001snowy cold evening and we are held in the town council chambers. The date is Tuesday, January 27th, 2026. And I want to remind you that this meeting is being recorded, so turn off your cell phones. Ellen, would you please do the roll call? Sure. Good evening everyone. Miss Ken Callen Carson >> here. >> Mr. Kerry, Miss Debbacco here. >> Mrs. Roberts here. >> Mrs. Drew here. Mrs. Gold >> here. >> Mr. Riley >> here. >> Vice Chair Mr. Lacavoli >> here. >> Chairperson Mrs. Granado >> present. >> And Weathersfield High School student representative Ms. Anushka Gandhi >> here. >> All present. >> Thank you. Okay. And Anushka, we have you lead us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
002republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> We did that in two parts. Thank you. I we don't have any student and staff recognition tonight. We didn't want them out in this weather. So, next on tonight's agenda is the approval of the minutes for our regular board of ed meeting on December 9th. Um, are there any corrections that you saw that we need to discuss? Okay. So, may I have a motion to approve the minutes? >> Motion. >> A second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Anybody opposed? Any abstensions? Those minutes are approved. We have another meeting of the board of ed hearing panel minutes on December 19th, 2025. Are there any corrections? >> Is this for an expulsion? >> Okay. >> Um,
003may I have a motion to approve those minutes? >> So moved. >> A second. >> Second. >> All in favor? I opposed. Any abstensions? Those minutes are approved. And >> I believe I have to abstain. I wasn't there. You don't really have to. >> No. So you don't. No. But okay. But >> you want to put it as abstaining? >> No. Not if I don't have to. >> You can if you want to. You can. >> Thank you. Yep. Nope. >> So you're not obaining. >> Not abstaining. >> Um in our last we had a workshop meeting of the board of ed on January 13, 2026. Are there any corrections? May I have a motion to approve those minutes? >> So moved. >> Okay. A second. Second. >> All in favor? I opposed. Any abstensions?
004Those minutes are approved. All right. Now, 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, your time is limited to five minutes. I won't even give you our reminder tonight because there's no one out there. Okay. Thank you. >> I'll get up at once. >> All right, Mr. Wibby, you're on next. You have communications for us. >> Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. Just a couple of updates uh for the month. Finance department's in the process of implementing a PC card, short for purchasing or procurement program for the entire school district. This is a nocost service offered through our existing relationship with Mnt Bank. Credit cards will be issued on behalf of Weathersfield Public Schools and they'll be
005emlazed with the WPS logo and taxexempt identification numbers. Cards will be utilized by building and department administrators for emergency purchase and for vendors that uh do not accept purchase orders. So, this is nice and it's fancy, but the real reason why we're doing this is um it helps it's it's very po it's seen very positively by the board's third party auditor. It's a measure uh of control and keeping an eye on good fiscal practices uh for the for the board. It helps control card spending and it limits to ensure fiscal responsibility. So, I applaud um I applaud uh director Kazaka for kind of making this happen. This is a good way to to keep an eye on uh a closer eye on the expenditures. Just shifting down to food services. I just as you know,
006we want to keep an eye on the uh you know, the the the money flow this year just as we had the change uh at the beginning of the year. The district average breakfast served this year uh through December has seen about a decrease of about 350 meals per day. That's a 72% decrease at the elementary schools. And the district average lunch served is down about 525 meals per day, which is a 33 uh% decrease over last year. and the district alleart service has increased by 17,000 or a gross 88,000 uh increase in sales for the year. So just so the board can kind of see how the expenditures have shifted, you know, across the different budget lines. Um although average meal counts are down, the program continues to be profitable each month. So the
007the lunch services is um not in the red which is unique. Many many school districts do run their school lunch programs um at a loss. So Weathersfield is in the black at this point in time. Um just some great news from the teaching and learning office. Weathersfield Public Schools uh had the festival, chorus, orchestra, and and uh band rehearsals underway under our the direction of Miss Sorro Mal Malahheiser and Miss Colleen Melo and Mr. Jacob Voychek. Um over 100 students in grades five and six are are involved. And over the weekend, our our Weathersfield kids were uh participating in the festival chorus concert and the festival band concert on Friday and Saturday. It was a uh all day events, I believe. And again, the festival orchestra concert also took part uh on Saturday. And I
008believe they all travel down to Bridgeport for that. It's a pretty big uh statewide um event. It's my understanding. I did not get to go get to go, but I I'm sorry I missed it. Um shifting down to um Weathersfield High School. On January 9th, we got great news uh for the high school. The high school was notified that we've earned a place on the advanced placement honor role at the bronze level. This is after years of hard work by the high school team and the uh Mr. Roberts uh committee uh moving many college ready courses into the catalog. Uh access to AP classes has been increasing steadily over the years uh under the direction of principal Okconor. This is amazing work all around. So kudos to our high school and uh the the great
009work that's been done uh here bolstering the course catalog. And on December 18th, Weathersfield High School hosted a career and technical education celebration breakfast at the Pitkin Center. I was able to to uh go and uh see so many of our wonderful high school students displaying career ready skills and talking about their internship opportunities uh that they're that they're going out on um that's headed up by principal O' Connor and um a and uh Mark over there at the high school, Mark Danaher uh getting kids out into relevant realworld experiences in the community. It was a it was a great culminating uh event by the kids. Um and I think madam chair that's a a good uh snapshot of some of the things that have been going on over the course of the last month.
