grades five and below. Our own administrators have shared with me that EdTech companies overwhelm their inboxes. I've spent a year years of my career in software sales and I'm not surprised at all. I spent a little time reviewing our software budget. We're spending real money on programs like Symphony Math and things my own kids have encountered in their classrooms such as Gimkit, Gizmo, and other programs called BrainPop, along with several other line items from VC-backed companies funded in part by Mark Zuckerberg. I say this not

010to be contentious, but just to look at this through the lens of a person who has sold technology her entire career and I know that the goals of these companies are incongruous with those of a public school. Some will say computers are the future and that this technology in our classrooms is inevitable. I'd offer a different perspective. The children that are best prepared for the tech-driven future that I'm living in my career are the ones who are grounded in very traditional analog learning with pen and paper, real books, and real handwriting. And I'm not saying those are absent in our schools. Technology is really supplemental to the curriculum we have, but I would be remiss and I feel responsible as a technology person to be the voice in the room reminding us all to look

011at this through a very skeptical and critical lens. >> [snorts] >> We've organized a parent working group um and thank you to superintendent um to to you Tina, to you Daniel, um and also to Principal Kitas and Principal D'Amico for your collaboration because they've been so responsive in in hearing, you know, the parent perspective on this and I I recognize all of the constraints that it would take to reduce technology, but we're really asking for the administration to support and bring back real pen and paper learning at every opportunity. May I ask of the board this summer read Horvath's research, take a spin through our software budget, and work with us to significantly reduce EdTech and one-to-one device use across the district. Yale University, Los Angeles, and other leading schools are not going to wait

012on this, and Weston has a real opportunity to lead. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I know we have a policy where we don't comment, but I do want to point out for the public's benefit, if you listen to the last 15 minutes of our curriculum round-up meeting last week, it'd be really fruitful for the parents and others in these working groups cuz we covered all this. So, look at the video, please. >> All right. Thank you. >> Good evening. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> My name's Ruben Zweigbaum. I live at 2 Glen Lane. Um I'm father of two children, uh I pre-Weston school, uh four and two. My oldest will be entering the school district in 18 months, and we will be residents or um a family part of this district for

013the next 16 years. Uh unsurprisingly, I'm also here to talk about the role of screens, AI, and devices in the classroom, particularly in early childhood education. Uh thinking ahead of my oldest, my son, entering uh kindergarten in the first grade, and um understand that curriculum changes take time, and so wanted to speak here today uh well ahead and and start the conversation early. Uh based off the gentleman's remarks, it sounds like that conversation has already begun. So, thank you. Um to be clear, I am not anti-technology. Uh I use these tools on a daily basis in a professional capacity, and I understand their value. However, I do believe that in an educational setting, the situation is quite different. In my opinion, young children develop attention, handwriting, comprehension, memorization, which I believe is lost from from

014what I can tell. Long-form calculation and judgement through patience, repetition, frustration, and often failure. These inefficiencies are not flaws in my opinion. They are where the learning occurs, and they should be mastered before machines are ever introduced to perform those tasks for them. >> [clears throat] >> Anecdotally, I I experienced this contrast firsthand. In 2011, I earned a master's degree from Oxford University. My thesis required rigorous on-the-ground field research, organizing and executing a number of interviews, testing my assumptions, rewriting my thesis, a number of advisory meetings that challenged me, and at the very end I had to sit a very large number of handwritten examinations. That process taught me to question my sources, challenge logic, and find original thought and analysis, persevere through that process, and form independent judgement. Fast forward to this May, I

015completed a second master's degree, but this time from the University of San Francisco. Phenomenal program, don't mean to disparage the program, but it did include a include AI as an accepted part of their workflow. So, if you were to look at my final capstone that I submitted this past May, it would be very comparable to something I might have submitted 15 years prior, but the educational experience was not. AI certainly accelerated the work and the research involved in that process, but it compressed the struggle. It compressed the reflection and the refinement through which the deeper learning occurs. So, you can say, well, as a as a student who has gone through postgraduate education, why not opt out? Well, my view is that once the technology has set the pace, opting out a student who chooses

016to opt out becomes an outlier. And from my experience, the curriculum adapts to the prevailing norm. I also should mention that I'm a combat veteran. And in the military, we learn that the advanced that advanced tools are most valuable only after you master the fundamentals. So, imagine, and at risk of being dramatic here, imagine if I had a wounded teammate and my GPS were being jammed or not working. Uh I still have to know how to read a map and understand my position and communicate that information accurately. Um to do otherwise would be inexcusable. And I understand that's dramatic, but the the discipline in those habits that were instilled within me and stirred in were instilled in the early childhood days in the schoolhouse. And my classmates grew up to be doctors, pilots, lawyers, um

017very consequential decisions. And if they're too dependent upon the technology that they were taught on and not understanding the fundamentals, I believe there is an additional risk there. So, what's my ask? I ask that the board review its screen and AI usage grade by grade, establish a screen-free core curriculum for the earliest grades, and seek educational justification for any digital tools used, uh barring any accessibility exemptions. Understand that that should be be considered. Hurlbutt's mission is to help children discover learning as a process. I'm here today to ask you to protect that process. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else? >> Hello, everyone. Thank you. Hi, how are you? Do you mind if I pivot cuz I love my principals, too. >> [snorts] >> My name is Hillary Cole. I have two children.

018I live at 25 White Birch Road. I hope my phone doesn't die. Speaking of technology. Okay. As a society, we appear to be in the beginning stages of a much-needed reckoning about technology and education. First, smartphones and their negative impact on our kids' mental health, attention spans, sense of isolation and loneliness, and activity levels. Next, so-called EdTech, I don't believe it is, and the ways that the Chromebook the Chromebookification of the classroom is hurting learning outcomes. Thankfully, Weston has now become more aware and vigilant about the dangers of smartphones, and appears to be awakening to the dangers of EdTech. I'm really proud of the parent group and the administrations' vow to work with us and to try to fix the situation. But, I do also think that we are late, not as a town, but

019as a country, we are late to this game. We are late to thinking about how cell phones directly impact children. We are late now to think about how EdTech it dis- it it it makes makes it makes screens impossible to ignore as young children. We need to be prepared now for the next wave of tech in education, and it's crucial that we don't repeat the same mistakes of the recent past when it comes to how we do or do not integrate artificial intelligence into our district. AI should not have a place in our classrooms until it has been proven not only safe, but superior for outcomes, not just output. Said more bluntly, the research so far looks like AI makes smarter essays, but dumber kids. Why? I'll read from an article that appears in the

020New York Times just last week by Rebecca Winthrop, the director of the Center of Universal Education at the Brook- Brookings Institute, who led a global task force on AI in education. She recommends no AI at all for writing for students. Any part of writing, brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, wordsmithing, none of it. Giving students the ability to just use AI to help them, quote, come up with ideas or, quote, write a better opener, or, quote, proofread for clarity, which an actual teacher, here, I don't know the teacher what school was actually doing this already. Or even playing devil's advocate, all of this looks to be damaging. We shouldn't adopt it just because it's a shiny new technology object. I quote directly now from Ms. Winthrop, quote, "Increasingly, many people I talk to, from students to teachers

021or peers, tell me that they think it's okay to use AI chatbots for brainstorming as long as they do the, quote, real work of writing. But this misunderstands something critical. Brainstorming is the work that's fundamental to writing. As a research research researcher studying AI its effects on education, I have concluded that these tools only superficially improve writing. The bigger and more alarming impact they have is to constrict our full range of thoughts and our ability to generate original and useful ideas, what we call creative thinking. This seems to be especially true for students. The erosion of critical thinking means young people will struggle to navigate uncertainty." End quote. Further, a recent study from researchers at MIT's Media Lab analyzed three groups of writers, ones unaided by the internet, ones allowed to use basic search function,

022and ones allowed to use OpenAI's ChatGPT. Of the three groups, ChatGPT users had the lowest brain engagement and consistently underperformed at neurolinguistic and behavioral levels. The paper suggests that the uses of LLMs could actually harm learning, especially for younger users. T. Alexander Prapado, PhD, teaches at Harvard and is an organizational performance expert positions the conundrum we're facing. How are we supposed to compete in the workforce if AI is not only automating our output, but also eroding the very skills we need to stay valuable? This is actually great news for the district and our teachers. You know what isn't a reasonable or fair expectation of our gifted, diligent, dedicated cherished teachers? That they spend every summer learning all the latest technology. They need a break. You know what is? The same thing we've relied on them

023for as long as there have been teachers and the same thing that is likely drew them to the profession in the first place. A passion for the subject matter and a desire to inspire a love of learning in our kids. So, let us let them do that. Leave the disruptive tech to Silicon Valley. If teachers want to use AI to generate lessons plans or curriculums, this probably carries less risk for them in large part because they, like all of us in this room, went through their formative years in a time with their own cognitive development was safe from these new technology threats. But even we adults should be also be mindful about protecting our cognition. The justification we will now be offered to adopt AI in a mindless and panic manner is the same one

024we always hear. Well, that's the world the kids will graduate into, right? We have to prepare them for that. This is superficial thinking. If you want your kid prepared for the future, the best thing you can do is get AI out of their heads. They will only be able to navigate the coming future if they can think, be agile, problem solve, and create. Those skills are learned by learning. AI doesn't help learning. >> Excuse me, Hillary. 5 minutes are up. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um I Oh, more. Yes. >> Hi everyone. I just I hate reading this off a phone screen. Um >> Could you just state your name and your street address, please? >> Hi, my name is Gus Christensen. Uh I live at

