001I would like to call to order this regular meeting of the Western Board of Education and verify that we in fact do have a quorum this evening. >> Yes. >> Please join me in standing for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Um, per the Weston Board of Education bylaws, tonight I will be starting the meeting um, in order to conduct the election of the Weston Board of Education chairperson. So, at this time, I would like to ask the members of the board of education for a nomination for board of education chair. Um, I would like to nominate Deb Low. Where are you, Debb? There you are
002on my screen. I would like to nominate Deborah Low uh to be the chair of the board of education here in Weston. >> Thank you, Sharon. Do we have a second on the motion? >> Second. >> Thank you, Lisa. Jody, can we have a roll call vote, please? >> Yes. David Felton, >> I. >> Sharon Ferraro, >> I. Michael Guido. >> I >> Lisa Luft. >> I >> Peter Gordon. >> I >> Nicole Wallak. >> I motion passes. >> Congratulations, Deborah. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you all. >> It's all yours. >> I will now turn the meeting over to the board of education chair, Miss Deborah Lowe, who will continue with the board elections. >> All right. Thank you. Uh, Superintendent 40. Um, I will now take nominations for the vice chairperson of the Weston
003Board of Education. Do I have any nominations? >> Yes, I'll step up. I like to move that the Weston Board of Education nominate David Felton as board vice chair in person. >> All right. Thank you, Peter. Is there a second? >> I second. >> Thank you, Lisa. Any other nominations? All right. Uh, Jody, would you like to uh do the roll call again? >> Yes. Deborah Loe, >> yes. >> Sharon Ferraro, >> I. >> Michael Guido, >> I. >> Lisa Luft, >> I. >> Peter Gordon, >> I. >> Nicole Wallock, >> I. >> Motion passes. >> All right. Congratulations, David. >> Thank you. And now I will entertain nominations for the uh Weston Board of Education Secretary. >> I would like to nominate Sharon Ferraro. >> And I second. >> All right. Thank you, David.
004And thank you, Lisa. Uh Jody, do you want to do the roll call again? >> Yes. Deborah Loe, >> I. >> David Felton, >> hi. >> Michael Guido, >> I. >> Lisa Lu, >> I. Peter Gordon >> I. >> Nicole Wallik >> I. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you everyone. >> All right. Thank you. Um now it's time for the chairperson's update. Um first of all I want to thank everyone for supporting all of our uh new officers and I also want to take an opportunity to welcome Nicole Wallik as a new board member. So welcome Nicole. Um I do want to thank you specifically uh for choosing me as chair. Uh I feel that I have sort of big shoes to fill um from Steve Ez. I want to thank him for his steady
005informed and supportive leadership and I'm glad that next uh meeting in December we'll have a chance to recognize both board members who have left Chad and also Steve. Um, in terms of organization, just a quick note that I'll be sending out an email that will be assigning the committee um, uh, assignments for the upcoming year. So, I'll do that via email and copy Jod and, uh, superintendent 40. And, uh, the biggest thing is that I want to encourage everyone to work together because what we have to do is add a major focus for this year. We need to bring forward all the school facilities issues that have been identified in reports and board of ed work uh beginning in 2017 and going as late as uh last June. So there's a wealth of information. There's
006been a lot of hard work done uh in the background and I think it's our job um as the current board to uh work towards bringing a proposal uh forward to the voters. That's a long, arduous, and complicated process, but I feel a sense of urgency, and I would like to do it as soon as we as humanly possible. Um, so we have to look at a timeline and a series of meetings to get all that done. And so I'd like to calendar an extra board of education meeting, call it a special board of education meeting, each month beginning in December and going through June. and the items on the agenda will only relate to the facil's issues because I think we as a board need to kind of talk together, work together, uh, and
007hash this out. Um, we need to figure out how to collaborate and coordinate with the board of selectmen and the board of finance. We need to inform and involve the parents and the community and figure out how to do that. Uh so I think uh working in concert with our existing EOC committee, I see the EOCC committee as doing some background leg work and providing the structure for those special board of education meetings, collecting information, piling uh information, inviting speakers, etc. Um, and also, uh, this year I'd like to see a more active communications committee with its major focus being, uh, keeping the public and the parents, uh, uh, informed as to our process and the, um, avenues for, um, keeping informed and providing feedback. So, that means there's a lot of work to do
008between now and June. And um if anyone would like to uh take back their vote for me as chair, now's your chance because I'm not sure, you know, it's going to be it's going to be a interesting ride. So I I thank you for your in your, you know, your support and I think we've got a great team here and so I'm looking forward uh to getting this um to the voters. Again, there's no deadline there, but um I'm I'm looking at next June in terms of any state uh applications we have to put forward and hopefully uh uh an eventuality of uh voting on a proposal uh next November. So, there's a lot of work ahead. All right, so that's my chairman's update. So, student board of education uh representatives, um I I welcome
009that and I think superintendent 40 will introduce you. Uh some of us are new on the board of ed and we'd love to meet you and hear you. >> Yes. Thank you. Welcome. This evening we have Alice Sullivan and Isabella Granow Weder who are going to give us the high school um student board of education representative report this evening. Thank you so much for being here Alice and Isabella. Thank you for having us. Um I can Oh, sorry. Um I can start us off. Um we were um especially grateful this past week or last week to have um Superintendent 40 attend our most recent student government meeting. Um students appreciated the opportunity to collaborate with her directly um and her willingness to listen, brainstorm, and provide guidance. Um, it was meaningful for us to show
010students um that their ideas and concerns are valued at the administrative level. >> If we get glitchy, let us know because we're going back and forth here. Um, the junior class just had their junior college kickoff assembly where they were introduced to the college search and application timeline um through the guidance department. And for many of them, it helped the process feel more approachable. And we've noticed that the juniors are already taking initiative in reaching out to their counselors, exploring programs, and starting early planning conversations. This week is also going to be very exciting for us as student government has been coordinating a schoolwide food drive um which is tied to our brand new um boys volleyball pep rally which is going to be a seniors versus juniors matchup. Um this is the first time
011that the school has hosted anything like this and the anticipation has been incredible. Um the combination of service as well as school spirit has energized the building and we're excited to see the turnout this Friday. >> On a more um mundane note, we're also pleased to report that the phone policy continues to have a noticeably positive impact in the hallways and classrooms. We're seeing way more conversation, stronger peer connections, and just more interaction between students and teachers. a lot of us feel that the overall atmosphere has become more upbeat and present and it's been really encouraging to see people embracing the change. Um we also had um the WHIS blue ribbon parade uh last week which was another highlight of our month. Um I know us high schoolers loved um seeing like our former teachers
012and all the kids from the west parading so that was nice. Next week, we're really excited to be taking a group of student government members to the CASC leadership summit, and it's going to give uh students at Western High School the opportunity to learn from other student leaders across the state and develop leadership skills and bring new ideas back to our own student government. Um, and finally, we are proud to share that the American Heroes Club um partnered with our student government group to raise over $3,000 for the disabled veterans organization. So great work there. Um thank you guys. >> Thank thank you both. That's um an amazing amount of work. Um and a credit to you and the entire student body um and the faculty and principal Ketta. Um such exciting projects. We were
013talking just a little bit before the meeting started. Um I've heard lots of wonderful descriptions about the WHIS parade and I'm so glad that the high school could partake of that. Uh, your food drive sounds amazing. Um, we'll have to keep us surprised as to who wins the volleyball game. Uh, and I'm glad to hear from a student's perspective that you actually think that the phone um, uh, restrictions um, are having a positive impact. That's really great to hear from because, you know, you're at the center of it and if you're feeling positive, that gives us um, just that gives me a good feeling. So, thank you for your reports. Really appreciate it. Ladies, nice job, ladies. I just wanted to say that was a very detailed um report and it was great that as
014a board of education member for five years now, I love to hear that level of detail. So, thank you so much. It makes us feel, you know, more more tied to the school community. And I also, as someone who, as Deb mentioned, the uh WHIS blue blue ribbon parade, as someone who was participating in that and saw the kids, I can't thank the high school kids enough and the middle school kids as well for coming out and supporting those kids in WIS and being out there and high-fiving the kids and the band playing and they just they just were on top of the world with that parade. So, thank you so much for your participation in that. It it was really wonderful to see the school community come together and support each other like that.
015So, thank you. And a quick shout out to the person who pulled the fire alarm and forced everybody out of the high school because the whisk and this guy is like don't be encouraging that. But it did get the entire school outside to um the joy of our whisk kids. So the silver lining is we did have quite a few students out there and the whisk kids loved it. >> We had plenty out there before the fire alarm, too. Just to say. >> Okay. Any other comments? All right. Well, thank you ladies very much and we'll see you next month. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um now it's time for approval of the minutes. Uh neither Nicole or I will actually vote, but I will entertain motions um about the October 20th meeting
016minutes as well as the October 27th meeting. >> I have the um motion. I just have one quick clarification on the October 27th special meeting minutes >> probably um for you June there at the top the present versus absent. I think that just needs to it's accurate, but it seems to repeat itself or there's a little bit of um overlap about >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah. So, other than that, um I will make a motion that the Western Board of Education approve the minutes from the October 20th, 2025 and October 27th, 2025 meetings. >> Is there a second? >> I second. >> Thank you, Lisa. Any discussion? All right. All in favor? >> I'm actually not sure I can vote on the 20th because I wasn't actually there. So, I think I have to abstain
017from that, but the 27th I can vote for. So, I don't know if you have to separate them out or if it's good. >> And I'll be opposite, Sharon. I have to abstain from the 27th and we can vote on the 20th. >> All right. Well, great. You cancel each other out. All right. Um, let's vote on um approving the minutes of October 20th. All in favor? I >> I >> All abstensions. >> All right. Um and the October 27th uh minutes. All in favor of approving those? I >> All abstaining. All right. Thank you. All right. We will move on to public comment. Um and I know that uh there's um a preface to uh public comment. So, it's the first time I've actually read this, so bear with me a little bit and
018then we will open it up. Uh, this explains uh the rationale behind public comment and the parameters. Uh, the board of ed welcomes the opportunity to hear from members of the public about matters concerning the schools. Public comments 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 reasons. First, engaging in a discussion on a non-aggenda item could violate the board's obligation to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. Second, the board or the administration may not be prepared to discuss certain matters raised in the first instance by a public comment. Third, the board develops
019its meeting agenda carefully to ensure that the board addresses matters that are pressing or relevant at the time of the meeting. We encourage members of the public with specific questions or concerns or complaints about our schools to reach out directly to superintendent 40 or email the board of education at board of educationps.org. And there are additional um uh information about public comment can be found on our website. Jody, do we have uh anyone wishing to to uh make a public comment? >> Yes, we do. For those individuals that are on the attendee side, if you care to speak for public comment, kindly raise your hand using the raise hand button at the bottom of your screen. What I'm going to do is I'm going to call a name. Um I'm going to promote that individual
020from an attendee to a panelist. Once you become a panelist, actually before I go about that back one step, when I promote you to a panelist, you're going to see something cross um at the bottom of your screen, you're going to click on that and that is going to promote you into a panelist so that you will be able to speak. Once you are a panelist, kindly turn on your camera so that we could see you. State your full name and state your Western Street address. You will have 5 minutes to speak. And I'm going to begin. Um, we have Chad Hopner who is um here to speak at public comment. Chad, I am going to promote you to a panelist. Give me just one moment. Okay, Chad, you are now a panelist. Kindly turn
021your camera on, state your full name and your street address, and then you'll have five minutes to speak. >> Hello, my name is Michael Chad Heapner. My address is 25 White Birch Road. Greetings everyone. First of all, I want to say thank you and welcome to thank you to the previous members and the current members and also welcome to the new board of ed members. I'm privileged to be a former board of ed member so I know something about the challenges of the role and I thank you all new and also current members for your dedication and vision and I wish you tremendous success in moving our district forward. And Deb, I didn't know that your comments tonight would be about the facilities at the beginning. So I applaud that and my comments will focus
022on that in the future because it's essential. But tonight I'm speaking about a familiar topic which you all are accustomed to. I'm back as a town resident to speak about technology and that's this is as follows. How we allow our kids to grow up safely in the digital age is a central educational issue of our age and as I see it it has three facets. One are devices, two is AI and three is curriculum. One on devices there's a lot in the future for that. I'll leave that discussion to the future and make two quick points. First, the school should be commended for putting in place restrictions about cell phone use and the student representatives which you called out Deb comments there tonight. It's all you need to feel great about that effort. AI number
023two is a vast subject and it deserves another public comment from mine and many other voices. But curriculum, I'd like to talk about that tonight. And I and many parents like me believe we need to deeply question the role of tech in our classrooms. This is not just me, not just Western parents. I'll read now from an op-ed that appeared two days ago in the New York Times by Dr. Jean Twangi, author of 10 rules for raising kids in a high-tech world. Districts could even eliminate school electronic devices, she means laptops, entirely. Many parents and teachers might protest that this would have an adverse impact on learning or tilt the scales in favor of wealthier students. But several studies suggest it might instead improve learning. One study of nearly 300,000 fourth and eighth graders in
024the US found that students who spent more time using digital devices in language arts classes performed worse on reading tests. A 2018 meta analysis found that reading on paper compared with reading digitally led to significantly better comprehension among among students from elementary school to college. Across 24 studies, college students who took handwritten notes were 58% more likely to get A's in their courses than those who typed notes on laptops. In contrast, students who typed notes were 75% more likely to fail the course than those who wrote them by hand. And this gets at the central defense we always hear about technology in classrooms, which is we need to prepare them for the 21st century. I wholeheartedly agree. But we don't need to do that by teaching our kids how to use a laptop for every
025lesson. I mean, who's to say if we'll even be using laptops 12 years from now when the very youngest at Weston graduate. We need to live by what I think our genuine words of wisdom, Peter Gordon once said, which is we need to teach our kids how technology works, not how to work technology. I'm not suggesting that we be Levites. We should aspire to be a district where our graduates know how the chips inside our laptops and the algorithm algorithms in its software work, not how to open the laptop and do their schoolwork on a screen. Remember when we were all kids and we were told that we needed to learn coding so that we could be employable in the future. That hasn't aged so well. We have to stop treating education like job prep.
