00124th, 2026. And I want to remind you that this meeting is being recorded, so please turn off your cell phones. Ellen, [snorts] can you please do the roll call? Yes, thank you. Good evening, everyone. Ms. Callan Carson? Here. Mr. Keary? Present. Ms. Tabacco? Mrs. DeRoberts? Here. Mrs. Drew? Here. Mrs. Gold? Here. Mr. Riley? Here. Vice Chair, Mr. Lackavoy? Here. Chairperson, Mrs. Granato? Present. Wethersfield High School student representative, Ms. Anashka Gandhi. And for Emerson School, the Wethersfield Board of Ed Chair, kid representative, Daniel Zapperanic. Here. All present. >> Thank you. Okay, and right now I would like Daniel to come up where he's up at the front here and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands,
002one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Daniel. Good start. Okay, um we always love and look forward to our student and um staff recognition. And tonight, we have the Highcrest Instrumentals performance for us. So, take it away. We're very excited. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening evening, everyone. I want to thank you all for welcoming us tonight. Um I'm here with Mr. Deon, our instrumental music teacher, and we have two of our best instrumental players here to show us their best performance and entertain you a little bit tonight. And up next is Mr. Deon. Hello, Chairperson Granato and uh Mr. Wibby and the entire Board of Ed. Thanks very much for having us here tonight. And um we have two students here with us. Now, um in just like
003in any class in music, um tier one instruction is for all the students. And for the students that struggle, we uh often have interventions and and um uh >> [clears throat] >> uh give them extra help on what they need to do. But there are some students that just absolutely excel. And for those students, we need to provide them with enrichment opportunities. So, as you know, we have the uh Wethersfield elementary uh festival orchestra and band, which these folks have both done at some point in their career. And um now in sixth grade, which is generally middle school age in many uh districts, uh they audition for the CMEA uh Northern Regional Middle School uh festival. Now, that's very difficult uh for for a sixth grader to make that ensemble. It's it's comparable to a
004freshman making all-state in uh at the high school. But these two students prepared their audition materials in the fall. Um uh we worked on the other parts of the audition as well as the audition piece itself um in terms of sight reading and scales. And they um they auditioned in December and passed the audition. And then they both were given the repertoire. We worked on it some in school. They worked on it with their uh private instructors for uh for the technical skills. And then we worked on in school we worked on the um uh rhythmic execution and um uh different things uh related to their performance. And so, they're going to perform for you today a piece of each of their audition materials. First up, we'll have Abigail Lee. She is going to perform
005the Salut d'Amour by Edward Elgar. >> [music] [music] [applause] >> Good job, Abby. And next up, we'll have Andrew Chua uh performing La Cinquantaine by Gabriel Marie on the cello. >> [music] [music] [applause] >> Fantastic performance, both of you. And I was just so incredibly proud in the beginning of March. Uh the the performance uh was at Central Connecticut State University in Welte Hall. And they just performed like absolute professionals. I couldn't be prouder of them. >> That's wonderful. [laughter] Any questions from Yeah, how long have they been taking lessons? That was just an incredible performance by both of them. You started I think you started at the end of third grade, Andrew. Is that right? Or Yeah, and is that the same Abby? You started at the end of third grade, beginning of fourth
006grade. So, maybe another six months or so um before some of the rest of the students. But these are practicers right here. >> [laughter] >> They learn learn how to practice. >> Oh, and I hope they stay with it. You're awesome. As Thank you for coming up here and doing that. Thank you. Um I just want to say really beautiful, wonderful music. Um and I think beyond all of the great um intellectual things that music does for us and all the um perseverance and commitment that you put into that, I just want to say when I listen to music like that, I go to a concert and just now I just feel like I want to be a better person. It just has that kind of power. The arts are amazing. And thank you so
007much for continuing in our human tradition. It's beautiful. Great job. Thank you, Mrs. DeRoberts. Thank you very much, Board. Appreciate your time. Can we get a picture? Can we get a picture of the two of them? Can we get a picture? Sure, absolutely. Why don't you come right up uh right up right in front. >> [laughter] >> Right there. Oh, good. We'll get in it. >> [applause] >> We just want to thank Abigail and Andrew for a great performance. And thank Mr. Wibby and the Board of Education and Mr. Deon. And we hope you have a great night. Oh, we love seeing it. Thank you very much. All right. Well, we have another exciting student recognition. This is a wonderful time of the year. It's finally spring. And we have our winners for our kid
008chair writing contest. Our kid chairs were chosen from many entries on how they would work the job of a Board of Ed Chair. I love their writings. Tonight, it's my pleasure to introduce kid chair, sixth grade from Emerson-Williams, Daniel Zapperan- anic. And he has a quote in there I couldn't help but say it here. Dan says, "This is important to me because kids should get a head start on becoming independent." So, I want you to listen to the rest of what Daniel has written. Daniel, you're on. My name is Daniel Zapperanic. I am in sixth grade and I live with my dad, mom, brother, bunny, and dog in Wethersfield, Connecticut. I go to Emerson Williams Elementary. I love sports and coloring. I enjoy swimming and love animals. I would make a good leader because I'm
009intelligent, kind, and open-minded. I have decided to run for the kid chair because I want all the schools to have a program that helps kids learn practical life lessons. I have noticed that teenagers don't know how to do practical life lessons such as cooking, gardening, building, and home repair. This is important to me because kids should get a head start in becoming independent. The program would run from third grade to ninth grade. The first thing I would like to teach is cooking. I want to teach cooking because it is healthier to cook at home. I've noticed that kids these days are eating junk food instead of home-cooked meals. It also costs less money so people can save their money instead of spending it. It would also help you because when you're on your own, you
010are able to cook something so you aren't hungry. The next thing I would like to teach is gardening. Gardening is good because if you have a garden, you get fresh fruits and vegetables to be able to cook with. It is also important to know how to garden because if you are short on money, then this is an amazing thing to know how to do because when you garden, you get food to be able to cook with. Being outdoors is also good because it is good for your mental health. The last thing I would like to teach is building and home repair. If your fence breaks and you don't know how to repair your home, then you have to pay more money to be able to get it fixed. If you know how to repair your
011structures, then you can save money and you do it on your own time. Building is also important because it is really fun and it is a good hobby. If you have an animal in your house like a dog, you can build them a small home so when they're outside, they're not too hot or too cold. It would be a good job it would be good for your job because you already know how to build so you can get a construction job or anything with building in it because you already know how to do it. In conclusion, this is a great addition to the schools because it helps kids get a head start on becoming independent. If you put in the program, I think kids would enjoy it. The students would value it because they get
012a head start in being able to do things on their own. This is why I have decided to run for the kid chair. I believe that gardening, cooking, building, and home repair would be important because I'm trying to put in a program that helps kids with basic life skills. Nice job. Thank you very much. [applause] Thank you. Did you you said earlier too that you like to write and you like to read. Of course, teachers love to hear that. That's great. But you also play a lot of sports and you enjoy those too. Yep. What do you like? Uh football, basketball, baseball, swimming, and skiing. You have [laughter] to come back in 20 years and tell us how you're doing, okay? We would love to know. So thank you again. Nice job. [applause] That was