02565 Northfield Road. Uh I'm the parent of a rising third grader heading from Hobert to WES and also rising seventh grader staying here at the middle school. The last time I stood up, well, sat down here was over 2 years ago when a group of parents came before you asking for Paul D. Bell cell phone ban in our treasured Weston public schools. And we appreciate how quickly the board and the administration moved to enact that policy. By all reports, the ban has been successful and there's certainly no interest in going back. If anything, uh I think we may need to go further with it. Um but smartphones aren't the only issue. They don't even represent the majority of the screen time that our kids have. While this knowledge has honestly crept up on me and

026I think of myself as a reasonably involved parent, um it would appear that my kids now get the majority of their screen time in school for work. Um I made air quotes. We We had some issues with the middle school this spring and it caused us to dig deeper into what our kid has been doing during the day and we honestly didn't love uh what we learned. I think all of us adults here, all of whom I believe are old enough to have had real paper books and textbooks specifically when we were in school, get that reading screens is not the same as reading paper. And as you've heard from the other speakers already tonight, the educational research is now overwhelming that screen-based learning is categorically bad for kids and it's not just bad for

027I get that it's hard to change direction, but when the evidence is clear that we're going the wrong way, we have to do it and do it quickly. Kids grow up fast. We need to change course and change it faster than just studying the issue. I'll tell you why I honestly worry that my middle schooler may already be a lost cause on attention fragmentation and she doesn't even have a smartphone yet. Uh I'm very pleased that we're likely to be getting the iPads out of her robot, uh but my younger daughter just spent the last 2 years on them and she's about to head over to Whiz and be handed a Chromebook and that's bad. I don't want her to have a Chromebook at Whiz at all. Uh I want to be clear about that

028and I want my middle schooler learning on paper and pencil as well. I want her reading books, not uh actual textbooks, not screens. As Reuben said, you know, I'm no Luddite. Luddism was about getting technology out of the workplace. We're not talking about that. By all means, use technology in the workplace. Generate marketing presentations more efficiently using AI, 1,000%. But that's different from schools and I got that schools are also workplaces for the teachers and we need to be sensitive to teachers' workloads, but I got to say, I highly doubt that the teachers of 2026 are doing less work than the teachers of 1996 or 1976 because the teachers now get to leverage technology. Right? I don't think I highly doubt that it's actually truly reducing teachers' workloads. Um but anyway, some of these comments

029may be a little premature, um because we want to give you a heads-up about how fast this may be moving over the summer. We are trying to organize parents and we are potentially organizing parents to refuse the Chromebooks next year. Um we want our kids learning with pencil and paper, not with Chromebooks. Um not with screen and keyboard. So, we understand that the schools are now making the classroom assignments for next fall. We want to give you all heads-up that we may you may see an organized group of parents back by the end of the summer asking to change those assignments because and we recognize how disruptive that would be, but depending on the percentage of parents that refuse the Chromebooks, we may need separated tracks. We're open to conversation with the administrators over the

030summer. We're looking forward to that, but we have a hard time seeing how it would work for a teacher to have half the room on Chromebooks and and half the room have refused them. So, anyway, we're in the very early stages on this on this movement. The research is in. The screens are bad and our kids grow up fast. So, we are looking to to move fast and and parents are getting organized. Thank you. Thank you all for your time. >> Thank you. >> Hi. Good evening. My name is Kelly James and I live at 11 Burn Hard Drive. As we wrap up another school year, I would like to take a moment to thank the Board of Education, district administration, teachers, staff, and the school leaders for their dedication to Weston students and families.

031As a parent with children at both Hurlbutt and WIS, I have felt a renewed sense of energy and optimism across our schools this year. I believe that is in large part due to the fresh perspectives brought by our new superintendent, our new WIS principal, and our new Weston Middle School principal, combined with the steady, thoughtful leadership that continues at Hurlbutt and Weston High School. I had the opportunity to preview part two of the district improvement plan, a year in review that's going to be presented tonight, and I was particularly encouraged by the significant improvements in school climate and culture across the district. Those results reflect the hard work of many people and serve as a meaningful acknowledgement of the positive impact our educators and leaders are having on students every day. As we look ahead

032to the Tri-Board meeting on Wednesday, I would encourage all of us to maintain that same spirit of progress and collaboration as we continue discussions regarding the middle school project. Our community has an opportunity to come together around a shared goal, providing Weston students with the best possible learning environment for generations to come. While there may be differing opinions on the path forward, I hope we can remain focused on what unites us, a commitment to our children, our schools, and the long-term future of Weston. Thank you for your service and for all that you do for our students and families. >> Thank you. All right, any other public comment? Okay. Um, just want to reiterate what one of our board members has said is that the conversation regarding technology is urgent, it's important, and the and

033the uh staff is addressing it and has met with parents and will continue to do so. So, thanks for your comments tonight. At the consent agenda, um uh on that are several items. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Move that the Weston Board of Education approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. All in favor? I. Anyone opposed? Consent agenda is approved. Old business. Um there are just a couple of policies here. I'm being a little sarcastic cuz there are many. Uh but as these are all second read and I want to thank um the superintendent and also the policy committee for going through this and offering the board a chance to read them and then send comments etc. So, tonight we're here

034to um approve them unless there's continued questions uh issues etc. Or if the policy committee wanted to say anything about these. >> There's nothing that I that we have to say specific about these policies but let's go ahead and make this motion first and then >> I would like to address uh um a little housekeeping with the policies if that's possible. >> Sure. Sure. Right. Okay. Um any other discussion? Is there a motion? >> Yes. >> [clears throat] >> Move that the policies, regulations, and or bylaws were presented for review. There being no corrections, the documents were approved as presented. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? All right, the policies are approved. >> So, the little bit of housekeeping that I wanted to bring up. Um we are we've been

035very aggressive this year in trying to um address all as many of the policies as we possibly could. Um so, we could at least get eyes on them. Some retire, others update, um and others just say yeah they they're they still read good even though they were created 20 years ago. Um so, we apologize as a policy committee for the 120 pages of tonight's agenda. >> [laughter] >> What's that? Sorry, 207 pages of the agenda. Although we thoroughly enjoy reading um these policies multiple times. So, anyway um we will we are going to work next year on um bringing fewer policies um to the meetings but we really got the lion's share of the work out of the way this year. So, that was the whole purpose for such long meetings. However, that being said,

036um I'm going to ask my fellow board members to please read the policies prior when we bring it to the board for first meeting, please read them prior to the meeting and have your comments ready at the meeting. And the reason I say that is because we need to move with these policies. Sometimes some of the policies are very timely. And if we wait until if we can't have a discussion during the first read to go back to policy the committee then and change them, it delays if you if you don't get feedback on these policies until just before the next policy committee meeting, sometimes it it doesn't enable other board members to be a part of the discussion, right? So, we we are asking that the board members be prepared with their comments at

037the first read. So, we get the and Jody also said she's going to try to get the policies all the policies that we're addressing out a little bit earlier so everybody has more have a heads up and can get their comments in. So, that way we can have a discussion, go back to policy second and we go then we come back for second reading there ready to be passed. All right? That's it. Thank you. >> Fair points and um we will do our best to do homework and I love the idea of perhaps getting these policies as early as possible even without the agenda being attached because otherwise Yeah, that'd be great. Yeah, just a little bit more lead time. Yeah, don't. Yeah. All right, thank you so much. Um onto new business. This agenda

038is so long I'm used Okay, um impartial hearing officer for 2026-27. My understanding is this is an annual um, decision, appointment, etc. So, are there any questions or discussion? Otherwise, David? >> Move that the Board of Education authorize the superintendent to appoint qualified hearing officers to conduct hearings for the 2026-2027 school year in the following matters. >> Sorry. Can I just Excuse me. Can I just ask Tracy about this? I just want to ask Tracy. >> How about let's get through the motion and then we'll have >> Oh, okay. >> One, student residency disputes. Two, student expulsion proceedings. And three, special education matters including but not limited to impartial hearings under the Individuals with Disabilities Act, IDEA, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. And that such appointments be made in accordance with applicable federal

039and state law, board policy, and district procedures. >> Okay. Is there discussion? >> I was just wondering if you could explain what this means and um, like, I know that residency hearings that and potentially expulsion might not be under your purview, but um, is it just the same hearing officer is assigned to Weston Public Schools for the entirety of the school year? >> So, an impartial hearing officer at the district level is generally not I understand that there's they have the ability to do so, but that's generally not who is presiding over special education matters. Generally speaking, special education matters go through the State Department of Education either due process or mediation. Typically, an impartial hearing officer for a district is used primarily for expulsion and residency. Um, and this gives the board an opportunity

040to appoint appoint someone who's impartial. I don't think it necessarily needs to be the same person, but this action gives gives all of you the opportunity to do that if a need were to arise in any of those categories. Again, that's not to say that there couldn't be a special education matter, but that's generally not the forum. >> Okay, thank you. Is there a second for the motion? >> I second. >> Thanks. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? All right, motion carries. Uh gifts, grants, and bequests. Um I want to thank the all the PTOs the entire year for all your support. And tonight, um again, we are looking at very uh generous and creative gifts. One from the WIS PTO for 12,500 um dollars and security window film uh window film and

041custom decals, which I think um the board might have seen some pictures of, so anyway, it's that's great news. And also from the uh Weston High School PTO, uh $3,400 for a staff lounge update, which I'm sure will be much appreciated. So, thank you. Is there a motion to approve those with gratitude? >> Move that the Weston Public Schools recognize, accept, and or and or approve all donations presented with gratitude. >> I second. >> Is there a second? >> I do. >> All in favor? >> I. >> With gratitude. >> [laughter] >> All right, um item C, the AFSCME union contract. Um this is um coming to the board for approval ratification, so uh Julie, do you want to just tell us a little bit about the timeline? What brings it here tonight? >> Sure.