010>> Okay. Thank you. And we can have a discussion. Correct. Any discussion, any comments, questions? I I have a question. Mr. Wy, can you give me or can Mr. Kazaka give me the uh definition of the emergency for the PC card. I totally understand, you know, the purchase order like issues in regards to having the car, but what would constitute an emergency? >> At the school level, if they have to go out that day for some type of product, it's a lot quicker to use a card. And we've been reimbursing staff for many years and volume has gotten to the appointment. Okay. Thank you. >> It just ups the ante on the accounting because the you know the card keeps really um you know specific um gives us really specific expenditure and reduces the opportunity
011for fraud. Not that we're worried about that but it just ups our internal controls. >> No, I just just double checking. So >> we promise we're really we're really strict about what they can use it for. Nobody wants to get slapped on the hand by director Kazaka. >> Any other questions or comments? Okay, we'll move on. Um there is no um action item tonight, so we'll move on from that to um this evening we have reports and discussion on our capital priority list. Um again, Mr. Woodby. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um before you we put together our first iteration. I'm I'm calling on reference 4. Uh >> should be reference three, although it says reference four on here. Um but it's our capital uh priority list. And we would plan on bringing this capital
012priority list first to the facilities committee twice a year uh to the finance committee once or twice a year and here to the full board once or twice a year for the board's review. And I just want to explain a little bit about what the capital priority list entails. Essentially, it sets the um sets the bar for needs across the schools. It engages our stakeholders, our teachers, our parents, our families, even our students and our principles in identifying what are needs in the building. And then that crosswalks that with the process of inspections. So twice a year we'll be inspecting all of our board of education facilities. Um once will be in the spring, the second time will be in August. And the reason for that is in the spring we're doing an assessment of
013the needs of the building. We're helping to compile this capital priority list or the things that really need to get done at the school level. Then we're coming back right before school starts, a couple weeks before we open school, and we're inspecting and rating the schools again, and giving them a score. And what it does is it lets us have some control on making sure school readiness is up to snuff. The things that we identify in the spring, we want to make sure that we get a lot of those completed uh for the opening of school. Now, at the same time, this is like killing two birds with one stone. It's helping us generate our priorities across the district. You know, it helps us identify things that are safe or unsafe or areas that are
014a threat. It show, you know, opportunities that that we can have. What we'll be doing is we'll be compiling lists for each of our campuses. And first, it'll be a facilities list. Second, it'll be an an IT list. And third, it'll be a security list. So, we're categorizing the things in in three areas. You know, I I'm urging the work with the PR the the principles at each building to have about 7 to 15 items per location. and then I'll as I can bring to your attention uh as we get down to page 21 through the through our board uh facilities committee will be kind of picking what makes the most sense for kind of like a district top 10 list. It could be 12, it could be 15. I like to say top 10
015because I love David Letterman. I say that all I tell that joke all the time, but it allows the board to have some input on what the highest priorities uh are across the district and it makes it easy for us to communicate our needs with the town. So, this is really the first iteration. We'll be calling um uh we'll be calling together a district-wide facilities committee this spring to work on the inspection criteria. We just have like a placeholder in here of a school inspection checklist from another place, but we're going to work on taking a look at this and making sure that these standards fit fit our needs here in in Weathersfield. And we do plan on going out and inspecting the facilities and coming back and reporting back to the board of education
016um twice, one in the spring and then like I said, one again uh over the summer. So, we look forward to communicating with the board on how the facilities are doing. And, you know, this is really this is a point in time where it's really important. Um, the the citizens of Weathersfield rolled up their sleeves and they very generously provided us with um with a referendum to support the elementary schools. And we want to show our citizens in Weathersfield that we're good stewards of their investments in the capital bestowed upon the board of education. and we appreciate their generosity and we want to take good care of the assets that the town has provided us with. And and so this is one of the four or five strategies that we will utilize moving forward to
