001five6. We have a quorum. Uh Chad will not be here. Is he >> there? There he is. He's a thermos bottle. What is that? >> Oh, okay. Well, good evening. It's Monday, September 15, uh, 2025. Uh, this is a regular meeting of the Weston uh, Board of Education. Uh, the first uh, item on the agenda is a verification of a quorum, which we have. Um, and the second is our pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty, justice for all. So I remember when I was a elementary school student uh that I would come back to school and generally it would be my English teacher who would ask me or ask the class to write a paper on what did I do this summer. Uh you may not
002have noticed but it's been a few years since I've been in elementary school. Um, so I decided I would write a paper on what did Weston schools do this summer. So we started the summer off with graduation and it was a beautiful afternoon. It was a uh beautiful ceremony and one of the great aspects of being a member of the board of education uh is the opportunity to attend high school graduation um and to present diplomas. Um and it's something that I've enjoyed immensely. And one of the other great things is it gave Sharon Ferraro the opportunity to hand her son his diploma who was a graduating senior. Lisa Barbierro retired after a 40-year career um as a educator in the Weston community. She started as a Spanish teacher. She became an assistant principal, a
003principal um and she was our superintendent. and Lisa's contributions to Weston's children uh is invaluable and will continue because there are let's see K through 12 still yet to graduate who uh who Lisa who Lisa impacted and she will be remembered in the yearly recognition uh under her name. We approved our new superintendent after an extensive search process, Erica Forte. This is her first day. A few facts about Erica. First, she wasn't looking for a new position. Rather, her educational mentor, the former revered superintendent of the new Kanan school system, encouraged her to apply. And I personally like to thank him for his encouragement. Erica has a 30-year career in education beginning as a teacher in New Haven uh as an assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at the East Haven schools and she was
004East Haven's superintendent for the past eight years. Welcome to Weston. And we have two new principles, Jen Deika and Jason Bluestone. In reverse order, Jason has returned to Weston. He was the assistant principal at WIS before joining Fairfield Schools for 13 years at Burr Elementary. It's great to have Jason back in Weston to lead our middle school. [Applause] Jen joins our community as the principal of Wis. Jen joins from the Derenne school system where she was the interim principal at Henley Elementary. Welcome. But I have to tell both of you, I don't envy either of you. You have very big shoes to fill from Patty Fowler and Dan Do. And I know and we all know you'll do it well. Before moving to the rest of the summer, I'd like to thank Debbie Lowe and
005Tina Hankle for their contributions during the interim period between Lisa's retirement and Erica joining our schools. Deb and Tina kept the wheels on the bus and everything moving forward. Thank you, Tina. And thank you, Deb. But like a television commercial, there's more. Western High School was recognized as the third best high school in Connecticut by US News and Rural Report. And Megan, that's a tremendous accomplishment. [Applause] Our students are recognized for their excellent test scores by the state. Western schools ranked third for grades 3 to 8 in math and reading and third for grades 5, eight, and 11 in science. And this is a cong congratulations to the students, to our teachers and administrators, and to the parents. And to finish the summer, WHIS was recognized as one of four blue ribbon schools in Connecticut.
006And WHIS has been a school of distinction for the past three years. [Applause] end to start the school year. Western's football team on Friday evening won their opening game 48-27. >> All right, [Applause] what are we going to do next, guys? No, thank you. Thanks everybody. It's tremendous the accomplishments that we've had over the last year and over the years. And I can't tell you how happy we all are, Erica, that you've joined us. um to lead us into the next phase of our success. Thank you very much. So, uh item number three, uh we have two new student board of education representatives. It'd be terrific if you introduce yourself and tell us what's going on. >> Perfect. Um so, my name is Alice Sullivan. I am one of the executive co-presidents of student government.
007And my name is Jackson Doyle. I'm the executive secretary of student government. >> Um we have two other members of our executive board. Izzy Granowed, who's my other co-president, and then Lexi Banks, who is our executive treasurer. >> And firstly, we would just like like to welcome Erica Fory. And we're very excited to work with you. Um so starting with things that have been um really exciting and things that have went well at the beginning of this school year. We had our first Trojan kickoff which was two weeks ago um where we had our national anthem. We welcomed new staff members, took our W photo for this year, um and had some other fun activities. Um something else that happened last week was we had a guest speaker come for an assembly. His name was
008Dinard Mitchell and he talked about student success and kids around the school said it was one of the best speakers we've ever had. So, we'd like to say thank you to the PTO for funding part of that. >> And looking forward, we would just like to appreciate the TVs and the schedules that we see throughout the school and it's really helped with everyone getting where they need to go and seeing any upcoming events in the future. This is oops, sorry. This has been especially helpful um with the new phone policy. Since we don't have our phones to check our schedule between periods, um I think it's like 10 TVs we have around the halls. We can check towards a TV. It'll have events for the day as well as what period it is, what the
009next periods are, and what the schedule looks like for the rest of the day. Um we also have in the senior lounge some new furniture. So, that's going along well >> and we're looking forward to many upcoming pep rallies in the future and we're going to try using disposable digital cameras to take photos and savor every moment of this year in the future. >> Um, that idea came from since we don't have phones anymore, obviously we can't post it on social media. So, now we're going to have these digital and disposable cameras and like rent them out to students. They can take photos. We'll print them and then we'll have them on our student government board um for everybody to look at. >> And another thing we're looking to add is King of the Court,
010which would be a boys volleyball game, which we would love to bring back to Weston High School and just elevate the school spirit even further. >> This is still in addition to our Powderpuff game, which is our girls football game, which is coming up on October 17th. and we're open to any questions about the phone policy or anything in general. >> Uh some of the things the students have been saying about the phone policy, um one of the big ones is even though obviously kids aren't going to be happy when their phones are taken away, um I think me and all of my friends and um my fellow peers think that it's been great for socialization in the school. you see at like lunchtime and take 10 and in passing periods you see kids talking
011to each other whereas usually kids will like revert to their phone right away when a conversation slows down or there's no one to talk to instead of reaching out to somebody who's near you. Um, another thing we've seen is during free periods as seniors, um, since we have more free periods, we see this a lot more. Um, is that during our freeze, kids aren't just on their phones or leaving the school. We see a lot more kids staying in the school and getting work done instead. Um, because, you know, if you don't have your phone, you might as well do some work. That's all. If you have any questions. >> Thanks. Any questions? How are the parents dealing with their kids not having phones? >> Um, I don't think it's been a big change. I
012think initially there was some concern about kids not having their phones on them in case of an emergency, but since we have them in our backpacks, it doesn't seem to be too much of an issue. >> That's great. Well, thank you. >> Welcome and we'll see you next month. >> Thank you. The next item on the agenda number four is an approval of the minutes. Uh we have four the the minutes of June 16, 2025. Are there any changes to those? move that the Western Board of Education approve minutes from the June 16, 2025, June 18th, 2025, June 25th, 2025, and July 25th, 2025 meetings. >> Just before we do that, are there any changes to uh the minutes for the 18th, the 25th, or July 25th that anyone sees? >> I have a second.