042Um I just want to acknowledge first all of the members of both negotiating teams. Um negotiations is a long but important process. So, a tentative agreement was reached between AFSCME, which is our bargaining unit that encompasses our non-certified support staff, including paraeducators, maintenance and facilities, custodial staff, our nurses, as well as administrative assistants, covering the period July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2029. Earlier today, the local AFSCME group voted to ratify the tentative agreement and it is presented this evening for the board's action. >> Okay, thank you. Is there a motion to approve? >> Move that the Weston Board of Education ratify the tentative agreement between the board and the local 1303-110 what Okay. >> No, Peter. >> 110 of Council 4 AFSCME AFL-CIO regarding the collective bargaining agreement between the board and the AFSCME

043covering the period July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 2029. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Sharon. All in favor? I. All right. The contract is approved and ratified. So, thank you. That's a big step. Um next item is discussion of the 2026-27 academic calendar. Did somebody want to take that on to discuss it? >> Sure. >> All right, thank you, Tina. >> Good evening, everyone. I gave you a supplemental document in front of you this evening. The 2026-27 academic calendar has been set. However, Superintendent Forti would like to propose that we add language to our academic calendar uh to um account for any un- unanticipated and inclement weather closings that may impede on the end of the school year. As of right now, the suggestion is to um add 5 days

044to the end of the school year, the academic school year. Um that will bring us to the final day of school being June 21st. After that day, the consideration is that we start removing um school calendar vacation days from the April break beginning on Monday, April 12th. >> Okay. >> I realize there are perhaps are lots of ways of looking at a calendar, and I think this is something that not necessarily everyone's going to love all the time. So, sometimes you have to make do with uh the best possible solution. Um there've been several questions raised um given our rather weird uh interesting winter. Um so, I think this calendar is kind of stuck in a um in a weird place because it has been approved. So, right now we are tweaking it to the

045best um best best ability possible. Tina, do you need to say more? >> I have a correction. It is 4 days, which brings us to the 21st. And on the fifth snow day, that is when we will start taking away from April break. >> Got it. >> I apologize. I said five. >> No. >> I have a I have a question on it though, if possible. Do we not have days built into the regular calendar? We don't. We're just 180 strict. >> Okay. >> Correct. >> Yeah. I think moving forward, we might be more um proactive or comprehensive or whatever the word is. Uh but because our basic calendar's already been approved, we can't go shifting a whole lot of dates around. >> I also I don't know if whoever made this looked into this,

046and I don't know the answer myself, but if June 19th falls on a weekend, is a Friday or a Monday a fifth a closed holiday? >> Yes. So I I I apologize. Um you can see on um the 26th, 27th calendar, it will include that the 18th, which is the day that Juneteenth is observed on, would actually um convert to a working day. And therefore, um would include would would account for a school day calendar day, and that would be the four days beyond the calendar year. >> And and >> And I would add that if school is in session on that day, we would treat it as as we treat Veterans Day, which is that there would be a planned observance uh of Juneteenth on that day. >> Wait, sorry. I don't fully understand

047what you said. So >> Good. >> So uh we have school on Veterans Day, um which is a holiday that many people observe, and it's closed uh offices are closed. Because we have school on that day, we um we have celebrations. We have an observance within the course of the school day. >> will be in session and teachers will be working on June on whatever June 18th. Okay. If if there are what is it, three three inclement weather days? >> Correct. >> All I might suggest is that you designate that or you mark that just so that parents know that there will be school. It won't be a three-day weekend. >> That's correct. That's correct. The calendar will be adjusted based on this approval, and that is why we want to add that notation with

048the detailed information because everyone needs to know that, too, if we get done to four calendar days in our observing Juneteenth on the 18th, which is a now a work and school day. >> Yep. >> And and and that would it only be the case if there were um at the minimum three days of of um of makeups due to inclement weather or whatever have you. I mean, the point of the point of the exercise was um to really avoid um extending the calendar to the extent that we did this year. Um secondly also, I think it was to be a little bit more proactive in terms of providing the staff, uh you know, administrators, teachers, and parents in the community with at least a a schedule of what they would expect and to to

049avoid any confusion if we did have a repeat of what happened this year. Now, um you know, in a in a perfect world, I think that we would have tried to get this to end on Friday, June 18th. Um and there were proposals flying back and forth. I will I will just say um that there was there was an additional day that we were trying to get out um on the calendar in terms of an alternative uh makeup day. Um all unions but one approved of that and because the one union did not approve of it, we are going to have to push it to the June 21st if we did have you know, more than more than 4 days of um of inclement weather, but I think, you know, what what Deb said was

050right. I think we're we're a little handcuffed this year um because the calendar has been approved. Um to your point, Sharon, um there are other districts, surrounding districts that have built-in days. So, for example, like Wilton has one built-in day. Um Westport has two built-in days. And so, I think what we'll try to do going forward is try to factor that in when we plan out future calendars. >> We have done that in the past, though, I believe. >> Not since I have been here, but I I haven't been here long enough. So, Julie would probably know. >> Shows how old we are. I'm sorry. >> [laughter] >> All right. So, this is a patch for next year and then um do it a little bit more proactively with more time to plan. Any other

051comments? Is [clears throat] there a motion? >> Move that the Western Board of Education approve the update to 2026-2027 district calendar academic calendar as presented. >> Is there a Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any further discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? All right, motion carries. District improvement plan. All right, I'm going to turn that over to Dr. Henkel. >> Good evening everyone. We are back for part two of our district improvement plan. I know you were all waiting for this eagerly. So this evening Dr. Edwards and I will be continuing the discussion and dialogue around the academic outcomes as well as school climate and culture in the district and we have a few slides to continue that discussion this evening. I will start focusing on the academic outcomes around math and literacy goals

052and then Dr. Edwards will take over and continue the discussion around school climate and culture goals. I will pause after the few slides around the academic goals and answer any questions that you may have and then we can hand it over to Dr. Edwards. >> Great. So as I mentioned oops. That's what we're going to focus on this evening. I'll start with the first portion which is around the academic goals for math and literacy and then Dr. Edwards will continue the discussion for culture and climate. And I'm going to start and jump right in with some of our math goals and achievement as well as growth this coming this past school year. As you're all very well aware, our overarching goal is to ensure all students demonstrate growth and deepen their conceptual understanding of mathematics

053so that they see themselves as capable mathematicians. The goal focuses on three outcomes. The academic outcomes are growth outcomes and our overarching goal of student confidence as mathematicians. So at the elementary level, 98% of our students in grades K through 2 met or exceeded the grade level expectations on the Northwest Evaluation Association assessment that we administer. We abbreviate that NWEA which is at the 50th percentile. Moving on to the third row down which also is focused on the NWEA. Just as a reminder, some of our goals are a combination of the standardized assessments that we administer in the district which are smarter balance and SAT which are not released yet and therefore that's going to be part three. So stay tuned on that. Um 62% of our students in algebra in an algebra one course

054at the high school met our district target for proficiency which is set at the 61st percentile. And I pause here for a moment because I think it's important if you're new to the board or new to the goals and the way that which in which we develop our goals, you can see that our percentile benchmarks are different. Some are at the 50th and some are at the 61st. And so before I move on, it's important to understand the difference between those benchmark targets and why we use them. So, the 50th percentile represents a national average, right? So, if a student is at the 50th percentile, they performed as well or better than half of their peers at that moment in time at that given grade level. And so, it's a national comparison. Very similar like

055if you go to the doctor and they're looking to see how your height and weight is compared to those in your in your age at that point moment in time. At the district level though, we can also see that for most other grade levels and our courses, we use the 61st percentile as our benchmark. So, a student at the 61st percentile is performing better than 61% of students nationally. This means our expectations are intentionally set above the norm and above the national average. Why do we do that? Um primarily because some of the linking studies and the research around the NWEA assessment correlates to the most aligned to proficiency scores on Smarter Balanced and SAT. But know that 61st percentile means that they are above at above average slightly above average. Um so, looking down

056below, um growth remains a focus for us in the area of mathematics. Um in the spring, 75% of students met their growth targets and among that group of 75%, those identified with a disability, 66 meant met their growth targets. So, um we were slightly below that um this year and every year we do make our best predictions based on the current cohort that comes up the following year, but it is a new cohort every year and um we look at our spring uh goals from the following year to make our best predictions around that new cohort as we move up into the into the next school year. Um, I drilled down a little bit more in detail uh cuz I figured we all had very similar questions, so I did some of that analysis myself.