013all fun. Now we have to get on to our meeting. Next on tonight's agenda is the approval of the minutes for our regular Board of Ed meeting on March 10th, 2026. Are there any corrections? No? Okay. May I have a motion to approve these minutes? So moved. A second? >> Second. All in favor? I. Opposed? Any abstentions? Those minutes are approved. And can we we we do want to get a picture with Daniel too, okay? So we can't forget that. I won't. Just few minutes, okay. Okay. Okay. Few minutes, okay. All right. Is there anyone wishing to make a public comment? Please come on up to the podium and state your name and address and may I remind you that public comments are limited to 5 minutes and another reminder that board members do not
014respond immediately following public comments. Thank you for your understanding. Come on up. Michael Verderame, 247 Griswold Road. Good evening, Board of Education members, administration, and community members. I'm here tonight to speak in support of bringing middle school sports to Wethersfield. Knowing that this year brought a new superintendent, a new assistant superintendent, a new athletic director, and a focus on improving curriculum and instruction, >> [snorts] >> I did not come to advocate for this year during this budget season. But that said, I'm here today, many months in advance of the initial discussions you will have for next year's public school budget. I believe it is important to begin those discussions early. Middle school is a critical time in a student's life, as you all know. It's when young people begin to discover who they are, build
015friendships, and develop confidence. Providing school-sponsored sports during these years will give students an opportunity to grow not only as athletes, but as individuals. Sports teach lessons that go far beyond the field or the court. They teach discipline, teamwork, accountability, and resilience. When students learn how to work toward a common goal, handle [clears throat] success and failure, and [snorts] support their teammates, those lessons carry them into life. Communities that offer middle school sports often see stronger student engagement. Students who participate in athletics are more likely to feel connected to their school and motivated academically. For many students, sports provide structure, a positive outlet that they need when the school day ends. So I urge you as a board and as administration to look at similar towns in size or smaller like Rocky Hill, Coventry, Ellington, Berlin,
016who all have middle school sports. In the spirit of my 5 minutes, I will not list the many other towns close to us who provide that. Middle school sports also promote inclusion and opportunity. Not every family in our town has the ability to access private leagues or travel teams. School-based sports ensure that all students, regardless of their background, have a chance to participate, be active, and feel a part of something bigger than themselves. Beyond the individual benefits, middle school sports will strengthen our entire community. It'll bring families together, create pride, and help students form lasting relationships with their peers, teachers, and coaches prior to high school. I've been here a long time. Wethersfield's always been a town that values education, community, and opportunity for our kids. Establishing middle school sports in the 2027-2028 school year
017would be another way for us to invest in our students and support their growth during some of their most important times. Beyond that, in our community, there's been ongoing dialogue and there's a clear trend of families looking elsewhere for high school. Whether be East Catholic, Northwest Catholic, Xavier, Kingswood-Oxford, Watkinson, perhaps the draw to Wethersfield High School might be even more should a student participate in middle school sports with students their age or one year younger. I encourage the board to explore ways to make middle school athletics a reality. In 2026, it's a disservice to our community to not at least analyze all the options. We have the gym space. We have the field space. We have the parent support. And we have the interested coaching candidates. And we do have the athletes. We should just
018adjust to the current society that worries us about the overuse of devices and lack of human interaction and allow kids to unplug after school and participate in athletics and represent our middle school. Our students deserve the chance to learn, grow, and thrive both in the classroom and on the field. The term student-athlete should no longer just start in ninth grade here in Wethersfield. I thank you for your time and ask that you consider and have discussions on this topic. And I welcome any feedback that you would like from any other community members. You have time to figure this out and I just ask that you look and think outside the box and determine what's best for our kids. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Jennifer Curry, 162 Straddle Hill. Um it will probably come as
019no surprise that I'm here to talk about our calendars. Um and I just have to say that I'm sad. I'm sad that we are still talking about the calendars. Um since October 2024, I have gone through so many emotions. I was mad, I was confused, I was frustrated. Um I got to a point of acceptance, then I also got a little hopeful. Um but now I'm just sad. Um and I'm sad because the 2-year calendar that was approved by the last administration and the last Board of Ed does not appear to have student learning as the focus. Um I asked numerous people and numerous times for the rationale for those calendars and I got nothing. The only thing that I actually got had to do with attendance, but we're best in our dirt for having
020the lowest chronic absenteeism. So that really can't be the reason. I'm sad that we're talking about cutting the school year by two days. Two days that our students should have been in school in December. I'm sad that our students have had little instructional momentum since December. And I'm sad we're going to be in this position next year. I know there's conversations about some ideas for the next calendar, but potentially taking days from December and April break isn't going to fix it. Um and I really am struggling. I I really struggle to understand how individuals here and within the district who work for student success have accepted these calendars. Okay, thank you. Good evening. I'm Megan Donadio, a third grader at Webb Elementary School. The elementary school construction timeline affects me and my friends greatly. We'll
021spend our sixth grade year at Old Highcrest. The goal that I would like to reach is having my sixth grade step up at Webb's auditorium. Webb is very important because we have amazing amazing auditorium events like like the talent shows, town meetings, bingo nights, and school plays. Most sixth graders will have their step up at the school they have been in since kindergarten. >> [snorts] >> I would like I would like this because my older sister will have hers at Webb in a couple of months. Also, I I don't like the idea of having my sixth grade step up at Old Highcrest. My ask is to have the Webb auditorium construction complete by June of 2029. Thank you. Bring it back up. Um good evening. My name is Sarah Daigle and I have the privilege
022of calling eight River Road my home. I stand before you tonight not just as a resident, but also as a town employee. For the past three years I've been the elementary media technical associate at Hanmer School. The word associate in a job title typically means someone who assists a more senior member of the organization, yet it's just me in the library. When the role was created, we were named associates because we used to assist the classroom teachers with student needs in the library. Library time was not part of the UA schedule. Teachers would bring their classes to the library at the time of their choosing. The elementary media technical associate would read them a story, the students would take out books, and go back to their class. This was not teacher planning time. So in
023the event the elementary media technical associate was not in school, the library was simply closed for the day. The primary role of the elementary media technical associate was to facilitate library management and circulation, so the job was classified as clerical and fell under the secretarial CSEA SEIU contract, where it still remains today. It's my understanding that when block scheduling was introduced at the elementary level to help facilitate cohorts needed during the COVID pandemic, library time became a 45-minute scheduled time to align with the other UAs. But the elementary media technical associate role was never changed. We see students for 45 minutes. We are responsible for IEP and 504 implementations. In our absence, we prepare sub plans because library time is now required to fulfill teacher contracted planning time. Yet we are not considered teachers. We
024are hourly clerical employees. We do not have a curriculum. We do not implement the Connecticut Association of School Library Standards for learning. With today's standards of learning to have a 45-minute block of what people have called me busy work is wasteful on the part of this district. Classroom teachers are overwhelmed with curriculum responsibilities and a full-time media specialist could significantly reduce that load. My colleagues and I do our best to make the most of the time that we have students with us, but we all know that without a set of standards, we are still limiting student success. We've been hearing at our meetings lately where our district is in relation to the other schools in our dirt. There is one area where unfortunately Wethersfield is at the bottom. Of the 24 schools in our dirt,
