Weston Board of Education Meeting

001Don't click on Wait a minute. Let me go back to what it was that I wanted to tell you not to do. Um, when you join the meeting, click on uh quick me uh meeting quick view instead of view meeting details because if you're in meeting quick view, I won't move your screen around as I'm doing some things. And we're live. Great. Okay, good. Uh, good evening everyone. Uh it's May 19th, 2025. It's 7:03 in the evening. Uh this is a uh Western Connecticut Board of Education uh regular meeting. Um we have uh a quorum. Uh the first item on the agenda is 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

002justice for all. Okay, I think this this may be the uh this may be the last uh student board of education representative comments. I think our next meeting is after graduation. Who would like to start? I think so. Um I can start. Um so yeah, last one. It's gone by so fast, but we're so glad you guys have had us. Um anyways, just to uh just some updates. Um seniors just had their last day of school as you guys were saying before. Um, and we started our internships today. Um, some of us marked our last week of school with AP exams. Um, others it was just a great day to celebrate the last four days of high school. We did like a senior sign off. We had a senior spirit week and people wore white

003t-shirts and signed signed each other's shirts. It was kind of like a little call back to middle school. I don't know. Um and then on Friday night we had our junior and senior prom which was held at the Amber Room. Um it was a beautiful venue and everyone had a great time. Um and that was it for last week. Yeah. And then for seniors starting today we all began our like around 3 week long internships and it's only been one day but it's been a great experience so far. And then kind of upcoming for seniors, we still have our senior stroll, graduation, and then a class trip to Six Flags on deck. So, we're all really excited for that. And then last night, um the senior student government held a senior sunset, which was something

004new, but it had great turnout and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. Um, and then sort of switching gears, um, over the last two weeks of school, so like the seniors is kind of last two weeks, um, juniors and seniors that, um, take AP classes took their exams and we can't necessarily say that we enjoyed taking them, but it's definitely nice to be done with exams and just kind of on internship. Um, and yeah. Um, and then on that note, final exams are coming up for uh, juniors, sophomores, freshman. So classes will begin to prepare for those and obviously people will be studying hopefully. Um and then the PTO is selling uh like finals care packages um which have like snacks, pencils and just like a nice little thing that um to help

005boost morale during final exam week. And then company has been working on their spotlight show which is a series of different songs, skits, and acts. Um, and this show will be on Friday, May 23rd at 700 p.m. Um, and then in sports, we're starting to see the end of the regular season as we lead into the postseason. Track SWC's happened today and Weston was the host. Um, we had amazing turnout and all of our athletes did very well. Yeah. And then sort of in other general school news, like starting this Friday, May 23rd, um the high school is going to be introducing cell phone free Fridays. And we think this is going to be a great way to sort of get students to disconnect from their devices um in the hallways and just connect with

006each other instead. Um and so that's kind of all the updates that we had today, but before we go, we just wanted to say um like thank you to the board so much for having us at all your meetings this year. for taking time out of your schedule, which obviously is very packed, to listen to our updates. It's been um both such a pleasure and a privilege um to be the executive board liaison for you guys this year, and we just want to say thank you again so much for having us. Well, the thanks are ours. It's um first of all, let me enjoy fant you did a fantastic job this u this past academic year and we're really looking forward to seeing you all in about a month um at graduation. But we really

007appreciate your comments. It gives us it gives us a a feel of what's going on at the student level and um you know it's it's a you know it's just been a real privilege to have you here you know for the past nine months and we really wish you well going forward. Thank you guys so much. Thank you. Thanks guys and good luck in both Michigan and Syracuse. They're lucky to have you guys. Thank you. Now, who who actually who interviews your the the next folks that will take your seats? Do you put them through some sort of like interview process? Like, how do we know we're going to get as quality candidates? Um, we don't think anybody as good as us, honestly. Yeah. Well, it's not we're not gonna we'll just end it here.

008It doesn't get any better than this. Yeah. They're going to they'll the whole school does a vote and it's the people that run for our positions are people who have been on student government for um a couple years at least. So yeah, they'll be experienced obviously like Jay said, not as good as us, but I mean they'll be qualified good enough qualified as us. But like they will be qualified and definitely a good job. I I assume that you were volunte. Okay. So you're you're you're elected like us. Yes. Yes. Elections are coming up too. Yes, they are. So, this will be Yeah, this will be good. Fabulous. Exciting. Thank you so much for having us. Thank you. Thank you, girls. Best of luck. Thank you. Uh, excuse me. The next item on the agenda,

009that's really fantastic, by the way. Um, uh, the next item on the agenda is approval of the minutes from the April 21st, 2025 Weston Board of Education executive session. Um, are there any changes? And if go ahead, I actually do read them. Whatever. Jud, judge me later. Um, I was absent and present, so I think there might be a typo. I know you all missed me, but for the meeting minutes unless I'm I'm blanking out the 6:30 p.m. April 21st, it makes mention of me being absent and then it makes mention of me being I think present if you look at Okay, I'll go back and check what Sharon sent to me, but did you come late by any chance to the meeting? Maybe. But I believe I was on a plane. So I think

010I was not Oh, maybe you were there and then you you left. Was that it? Was that the meeting that I remembered? Yes. All right. Yeah, we'll we'll figure out. Okay. You don't have if you don't want to then you don't have to approve these minutes and then we can figure this out when you when you started and when you left the meeting and then we can do this at the next session or you can abain. Yep. Yeah. I'm I'm happy abstaining. I just Okay. Or if you don't want to approve the minutes and you want Sharon and I to figure it out, that's fine. I'll just take it you missed me so much that I was here and always David always. Okay. I can take Yeah. Can I have a motion to approve? Okay.

011Um, go ahead, Lisa. Oh, okay. I'll move that the Weston Board of Education approve the minutes from the April 21st executive session. I second. I second. Uh, all those in favor? I I opposed. Abstain me. David. Uh the next item in the agenda is to approve the April 21st, uh Western Board of Education meeting, our regular meeting. Uh I move that the Western Board of Education approve the April 21st, 2025 U meeting minutes. Yeah. Is there a second? I'll second. All those in favor? I I opposed abstain. Me. Great. Thank you. Let's move on to public comment. Um as everyone knows uh we read a uh comment before uh we hear from the public. Um and I'll just let you know that uh it's going to be a little bit longer than what we generally

012uh what we generally read. The board welcomes the opportunity to hear from members of the public about matters concerning Western public schools. Public comment is an important chance for the board to receive input and feedback from our school community. We listen attentively to all comments shared while we value and pay close attention to public comment. Is our practice is our practice you move the screen Jod. Um, it is our practice to not respond substantively or sometimes not at all during public comment. There are there are several reasons for this. First, engaging in a discussion on non-aggenda items 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 public comment. Third, the board

013develops its 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, concerns, or complaints about our schools to reach out directly to acting superintendent low. You may also email the board at our email address, board of education westernps.org. Additional comments on public comment at board meetings can be found on our website. Uh meeting conduct but meeting conduct bylaws of the board 9325 um which you'll find uh on boardbook.org. Um and just an extension of this. So, the board's received a number of messages um over the last week regarding uh the reduction um in our uh in our staff. Uh uh acting superintendent low has responded uh to many if not all of you today. We'll

014be discussing the rationale uh later in the board meeting. And with that being said, uh, I need to read the dis this disclaimer. For those of you who may want to speak about reductions in teaching staff, please be aware that the board of education bylaw 9325 and consistent with the First Amendment, no employee should be spoken about by name or reference, either positively or negatively. Please adjust your comments accordingly and be aware that we reserve the right to ask you to stop if they violate this policy. With that, uh, Jody, if you'd like to open up, uh, the line for public comment. Sure. Um, if you'd like to speak for public comment, what I would like you to do is at the bottom of your screen, please click the raise hand button and that way

015I will know who is interested in speaking. Um I am going to announce your name. I am going to allow you to talk and when I do that um I would also appreciate it if you would um show your show your uh video camera and you will have five minutes to speak and I will let you know when your five minutes is done. The first person that I see is Judith Meadows. Judith, I'm going to allow you to talk and please turn on your camera for us. I just need to figure out how to turn my camera on for you when I'm It should be if you're on a computer, it should be at the very bottom of your screen. You should see something that says audio and then video. Uh I think the way

016you have it set up, I don't have a video option. Um Okay. Just hold on just one moment. We were trying a different way to bring somebody in. So, instead of doing this, I'm going to go back to the old way way and promote you to a panelist. Hold on. We'll see if that'll work. It's okay. Okay. Did that work? Do you see the button now? I do, but my coloring is terrible there. All right. Maybe my photo better. Okay. So, hi. I'm Judy Meadows. Sorry, my camera looks terrible. Um, I live at 226 Weston Road. Um, and I have two children that are in the high school, Ethan and James. Um, I'm actually joining as public comment, um, representing Mothers in Blue, which is a group of eight of us mothers. And I actually