057And I looked at the students that were below the 35th percentile, and I noticed that there were two concentrated areas for us in the area of mathematics. And that's grade six and those students that are in uh a high school algebra algebra class. So, many of those students were very close to meeting proficiency though as I drilled a little bit further. Um, 11 of the sixth grade students that were in uh that bucket that were below the proficiency benchmark were only three percentile points away from meeting the benchmark. So, we've got a a small group and they're really close to meeting that benchmark. And at the high school level five students were only five percentile uh points away. So, uh perhaps more importantly though, the analysis that I did also um went beyond the identified

058students and really focused on specific concepts and skills that we were that we want to reflect on, that we want to look at our curriculum, and we want to look at the learning experience in the classrooms. And across all the grade levels that I looked at, the one area of focus is around improving operations and algebraic reasoning and algebraic thinking. And so, in this area students are typically good at really good procedural skills, but when it comes to actually transferring and applying um those skills in a more um multi-step problem-solving experience or through algebraic reasoning and mathematical thinking, um communicating through uh mathematics, those are the areas that we really want to start looking at our our experiences, our activities, and our tasks in the classroom and elevate um elevate that story a little bit

059more in detail specifically as we look at 6th grade and Algebra 1. On a side Algebra 1 this summer if you came to the academic year in review, that is a focus of ours this summer for rewriting and revising the Algebra 1 curriculum at the high school level in our summer curriculum academy. So that's one of the the pieces of our story. Um and I can't and I would be remiss if I didn't go to the next slide when we talked about all of the artifacts that our CILs came to the table with to talk about, you know, what are the actual learning experiences of the students in the classrooms that they showed through the academic year in review. Um and so this year full disclosure I know my slides are beautiful, but I did

060ask AI to take some of my bullets and re redesign the slide so that it makes it more visually appealing and so this is what the new slide looks like, but the content is my content. I just the prompt was just to revise it. So full disclosure. Um but I wanted to zoom in on some of the successes and highlights from this year. Um we have fully implemented a really coherent and aligned core curriculum in mathematics and I want to highlight we have Math in Focus in kindergarten which is a play-based curriculum, hands-on materials student-centered small group instruction. Students are talking, they're playing, and they're engaging and that's true in literacy but we'll get to in a moment but I want to reiterate that at the K2 level I'll I'll start with Math in Focus

061and Illustrative, but the reason we chose our core resources was because that they are grounded in student discourse, in conversation, and hands-on um, manipulatives that are grounded in math fluency where they're working through physical games like card games and building and designing and mathematical patterns and concepts through, um, the experience in the core curriculum. Um, and that's we're really proud of that work because the kids are really becoming mathematicians. Their vocabulary, their conversations around mathematics are changing. The teachers are floored at the conversations that these kids are having around mathematics and it's because of the core curriculum and the core resource that we are choosing intentionally because of what we value and what we believe is important around math instruction. Um, so I wanted to emphasize that. While curriculum implementation was an important milestone, our

062larger focus was on, again, strengthening mathematical reasoning, increasing student discourse, and helping students develop deeper conceptual understanding rather than simply memorize. That's not what it means to be a math mathematician. Um, we also emphasize our systems around multi-tiered systems of support. That's where our math interventionist comes into come into play. And how are we helping, um, to build more opportunities where teachers are collaborating around the data so that when a curriculum and instruction leader or a teacher team come around the table, we can easily analyze that data. We can drill down to individual skills and concepts and standards so that we can create individual plans for students like the six kids that I was talking about before, the 11 kids in one grade or the 12 kids in another. What do we know? What is

063the story about those students and what is the data telling us and how are we translating the data into action? Um, so we've really built a lot of coherence and systems and structures with your help, um, over the years, and and we have seen great results because of it. Um, some additional data that is not on that previous slide that if you came to our academic year in review that we're really proud of this year, um, as a district we've offered 38 professional development workshops for our staff over the year. We have engaged in 78 students participating in the American math competition and math kangaroo competitions across K5 and K8. 50 students participated in the math Olympiad program. 50 students were inducted into the math national honor society. And we tracked over 900 visits at

064the high school level of students utilizing the math lab at the high school that is supported and run and facilitated by the math interventionist at the high school. So, we're really proud of these accomplishments that we've had this past year. I didn't bring all the artifacts. I couldn't put them all out again, but I did put the boards up if you wanted to see from the academic year in review what the CILs did during that last Board of Ed meeting. Okay, so thinking ahead, um, we have a couple focus areas in the in mathematics as we move on to the following school year. Again, we want to look to refine and communicate a shared vision for mathematics, um, which emphasizes reasoning, problem solving, discourse, and mathematical confidence. Some of that came out of our Tri-State

065visit. If you were here with us a few years back, we had a Tri-State team come in, very similar to like what the high school does for NEASC, but Tri-State, really responds to an essential question that we provide them and our focus was on K-12 coherence and alignment in the area of mathematics. And some of the recommendations from that report are still live and living and we're still working towards some of those goals and one of which is a K-12 vision around mathematics for for Weston. We want to continue looking at our data. I think one time Peter you asked me about you know if if I could have a wish list and I needed something and Dan knows this so you know he knows what I'm going to say. One of our areas that

066of need that we need across the district is a data a data warehouse tool that is easily um um gathering the data it's easily accessible multiple people can see the data easily for students that's core triangulated and it's not just one metric it's multiple multiple metrics it supports our MTSS system. So that's something we want to really focus on this year. Um and then we just want to continue strengthening what it what math instruction looks like small group instruction student discourse opportunities for kids to transfer their procedural skills into application and critical thinking and problem-solving in various various ways. Um so overall our mathematics results demonstrate strong achievement really strong successful implementation over the years it's now been you know three years I would say strong three years at looking at our K through eight

067continuum and this summer we're really going to lean into algebra one algebra two and geometry as well. Okay I'm going to move into literacy before I pause. Um so our district overarching literacy goal is to ensure all students achieve grade level reading proficiency by grade three and continue developing literacy and critical thinking skills through grades 4 through 12 using reading writing as tools to understand and engage with content across subjects with a particular emphasis on on refining the writing process in high school. So, this goal overarching really solidifies our belief in literacy as a foundation to for success across all content areas and throughout a student's educational journey. So, you can see overall our literacy results are exceptionally strong. Um at the elementary level, 97% of students in K-3 demonstrated grade level proficiency on the

068DIBELS 8 assessment. Um as you may recall, that is a required and mandated assessment three times a year in grades K through 3. We exceeded our target there this year. Um one of the most encouraging results came from our students with disabilities. K through 3 proficiency increased from 56% in the winter to 77% in the spring, also exceeding our district target. Um at the secondary level, English 9 students achieved a 79% proficiency rate on the Northwest Evaluation Reading Assessment, also exceeding our district target. And we also exceeded our growth goals as well at the bottom, the two the two rows underneath the green. 66% of students in grades 3 through English 9 met or exceeded their growth targets, surpassing our goal of 62%. And similarly, 62% of students with disabilities within that group met or

069exceeded their growth targets as well. Um I did drill down again into literacy a little bit more in detail to really unpack the story and understand what are our goals, where are we headed, what are some areas of focus. And again, I noticed that two areas of focus for next year will be in grade 6 and in English 9. Um and so we see that these students again, although a small group, um in grade six, 11 of the 16 students that were below the benchmark uh were only about three percentile points away from from meeting that benchmark. And at the high school level um we have about um uh four students that were only about five percentile points away from meeting that benchmark. So, more specifically though, we know that if I look at the

070actual instructional goals around these assessments, the focus in literacy is around informational text comprehension and the different ways that we are exposing our students to that. Um and ultimately when we talk about informational text and comprehension, we're talking about various um types of uh text that are beyond traditional literature, like articles, historical documents, scientific texts, technical reading, research-based sources, and other nonfiction materials. And so what do they do with that information? They have to synthesize it. They have to They have to evaluate those sources across all the different areas and they have to um evaluate that evidence and I have to draw conclusions. So, um the CILs did a really great job. I have to give them a lot of credit because the humanities group, social studies, and literacy when they came to present, they

071really showed the K-12 continuum around what that looks like um outside of the classroom. And I want to take a pause here because um I'm really proud of our core curriculum resources that we have adopted here in Weston. The reason we chose the American Reading Company when we evaluated all the core resources was because of the rich physical texts, the diverse physical texts that students have access to all the way from kindergarten um through fifth grade. Um Students are reading real books. They're evaluating and annotating on real books, and they're writing about those books, and they're doing research through those books as well. Um >> [clears throat] >> And I would love to just take Mr. Paler, he's our assistant principal at Hurlbut. He always he's he too, as he should be, is so proud

072of the work of his teachers as as is Principal Cates, and he um said, and I'm going to quote, he says, "I love that we can now say that if you have a student in kindergarten through third grade, and you bring them to Weston, your child has a 97% chance that they will read on grade level by the end of the at the end of the year." And he's right. That's what this is telling us. So, moving on. Um so, the results we've reviewed tonight reflect intentional work across the district to strengthen literacy instruction, intervention systems, and student engagement when it comes to reading and writing. Um one of our greatest strengths this year was the consistent use of data to inform instruction. We really tried to drill down into individual students at the classroom

073level and focus on small group instruction with our teachers and what do the students need in those classrooms. Our CILs and our interventionists led that work across the district. Um we are always looking to grow, we're always looking to refine our practice, and every year when we are looking at new ways of refining our uh systematic reading instruction and literacy instruction across the core program, we're always looking to enhance units, um really come to a common understanding of what assessments can be uh utilized in the classroom so that they are common assessments, and we can partner together with teachers and actually analyze student work so we can respond accordingly. Um just beyond this, I also want to highlight some of what we talked about at our academic year in review. Um we saw um significant