02522 of them have full-time library media specialists at the elementary level. Wethersfield and Waterford are the only districts that do not. We are drastically behind in this area. At the March 10th meeting, Mr. Wibby stated in his budget presentation that early literacy is one of the smartest, most preventative investments we can make as a district, and I could not agree more. I must point out that it's hard to find a better return on investment than a library media specialist. This role often includes technology coaching, information resource specialist, professional learning facilitator, co-teacher, program programming for student enrichment, and curriculum designer. If we hired someone for each of these positions at the median reported rate, it would cost the district over $800,000, and yet a library media specialist is a fraction of that cost. If we are
026serious about improving early literacy, we cannot ignore the impact that library media specialists have at the elementary level. Researchers have found that schools with full-time library media specialists have students with higher reading scores across socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and English language proficiency because all students have access to the library with a curated collection of reading materials and a structured program to build literary success. All students benefit from time spent with a library media specialist. If we are going to compare early literacy to a tree, adding a full-time library media specialist to each elementary school and adopting the Connecticut Association of School Library Standards is part of the fundamental root system that students need for success. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Anyone else? Okay, Mr. Wibby, you have a report Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. Come on up.
027>> [clears throat] >> Good evening. My name is Jasmine Rivera. I live at 712 Main Street. I have a daughter who currently attends Emerson. Um I agree with everyone that came up to the podium this evening. However, I know there's a campaign going around um where where all parents are signing wait until eighth grade. That's basically having the students put their phone down, go outside, and play. Most of us can't afford those private sports um to put our children in. I'm one I'm a single mom, so my taxes go to everything that's in town as far as um daycare, after school camps, but what I would like to see more is my daughter being active in school, learning new sports, engaging with other children, as well as um old school education, reading books, learning the
028phonics as far as you know, learning how to do the old school math, um spelling tests as learning how to spell those words, putting it on paper, um writing them into sentences, is not just relying on technology. Um So there's a lot of little clubs that's going around and a lot of parents are in agreement with that. I would like to see the money go into these programs, and it also helps the family that work late that knowing that their children are engaging in something educational, whether it's learning um more education, sports, a little structure settings where they know their peers, their teachers, and they're comfortable and they're safe, and they don't have to worry about sending their children to outside resources to care for their child and something happening to them. Um I like
029to see the teachers that already are familiar with the students get paid more so they can stay after school and help those students and get more involved. Um like I said, I was just kind of winging it. I'm kind of going with what I'm feeling and I think that these programs are very important and children need to get back out there and engage because they're losing their way and they can't rely on technology because if that doesn't if they can't think for themselves and they're always relying on the computer, they're not going to be successful at all. And there's a lot of children are struggling, even students that are in college. So I just want you to keep that in mind that um that is something that is a necessity in this town for all
030for all our children. Thank you. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> I'm just going to wait. Anyone else? Okay. Well, thank you. So, Mr. Whitby, we have you for a report here. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh just referencing the superintendent's informational updates. Couple of things up front in my message. Uh apropos Uh as we move deeper to the second half of the year Um I'm I'm pleased that we're going to be uh We're going to be looking at the current year calendar in light of the winter's weather disruptions this year. With the snow days we've accumulated today, our projected last day of school would currently fall on Wednesday, June 24th. And just you know, for for everybody's knowledge, we are required to go 180 school days per the State Department of Education and and and
031state law. Uh so so in order to be compliant, uh with the current schedule, we would go to Wednesday, the 24th. And I'm pleased that the board is going to be taking a look at that this evening with some mitigation strategies connected to that calendar. The next piece that I wanted to reference was Um I would like to take a look at next year's calendar and I have some suggested mitigation strategies for us to kind of think of as a starting point and I would um you know, I would I would encourage the board to to work with us together to kind of take a look at next year's calendar. Just some things that we should think about are some continue conditional use of winter break days. Potentially designating a small number of days within
032the December winter break as potential makeup days in the event of multiple December snow days. This would be clearly marked as emergency use only and activated if needed. The second thing is April break contingency for 2027. Um something along the lines of potentially establishing contingency contingency if the district reaches more than four snow days by February 28th. We could select April break days to to look towards using towards those 180 days. These strategies are not intended to diminish the value of the school breaks, but to provide structured predictable guardrails that protect instructional time and avoid the kind of late June end date that we're facing this year. So, we all know this was uh a winter that was unique over the course of the last several years and and many districts are are looking at
033at other pathways, you know, for the current year and and for next year as well. Finally, I'm pleased to um to um inform the board we're going to be working on our 2027 through 2029 two-year calendar development process and so that we can strengthen predictability and transparency, I'm launching a structured multi-stage development process for the next two-year cycle that will come before the board next October. This process is is designed to incorporate staff family and board input at the right moments while maintaining a clear timeline for decision making. So, next month I'll conduct the calendar build team and this will be a representative group of administrators, teachers district operations staff that will develop several initial calendar models. This team will focus on statutory requirements, when we have to be in school, when we have to
034be finished by, making sure we're within the right amount in uh days uh instructional priorities professional learning needs and operational constraints. Uh the second review team will happen in June. This will be a broader review group including more principals, union leadership, district department heads. They'll analyze draft models identify potential conflicts and refine options for feasibility and coherence. Then when we come back to school next September, I want to have a parent review team. Parent advisory group will review the the refined models. They'll provide feedback in how that impacts our families and help surface consideration related to child care, holidays and community alignment. And then finally I hope to bring a fully and deeply vetted calendar to the board a recommended calendar to the board for consideration next October. So, that's that's Madam Chair what we're
035looking to do with our next cycle. And and just a couple of other quick things uh updates from the superintendent this month. Food services, we were really happy that an advisory committee was held on March 10th to provide general overview of our USDA lunch and breakfast program requirements. This was an opportunity for our families to discuss breakfast, lunch, meal planning and address parent concerns and questions to our school lunch provider. We want to make sure that Chartwells is responsible and we want to responsive to our our families' needs and we were very happy that we had families come out and provide input on how we can always do a better job with our school lunch program and we we want to keep making sure that that these opportunities are available multiple times during the year.