017um preserve and extend the lifespan of these buildings. We want to make sure that we're getting a good 50 or 60 years out of these new buildings that will be coming online over the course of the next six or seven years. So, like I said, this is our first measure and um this report will get more robust, more accurate and um more engaged with by our stakeholders over time. So, I'll pause now for um for questions or discussion. Madam Chair, >> um I would like to say for the right from the start, shared services has been very involved in this, but we've never had a way to say here's the list. Um it hasn't been as concrete as I know I would like it and I think we need the input from this the principles
018and this is such a great list. Um any other comments, Amanda? And Amanda's on our building committee. >> I I am. So I'm very excited about this. Um not only because we have the new buildings and we have to show the residents and the taxpayers that we are being responsible but this also um is the very first step towards um while it might have been something we've done internally. This is actually something that we're showing the public and it's more of transparency and it shows and it proves that the board of ed really wants to make sure that the public knows um what is going on with our schools, what where we see the problems are, you know, um so that they know that we know and I think this is a really great step
019um towards the uh transparent one of the uh issues of communication that we have. So, I really I appreciate it and I I look forward to uh going through this one. So, thank you. >> Well said. Thanks, Amanda. Yeah. >> Anyone else? Mar Marjorie? >> Oh, yes. I I concur with Amanda because it it I I know a lot of times like me as a parent and other people who've gone through like one elementary school, it takes seven years and maybe more if you have multiple children and you have this sense that things need to get fixed or something. You know, you might hear it from the principal at a PTO meeting. Uh you might notice a new rug. Um but you do have this sense like what's, you know, what's getting done and what's
020not. and and that the I would say the town manager has done a good job in the last year or so in his report that comes out every two weeks of kind of listing kind of what's been done at the schools. Um but it's kind of you know it's not it doesn't tell you what we need. It just you know so this is kind of a better way of kind of listing all our needs and and prioritizing. I do have a question. Um, how does this coincide with budget the budget time for town council when they're going to be making decisions on capital improvements and also like I guess this will just be part of the process, but they if they you know them knowing more, each council person knowing more um cuz sometimes it'll
021be like they someone tells them they happen to have a conversation in a restaurant with some constituent and they hear about a playcape or they hear about this and you know they hear about random things and then they start to advocate for those things. But um it would be nice to know kind of like how we're going to like bring the town council in and and timing it with the budget. >> What a great question. So the I'll give you the two answers. Um so the answer is for informing this year's budget. >> It's it's not that great because it really it requires a full 12 month cycle of gathering information and evidence to to derive kind of the outcomes. Now, our timeline will be as we conclude inspections in August and we start making
022budgetary decisions and assembling this list, we'll have this capital priority list through the facilities committee in September and we'll present it to the finance committee uh hopefully in October, November at the latest. So, that will put us in the catbird seat to include it as a budget. This will be a budget artifact for us for next school years. This year it's helpful. We've got some ideas. We, you know, we've gathered things on the list. Next year, this will have cycled through um school committees, two inspections, uh hopefully two uh subcommittees, and the full board before we hit this point of the budget. So, it'll be evolving Marjgery. Um and and we're hoping that this will become a great tool for board decision makingaking in future years, but you know, you you have to start it
023somewhere. So, we're starting it for the next kind of 12-month cycle. So, next year, I'm really hoping that this becomes a valuable and as Amanda put it, a very transparent public tool for uh for the community. >> Right. I would also say that Sally Katz the last couple of budget cycles has done a great job at doing a budget presentation of what needs to get done and she's paying very close attention to the schools and what they need and she knows very well as well. But it's more like she knows we don't always know and we don't always know how that and not everyone's looking at that presentation and so there's just bits and pieces happening and definitely people are looking at things but it's not like a um holistic kind of system I feel