074engagement beyond the classroom this year around literacy. We had more than 500 students and staff uh participated in the Weston Middle Schools One School One Book Initiative. We facilitated 30 professional learning sessions around literacy. We secured over $7,000 in literacy grants and we celebrated four national writing award recipients. Um at Weston High School uh we also focused on redesigning the English 12 course and created some new opportunities for authentic project-based writing experiences that better prepare students for college, career, and life beyond graduation. And so finally, I just want to conclude this portion by talking about next year. Um we would still want to continue focusing on strengthening our systematic reading um implementation and structure across the district. Uh we want to continue to look at the vertical articulation when it comes to writing across um

075the district and the experience of writing for students. Um we also want to focus if you if you noticed, we have some common themes and trends for literacy and math in grade six and in the ninth grade English and Algebra 1 classes. And um we want to focus on writing rubrics and common exemplars and really calibrating that process with our teachers. So when we're looking at student work, we have a common understanding of what those rubrics are telling us and how do we work together to ensure that there's more consistency in the classrooms. Um so overall, our literacy results demonstrate strong student student achievement, exceptional early literacy outcomes, and growth um across the district. And our work ahead is about building new systems and refining and strengthening what we already do and what we already

076have in place. And I will pause there. And open it up for questions. Before we move on. >> No way. >> I have a question. >> [laughter] >> Go ahead. >> Um really nice presentation. Thank you for all of this information. It's really nice to see a lot of growth and improvement in scores for for so many students in so many grades. I I actually had this question or I was thinking about this question at the year-end review meeting. >> Yeah. >> It's not specific to the district improvement plan, but can you just explain why performance or proficiency dips as you get older? Because for me like >> Mhm. >> it's you know, as Mr. Paylor said, 97% of students in grades K to 2 or K to 3, I can't remember, will read at

077grade level by the end of the year. Why Why does the assessment score I know you're using different assessments to measure, but like why does it dip as children get older? >> Yeah, it's a great question. >> for math, too. I'm >> Yeah, we ask that question every time we have a new metric as we move across the school year. I think in general, which is not a surprise, as students get older, they're expected to know more. Right? General general rule of thumb. You have you know, 13 years of content and expectations that you're able to apply and master versus one or two years. And so, making sure that we are using that data data to continuously monitor students as they get older, as the content gets more difficult, as the content starts to weave

078into each other, especially in the area of mathematics. If you don't have a strong foundation, then it starts to to build on top of each other. And so that's why our MTSS system, our multi-tiered systems of support, um really help us to leverage how do we intervene early so that we can catch students if there's any gaps or prerequisite knowledge that they need prior to entering a unit of study. Even for SAT, right? We're we're constantly reviewing our high school um our high school assessment systems and battery. Um Peter, you had a question specifically about, you know, Algebra 1 students and English 9 students. Um we are re- constantly reflecting on the value of the assessment, the amount of time it takes to complete the assessment, and whether or not it's giving us enough information

079based on the students that are in front of us. And so this year we revised um who we administered the assessments to, who was um analyzing the data, and what we were doing with that data, and that is why we revised the high school level assessments, um and and who we were administering them to cuz they do take wh- a little while to gather that data, and then you have to analyze it, unpack it, and then actually put people in place to have conversations around so now what? Um so that's that's the work of the multi-tiered systems of support, it's the work of our special education department, it's the work of our CILs, and it's an ongoing process, and that's why that system around how to analyze the data, when to analyze the data, and

080what is the data telling you every moment as you're as you're teaching through a unit of study. Because those units of study and the standards change, they build on each other, and they get more difficult as students get older. Did you want to Yeah. >> I also think another pattern that we continue to see and talk about is the the of transition years. Like I don't think it's a coincidence that Tina was saying that the themes that we need to look at are grade six and grade nine. Um that's something that we've seen the entire time I've been there. I think there are probably a lot of contributing factors to it, but it warrants closer attention um or continued attention, I would say, at the district level. >> Um >> [clears throat] >> excuse me.

081Uh good presentation, you know, love the results, obviously. Um I guess I want to sort of delve in a little bit on the intervention. And so >> [clears throat] >> I know you said here um you know, you've had these meetings between ELA and math, great. Um I'm just wondering, can you take us through I know you're tracking this. So, how much is intervention used for example, for students? And you can pick math, ELA, whatever whatever have you. Um how much is it used? How long are those students in those interventions? And like what are what are the percentage of students that actually come out of the intervention? So, you've caught them up and now they're ready to be sort of released, right? That like you've you've you've caught them back up to grade level

082expectation. And are we happy with that? So, just just curious on on just the intervention program itself. >> So, I'll be as concise as I possibly can cuz we've had multiple like full full uh presentations through our curriculum subcommittee around what is MTSS, what is the framework and the structure of MTSS, how do we determine who enters intervention, how do we determine when they exit intervention in math and literacy. Um, so in in Simply put, um, the NWEA assessments and the DIBELS 8 assessments are our screening indicators. They are administered typically three times a year. Their the purpose is to be proactive and determine if a student needs more intensive support based on grade level standards. Okay? If a student needs a second level of support, so outside of the classroom, everyone gets core instruction,

083they can't miss that. Typically, the group size is around five to eight students in a group. They have maybe similar needs and they work with an interventionist between two and three times a week for about 20 to 35 minutes, 20 to 30 minutes, scheduling permitted. If a student needs more, then it's more intense, the group size is smaller, and the frequency increases. Okay? Those data teams that we're talking about, the conversations around data, the unpacking of the data, the conversation with teachers around taking the data and translating that data into action, typically happens between every 6 to 8 weeks and they look at individual students. They have teachers, classroom teachers around those tables. They may have, um, support staff around that around the table because it could be a conversation that triangulates behavior, attendance, and

084academic achievement. Right? So, it's not just about one assessment. It's looking at classroom assessments. It's looking at behavior. It's looking at attendance. They're looking at a whole bunch of things. Um, after that 6 to 8 week period of time, I'm talking generally, the team will decide whether or not they need to continue with what they're doing, change the instruction that they're doing, or increase the the level. Um, and typically a student does not exit um intervention until the next benchmark. That is why those linking studies and those um the fall, winter, spring is is really helpful and necessary. >> Just a quick follow-up. So, okay, so I get that. Um, what do we have a sense of you know, a student enters intervention, how long are they in intervention for? Is it a few you

085know, is it 6 months, is it a year, is it multi-year period? And then until we sort of again get them back up to standard. And then are you you know, how do you feel about the effectiveness of it? Is it Are you happy with it now? Does it need to be more effective in some way? >> We have seen a lot of success in literacy and in math across the district. Um, since I've been here, we've built up our multi-tiered system of support K through 12. Um, we have while I don't have exact numbers in front of me, we did analyze these numbers through the budget process and I know that there are charts all publicly on uh the website that are still still there. I will say that one aspect of our MTSS

086system that we're looking to enhance and refine is for our MLL, our multilingual learners. >> We're going to share the microphone. Uh, I have two questions. One is about the percentage in the target. >> Yes. >> What the is the target percentage uh let's just say for example 92% on the uh math. >> Mhm. >> Is the target 92% spring is 98%, winter is 93%, fall is 89% so Is the is the target 92% by spring? Is it like >> Yeah, the target so we look at fall to spring growth. So we look to see one year's worth of growth. We look at this I think Michael you asked this question every year right? You say when how do you determine that end of year target and we we look at while this is not

087a perfect science, right? We look at where our students achievement and growth were within the current school year. So we're going to look at the 2026 spring data that we collected today. And we're going to analyze that data to make our best predictions for the following school year knowing that it's a new group of students moving into those grade levels. We typically good statistical growth is between 3 to 5% from year to year and we've seen that we sometimes look at 3% or 4% growth depending on what that original number is and depending on what are the patterns and trends that we've done from the previous year, right? And we we set ourselves we we put our we put our goals pretty high like we're going to be aggressive. Yet we feel like we can

088achieve these goals based on what some of the patterns and trends were that we've seen the year before. Um So which one were you looking at? >> Well, just in general is this sort of trying to understand the target and then have we met the target? So what what percentage >> Yep. >> Is it hitting the is it not cumulative academic year growth? And therefore because we're measuring it three times do you take an average? Like how do you I see a lot of winter dips and some of them are pretty severe. >> Yes, winter is an anomaly for us probably because um winter's in the middle of the year and you haven't taught all your curriculum yet. So, we have noticed that especially in the math area, um when you look at the individual

089uh standards in the data that they're assessed at that midpoint, we have not completed all the units of study yet and they haven't necessarily been taught some of that content. So, you'll see sometimes that the winter dips and then we we come back up in the spring. So, a couple things actually happened. So, you asked about that fall to spring um uh benchmark or target. Um when we look at creating our goals for next school year, we do base it on what we think is uh typical growth based on the spring that we have right now. But, sometimes we adjust those numbers once we actually take the fall data collection. Because it depends on the students that you have in front of you and where that initial baseline is. So, you can see that like

090um if you look at the math one, the first row, right? Last year, 96% of our students in grades K through 2 met the end-of-year benchmark, but when we looked at the fall baseline of that new group of students, new kindergarteners through second grade, they started out at 89. So, we wanted the target to be 92. So, we added 3%. We exceeded it. That's great. But, that's how we typically make our best predictions based on historical data and based on the students that we have in front of us and the timing of it. Sometimes the timing is not perfect. I will be honest. >> Okay, so now I now I understand the target and how you add 3 to 5%. We have this winter dip. Two other questions. What does asterisk mean? >> Yes. So,