013>> Second. All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> Um, next item, uh, number five is public comment. And as you know, we read a disclaimer, uh, before that, uh, in every meeting. The board welcomes the opportunity to hear from members of the public about matters concerning Weston Public Schools. Public comment is an important chance for the board to receive input and feedback from our school community. We listen attentively to all comments shared. While we value and play play pay close attention to public comment, it is our practice not to respond substantively or sometimes sometimes at all during public comment. There are several reasons for this. First, engaging in discussion on non-aggenda items uh could violate the board's obligations to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. Second, the board or the administration may not
014be prepared to discuss certain matters raised in the first instance by a public comment. Third, the board develops its meeting agendas carefully to ensure the board addresses matters that are pressing or relevant at the time of the meeting. We encourage members of the public with specific questions, concerns, or complaints about our schools to reach out directly to Superintendent Forte. You may also email the board at our email address board of education westnps.org and there are additional details on public comments at board meetings can be found on our website u as well as the bylaws for the board on the meeting conduct. Are there any does anyone from the public wish to address the board? if you would mind stating your name and your address and you'll have five minutes to speak. >> Thank you, Jody.
015>> Good evening. My name is Stephanie Fineold and I live at three Pink Cloud Lane. I'm speaking tonight on behalf of Mothers in Blue, a group of eight Jewish Weston moms that formed last year in response to the swastikas that began to appear with regularity in our district. We are dedicated to working collaboratively with our schools to address anti-semitism and all forms of hate. The discovery of another swastika on just the second day of school this year, whether from this year or last, is a painful reminder of why this work remains so urgent. By the end of last year, we felt real progress had been made. district-wide recognition of Jewish American Heritage Month, a commitment to bring the ADL's No Place for Hate program to the middle school, and substantive work in committees focused on
016curriculum and accountability. Over the summer, Mothers in Blue had the privilege to meet with our new superintendent, Dr. Erica Forte, whose first day is today, so a special welcome to you, as well as Jason Bluestein, the new middle school principal, and Tracy Edwards, director of pupil services. We are grateful for their openness, their commitment, and their engagement with Mothers in Blue as a resource. Already this year, I've personally seen No Place for Hate come alive at the middle school. Students are lining up to get involved. This week is pledge week. The student committee is leading the team meetings. They are running a connect lesson that they designed and inviting every student to write their personal pledge inside a WMS pledge shield or heart to be displayed prominently on the No Place for Hate bulletin board.
017Watching the kids take ownership of this work has been nothing short of inspiring. From creating game shows to spark conversation to designing bins labeled trash, recycle or compost where peers will sort words and actions based on whether they align with the pledge and WMS's values has been a demonstration of their creativity and our shared sense of purpose. We want to thank Principal Jason Bluestein for making this program a priority, for creating space for students and teachers to volunteer and lead, and for ensuring it is not just the box to check, but a meaningful and lasting initiative. Looking ahead, along with the five asks that we have already shared with the district, we are eager for the following updates on the anonymous reporting system explored last year. Continued work from the curriculum review committee. Communication around
018the clarified code of conduct and a potential DEIB website as discussed by the accountability committee. expanded social emotional programming, increased recognition in meaningful educational celebrations of diversity throughout the district and professional development opportunities for our teachers. And with the success we are seeing at the middle school, we are also hopeful that no place for hate can be expanded to WIS. We believe that these are all essential steps toward building a culture where hate is not is not just ignored, but it is addressed headon and where every student feels safe, respected, and embraced. In closing, we want to acknowledge the momentum that we're seeing and thank our administrators for setting the tone and our teachers for supporting our kids and doing the work every day. We appreciate you and we look forward to continuing our partnership
019to create lasting change in Weston. I believe that we all share the same hope that one day soon, alongside the banners that say Soore, leader in standardized test scores, school of distinction, and blue ribbon school, we will proudly hang our no place for hate school banner. Thank you. >> Thank you. Other uh comments from the public? Thanks. Let's move on to old business. Tina, are you who's old business? The first is the Western Board of Education policies, regulations, and bylaws. It's a second read. Who wants to take the lead on this? So, these are um three policies that we talked about at length at the end of last year. It feels like a while ago. Um if it's helpful, I can review kind of big picture what they are. Do people want a quick review?
020>> Okay, great. >> Yeah. H. >> Uh, so can I have a motion to approve uh old business number one? >> Tiny voice. >> Yeah, in a tight. Yeah, >> that's the uh visitors and Okay. move that the Western Board of Education approve the revision of 1250 visitors and observations. >> There a second. >> I'll second. >> All those in favor? I >> I >> uh number two is the 1600 school safe school security and safety. Has everyone read this or >> second read. >> Everybody good? Okay. I have a motion to uh approve. >> Move that the Western Board of Education approve 1600 school security and safety >> and a second. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. And the third is 5131.6 Six, drug and alcohol use by students. >>
021Move that the Weston Board of Education approve the revision of 5131.6 drug and alcohol use by students. >> And is there a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Um and all business uh B is culminating goals for the 2425 school year. It's uh the part three of our ongoing discussion. Tina, are you? >> Yes. Okay, >> that is me. Thank you. >> On here or >> it is on the screen. Yep. >> So, this evening, as um board chair as he's mentioned, this is part three of our gift that keeps on giving, which is our district improvement plan. Um this is our final report regarding our culminating district goals relative to our standardized assessment scores, uh which were not available when we did part two. So this evening we are
022focusing on our standardized assessments for grades 3 through 8 as well as grade 11 which is our SAT data. So we'll go through that for math, ELA and science. And then we will also have just a brief overview of some of the key areas that we want to focus on for this coming school year. Although we will be providing a full presentation around our district improvement plan in October. And then finally, um, as board chair already kind of celebrated a little bit, we will take a moment to re-recognize some of the great work that's happening in Weston, um, as a result of last year's achievement. So, as a review, we have a culminating um, achievement list of goals that we have in our at our district improvement plan as well as um, areas of growth.