024like. So, this this will hopefully bring that bring that around. Um, and does it include outside and inside because there's always that issue of like an outside Okay, >> absolutely. >> Um, I I I guess I don't have anything completely new to add, but I want to echo what Amanda was saying and uh Mr. Ruby, it's like you've been listening to our constituents all summer and the past year that we have been um working toward passing this referendum. Um people really wanted to know that there was a strategy in place for maintaining the investments that that taxpayers are making in our schools. and it is a worthy conversation and um I think just to the point that there's going to be a holistic strategy and a formalized process is just so exciting um and just
025feels like a direct response to community needs. So I'm very much looking forward to this. >> I was just going to say I think this is a really good first step towards sort of quote unquote taking our schools back. Um, I remember when I first got on the board of ed 5 years ago and I was told, "Oh, uh, we control what goes on in the schools, but we don't own the schools through the shared services model." And the town was responsible for what was going on with the physical buildings, basically. And I was just sitting back and looking at how things were going. And I thought, uh, it might save us a little money here and there, but it really sort of leaves the physical buildings in limbo. um I felt like things weren't
026getting done that should have been getting done and that's because this stuff wasn't going on. Um so I'm really looking forward to the next budget season um when there's going to be stuff from the August inspections hopefully in our budget or hopefully to discuss. Um, but I feel like this is a good step in sort of un undoing the shared services model and and making sure that our the people that are in our schools are reporting what they see um in terms of what our schools look like and feel like. Um, yeah. No, I think this is a good step. Uh, the ball the ball is rolling um in terms of that. So, thank you Jeff. I just wanted to say it's a long time coming. So, this is uh much appreciated and and glad
027I'm glad that there's such focus on this. You know, the taxpayers have been asking about this. So, I'm glad that it's finally addressed and after these schools get renovated, we should never ever be in the position again where we have $60 million of repairs just to >> have our buildings up to snuff. So, thank you. >> Thank you. I was just Okay. I was just going to make the comment that this is proactive, too. We're we're going to be on top of this. We've had the philosophy of a band-aid for all these years because we just didn't have the information. I love this. This is a great test. >> And Madam Chair, I'm I was remiss. our building principles, our head custodians, our security director, Barabal, our IT director, uh, uh, Jim Dagan, and, um,
028and Sally Catz and and Juan, uh, were all heavily involved in putting this together. They all were the ones that, uh, helped us prioritize. So, I really have to give kudos to all of those folks who helped us put uh put this together and um it's it's ready and waiting for us to kind of deliberate and talk more as as the months kind of go on. >> Actually, to to um to Bobby's point about the proactive nature of this, it it might be worth just stating um when we talk about needs, it's not just what needs repair, right? It's like what is Well, I guess it it counts as repair, but it's not like what needs um a band-aid tomorrow. It's, you know, the proactive nature of this roof need is going to need to
029be done in 20 years, so let's put that over in this category. And I I think um you know, I've heard you talk about just the the 20-year time horizon that we're thinking about this on, which I think is also um very important. We talk a lot in the referendum about the 20-year maintenance plan, and you know, people are uh community members are really looking for us to have strategic oversight, not just over what is broken and needs fixing tomorrow, but what's coming down the pipe and how we can proactively space some of those big capital projects out. So, just wanted to make that. >> Thank you. >> This will be one of the big three things that we work on. capital priority list, preventative maintenance plan, and as Mindy mentioned, our 15 to 20
030year master plan. Um, that will kind of list and schedule out all of these projects over time. Matt, >> I just have a quick question, Jeff. Um, so you mentioned that the buildings will be inspected and then items will be put on these lists twice a year, once in spring, once in August. Um, do so do you foresee all of these boxes being filled in in the spring or do you think it's going to be like most of it in the spring and then it'll be more refined in August? I'm just wondering why twice a year and how much how much is it going to change between spring and August? >> Shouldn't change a lot between the spring and the August, but what we'd like to do is we would like to come up with