036From our talent accountability office Wethersfield Public Schools attended today the career fair up at the University of Connecticut and we were we had the great opportunity to interview multiple outstanding young candidates for some of our potential retirements and some of our announced retirements here. So, it was really great to engage with potential future teachers and it was great cuz we interviewed some young people that are Wethersfield residents who were in the teaching program up at Yukon. So, it would be what what how great would that be to bring some of our kids back home to teach in the very place that that they grew up in. So, that was a an exciting morning for us today. Teaching and learning office, as you know, the board invested in science of reading uh last year and this
037year and it it's our Bookworms program. All of our elementary schools have concluded the second trimester with all K3 classrooms successfully implementing this new Bookworms reading and writing instructional resource that the Board of Education purchased for the for the schools. Students are immersed in module three where the focus shifts towards deeper character analysis and exploration of complex themes. In kindergarten, the students are expanding their study of basic phonics to include a study of characters in our stories and lives and in this module, they explore the unique attributes of fantasy characters while simultaneously building scientific knowledge about the life cycles of various organisms in science. The first grade are similarly expanding their comprehension by comparing story elements and identifying key details across a mix of fiction and non-fiction. So, the kids are crosswalking similar details between
038different stories and thinking about them. They are also building knowledge of famous Americans such as Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King this past unit through their study of historical biographies. Um and in our second and third grade classrooms, curriculum challenge standards to connect literacy to broader scientific and social concepts. Second graders are learning to analyze character actions and dialogue or what they said looking at historical figures' speeches and Third graders are also engaging in powerful themes of injustice across multiple text types. They are analyzing structures of biographies and narratives focusing on impactful figures such as Frederick Douglass Sonia Sotomayor as well as fictional stories like Shiloh. These lessons reinforce an understanding of diverse text structures and purposes. So, just a few things that are going on in the Wethersfield Public Schools this past
039>> going on. A lot going on. Okay, and in question. Thank you. Okay, [clears throat] well, we'll move on to meetings held, Board of Ed meetings held. And the first one was CREC. CREC Council met on Wednesday I actually have items. Action items? Action items. Action Sorry, you know, something it's right in front of me. Okay, our action items which are so important tonight. So, our first action item, Mindy, would you read that for us? Yes. Moved that the Wethersfield Board of Education authorize the superintendent to accept and implement a $250,000 legislative earmark grant with the Wethersfield Public Schools serving as the fiscal agent in partnership with WEC, the Wethersfield Early Childhood Collaborative. The project goals are to increase the percentage of children who attend preschool before kindergarten, promote the importance of early childhood education
040including early literacy practices, and identify the most effective strategies for engaging families. The initiative directly aligns with the Wethersfield Public Schools DCIP or District Continuous Improvement Plan strategic priority two, civic and family engagement. Thank you. Is there a second? Hold on for point of clarification. She read the background as part of the motion. And it's not. Okay, is do you just the motion is what you want you want her to read? >> Well, that's all we should be voting on is the motion and not the background. >> Okay. So, for point of clarification. Okay, so just right there where it says recommended motion. Got it. Moved that the Wethersfield Board of Education authorize the superintendent to accept and implement a $250,000 legislative earmark grant, the Wethersfield Public Schools serving as the fiscal agent in partnership
041with the Wethersfield Early Childhood Collaborative. Second. Thank you. All right, any discussion? Mr. Webe, do we know what this is going to be used for? I mean, have we any ideas like what they they submitted for the grant? I'm assuming there was a plan. There was. The plan includes uh uh strategic planning for WEC, um and as the background that uh that Mindy read to us, um inclusion of uh early childhood educational resources for families, um family libraries, library setup in the community center, so there'll be a lot of literacy components um highlighted. I I mean, it's a lot of money, so I don't I don't can't go through all of them, but you know, the general themes are um building uh civic capacity of the families as well. Um you know, those are kind
042of some of the big object line uh Mr. Carey um without you know, without getting into the the minute details of it, but Would it be possible to have Ms. Bobbin come present and talk to us about I mean I would happy to do that. >> I would hope she'd been here tonight as we're voting on her grant, but in future so we can get more insight on this. Sure. Cuz it's a wonderful thing for our community. We could certainly make it a point to do a comprehensive at at one of the committees as if if the chair pleases and we're happy to um ask Ms. Bobbin to come and present here for the full board as well. We can do one or both or all. One of the things that I'm really excited about
043is um there's an opportunity to use some of this money for strategic planning for WEC. Um as a champion of WEC and as a liaison from the board, I know um all of the expectations put on WEC by various stakeholder groups. WEC does so much for so many different um stakeholders in our community. Um they're also newly an official um local governance partner of OEC. So, there are even more I would say expectations and requirements of WEC. And so, the [clears throat] strategic planning that I'm really excited for will help us reconcile all of those um programs and um services that WEC offers to the town. So, um I'm very excited for some of that kind of strategic planning going into the future. Anyone else [clears throat] for discussion? Just one other question. What administrator