017wanted to use this time to make sure it was well documented how appreciative we've been in terms of the meaningful conversations we've had with board of ed members um, and school administrators. Um we I know have spoken at public comment um over the past two months. Um and I really want to tell you from um we are impressed with the thoughtfulness um of the leaders of our schools. Um there's been a number of really um amazing things that have happened over the past month that I wanted to um make sure were well documented. Um first um the district has recognized um Jewish American Heritage Month which is the month of May and we look forward to that recognition but also moving forward in years going forward um that having a space to expand. Um we

018also want to recognize um the middle school leadership um uh Mr. Joke um who is um really shephering bringing the No Place for Hate program to the Western Middle School. And I know that there is a training on Thursday afternoon involving um faculty, administrators, students, and parents. And I believe there's even some WIS um attendees um that will hopefully allow expansion of this program not just to the middle school next year, but to WHIS in the in the year after. Um, I've also um wanted to make sure that um we commend um Superintendent Low in all of the work she's done, which has been really amazing since she's taken the position in establishing the committees um of accountability um culture and heritage curriculum and social emotional learning. Um and um we uh want to let

019you know how much we are here to support you in any way that we can possibly do um in that really important work. And I want to just make sure that I thank each of you um and particularly those um who work on curriculum, Dr. Hankle um and um David Felton who's a board member um for your thoughtfulness in approaching um and evaluating the curriculum in our schools. Um it is a testament to the good work that everybody does here. And so wanted to start off public comment with a compliment um and a big big thank you from the community. Great. Thank you, Judith. Thank you, Judith. I'm going to move you back to an attendee now. Thank you. Mhm. All right, Hillary Cole, you're the next person that has their hand raised. I'm going

020to promote you to a panelist now. And when I do, please turn your camera on and state your full name and your street address. Hello everybody. Hello light. My name is Hillilary Cole or Hillary Colladin. I live at 25 White Birch Road. I have two children, one in Wis and one in Herbut. I'm going to read a statement. And I want to thank everyone for their service. I understand very deeply and intimately how much time and effort you've putting into these not just these meetings but all the deliberations that you've done. Okay, here it goes. I am here to implore the administration and the board to continue the employment of one of our best fifth grade teachers. I can only infer his firing was based on three mistaken beliefs. That our schools are underenrolled, that

021there should be budget cuts this year, and that we can't create mechanisms to reward excellence. I am not alone in this fight. I posted to moms of Weston 48 hours ago and right now have over 70 comments from mothers who are as distraught about this as I am. I don't know if they could all sacrifice the time to be here tonight, but know that my position is in the majority. I believe I encourage the administration to check the comments for themselves to address underenrollment and I'm putting that in air quotes. Even if we are underenrolled for fifth grade in the next few years, the firing of our best math teacher is short-sighted and still wrong the wrong decision. Further, this approach could exacerbate underenrollment. It becomes a vicious cycle. Why? Because with decisions like this,

022you are for forcing all Western parents to choose between leaving the community for a more robust school district or paying for private school and private tutors. Regarding budget, how can can we afford to keep these teachers you ask? There are two ways actually. One, stop paying for onetoone Chromebooks for Hobart and with students. All the data shows that these kids should not be on screens for develop developmental reasons for any reason. And most parents don't want their kids on more screens, even if it's in school. That's between three $300 to $600,000 a year. There's your salary for the math for all of the teachers that are being that are not being rehired this year. And by the way, Weston has a medium home price of over $800,000. And we're telling we have to look at

023the fact that the school district has to pay for a screen per kid because that's blatantly ridiculous. I'm on a crusade to limit my children screen time, not to give them more devices. The administration is woefully uninformed if it thinks six-year-olds should be learning from screens. That's the first way to pay for this. The second way, raise my taxes. Yeah, I said it. I'm here to tell you that all of the parents who live in this community understand math. And there is a simple math equation that will motivate me and many other parents in this district. It is better for us to pay 1,500 a year, 2500 a year, even 4,000 per year more in property taxes, which by the way will get us our new middle school, than to pay 50,000 per kid per

024year for private schools or private tutors, which many parents are already doing in the Weston School District. Can you imagine how much better our enrolled schools would be if we didn't have to make that choice? and about rewarding excellence. I understand the union policy stipulates that retention be based on seniority, commonly known as first in first out. But this constraint means that the administration has to be smarter, more nimble. If the administration had done their due diligence, they would have known that this specific math teacher is one of the best teachers in the district. He is taking kids who hate math, like my own fourth grade daughter who hates math, and is he's making it fun and interesting. We have him as a private tutor. As a district, these are teachers we need to keep

025no matter what. As a business decision, you don't fire your best employees ever. They could be redeployed in another grade, could become specialists, etc. You have to be bold and nimble, and you have to understand your constraints as the administration. You don't fire your best teachers. And let's be real, does under enroll what does actually underenrollment mean? Does it mean 15 kids to a class, 12 kids? And actually, wouldn't that be wonderful if our kids could learn in classrooms with those ratios? Smaller classes equals better scores, better rankings, better home prices, and that is the way to get enrollment up. The administration needs to make excellence, not austerity, their number one priority. And by firing Western's best teachers, you aren't doing that. It is a shameful mistake, and I implore you and the administration to

026rectify it. and I encouraged the board to help facilitate that immediately as as much as they could. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks, Hillary. Thank you very much, Hillary. I'm going to move you back to a panel to an attendee. Just give me one moment. Okay, the next person is Jill Hitman. Jill, I'm going to promote you to a panelist. When I do, please state your full name, your street address, and you will have 15 minutes to speak. I'm sorry, 5 minutes to speak. It's been a long day. Okay, you're ready whenever you are, Joe. Thanks. I definitely do not need 15 minutes. Um, also, I am Jill Stysand. This is my work name. and um I'm at 11 Cavalry Road. Um I'm speaking today about the choice the administration is making to cut nine teachers jobs

027in the coming school year to fit into next year's budget. I don't quite understand how there are budget constraints when the board of ed budget is increasing next year and I also would love to have transparency around where the funds are going as nine teacher salary is not a small amount of money. I have personal experience with two of the teachers on this list and I think it's important to note that they are two of the best experiences I've had in my six years in the Weston public school district. My experience with a fifth grade teacher who Hillary was just mentioning um who and is on your list is personal. My daughter Macy has had handsdown the best academ academic year of her Weston public school career this year and it is because of the

028exceptional teaching and support of her teaching team. One of which you are firing. She comes home excited to talk about what she's learned and she's gained not only skills but confidence. Earlier this year, this teacher sent a note to parents offering one-on-one support before school. He arrives daily by 7:30 a.m. and opened up that time so students could get extra help in math or science. Macy took advantage of this many times. And it's not because she had to. It's because she wanted to. It's not because she loves math. It's because she loved her experience. She's now being recommended for accelerated math in middle school, which is an achievement I credit in large part to this teacher's dedication. My experience with two of these teachers make a lasting impact not just on students but on families.

029Instead of creatively looking for other ways to make budget cuts such as not investing in technology for our earliest learners as Hillary mentioned we who those learners need great teachers not screens and you are cutting the things that provide the biggest impact to outcomes in our district. I am one of those parents that Hillary referred to as not wanting my child on screens at schools. And I urge you to reconsider the upcoming budget and find a way to retain this exceptional talent that you are allowing to slip through the cracks. I really hope there is still a path for these teachers at Weston. Thanks, Jill. Thank you, Hillary. I'm um Jill, I'm going to move you back to an attendee right now and then I will promote somebody else. Just give me one moment. Um,

030I see somebody here that has a screen name that says iPhone 13. Um, I'm going to promote you to a panelist right now so that you could speak and then, um, please turn on your camera and state your full name for us. Hi. Am I on? Sorry about that. Yes, I can see you and I can hear you. Um, so I I wanted to state Boy, can you state your full name for me and your address? Thank you. Awesome. Uh, yes. Um, I'm Jasmine Kazakov. I live on 14 Oldfield Lane. Um, and I wanted to talk about I guess I I wrote something and I just wanted to kind of like share my opinion. Um, and so I really urge you to reconsider any decision that would result in cutting teachers and or essential programs.