023We focus on a variety of measures when we're looking at our school and district improvement plans. We use both our universal screening assessments as a review just to remind people that um may be tuning in today um as well as our standardized assessment scores. So for the purpose of this evening, we are only focusing on the two goals that are specific to Smarter Balanced as well as um SAT. So, um we're going to start with math and really excited to see that um this past school year we met our district target across all grades. That's grades 3 through 8 on Smarter Balanced. We improved overall from last school year. Last school year we ended the year at a 78% across all grades and this year we ended at 81%. Um we've exceeded our target on
024SAT achievement this uh this year as well. We improved by 10% from last school year. You can see we were at 62% on SAT and math and now we're at 72%. Um I will say that as I dug a little deeper into these goals because at face value they're they are a composite of a variety of grade levels especially in Smarter Balanced. Um since 23 uh 2023 we've improved um about 5% on Smarter Balanced at our district level across all grades. We started out at 76% in 2023 and now we've ended at 81% uh over the last two years. So uh kudos to all of our uh leaders, our teachers, our students for staying the course and being diligent when it comes to identifying goals and and looking at how to unpack curriculum and seeing
025how that relates to some of our um assessments over time. SAT um we've held uh held our own actually with SAT and math. In 2023, we're at 71%. If you recall last year, as I as I mentioned, we dipped um a little bit and now we're back on top and we've exceeded um that goal. So, really excited for some of the work that we've done around courses at the high school level as well as updating our curriculum. um for this past school year. We always dig a little deeper and provide some transparency around individual grade performance and how that relates to our area districts. Um what I do on this uh on this slide is I also do highlight in bold the grade levels and the districts that are at the highest performance level just
026as a reference point. Um on average uh you can see that we are about seven points away from the highest score in all grades. Um we we improved based on last year in five out of the six grades from last year. And in math a couple of the grade levels, grade five and grade um eight where we um dipped a little bit from last school year. Those are some areas that we've been doing some curriculum revision and implementation. And so sometimes that does happen. You'll see an ELA as well. When we're implementing new curriculum, there's um a new flow and a new system and routine that that teachers sometimes need to uh some time to adjust. Um but even still in those grades, we are performing at a very high level. Um I want to
027also just highlight one specific grade level um on this slide, which is grade six. Um, if you recall, grade six is probably the grade that has the longest trajectory with using our new curriculum, which is illustrative math. They had illustrative math in grade 6 even before I got here. And um, they went from 58% uh, 3 years ago to 71% to 81% this past school year. So, um, there is something to be said about consistency and diligence and really staying the course. And I just wanted to highlight grades grade grade six because they've done a a tremendous amount of work and and job when it comes to curriculum revision and really focusing on the implementation of a problem based curriculum in the area of mathematics. So this past school year, as you may know, we
028are implementing illustrative math in grades um grade five was the first year last year, but so this will be their second year. We're implementing um in grades 1, three, and four as well. So, um, we're really excited for some of the progress that we're going to see over the trajectory of the next couple years. Just want to also remind everyone too that, um, this data is all available on Edsite. It's for public consumption. So, if anyone wants to dive a little deeper and look at some trend data over the years, um, it is on, uh, publiced.ct.gov. Next, we're going to transition to ELA. Again, our district goals are set up the same way for ELA um as well as math. And um we met our district target across all grades on Smarter Balanced as well.
029Uh we were at 80% last year and we've grown 3% over the year uh from the last data point from last school year and that was our target this year. Um really excited for that because as you'll see when it comes to implementing new curriculum sometimes there's a dip in some of our achievement and we were able to maintain across um all grade levels um some achievement in specific grade levels especially in middle school. You'll see in a minute and um grades three, four, and five last year was their first year of implementing a new literacy program. And so we're really going to be unpacking some of those units again this school year and focusing on um instructional practices and supporting teachers to ensure that um our curriculum is being implemented with fidelity um on
030SAT uh as well. We've we've been performing at a very high level on SATs for the last couple years that I've been here. We've been able to maintain that high achievement level at 91%. In fact, we were at 91.5 last year. I probably should have rounded that up to 92, but we were at 91.5 and we were at 91.4 this year. Um, and so it's really hard to um, you know, recognize that when you're at that high performance level, you know, really making sure that we maintain that and try to focus on um, a slight improvement. I've always said two to three uh, percent is a statistical significance in a year. And so we're going to look at that again this coming school year. Um, and you know, when I looked at um the individual
031scores and grade levels across the district, again, we've highlighted those schools and those grade levels that are at the highest level. Um, on average, we're about six points away from the highest performing area districts in all grades. We've improved um on four of the six grades overall. And as I mentioned, um, two of the grade levels that went down slightly from last school year were those two grade were grades three and five. And those are the areas that we're going to be focusing on and zooming in a little bit with the new curriculum there. Also want to give a quick shout out to our middle school grades six, seven, and eight. Um, the comparison from last year to this year in grade six, they improved 17 points from last year in grade six, six points
032in grade seven, and five points in grade eight. Um, so they've been doing a lot of great work to infuse some of those vocabulary and reading and writing skills across the content areas and really working collaboratively in um the other content areas as well like science that you'll see in a moment. We're really trying to show the relevance of content area literacy across all areas and that elevates everyone not just in the literacy area but also in all the other content areas too that you'll see in a in a moment. And last the last domain that we always focus on is science. Um we this will be the first time that we report out to you on science because science we wait for the next generation the nextgen science uh assessment which only is provided
033once a year. Um we do not have um a formative assessment that we use throughout the year like we do for ELA and math. So this is a quick snapshot for grade 5, 8, and 11. The other um difficulty with science is that science is only administered in three grades over the course of uh the time frame from when they're kindergarten all the way to um uh senior year. And so there is no growth targets because they only take it fifth grade, 8th grade, and 11th grade. So these are all achievement goals. So when we look at this metric, we look at the average percentage of students that meet that benchark that benchmark at the end of that grade level. So we average fifth, 8th and 11th together. Last year on average 84% of our
034students u met the endofear grade level proficiency and this year 85% of students in those grade levels met proficiency. So, um, even though we were slightly off on what our target was this past school year, I will say since 2022, we have steadily improved our achievement across the district, starting at 80% and moving all the way up 80 80% 83% 84% and now we're at 85%. So, we're headed in the right direction. And we know that our science assessment is really grounded in a lot of literacy practices. there's a lot of reading, there's a lot of vocabulary, um, and they have to, um, toggle between different screens and different navigation of that assessment. And so, um, there's a lot of virtual, um, virtual simulations in the science, uh, assessment as well. So there's a lot