044is sitting on this? So, the old assistant super used to be on this committee. Do we have someone from central office that sits on this? Mr. Carsar sits as a representative of um >> Yeah, thank you. Just wondering who the new person was. He was assigned that role last spring, it was my understanding and he's done such a fine job we've kept him in that in that seat. Okay, any other discussion? >> John, did you have something to add or you're good? I want to add something I can. Might be able to help with your question, Chuck. If John, if you have something to add, if you want to step up to the So, thank you. I prepared something just in case you had a question like that. So, uh good evening members of the
045board, uh chairperson uh Ms. Grenada. Um first of all, with this I do want to first uh thank um uh Kim Bobbin. I mean, her tireless efforts uh we rewrote this many times over and over and she just kept coming back to rewrite it. Just to make sure because it is a lot of money and so we wanted to really make sure that we fit in with all WEC's um guiding principles, but also the uh district's um strategic plan. And uh also I want to uh special thanks to Senator uh John Fonfara uh for believing Wethersfield and granting us this money. I mean, really it was it's a great opportunity for us. Um so with that, a couple things uh And so um you know, Wethersfield's a great town to both live in and work
046in, uh but we do have some uh struggles. Um we know that one out of three families um they have uh you know, English as a second language. Uh we know that there is a quarter of our students from uh grade one to grade three that near need uh tiered uh reading interventions. And so really with this, the uh grant allowed us to focus on early literacy and we're really grounding in Joy Subs Dean's framework of uh family engagement because we want to see how we can you know, engage families around this. As uh uh Superintendent Webe uh pointed out, uh we're really looking at the partnership. How do we develop partnerships between WEC, between the school systems, between our families to really focus on these goals. Um at the center of the work is
047the Parents Connecting Parents, the uh Parent Ambassadors program. So, we're expanding on that because these are the people that we're going to train to reach out to our families, to reach out in the community with them to you know, run workshops to uh you know, really let them know what's out there for early um childhood education. And then as ambassadors uh build relationships, uh we're really going to guide that community needs assessment and that's really going to be the forefront of this. Uh getting an agency in that can really help us develop a strategic plan of where we go next. And the grant also starts up by uh Family Resource Center. And uh Chairperson Grenada, I'll look at you cuz I know that's something that you've asked about for a long time. And so with
048the Family Resource Center, we really want a welcoming space uh where we could provide parent workshops, early literacy activities, and community connections. And we're going to combine that with a multilingual tool kits so we can reach out to all of our families, professional development, and to help our uh summer kindergarten transition program that we've been running. And finally, this grant builds, you know, sustainable infrastructure. The Family Resource Center, the ambassador program, and the data-driven evaluation systems are designed to continue beyond the grant period and really create a lasting impact for families in the community. And so in short, this funding gives us tools to embed early literacy in family and district practices, expand equitable access to early learning, and develop parent leadership systems that will benefit Wethersfield for well, years and decades to come. Like
049John said, I'm really pleased John's being very modest. John and Kim really rolled up their sleeves and they took the board's approved district continuous improvement plan and they made sure that they worked this uh this earmark into what the board's priorities are as close as you can. And like like both Mindy and John mentioned, WEC has a wide range of masters and you know, things that they have to do according to the state, but we want to also make sure that um it falls into line with the board's approved DCIP you know, for the current year and and really kudos to to John for uh you know, for taking this uh this leadership and for Kim uh for rolling up her sleeves and and getting that work done. Very appreciative of that. >> And the
050senator for giving us this opportunity. The once again, the Wethersfield delegation has come through and and provided uh provided uh resources for the Right. Um just because she's here tonight, I wanted to um recognize Jasmine who is um a parent who is highly involved in WEC um and one of our parent ambassadors. Um I've been able to meet Jasmine and hear her story through WEC meetings um and she's not only a fierce advocate for her children, but for all children in Wethersfield. She's told her story to not only our delegation, but legislators who are just interested in hearing the real-life lived experience stories of families trying to figure out what to do in those zero to five years when you have to work to survive, but you have a child who also needs to be
051cared for and loved and nurtured. Um and Jasmine has gone through incredible lengths to give her daughter just an incredible start in life um and it's not easy. Um it's not easy. And uh and it I feel like um it was through a lot of the resources in WEC and with Kim that you know, you were able to advocate for your needs and so thanks for coming out tonight. Let's do [laughter] it. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, so we'll take a vote on this. All in favor? I. Opposed? Any abstentions? So that motion passes. And 6B, Matt, would you read that? Yes, Bobby. I move that the Wethersfield Board of Education approve the revised 2025-2026 school year calendar as recommended by the superintendent. Okay, can I have um some discussion on this? A second first.