031a scoring system and I would love this to be part of the board's dashboard. you know, the data that we look at, um, maybe a score of like a zero to four, and it's important to see that the buildings are always incrementally improving from the spring to the end of the summer. Um, it drives me crazy when I see something that's broken and it's not fixed in like May or June and then I come like the week or two before school opens and I see the same thing not fixed. So, it helps us build internal accountability more than anything. What might go onto the list? I think between the spring and August, it might be limited. I'm sure that there will be some ads, >> but um >> so I don't know if I answered
032your question properly, Matt, but um there'll be there'll be some ads, but >> you know, it's really it's a it's it's it's completing multiple functions. It's helping us have internal account accountability. It's helping us get um stakeholder voice and it's also helping us plan and prioritize strategically um with with a long range and it's engaging lots of stakeholders as it kind of moves across the board and our our um you know our staff as well. So it really it's it's building a consensus or an agreement towards what's important to us. >> Thank you. I over answered that question. >> Okay. >> I'm sorry. >> Okay. Anyone else? Okay. We can move on to our superintendence entry plan. And before you start, I just have to say this was at home. I was reading it and
033during all the snow. This is one of the finest pieces I've read that has come from the Weathersville public schools. I mean there's been many so I shall say it is the best but I have this is like first of all I was like walking down memory lane in some of them as you you go through things and you think but I loved how it's clear um you have just you've just pegged it. This is really a beautiful piece for us to follow. Thank you. Heat. Heat. Pops here. Ready to go. Madam chair. Over the past several months, I've I've had I've found that uh every conversation, every classroom visit, and every document I've reviewed puts something new about Weathersfield Public Schools. Each interaction I jumped the gun, Jim, are we good? >> No. pressing
034buttons that I should with each interaction my understanding deepened about the schools. With that deeper understanding came the need to revise, refine, sometimes rethink what I believed I had learned. I was having kind of trouble putting this project to bed. Like even as late as like a week and a half ago, I'm like, I got to write some more and appreciate Miss Under Hill's firm. Will you wrap it up? Okay. type of commentary cuz I really love the work. Um it was just so much fun meeting people, learning about the school, talking to the kids, talking to the teachers, talking, talking to the families. It was uh such a wonderful experience. At a certain point, I did realize that this work is not about arriving at a final fixed conclusion. It's about capturing the most
035honest and accurate picture possible at this moment in time, knowing that my perceptions will continue to evolve as I listen and learn alongside of the Weatherfield community. This entry report reflects what I've come to understand so far grounded in the voices and experiences of many people who who have welcomed me into their classrooms, offices, and conversations. And as a responsive leader, I know it is my responsibility not simply to present findings, but to remain engaged, open, and attentive to the ongoing insights of our students, staff, families, and community partners. This report is a milestone, not an end point, and I look forward to continuing this learning journey together as we shape the future of Weatherfield Public Schools for the many years to come. So tonight I want to share the three front sections of my
036report. I want to go over the processes, methods and timeline, current state summary and our vision for the future or like the executive summary. So I'll start with just the ent entry process methods and timeline. Purpose of the entry process was designed to build shared evidence-based understanding priorities as I begin my 10 somewhat quasi maybe not so much scientific way to build chew gum at the same time build shared evidence-based understandings of weatherfield strengths needs and priorities. priorities. As I begin my tent work directly informs the state of the Weathersfield Schools report, the upcoming budget recommendations. I want to talk to you a little bit about the scope of engagement. So from July 1st through November 1st, I conducted structured and comprehensive entry processes that included document and data review, pool and classroom visits. Those