035going on in the science area that um we really try to lean on that content literacy and work collaboratively across the content areas so that some of what they're learning in ELA transfers over into science as well so they can use those strategies when it comes to any content area test that they're taking. Um we always also identify a subgroup uh or a subgroup data point or a subgroup goal. This one I think we need to have a further discussion around um because from a public uh presentation standpoint. If you have a a small sample size under 20, it's suppressed data and it cannot be uh presented publicly so that it protects the confidentiality of the students in that group. And um for the last couple years, although we had a uh students with disabilities
036group uh a goal for this group, it is suppressed on the public site. And so we cannot present that here today. So even though we had a goal, we need to revisit what this looks like. Um so that's why I can't present that subgroup um data point for you today. What what might be something we have a discussion around is whether or not we are um our subgroup goal is focused on our high needs population. So, the state of Connecticut um groups high needs uh population of students which includes free and reduced lunch um MLL or ELLL students, multilingual learners as well as students with disabilities. In this case, if we focus on high needs a high needs population, we do have data in grade 8 specifically. Um and if I I put that on
037the screen just because that is public information. uh 48% of our students um in the high needs population um met their proficiency target at the end of the year uh for grade eight. So that is something that we can review and consider when we're looking at our district improvement plan on whether or not we want to revise the way that we present our subgroup data um and subgroup goals. Um and so if we unpack this a little bit further, the last slide here around our our science assessment scores, you can see that remember I mentioned before um a data point that is bolded is in the highest at the highest level across our area district. Uh Weston is in the highest performance uh for grade five and grade 8, which is very exciting. And we've
038maintained that status over the last couple years since I have been here. Um and um you can see that even uh for grade 11 on the NGSS we are um right there only five points away from the highest uh performing uh district as well. So uh next uh presentation in October where we um work with our principles and we've started this work already with our our school leaders to kind of look at what our goals and focus areas are for this coming school year. We're going to present that full district plan in October. Um, but just thinking ahead, um, you can see and maybe you heard some of our action steps this past school year. We want to continue supporting our teachers with curriculum implementation. We we still are in the middle of transitioning math
039and literacy curriculum across the district in various grades. That is going to um be a focus of ours this school year. We also want to make sure that we are looking at our co-eing models this coming school year. you know, how do we help ensure that the structures and the schedules when special education teachers and general education teachers are co-eing together in classrooms um how do we help support that process to elevate some of the work and some of the student achievement in the classrooms? We also are going to be focusing on um our restorative practices work which relates to social emotional learning and the culture and climate goals in our district. Um, and as always, that includes our partnership with our parents and our communication around strategies and how best to support our kids
040when we when they leave the classroom and they go home. So, we started a lot of um opportunities last year where we did parent trainings and we had parents come in and talk about what it looks like and sounds like and feels like in the classroom at every grade level, especially in literacy and mathematics. And we want to continue some of that work this coming school year. And so, um, we're very reflective in Weston and we are always looking for ways to improve, as you know, and we're always asking questions. We're looking for feedback and we never never settle for anything less than our best. And so, I just wanted to take a moment and put it on the slide. We've I've also linked some of these articles in the slide if anyone wants to
041dive a little deeper into some of the press releases that recently came out celebrating all the great work that's happening in Weston. And we have a lot to celebrate. Um and as Steve mentioned in the beginning um Weston um district the district of Weston is number three in the state as based on our our performance in ELA math and science based on NGSS and Smarter Balanced across the district. Weston High School was just um named uh and ranked the number three high school in the state of Connecticut. And last, we want to honor and celebrate Weston Intermediate School again uh for earning uh the Connecticut Blue Ribbon School Award. So, um it's a lot of hard work. It's a lot of courageous work to name these goals and publicly share these goals and really monitor
042these goals. And um it's because of their hard work and dedication and commitment to um providing the best education and and knowing that we can always get we can always do better. um and that's where we're at. So, we're really excited for the great work ahead and we want to just honor and celebrate all the great work that's happening out in the district. So, um kudos to everyone. >> Questions? >> Yes, sir. >> Uh on the uh science test scores, >> we saw that the 11th graders did quite well. And it occurred to me, is there something in the 9th, 10th, and 11th grade curriculum in science that uh is sort of different than our peer schools? Is there something that and there like more honors biology kids or something? Is there like a differentiator
043that those three grades sort of experienced earlier that maybe as seniors at at the other districts don't don't see until they're seniors like >> Yeah. >> biology or something? Usually the um the trajectory for 9th and 10th grade is biology and chemistry, right? Um and what the design of the test is really not specific to content. It's about practice. The practices on what it means to be a scientist. So um even still, that's what I mentioned before a lot of the science assessment is focused on literacy, uh vocabulary, and problem solving. And so a lot of the work that we do when we when we design curriculum and we expose students to similar simulations when it comes to that test is really a scenario and then how do you apply what you've learned and understand
044when it comes to being a scientist to attack that problem. So we are our course trajectory is no different than our neighboring districts when it comes to biology, chemistry, honors offerings as well as physics um and environmental science. Um, so I hope I answered that question. Okay. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Mhm. >> I I have just one question. So, >> um, first off, uh, great work. Um, amazing results. So, first, you know, first and foremost to you, teachers, principles, etc. >> Um, but you know, I can't help myself, Tina. So, I know >> one question. One question. Um, in the spirit of good, better, best, >> um, there is one district here who seems to be outperforming considerably relative to others on what is this? >> Newan >> 10 out of 14 grades amongst
045both ELA and and math. >> Have is there anything to glean from that? So I I guess my my question is partly sort of along the same vein as as Peter's, which is >> is there anything in the curriculum there that they're doing any differently than let's say we are? Um are there any lessons? I don't know if you've delved into what they're doing or or your counterpart there like had discussions but is there anything to glean from what they're doing and sort of how we may you know again they're different ne you know the populations aren't necessarily exactly the same but anything to glean that any best practices that we can take here and applied that they're doing there. Yeah, it's a great question. Um, given that these scores just recently were released at
046the end of August, um, we do have, um, assistant superintendent groups that meet and talk regularly, um, but we haven't followed up since these were released. Um, I would say that on the literacy and the math area, you know, again, we've talked about this a lot, right? curriculum decisions and making sure that the equ the high equity the high quality resources that we provide meet the students that are in front of us. Um so we take that very seriously when we're looking and researching for different resources. We involve our teachers through district committees when we make those decisions. Um I think there's always an opportunity to have dialogue and discussion. I will say that a lot of times when it comes to ELA and math, the partner that we we we tend to lean towards