026It's not. We should be preparing our kids to learn, to think, and to solve. And tragically, it looks more and more like tech hurts those efforts. So, what to do? Well, Dr. Twang has a suggestion. Parents should also have the option to opt out. I've spoken with many parents whose children struggle to focus while using laptops only for school administrators to tell them the devices are required. Angela Arsenot, a state representative in Vermont, is planning to introduce a bill to give parents the ability to opt their children out of receiving schoolisssued devices. So for specific next steps, I would ask for two. I suggest the district consider, as Dr. Twang suggests, low tech classrooms that parents can can opt into. Mrs. Scanland, who used to teach here, a beloved teacher who retired last year, had
027a reputation for keeping a low tech classroom. If she can do it, why not others? And 10 years ago, all our classrooms were low tech. We somehow made it through that deprivation landscape intact. Number two, I would like to have a meeting with a group of concerned parents, the administration, and the curricula heads of the various schools so that parents can make their voices heard on this subject and so the district can create and execute a technology philosophy and roadmap that helps our kids do what will actually prepare them for the future. Learn, think, and solve. And thank you for your time and your attention. And thank you for all that you do. >> Chad, you haven't changed a bit. Keep up the good work. Thank you, Chad. >> Thanks, Chad. Your voice is valuable
028and we really appreciate it. >> Uh, Jody, >> just give me one moment. I will move you back to an attendee and then I will promote the next person. Okay. Hillary, you are the next person that I am going to promote. Okay. Hillary, you're now joining the meeting as a panelist. Kindly turn your camera on, state your full name and your Weston Street address, please. And then you will have five minutes to speak. >> Sorry, I had to like reconnect as a as a a panelist. I am Hillary Selton. I live at 21 Ridge Road in Weston. Uh I am speaking today on behalf of Mothers in Blue. Uh first we want to welcome the boot new board members to the board. Uh congratulations and welcome. We're excited to have you join um the current
029board. Uh so I'm representing the group today to sincerely thank the district and especially Principal Bluestein and the rest of middle school leadership for the thoughtful and compassionate response to the most recent anti-semitic incident. Your actions made it clear that hate has no place in our schools and we are truly grateful. Unfortunately, with three additional incidents this year on top of the pattern we saw last year, it's clear that a community is still facing a serious ongoing challenge. And while that reality is difficult, it also reinforces why this partnership between families, educators, and the district is so important. We are heartened to see the roll out of the No Place for Hate in grades 6 through 8. The engagement we've already seen from students and staff is encouraging and we hope its success will pave
030the way for broader expansion next year so we can further reinforce this consistent and comprehensive approach at an early age. We also appreciate the district's commitment under Tito's guidance to reviewing curriculum beginning with the pilot review of seventh grade. The initial findings show what many of us have felt. There are significant gaps across multiple areas when it comes to Jewish identity, culture, and historical context. This review is a critical first step, and we appreciate the administration's commitment to a more comprehensive review and developing a plan to address the gaps identified. With these results in mind, we ask that the board ensures continued priority is given to reflecting to the reflection of Jewish identity throughout our district curriculum and keeps this work front and center. Finally, we want to emphasize the importance of supporting our teachers
031and staff. They are on the front line managing difficult conversations, guiding students, and responding in real time to harmful language and behaviors. They need continued training and resources so they feel equipped and empowered, not alone. We remain committed partners in this work. Our goal is simple, a school environment where every student, including our Jewish children, feel safe, respected, and proud of who they are. Thank you for everything you're doing and continue to do to move this work forward with urgency and care. >> Thank you very much, Hillary. Thank you. >> Thank you, Hillary. Just give me a moment. I'm going to move you back to an attendee and then I will promote another individual. Okay. The next individual that I'm going to promote is Lisa. Lisa, I am going to promote you to a panelist.
032Please click on the button on your screen and then you'll move over. Okay, Lisa, you're now a panelist. Kindly turn on your camera, state your full name and your street address for us, and then you'll have 5 minutes to speak. Lisa, can you hear me? I I can see that you're still muted. You've moved over to a panelist. Okay, Lisa, you're still muted. >> I can >> There you go. I'm sorry. >> That's okay. Now we can see you and hear you. You've got five minutes. >> Give me a minute. back upstairs where a kid won't bother me. Well, that kid just helped me. He saved me. So, not that kid. He won't bother me. >> No problem. >> The other one. Okay, >> go right ahead. >> Pardon? So, I just wanted to take
033a minute to thank all of the board members. Um I I don't I haven't made been able to make public comment before. just wanted to thank you for the good work that you do on behalf of our students um in Weston and to make sure that they have the best education possible. Thank you and welcome to the new board members. Uh my comment is pertaining to subcommittees and in particular the curriculum committee. Um as you know David Felton has been a member of that committee since 20 2021 and he's currently a chair of that committee. Um, if you know Dave, he's a very strong um, advocate on behalf of all families in Weston, but in particular Jewish families in Weston. And I'm just so glad that he's been working to get better um, um, age
034appropriate education in Hurlbut and Wis regarding anti-semitism and other kinds of hate. And I'm concerned that if he takes on a role as vice chair for the board of education that it might um and this is my cat might um um you know de demote or even remove his voice from that that committee. Um please retain David Felton as the chair of the curriculum subcommittee. Thank you. Thank you for those comments. Jody, is there another question? >> Yes, Lisa, I'm going to move you back. Give me just a moment. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Okay. Okay, Patricio, um I'm going to promote you to a panelist. Give me just one moment. You're going to see a button come across your screen. Please, uh click on that and you'll come over. All right, we can
035see you on the panelist side. If you wouldn't mind turning your camera on, stating your full name and your street address, please. >> Oh, you're on you're still on mute. >> Okay, here we go. >> There you go. I do I do this for a living and I can't believe I couldn't get >> That's okay. If you could just state your full name and your street. >> Sure. My name is uh Patricia Cawe. I'm at 248 Weston Road and um I have three boys that are in the school system. Uh actually, no, I lied. Only two. My middle one is actually the the student uh council president at Whiz, and I'm very proud of them. Um one second, please. I I have notes. I I do want to state my just need to bring this
036down. How do I do that? Bear with me, please. I can't get this. I can't get to my notes. Oh, there we go. So, first of all, I just want to say congratulation to um all the new uh board members. Um you know, it's always good to have a a fresh set of eyes, you know, uh new chair and a new vice chair. I think they will um just having that fresh set of eyes is is going to be great for the board. Uh but the community does need continuity on subcommittees. Sort of what Lisa was was alluding to. Um so I want assurance that the most important committee which is the curriculum and policy will retain the existing chairs who also happens to be the longest member of the board and as you know
037there is no substitute for experience. So, I don't want to h I don't want what happened to my older son, which is I had to put him in a boarding school because I'm not seeing a lot of what's needed uh for him. Um, I have two more kids. So, I'm hoping that we keep that those experts in these um curriculum and policies subcommittees um so that we can all benefit from it. That's all I have to say. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you very much. If you give me just one moment, I will move you back to an attendee. All right, that seems to be it for public comment. There are no other hands that are raised at this time. You can move on to your next agenda item. >> Sure. Thank you, Jody. Um,
038let me find the next agenda item. Um, okay. Old business. Weston Board of Education policies, regulations, and bylaws. Second review uh discussion and possible action on the civility uh policy and code of ethics. Are there any uh comments, discussions about that policy from board members? I think this is the second read on this one. Am I right? Okay. All right. Any additional >> I'll jump in quickly. I think um what I saw was in the code of ethics. So I don't have any comments or questions on on the civility um for code of ethics. Um it looks like and I just want to make sure this is correct that you guys inserted the link for the social media policy. Is that is that correct from from last time's reading? >> Yes, that's the only change
039to the code of ethics draft. >> Okay. All right. Excellent. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? All right. Is with is there a motion? >> Yeah, I have the motion language. >> Move that the Weston Board of Education approve 1255 civility and 4118.22 code of ethics as presented. >> Okay. Is there a second? Lisa, I think that was your hand. >> Okay. And >> second. >> All right. Thanks. Further discussion. All right. All those in favor of David's motion, raise your hands, say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Any abstensions? All right. Policies are approved. Thank you. Uh policy committee. Um, new business. Uh, we are going to hear the enrollment projections update. I'm not sure who wants to introduce that, but this is apparently an annual report um critical information on a lot of
040our different uh issues and projects. So, I'm not sure who needs to introduce that, but um >> yes, good. Hi, Deb. Good evening. Um tonight we have Mike Zuba with us from MP Planning who will be presenting on enrollment projections um update for um this year and moving forward. Welcome Mike. Thank you for being with us this evening. >> U thank you for this introduction. Um it's good to see everybody this evening. I know it's been a number of years. Uh see a lot of familiar faces, a couple new faces that we've been doing our enrollment projection report for Weston. Um, I'm going to start sharing my screen and we'll kind of follow our typical process that we go through. Um, I have a short deck. I'm going to really kind of focus on the
041most salient points, but um, I'll open it up to questions and answers um, on any of the information that's contained in the slide deck, but I'll touch on what I think are the are the most important topical areas. So, um, typical of our um, enrollment projection update, we'll always start with the projection comparison. We'll then take a dive into the enrollment drivers, go over the enrollment trends, and then get right into the enrollment projections themselves. So, um, taking a look back is always important of how you fared over the last year. Um, in particular, one of the challenges is always trying to project K accurately. Last year, we had a slight change in our methodology um that we had used for a number of years. It worked out very well. Um, one of the things
042where we're also seeing, and we've been adjusting this over the last two years, including this year, is just reduced immigration, um, from slower housing turnover. Um, so that's where we're seeing lower numbers of, um, students really in that elementary and hurbut as well as WIS versus what we would typically project. So, the actuals are trailing there. Um, our projections. And then for the middle school, um that number was really um really aligned well with what we have projected. And then the high school actually came in um just under 10 students above what we had projected. Um always a a good way to be able to take a look back, see how we performed, look at the enrollment drivers and see where we need to make some adjustments. So, one of the one of the newer
043data points um over the last year um the Connecticut Department of Public Health has been doing annual population estimates. Um they typic typically lag about a year. Um so we have that estimate shown in the darker green bar for 2024. They're showing about a 1% growth um since the 2020 census overall. So, just under 10,500 residents for the town according to the DPH estimates. Getting into our overall population change, um nothing new came out this fall, especially um as we were tracking the census data. Um ACS didn't provide any estimates, especially with the government shutdown. So, this is largely the same unfortunately from our last update um just because of the federal data set hadn't been touched in in in quite some time. Um we do have new information for BERS. Um Department of Public
044Health um is updating those quarterly. Um what we're showing for 2025 is through um through June. Um so a half a year there. um what we do for that in order to be able to get the full year is we take a historic percentage and extrapolate that out forward. I think the big picture takeaway, especially as we look at our future kindergarten classes, is that the births overall have been up over the last four years. They've averaged about 90 annually. Um we do have a large birth cohort um right around 100 students for 2024. Um and our estimates for 2025 aren't much different. So, if we kind of take a look back of where we were about a decade ago, um anywhere between the 60s to low7s, um BERS have significantly gone up since that
045data point. And I will point out that um everything to the left of this box, our calendar year BS. um everything in the box and everything that we're going to do going forward aligns with the new kindergarten entry age, which is really looking at that September to August window um rather than that calendar year window that we've used so for so many years in the state of Connecticut. Um we developed three different um birth projections in order to be able to fill in those kindergarten classes in years 5 to 10 in our 10-year projection. um and they're on par, albeit slightly below what the last two years are. So really kind of that last four years. Um we're right around that average, especially for the green, which is showing our medium model, um the blue,
046which is our higher model, is slightly above that. And then the red, which is our our pessimistic model or our low model, um is below that um number by about 10 overall. Not going to spend a lot of time on unemployment. the state requires we have unemployment in our enrollment projections, but I will spend a little bit of time on home sales because it does have a bearing on what we're seeing in student immigration, which I'll talk about in a couple slides um down the slide deck. Um but overall, after really having an all-time peak in 2020 and 2021, um for total number of home sales, um that number has dropped off and has continued to drop off over the last several years. Um 2024 is the full year of data. Um that was 125
047total sales including single family and condo. Um if you kind of track back to the left, the last time we had sales at that level were immediately following the great recession and kind of that housing collapse time period from 2008 through 2011 and that slow recovery. our year-to date um which really runs us through August or January through August gets extrapolated for the full year. That's looking at about 116 or so total sales. So, um slightly below last year um but really kind of when we track back, especially for our projections, we're kind of now comparing sort of that post pandemic um that boom period and then the drop off to that preandemic level. and sales right now are tracking well below um where they were even prepandemic levels. Um price points are up. Um
048there's very limited inventory when you go through and really dig into the MLS. There's not a lot of inventory on the market. Um and we do have high price points which have um slowed that housing churn and turnover. Um, looking at housing permitting, that's um, really not at a tremendous level for the town of Weston, knowing that you're largely single family, largely large lot zoning. Um, you have about 10 permits annually um, for new housing construction um, over the last decade. Um, when you net out your demolitions, you're adding about only seven new units per year. Um so that aligns with what we see overall from a population growth without adding a tremendous amount of units. Um population be you know stays relatively stable overall. Um took a dive through the meeting minutes from the