037are my favorite interviews with school and district leaders, teacher and staff focus group interviews, conversations with parents, community members, and students, community survey. I comm I conducted a community survey over the summer. Total of 266 participating participants completed the survey. Total I met formally with 364 plus stakeholders whose perspective shaped the findings. If you had asked me in July, Jeff, what would be success? How many people would you have liked to have talked to? I would have said, if I get to 150, 200 people, I would be really happy. When Kristen told me um when we came back to after the holidays like what are we up to? She was like 360 people. Um I was really I couldn't believe it. I knew we had talked to a lot of people but um I was
038really pleased that we had a good good number of uh of folks. Um you know to focus on the findings the entry work surfaced clear themes related to student achievement trends, program effectiveness, staffing and class size considerations, facility and resource needs. These these findings form the foundation for initial strategic priorities and future budget implications. In December, I started to write this report and I realized as I started to put it together and I and I wrote a lot of I fleshed it out, I wanted to make sure that I had heard things correctly. I had this like fear kind of set over me. What if I didn't ask enough people? What if I didn't ask the right questions? What if I didn't hear things right? What if? What if? What if? And I really felt
039the need to do a verification process. So, I decided to take some of the findings and go back to the schools particularly under teaching and learning because that was the one section that just popped. I mean as you as you have if you have an opport as you have an opportunity to kind of go through the report you'll see there'll be several paragraphs in various areas teaching and learning was more than five or six pages. I just felt like I want to go back and check with the certified staff one more time. So again, Miss Underh Hill, who says making my calendar and my schedule is like managing um a Tetris game on full speed all the time, had to add some more of the weird blocks into the schedule at once. And I went
040out and um went to a couple faculty meetings at different schools. I went to teacher leadership meetings. I had principal leadership meetings where some of them came in and I asked them three questions. What did I get right with this report? What did I get wrong with this report? And what did I miss? And so with the new boss people, you know, a lot of agreement, what did I get wrong? At first, I was noticing they didn't want to say anything and I was like, no, it's okay. you can tell me what I got wrong because actually it was just what you told me, you know. I'm like, so it's it's okay. This is, you know, this is a safe zone. But at first, I noticed like people didn't want to say you were Mr.
041Wibby, you were wrong about this. So I had to like show them like, no, it's okay to tell me that I missed something. And I got through that at each in each situation. But it was it led to great robust conversations. And I found that this step strengthened my report. It strengthened the credibility of the findings and assured that the final report was more reflective of the lived experiences. It's not perfect. It probably, you know, it's never perfect unless you have 100% of everybody telling you that. And you know, that would take me nine years. So I'll I'll be excited to do an exit report in like 921. But I just I can't tell you how much I appreciated the opportunity to do this. Well, that's a little bit about, you know, the process and
042the background of of what what went on. Now, I kind of want to I'd like to move forward to the current state summary. And that would be, you know, the the second part here. So, as we kind of start with the summary or the state of Weatherfield Public Schools, Madame Chair, honorable members of the board of education, Weatherfield Public Schools stakeholders, I'm here to tell you the state of Weathersfield Public Schools is positive and ascending. Quickly, before I share the current state, I want to begin with something very important. Weathersfield has a very good school system. You have people, your teachers, your specialists, your support staff, your leaders who care deeply about kids, who work incredibly hard every single day. What stood out to me throughout this entry process is not only their dedication, but
043their general genuine desire to grow. staff are deeply invested in their own professional growth and in the growth of the system as a whole and their students. That is one of Weathersfield's greatest strengths. Kind of foundation that allows a district to improve, to innovate, and to move forward together. You are in really good hands with the people that you employ here in Weathersfield Public Schools. We have everything we need to be best. I also want to acknowledge the steady leadership of this board. Your long-term focus on student achievement, staff support, and overall health of the system provides a strong foundation for our work together. That comes out loud and clear. And the folks that are in the trenches feel that way as well. Perhaps most striking about Weathersfield is the civic pride of this community.