047more is Wilton. Um I think it's because of the size of the district and the um demographics a little bit. It's more comparative. Um and that doesn't preclude us from having more dialogue from New Kanan. Um but I don't have an explicit example of what they're doing that out, you know, outperforms or why the rationale is what they're what they're doing. Great. But I will be asking for sure. >> Mhm. [Laughter] >> For sure. >> I have one quick question. It's about SATs. Actually, it's two questions. Are SATs becoming I remember last time we spoke about this. Colleges seem to make SATs optional. and is a feeling that they're coming back to being more >> Yeah, typically in November we do a full report um on SATs and we'll do that again. Um I would
048say and Megan can chime in here too just from my own personal experience um many of them are still test optional. Um and depending on your score, they will determine whether or not they think it will help your candidacy or your application to get in or not. Um I will say that since we have now transitioned the group of students that were in COVID that was two years ago and so now that has completed the SAT. Um you know I think there's a level of um commitment to taking the test that the 11th graders are now starting to see the purpose of why they should be taking it more seriously than maybe in some of the years past. and um you know they also get to take the assessment multiple times. So this is remember
049this is only the snapshot on that one day and that's always the struggle with reporting some of the data points because you can supererscore an SAT now you know right you can take it multiple times and then you can put your ELA and math scores the highest ones together depending on how many times you've taken them. Um so sometimes with that O November report um we also provide some of that data as well which typically sometimes goes up. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Hey actually Tina I'm going to jump in. Can you all hear me from >> Yes, we can. >> Chad. >> Hi Chad. >> Hi. Sorry I came in in person folks. Uh Tina, I wanted to say two things. First is a compliment and the second is a followup question. So
050first a compliment. I don't know how many other seasons one could celebrate as much of what's happening in Western Connecticut, but I certainly hope you all and all the teachers are taking this moment to really kind of bask in this because goodness gracious is this some impressive stuff all at once. And you certainly get plenty of flack and and you know push back in the challenging times. So, I hope you all are taking this to heart and really celebrating all the amazing stuff that's happening at West. And I thought Steve did a great job of summing that up in the kind of State of the Union first three minutes of this meeting, but I don't think it can be said enough. So, I'm not not there to follow up on that necessarily, but anyway, that's
051the first thought. Second is, and let's just talk about strength here. Do you have any gut instinct of like what are the efforts that we really should double down and triple down on? And by that I mean and you can also punt this question until a future month but you're doing so many things new curriculum in math and the reading summer curriculum academy the sills do you have any sense of what are the programs that we really have gotten right to an extent and we should therefore double down on and are some of the fuel of what's driving this and then I'll go on mute so you don't hear my background noise but I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. Well, I'm a strong proponent of having a strong curriculum and helping teachers implement
052that curriculum the way it's designed. And so our CILs, you you part of the curriculum subcommittee, uh, Chad, so you probably see it more firsthand than others. And there's no substitute for a highquality curriculum and there's no substitute for embedded professional development on on an ongoing basis. And I've repeated myself multiple times since I've been here. Our CILs do a tremendous job supporting teachers when it comes to taking what's written on a piece of paper and making it come to life in the classroom, differentiating different strategies up and down for all students in the classroom. And it's the work of our CILs that is really helping that come to life. I highlighted a couple grades in ELA and in math that are having a lot of success. And the combination between our curriculum that you've
053all been supporting over the last couple years through the summer curriculum academy in combination with the CIL position is what I believe is really elevating the grade levels. And I think the more we can continue to support that work and be consistent in the practices of that work, we will we I know we can improve in some of these areas for sure. >> Thank you. Okay. Uh the next item on the agenda um is the uh annual report. Julie, do you order? >> Sure. Thank you. Um, so I just want to note that this is uh a new item as of July 1st, just this past July 1st, we now have a statutory requirement to report out on our community partnerships, um, our workforce development programs and our annual attrition data. And that report must
054take place between June 1st and September 30th. So here we are. Uh so the report that you have attached to tonight's agenda was submitted in fulfillment of that requirement and going forward we expect that we will report out in future September meetings. The first component of the report notes community partnerships for which there are formal contracts and that is why the only partnership that's reflected there is the one that we have with the Weston Police Department for our mile of safety enforcement. that is a formal partnership uh with a memorandum of understanding. But I do want to take the opportunity to note that we enjoy many informal partnerships with community organizations um in and beyond Weston. And just to highlight a few of them uh we work very closely with Weston youth services, the senior
055center, Lashot Town Farm, Weston Library, Weston Pharmacy, and the historical society. So while we do not have formal contracts with those partners, I think it is important to highlight them and others this evening. The second component of the report includes um organizations and partners who help to support our students in achieving career readiness um through their work in building uh job performance skills and training, work experiences and through Western High School's senior internship program. And there is a listing of those partners provided for you. Over 100 partners um most significant most significantly supporting the senior internship program that takes place in the final weeks of Weston High School students careers. The final piece of the report is the uh 2425 attrition data. So this um report shows that there were 36 separations um from the
056period July 1st 2024 to June 30th 2025 which represents an overall 9.4% attrition rate. You can see that the data has been disagregated by position and also by school uh with totals within the non-certified and certified group. I don't know if you've had a chance to review it. If you have any questions, I'm happy to take them. >> In terms of excuse me, in terms of staffing, are we >> good on that? >> You're Are you moving us on to the next agenda item, Steve? >> I'm sorry. >> No, no, it's fine. Um, actually, we're we are um very well staffed at this moment. We have a few uh notable vacancies uh which I will mention right now. We are still looking for a certified French teacher. If anyone has any connections there, we'd be
057most grateful. Uh as well as a para educator in our early learning center and an accounting manager in the uh finance department. Uh but no, for the most part we are very well staffed. Um and it has been a very busy summer uh getting to that point. And we have a motion for the >> motion on the We have a motion on the uh on the uh annual report. >> David >> move that the Western Board of Education approve the annual report as presented. >> A second. All those in favor? I opposed. Um is there any more comments on staffing? That's the next item. >> Uh I just want to note really briefly so you can see the consent agenda is rather lengthy. Um, but there are uh two people that I would like to
058highlight because they are listed as retirements. David Powell, who is a longtime pareducator at Weston High School, retired August 1st uh after 24 years uh working for the Weston public school. So, I did want to publicly thank David for his service since we did not have the opportunity to do that this past spring. as well. Um Monica Rogers, who has been the accounting manager, um and who is a Weston resident, has announced her retirement effective this coming October 1st after 14 years working for the public schools. So again, just want to acknowledge the longtime service of those people. >> Questions. Uh can we have let's uh let's go down the the the uh the balance of the uh the actions. >> Actually I do have a quick question just >> sure >> clarification transfers versus