052We have a second? Second. Any discussion? No? We're all set right there. I I would like to um to see us uh use Juneteenth as a learning um event in school. Um I think just like the the Veterans um holiday, I think Juneteenth deserves um the education um for our children. I think they really need to understand um >> [snorts] >> why it's actually so important and uh for it to just be a day off um I I I disagree with and I really hope that we turn this into a learning event um for our kids. I have kids um that are school age and I would like them to um to to learn uh what why we have it um and the history of it and why it's so important. Um and I feel
053like just having the day off is not going to give the children the tools necessary to understand and appreciate, you know, what what our history is, where we've been, and where we should be. So um I and I I don't believe coming into school um on a Monday as a last day is really going to be beneficial for the kids at all. You know, so um I think that we should we should end on on Friday. So that's my two cents. Any other discussion? No. I I actually echo a lot of Amanda's uh sentiments and comments. I don't disagree with a lot of the things you just said. Um that being said, uh we've received emails uh supporting both sides of this. Uh send them in on Friday, send them in on Monday, don't send
054them in Friday, don't send them in Monday. I've had discussions with parents. Their opinions are split. Uh but at the end of the day, I feel like neither of them uh were that like married to their side of the argument to get that upset about it. Uh that being said, we were dealt a bad hand by the weather. Usually we're out by Juneteenth. Um I support the amendment. I support the calendar [clears throat] as is as proposed to be changed to tonight. Um I would like to see us going forward um maybe take a better look at our calendar so we can probably avoid situations like this in the future. Um a lot of parents have reached out and said they want their kids in school more. Um I think we need more flexibility for
055weather and I think we need more input from all specifically parents, whether it's WSPC or PTOs. Um I I'm not prepared to put up a big argument on this. I I'm ready to support this um with professional development being in on Tuesday and Wednesday and sending the kids for half day on Monday. That's just my opinion. Any other discussion? >> Wethersfield by rationale he gave an excellent way of the he's going to create new calendars. Did you bring parents in on this revision? What was the process of revising this? Have you discussed talked to the teachers union about the PD days at the end? Did they agree to it because it is against their contract? The way their contract is written, they have to have 182 contact days with the students. So I know in
056the past we've negotiated that with them. So I'm just curious the process and how we got there. Yeah, we had we've had we've been having ongoing discussions with the teachers union going back to December, you know, about the various possibilities. So we've we've been working with them straight through. Um I have talked to um more than one parent group, parent organization that represented um you know, the different uh stakeholders from the parents. Um I've heard similar to what Matt said, I've heard perspectives all over the you know, all over the field. People had lots of different perspectives as well. So those were some of the activities that went into it and and again, I agree with Matt. I I heard arguments for for each of the sides. Um Some were stronger, some were kind of
057you know, it was it was mixed on their intensity and what they were looking for for an outcome as well. Who in their contracts have Juneteenth as a holiday? There's just one bargaining unit that has it. It's the administrators bargaining unit that had it written into their contract. May I ask um if you are um able to talk to Parks and Rec about continuity for the summer? Thank you for mentioning that. That's important. Um we we've had some initial discussions with Parks and Rec both for the current year and for future years. And um we certainly want to make sure that we coordinate whatever the last day of school will be for us, uh Parks and Rec will will work with us uh to to begin their programming because we don't want to have certainly
058a lapse for the families uh for child care once school gets out. And have those initial conversations and we even we even talked about the future, you know, that we we had a nice I know this wasn't asked, but uh to kind of it bolster the conversation um even for moving forward in in uh future years. We talked about providing Parks and Rec with like our early release days a year in advance so that they could provide programming so it's seamless for families as well um when there are early release days. I've had some of those conversations and we are uh hoping to have um continuity between the end of school uh provided services when school shuts down for the year. I agree. Um I wanted to talk about this as well. There's just there's
059a lot of good points that people have made about this and I think this is the first time we've run into Juneteenth um based on where it fell in the calendar. And I do also see like an opportunity in the future of making it a real good educational opportunity if this happens again. I don't feel like it's a it's that appropriate this year because I feel like it would be just rushed and out of convenience. But I also point out that um that and and if we have more time and that maybe like knowing that this is happening, we can like really plan some kind of curriculum all ages going forward if this happens again if we wanted to have it or decided to have it on Juneteenth. Um have school on Juneteenth, but that's
060for another year. Um and I also want to point out that we've had five last day Mondays in the last 10 years and that was 182 days, not 180 days. So this is not really new and it actually happened last year. So um it's kind of awkward cuz you want that full week of swim or you want that full week of whatever, but parents will do what they want to do. And um it's just where it fell. Unfortunately, Mr. Weather came by and dumped a bunch of snow on us. Um but but it's definitely more conversations to come about how to avoid maybe some issues with like the calendar going forward. Any other comments? I think the key of what you said, Marsha, is that the 182nd day ended on a Monday. So I I
061prefer if we're going to come on a Monday, we might as well finish on the Wednesday and go 182 days and get the last two days as Ms. Curry said of learning in. I don't I understand reducing it to 180 and I think we did once during COVID and that was to get out on a Friday for for that purpose and made the teachers and negotiated with the teachers to come back. I just don't understand the purpose of cutting instructional time from our students and then we're making them come back on a Monday after a three-day weekend. I just don't agree with the logic. I just have to make the comment. I'm not so sure there's great instructional time at that time of the year. I think we just have to get the days in.
062We were looking at working something for Juneteenth, but I think it would be horribly rushed right now. That's another issue in that. Um and what we're trying to do is to get our children through the school year learning and not those fake end of the year days that happen all the time. Um I think this is the best chance we have right now of getting the most kids into the building. They're not coming back on Monday. That's [clears throat] my thought anyways. But we need to get those kids into the building while we have them there learning. And um we all know what goes on at the end of the school year in those buildings. Um and just to add to that um I think looking ahead and thinking about where we can put in
063some quality instructional time when we do have to call school because of of storms, you know, certainly in April or December or February, they're they're going to be it'll be a better learning opportunity than the end of this those last few days of the June. Well, anyone else with a comment? You want to try a vote on this? All right. Let's take a vote on this. Um, all in favor? I. Opposed? Opposed. Opposed. Any abstentions? Okay, so that motion passes. All right, so now we'll move on. Make sure I remember where we are. Board of Board of Education meetings held and the first one was crack. No. You skipped reports and discussion. >> another one? >> They're on seven. Oh, reports and discussion items. We go right by that. >> Yeah, Madam Chair, I'd like