049planning and zoning commission. Um no real subdivision of scale. No real permits issued and and no real developments that have been approved in the last 12 months. There's been some tweaks to the village district regulations um to better align with some development interests there, but nothing is imminent and nothing that would be a real game changer from a density standpoint um adding students in for Western schools. Getting into our enrollment trends overall, enrollment over the last year declined by about 3%. Um over the last 5 years um Herbert bucked the declining trend and saw a growth of about 8% with saw a decline of about 11. Um the middle school saw a decline of about 18 and the high school decline by about 15% overall. This is just another way of looking at it by
050color coding the cohorts. Um the green represents the larger cohorts relative to each other. Um the red represents the much smaller cohorts. So as you can see we've had some passage of larger graduating classes especially about 5 to 8 to 10 years ago. Um you know graduating classes over 200. Now we're down into the high 170 180 category. But as we kind of track back to the left we could see we have some of those smaller cohorts still needing to work their way through. those um lower elementary and elementary cohorts colored in red are the smallest that we've seen. Looking at our overall net migration, um at the onset of the pandemic, net migration was up. Um that's where we saw some highs overall, especially in um the uh in the elementary grades where, you
051know, we had 43 46 in given years and we had a little bit of a peak before the pandemic happened. But since then um that number has been dropping off. Um this past year for 25 26 we actually saw net out migration at the elementary and intermediate level. Um the middle school over the last two years has seen net out migration which prior to that we had net immigration and the high school is typically variable from year to year with more out migration than in migration but um you know that has been a pretty steady um over the last couple years where we've had net out migration of about um a dozen students. looking at your enrollment composition. Um, this is something that we've been looking at over the last several years and this data
052is available through Edsite. It lags a year. Um, the state doesn't release their full report till the spring and we rely on that data. So, it's really referencing 2425 data. But overall, um, increase in student diversity of about 12% since 2015 16. um the largest growth in students identifying as Hispanic, Latino, as well as two or more races and to a lesser extent Asian. Um getting into our historic enrollment, I won't spend a ton of time on this because I'll talk about the historic enrollment a little bit later. It's more of a of a point to have in theformational packet. But I think one of the things that we could see, especially last year 24 25, this blue line represents our K cohorts. The orange line represents our BERS lagged five years. Um with that
053eight months of eligibility for the um kindergarten window for 2425, we saw a drop off there of kindergarten where we typically saw BERS increasing slightly. We expected to see um kindergarten on a little bit of a similar trajectory. Instead, we saw a much smaller cohort for 24 25 um due to that change in start dates. Looking at intermediate school, that has been declining over the last several years. Um, we had a bit of an uptick for a couple years with 24 25 kind of having that little bit of a mini peak here of 480 and then that dropped off by about 40 students in 2526. um when you have only a couple grades in a given building um grouped together, you graduate a larger cohort um moving up into the middle school or replace it
054with a little bit of a smaller cohort and you have a larger um decline overall within that grade grouping. Um at the middle school, we're also on that same declining trend. Enrollment dropped below 460. It's the lowest that it's dropped in recent memory, tracking back in the last 25 years. Um, looking at the high school after a period of stability, um, enrollment has declined over the last 6 years, um, dropping just below 700 students. So, getting into our projection update, we always like to be able to um, be clear on our methodology. Um for all grade level projections, we rely on the cohort survival. Um it's pretty simple. It looks at the ratio of students progressing from one grade level to the next. Um where we do break from that is for our kindergarten projections.
055We rely on more of a mathematical model. I'll touch on that in the following slides. But what the cohort survival does, it captures all of the factors that feed into house feed into enrollment um in the town of Weston. Um housing, housing turnover, um student immigration, student transfers in and out, um student mobility, all those get kind of rolled into these um ratios. When really kind of digging into that number, I think one of the things that, you know, we could touch on today is looking at the estimate of migration, which really looks at the most stable grade groupings within a district. Um, looks at that first through 7 versus 2 through eight the following year. Um, between 2017 and 21, um, we had really high immigration. Um, we were just under 4%. Um, over
056the last four years, that's really dropped off where we're just over a half a percent. Um and 2526 was first time in recent memory going all the way back to 2007208 where we had out migration overall of um you know a half a percent. Um so that's really tied into that when there's not many ins. The outs kind of outweigh the ins. So you're not having a lot of immigration because in a largely single family community um you're relying on housing sales and housing turnover. Um, and when you're not seeing that, you're not bringing in new students with into the district. So, we see that number typically drop off. And you could really kind of see it if you were to really look at all the individual ratios. And I don't want to get into
057an eye test here. You could do it when you could zoom in on a PDF, but you could clearly see that over the last several years. Um, where we would typically see cohorts steadily grow in Weston from one year to the next. um we're having some, you know, flat enrollment um for those same cohorts or we even start to see some loss. Um so we're seeing that out migration outweigh the in migration um for those typically stable cohorts where we would normally see growth historically. Um what that tells us as demographers is that um as we're modeling this, we're trying to strike a balance um and lowering what that historic immigration factor is um and also trying to get an understanding of what the likelihood of that sustaining. So say those same enrollment drivers sustaining
058over the 10-year window. So for this projection overall um we're assuming and we don't project prek. It's really a function of um your program and we carry that last number in October and we use move that forward. Um but we developed three models. Um our high projection model uses the high births um but also uses a higher student immigration. So it has a higher um immigration modeling factor applied to it um at 1.6% 6% but that is still below our 10-year historic average of 2.3%. Um our median model at 1.2% is also well below that historic average. Um that uses our u medium birth projection model. And then our um low uses our low births um as well as 6% for our student immigration over the next 10 years which is well below that um
059historic ratio as well. So all of our models for this projection have been adjusted downward on that immigration factor. Um looking at our birth to Kay, historically um Weston has about 52% especially over the last decade of the kindergarten classes comprised of um students who were not born in Weston. Um so typically we see immigration being a really large factor especially over the recent past and you can see this in the stack bar chart um where our K component for immigration is that green bar and in some you know in some different years especially where it corresponds to um some turnover in housing. We have a much higher factor there. When we track that back to the early 2000s BERS in the community were really the driving factor. So really kind of looking at it,
060I'm being less reliant on that static birth to Kay and more reliant on the immigration that's coming from that birth to Kay ratio. Um so the way we look at it is we put more influence on um using this variable birth to Kay which really accounts for um the change and it accounts for um the mobility of families um with with kids that are zero to five. So, not yet um of age to come into um kindergarten or enter public schools other than preK. Um but looking at them as being a major driving factor for the enrollment for kindergarten versus just solely relying on BERSts. We know BERS are up. Um BERS are at a little bit of a recent high in the last 10-15 years. Um and we know that immigration is down. Um,
061so historically we would use a blended model that did both this equation on the right, our variable birth decay, as well as a regressionbased model that took into account housing sales. Um, over the last several years, especially with the downturn in home sales, that model um, lost reliability. So, we went back to the variable birth decay, which we've been using for over a decade in many other dur districts. Um it performed very well this past year. Um we were within two students for K. Um it projected 133. We were within two of the actual. Um our R squared value isn't as high as we would like to be, but it performed very well. So this is the methodology that where we've employed again for this coming year. So looking at our district-wide projections overall and
062um the way we're looking at especially the next several years. So anytime with enrollment projections you have your greatest confidence in those first five years. We have known BERS we have students in seats. Um that's why when you look at our low, medium and high models we have a much tighter banding. We have a banding of about 125 students over the next 5 years. Um as that model moves out in years 5 to 10 um our assumptions on births, our assumptions on um in migration um housing activity begin to um take over and they provide a greater level of influence versus those known data points. Um so that's where we start to see that wider spread. Um but nonetheless um when you get out to um year 10 in 2035 36 um we're at a
063spread of just over 270 students. Um so if you were to really kind of look at it across you know the various grades um you're looking at about 15 or so students per grade there. Um difference between those models. But all three models are in a general agreement that we're looking at a near-term dip. Um uh flattening off of the enrollment overall um getting to our media model about 2,000 students around the midpoint. Um and then all three models in the latter half of it can showing growth. So we began to say well you know what are those key drivers and really kind of when we begin looking at hurlbut and we look at the elementary schools um we look at those uptick in known births so where we average 90 births over the last
064four years it's much higher than what we had you know 6 8 years ago um we're going to expect larger birth cohorts or larger kindergarten cohorts so over the next 5 years we're going to average just under 500 students students overall with a peak in 203031 of 535 students and over the course of the decade averaging about 510 students. So as those larger birth cohorts um enter in as kindergarteners we're going to have larger cohorts filling out Curlbutt Elementary and then eventually those students are going to reach WHIS but in the near term we have those smaller cohorts in WHIS right now. So, we're looking at very stable enrollment over the next four years, averaging you just under 430 students. And then we see that number increase moderately over the last 5 years, getting an
065average of just over 530 students over that time period. For the high school or for the middle school overall, that even gets lagged a little bit further. So, we have those smaller cohorts in near-term. Um, moving through, we're looking at a decrease of about 8% over the first five years. Um, averaging under 450 students. And then, as we start to see at the very tail end of our projection window that we can accurately project and see, we start to see those larger cohorts begin to metriculate from WHIS into the middle school. And that's when we start to see enrollment rebound getting back to current levels and above that towards the tail end. And then for the high school, it's even further lagged. We're looking at declining enrollment of about 16% over the next decade, averaging
066just over 570 students. Um, but you could see where enrollment overall for a large part of the projection horizon really becomes very stable after this initial decline, averaging in the mid 560s or so for a majority of our projection horizon. This is what the individual grade level um group grade level projections look like overall. I won't spend a lot of time on this, but you could kind of track back and through it if you want to be able to get into the details of the totals and just in general our takeaways. I think I touched on a lot of these key findings, but I think some of the key points I'll reiterate um with the reduced in migration and the downturn the consist the consistent downturn of the housing activity overall um we've lowered our
067projection models. All three of them have been adjusted downwards um for the next 3 years, assuming that we're going to likely continue to see a slower um churn of housing. Um we do know we have elevated births coming down the pipeline. Um those are going to be a big driver for the elementary schools. Um and then that reduced immigration is going to continue to impact middle school and high school. Um so those projections have been red um revised slightly downward as well. Um, so with that, I'll leave this slide up and I'll turn it over to the board if they have any questions. I'm glad to be able to go back through any of the slides that we have in tonight's deck. >> Uh, well, thank you for that presentation with so much information in
068a relatively short amount of time. Uh, it's very dense. Um, a lot of statistics there. Uh, this will be a document that we will be studying throughout the year. Uh, I open it up to questions or comments from board members. I >> I'll jump in just because Mike, you referenced me without knowing you referenced me as a longtime member. >> So I You're one of the longtime ones, Dave. I can't remember how many years, but I know it's been a number of years. >> I I wear it with a badge. >> Um, so so and I mentioned that because I've been going through this with you. This is now I think Sharon mentioned as well. This is mine and Sharon's fifth year. So, uh, I'll just jump right in like we're friends and family at
069this point because we have been through this so many times. Um, so one of the first questions I have is in years past you talked about a COVID boom and the COVID boom didn't materialize. Is are your charts updated for the COVID boom that didn't happen? It's I don't know if that's a my charts are updated for the COVID boom. Um I will say that's we definitely see it in some of the numbers but it was very short-lived. I think one of the things that we've been tracking though and if you recall two or three years ago we began really talking about David is the u birth uptick and presumably the level of births that they're at today were probably due to some generational turnover when we had many homes turn over at the start
070of co where we were up around 250 260 annual housing sales twice what they've been at before twice what they're at today um I think that really comes to bear in what we're seeing from a projected number of births. Because when I go through and I look at the cohort level data from the 2020 census and try to use that and fertility rates to project future births solely, it doesn't match up with what we've been seeing. Um so I assume that turnover with a lot of younger families moving in um is being reflected in the BERS overall. And then we did in the if we can bear looking at the eye chart one more time um in our projections we had all we had really high in migration right in 2020 and 21 um similar
071to what we had prior to it but since then that really has dropped off. So to answer your question, the long-term boom was not a longer term boom. It was a short-term boom, but I think what it did was it led to a lot more birds in the community um that are going to lead to kindergarteners. It's just lagged a little bit. >> Okay. Then my you actually walked me right into my second question uh which is something I also asked you a couple of years ago. So on chart 27 or page 27 and 28, um you mentioned things like birth rates are up, use terms like elevated births, but when I was doing my homework ahead of this, the CDC is still reporting birth rates are down. As a matter of fact, birth rates