031And I understand that declining enrollment and budget constraints are real, but these challenges shouldn't come at the expense of our children's education or the educators who shape it every day. And so I wrote three points down and one is like we don't compromise learning by cutting teachers and staff. Our teachers and school bus um school drivers are the heart of our schools. They have direct and lasting impact on the students development. Cutting staffs solely based on tenure without considering merits or contribution risk losing some of our most dedicated and effective educators many of whom are newer to the district. And I and this approach puts policy over people and undermines what study consistently shows which is high quality teachers and direct instructions are among the most important factors in student success. The second is preserving

032programs that build creativity and global readiness. Programs like art and Chinese are not luxury. They are essential. Our entire district has only one or two teachers of each of these subjects and yet they are among the first on the chopping block. And so creativity is a core skill. A landmark from NASA study by um by Dr. George Lan showed that 98% of 5year-olds tested in the genius level for creativity and that number dropped to just 12% at age 15 and 2% by adulthood. And as Dr. Lang concluded non-creative behavior is learned and cutting creative programs only accelerate that and then language is also vital and the decision to sunset the Chinese program is shortsighted because I understand that maybe there is some analysis that that enrollment is low but we also see or heard that

033enrollment in Chinese one was increasing and um and you know there's a shifting global landscape fluency in Mandarin will be a powerful asset and our children needs to the tools for the future and not just not just a reflection of the past. And then three, making smarter cuts not just at the expense of the students. And budget cuts are necessary if they come from a nonessential should they come from non-essential spending such as $200,000 which we approved last year for basketball court or 300,000 for the new Chromebooks or the budget that we had for those virtual reality um items. And I'm I'm referring to a lot of the the items that were from last year's budget. And so from there we can see that you know our we want our tax dollars to be to

034support teachers and classroom learning and rather than flashy technologies and things that really doesn't make sense especially when we have two basketball courts and when we were asked during the budget meeting to approve the one that was kind of in a a dilapidated state. But the thing is, if we were to save the teachers versus spending the money on a basketball court, we would have we would have voted differently. And so I just and so those are my three points, but I also want to state that there are so many families that are new to Weston and before we are in the school system, we are not heard. We do not know what's going on in in the town and we don't actually get to know what is important. But there's a lot of us

035and we have been here for a few years now. We've we we're more than willing to pay more money to keep our educator. I think that we make a good portion of of Weston taxes, if not more. I think we we also own bigger property and pay more taxes. And so I really want that for our voices to be heard because while we're not in the system yet, our kids will be the one impacting it. And I think that there's a lot of big push for for radical ideas like closing an entire school and and reducing taxes, but those people already benefited from Western schools. We have not. And we're the ones staying. We're the one paying. and we're actually going to be the ones that will make the changes that Weston needs. And for

036us to stay and for us to want to continue, we need Weston Board of Education and AD administration to really think about what are the cuts that are being considered and and like and not get rid of the things that's actually really important. Our teachers, our bus drivers, like those things where the kids are with them. It's a safety thing. It's an it's like their their education. Like we we should not sacrifice those. And I'm I'm hoping that you can save some of them. I'm hoping that you will consider Jasmine, your five minutes are up. Okay. Hey, Jasmine. I'm going to move you back to an attendee. Hold on just one moment. Um, and I do not see any additional hands for anybody that wishes to speak. Oh, wait. Hold on just one moment. Somebody

037just raised their hands. Lori, I'm going to promote you to a panelist. You'll give me just a moment. Hey, Lori, you're a panelist now. Thank you for turning your camera on. And if you can just state your full name and your street address, I will give you five minutes. Oh, we can't hear you. You're muted, Lori. Happens every day. I'm a proud mom of of my first grade son and we live at 121 Davis Hill Road. Like many parents, we chose to move to Weston during the pandemic in large part because of the Weston public school system and the commitment of the community to ensuring every child in Weston has access to a high quality of education. I'm not just here on behalf of myself and my husband Matt Browner Hamlin, but other parents including

038Tammy and Chris Ye, Arsha and Ash Jane, Laura and Brandon Gross, Ally and Brett Zuckerman, Allison and Alex Wood, and Danielle and Sam Hennes. We have all signed positions today in support of our son's kindergarten teacher. Um, and I know dozens more who have signed petitions for our son's educators. Um, our son's experience in kindergarten validated our choice to move to Weston. We had our son in uh, Landmark schools in Westport and we were nervous. He got such an incredible education at Landmark with teachers who had been there for 20 plus years that we we were nervous. Our child's kindergarten teacher was beyond exceptional. Her expertise and advanced education and special education meant that she fostered individual relationships with the kids, meeting them where they were and helping them feel safe, secure, and confident. And

039this is exactly what we want our children to experience during their school schooling. Additionally, many of us who are joining the call today attended the art jam at Hurlbat last Thursday. More importantly than the art, which was incredible, was my son's excitement in sharing his art with us. It was a huge success because of Principal Cadis, of course, and the incredible art program that is now under at risk because of the cuts that are being recommended. This is the this is the exact sort of in uh type of environment we want our children to thrive in where they can move through their education in Weston's public school system learn from experienced quality exciting teachers have a full experience with learn having the opportunity to have art and Chinese arts program and gifted programs. Um we

040we are hoping that this is what the community is going to stay invested in. We chose to move here eyes wide open. We understood the property taxes and we chose to move here because of the schools, because of the community investment in the schools. And so I do hope today you will take into consideration all of the parents who have made statements today as well as all of the petitions and all of the letters because it really it is making many of us question why we are we moved here when the schools continue to be um at risk of additional austerity cuts. Thank you. Thank you Lori. Thank you very much. Just give me a moment and I will move you back to an attendee. So I'm going to promote you to a panelist. Give

041me just one moment. Okay, Sue, you're now a panelist. You have the ability to turn your camera on and to speak. Please state your full name and your street address for me. I think my video is not showing. There we go. Hi, I'm Sue Rosentock. I live at 8 Pent Road in Weston and I have two kids in Wis. Um I'm actually I agree with everything people have said. So um and uh in terms of the the cutting, but um I actually had a unrelated question. Um, I wanted to find out whether we could get improved transparency around AP participation and test scores. Um, I know that, um, AP scores are a key index that colleges and universities look at, um, when they're deter determining how competitive our school is and how high performing our

042students are. Um, and I would love to know, I know that 76% of students take at least one AP class, but I'd like to know on average how many AP classes each of our students takes. I'd love to know um for the AP classes, what scores our students are getting because if they're not getting three and above, it really doesn't make sense for them to take these classes. It's a lot of time and a lot of effort. Um I'd also like to know um whether online alternatives um are available um and whether we support them, especially if it's for a class that's offered at Weston, if our students can also take a class that's offered online instead. Um, I just want to make sure students are as competitive as possible when it comes to applying

043to colleges and universities. Um, so that's it. Thank you, Sue. We'll take note of that. Okay. Thanks. Thank you very much, Sue. Give me a moment to promote you back to an attendee. And Tammy, you're the next person. I'm going to promote you to a panelist. Hey Tammy, I can see you on this side. If you could turn your camera on, unmute yourself and then just state your full name and your street address, please. Let's see if this works. Give me one moment, please. Can you see me? Not yet. No. Apologies. Give me one moment, please. Lots of settings to get through here. If there's someone else, they can go first. I try to get my camera to turn on. You're on mute, Jody. Tammy, why why don't you just go ahead and give us

044your uh address, please? Yes. Can you hear us, Tammy? While we're waiting, Jody, how many more people would like to speak? She I think she just came on on a different device. Give me one second. There was nobody else that had their hand raised at the moment. Tammy, I'm going to try try promoting you on the other device. There she is. Is it working now? Yep. Hi everyone. Thank you. Sorry about that. My name That's okay. My name is Tammy Ye and I um my address is 37 Treadwell Lane. I'm in a unique position as my husband and I have both a first grader as well as a junior in Weston High School. I just wanted to echo the comments of my fellow moms who have spoken out already against the cuts of these amazing

045teachers whom unfortunately we cannot name. Uh my husband and I, we moved to Western Connecticut a few years ago from one of the top school districts in New York City. Um I have two high school, well one one high school uh junior here now in Weston who actually chose Weston High School over Stacent in New York City. If you all know New York City high schools, you will notice one of the top high schools in the entire country. My other son, who is now a going into junior year in college, went to Bronx Science. I know what good schools are. My husband and I vetted Weston High School very carefully. We know what it is to be part of wonderful school districts. Um it is with a heavy heart that we are in this position

046right now where both we have a child as a junior in um Weston High School and um has participated in the Mandarin program for three years now which is going to be cut next year as I understand it. It is also the second or third teacher I believe in the f in the past three years that has he has experienced. While we are of Chinese descent, my son does not speak Chinese, did not read or write Chinese until he entered the the Western um high school um Chinese course in which he has uh not only excelled very much enjoyed embracing his culture and the language and learning the new language and has um been part of the uh Chinese honor society. Um so it is quite um quite dis quite disappointing to us that as