064to raise for discussion the previously approved 26-27 school calendar. I think now is a perfect opportunity to have that discussion if we're going to revisit it. I'm sorry, I don't know what you're asking for. >> I'm just What's that? I don't >> I'm just asking for a discussion on next year's calendar under discussions. Okay. >> And per Robert's Rules, since I'm not asking for action item, it can be brought up for discussion. I have a comment. I think we should discuss it in the future. In committee. Uh, and we should engage as many parents and teachers and administrators and unions as possible. I don't think we should make a decision on it right here and right now. That's why I said for discussion, no action. What what committee would be discussing that? Um, Jeff, what
065do you think about that? What kind of a committee would discuss this if it would even be in committee? I think it probably should be before the whole board, so. I like I like what Jeff has planned for next year. That's what we should be getting through this one. And and as as as well as we can and then from now on we're not going to be waiting for the end of the school year. >> But the problem is is that we've got parents that are already planning vacations and stuff like that. So, I would like if we're going to make a change, I'd like to make sure that we have the change well in advance so that, you know, it it doesn't conflict with everybody. Yeah. >> Is a change being proposed? No, a
066discussion is being proposed yet again. I'm going to reiterate. >> voted on it. No, this is for next year's, right? That's why I'm just asking. I would like next year's calendar to be brought up in a future meeting, but I'd like it to be discussed and not with with options, not just a hard fast calendar as was presented tonight to us. We were given no options. It was here it is and basically I'd like more of a discussion around next year's calendar and it needs to be done sooner than later and I would have thought maybe tonight as we're discussing calendars it would have been a perfect segue. But I mean as many people have said the learning loss, I mean there's at least three days in December we can put school in. I mean
067I looked around there's a lot a lot of districts going to school those first three days of that last week of December. So, I just wanted to put it on record. I mean so, I don't agree with what was in there that said to use them as emergency days. I think they need to be days of school and that's why I wanted to bring it up for discussion. Okay. Okay, so Mhm. I'm just asking for I just had discussion. Amanda and I spoke. No one else wants to speak, that's fine, but I got I had my discussion and that's all I wanted to make sure It's just a Well, Chuck and I will just have the [laughter] meeting together. You can talk. That'll be fine. Yeah, nobody else wants to put in their two cents
068about this something we control, so. >> So, so um So, yeah, at some point you both we this whole board approved these two calendars and not really no nothing really was said except for Jennifer Curry who I think has left. Um, and then in the NWSPC meetings this has been brought up quite a few times and I know Jeff showed up and that's is the way it was is the committees that we voted for on the committees calendars we voted for and then it's like how can we change next year? We can't change this year, we can't change next year and that was a while ago and then it was just like trying to figure out there's so many stakeholders and and that was discussed months ago like just within NWSPC and what's what you
069could or could not do and and it's hard when you have a lot of other people cuz there was a like I'm all for and at that time was all for maybe making amendment to it, but I do realize now there's a lot of other people that had put their two cents in and created this and there was a committee under Mike Emmett that, you know, what that's who created this. Um, so I don't know I don't know what powers we have to walk that back and make changes and and I don't know. But that's my two cents. I just know there's a whole background to it. It's not just just now we're just thinking about it. It's been circles and circles of conversations and Jeff has looked into it a lot. Um, but it's
070also hard hard when people have said they don't want it changed cuz they have already made plans. That's really hard. So. But it is a ridiculously long break for winter break. No, and I think And I agree with you. Six of us owned that decision and yeah, I was going to say we voted on this calendar last year, but we do have the right to bring up an item that's been approved to amend. So, we are we're fully within our right to do that. Not tonight. Okay. But so so Amanda and I are just asking them for if if we could establish a process bring it back forward sooner than later and have full board input, we'd appreciate it and that was my purpose of discussion. No action needed. Just want to get it out
071there. >> All right. Fair enough. >> Yep. We'll move on. Are we all set? All right. We will get this crack meeting in. >> [laughter and snorts] >> Okay, so meetings held. Um, the crack meeting was held on Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 and crack is the Capital Region Education Council of which Wethersfield is a member along with 35 other surrounding towns. The council's responsible for the regional magnet schools and project choice. They've also organized and run the Hartford Head Start program. The meeting began with a presentation by Dr. Sasha Wolak and Curtis Rodriguez Porter. This presentation is available on the crack website, but it is all about our open choice and I know there's been quite a few questions and discussions at town council meetings about project choice. Well, you can get it on their
072website or you could even ask me and I have their Hartford Region Open Choice Program brochure right here. So, please refer to this packet and any other information that WEC has it'll be on their site for their history, enrollment, funding structure, crack support and all their success stories. The legislative updates were in information on the efforts to work with our state reps to change the cap on crack tuition and to put back a $12 million takeaway from the first budget. Discussions continued on the high cost of outplacements and ways to help town fund for every child and deliberate actions followed and were unanimously voted on and as I said earlier, all crack information and minutes of their meetings can be found on their website. Thank you. And [snorts] Matthew, you're going to do our finance
073and operation minutes. >> Yes, thank you, Bobby. Prior to prior to tonight's Board of Ed meeting, the Finance and Operations Committee met our monthly meeting. We discussed where we were at currently in terms of the current year's spending. Negligibly we're over by a negligible amount, $5,000 within a $70 million budget, so we're right on schedule this year. Um, we discussed having positive news coming out of the town insurance committee having to do with the insurance renewal process, which will hopefully see us realize some savings when it comes to what we spend on insurance for the school district employees. That would come out hopefully prior to this the end of this budget cycle, which has to be finished by May 15th. Um we discussed voting to establish our new 2% reserve fund, which the state of
074Connecticut has allowed school districts to establish with any reserve funds that were realized from the prior year and we discussed upcoming RFPs. Um, that's it, Bobby. Thank you. Thank you. So, we have meetings scheduled Facilities and Maintenance on April 14th, 2026, Crack Council on April 15th, 2026 and Finance and Operations on April 28th, 2026. Is there anyone wishing to make a public comment? Come on up to the podium and state your name and address and may I remind you that public comments are limited to five minutes. Okay. All right, we'll move on. Are there any board comments? So, I have I have I attended two meetings. Just want to let everybody know I'm the rep for the middle school. So, we had the pack meeting last week and they were uh The Lion King Jr.