072are down from 2024. Uh that is the lowest birth year 2024. And it doesn't appear that they are tracking with what you're showing, which is that you're expecting elevated births birth rates. So even with 2024 birth rates being down by the CDC, if they did, if they did show up in Weston, those children would be showing up at Herbut in 2028 2029. So can you walk me through how in 28 2029 being that birth rates in 2024 are the lowest and those children and I could be completely misunderstanding what I'm reading and what you're showing me. So this is more of an an educate me but if if birth rates are the lowest in 2024 and these children are going to show up at Herbut in 2028 2029 how do we explain an uptick on
073your chart? I think we're mixing and matching birth rates and fertility rates. So, um, birth rates are high. And this I'll just flip back and hopefully not. These are actual births reported to the DPH based on mother's residence. There's no confusion about it. Actuals. The CDC is probably report reporting at a very large scale fertility rates which are down. We use to project births going forward. We use Connecticut specific fertility rates. Um there and there's fertility rates issued by various sources out there annually um by state, by race, by age. um and that contributes to the birth projections going forward. But these births are actual reported births to mothers in Weston. Um and that's where we're seeing that impact on the larger elementary cohorts coming in here. >> Okay. And even if we look at
074our low model and we assume that our birth decays are at all-time lows and that we have more out migration, it still doesn't overcome the fact that enrollment will increase in the elementary level. >> Okay. It's it's just hard to re >> myself. Yeah, it's CDC's they're they're referencing for they're they're referencing fertility rates. >> Well, they they use the word I I don't think they're using the words interchangeably because certainly they're not interchangeably, but the report that I read uh used birth rates and fertility. So, I'm not sure if they've co-mingled the numbers together. Uh >> um I will say overall and I have a bit different perspective and having I work across many DRI A dur B as well as other districts throughout the state. Um we are seeing over the last several
075years BERS overall especially in DUI A and DUI B districts are up and BS statewide are down and BS statewide are down because large urban districts BERS are down there but in smaller suburban districts in Connecticut Berts are up. >> All right. All right. Then my last question is uh so if B but if birth rates are up and our right we have a fixed housing market and it's unlikely to change unless something very peculiar happens and we wind up with highdensity housing. So we have a fixed uh uh number of homes and people homes are not turning and uh that doesn't look like there's any plans for that to change for the next couple of years at least. So does is is when you talk about Duray schools and for example Wilton and Westport
076is seeing a major boom in construction and I think it's yet to be determined how many of those apartments wind up with children in them. Weston's not going to have that. So is have you in your charts or your numbers for Duray schools, have you also factored in the uniqueness of Weston that our housing market is pretty it's not changing significant? I know you mentioned >> Yeah, you Yeah, I only referenced those other DR A and DRB for the birth trends that we're seeing where they have a lot of housing sales. Housing sales are down everywhere. Um, even in Wilton and Weston, house total housing sales are down overall. Um, they are developing. They have less restrictive zoning. They have a better mix of housing types. Um, and they are getting some students out of
077there. In Weston, we recognize that it's largely single family, large lot, and you're turning over much fewer homes than you have in recent past. And we modeled all of that downward. So all of our projections are modeled well below what has happened over the last 10 years and that includes the boom as well as the real bust that we've seen. So we're our media model is a very modest 1.2% immigration very modest. Um our high is even at 1.6. So that number directly relates to this estimate of migration simply put and there's a lot of other factors that go into it but we're assuming that the last four years of the housing is going to likely continue is where we're at for the next three years. So we're we're recognizing that there's limitations um in
078ability to bring in new families because of the housing conditions and that's reflected in the model. Okay. And I'm just really trying to drill down on this because this is going to, as Deb said at the top of our meeting, I don't know if you were with uh on at that time, we have a lot of work ahead of ourselves when it comes to our facilities. So these numbers are probably more critically important now than they've ever been because they're going to inform us and the community on what we need to do with our facilities. So, um, that's why I'm sort of maybe picking a little bit deeper at this than years in the past. >> Mhm. >> But thanks. >> And I think David, what I would do and and and and as you're
079going through this process, and I kind of say it every year, is really kind of focus on >> I focus on all three of these and say, can we whatever we're proposing, can we survive the uncertainty that this high, medium, and low model is throwing out there at us? Right? So where we're looking at a difference of you know 200 students out at eight years um you know factor 18 16 students per grade plus or minus difference between the two different models. Does that make sense from our facilities decision? Because there's always going to be uncertainty with projections. We're trying to like look at that trend and use all the best information that we can but we understand too. I've do facility planning. Um, facilities survive the test of time for 20, 30, 40 years.
080So even though we can only project and the state only gives us eight years to project the highest, peak enrollment, we always advise to kind of use that different high, medium, and low to say can we test it out under all three of these situations and know that it works, >> right? >> I had a question um looking at since you're you've got page 27 pulled up. Um, so from this it looks like there are a couple more years of declining enrollment before it starts to turn around and the turnaround is fairly slow. >> Mhm. You're correct, Deb. >> Okay. All right. >> Yeah. And that's really and and and this really does a good job of showing that um especially where we begin looking at those cohorts. So that really tells the tale of
081why we have that few more years of declining enrollment. um until we start to see some of those larger cohorts kind of work their way through. >> Okay. So, we could expect another three years or of declines. >> Yes, correct. >> It's just it's hard to line up the number >> um with the year. So, that's all but that that's just a minor point. Um, but as we get, you know, sort of deeper into some of the specifics about building capacities and planning for high, medium, low, uh, we'll we'll, you know, um, we'll look at this again and we'll probably call you up. So, >> I'm always there to answer questions. I'm glad to help. >> Yeah. All right. Other um, are there other questions from other board members? So Mike, um, if you could
082go back to the age of our population, what your chart shows is that we have a higher age population. Did you take that into account as let's say the average age of life that there's going to be a big turnover um, in the future when those homes are sold? we that would be well beyond the 10-year window that we can project. But I think that's something that we can look at this this chart in particular and say in the next 20 years we're going to have individuals that are going to be looking to move up probably move on from their current homes. >> Yeah. Did you look at Mike um going to Lisa's point about age that some people um and again this is just reading headlines uh the the theory being that um people
083getting older don't really have any place to go so they hold on to their houses longer is that part of what we're seeing >> correct and we are seeing that and I think that aging in place in a given community especially if they want to stay in Weston, it's going to be really challenging and that may cause a lag in those that are hanging on to that larger single family home a bit longer because they don't want to move out of the community that they know, >> right? There's some of that, but there's also the, you know, there's some difficulty in finding suitable housing as well. Even if you wanted to leave, you know, do you can you find a spot a spot that you like? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So yeah, the the housing
084market to me right now is very confusing. Um, okay. >> I give you a clarification. >> Yeah. >> So I have a success story for the district. So let me have a few minutes here and give you my success story. Think this is a shout out to Tina. We hear we want our kids to do better in math. So our kids go do better in math, especially middle school. God bless us, right? That's perfect. So, what happens? Last year in Mr. Marone's seventh grade social studies class, a couple kids that are pretty good at math do a little analysis on Mike Zoo's presentation. That was the assignment. And and here it is published in our district newsletter. Enrollment and housing in Weston, the correlation between housing and attractiveness uh enrollment and attractiveness of housing. And
085what did these smart math kids do in seventh grade? They looked at Mike's eighth grade ch uh page eight chart and said, "Guess what? When you sell 150 houses, you have an uptick in enrollment. When you sell 125 houses, you have a down tick in enrollment." So, if you look at the numbers over a few years or a little bit of outliers, it's 140 about 145 146, but some years it's a little lower. this year. It turns out we're on track for 123 through this month. We'll probably do about 130. So, what's the conclusion? This makes job uh Mike's job actually quite easy. In the a couple years, if you sell 125 houses in a couple years, you have a little down tick. If you sell 150 houses, a couple years you're going to have
086a little uptick. It's that simple. It boils down to that band, right? So, what have number have I been using for the last couple years for enrollment? Two 2050 plus or minus 2.5%. And we're with well within that error band. Look at Mike's number. He is dead on for the next five years. It's 2050 plus or minus 2.5%. And where do we get that 2.5%. If you sell 25 less houses, you lose two high schoolers. You gain, right? You don't replace them, you're down 50. If you sell 25 more houses, you gain a couple kindergarters, you up 50. It fits perfectly to all the curves. So the next five years, you're going to have 2050 plus or minus a few kids. You sell a few more houses, you get plus a few kids. You have
087a few less houses, you get a few less kids. Now, we're limited to that band because of our stock. But think of what's happening around us. Whis blue ribbon school scores off the charts. High school third in the state. Mandani is a socialist. Everybody from New York's going to come to West to Fairfield County. So we're going to go to 150. We're going to get a few extra kids because of all these factors. So I think Mike's dead on for the next five years. 2050 plus or minus 2.5% uptick if we get 160 170 in a few years from now because of all the factors in our surrounding neighborhood. So I love that our seventh graders learned their math and I like that Mike's dead on and you can simplify it to that band of
088knowledge. You can take 28 slides, you go down to your housing and you get exactly the number good to have two years later and I think it's exactly is reflected here. So I love this presentation. The numbers add up. They're perfectly add up. It's remarkable. >> Told those kids to send me resumes in like eight years from now. Um, >> good idea. >> What these kids predicted what Mike came up with. So, good for our seventh graders. >> Yep. >> Want to hire a couple seventh graders? They need internships. >> I don't know if I can do that just yet, but in a few years they can reach out though, >> right? Uh, any other comments? I I I just have a few questions. Hey, Mike. Um, good to see you again and and thanks
089for this. Um, it's a it's a hard job and predicting this and so I I appreciate you coming on and explaining this to us every year. Um, just a couple couple quick questions for me. Slide 24. Um, tell me about the projection. So it looks like I just I'm just trying to understand because I was looking at last year's presentation and now I'm looking at this one and the rates declined pretty pretty you know significantly. Is that is the driver in those rates declining is that doing is is that driven by the net migration or what what what is the driver of all three basically across high, medium and low? If I take a look at last year's and I gotta find it because I have a thousand >> tabs open up here at last
090year it looked like it was we've we've gone down from 2.6 to 1.6 in the high projections 2.1 to 1.2 and then 1.4 to 6. Is that is that driven by the net migration or what what what is the driver there? >> That's that's driven by a bunch of factors. Net migration being one of them. Yeah, you're correct. Um, absolutely. Um, it's housing as well and then it's run off of looking at um indiv individual grade progressions. So, Weston historically grows as kids metriculate from kindergarten through 12th grade. Um, over the last couple years, we've now established a new trend where that's becoming much flatter and we're actually seeing some out migration. So, we didn't go all in on the out migration. Um, and what this does is this really our first three our next
091three years, not our first, our next three years of our projections are really tamped down because of the housing market and then we slowly work our way back. Um, >> remind me you said that you said that you're carrying through sort of what we're seeing today in the in the housing and the and the migration. You're carrying that through over the next three to five years. You're not assuming any reversion to any mean. Correct. >> Exactly. For the next three years, by year after year three, we're starting to see it get back to the historic average. Not the pandemic boom or not um you know a boom of 200 as Peter me 200 housing sales. It's getting back to um you know 160 170 sales or so. >> Two two more questions. Um the first
092is um and and you sort of touched on this, but how how different is the sort of the the slope of this of the of the projections, right? The slope of sort of the growth rate here. How different is that as you look out 5 to 10 years from other Durgy districts? Meaning are you also another Durges predicting sort of you know this decline and then this rebound or because they have more housing stock has been discussed by by many people here before um you you know you're not getting as much of a dip. >> Yeah. >> In the short term it's it's it's moderating that dip and but you're still seeing that elevation due to births. Is that is that fair? Uh, it's a hard question. It's a very good question. Um, Weston is
093really kind of unique in that you have a very homogeneous housing market, right? Yeah. And you and you have no new starts. >> Um, >> the commonality is that birds are up really since 2020, >> right? >> Um, on average, right? You'll have some higher and lower years natural bird cycles. Um, but that's kind of where it begins to kind of stop where we're seeing the commonalities between you and maybe some of your neighbors, right? Um, you know, Darienne, and I'm going to be there next week, so I won't provide too much of a spoiler. They saw negative out migration um to a level this year that they haven't seen in a long time. >> Okay. >> Um, Westport is still seeing positive immigration. still >> right right >> un unfased like not housing sales
094are down right don't confuse the two there housing sales are down they have some housing starts they have some new development going in they have some developments of scale going in um you know and and Wilton who is a little bit of a blend between the two of you like Westport a little bit um and has some new housing that has been going in um you know their turnover and their immigration's lower over the last two years. So, um, you know, they were one of those that we revised downward as well. So, everybody's a little bit unique. I think in Weston it becomes more of uh your range of where you're going to get off of that cone of uncertainty isn't that great, right? So, if you're really looking at like >> where we historically
095project data there, and I put it towards the back of the slide deck. Um you this was really the first time where our trajectory showing a belly. Um otherwise pandemic no pandemic going back to 20 I think this goes back to 20 17 or so is the data I had back to you know you've all been in this kind of range here. Um and then when you look ahead, especially with the BERS that we're we're tracking, um you you're getting back up to that sort of, you know, trajectory that our long-term projections have been on. Um this real downturn in the immigration has caused that belly right there. But when you look at like building projects, construction, long-term facility planning, you know, you got a lead time of five years plus there. You know, that's