091um the first asterisk um is that in the fall of that goal, you want me to go back, sorry, so everybody sees it. Um, we do not, um, administer the NWEA in in the fall of kindergarten. So, even though our goal says K through 2, that 89% is only based on first and second graders because it is not appropriate to give kindergarteners that assessment in the fall. They're still learning how to work their fingers when it comes to a computer. So, that's what that asterisk is for. Um, then the other asterisks at the bottom around growth, I think I mentioned it, um, when I was talking about math in particular, um, we adjusted the implementation of the assessment this school year to only focus on students that are in Algebra 1 classes at the high

092school and English 9 classes at the high school. We did that intentionally because of the amount of time that it takes for students to complete the assessment and the data that we were getting. The most useful information that we were able to analyze for ninth graders were the students the ninth graders in those classes. When they get to high school, remember you it's not about the the grade that you're in. You could be in you could have a a class that has multi-grades, um, multiple grades in one class. And so, we made, um, the decision to really zoom in on those ninth grade majority classes of ninth grade students in it so that we could unpack the data, really focus on the instruction with the teachers that focus on those classes, and then how do

093we support them in the in the multi-tier system of support at the high school. >> Okay. And my final question, and this is it's great to have this chart because obviously for us the numbers look good for you and it informs you where you might have to look deeper next year. Uh, is it typical or how do you narrow it down when you have stronger spring 2025 scores and then the in the fall it's stronger in the spring, weaker in the fall and therefore your outcome for that grade at the end of the following spring you lower your number to hit that three to five percent. So how does if there is such a thing, how does it inform you if as kids go through the system are the we don't seem to stay constant.

094We we seem to have these ebbs and flows and in some cases fall is significantly weaker than the spring prior and you know so how do you how does that inform you? >> Yeah. >> What do we do different? >> So these data points are global district level goals and we drill down very deeply into individual grade levels, groups of students, ML identification, students with disabilities and so our analysis is much deeper than what you see here and we look at pockets of students in specific classes, their their schedules, who their teachers are, how do we create schedules for MTSS so that they're focusing on those data teams throughout the year. So there are new students every year we have to revise that system and really look at the students that are in front of

095us and so yes, I think Tracy mentioned it before some patterns that we see are those transition grades in five to six and then eight to nine. In part the standards get more intense when they transition from those two grade levels. There be they be there's a lot of them and they're the expectation becomes very a lot more in depth. That's another piece to the puzzle that we're always looking at because how much do we emphasize one topic over another but it comes in the form of those individual data teams and the conversations that the CILs do with their individual grade level teachers to help unpack the data at the very very individual level. And um you can see that in some grade levels um that we have been really focusing in on, when the

096CIL and the teachers come together and they translate what the data means into actual results and instructional practices, we see the greatest return on investment. So, we're trying to replicate that in a with every year, with every new pocket of data that we have with the students that are in front of us. So, you're you're seeing global, but our view, this is why I go back to the individual that data warehousing um need, is helps us be more efficient in analyzing it down to the individual student level and what does it mean for us as teachers to ensure that the instruction is really aligned to what they need right now in this unit. Okay. Um I'm going to We have a couple more slides and we're going to shift to Dr. Edwards talking about the

097um last two stakeholder groups around district culture and climate and the first one is students. >> Thanks. Good evening, everybody. Um Kelly gave a perfect segue to this part of the presentation. Uh we are extremely proud of the climate results overall for both students and families. Um I'll talk to you about some of the highlights. So, you might remember this is year two of the Panorama survey. We chose this year to administer the survey one time only in March. So, these are the results um of that survey. I do need to highlight before I talk about the student level data, all of the work that happened in the buildings this year, uh facilitated largely by the building principals. Um each school developed a school climate plan. There was extensive work that happened within their school

098climate committees, including work around this survey, helping to acclimate students to the experience, helping students understand the importance of gathering this data, how to use a Likert scale. Um so, I think we have a really reliable set of data this year. They've also done a tremendous amount of work um enhancing all of our efforts around restorative practices um and social emotional learning, particularly belonging. So, our goal uh that we focused on for the purpose of the district improvement plan was to foster an inclusive environment in our schools where all students, staff, and families are safe, welcomed, and supported through meaningful school wide relationships. You can see here um preschool through grade two is still administering a more user-friendly traditional survey. Panorama starts in grade three. The reason it's broken down um by these grade levels

099is there's a a specific survey for grades three through five, and then the survey for grade six through 12 looks a little bit different. Uh we wanted 68% of our students in grades three through five to report an over overall favorable rating for the school belonging topic score. You can see our score this year was 73%, so we exceeded that goal by five points. Um and then at least 55% of students in grades six through 12 will report an overall favorable favorable rating for the school belonging topic. We were at 55%, so we met that goal. You You see at the bottom um, the response rates are outlined here. I didn't include it in the slide, but I do think it's relevant as we look at the data for 3-5 versus 6-12. So, we had

100a 96% response rate for 3-5 this year, 421 completed surveys. Last year in that grade level band, we had 425 surveys completed, so pretty consistent. In 6-12, we had 938 surveys completed this year and 81% uh response rate. Last year, that number was 585. So, we have a very significant improvement in the response rate for 6-12. I think making our data more reliable this year, but also maybe accounting for some shifts that we saw in the data. Um, we administered the survey in May, I think, last year. Seniors were already on internship. I think that's a big part of the lost number last year, and again, I think the building principals did a really exceptional job getting everyone to complete it this year. Um, so, important for you to know as we talk about those

101grade level bands. So, we'll start with, um, grades 3 through 5, and I know Erica spoke about this in the last meeting when Julie was highlighting the staff, um, results. The blue is deemed positive. Uh, the gray and the orangey color count as negative or not favorable ratings. I point that out because we'll talk about that gray band here. In In some cases, I think it's pretty significantly large, and I can tell you what the descriptor is for the response because in my mind, it's not always necessarily truly a negative um response. You can see overwhelmingly very positive results in grades 3 through 5. Um this data fell above the 90th percentile nationally just for context. So, Tina was just talking about percentile ranks. That means we are scoring higher than 90 more than 90

102uh percent of the districts across the nation that are using this survey. I'm not going to read every question and every percentage, but another thing that's relevant on this slide is in the right where you see the green arrow going up and a number. That's telling you how much we increased uh compared to last year's results. So, there's a very substantial increase on that fourth question, how much respect do students at your school show you? Um while still our lowest response uh interestingly in this grade level band, an increase of 15 points compared to last year, which is significant and noteworthy. An interesting point here, the gray for um how much respect do students at your school show you, the the verbiage is some respect. So, it's not that we're seeing students reporting my classmates

103don't respect me at all, but that's the category um that's labeled some. 6 12, um these results fall around the 50th percentile uh compared to the nation. Last year we were in the 40th percentile. That's pretty significant improvement here. You can see that we had increases in all areas except that last one, but again we do have to remember that we had a a very significant response rate compared to last year, so I don't know how much um, that potentially influenced the data. You can see here that the the gray bands um, are larger and more pronounced than they are at the elementary level. Um, and again, the descriptors for the middle are either some or somewhat depending on the structure of the question. The highest scores here uh, falling in the category of when

104you were at school, how much do you feel like you belong? And then two areas um, which parallel really our 3-5 results. How much respect do students at your school show you and how well do people at your school understand the kind of person that you are? We also again administered a survey for families. Um, we paired down the questions considerably this year to attempt to improve response rate. So, families were responding in two themes as Panorama calls them, school climate and school safety. Um, Jim had spoken about school safety in the previous meeting. The goal was the same um, for this group. We were looking to have at least 63% of Weston families report an overall favorable rating for the school climate topics. Um, we you can see uh, we're at 67%, so exceeded

105the goal by 4%, that being said, um, you can see the response rate. We had 232 responses. We asked that families complete one survey per child. That is a very low response rate. Last year, we had 321 responses, which we still thought was low. Um, so I do think we have to look at all of this data and interpret it with caution because that response rate really isn't as high as it needs to be to make and draw meaningful conclusions. Um especially because what you tend to see on surveys like this, if I could get to the next slide, is that um you get the extremes for a voluntary survey. So, most of the time people who are like kind of happy with how things are going don't take the time to do this. You

106tend to get more of the I'm extremely happy and I am extremely dissatisfied. So, it muddies the waters. That being said, uh we have increases in two of the three areas on this slide. Again, that one uh point decrease, I don't know how much we can read into that. Scores in the 70s and 80s um for each of these. The descriptors here are a little bit different. Although again, the gray is generally the language of some or somewhat versus um the orange is a little bit or not at all. Uh this is still the family survey continued. And you can see we had two questions with very significant increases that are highlighted on this slide. Um one is around the school system of evaluating and the other is around um valuing the diversity of different

107backgrounds. That score, I mean, you can see it's still our one of our lower scores. That score was exceptionally low um last year. It is nice to see an increase here this year. I know there have been lots of efforts on both the school and district level around celebrating um our differences and and building community in lots of different and innovative ways. I'm happy to take questions. >> Just Just a question for you, Tracy. Um thanks for these. Um >> [clears throat] >> I guess just on the family survey, did did we reach out any less frequently, differently than we did last year? I mean, I I took a look at last year's as well, and you're right, it was about 320, plus or minus. But, you know, last year we administered this twice, right?