047he goes into his senior year um that this will not be available to him but also as I speak for um many many other parents whom we've already heard from today and uh this this um this drive to continue this uh this language um has been going on for you know a number of months. Um so one of the considerations perhaps is to open up the class in the language to younger students within the western um western school system. My other child who's a first grader has now had um you know one both there's two teachers first grade and and uh kindergarten teacher who are on that list. Both teachers absolutely amazing. You heard um Miss Lori Lo speak earlier about Landmark Preschool. A few of us have had our children at that school. top-notch

048really really wonderful um school and um similarly we were really hoping to have the same level of education continue at um Harvard Elementary School. I have found those teachers, both the kindergarten teacher and first grade teacher to be absolutely wonderful, know every single child and really really understand each child. And so, while you know the the the chances of my child going into second grade and having either those that kindergarten or first grade teacher again are very slim, that's not what this is about. The reason that we are speaking out is because these are the types of teachers that you want in your school district. And um when we think about the level and the quality that we want for this community, I urge you to rethink how this school district really looks at who

049they are cutting at the end of the day. Um just like any business, and someone said it earlier, you don't cut your top performers. That's not the way to do business. I'm sure we all want this town to continue to flourish and we want this community to flourish and we want the community to continue to have a wonderful school system where you have people coming from many other parts of um either the tri-state area or beyond to want to come to the Western school district. So, I do urge that this board continue to look at where the investments are being made and where the cut cuts are being made as well. Thank you for hearing me out. Thank you, Tammy. Thank you very much, Tammy. I'm going to move you back to an attendee. [Music]

050Last call for any public comment. If you want to speak, please raise your hand. And that is it for public comment. You can move on. Thanks to everyone who uh took the time this evening to make uh public comment. You know, we we take these comments seriously. Uh the next item on the agenda is new business and it's the consent agenda. Good evening everyone. The consent agenda for this month is quite short. Um we have one resignation of a pareducator at the middle school. um as well as one new hire. Um and I will note for the new hire um in particular that it's relevant to some of the comment that we've just heard. Um this this teacher um her previous position with the district was eliminated. Um and she is being hired uh back

051into a new role under a new certification area. um which is really exciting because we are um we are very happy to be able to keep her in district. So uh if you have any questions regarding the consent agenda, I'm happy to answer them. Are there questions from the board? If not, may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? I have the wording. Move that the Western Board of Education accept the consent agenda as presented. Is there a second? Thanks, Lisa. All those in favor? I I opposed. Uh the next item is gifts, grants, and bequests. Uh, and the first item is a W donation of $1,500 for a no place for hate committee workshop at the Weston Middle School. Are there questions on this? If not, can I have a vote to

052accept? I move that the Weston Board of Education accept the grant from WEF as presented. Is there a second? I second. All those in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes. The second item on the agenda is a WHIS PTO donation for of $20,000 uh for playground equipment. Are there any questions or comments? It's very generous. That's a comment. Sorry. Very interesting. I second that. Yeah, that is a comment. Thank you very much. Lucky lucky students. Yeah. May I have a motion to approve? Move that the Western Board of Education approve the WIS PTO donation as presented. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Uh the next item is uh a Hes PTO donation of up to $2,600 for installation of window film. Are there any questions, comments? I have

053a motion to approve. Move that the W board of education accept the Hess PTO donation as presented. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? Those in f opposed. I motion passes. Uh the next um is a Hes PTO donation of up to $12,000 for South House cafeteria refresh. Questions or comments? If not, may I have a motion to approve? Move that the Western Board of Education approve the SPTO donation as presented. There a second? I second. All those in favor? I I opposed. Seeing none. Motion passes. Thank you. It's been a very generous month. Yeah. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Spectacular. Um item 6 C uh Western Board of Education policies, regulations, and bylaws. It's a first read on the restorative practices response policy. Tode comments. Yeah. First of all, we should congratulate

054um uh Tracy uh for uh earning her doctorate. So, congratulations, Tracy. There you go. And I think it takes a doctorate to uh weed through or you know sort of plow through some of policy language and so there's no one better qualified to lead this discussion. Okay. So this good evening everybody. Um the restorative practices response policy is very closely connected to the school climate policy um which you'll remember we adopted in a second read last month. In fact, I would say 80% of this policy language, all of the definitions are consistent with the definitions in the school climate policy. The purpose of this policy is really to do two things. Um, one is to explain when and how restorative practices can be implemented. Um, and the policy is clear that it's around instances of

055challenging behavior, bullying, and/or harassment in the school environment, or other forms of student conflict that's nonviolent and does not constitute a crime. This policy also um despite our very positive relationship with the Weston Police Department and our strong work with SRO's is specific per state statute that any restorative practices in our schools cannot include the direct involvement of an SRO. So, this is another required policy related to the new school climate legislation. Um, I can do my best to answer any questions, but that's really a summary of what this includes. I have a quick question. Um, so one of the questions I always ask about is when do the parents get involved and how do parents have a say? And this doesn't appear my the basis of my question is this is restorative, but we

056have a no bullying um or zero tolerance on bullying. So, how does this policy and the no and the policy about no bullying restorative seems to me like reading the policy there is um someone can make a determination as to what the outcome is but our zero policy documents there doesn't it's it seems to be either on or off. So, let me try to clarify a couple of things related to this. So, the school climate policy that we adopted last month replaces the former quote bullying policy that was um in place that was around previous statutory language. Um I want to be clear though that bullying is not a permissible action in in the school. We take allegations around bullying very seriously and the process for addressing those concerns is clear even in the new

057school climate policy. That doesn't mean though that restorative practices can't happen in conjunction with if necessary discipline disciplinary action andor consequences for those behaviors. The purpose of this policy is really to get at the underlying behaviors between staff and students and student to student. So that even if we are providing a consequence for the behavior, we are also helping to repair the damage that exists within that relationship either through bullying or another disciplinary event. Let's see. Yeah, I I think yeah, I mean I this policy to me is better aligned with what we're trying to do, which is to educate children and children are impulsive, especially at certain ages and stuff like that, whereas the zero tolerance policies to me they're a lot more restrictive. So are they are these policies kind of used in

058tandem or is this policy the first step and the punitive or the consequential or the punishment is secondary? like if there's an incident, can do you go to the restorative options first or do you have to go to the consequences punitive first? I would say we're looking at both and it depends on what the incident is and what the circumstances are around that particular incident. But but all pol remember all policies are in effect all the time. So if there is a situation that that warrants a disciplinary response and a restorative approach between student and student, both of those things can be happening at the same time. Good, David? Yeah, I agree. Okay, that's the first read. [Music] Um, if there are no questions, we move on to uh the 24 fiscal year 2425 end

059of year summary. Um, whoa. I just wanted to uh kick this off a little bit. Um last year I was looking at the um end of year reporting out and there were multiple sections um celebrating and pointing out progress towards uh school improvement goals and each section was important but the overall presentation was very long. So what I have tried to do this year is move a few sections a little bit earlier. Uh so tonight you'll hear part one. There'll be three sections and in June you'll hear the remaining sections. So this will allow for a slightly shorter presentation perhaps more discussion and um we'll take it from there. So uh Dr. uh Hankle can kick it off a little bit. Uh and then each section um has a different presenter. So thanks for uh

060letting us kind of play with the format a little bit. Uh but I think we can keep a better focus if there are fewer sections at one time. So thank you. Great. Good evening everyone. As Superintendent Low mentioned, uh this evening we are going to be focusing on three sections of our district improvement plan, providing some highlights and updates regarding our goals and action steps within the digital information literacy and technology area which Dan DeVito will lead. Um then followed by human resources that Julian Goavoni will lead follow and ended with um safety and security that Jim Wily director Wilty will um will uh provide an overview and then we'll open it up for some discussion and questions and um as Superintendent Low said the last two sections of our district improvement plan which focus

061on the academic goals and the school climate goals will be followed um in June. So I'm going to throw it to Dan. All right. Good evening everyone. Tina, if you could just go to the next slide. Thank you. Uh, this year we made significant progress in creating a future ready learning environment by strengthening our district-wide approach to computer science with a comprehensive plan made in partnership with Sacred Heart with the plan submission of July 1st. A major highlight last year and this year has been the formation of our work of our AI advisory committee. This cross-f functional team has developed a foundational AI policy for the district, one of the first of its kind, which not only sets clear expectations, but also supports safe, thoughtful integration of AI tools in teaching and learning. In addition