059change of assignment. >> So a transfer would just be a location change within the same uh assignment group. So a pareducator moving from one school to another school for example where a change in assignment would be a change in in their role. Okay, >> Steve, do you want to do the uh consent consent >> uh why don't we just go down the balance of the uh uh >> of the possible actions and we'll just do them all at one time. Uh the second is approval of a donation to Weston High School from the Weston Gun Club. >> Is there not someone who's going to show us what that is, Megan? The mascot outfit. I mean, >> the Weston Gun Oh boy. The Weston Gun Club has generously donated um to afford us a brand new
060Weston Trojans's mascot. So, we are very excited um to uh get that donation from them. Our current Trojan costume um definitely needs an upgrade. So, we are excited to have our new mascot hopefully in time for homecoming and we'll do a great unveiling. >> Fantastic. Uh the second is an acceptance of a donation to Weston High School from the Weston uh high school PTO. Yes, that was for we um had an assembly the other day and the uh Weston High School PTO generously uh donated half of the expenses for that assembly that the students uh spoke about in their introduction. So, it was very wellreceived and we're very grateful to the Weston High School PTO for their generous support as always. >> Questions on that? And then just lastly, uh, approval of an overnight field
061trip to Smuggler's Notch for the ski team. >> Yes. Um, per policy, um, the board of education approves any overnight uh, activities, field trips um, for um, extracurricular activities. This is a long-standing trip that the ski team participates in. We have 30 to 40 students attending uh with uh four high school coaches as well as 10 additional chaperones. Um the bus leaves on Friday, December 12th and we will return on Sunday, December 14th. So >> questions. So David, can I have a motion to approve uh the various items? >> Move that the Western Board of Education accept the consent agenda items as presented. Is >> there a second? All those in favor? >> I Erica, I think you'll find that the Weston PTO's uh across the board are extremely active and very generous to the
062community and this is just two of many you'll see during the school year. It's really great. Uh we're moving on to district updates. First one is from the superintendent. got anything to say in your first day? >> I do. >> There you go. >> Um, first, how incredibly fortunate and honored I feel to be part of >> Thank you. Um, first, how incredibly fortunate and honored I feel to be part of this exceptional community. I mean, what was celebrated tonight here and honored at at this table um is a true testament to the collective efforts of all stakeholders across the community. And to be a part of that is um an honor and I feel really really fortunate. And then I'd also like to just begin by expressing my gratitude to the board, to the
063cabinet, and to the overall Weston school community, the PTO's, the mothers in blue, our building administrators, um, for the very warm and supportive um, welcome that I've received since I've been here. Today marked a fantastic first day uh with a variety of activity activities including getting into preschool classrooms and elementary classrooms um checking out some dis dismissals um and I'm really energized by the enthusiasm and the commitment that I witnessed um throughout the schools. Um I'm really excited for the days and the weeks and the years ahead um spending more time in classrooms connecting with students, staff and families. um these early opportunities are really instrumental to listen and learn to help shape my understanding about the district um the strengths and the ways we can continue to grow together um and have more celebrations
064like we did here tonight. So, thank you. >> Terrific. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Uh pupil personnel Tracy. Good evening everybody. Um I have a few updates from the PPS department as we begin the 2526 school year. Uh first and foremost, thank you to the assistant directors Allison, Amy, and Matt. Um and our teachers, related service providers, PAR educators, bus drivers, and the facilities team who all supported our extended school year program at Hurlbut this summer. Um, their hard work ensured that students at all levels had the opportunity to access a meaningful program designed to review and reinforce skills. Um, and also helped to facilitate a smooth transition to the new school year for many of our students. Um, we began the school year, as you know, with professional learning sessions. And on August
06522nd, I was lucky enough to spend the day with our district-wide mental health team. We reviewed our school climate and restorative practices policies, discussed our procedures for crisis situations, um, and also continued our discussion regarding resources for staff and families. Our special education teacher spent the day learning about a new assessment that we'll be using for academic achievement testing. and our speech and language pathologists focused on using assessment data, classroom performance, and other measures to develop um and support social pragmatic skills for our students. Another priority for the PPS department and honestly the district uh this year will be to look at our social emotional learning programming districtwide to identify areas of strength, areas of growth and any potential redundancies that need to be addressed at the building or district level. Um the principles have
066made recommendations for staff who should be engaged in this work. So we're working to get our first meeting on the calendar for that. And then finally, we're fortunate to have four new PTO liaison um starting this year. So I look forward to my collaboration with them and hearing their feedback um especially with regard to topics for parent meetings in the upcoming school year. So stay tuned for information about those. And that's it. >> Terrific. Questions for Tracy? Phil? Good evening everyone. Good evening Michael. Um just a few updates. Um starting with fiscal 24. Uh for fiscal year ending 24. Um we do have some unlquidated incumbrances of approximately $235,000. Um those funds will be returned to the town typically to what we have done with um these funds. non-lapsion account. You might recall that last
067year, fiscal 24, we established a formal uh non-lapsion account. Um the gross number after all the adjustments was $327,000. Uh we spent $116,000. Um we mentioned we had to purchase a generator at the whis. They're not making things the way they used to make things and things tend to break more frequently than in the past. Um, we've purchased some cameras for the senior center and we also added a security gate at the high school. Um, so we have a balance in the nonlapsson account of two approximately $212,000 which will remain in the nonlapsson account. Um, fiscal year 25 um after a year that was somewhat volatile, we um we settled things down a little bit and we ended the year in a good note. Um, you may recall that we initially anticipated having a surplus
068when everything was all settled. We we will be ending the year um with a I'm sorry with a deficit prior. We're ending the year with a surplus uh 0.39% or approximately $234,000. We do have uh continuing incumbrances of $731,000 which we do plan on liquidating over the next uh up over over the um upcoming months. Um we have outlined for you guys all of the various changes um throughout the year. Um don't want to necessarily rehash all the anything here. Um I think we've spoken about most of those um in previous meetings. So if there pause here and see if there's any questions. >> Just one question. Um and and I missed the meeting the other day so I would have asked it there. I apologize. >> Okay. >> Um just on the electricity um
069the driver of the cost of course was delivery. There's not much we can do about that really. I think we're stuck with that. Um any any sort of insight there as to sort of the outlook there? Where are delivery costs trending sort of any any insights you can give on that? You'll be happy to know that Peter Peter asks the same question at the meeting. So I think you guys are all thinking alike which is great. Um so as it relates to distribution to distribution charges those rates are set by PURA. Um as of right now we have no indication as to whether or not those rates will be higher um in the upcoming years. The good news is that we did we recognize these additional costs early early enough. So we were able to