108So, if you go back to the fall of 2024, that number was like 460. All right, so this is like half of that. Now, you you could say, "Hey, there is some survey fatigue, maybe, last year, and you had the first survey in fall of '24, then you surveyed them again in spring of '25, and some people dropped off." But, is there a any any sort of, you know, uh updated thinking as to maybe how we could increase um participation from some of those families? >> So, there's a few questions in there. Um I think last year was unique for two reasons. One, the fall, it was new. I do think novelty has an impact on people's participation. We haven't done this before, we want to see what the outcome is. Um there was a

109lot going on in the district last spring, which I know you know, especially around the timing of this survey. Um I think in a lot of ways we communicated more this year about the survey. To me, um I think it's indicative of of a level of stability, to be honest, that maybe wasn't being experienced around this time last year. So, while I am saying I'm concerned about the response rate, and would like to see more, and it impacts the validity of our data, I also think the fact that people didn't feel compelled to be voicing um in the same way is potentially a good and healthy sign. That's just a theory. >> And I'll add just one piece to that. We've [clears throat] been um working with the representatives from Panorama to understand the design

110of the survey, the gray area, um and also what is significant growth based on the responses. And most recently, um they released um a chart to us when we were looking at our data, and if we had um any responses like 220 responses around, um significant growth would be plus or minus 4%. So, that at least gives us a little bit of a gauge to say, "Hey, we had 232 responses from the families. What would be considered you like good or bad growth based on where we were last year?" And at least we hit that that growth target of 4%. Which I think we did, right, on that one? It said 4%. Yeah. >> I I have a two quick comments. I just will be more brutal. I I'll say that the response rate, I

111think, is awful. Um the why, I don't know, but this is a March survey, isn't it? Around March? >> Yes, this year was March. >> So, Dan, my tech friend, why don't we consider it's also around the time that there is the parent-teacher conferences, right? >> Yes. >> So, let's stick a bunch of iPads in the lobbies of the schools, and I know as a parent, I show up earlier, I have some down time because the conferences tend to run late. I leave, and I have a little bit of down time because I scheduled some more time to be there. So, if we really want to capture people, especially at a point where they're probably being reflective of the schools, let's stick half a dozen if iPads or whatever in the lot in the lobby

112is to try and capture it because I think the response rate's awful. And how do you improve or say we're doing it right when only 11% showed up? >> Yeah, I hear that. Um I don't know that we took the iPad part of that idea, but there were QR codes and uh >> [laughter] >> Right, but capture people when, you know, it's like at the airport use the bathroom on the way out, there's a little smiley face. >> Yeah. >> happy or not happy? >> What What right. And so there were QR codes set up that you needed a cell phone, but I would imagine many adults going to conferences are carrying a cell phone on the doors entering the buildings to try to encourage participation. Um we can continue to talk about that. I

113agree it's not the response rate that we want, but some of those ideas have been tried. Again, we haven't put out iPads, so maybe that's a that's a next a next year project. >> I I admittedly did not notice QR codes at parent-teacher conferences. Maybe it's because I already filled out the survey, I don't know, but they just don't res- I don't recall them. Um so maybe I like your idea. I also might I I filled out the survey. I filled out the one in spring 2025. I might have This might be just such a individual comment, so take what you will, but I just in my inbox I I just remember thinking like what's a I'm going to fill out the survey because I'm the type of person who will fill out the survey,

114but I think I remember thinking what's a Panorama survey? Like what does Panorama mean? And so I'm just wondering if people like what does Panorama mean? And I only actually realized through this process that Panorama is the company you use. And so I'm just wondering if maybe you can change the how you describe the in your email. But again, just saying that's my one as one person reading it and digesting it. So, take what you will. >> Yeah. If I'm being honest, I also think part of it is the question structure of the survey. Um, I know it is sometimes challenging to determine how to answer questions, which I do think can be a deterrent. Um, we need to talk as a leadership about potentially making some updates and revisions to the content of the

115survey so that it may in my mind makes it a little bit more accessible. Like, I went to some of the school climate committee meetings where we have parent representatives who were saying things like, "It's hard for me to figure out." And I think you made a comment in a previous meeting. It's hard for me to figure out which box or option to check. Um, maybe not realizing the gray translates into negative. So, I think there's some work to do with the actual design of the survey as well. But that's a project that is on the horizon in the summer. >> Th- Anyone else have any questions for Dr. Edwards or I? No? Okay. Mhm. >> I I I have a question. >> Yes, sir. >> W- Where do you take this from here because

116it doesn't have prescription? It just has "Today, I'm not feeling great or I'm feeling pretty good or I'm feeling really good about who I am and who I'm hanging out with, right?" Is What's the step you take to go "I'm feeling pretty good, but the school was like this, I'd feel really good." So, I I don't see where we take that mental leap to the next sort of let's get 95% of the kids all blue going this is just kill it. This is killer stuff here. I love going to school everyday. >> So this is a conversation in all of the building level school climate committees. They all take the results of this. They analyze it as a committee. Like this um I'm not on the right side, but I'm thinking of grades three through

117five where there's a question about um the degree to which peers respect each other. That was targeted at Wiss at the very beginning of the school year. We want to get better at this. We want to be talking about strategies that we can be employing to improve these outcomes. That's the area where they had the highest gains, 15 points compared to last year. So um I know at the middle school they're going to be doing focus groups with this data to get feedback from students about help us to understand what makes you feel this way about your school experience, what things are missing, um how might that inform what we do moving forward. So it's not it's not perfectly clear-cut and you're right, there's some variability in this day-to-day. Um but I do think there's

118useful data that's gathered here and we are seeing trends in year two of this administration and some nice gains across the board in response to that work. >> The little upward green arrows are good sign. You just want to get more bigger upward green. >> Exactly. We love green arrows. Yes. [snorts] >> Lots of lots of work with the with the students. All right. Got it. >> Stay tuned for part three in September. I I think we all appreciate how comprehensive and um informative this information is and we can only imagine the work that goes in behind it. And um there are great results and there are also areas to improve upon, so thank you for the very um straightforward and and uh honest look. Thank you. Um All right, now we move on to

119the finance facilities and operations. Um I think this is you, Phil. >> Good evening, everyone. Uh so for the month ending in September, we continue to report positive results. Um we still are on track to end the year with a balanced budget. I know we have a slight increase this month which had to do with the receipt or reimbursement of GRIP funding. Um so the GRIP funding really is a new initiative by the state. I think it's a 2-year grant which serves to reimburse school districts uh for minor capital improvements. Um so our apportionment based on that formula is $88,000. Um we have it here as a pretty much as a line item just to signal that we have received the funds. Um depending on ultimately how the year is ended, um if we continue

120to um to see a positive or a balanced budget, we will have conversations with the Board of Finance in terms of how these funds will be either kept by the Board of Education in our non-lapsing account or returned uh to the board to the to the general town. So all in all, positive news. Um so we're on the right track um for fiscal 26. There are some other questions that came up in the committee um that just in general in terms of where we were and our trends are. Just real quick, um there were some questions about overtime. Overtime for the year is a little bit. Uh I would say overtime is untracked where it has been in previous years. Remembering but in our budget is deliberations we did make a request to increase that

121budget just to address that. So, we're fine in terms of overtime. Overtime covers snow removal, traffic control, our maintenance staff, and also grounds. Um there were some other questions about turnover and FMLs. We're pretty much on track as well. FMLs slightly below where we had hoped to be. We had a budget of about $370,000. Um as of May, we're about $50,000 less. Come which seven at about $320,000. Real quick, um for our repairs line, which is our 40500 line, the main um item there that caused the the the negative variance was the repair line for the annex. Um that came in at about $57,000. We also needed to do some septic repairs at the South House at Hurlbutt. And we had various mechanical equipment that we needed to repair. So, overall, those are the main

122items for this year. >> So, you are asking to approve the monthly financial report. >> We are. Um and I think the drip item is separate. I'm not quite sure. Not a drip, the IEQ. >> Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, let's let's get the financial report approved. >> Move that the >> Sorry, are there other questions about it more than Phil described? Okay. >> Move that the Weston Board of Education approve the monthly financial report as presented. >> Is there a second? Thanks, Lisa. All in favor? I. Any opposed? All right, that's approved. Your second item is the state-mandated 5-year indoor air quality item. >> And for this item, I cannot speak at a very high level because this is very technical. So, I can only give the basic um for the for this. So, the

123state mandated um a few years ago that all school districts um complete a 5-year or pretty much a an inspection of all their heating, ventilation, and cooling. Um there was a 5-year period um to be completed by 20 June 30 of 2031. This year, we completed that study at three of our buildings. We decided not to include the middle school because of all the dis- various discussions that we were having, and we really didn't know a clear indication in terms of where we were heading. So, we decided this year to um to just pause and not um focus on the middle school in terms of the IEQ. We have until 2031 to complete this. We have had various other reports, and all the reports, including this IEQ, kind of indicate the same thing. We have

124an aging infrastructure, and we need to do various repairs at various levels. So, the high level, that's pretty much what this report shows us. Um our takeaway from this this report is that we will be doing some minor repairs um and to and recalibration of air equipment to kind of get the equipment back to as optimal as they can be given the age of the equipment. Um also required by the state was that this information was to be presented to the board. In addition to that, the information will be made publicly available on the district website and also on the schools website. So, no action is needed by the board. Um I believe this is mainly um informational. And also, if we should consider to um pursue any non-priority grant, this testing needed to be

125done. And thankfully, we did that for the project that we have for the North House. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I have I have a question. >> Yeah. >> Can you apply the drip funding to the identified repairs? >> I think there's a little bit of a gray area. Um I'll definitely look into that. So, this year we have as I mentioned, this year everything that could break broke. Um so, we have more than enough um expenditures that I think that will be able to be reimbursed or to cover um the drip funding. >> Does that mean you have another question? >> Um no, I didn't want to get into should, could, and >> shall. >> Now. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Appreciate that. >> It's an inside joke. >> Michael, did you have a comment?