096where you start to get back on track. So I, you know, I would really kind of say like it's great that you're looking at other communities. Um, but also like within your own community, it's like really understanding like those drivers. And I think as a board, you really get it well. Um, what are our enrollment drivers? You guys know them. That that's great for your decision-m because, you know, as you're going through these conversations, you have to you're in tune. You live there. You um you understand what's happening in your local community. So it's really kind of getting into that and making informed decisions. So >> yeah. No. Well, I mean things like this help, right? Actually going through this every year. >> Yeah. >> Um my last question is slide 27. So in slide
09727 again, look, I'm just look again. I know this is this is this is a difficult business. Um when I look at slide 27 again, just looking at last like comparing it to last year. So last year I assume we had you know we weren't that far off in terms of when I look at births. It looks like births have picked up at least according to your charts a little bit from from last year to this year which which that adds a little bit of of course um um uplift in the later years. When I look at this, I guess in the in the first five years, it looks like we're still trending, you know, pretty significantly down, I would say. So, if you look at it, the high the high of this year is
098below last year's medium and last and last and this year's medium is essentially last year's low >> at the five-year mark. >> Right. At the fiveyear mark. Yeah. Correct. Exactly. >> And I and I assume last year I don't know >> that the environment was much different again we have another year of con you know confirming sort of it's a slow housing market it's a continuation right >> and then I'm assuming we have more or less it looks like births have picked up a little bit right from last year. >> Yeah. So, so what is what is driving that? If if again if some of those inputs, let's say, are relatively where they were last year. Again, it's another year of those, I get it, but what is driving the, you know, the variance there
099that and and I I I know it's multiffactorial and everything else, but >> yeah, I got your question. >> Yeah. Got it. >> It's the diff. So the difference between the low and the high is is 130 students. It's 10 students per grade >> over five years. So when we look at where we perform this year, right? >> Um and our gradeto grade variation, we pro we had projected that we would have slight growth in first grade. We had no growth in first grade. So we have a delta of seven students. And you look start to look at just this one-year delta, right? And they're all towards the negative side. Um, and you think about that compounding, comparing my prior projection with this projection. That's what's really driving that delta in that first fiveyear window
100>> as those classes are propagating through and they're replacing larger classes. >> Yeah. It and it's we have smaller cohorts moving through. We have graduating 170 and we're not seeing the growth that we would typically see in some of these 135, 140, right? Because these would normally be cohorts that over the last couple years have been growing a lot more. They're not growing a lot more. >> Okay? >> Right? And then in high school, you start to lose that growth factor. Right? Parents are more apt to move with students of younger age and school age children. We have higher persistency ratios for elementary and middle school than we do for high school. >> Sure. >> Um so when we look at that five-year window um and the change of projections, it's really coming down to
101just the immigration um >> and that and that that compounds from year to year. But in the grand scheme of things, when you look at it and you think about facility planning, it's literally an 10 students per grade between all three models. So those differences that I talked about earlier in in migration, right, of 1.6 versus 6, right? So a full percentage point there. >> Yeah. >> Is a difference of 130 students. >> Yeah. >> Or 10 students per grade. >> How um how hard is it? My last question, sorry. Um, how hard is it sort of, you know, I think a lot of the outy years now, especially this rebound, right, in in the school population, um, how hard is it to pro to project, you know, even if you see elevated birth rates
102today that that that those are actually going to materialize into, let's say, future students in the town because there's a lot, writing I think on um the the birth rate projections here and those students obviously being a part of you know the school system. So how do you how do you how do you work that through Mike? >> Um well our our K projections are a little bit more complicated. We do have a >> we do do a variable birth decay. But what I would say and encourage is take a whoop and I'm going to drive everybody nuts here. >> These are your actual birth decays. >> Pick any one of these and multiply it by 100 birds, right? We know we have 100 birds in 2024. So that class of 29, right? um even
103if you were to pick the most pessimistic ones and you can't really go back here because those aren't historically valid. So you look at the last 10 years and you say even if we have the lowest level of inmigration which really the birth decay captures >> right and we have some out migration of those children that were born in town um you know that 100's going to turn in in worst case 150 right >> right if you go back to the low I see that 150 but if you're looking at the last 10 years you're saying it's you know let's call it 180 190 I don't know something like that Yeah. And so we have those built in here. And I would just say look at them and like these are using a much lower
104birth to Kay and lower birth numbers. >> You could begin to go through and kind of test out where those numbers from a planning standpoint will likely lie, but we don't have a tremendous amount of variability in enrollment drivers in Weston. So you don't have a lot of variability in what we're projecting for K and what we're projecting for the grade levels. It's not a tremendously it's not a tremendously dynamic housing market here, right? >> Yeah. >> To say the least. Okay. Yeah. >> All right. Thanks, Mike. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um I think in the interest of time um and also knowing how important this information is and knowing that we are scheduling additional board of ed meetings uh to talk about facilities um we are probably going to be looking at enrollment projections
105yet again and Mike I appreciate your availability and um I thank everyone who's asked questions tonight but I think as we get deeper diving deeper and deeper I think it it deserves to be attached to the facilities uh discuss question more specifically uh and then we can get even more technical. Uh but for now, are there any more generalized kind of questions? >> All right. Um Mike, thank you very very much for this presentation and we'll have you on speed dial um as we uh get into the facilities uh nuts and bolts. So, thank you. >> Have a good evening everybody. >> Thank you. Okay. Um, uh, the next under new business is the, uh, report on the class of 2025. That sounds like great news. And, um, I'll let um, Megan or Erica, uh,
106introduce. >> Sure. Thank you. Um, it's my pleasure to introduce the Weston High School team presenting the class of 2025 statistical report, which is an annual analysis that highlights our students post-secary outcomes, their standardized testing results, and college application trends. Um, joining us this evening are Megan Ketta, principal of Weston High School, Meredith Jackson, director of school counseling, and Randy Green, um, the college and career counselor. Um, the high school counseling team plays an essential role in guiding students through an increasingly complex and competitive college admissions process. Their work begins well before senior year with programming that supports students academic and personal growth as early as 9th grade. Through individual counseling counseling sessions, classroom based lessons, and family presentations, and outreach, they help students build awareness, plan thoughtfully, and navigate each stage of the high
107school experience with confidence and purpose. By the time students reach the college application stage, they are supported by a coordinated team effort, one that balances data-informed guidance with deep personal insight into each students aspirations and their strengths. This layered approach is reflected in the strong outcomes you are going to hear about this evening and also speaks to the exceptional dedication of our counselors and our college and career office. So tonight they're going to provide an overview of the academic profile, the standardized testing results, advanced place advanced placement performance and college application and metriculation data. The purpose of this report is not only to celebrate all of our students achievements, but also identify meaningful trends that inform how we continue to build and strengthen our programs and supports. So, if you could just hold your questions
108until the end of the presentation to allow the team to share the full context of their findings, we would greatly appreciate it. And please join me in welcoming Miss Ketta, Miss Jackson, and Miss Green as they present the class of 2025 statistical report. Hi everybody. Thanks so much for having us. Uh we're excited to share some of the good news uh coming out of Weston High School with the class of 2025. And for some of this information um when we think talk about AP scores, it's also going to reflect um the class of uh 2026 as well. Yes. Um so I'll start with the first second slide. Dan, if you want to um continue just a snapshot of the demographic information for the class of 2025. Um so we continue to uh grow in our
109diversity as you can see. Um and so just a little we've started reporting on our um demographics in this report. I believe this is our second year. Um so I'm going to turn it over to uh Meredith Jackson, our director of school counseling. um and she will be followed by Randy Green and they'll give you some information on um our school links program that we've been using um and some overall feedback from our students uh through the college process in terms of their post-secary um accomplishments. So Meredith, I'll turn it over to you. >> Thank you. >> And you can advance a slide. Great. Thanks. So I want to briefly start the presentation talking about school links. This is our second year using the program. Um the next slide shows our usage of this program.
110Um and when Randy and I meet with our representative quarterly from school lengths, he always tells us how impressed he is with our student and parent usage. Um he's based in Texas. Um and he just says he's very, you know, interested in how many students are using our program and he's very proud that we are using it to its fullest. Um, for those of you who are not familiar with school links, um, this is our electronic tool for post-secary planning that we use with students and that parents and guardians have access to. In school links, students will complete surveys, interest inventories, investigate careers, research colleges that possibly relate to the careers that they liked along the way. And ultimately, it's the tool that we use to send materials for students, i.e. transcripts and letters of
111recommendation to the colleges that they select. The next slide is just a screenshot of what the students see. It's called a college application manager. So, this helps the students stay organized when they're filling out and completing all of their applications. It also lets them know from our side at Weston High School when we have submitted our documents. So on the left hand side you can see the schools that the student has added to their list. There's a student checklist box and this can be green um if they did the task that's required of them. The next column is for teacher rex. So letters of recommendation. When you see those green checks you can see that your letters have been submitted by your teacher. And then counselor documents. This will include the transcript and the letter
112of recommendation that your uh counselor will provide for you. It also lists due dates. and then the status. So, is it pending? Have we submitted anything yet? Um, in that area, so that kind of helps the students gauge their progress in school lengths. The next slide is an example of our events section. This is our college rep visit schedule. Um, we have over a hundred colleges that visit Weston High School every fall. Actually, last week we just wrapped it up for the fall season. juniors and seniors have the opportunity to meet with college rep visits in our college and career center and we tell them that the majority of time the person who's coming to this visit is most likely the person who's going to be reading your application because they are our area rep.
113So it's a great way for our students to meet with these college rep visits and meet with the representatives and have a name with a face um when they're doing their applications. So this is the screen in the area that they can see the calendar and also where to register. So next I want to talk a little bit about our senior exit survey. So our senior exit survey is something that we give out to a graduating class every year to kind of get feedback and a temperature on the college process. Um so the next slide will show you one of our first questions. We had 179 students reply to our survey. So the first one is were you admitted to one of your top choice colleges. And so if you can see yes, no, or
114NA, we had 88.3% of students who um indicated they applied to college got into one of their top colleges. So definitely a really high percentage for those yeses. Next question was about level of enthusiasm for the college they will be attending. So if you see uh one not excited at all, five being thrilled. If you look at the bottom you can see our percentages. Um we had five saying they were most excited and four saying very excited. So of those who indicated they'll be attending college that means 89% of the students rated most or very excited about their destination. And this is a statistic that we are very proud of you know um that so many students are happy about the school they will be attending which we all know is the most important factor.
115The next slide shows a question about priorities in selecting a school to apply. So as you can see the top three priorities that these students um responded to saying was very important for them was academic programming. Good to hear. Uh, location was also a high one as well as social fit. So, it's good to hear that our students are thinking about fit when they're looking at their schools and how they're going to be comfortable on a campus. Of note, I do find it interesting that of these responses, academic prestige is a little higher than students caring about total cost. So just of note, we thought that was a little bit interesting to see that they, you know, care a little bit more about the speed of the school versus how much they're paying. The next
116question on the next slide is the stress of the process. So we want to maintain and see how manageable students felt this process was. Okay, we talked about we hear about the stress of applying to colleges and the college application process. So we asked students how manageable it was. one being not manageable at all and five being very manageable. So as you can see from the results in the bottom lefthand corner over 80% of the students of the class found it manageable. And then the next slide shows how the counseling department tries to help students manage this process. So we have camp college for those of you who are not aware of this program. We have 80 students who come to school in the month of August for three straight days and they go through
117the whole common application. We have admission reps come in and speak to them. We have English teachers come in and read their essays and we go over a lot of other information that's really essential for them to know in the application process. So when they start school, they are in a great shape for the application process. And if you think about 80 students, that's close to half of the class. We also have um what you heard about before, individual post-secondary meetings. Um that's usually with the counselor and with Miss Green. Um we do lessons and packed. Our website has been updated by Miss Green. She has a lot of wealth of information on there. She's got a digital guide book that pretty much walks every student through every screenshot of the Common App and School
118Links and what they need to do. Um, also we had the junior college kickoff that the students mentioned earlier in the meeting. Um, we actually moved that up this year. We actually just had it um in November. We usually had it in December, but we decided to move it up just because we feel like more and more families would like some information sooner. We also do a financial aid night every fall as well as some parent coffees. Um, and we also do some dropins in the fall during uh flex time for packed. Um, so that is the senior response survey. And at this point, I'm going to turn it back to principal Canada to talk about standardized testing. Thanks, Meredith. So, I'm going to take you through the um scores from the class of 2025.