075is going to be March 27th and 29th and they are almost all sold out. Out of 1,100 tickets that they have, they have they had over 875 already sold out. >> Wait. So, grab your tickets. Um, they are also the sixth graders from each of the elementary schools will be coming to visit the middle school um this month. Um they'll be going by schools. The SBAC test starts March 27th, then they move right into the NGSS, and then right into star assessment. So, it's going to be a a busy time for them. They are also piloting two ELA programs um and they are currently on the second one and it seems to be uh a really good one because it's actually bringing back class novels, which the teachers are really excited for. And uh they
076they ended it on a really positive note um that their chronic absentee rate is about 1% better than it was last year. Um so, which was great. And I'm also the rep for the advisory school building committee. And the chillers and air handler are in place over at the middle school. And the uh school will be completely shut down April 2nd to April 3rd to allow for the electrical tie-ins. So, hopefully this will be um done shortly. It was a long time coming and the chillers and air handler was first discussed in 2008. And uh we found that um back then they said that uh the cost of it was too expensive at the time, which was $68,000, and it is now well over a million dollars. So, just so you know, deferred maintenance does
077have a cost. So, um and then TSKP came in and started their um uh beginnings of their schematic design for uh new High Crest. And so, we were uh we were going through that and discussing it and uh they wanted to uh pay homage to the fact that it is a farm. Um and they went around and they found a lot of the elementary schools. It's kind of like a they call it like a neighborhood porch, where a lot of the parents come and they sit and they wait for their kid to come out of the school and it becomes kind of like a community area. And so, that's kind of the feel that they want to uh create for their design. Um we are going to be having the uh uh owners uh rep
078interviews going to be on March 31st. We will have three interviews, and then we will have the um construction managers. It looks like that's going to be um May 6th. We're going to have um that and three to six firms have expressed interest. So far, the RFP is up. It's hasn't been closed yet. So, um we have between three and six um potential um companies to to look at. And um the advisory committee would like to suggest to the superintendent that they he begins looking at the school year calendar for the 2028 year um sooner rather than later because we want to make sure that construction will be finished with the new High Crest. So, hopefully maybe start after Labor Day um just to give them that weekend time to um you know, to to
079put in all the the final the final construction. So, if you could add that add that into your your >> starting We're starting in about 10 days on that next calendar cycle. So, it's good. Well, I'm glad I I shoved that one right in there for you. So, >> [laughter] >> I liked it. Start school early and end school early. So, I might do like dual calendars because I do like the kids to be done early June. >> [laughter] >> That's it. That's all I got. Thank you, Amanda. Janice? Um yes, I had the pleasure of attending the um high school production of The Drowsy Chaperone. I have to say it was the best musical I've ever seen as far as pure enjoyment. Um and the talent, of course, is always amazing, but it was
080a wonderful evening and I was tempted and to go to all of the performances. That's how good it was. I haven't done that since my daughter was in all the shows. But um also, I was able to get to um High Crest Schools' Keen Foundation production of um The Wizard of Oz, and that was really good, too. We uh Silas Deane and the high school can look forward to a future of wonderful talent coming their way. I truly enjoyed that. Good job. Wonderful job to all of the students to um who participated and all the people backstage um who helped with that and all the grown-ups. So, thank you, everybody. It was wonderful. Anyone else? Marjorie? >> Yes. I choose uh saw The Drowsy Chaperone, and I remember when when Mr. Rhodes told me which
081musical he was picking this year, and he decided to go a little different, like something that wasn't as popular as he had done in the past, and it's his favorite musical. And um it was very delightful and fun and just more laughing I think I've done a seen in a musical in a long time, and they just did an outstanding job. The the cast. Um and I also want to mention that there was a change of the calendar when the high school was being redone, where spring break was in March. And that actually was really good cuz I got to go to Florida with my kids when it was in May [laughter] um in March instead of April vacation. So, uh but yeah, we have done that in the past, where we had to change
082slightly just to get something done with um with construction, something was happening. So, um and I just wanted just to uh remind people that we just sent out the the March newsletter. It's our second newsletter of the year um that came went out today on Parent Square and hopefully other ways. I'm going to try to get through um through the town website as well and um social media, and that's got a a little bit of everything and some information about the budget and um a lot of what just Amanda just said about the school construction cuz a lot of times people just don't aren't sure what's happening cuz it's been kind of quiet, but there's just so many behind-the-scenes things happening as far as having to pick an architect, having to get the construction manager.
083It's just a lot of work then we're getting you know, before we get really started and before that first shovel hits the ground. Um And then just want to say that remind people that the BIPOC um festival is going to be on April 30th, and it's going to be a great time. So, that's one of my favorite things to do every year. Thank you. Thank you. Jim? I went to the um High Crest PTO meeting that was March 12th. Uh they have a lot of events coming up like the Wolfpack and the Yard Goats. They've got a book fair upcoming. Uh they also had a presentation by a few of the teachers. Um one of them was on uh early literacy, and they also uh were discussing [music] how to best support the [clears throat]
084uh the budget and have all the reading items included. Thank you. Anyone else? Mindy? Um I I think last meeting I mentioned um the iftar at the high school, and um with my kids not being in the district yet, sometimes I don't know what is going on in the district. So, um I was I just loved seeing the photos of the iftars at all of the different schools throughout the district. I thought it was such a lovely community event, multiple community events. Um and you know, anecdotally I heard from families whose child was educating them on how to celebrate Ramadan and what Eid was and you know, what some of their friends at school do with their families um and the traditions they hold, and I just wanted to commend the community and the school
085district for having such inclusive learning opportunities. Um I agree that opportunities for Juneteenth curriculum would be just great going forward. I appreciate that we're not doing it just out of convenience this year, but with you know, keeping in mind just how nice it is to be able to share traditions across cultures. Um I saw some of the comments on the town Eid Mubarak post, um and frankly it was just horrified. And the fact that those came from grown-ups uh while our children are um know how to celebrate each other across cultures, just really stood out to me, and um so yeah, that's why I wanted to thank the community and the school district for doing what we do to um help each other recognize the beauty in our differences and celebrate things that are important
086to each of us. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Well, uh you know, I was disappointed I missed the vote at our last meeting for um Superintendent Witty's budget. And as a former Wethersfield teacher with degrees in early childhood and literacy, this budget's focus on early literacy for our newest students is a very smart, targeted remedy for a problem that always needs to be addressed. Studies show that learning to read well as a at a young age is crucial for success in school. When kids can read, they do better in all the subjects. The look of discovery on a 7-year-old's face when the letters make words and the words make sense is a magical moment in learning. And the Wethersfield Public Schools are so appreciative of the passing of the referendum to begin our project
087for new and renovated as new elementary schools in the next 10 years. So, we thank you, Wethersfield, for that. But it is essential that our budget also shows commitment to better education, especially in teaching kids to read. So, I urge everyone in our town to back this budget. This budget would reflect both our investment in our new schools and our commitment to helping our children succeed. Together, we can ensure that our kids have every chance to thrive. So, my vote, I vote yes for a budget that takes our referendum success into account and uses funds for targeting early reading intervention. So, thank you on that. Anyone else? So, is there any unfinished business? All right, and I do have to thank our kid cherry stayed the whole time. >> [laughter] >> Thank you very much.
088Oh, and we need to take a picture with Daniel, okay? So, don't run away. Um so, I make a motion to adjourn this meeting. Do I have a second? Second. Okay, all in favor? I. >> Opposed? Abstaining? Thank you all for joining us and good night.