126>> I mean, I'll I'll just say that uh the Finance Operations um subcommittee, we uh along with um Phil taking us through this and um it was a pretty in-depth report. Um of course, there were concerns when we looked at it. Um we tried to think about it in terms of okay, what what were the items that we can we could um fix internally and what were those items that we needed external help with. Um and I think that uh Mike and his team and everyone here internally um will be will be working diligently over the summer and be and he'll be reporting back to us in September in terms of everything that they're doing that they can do um to fix uh you know what you know what need to be fixed um with

127respect to these systems actually uh internally. Now, there's a larger discussion in terms of doing a full more in-depth comprehensive assessment um for planning purposes. And I think Phil, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, I think that that's going to take I think you said 12-plus months, correct, to actually complete that assessment. In the meantime, of course, we don't want to fall behind. So, I think we're trying to um get a prioritization schedule together, you know, over these next you know, few months and quarters and start to lay out what the you know, what this means for capital planning going forward. Lot to get a lot to get done and you know, always feel like because of the the extreme lag times in some of these things, by the time you identify it and

128you know, order the equipment assess etc. um you know, we are >> [snorts] >> I I would just say that this is a priority for us and I think Deb had a a good suggestion during the last meeting, which was to get some sort of um you know, HVAC system specifically planning uh process going so that as a almost as a um uh uh as a portion as a sub um to the uh at you know, you know, capital planning um schedule going forward because there is a lot to get done. And I think that um you know, over the coming 12 to 18 months or so, I think we'll have something bit more comprehensive here that we can move forward with. >> Thank you. Good good summary of of the committee's work. And it

129is a long technical report, but um fully available. So. Phil, anything else on that? Okay, thank you. Um district updates, um uh pupil personnel? >> Hi again. Uh just a few updates for tonight. On May 19th, we hosted a meeting for families regarding the process for securing up accommodations at the college level. Uh it was very well attended, and the recording is available on the PPS website if people are interested. I did want to thank Megan Ruff, our transition coordinator, and Randy Green, our college and career counselor, who helped to organize the whole presentation, and also secured the speakers from Sacred Heart, who were excellent. And Ariel Luxburg stepped in at the last minute to co-facilitate, so a shout-out to her as well. On May 27th, we had another parent meeting with the Hess and

130Wiss families about the supports and services in place at the elementary level, um and provided strategies to foster a growth mindset, grit, and resilience. That presentation couldn't be recorded. We had some technical difficulties, but the PowerPoint is available on the website, and hopefully it's really just the start of conversations about these important concepts uh in the coming months and years. We had our final SEL working group meeting of the '26-'27 school year in May. Um we reflected on the celebrations, some of them highlighted in the presentation tonight in each building, and also identified priorities for moving forward. Really grateful of all of the committee members who have invested a a in um building that work at their respective schools and supporting the well-being of our students and our staff. Uh, last but not least, I

131wanted to recognize the work of our special education PTO liaisons this school year. Joelle Levitt, Shirley Atienza, Jennifer Bernheim, and Jenny Riley have really worked tirelessly to support students and staff across the district. And I'm personally very grateful for the insights that they've shared on topics and information that would most benefit uh, Weston families, especially for the parent presentations. So, I know there are many volunteers in this district and I am personally very appreciative of their support. >> Thank you. And uh, Tina. >> Just real brief. Um, I want to just send a final message given this is our last uh, Board of Education meeting for the 25-26 school year. And to those listening, um, on behalf of Superintendent Forty, myself, uh, Dr. Edwards, Mr. Cross, Dr. Gavoni, Mr. DeVito, and Mr. Wiltse, uh, we'd

132like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who has contributed to another successful year in Weston Public Schools. This year has provided us with much to celebrate. Our students have continued to achieve at high levels. Our staff have remained deeply committed to supporting every learner. And our families and community have remained strong partners in our work. Together, [clears throat] we have accomplished a great deal and we have a lot to be proud of. As we prepare to honor the class of 2026 at tomorrow evening's commencement ceremony, we are reminded of the incredible opportunities and experiences that make Weston such a special place. The accomplishments of our graduates reflect the collective efforts of our teachers, our staff, our administrators, our families, and our community. Weston is truly a special place and an exceptional district. We're grateful

133for the continued support for our Board of Education from our Board of Education, our families, our administrators, and staff, and most importantly, our students. So, on behalf of all of us at Central Office, we want to wish everyone a wonderful summer and look forward to continuing our work together when the new school year begins. Thank you. >> No, thank you. It's great. Um a few more updates. Are there any organization updates? Oh, well, I'll just read them. CABE? >> Um the this month's edition of the CABE Journal features web >> Lisa, turn on your mic. >> Um some webinars that you might be interested. It's on Connecticut school funding changes, the 16th annual summer leadership conference is being held August 6th, and the delegate assembly is being held November 19th. The uh CABE CAPS convention

134is going to be November 20th. So, those are just some highlights. >> Thank you. Um CES? >> David, is that you? >> Yeah, it is. >> Okay. >> Unfortunately, [clears throat] I've not been attending CES because I've been attending negotiations. So, they have suffered. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. Um and Weston Education Foundation? Not sure if they've met. >> They have met. Did you go to the most recent meeting? I wasn't able to attend the most recent meeting, so Tina, do you want to >> Yes, they um are in their final stages of the awards that WEF always um does every year. Uh they did Aaron Lucius' award last. I think we recognized her last board meeting, and the final award that they're giving out is the David Trager award, which is this coming week.

135>> Right, and it's going to be a fun >> tell you a fun surprise. >> Yes, cannot tell you who. >> Exactly. They haven't announced Well, they they haven't announced publicly who who the recipient is, but they'll do it in a fun way. >> Yes. >> And they're also talking about um securing some fundraising opportunities for next year. I've been reading through their notes, so that's Yeah. >> Thank you. Um are there any committee updates, such as the communications committee? >> Jody, are we meeting the end of this week? We are. Okay. So, stay tuned because we did not meet previously, but we are meeting Friday, and we will have another edition of Bricks and Mortar. It's on the calendar. >> On Thursday. I'm sorry. >> Thursday. Don't tune in Friday, tune in Thursday. Um

136Sean, you can come on Friday. >> Thanks. >> Curriculum committee? I think we had the present Oh, I'm sorry, go ahead. I was I was just trying to figure out which meetings it happened. >> A lot of the great results are in the boards behind you, so take them in if you have a chance. It was a wonderful meeting. >> Yep. >> And uh as you heard previously, I think uh the assistant superintendent and her staff were on top of things that need to be on top of, so it's We look forward to an exciting year next year. Working on that. >> Great. Um the educational optimization committee has not met um this past month. Um and it's kind of TBD in terms of when we need when we next meet. Um finance and operations,

137we we go ahead. >> Yeah, we um Phil took us through the financials that we looked at tonight. We also did the deep dive into the IQ. >> And negotiations, we saw a result tonight. >> We did and we're back at it in 2 weeks. >> Okay. And the policy committee? How many pages do we have to look forward to? >> [laughter] >> We'll give everybody um a book of all the policies to memorize over the summer. No, we're good. We've Thank you everyone for helping us out with getting those policies passed. >> What are you going to read in the bathroom now? >> Okay, um safety and security, did that meet? >> Uh our last meeting year in review is tomorrow morning. So, anyone that is interested, please attend. >> Okay, great. And our

138next um Well, first of all, let's put on graduation tomorrow night cuz that's going to be like, you know, sort of the year-end harvest. It's going to be great. Um and then Come on. Uh then there's um June 17th is the tri-board meeting. I'm not sure. I don't think tri-board meetings are usual or often. So, I think it's um hopefully a good chance to collaborate and communicate about the Weston Middle School and hear the different perspectives from different boards. And I think there'll be some information about um some of the financial um impacts and models for us. So, it'll be an interesting meeting. And then you have Oh my goodness, September meeting. So, this is our last meeting of the year. And I want to uh thank all the board meeting uh all the board

139members for being such members. I think this is a a pretty good team. And um obviously we have an outstanding staff and great community support, you know, with the PTOs and the WEF and the community who has supported our budget. Um, and you know, we can't say enough about our teachers and their talents and there've been many recognitions over the over the course of the year, well deserved. And we had an opportunity this year to welcome a new superintendent and two principals to add to an already uh, stellar administrative team. Um, and our kids are just obviously amazing. Um, I I think one of the best things we can all do is just ask to go to those portrait of a graduate um, meetings more just to hear the the individual insights and the paths

140that different kids have taken. Um, our future's in good hands with with the kids that come out of our school system. Um, and and again, I just think there's been this emphasis on great results, which we've gotten, but there's also an emphasis on continuous improvement. And I think that's really healthy. So, I hope we can all rest and relax a little bit this year or this summer and um, we'll see you in Septem- no, we'll see you tomorrow night and Wednesday night and then we'll see you in September. All right, is there a motion to adjourn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right, all in favor? >> Aye. >> All right, thank you everybody. >> Thanks.