119Um, and the we're going to start with the SAT school day uh summary. So, you can see for the class of 2025, the uh they took the March SAT school day in uh March of 2024. So, our students take the SAT school day test in their junior year. And this is um the state assessment uh for the high school. Uh you can see that our scores were consistent over um the last couple of years. Um and we continue to look and evaluate those scores. Dan, if you want to go to the next slide, that would be great. Um this is our SAT cohort summary of our three-year trend. Um this reflects um the last score that uh the last SAT uh score that students took. Um because as you know students take the schoolbased school
120day SAT and then they can take the SAT numerous times um as they continue to prepare for their post-secary um applications. So those are the scores um outside of the SAT school day and keep going. Okay. Um these are our scores from the class of 2025 um ACT data. Um and so this data is pulled from an online reporting portal which provides an average score for each student in the class of 2025. And then we um turn to our AP exams. Uh this is from May of 2025. So overall uh we had um our students uh who scored a three or higher on we had 93% of our students taking the AP exams who scored a three or higher on the um AP tests. Uh so this is a slight improvement uh 3% from the
121previous year. Um you'll also note um in the um AP scores that we had 67 AP scholars in the 2425 school year. We had 41 AP scholars with honors, 72 AP scholars with distinction, and one AP uh diploma student as well. So there you can see that reflected in that graphic, the number of students um who had scores of three or higher. And we've also noticed um just some trends in our AP scores as well. Um with our AP 2D class, we had 63% of our students score a four or five. I won't take you through all of the AP scores, but these are just some things um to take note of. Um our AP Lang students, 78% of our students scored a four or five. 80 85% of students in AP lit um scored
122a four or five which is one of the highest numbers in years over time. Um AP Calc AB 74% of students scored a four or five compared to the state average of 55% of students scoring a four or five and AP Calc BC we had 95% of our students scoring a four or five compared to 69% in the state. Um and and the numbers continue. AP Chem, we had 91% of our students scoring a four or five. Um AP Physics, we've more than doubled the number of students um taking AP physics over the last uh five years since 2020. Um AP uh AP physics. Yes, we doubled the number of students scoring a five since 2020 in our AP statistics course. Um and also we've seen a rising interest in students taking uh micro and
123macro um AP econ as well. Um so we're really interested to see uh those numbers growing. Um human geo our enroll AP human geography our enrollment has doubled since 2021 with 78% of students scoring a four or five. Um and our AP gov enrollment really continues to climb with 90% of students scoring a four or five. So re we're really happy to see um those scores um over over time and especially over the last couple of years. So congratulations to all of our teachers and instructors of those AP courses. Okay, I'm going to turn it over to Randy Green who is our college and career um counselor um who has a wealth of knowledge um regarding our college outcomes. So Randy, I'm going to turn it over to you. >> Thanks, Megan. Um, okay. So,
124if we go to the next slide, Dan, so these are our application statistics from the class of 2025. And um, you don't have it in front of you, but I have the data from the class of 2024 as well. And there are a few things that I think are really notable here. Um, our application numbers went up by 5%. So, the class of 2024 submitted um 1831 applications and this class submitted 1922 which represented a 5% increase. Um and we saw a decrease in the acceptances um it but we didn't really see a significant decrease um or increase rather in denials or rejections. So historically um it was a last year it was a 26% denial rate and this year it was 27%. Where we saw the greatest increase was in weight lists. Um and
125this actually matches uh national trends. So colleges are really um nervous and uncertain and trying to protect their yield the number of students who opt to enroll in their school and we're seeing them use weight lists at a much higher rate. Um so this really mirrors what we're seeing nationally. You know I think the other interesting thing to note here is that last year so well the class of 2024 rather the average number of applications per student that they submitted um was nine and now and before that it was about 7 or 7.5 and now our average student is submitting 11.6 applications and again this correlates with national data. So the common application which is the application that most colleges in the country that our students apply to not all but most use to apply
126to college they reported their data for last year's um the class of 2025's application process and the colleges on the common app saw a 6% increase overall on average in the number of applications and they also saw a 4% increase in the individual um applicants using the common app. So, as we see this increase in applications, when colleges aren't increasing their incoming class, um we see acceptance rates go down, colleges lean on their weight list a little bit more. Sometimes the weight these weight lists are going until Janu um July rather until um they close them out and finish rounding out their class. So, I think our numbers are really consistent with what we're seeing. And you know, I think it's really important for us to be thinking about what this means for our students
127as they're submitting more and more applications. The application process, for those of you who have not yet been through it with a child, can be really nuanced and it has a lot of components, often requiring multiple essays, sometimes self-reported grades, self-reported or official test scores, sometimes interviews, sometimes multiple applications depending on the institution that the students um are applying to. So, I think we need to be thinking about as our students are applying to more and more schools and experiencing more weight lists. So, a lot of that uncertainty, what can we do to help support them, make this process as efficient as possible? Um, but also supporting them emotionally and building on those skills of resilience um as they deal with weight lists that could stretch out through the summer. Um, I think we really
128need to be thinking about some of those things. And as Meredith mentioned, um, one of the things we did this year, as we see that more and more of our students are applying in November to colleges, we have a little bit, um, of a drop off, right? We sort of finish up with our seniors a little bit earlier than we used to. So, we did move the junior college kickoff up to November, and we've already started having our post-secary planning meetings with our junior class. Those typ typically started in uh January in previous years, but I I started having those last week because we want to give students more time. This process is burdensome. It can be stressful. We see that students don't find it particularly manageable. So, we're trying to give them as much
129time and access to the resources at our high school as possible. So, that's how we're responding to some of this. And if we look at the next slide, these were just some interesting trends. Um, you know, I like to dig deep into our data and see what's going on from year to year. And so, one thing we're seeing nationally, again, as colleges are trying to predict their yield, the a lot of um private schools, but now even a trend in public universities are leaning on early decision. So that binding agreement that students make when they apply where they guarantee that they'll attend the school if they get in, more and more colleges are leaning on early decision to protect their yield. And you know, our students are taking advantage of it. So 38.5% of the
130graduates from the class of 2025 applied through either ED1 and or early decision 2 to colleges. And of the 71% of students who applied through early decision, 53.5% were admitted. And that's up from 31% in 2024. That's a huge increase. And I think that speaks to the trend we're seeing in colleges leaning on early decision. Whether or not we feel like this is ethical or fair to students to have to commit upfront, that's a conversation that's going on a lot. Um there are people who are trying to file lawsuits against colleges who lean too heavily on early decision, but we see that our students are getting that memo and taking advantage of the early decision um opportunity. So, um, another really interesting thing this year, um, was that 12 students from the graduating class of
1312025 took gap years and they were for different reasons, but I think this speaks to the fact that students are really either exploring their unique interests or taking the time. There were, you know, just three students of those 12 did enroll in four-year colleges and took a formal gap year from those schools to do something really cool and interesting. Two of them are st like abroad right now. There's another student who um was pursuing um kind of pre-professional soccer um abroad as he was looking to get recruited. And that's another student. And then there were a few students who just said they really weren't ready and their parents were very understanding. and with the rising cost of college tuition felt like they didn't want to push their student when they weren't ready. Um, and so
132we've seen some parents encouraging that as well. A bunch of those students have already reached out to us to submit transcripts to colleges. So, it looks like they are in the process of applying to four-year schools now. Um, but they just weren't ready when they graduated. Nine students enrolled in institutions outside the United States. That's up from five in the previous year. Um, four of those were to McGill in Canada. And for those of you who know, um, it's a significantly less expensive, um, cost of attendance in Canada. And if you have Canadian citizenship, you pay about $8,000 a year in tuition to go there. So, that incentivized a couple of our students to take advantage of that. And then as we look at the colleges that have four or more students enrolling um Yukon
133right always at the top of the list our flagship state school University of Vermont, University of Colorado Boulder, Virginia Tech, Michigan, Syracuse and McGill. So a lot of the flagship state schools are in there and then Syracuse as a private institution and McGill as an international institution were sort of um the most attended schools among the class. And if we go to the next slide. So just some unique pursuits. Um you know we love looking at the data and seeing where some of our kids are really pursuing their dreams. Um so we have a student who's attending the Berkeley College of Music, another one who is at the John's Hopkins Peabody Institute which is their music conservatory. Um we have a student who is at Lincoln Tech um pursuing plumbing. um he actually shadowed some
134of our custodial staff last year and and was just really interested and knew exactly what he wanted. We have a student at um NYU, one of the top film schools in the country. Another student at NYU Shanghai, so he'll do his entire 4-year program um in Shanghai, which is very cool. We have a student who's doing the um Columbia University offers dual degree programs with a couple of other institutions in other countries. and this student is doing the Columbia University and Trinity College Dublin dual degree program. Um we have students um who are um enlisted in the military, the United States Navy and the Marine Corps. And then that professional soccer gap year that I had mentioned. So those are just a couple of unique things that our students were doing that I thought were
135pretty notable. And then the next slide um is just a link to our metriculation list um which I think the board might have a copy of in the um in the statistical report. Um and so I just think that you know I want to highlight here that despite the fact that kids right we we see the anxiety in in the sheer volume of applications students are submitting you know roughly 12 applications per student it's high um we know a lot of students are getting weight listed but that said I just want to say that I think it's really pretty extraordinary last year 87% or in 2024 rather 87% of students um indicated that they got into one of their top choice schools and and it was up to 88.3% this year. And in 2024, um
13684% of students had rated a four or five for the level of enthusiasm for the college to which they're going to be attending. And this year it was 89%. So our kids are really excited about where they're going. And I know that often there can be a lot of chatter about the most selective colleges or the IVs. And I think kids understand that these schools with acceptance rates hovering around 4% are getting less and less attainable and they're still really excited about the schools that they're ending up at and that's what we need to celebrate and focus on as a community. So I think that wraps up our part of the presentation. >> Thank you Randy and Meredith. >> Yeah. Yes. Thank you and thank you for sticking uh this late at night um and
137showing so much enthusiastic enthusiasm in spite of how tired you must be. Uh but this is such a good news report. Um are there comments from the board? >> I have comments if I may ask Randy and Meredith. >> Uh you know uh I I was wondering if you actually uh coate intended majors. what are kids thinking when they enter freshman year if they declare their major because if you work backwards maybe we can tailor our programming around those cohorts right so that's that'd be an interesting data point to have in the future what their intended majors are second question I had was particularly since the kids are going to sort of top flight but large uh state schools let's say they have a thousand kids in freshman biology how many of those kids either
138intended or actually went through with applying for the honors college at these universities where they have smaller cohorts and specialized classes for those high achiever gogetters. So, I thought honors college would be an interesting recommendation for a lot of kids going to state schools. And then how many kids take advantage of the New England tuition break? We have a couple kids going to Vermont. I don't see anyone going to New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Mass or Maine. But what a great way of limiting your expense, right? Because you you get a considerable discount that seems to have to be promoted that you know you could still study finance at UMass but save you know half your tuition. So these are my inputs for this. >> Thanks Peter. I can um take some of those. So, um,
139before, okay, so the honors program, I'll tackle that one first. So, honors programs are a great opportunity for a student to become part of a smaller, um, cohort, often with really great opportunities presented to them, right? Whether that's um, you know, smaller seminar type courses, um, first pick at internships, networking events, often it comes with a scholarship, maybe honors housing. Um, at many schools, not all, at many schools, students don't need to apply to be part of the honors program. They're automatically considered for that simply based on the strength of their application. So, Yukon is a really great example. As long as a student applies by November 1st, they're automatically considered for the honors program. The same holds true at the University of Vermont. Um, there are a few caveats like Penn State has a
140really rigorous process to apply for their honors program. I've actually in 20 years never had a student get into the Penn State honors program. um and I've worked in four different high schools. It's really really um interesting and selective, but um you know, so the the interesting thing is we don't know in many institutions kids are automatically being considered for the honors program. So I can't always say how many were accepted, right? Because every student who applied was considered. Um so we don't really have a percent there anecdotally speaking because not a lot of our students report whether or not they opted to pursue an honors program. And it's an interesting question that we could definitely add to our senior exit survey information because the colleges when they give us the acceptance data, they often
141don't include that the student was admitted to an honors program. Um, but I will say like we've had a lot of students get into honors programs with a scholarship and still um turn it down if I'm being very honest for a college that was more selective to get into. So, I do still think that many of our students um or families prefer to get into the most competitive school that they can, not always, but sometimes. And we'll turn down some of their honors um program opportunities. That's not to say we haven't had students take advantage of it. We've had students go to the University of Vermont, which has awesome honors dorms. Um I've had students be part of the honors program at Nor Eastern, which is really competitive. Um you know, University of South Carolina