070make those adjustments for budget year uh 26. Um so as of right now I think we're in a good state. We continue to work on all the various energy savings initiative that we can implement. Um we mentioned at the meeting on Friday that we are looking into doing some um some LED lighting. We're going to kind of focus in a little bit more on the energy audit that was completed back in Ferbert to see if there's any items that can be addressed. But as we mentioned in the meeting, right, any of these energy efficiency that may come up will come may come at a significant cost. So we have to balance the need of energy efficiency and also um the financial prudence that we need to exercise. >> I almost let you go out without
071a question. Can you just clarify when you say return to the town? >> Yes. >> Are we actually returning it to the town or is it going into the non-lapsing account that the money stays sort of in the schools? >> The actually returning to the town. >> The 200 you return to the town. We kept 300. >> Okay. So on the fiscal 24 that's actually been returned. Um I think we had a kind of semiformal agreement where um agreed to the board of finance that we would keep fiscal 24 in the non-labsion account and all for all future years we will we will return if there's a surplus those funds to the town and as I always like to remind we do not plan our budget to have a surplus um it all depends on
072how things are going throughout the course of the year. Yeah. And it's helpful when you list out where some of the air quote savings were. >> We obviously plan to have to be fully staffed. >> Of course, >> and that's I think one of the areas that the town some people don't entirely understand that if we are not fully staffed, there is a savings, but if we had to choose between the savings and being fully staffed, we would clearly choose being fully staffed. >> Absolutely. I I think as Julie mentioned in her constant agenda and I think Tracy mentioned that as well, we're in a good place this year. Um I think this is the first year starting out the year that we're in a strong position, but things are going well and we hope
073that it it will continue. But I do want to note uh and we'll get into it in the uh finance and operations committee meeting uh when Mike Delastro made his presentation on um on all the work that his his group did over over the summer. We're starting to experience the impact of higher tariffs um and and uh lengthened uh time to get uh equipment. So some of it, you know, we'll see, you know, what that impact is, you know, in the current fiscal year. >> Yeah. Um over over the summer, I think if not all of our projects, um capital projects, they came in higher, some came in significantly more than others. Some were just about fine. But I think what we're experiencing even more so than the additional cost is the extended lead time.
074So we know coming out of CO that the lead time was extended and we had hoped that that would have set it down. It would be back more to a normal kind of lead time maybe like a 3 to four weeks. Um and so for equipment for example with the generator um the generator we were set to receive that maybe a month. We were hoping that to receive that at install over the summer break and that was not the case. Um so we continue to really grapple and to to deal with those things. tariffs of course and also definitely the extended lead time. >> Yeah. And that's just not controllable. So, other questions? David, can we have a motion to approve Phil's reports? >> Move that the Wesson Board of Education approve the June 2025
075financial update as presented. >> Okay. >> All those in favor? I opposed. Let's move on to committee updates. The first one is Cab Lisa. >> So, next week is Understand webinar understanding changes state funding and experts will state project overview of changes made state education funding session I'll be summary during the next session also 20th and 21st going. >> Thanks. >> Um CES, >> not much to report there. We had our first meeting um and we nothing no just getting started. >> Okay. Curriculum. >> Curriculum's always good things happening in curriculum. So I'm going to take a stab at it. Let me know if I've missed anything. Uh so we had our first meeting last week and we talked about we were introduced to our new curriculum instructional leaders ourselves. Two of them. You're going
076to ask me their names too. a K uh K12 >> Art Sarah >> you work with them every day. I got to meet them and the other one. Yep. No, you're right. >> Hang on. I have a cheat sheet right here. Let me pull up the uh >> sweating sweating. >> Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Uh Sarah Sarah Webb and James Brun. Okay. So, we met our new Sills. We um talked about summer curriculum academy uh which is for the teachers and we went through our panorama survey and we laughed and we had a good time. >> Just a quick update about the panorama survey. Do you want to give a a change for this school year? what what we've decided for this coming school year for our climate surveys for parents, staff, and
077students that this year because we're going to be working on some of the action planning around in response to the data from that we collected from this past school year. We're going to only administer in the spring. That way, it gives us some time and our principles some time and our staff some time to implement some of those action steps before we ask for another survey. Yeah, we talked a little bit about survey fatigue and it kind of works both ways, right? In the folks that we ask to provide the data and the folks that we ask to look at the data. >> So that's curriculum. See how happy curriculum committee is. >> And kudos and kudos to Tina and the teachers. More teachers participated in the summer session than ever before. >> Peter D.
078>> Yeah. Good evening. I'm going to ask you to indulge me. I have a letter here. Uh, one is um, these are my thoughts. These are not a product of the EOC. We did not meet this summer. Uh, two, I really thought that the sort of what I did over the summer letter is applicable. So, I wrote a what I did over the summer letter. Three, uh, I really like that Tracy talked about do you remember June? because one of my aims here is to reestablish what we talked about with respect to the facilities in June. Four is to sort of put some stakes in the ground moving forward. Um five, it's slightly because these are my thoughts again. They're not the EOC thoughts. And uh two more things. One is I remember I wore
079my Stay Positive T-shirt tonight. And two, I want to uh quote Oscar Wild. I thought it was John Lennon, but I think it's Oscar Wild, which is everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end. So, keeping that in mind, uh, I'll read my what I did over the summer and I pre-appize to the building. Don't take it personally because it's about you. So, uh, here I go. And here's my stack of work I did. The e the EOC did not meet over the summer. However, I took the initiative and continued to examine a reimagined, revamped, and reconfigured Western public school campus given the troubling conclusions of the Kier slam assessment of the middle school this past spring. As you may recall, they warned that the middle school is
080extremely problematic. It is not a matter of if. It is a matter of when the building will no longer be able to sustain or be capable of safely delivering valued education. It is inevitable. It will not. What to do given this realization requires immediate highly prioritized consideration. a portend a glimpse of the future and Phil talked about this a little bit during our our our facilities discussion on Friday was seen by a series of unexpected system failures during routine campus building maintenance and repair work over the summer. Not major stuff but enough to on the aggregate to be worrisome. The middle school poses a single point of failure risk to the age of the building and its plant. It is fully conceivable that six to eight grade students will be displaced with little or no
081warning. Such educational delivery disruption would wholly undermine all the recently gained accolades and hard-earned stellar reputation of the district. Given this predictable dire situation, I've concluded we need to remove the source of the uncertainty, which is the aged out middle school and its stat. Taking no action, the status quo, the seemingly preferred path by many, or simply renovating to keep the lights on are untenable. The lights or equivalent will eventually go off. All roads will lead back to new construction. Hence, the middle school must be demolished sooner than later to avoid certain catastrophe, requiring smart investments to maintain a proven middle school team model that can produce top test scores as we saw tonight and prepare eighth graders for the rigors of high school. One that actuates documented modern educational spaces and supports best practices.