062to policy, the committee has created a teacher mission statement, guiding principles, and a set of emerging best practices to help educators navigate this rapidly evolving space responsibly. We're also actively uh proactively addressing the risks associated with AI use, including its impact on things like student creativity. Our ongoing discussions emphasize the importance of ensuring that while students gain access to powerful digital tools, they also retain and grow their critical thinking, originality, and creative expression. The goal is not just to adopt new technology, but to do so in a way that supports student growth and preserves what makes learning meaningful. Go. Thank you. At the school level, our library media specialists play a key role in embedding digital literacy and citizenship into daily learning. By aligning national standards with our curriculum and integrating technology skills into assessments,

063we're equipping students with practical tools for navigating an increasingly digital world. Their professional growth around AI is also helping shape future ready instruction across grade levels. Across the district curriculum, our LMS's support units and lessons focus on digital citizenship, design challenges in our maker spaces, and research and information literacy. While our focus over the past few years has been around articulation and progression, next year we're going to be continuing that focus uh and moving up K12. And with that, uh I'd like to introduce Miss Gavone for human resources. Thank you, Dan. Um in the area of human resources, I elected a goal this year focused on the climate that we create and sustain for our staff. As I indicated um at the start of the year when we presented these uh goal areas, when our

064staff are healthy, engaged, and empowered, they are at their best in their service to our students. In particular, I chose two data points from the Panorama Climate Survey as indicators of progress, um, including the perceptions of our staff regarding the positivity of their working environment, uh, as well as their perception of their leaders attention to their satisfaction. The, um, spring data from the second iteration of this year's Panorama survey is not yet in, so I can't speak tonight to those specific data points. Um but I will share some updates related to uh my defined action steps and I can always return in June with a quick update when we have that panorama data related to um policy review. I had an action step uh to review certain key policies in personnel and community relations. Um,

065in the February policy committee meeting, we had an exploratory conversation related to the revision of our district's civility policy as well as the adoption of an employee conduct policy. Since that time, um, there have been some more urgent revisions that have been prioritized with the policy committee. So, this work has been put on hold, but it is important and I hope to continue it into next year. In addition, um, my colleague Dr. Edwards has taken the lead on the revision process related to the section 504 and non-discrimination policies. As you know, um our district adopted a new evaluation plan this year for educators and leaders. It was a pilot plan that was um developed based on the state's new model plan, but it was developed specific to Weston by a subcommittee of our professional development

066and evaluation committee. And it's been um part of my work this year along with Dr. Hankle to provide targeted training and ongoing support in implementing this plan as well as um gathering feedback from teachers and other stakeholders regarding uh the plan's efficacy. So we've done um quite a bit of work providing training uh for our staff around the plan um orientation to all members of the certified staff in September. In January and February, there were workshops that were held um for our uh administrators as well as teacher leaders um regarding the construction of high quality feedback. And we most recently uh just earlier this month provided additional training to staff members regarding some revisions that we're proposing to the plan going into next year. Our uh teacher evaluation working group uh found several opportunities over

067the course of this year to seek feedback both from uh teachers as well as leaders uh through surveys and focus groups, opportunities to speak. Um and they've done a tremendous job of analyzing that feedback, making some really um thought thoughtful revisions to the pilot plan that we've been using this year based on the feedback. And those revisions were presented, as I said, to the staff earlier this month. The bargaining units are uh working at this time to vote regarding adoption of the revised Weston plan, and I expect that that plan will come to the board in June for its final adoption in its what I'll call permanent form. Um in addition to the work around the crafting and training of this new evaluation plan for certified te uh teachers and administrators, we've also been working

068um with a new software system. It's called Vector Solutions to house records of our staff evaluations as well as training requirements. Um and so we have shifted entirely to this system. We continue to learn and refine how we're using that system. um it has been very valuable to us in the transition to our new evaluation plan. And finally, related to evaluation, as we were looking to um to work with this new plan for certified staff members, uh it was also an opportune time to revisit the evaluation for our non-certified staff. So, I've met with various supervisors across the district over the course of the year uh at various points to discuss their recommendations for revisions to the evaluation documents for our uh non-certified staff to ensure that we're able to provide all of our staff

069with useful and role specific performance feedback. Another important Thank you. Another uh important um component of my goal has been around um engagement of employees in their uh personal wellness education. So over the course of the year there have been 11 employee wellness engagement opportunities um essentially on a monthly basis and some of those opportunities have included uh we hosted a flu shot clinic in conjunction with Western pharmacy. Um we hosted several financial wellness sessions, retirement seminars, um opportunities for staff members to engage in physical exercise. Um and there has been a great deal of really positive feedback about those opportunities as well as significant rates of participation in certain activities. Um there is a final opportunity planned for the month of June. And I won't spoil that for you, but I will share that

070to this point um prior to that June opportunity, there have been to my best estimation 1186 points of contact with these opportunities, which is more than three per employee. Um so I would say for the first time that we're doing this in a concerted way, um that's some really significant uh level of engagement from our staff. Um, and finally, related to recruiting and hiring, um, it's been a good portion of my work this year to add, uh, a system known as Frontline Central to our roster of software systems to help create efficiency and ease of use for our new employees in the onboarding process. Um, this system has really significant functionality for use by all of our employees, but it's been a focus this year to use it exclusively with our new staff in order

071to sort of get up and running and learn it and think about how we might best employ it moving forward. Um, again, all of this is related to how we help our employees to be highly functional, highly engaged, and feel that we care about them and respect the work that they're doing. Finally, while it wasn't um specifically noted in my goal as an action step, I think it's important to um to note that over the course of the year from July 1st until the present in my office, we have processed 62 new hires um including two new principles, which has been a significant undertaking. Um at present, uh I'll I'll note that um things in HR move quickly. So when this presentation was um posted for this evening's uh meeting, we had one vacancy um

072for certified staff. There there are currently two. Um so that is um a really significant portion of the work that we do in my office is making sure that we have the people that we need where we need them. Um, and finally, before I uh pass things along, I I would be remiss if I didn't um mention because the goal is about the climate that we create for our staff, there is um undoubtedly an impact on our staff when we make staffing reductions. Um, and so as I work to hopefully continue to facilitate and promote a positive climate for the staff in our district, um, you know, I think it is important as we move forward and continue to plan that we look for those opportunities to maintain routine and consistency wherever possible. And with

073that, I will uh turn it over to Jim Wilsy, the uh, director of safety and security. Good evening, everyone. Um, just to highlight the I was just hired in February as many of you are aware and that's the first bullet point. So, some of these bullet points I wasn't here for, but we've got them up to date. Um, so hire director safety and security to oversee districtwide safety initiatives and emergency preparedness. The um classroom doors at WIS were updated to enhance the internal security and ease of use for our faculty. The district had uh new steines installed to restrict and direct uh campus access for improved perimeter control along the sidewalk. Um, we're adding additional access points at Weston High School to continue to regulate building entry. Um, over the summer, we're going to be

074installing a security door to isolate the athletic wing at the high school to increase security for afterhour events. um trained and issu we've been training and issuing the alertus emergency fobs for rapid emergency communication commonly referred to as the panic buttons that everyone um all staff members will be carrying. Recently we I instituted some professional development training for um our seven security guards. We went through a deescalation training that was hosted by Surma and retired Lieutenant Justin Stano. And um coming up in August, we have NASRO is going to be coming into our district and they're going to be hosting a school safety officer training that'll certified our certify our staff in school all things school safety. Um National Association of School Resource Officers is NASRO. they are recognized internationally. Um, I continue to strengthen

075our partnerships with the our local law enforcement. and I meet with the chief a couple times a month um and as well as our emergency responders and all of our community stakeholders uh specifically the senior center who share the hurlbot building and it's we we I'm ongoing doing upgrades to enhance the security equipment and update cameras to our new digital vigilon system. That's that's pretty much it I have. Great. Thank you. That concludes um those three sections of our district improvement plan. I'm going to stop sharing my screen and throw it back over to Superintendent Low and open it up for any discussion or questions. Yeah, that jeez. Not sure what's happening with my computer. Can you hear me? Yeah. Okay. Good. All right. So, are there are there questions? We we could take it

076uh one section at a time. Are there uh questions around the digital learning and technology section uh led by Dan? I just had a quick question on the AI advisory committee. So, it sounds like there's been some work that's been done. And I know that we had talked about this oh months ago, I guess, when it was in the embryionic stages of sort of just creating the committee and getting a handle on, you know, what the policy may or may not look like. um any updates that we're going to get specifically on the policy on just just a little a little bit more meat to the bones of what the committee is up to, what the policy entails or how that's all being rolled out. I know you're I guess you're gathering district feedback. So