142has one of the best honors programs in the country. Alabama's got this really cool specialized honors program. So, I hope more of our students do take advantage of it if they're going to go to these large public universities, right? Um they could definitely look for those opportunities. I don't think as many of our students take advantage of them um as you might think. And then the other what was your first question again? Remind me about that one. >> Intended majors. >> Most popular major >> get my list out. >> Yeah. The most popular major is actually undecided um for incoming students and and that's like okay. A lot of our students do look at business programs um and many engineering programs as well. Um and then psychology. I think those are the three that we
143usually hear the most from our students when they are kind of on a direct path would be psychology, business and engineering. We don't hold kids to that because the same way the colleges report out that about 80% of students change their major once they're there. So I think um a lot of our students are you know we talked about the increased interest in macroeconomics and microeconomics and I think that aligns with the business focus. Our PLTW classes there's always students pursuing those for many times all four years that I think aligns with engineering. Um and we have a really high enrollment in AP psychology too. So, I think those things I think kids are pursuing those that's what they're being exposed to the most in high school. I don't know if Meredith or Megan have
144>> I think all I was going to say is even though like you said they didn't know they changed their mind a lot, we could still add that to the senior exit survey just to get some anecdotal information. >> Yeah. >> And then lastly, the question we talked about major honors program. Oh, and the tuition break program. So the tuition break program and for those people who don't know in New England the public university system there are um tuition agreements across the institutions and students from other states if their state schools don't offer a particular major and they enroll in that major at another state school they get a really significant break in the outofstate tuition rate. So, they end up paying something closer to like their instate tuition rate if they had stayed in
145Connecticut. Um, if you were to go on to there is the um like Connecticut tuition break, I mean the New England tuition break website, you could click and search. It's really interesting. You have to indicate the state that you are from and then it lists within the other states which majors you can pursue at specific schools in order to qualify for that tuition break. So students really have to know what they want to major in. And it often needs to be a major that we don't offer in the Connecticut State system. So I I I think a student pursued it at UMass Boston from the class of 2023. um and ended up paying about $19,000 was her tuition. Um but I don't know of any students off the top of my head from the class
146of 2025 who indicated that they pursued that. >> All right. Well, all feeds together, right? You you have your intended major, you look at, you know, honors at University of New Hampshire and save a bunch of money and everyone's happy. I think another cost-saving thing that a lot of families should think about too is that um and many people may know this and many people may not, but community college is free for Connecticut residents in the state of Connecticut as long as a student fills out the FAFSA, but they don't have to meet a certain um you know financial threshold to qualify. So, a student can go to community college for free here and then transfer to another school. There's actually legislation that they're trying to pass where, but it hasn't passed yet. Um, but
147if a student completes a full two years at a community college that they could segue into the Connecticut State system and do their last two years tuition free. Room and board wouldn't be free, but they're trying to get four-year free tuition if a student does a full two years and then their last two years in the Connecticut public system. So, there are, you know, opportunities within our state. And there's also a number of Sunni schools. So there's 64 state University of New York schools and many of them will match the Connecticut instate tuition rate if a student enrolls in one of their schools. So a student can pursue a degree in a New York State school and pay what they would pay to go to Yukon. Um Maine offers that as well and they stack
148that with merit scholarships. There are really a lot of great opportunities in the Northeast for our students to, you know, lower the cost of attendance for college. >> Great. Thank you. That's good messaging. >> That's great. Uh, any other questions, comments? >> I'll just quickly jump in. I have a son who is graduating 2026. So I just went through this process and it is a highly personalized uh journey which Randy Green as well as Ariel Luxburg really helped my son and my family navigate. So to Peter's point which I think talked a little bit about cost enrollment uh curriculum honors classes this is a highly personalized process and where you start for example your junior year where we start giving it some thought and where you end it is not a straight line and you
149can only get there with the help of Randy and the guidance counselors your parents and personal preference on the point of our of our kids, right? Our kids success, they're 17 years old, 18 years old. They don't know. They need guidance. So, my experience where it started junior year for my son, where we thought he was going to go and where he wound up doing early decision, uh I wouldn't say completely different, but uh definitely different. and he is quite happy and he is um he's put this behind him which is also good for our ch our students who do early decision because they can focus the rest of this semester on keeping up their grades and next semester on goofing off. >> I know we talk a lot about enrollment. I think one of
150the benefits of having a small high school, right, is that we do get to know our students so well. And um it's it's the benefit of being able to sit with families and have group meetings with the counselor and me and the parents on many occasions to try to get through this process and and really keep it student focused. So that's definitely one of the benefits of being in a small community like Weston >> and I think from your presentation the quality of the um the attention the knowledge base that you bring to it um is just exceptional. So, um, and that's come through loud and clear tonight. Uh, I think Western students are incredibly lucky to have all the support that you're offering and all your expertise. Um, I I'm going to two two
151seconds. I'm going to agree with that completely. I have a son who was the part of the class of 2025 and, um, his application process, the whole thing, you guys made it exceptionally manageable for him. Um, and he was one of those students that applied early decision and is absolutely thrilled. He found out in early December and uh he is as happy as a clam right now um at the school that he chose and and and I thank you guys for all that you did to help him with that process because it's not always the easiest. each student is very different and to David's point, it's a very unique um journey for each student and you really helped to point him in the right direction and um yeah, it's worked out really well for for
152our family. So, thank you for all your help. >> Um I have um one question um it's just a suggestion. I just wonder is there any way of following these kids into their freshman year and getting some feedback as to how they thought Weston High School prepared them? Um, anecdotally, I think we always hear, you know, it's been wonderful, but I just wonder, and I don't mean to pile on, but if there was a way of tracking some of the kids at least through their freshman year and getting some sort of feedback, you know, how'd you feel in your first math class or, you know, how was the reading load, that sort of thing. It would be great just to hear um, you know, just a sense of, um, what they thought their high school,
153you know, provided for them. >> Yeah. in school links. Um, when students graduate, they enter an area of school links called alumni. So, we do retain all of their information and we do like to cut we do actually get their personal emails upon graduation because we know their student emails go away. So, we do have the access to send out surveys to our graduates. Um, also something that we're going to be looking into, um, School Links also partners with the National Clearing House and so we were looking into possibly adding that feature to School Link so we can see how many students graduate in four to six years after graduating from Weston High School because we think that would be good data to have as well. >> Yes, thank you very much. Uh, any other
154questions, comments? >> Um, just quickly, uh, Deb, that was a good question. I had something similar and you stole it. But that was a great question. Um, really quickly. So, um, Meredith, when I was looking through the numbers, I was looking through what happened last year as well. It does seem like, which is interesting, prestige actually of the institution dropped in priority from 48% to 40, which I thought was interesting. So, that's material. And then total cost actually increased in priority from 29% to 36. So I think there's there's some of that coming through there given the huge expense of college. Um my one question is for you Randy. Um thanks for going over those, you know, those year-over-year because I noticed those as well. The 64% to 52% the acceptances when the denials were
155constant, etc., etc. Um, my one question is it looked like on a year-over-year basis there were there were fewer total different number of schools applied to. So, can you talk to to that a little bit because what I've heard again anecdotally is again it's not just west and surrounding towns, right? Where it's you have 40 kids from a from a class applying to Providence College and two or three are going to get in. So can you talk about sort of how you're guiding, you know, what the students are thinking, how you're guiding the students, and sort of are you encouraging them to look beyond the, you know, typical northeast schools, let's say, that everyone else is applying to. >> Yeah, I noticed that too, right? I think it went to like the the number of
156unique colleges was like 306 down from 340 or something. >> Yeah, it was 347 to 309, right? >> Okay. I was not accurate. I keep a lot up here, but not everything. But >> you're close. You're close. But yeah, I noticed that too and I was like, ah, how can we do better, right? Because the reality is our kids are submitting so many applications, but they're submitting them to the same schools, right? And so we're seeing a lot of overlap and um we definitely try, right? So um and you know, it's it's great. Megan has, you know, so when I worked at previous high schools, I went on a lot of college flyins and schools would fly me to see their campus, get to know their different campuses. And then after COVID that sort of
157like died down a little bit and more and more schools are starting to, you know, invite me to these programs to see their schools. Megan's been supportive of it. In January, I'm going to see Embry Riddle, right, which is an aeronautical college in Daytona Beach. Um, and so I think we really try, right, we try to explore unique options. We try to encourage families to read books, you know, like the colleges that change lives and the new dream school book that just came out by Jeff Celingo to really be thinking outside the box a little bit, international schools, whatever it is. Um, we also though, you know, we I have to appreciate that families are comfortable sometimes with what they know and what they've heard of and what um, you know, they hear um, what
158they see on social media a lot. So, I think we see those trends. um we will still try we build college lists for students in our um initial post-secondary planning meeting and we keep that list in their school links account. We tell kids not to delete schools from it um even if they haven't heard of those schools and so we really do try to encourage families to think outside the box a little bit. Um and we're still working on it. It doesn't always, you know, some people are more open than others and, you know, and then you'll get one, a student will finally consider a school that wasn't very popular. That student went, had a great experience and then before you know it, three years later, 50 kids are applying a year to that college,
159right? So, these things kind of um these things sort of happen. I think Jod Sketa could attest to how that works. Yeah. So, that kind of happens from year to year. Uh any other further questions? All right. Well, again, thanks for a tremendous presentation of tremendously good news. Uh we're all proud of uh the kids and um and the staff. You've been amazing. So, thank you. Okay. Um next on the agenda, the consent agenda. Um, I just want to before we uh I ask for a motion just want to recognize on the consent agenda uh the WHIS PTO um is providing several gifts including uh grade level materials for indoor resource recess sorry a playground stencil paint and painting supplies uh a digital concert piano and trolley and two interactive stem walls. Um, can't wait
160to see those. So, anyway, thank you to the WHIS PTO. Can I have a motion to approve the uh uh consent agenda? >> Move that the Weston Board of Education accept the consent agenda items as presented. >> Thank you, David. Is there a second? Thank you, Sharon. All in favor? I >> I. >> Any opposed? Any abstensions? Okay, thank you for that. Uh, we moving on to the policies. Um, I don't even want to count how many there are, but I know they're grouped for a reason. So, I appreciate that. And, uh, uh, Erica, did you want to take us through that? Or Sharon, I'm not sure who who's in charge of the kickoff. >> I I want to actually hop in here for a second. And I've had a little bit of a conversation
161with Erica about it. Um, for those uh for those of you uh Lisa and Michael on the policy committee, I apologize that I haven't had a chance to say anything to you about it. Um, but there are some policies that we're looking to sunset and I would like to actually hold off on sunsetting those policy nows the policies now. Um, let me explain briefly my thought process on that with further reflection based upon our um, discussion that we had at the policy meeting this month. It kind of occurred to me that um there's a possibility that those policies even though we saw them and we thought why are they on here? It's a little bit of common sense um that there could be a good good reason for them being policies even though they seem
162simply like common sense just like um just like a package of cigarettes says that they can cause cancer. There's a reason why they have to sometimes have a common sense warning on them and uh sometimes that's for the protection of the district. So my thought process is rather than sunset these, I think it might be within our best interest to do a little bit more research on these policies, why they exist, and to make sure that we're by eliminating these policies, we're not putting the district at risk. Um uh that, you know, when if if and when uh there would ever be a lawsuit, um investigators looking for policies and looking for loopholes might be able to utilize the fact that these policies aren't in there to work against us. So, I would like to
163do a little bit more research and and discussion in committee before we bring them to the board to um sunset them. So, that's my thought process. Michael, Lisa, if you guys have any thoughts you want to share or anything to say, let me know. >> All right. Um I I understand what you're saying, Sharon. I know I'm not on the committee. Um so so rather than take the action tonight um you're saying you want to come back and so that gives us all a chance all you know sort of a second read idea >> right that's fair >> those are for the ones yeah those are for the ones specifically that we were looking to sunset the others we can still discuss yeah >> okay yeah that's fine all right so we'll wait on that
164um thank you if there's any questions from other board members just for the policy committee to think about um you can uh add them now or perhaps email Sharon or and uh Erica. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> All right. So, that uh brings us to the second. No, wait a minute. The first one, required policies for adoptions. All right. Sorry, I got the order reversed. All right. Um this is discussion um and possible action. That's not a required action. It's it's for discussion. Um, uh, Sharon and or Erica, do you want to give us the background on these? >> They sure said required as in we don't have them now and we need to put them in. Is that it? >> Yes, that's correct. These would be new for Weston Public Schools and statutoily they
165are required policies. The first one is 4113.2 dutyfree lunch for teachers. And this policy basically ensures the district's in compliance with public act 22-80 which mandates that teachers and other certified staff receive a minimum of 30 minutes uninterrupted lunch period. Um 4212.42 drug and alcohol testing for school bus drivers is also a required policy that that currently Western public schools does not have. It ensures the district and its contracted transportation providers comply with federal and state laws governing school bus driver safety, drug and alcohol testing and emergency preparedness. And 5118.2 educational rights of military students. Um it ensures the district meets its obligation under interstate compact on educational opportunity for milit military children which aims to reduce barriers and disruptions experienced by students from military families who frequently relocate due to parental deployment or transfer.