082And again, these are my thoughts. These aren't the product of the EOC. One evolving plan I conceptualized this summer is a campus without a middle school. It envisions flexible and expanded resources for our youngest learners as well as supporting new 21st century curriculum for high schoolers. Delivering overall state-of-the-art education that can adapt to changing instructional needs from prek to 12, including sped, as well as providing a response to fluctuating enrollment over decades. In essence, with campuswide construction expansion upgrades to accommodate all students, including those that were previously housed in this old building, Western public schools becomes proactively futurep proofed. The n the nason plan I conceptualized over the planner is to optimize camp campus real estate, enhancing value per square foot, enhance curriculum and real world training, significantly uh reorganize parking, provide energy resilience, hence
083lowering operational costs, which was the question both Mike and I asked, and further the goal of campuswide security, safety, and provide limited but appropriate accessibility by the public. So, as we uh heard tonight, the school year is off to a wonderful start and the uh power of learning is renewed, but uh we need a serious discussion on the associated revitalization of the campus to proceed through the committee process. Thank you for your time. >> Peter, one quick comment. I love what you just said because you took my idea of a school within a school and it sounds like you're starting to realize it. So I appreciate that. >> I appreciate the appreciation all the inputs I've gotten and we will uh proceed through the uh community process uh and the community right the committee process
084to really evaluate all these things we have been thinking about. >> I just think it's important uh and uh this board should be commended for actually addressing this. You know, there's that often used term kicking the can down the road. Well, there's a point where you have to stop doing that. Um, and this board has taken the initiative to stop it. Now, we don't know what the ultimate decision is going to be because that is the town's uh not ours. Um, and there'll be more to talk about. But, um, we have to, you know, we have to make a decision. Um, and and we have to move forward. Um, and I'm sure there's going to be a lot more to talk about over the next uh, you know, over the over the next months, but
085we do know that June is a gating issue when you're talking about schools um, in terms of going for reimbursements from the state. So, there's going to be a lot of work done between now and next June. Thanks for that. Uh, the next is the negotiations committee. Um, >> Steve, real quick. Um, before you jump, I just want to give a quick >> Oh, I'm sorry. Finance and operations. I'm sorry I was reading over that. >> That's okay. Um, but I just wanted to say a big thank you to our custodian staff, maintaining staff, um, and all our grounds grounds. As you can tell, there's a lot of work that went on over the summer just to get the school ready. Um, so I just want to tell them a big thank you. Thank you.
086Thank you. Thank you. Um so >> yeah I'm sorry Mike uh Mike outlined at our meeting last week last Friday all the work that was done you know across the campus and it was a long discussion um you know it was a it was a real long discussion you know you can see it from simple things like painting the central office when you go in there the walls are repainted to putting stripes on the parking lot and you know and everything everything in between It was quite a uh it was quite a busy summer. I'd also uh on behalf of the board um and on behalf of all the schools like to thank David. Um I think we all know they have an we have an issue with T-Mobile and the cell tower and getting
087good reception. Uh and David has donated to the schools um a device which I'm not going to repeat the name for fear that it may be misinterpreted. Uh but uh it's what is it David? >> So for those who are technical like Dan and I, they're called FEM 2 cells, but it's a cell spot. It's a little device that plugs into power in the internet and it creates a cell phone signal. And I checked with now that it's been approved to be donated, I checked with T-Mobile today and they're hoping to have it out the door by the end of the week. >> Great. No, thank you, David. Thank you for doing that. >> Is it at a certain bandwidth like a gigger? Is it at >> Oh, man. I just can't help myself. >>
088Uh the negotiations committee. Um so uh we have negotiated uh with the WA the uh administrators union and with the WTA the teachers union. Um we have a tenative agreement subject to ratification by uh by both groups. Um, and I would personally like to uh say thank you to the committee which was Julie and Phil uh Lisa and David um Mike Kimber joined from the board of finance uh and Jessica uh Richmond Smith our attorney um led the negotiations and I think uh when we hopefully we'll be talking about it in the next meeting Julie Um, I think everyone uh I think everyone came out of it uh with a smile on their face, albeit one lasted a very short period of time and then one lasted till 1:00 in the morning. But that's fine.
089No, it was good. It was really good. Um policy. >> So, we didn't meet in September primarily because we were waiting for Erica to join us and we had these two uh second read or three second reads to come through. three, four. Um, so we uh we held off until October >> safety and security. >> Um, our our first meeting is tomorrow at 8:30 and I know we'll we'll go over the um just an overview of uh safety and security here, the progress that's been made. Um I think Stephanie um from the public mentioned um wanting info on the anonymous reporting system. We'll be talking about that as well. So feel free to tune in tomorrow 8:30. Thanks >> WF. >> So they had their first meeting last week and they are in the process
090right now of uh focusing on fundraising. It looks as if they're going to do something fun, especially for our younger learners. Um they are planning on bringing an interactive circus to town for the kids. So there will actually be a circus performance and then kids will be able to interact with their performers and do some of the tricks, some of the easier tricks, etc. It's going to be a lovely fundraiser and um again we thank W for being as generous as they are to the schools. So if you guys uh even if you don't have littles, if you want to just come see them kind of do their little thing, it's going to be fun. >> When will it be? Do you know? >> October I want to say October 25th. Let me have a
091quick peek. They just Tina, did they say anything to you? >> Yes. >> Yeah, I believe is October 25th. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Um, unless there's anything else, uh, our next uh scheduled meeting is uh October 20th. Uh, to be at 7 o'clock and it'll be by Zoom. Uh, may I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. A second. >> All those in favor? >> I There we go. >> Record time. >> Thank Thank you for coming. >> Thank you for a wonderful first meeting. >> That was great.