077maybe you'll come back to us with all that information plus the feedback, but would love to understand when some of that starts getting disseminated out to the rest of us. Yeah. Do you Dan, do you want me to start or you start? Go for it, Tina. So, um, thank you, Michael. That's a great follow-up question. So, Dan and I are leading the AI advisory committee. Uh, we currently have 14 members across the district and, uh, our membership includes four administrators including Dan and I, uh, seven teachers and four IT support specialists as well. So we are involving not only the educational aspect but also the infrastructure and um equipment uh members members as well. It has really been um we've made a lot of meaningful progress since we adopted the um generative AI policy back

078in February I think it was when we received some support from Cass and um the state. I will say that I think Weston and Dan, I don't know if you will support this or not, but I know that in my uh conversations with other assistant superintendents, we in Weston are really leading some of this work around AI policies as well as what those guidelines and parameters look like in classrooms. And um Michael, we just finished the AA advisory committee as part of our work just finished developing um a educator and student mission statement as well as guiding principles. Um so that is what we're looking for some feedback on. So we've we've actually looked at some research across the country. Michigan is actually also doing a lot of this work and probably very well ahead

079and advanced in this area when it comes to AI education in the classroom, not only for teachers but also for students. We've been looking at that research. We've also sent um our library media specialists to a variety of training experiences that the state is offering around AI education and they've been bringing in all that information back and we've called through it and really look for patterns and trends and what would fit well in Weston. So what we're getting feedback on from our educators and our administrators is the vision or the mission statement, the guiding principles for educators and then also for students. Um some of the uh overall statements in that just to give you a flavor. Um I think the themes are around uh from the educator stance is around um intentionality, purposeful and

080thoughtful use of AI to strengthen student and teacher relationships, enhancing personalization for learning pathways, addressing diverse learning needs of students, and leveraging human expertise alongside AI capabilities. Right? So, how do we use these tools to enhance the learning experience and not replace the um educational experience for students? Um, and so from a student lens, I really love what this committee developed because I think it's really high quality and I know we're gathering feedback from people, but I really um value the work that they've put into this over the course of the year. We've met about six or seven times once a month and really committed to this work and I think we've made a lot of great progress in this area. Um, and from the student lens, our mission and parameters or guidelines really focus

081on how students are using AI as a tool to assist, not replace original thought and creativity. How are we supporting teachers uh students to critically evaluate um AI tools for accuracy, bias, and relevance? and um how are we recognizing um age appropriate boundaries with AI tools? Um because right now our um educator and student mission and guidelines are really focused on 612 um AI use in the schools. And and Tina, there's no doubt in my mind that there could be a white paper for each one of those points. So, this is going to be an extremely challenging and I would say fast-paced and iterative process. So, I can, you know, I can appreciate that. You know, we're probably one of the first to actually be I think, you know, to be this thoughtful and far

082along and I appreciate that as well. Um, I would just say sort of bring us along the process a little bit because this is going to be a constant iteration and so just you know updates I think every now and then maybe having you know someone present a couple slides or you know you know shoot us shoot us the policy every once in a while that would be that would be really great because I think we're going to get more and more questions on this as time goes on. What one of the things I also wanted to mention that I I love about the AI committee is that I I don't we're not a bunch of of yes people. So there are people on the committee who are all about AI and there's there's actually

083people on the committee who do not like AI at all. So they we all we temper each other, right? Some people, you know, they're they love it, they can't wait to use it. Other people, you know, that's why I brought up the creativity piece to it. So we're and with everything constantly evolving, I mean, if you think about it, when we first started this AI committee last year, chat GPT was a snapshot in time and now chat GPT can go out and search the web and summarize websites for us. So it's so fast-paced. We're constantly like every month, we're legit meeting every month and it's all right, what what what has happened in the last month and there's a lot to discuss. And because of that, we're we're trying to be as focused and purposeful

084with what tools are allowed. So for instance, students do not have access to chat GPT. They do not have access to Google Gemini because we are not at that point yet. So we're trying to make we're trying to take steps forward, but we're not going to jump into the deep end just yet. And just one other exciting piece that Dan might not even know about this. I think um a lot of the work that we're doing with through the AI advisory committee is spreading quickly and I've had two requests from teachers to join the committee. So now we have additional two new members that really have heard some of the great work. They've seen some of uh the mission and the parameters that have already come out and they also want to want to join

085in the fund. So we're excited to see um that the work is actually growing and expanding and there's more people that want to get involved which is great. And during our PD sessions, our choice PD sessions, we've offered a lot of PD sessions on AI and the use of it. And those are the those are the ones that fill up the most. And those we've gotten incredibly positive feedback uh on all of our AI uh professional learning sessions. Awesome. Thanks, guys. Yep. Um are we ready to go on to the human resources question or are there more questions about the technology piece? All right, let's move on to human resources. Any questions for Julie? Okay. And how about safety and security? I'll quickly jump in and just say I think it's great, Jim, the NazRO

086training for our SSOs. I think if one thing many things are true about Weston, but one of the very unique things is as we were interviewing Jim, I got to meet a lot of our existing security folks. They are exceptionally dedicated to the safety of our students and our schools. These are in some cases retired law enforcement, retired um corrections officers. So, I think it's great, Jim, that these are people who clearly still love the law enforcement profession. And I think it's a great tool that they get this additional level of training for them professionally, for them personally. And us as a district, we benefit from that. So I think it's wonderful that we're doing the NASRO training and here in Weston, that's just even extra beneficial for us. So I just think it's Thank

087you, Jim, for setting this up and making sure that our uh school safety officers are well trained. You're welcome. I I'll jump in just really quickly and just say that um I think we've made tremendous strides this year um on the safety and security uh topic. I think we've increased a lot of communication transparency. I think that started before Jim got here and inserting Jim just a few months ago, he's made such a positive impact. I mean, look, we in addition to everything that Jim listed there, too. Um, I'll just say that, you know, we we created the safety and security subcommittee. Um, I serve on that with with David and and Steve. Um, and look, I just want to say from the community, you know, people have reached out to us. They've re they

088have questions. We try to address it as best we can during that committee. Um, we've made Jim available to the community itself. Um Jim has really strengthened ties with the police with the new captain Joe Machelli um with the police commission. Um I think that look even even the anonymous reporting system that Deb administration are working on now finally getting up to speed. um from the cyber security side uh you know we're and Dan is instituting you know the UB keys we've talked about all the quick links that have been distributed across campus there's plenty of other things that Jim is actually working on um with respect to you know enhanced technology and radio systems etc so I look I just want to say um thank you to the administration I think thank you to

089the board for participating for forming the subcommittee and participating ating in it. Um, you know, and thank you to Jim as well for coming in here, you know, really hitting the ground running and being very proactive and open to, um, to the public. So, I think that's just a sea change that, you know, we had an experience in in years past. And so, um, I just want to say thank you to everyone and we'll, you know, continue to press forward. Great. Thank you. Um, any other questions? All right. I just want to add my my thanks to the staff for their leadership and um their impressive work this year. So, thank you. So, we're ready for the next item. Steve, the financial report. Phil, good evening everyone. Uh, just want to report at this time

090some positive news. Um we have finally um turned the corner and we are projecting as of that reporting period ending April 30th a surplus surplus of approximately $126,000 um primarily due to some salary that we have in savings. Those positive savings has helped us to u mitigate unanticipated salary needs um for for the district. In addition to that, our health insurance, our census for health insurance continues to be lower than anticipated. Um, just to point out, you know, just to tie us into next year, we have also made the adjustment for fiscal 26 just to keep keep us in line with what our recurrent census is. Um, unemployment, we are seeing that this line will be over budgeted for fiscal 26 um for various reasons. Um we're also projecting to have a to be slightly

091over budget for pension contribution for fiscal year 25. Other services we have positive savings um in transportation which has offset some increased needs um in tuition and settlement. We have also seen an increase um we had two students who were added midyear. So, we're we're we will have better than previously anticipated revenue offset for non-resident tuition for of approximately $33,000. Um, included in this projection is a spend of 62 approximately $62,000 to for continued roll out of flexible furniture at the middle school. Um so we are seeking also just overall approval from the board um to move forward with this purchase. On Friday after our income meeting we did get us a quick update from the state that they intend and um and fully funding the additional $40 million statewide for excess cost reimbursement. The

092anticipated pay payout date for this will be sometime in June. So when we do our final reporting when we get back we'll report on what those two numbers will be. If this holds out or holds up um we will be slightly better than previously budgeted by approximately 40,000 or so. And that is where we are for our financial update for April. Questions for Phil? That's great Phil. I note we went it was only a few months ago we thought we were going to have a deficit. So it's a nice turnaround. It is um and again as I shout it out the PE the spent PPS department um I do want to continue that we have had positive positive developments um in spent PPS and we're looking forward to that for this year and also for