166Um the district will be in compliance um with this um aligning with both federal and Connecticut state law CGS10-15F. So again, all three of these are required statutoily and Western public schools currently does not have these policies. >> Right. And are these model policies from um Cape or an attorney or Okay. >> All right. So, it's a good place to start. All right. Any questions, comments on any of the wording in the policy? Again, these don't exist. Uh, so this will be our this will be our starting ground for those. >> I I don't have any comments. I think they're very straightforward, but I uh I know Deb, you weren't part of our last meeting. I'm going to ask that we do not wave the second reading. I think it's a bad um process or
167procedure for us to get into. As dry as these are, and I don't think that they have any conflict whatsoever, at some point, when do when does those lines get blurred between something that's very dry and straightforward? So, I would simply ask that like last time around, we do not wave the second read. >> Okay. Um, David, I hear what you're saying and I might agree with you on on other policies that already exist. I'm just a little curious about these don't exist. We're adopting them. Um, so if the second read would help you, that's great. Um, you know, I can go either way, but I just want to point out these are not revisions of existing. These are uh mandatory and we don't have them yet. And not only they mandatory, but they're also
168basically um model policies that we've taken from uh our lawyers. So, I mean, of course, you know, if you're not comfortable voting for it, that totally makes sense. and and revisions are a little different too when you're taking an older policy and you're trying to update it, but this one is a pretty much cookie cutter straight from the lawyers. Um, so that's it on that one. >> All right. >> Yeah. And my concern is simply precedent and then at what point do we become the arbiters of what's important to community? Not I I don't have a problem with the three. I just it's I think we just should stick to what we've done in the past even if they're super dry and straightforward because then we become the arbiters of what's important to the community,
169what's not. >> Okay. Um again, I think we're doing we're not quite doing that, but that's all right. Are there any other comments? >> Um so I'll just jump in. Look, I agree with David. I mean, I think it it potentially opens up in the future, you know, it it it provides a lot of I think opportunity for for us to open the aperture to let in other policies in the first read sort of passing scenario. And so I' I'd love to keep it as two reads, Deb, if we could. Um, my one question just on the drugs and alcohol um policy and and maybe this is for Phil. Phil, I don't want to put you on the spot necessarily, but um isn't a lot I assume this language is in is in our contract
170um is in our transportation contract. Correct. Is that is there any language in there that of course allows us to or or at least um puts forth that the transportation company will actually do this drug testing and is is bound by this and will provide um those results to the uh you know to the district. Um I have to double check if there's specific language within the contract but in term as a matter of practice that is currently their practice where every drive and and I think also to receive your CDL that is a requirement. >> Okay. All right. Thanks. So >> I I have a quick question and I don't know um I guess who who are on the uh I know Nicole you are a lawyer so maybe you can help us out
171with this one although I'm not asking for legal advice. Um but with these policies that we're um proposing right now that are and I understand the first read second read I'm kind of more of a fan of two reads as well but with new policies that are mandated by the state are we at risk if we wave them for two months if we if we don't have a policy in place by for two months does that put us at risk as a district >> that is not something that I I know that I don't have the answer to that and I would probably consult board counsel to to >> um but I do agree with Deb that if the policy is required by law for a school district to adopt it's going to need to
172be adopted in some form or the other. But yes, the public might weigh in on this the contents or the language. So >> I don't know if two reads is detrimental, but I also understand the value. >> All right. Well, I um you know, I think policy, adopting policy is one of the most important things uh that the board of ed does. Um so if there is any doubt about um you know, not wanting to skip over the first read and go into the second without a second read, I understand that. Um you know, again, I I might think that a new policy is a little bit of a different animal, but I think it can wait until next month unless Erica, you know, of a deadline by which we're supposed to have this in
173place. Is there any requirement like we need it by December 1st or we just have to have it and there's kind of a open on the date? >> These are policies that should have been in place prior to um they're already delayed but um you know there's contractual language most likely in the bus contract statutoily. um you you can't get a CDL without the drug and alcohol clearing house requirements that guarantees um every CDL drivers are screened through a national database and currently our teachers contract has the 30 minute provision clause. So there are places where we are covered in the absence of these policies. Is it great practice? No. Can they can we wait and take them to a second read next month? Yes. If we have students who move in with, you know,
174um with parents in the military and we need to make some decisions, we can we can certainly tap the board if if that is the circumstance. >> Okay. All right. Well, why don't we cut this? Let's just move forward then and we will wait on these as well. Um you've already said uh Sharon, you're going to hold off on the sunset idea. >> Yeah. And um then the last policies and again we'll just assume that we'll um not wave the fir you know wave the second read but are there any uh questions or comments for the committee so they can bring it back again. This was on the equal treatment of there's a variety of of I don't have that agenda right now in front of me, but I believe that that was one of
175them. Correct. Equal treatment of recruiters or colleges and >> uniform uniform treatment of recruiters. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. >> Okay. All right. All right. >> And 3516.4 four, which was bloodborne pathogens exposure control, a review of the policy and a revision of the bylaw of the regulation, sorry. Um 2260 holds on the destruction of electronic information and paper records. I believe that was also just um a review. um policy and regulation systems 2231 and 2210 administrative leeway in the absence of board of education policy. >> Right. Okay. >> I quick quick quick question um for policy 2260. It just looks like the first sentence we took the title and put it in as a first sentence. So we may want to strike that. Um that's the holds on destruction of electronic information record. So a
176little pedantic but just want to tighten up that language in the first line. And then and then I had a general question. There were two other policies that we had covered and Sharon maybe you know this answer. There was the survey of students which was new and then there was the security of buildings and grounds and it didn't look like those were included here or or Erica maybe you're shaking your head. Why why weren't those included? Um, it was my understanding that the policy committee wanted me to work on those further discussion and bring them back to the committee before surfacing at the board meeting. >> Perfect. Okay, great. Thank you. Thanks, Erica. >> That makes sense. All right. Uh, any comments on the policies um recommended for review that Erica named? >> Yeah, I
177had a quick question on 2210 >> 2210 administrative leeway. Yes. >> Yes. So my question is and I understand uh basically the red line is the new the strikeouts the old. What is the rationale behind striking out the old because on the surface it would appear to me that that there's some level of accountability that comes with what's being struck out and there doesn't appear to be accountability in the revised version. So I'm looking for the spirit or the intent of the change. >> Yeah. So that was based on if a decision needed to be made by the superintendent in a in a timely manner, it would be made, but it but it wouldn't go to the board until the next potential board meeting, which would be like a month later. >> And I think
178the board probably would have would be just notified naturally through whatever decision was being made. If there was a an an immense decision like a school closure due to a pandemic that wouldn't sort of be at the disclosure of the superintendent in that moment. My assumption is there would be an emergency board meeting that would handle a decision like this that >> okay so the spirit is not to potentially be able to go back and and look at what happened and and change policy because I can see that's language is still in there. Is it more the timeline in which the expectation is that it would be reviewed? Yes. And the degree to which the you know a decision would be would be made um for decisions that are highly sensitive in nature andor huge
179impacting the overall large school community. My my guess would be that there would be a special or emergency meeting that the that we would convene with the board for decisions of that magnitude. >> All right. Thank you for clarifying that. Um, I have a question or a comment on policy 2270, a uniform treatment of recruiters. Um, I'm happy to bring this up with the subcommittee, but there's a revision that if a student or a parent objects to disclosure of their name and information to a recruiter, um, there's a strikeout that that request is doesn't need to be made in writing. And I have concerns about requests not being made in writing. And so I would move I would have all requests be in writing. >> I don't remember why we I don't recall why we
180struck the in writing. Erica, do you happen to remember or Michael Lisa, do you remember why we why that strike is there? I don't have my notes from the committee meeting in front of me, but >> if I remember correctly, isn't it that this question is asked during the demographics information that is sent out to parents that they have to review at the beginning of the school year. It's that whole questionnaire that you can't submit. So, it's not necessarily that it is a specific note in writing to the counseling department. It's something that they check yes or no to at the beginning of the school year. And of course, if anything were to change at a later point in time, the parent could at that point make a request, but in the beginning of the
181school year, it's on that demographics form. >> So that would still be writing. >> I guess it would be >> writing. So, so not having something be on a survey or email or anything would suggest oral. So it could be phone call, it could be inerson conversation. We don't know to who it would be. I think just it just gets a lot more murky. So I did notice that on in the first sentence where it says on an annual basis the school district will notify parents that suggests that there is some kind of written communication to the student body or the parents that they are having to respond to. So that would be in writing. I I'm just I would I would have hesitation to remove anything requiring something be in writing because I would
182suggest that an oral notification is sufficient which is not in line with clean communication and recordkeeping >> so that everybody's on the same page about what is going on with the student's information. So then by definition in like the survey that we sent I'm not the survey but the form that we sent out we sent out via power school where parents have to check the box or not check the box would constitute in writing >> I believe so because you I mean you'll get record of that back >> right >> without having to have a conversation. >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, we could we could certainly um it's coming back to the board for a second read. We can certainly get rid of that striketh through if if we determine that that is actually in fact
183in in writing. >> Maybe we say something along the lines of in writing or electronic communication because whether somebody if somebody sends an email then with a time stamp on it that would also be they would consider that to be in writing. objects in writing or via electronic communication that could also cover us in the instance of the school survey that we send out because that is an electronic communication. >> Okay, I could make that edit. >> Okay. Would that be good? What do you think, Nicole? Does that work for you? >> Yes. But I would I would also say the second striketh through if a parent then changes their mind after that survey, it should also again be communicated in writing because you just the parent needs to have the record, the school district
184needs to have the record. Like everyone who's looking at a student's information and disclosing it to somebody else needs to know on a system that the parent said their information can be disclosed. >> That's in there when the red it says or the parent makes a request in writing to the school counseling office to change. >> Oh, sorry. Sorry. I was sorry. I didn't see the in writing part. I was looking at the second strruct language which I saw in the in writing was struck. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Okay. Any other um questions? >> All right. U feedback everyone. >> All right. Well, thanks for the discussion and thanks for the work in the policy committee. You guys are are doing a lot of um a lot of work. So, thank you for
185that. Uh district updates. Superintendent I don't have a report this evening. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh pupil personnel. >> Hi everybody. I have two quick updates for you tonight. Um first, we are very pleased to report that we had a record number, at least in my tenure, of responses for the ELC lottery this year. Um equating to a total of 55 completed applications. Of those, 35 families applied for the fours program and 30 families applied for the threes program. And we also had a pretty even split between boys and girls. Um, for those of you who have done a preschool lottery, that is also unusual and beneficial to our process. Um, based on this high level of interest, we are planning for five preschool classrooms for the 2627 school year. We have four in the
186current school year. Um, our lottery is being held tomorrow, November 18th, and we are notifying families of their status the week of December 1st. And then separate update, I believe I also mentioned in a previous meeting that I've received some feedback from the special education PTO liaison that families would like the parent meetings this year to focus on individual schools rather than being um designed for district-wide presentations. Um, so our first parent meeting of the year is scheduled for December 2nd at 9:00 a.m. in the South House cafeteria at Hurlbut. Uh, Hurlbut is the first school that we will be focused on this year and the topic for the presentation is understanding special education services at Hess. Um, additional information will be coming this week from the PTO liaison and I'll be sending a district-wide
187communication as well. Um, we will make a recording of the presentation available for people who cannot attend in person and I look forward to seeing families there. And that's it for tonight. Thank you, Tracy. Um, and that's good news all around. Um, it's amazing that parents plan that far ahead and um, and thank you for being responsive about the PTO meetings. Uh, the next update, finance and operations. Um, no update. We did not meet. >> Okay. U, moving on to committee updates. Um, I know Lisa, you sent something out from K. Do you have anything to add? Okay. You're you're on mute, but you're nodding no. So, I'm assuming that's no. >> There are no, there are lots of workshops going on that >> board members can sign up for. Um, as well as new
188board member workshops. November 20th is um a a large um networking workshop. Um and that's it. >> All right. Thank you. Uh CES, I'm not sure. David, is that you? >> That's me. Nothing noteworthy to report on. >> All right. Curriculum committee. >> That's me. And I am actually going to ask Tina. Tina is not with us this evening. >> Okay. So, I'll just simply say it w we there was a lot to digest and we talked about MTSS and I got schooled on MTSS which is multi-h hold on a minute multi-ter system of support. I think I got that right. Right. Erica, >> you got it right. >> Okay. Uh it was fascinating because it's yet another program that the district has in place to sort of make sure our students are successful in
189multiple ways. The social emotional piece, the academic piece, the the sills, kind of all these other programs. And what was fascinating to me was we seem to run multiple types of programs concurrently to really make sure our students are successful. And at the end of the presentation, uh, Tina got me where she always has to get me, which is she said, "This is what we need from the board of ed and the community and it supported these programs and continued funding in the budget." So, it goes to show that Tina uh understands uh our role and and how we can lobby to make sure that these programs are successful. So we talked about MTSS and um it it was it just again it not sure who said it small district very individualized uh learning and
190attention and this was a prime example of that. >> Okay thank you. Uh EOC >> we did not meet but Deb uh very uh artfully described the next uh six months for us with a hard deadline in June. So, we all look forward to that. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. I think um where are we? You'll see. Finance and operations. >> Well, Steve's not here, but we did. We didn't meet. >> Okay. Okay. >> Uh policy committee. >> Okay. We met. >> You did? I know that. That you've got lots of evidence there. >> We had a lot of work and we're gonna keep meeting. So, there we have it. You guys read what we did in our policy meeting. So, yeah, we met. We're good. >> All right. Good to go. Uh, safety
191and security. Um, Michael, >> we did we did not meet, but we are picking that back up in December. >> Okay. Thank you. And the Western Education Foundation is somebody who's the liazison. >> It's me. I am. >> Okay. >> We had a circus on Saturday. It was the cutest thing. It was really kind of geared towards the WIS crowd. uh hurlbut and whisk crowd and they had the Westchester circus come in and perform at the high school and there was like an interactive portion of it before and after and it was really super cute and um yeah they were they were raising some funds for some of their wonderful programs and projects that they support um in the district and uh I couldn't have been happier to have been there and seen all the
192kids running around. They had oh high school kids volunteered. Various groups and organizations in the high school volunteered to help sell popcorn and cotton candy and do tattoos and face painting and games with the kids and they just loved it. So it was really nice again just like during the parade to see the older kids come out and help the younger kids and um it was just it was a really nice community afternoon. So that's it. >> All right. Yeah. Great. Thanks for that report. Um all right. Uh Jod's put down the uh the next uh scheduled meeting for the board of ed. Uh you heard my um request at the beginning of the meeting to start adding meetings to address the facilities issues. So I will um p uh Jod and I will try
193to coordinate uh dates with Erica and then get that out to you. And I realize it's an added burden and more work and you were not necessarily anticipating that. So, I understand that not everybody will be able to make every meeting. So, please do not feel overly guilty, but do the best you can so that we can have a quorum at each of our meetings. Um, okay. Adjournment. Do I have a motion? >> Move. >> Come on, David. >> I was going to cue. >> I think everybody would want to do this. >> Yeah. Well, normally Lisa takes that one, but I will quickly say move that the Wetsson Board of Education adjourn the November 17th, 2025 meeting. >> Is there a second? >> I second it. >> All right. All in favor? >> I.
194>> Anybody opposed? No. All right. Thank you everyone, especially the staff for your patience and your late hours. So, we will see you soon. Thank you. >> Thanks everyone. >> Good night. And I