093fiscal 26. We had student who returned to district and we also have some placements that we previously anticipated um that were no longer needed. So quick shout out to SPE PPS for the work that they're doing. Thanks. So questions for Phil? If not, can I have a motion to approve the financial report? Um, I move that the Western Board of Education approve the April 2025 financial update as presented. Is there a second? All those in favor? I post. Uh, the next is rates and tuition. Uh, just one second. Okay, Phil. I lost my agenda. Is that is that for non-resident tuition building facility hourly rates facility and um facility rates previously to what we have done in previous years um I'm sorry a slight change to this to this particular um line item or particular

094rates we have changed from linking this from pegging the rate increases from the CPI to being more in line with our budgetary increase um for the annual year so for fiscal 26 We're proposing increasing our current rates by the budget the budget increase of 2.96%. Questions for Phil. Uh have a motion to approve the increase in the building and facility hourly rates. I move that the Western Board of Education approve the fisc year 26 building facility use hourly rate as presented. The second. I second. Thank you, Sharon. All those in favor? I opposed. Next is the tuition rate rates for non-residents. Also proposing to increase our non-resident uh tuition rates by the budget budgeted budget increase of 2.96%. Also want to point out that for fiscal year 26, we do have projected a lower um

095lower non-resident um enrollment. Questions for Phil? If not, a motion to approve the tuition rates for fiscal year 26 for non-residents. We move that the Western Board of Education approve the fiscal year 26 tuition rates for non-residents as presented. Second. Second. All those in favor? I opposed. Uh and lastly, uh fiscal year 26 preschool tuition rates. Um for for this year, um just a quick reminder that last year we did do a market adjustment for our prek tuition. So for this year we normally take a year a pause from from making um market adjustment for a year or two. So for fiscal 26 we are recommend an increase in non I'm sorry the prek tuition by a budget of 2.96%. Great questions for Phil Bill. I ask this question every year. You probably are prepared

096for it Jody. I see it's like he does ask this question every year. So I am a fan of market rate because it's a wonderful program. So being that we're increasing at less than 3%. Are our cost to operate it going up by greater than 3%. I don't believe that our cost to to go up or it's going up more than 3%. You got but got to remember the purpose of this program is not necessarily to to generate a profit. Um it's a special education program and we try to have um an equal um general ed peers um in in this group. So I'm going to botch this entire thing. So if I mess this up, Tracy, please help me out. David, I think the question that um comes up quite a bit. So, our

097increases in terms of preschool costs are really around salary um and the teachers allocated to the program and the PAR educators and sometimes there is variability in the number of PAR educator staff who we need in the program because we could for example have a student who requires a onetoone PAR educator beyond the PAR educator who's assigned to the classroom. But in terms of the number of classrooms that we have for the ELC program for next year, we are projecting four. Two threes classes and two four's classes, which is consistent with this year's arrangement. Um, and consistent honestly for the last five years. There was one exception where we had to add an additional preschool class. And based on our numbers, like Phil said, we're looking for a 50/50 ratio of special education to general

098education peers. Um, or fewer than 50% special education students based on that. Um, and the numbers that we have at this moment for classes continues to be appropriate. So, I don't know if that answers your question. Yeah. Yeah. And just to kind of reiterate for parents that might be listening who have kids are going into the program, I agree 100% the hand inand the 50-50 split is great for the children who have identified needs. Those children don't pay. So right, so the children with identified needs, they are tuition free. So my my question each year is it is such a good program. I benefited from it. My son went through the program. It is such a wonderful program. We have a lottery, right? And I think this year, like the years in the past, there's

099more interest than there are seats. So, I just like to say if you get the this is a highly soughta uh seat and we shouldn't be competing with ourselves. It it Thank you for speaking so highly of the ELC program. I completely agree with your assessment. We do have a wait list. Um and again it goes back to the classes are structured generally speaking around the identified special education students and what number of students we need overall to provide balance in those classrooms. If we were to be you know accepting all students on the weight list we'd be talking about a different model than what we have now. How large is the weight list? We have so there's I'll be honest there's movement on the wait list right now because our deposits were due at

100the end of April and so what sometimes happens is you know family elects to stay in their current preschool program. So we have been able to send some letters like within the last week or so that we have a spot open but as of this second we have eight students on the thre's weight list and seven students on the four's weight list. Thanks. Other questions? Can I have a motion to approve the fiscal year 26 preschool tuition rates increase? Move that the Western Board of Education approve the fiscal year 26 preschool tuition rates as presented. Second. A second. All those in favor? Opposed? Move on to the district updates. Debbie. All right. Um, thank you. Um, first the good news. Um, I wanted to just, uh, give a shout out to, um, all the arts

101and music that go on this season. Um, I've been to several music concerts and I know they're continuing. Um, I think one of our, uh, public uh, commenters uh, talked about the art jam. So, thank you to all the K12 art teachers. Um, it's quite fun to sort of walk or run between buildings, uh, trying to see all the exhibits. Um, but, um, if you're looking for creativity, that was a great place to see it. And the art teachers have done a great job of showcasing uh, their student work uh, in age appropriate ways. also got a chance to peek at some of the work of the Project Challenge students um at the middle school and you know everything from um video games to um to mapping parks to uh um writing jazz music uh

102to taking drone photography. Um there are lots of others that I am that escape me right now but it was a tremendous range of talent and interests. Uh so when you think about the 21st century student uh there they are in front of you uh doing incredible things. Um some of them were uh were working in the medical field and and making adaptive uh devices for the elderly uh uh techn using technology. So again it was just amazing for such young students to be thinking um in such forward ways. Um, also want to thank the PTO's. Um, you you approved uh their generous, incredibly generous gifts this uh tonight and they have, you know, uh made gifts all throughout the year. Uh, and just as important as their uh fundraising is the energy and the

103time and the support that they have given all year to our schools. I met with the PT PTO leaders uh last week uh just briefly to hear an update on on all their activities and you just get exhausted listening to the list of each school and um the number of volunteer hours and the number of uh parents involved and the concern and their dedication to the school system is just amazing. uh you can't have an outstanding school system without such involved parents and um I'm just super impressed for such a small district uh at the at the energy level and the number of parents involved in the PTA PTO I keep calling it a PTA I apologize but the PTO um is really spectacular so um a great thanks to all that they do. Uh

104now uh just to get a little touch upon um some of the public speaker uh uh the public comments that we heard. Um first of all I want to thank everyone who took the time to speak tonight and also recognize the numerous uh email letters that we have received you know uh expressing concerns about the teachers that are being reduced because of lower enrollment numbers. Um, and we, uh, like the parents who spoke are incredibly impressed with talents of these teachers. And this is no easy time of year and no easy task to have to reduce staff. Um, but I have to take it back to the budget building process. And I think when I say budget, people sometimes think, oh, that means that they want to take money away. And sometimes that has to

105happen of course during the pro uh during the the process. But the budget process also involves looking at enrollment numbers and the numbers uh at the elementary level K5 uh declined so that the number of sections the number of classrooms uh we need fewer of them um looking at next year. It's not a program cut. It was really based on uh enrollment. Uh so that is sometimes difficult for people to understand. We weren't trying to reduce the number of classes. Enrollment um was lower than it is this year. So we need fewer number of sections. Uh and we are not increasing class sizes. um you know, you're still well within the range of traditional existing uh board acknowledged uh district used for a long time class size ranges at the elementary level. uh in terms

106of how these reductions um as unfortunate as they are have to be made is um all teachers uh participate in the in an evaluation procedure um and they're all uh evaluated according to certain performance standards. The process for reducing the number of staff has to involve lots of different factors uh including um the number of teachers who plan to retire or the number of teachers who are leaving the district for other reasons. We also have teachers who have been out uh on long-term leaves and are returning. Um we also have um to consider the number of years that a teacher has worked in Weston. We look at the uh tenure status of the person um and we look at the certification areas and we look at programs across the district. So no one building acts

107totally in isolation. Uh so somebody returning in WHIS may affect somebody uh at Hurlbut for all those various reasons including um you know certification and length of experience. Uh and also um we need to look at um the contractual agreements and the legal requirements in reducing force and making reductions in force. Uh Julie has the unenviable job of putting these processes together and making sure that um the unfortunate news gets delivered clearly and early um and according to all the uh requirements um of the process. So I think um you know we've done as as good a job as we can. Uh no one wants to see good teachers leave but um and we agree that these are some terrific teachers. Uh but they're not leaving because we have cut program uh these particular teachers

108at the elementary level. It was because of enrollment driven numbers. Um, however, uh, things do change quickly and I don't want to hold out any false hope, but there are two or three situations that we're monitoring closely that we're not ready to talk about in public yet, but depending on the decisions um of of certain staff members and and certain program needs, uh, some of these reductions may end up changing. Uh, but I don't again want to hold out any false hope. I'm just saying that uh it's not over till it's over and we're looking at it every single day. So that's about all I can sort of say or add to the situation except that um we feel terrible as well for losing good staff. Um and again it's unfortunate and we have made

109you know the best decisions we can within the parameters that we have and we are not reducing the programs. Uh we have based the elementary class sizes on traditional class sizes. We're not increasing them or changing those. Uh so and again I'm a little late to the entire budget process here. Um, so I've done my best to sort of fill in some of the history. Uh, but anyway, I welcome I'm not sure about welcome, but I understand uh people who have questions and so if any board members would like to ask questions and our expert Julie is here so I don't make any technical mistakes. So, thank you. questions. If not, uh, Tracy, hi again. Uh, just a quick update for tonight. Um, I'm very pleased to report that in terms of special education teachers,

110pair educators, and related service providers for our ESY or extended school year program that begins on July 7th. Uh, we have a very significant increase in the percentage of positions that are being covered by Weston public school staff compared to previous years, meaning that we need to hire on a very limited basis from outside the district. In fact, um, at this moment, I'm just anticipating two positions, uh, for related services that that need to be hired, uh, and filled by non-Weston employees. So, that continuity and consistency is great for everyone, especially our students. Um, I will just note, I know Julie mentioned this and it was in the consent agenda. We're thrilled with the new addition to our special education team at uh, the middle school. she is already a familiar face. Um, and we

111are in the process of working to fill the open special education teacher position at the high school. Uh, we are seeing an increase in the number of applications for these kinds of positions, which is also a positive sign. Um, the end of the school year is always a particularly busy time for PPS. We have a number of a significant number of meetings, I guess I'll say, to plan for the upcoming school year, especially as we are supporting students transitioning between buildings in the district. That's it for me tonight. I'm happy to answer any questions. Terrific. Shall we move on to committee updates? Cab, you're on mute, Lisa. Thanks. I'll just make it short. Um, CABE has a 2025 legislative wrapup. What happened and what are the implications for your school district on Tuesday, June 10th.

112Um, I think it's pretty important. They're going to be discussing education funding, special education, teacher certification, education mandates, and disconnected youth. Unfortunately, I can't attend. It's my 46th wedding anniversary, so I I I uh won't be able to attend, but I think it's really important if anyone else is. In the um Cape Journal for May, um uh there is an interesting article uh that indicates that there are 20 active superintendent searches um in Connecticut. Um and it's an article that give that says give your new superintendent a great start. One of the suggestions was um a retreat with the board and the superintendent. And that's my summary. Questions for Lisa? CES nothing noteworthy at CES. Okay. Curriculum. So, I'm actually going to kick it over to Tina because we did a section on writing and

113I will not do it justice. So, Tina, if you would tell everybody about our writings. Absolutely. So, we had our curriculum and instruction leaders come to present the district writing curriculum uh for the for the board. Um and we focused on um the mission and the vision of our core writing instructional practices across the district. The team talked about some grade level uh curriculum examples that really focused on a continuum of kindergarten all the way to high school so that the members could see that gradual, you know, process of development uh from kindergarten all the way to high school. And you could see clearly with some of those artifacts the level and magnitude of writing as it evolved over the course of the 13 years. Um we talked about different writing samples and talked about

114grammar and structure and complexity and voice. um throughout the presentation. We also wanted to allow for some time where we integrated some of the different types of literacy programs and resources that we um that the board has supported the school um in adopting over the years that has lent itself to reading and writing development at a very early age and and how those programs have really helped u support the evolution and the development of foundational uh writing across the district. Um, and it ended with um some conversations around uh the ways in which we integrate more practical forms of writing throughout our curriculum such as business letters and emails and opinion pieces. And um the team talked a lot about um how the secondary students um have different ways of of um integrating some of

115those tasks throughout their curriculum and also through some of their enrichment experiences which ultimately um are part of a portion of the graduate and um and um that was that was kind of it in a nutshell. It was a very lengthy conversation, very thorough. I have to applaud the CILs for really putting together a really good presentation. Um, and it's sometimes very hard to do with a very um, um, you know, critical component or critical topic and to do in a very short period of time. So, they did a great job. So, thank you, David. And I'll just quickly add one of the things that I did ask about which I think is in the works is I'm not sure what it's called in education but it's basically teaching our students how to write things

116like a letter to a company trying to get them to do something improve a product a complaint letter to an editor letter to Megan about the cell phone policy. So I'm not sure what exactly Tina you call that but I do that's an area that I would like to uh I think it's it is being done but it's not necessarily being like brought forward that this is part of what we teach our kids to write. So what is what kind of writing was that called Tina? Well we were talking about how some of those opinion or debate types of writing is infused in across the content areas. It's not an isolated uh specific course where writing is um you know used in that way. Um but the the team talked about um you know you

117mentioned uh draft legislation in government class. They talked about um writing uh polished emails to younger students, often writing for cause and cause and effect or for events throughout um different um tasks or unit of study across social studies per se or maybe in the science area. So that's where um some of the team was talking about how some of that evolves in the course of a a curriculum over time. Thanks, EOC. Peter. Yeah. Good evening. Um, you know, we started our night with such uplifting news from our seniors. Uh, but unfortunately, I have soberings. We had our EOC meeting on Friday. We had slam and collect their preliminary assessment results. Uh I've been struggling for four days for a descriptor for uh what they presented to us, but I think uh without too much

118exaggeration, I would use the word dire. And because of that, uh Deb uh recommended uh it's imperative that we hold a tri board meeting on that building and its ability to deliver education uh no later than maybe June 18th after our last board of ed meeting. Uh it requires immediate attention. Uh if anyone else who attended that meeting want to chime in, maybe I have a different descriptor. No. Well, I'll chime in. Um yeah, I share Peter's comments. um uh their their recommendation um is some form of a renovation more extensive than um we currently have potentially currently have capital for um so you know without going into greater detail tonight although the meeting was recorded if you want if you want to see it um we'll you know go into greater detail uh next

119month. Um, but uh, as they pro, as they said, once you start opening walls and things like that, you never know what you're going to find. So, um, it's a, you know, it's, you know, it's a it's an it's an issue given the amount of capital that has been allocated to, uh, potentially allocated to doing some form of, uh, improvement on the building. uh finance and operations. Uh Phil covered finance. Uh Mike Daster said facility-wise we're uh facility wise we're in we're in we're we're in good shape. Policy committee uh policy committee we basically discussed the restorative justice policy that we just had our first read in um in in tonight's meeting. So, that was pretty much it and still waiting on a few more things to come down the pipe for next next month.

120Great. Michael, safety and security. Yeah, we just um we covered a few things. We talked about the enhanced professional development and training for the security staff that Jim had mentioned before that Sierra training as well as the NASA training that's going to happen in the summer. Um, we talked about tightening up building accessibility uh by looking into the creation of some additional access control points. So, I think Jim was talking about the creation of some fab accessible entrances and then Deb um took us through the process the ongoing process of establishing the anonymous reporting system. That was it. W Oh, um, that's me again. uh Western Education Foundation. So, we uh they just went through their this most recent meeting. They voted for their um award recipients for the David Trudeau award and um the

121other one which is escaping me right now. And they also voted on um the grant that we just had that we discussed tonight um for the No Place for Hate. So, thank you for submitting that, Dan. And um yeah, I think that that's it for right now. Uh, are they hold on Tina? Are they doing something at the fair? [Music] The only one I know that they they just canled their May 17th um, trivia night. Um, yeah, Patty, do you remember anything about the fair? I don't think so. Maybe it's just something discussed. All right, never mind. I was going to give them some air time if they were, but never mind. So, that's So, our next scheduled meeting is on June 16th. Um and Deb has uh informed me it'll be a longer meeting.

122Yeah, the um we need to preface it with an executive session. Um you can see the time there and then have a regular meeting. Um and then because the slam report is so important to discuss and for the the board to um you know to understand and ask questions uh we will need to make another uh board of ed meeting during that week. uh the June meeting is already quite full. Um I think in terms of people's focus and the ability to to devote the time that this slam report will need that needs to have its own meeting. So Jody will be going around trying to find a time will probably be as shortly after June 16th date as possible and it will be remote and we're going to invite the board of finance and

123the selectment to that meeting. Okay. All right. you you we uh you and I will talk about how that has to work. All right. Thanks. Uh if there's nothing else, can I have a motion to adjurnn? So move. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? Thanks everybody. Thank you everyone.