044Weathersfield shows up for its schools in ways that are rare through volunteerism, attendance at events, and the way families speak about their experiences. That pride is lived every day. Same time, stakeholders across the district expressed a clear desire for more coherent district-wide leadership by level. Without unified direction, we've seen inefficiencies and ine inequities emerge with schools and departments, sometimes operating in parallel rather than in partnership. Strengthening coherence is essential to ensuring consistent expectations and highquality learning opportunities for every student. Major theme in the findings is the need stronger alignment among scheduling, staffing, and student needs. Too often intervention time, specialist assignments, and planning structures are shaped by adult availability rather than a unified vision for learning. It's like the tail wagging the dog. We want to take control of those expectations, set those expectations in
045stone, and make sure that we protect those times. Um again, a more integrated talent management system, clearer roles, competency aligned hiring. What this looks like is identifying what's an ideal teacher look like for Weathersfield Public Schools. making that vision of a perfect Weatherspield teacher and going out proactively and seeking that set of attributes for our teachers. Um, competency. Okay. Targeted professional learning and consistent feedback cycles. We want to make sure that our staff have a say or have agency in what professional development looks like. I heard that a lot. We also saw significant role confusion across systems. Families often bypassed school level channels and went directly to town officials or board of ed members which created frustration or slowed the problem solving process down. clarifying roles in reinforcing communications pathways will be will be critical
046to improving customer service and spent the better part of July dealing with fact that nobody really knew where to go who was the right person to go. It's frustrating for everybody. People want to have solutions and we want to provide customer service-like solutions to our families and our staff. Communication emerged as a particular challenge at at our middle school. Families expressed a need for more structured, predictable updates about student progress. While communication at the elementary and high school levels was largely positive, SDMS requires more intentional systems to support. Transitions both into and out of SDMS were described as stressful for students, staff, and family. Concerns about discipline expectations for all student experiences. transition points require more coordinated support to reduce academic and social emotional. I heard a great deal of dissonance between our our stakeholders
047about this. When I was talking to the staff at SDMS, they asked we need stronger behavioral supports and families interestingly said that they felt like sometimes it it felt overly punitive. So we heard stakeholders saying different things and I think there's just dissonance and and expectations and I think we can help with that and clarify and set up communication structure. We'll get to that um later when we talk about our vision forward. Finally, the condition of our elementary facilities remains. Any buildings lack systems and spaces needed for modern teaching and learning. Town's recent decision to advance a major capital initiative is an important turning point and it underscores the need for more coherent long-term approaches to facilities akin to what we were talking about here today with capital priority list. That's one of the first
048initial steps you know that we need to consider. Now, I'd like to move to the second part of the executive summary or the vision for the future. Before I get started with this, I just want to explain it a bit. As I share this vision for the future of Weathersfield Schools, I want to frame it both as aspirational and grounded in what I've learned from our staff, family, students, and partners. This is not a distant ideal. It's a direction shaped by the strengths we already possess and the opportunities that emerge through the entry process. What you will hear will will reflect where we are headed as a district and will be committed to coherence, clarity, and continuous forward-looking roadmap that builds on the dedication of our people and the pride of this community. and it
049outlines the system we will put in place to ensure every student experience consistent highquality learning across all schools. Ultimately, I'll plan to build our systems for three student developmental benchmarks. You'll hear me talking about these frequently. Number one, we're always going to strive for 100% of our students reading at grade level by the fourth grade. This is an important developmental benchmark because if children are not reading at grade level by by grade three, by the end of grade three, there's a higher statistical prevalence that they will be incarcerated by age 19 going on to higher education. That's a national statistic. That's why third grade reading is a very important benchmark for us to focus on. Second, 100% of students will successfully achieve credit in algebra 1 by the eighth grade is a high as highlighted
050by our SOP. I la the board of education. Your strategic plan that we're in the middle of calls for just that, successful completion of algebra 1 by the eighth grade. This is important because if kids don't have algebra 1 under their belt by the eighth grade, it closes choices and decisions in 12th grade. They won't be able to take advanced calculus courses. They could, but they're going to have to double up a couple of times at the high school. And we're not saying we expect every kid to take advanced calculus. I didn't take advanced calculus when I was a senior cuz it wasn't necessary on my pathway. We're not telling all the kids that they have to. But we don't want to tell the kids that they can't. That's the key. We want to make
051sure that each one of those doors is open for the kids and the kids can walk through any of those doors that they choose. We don't want any of those doors closed for them. And that's why algebra 1 and 8th grade is such a for us to consider as a team. Third and finally, 100% of students will engage in career and college readiness experiences and achieve highlighted by our vision of the graduate. A high school is on a great pathway. They're far ahead of many other area high schools in setting up these career and college pathways. You're going to hear from Principal Okconor tonight uh a little bit about the program of studies. This board has been steadily increasing college ready experiences for kids and we're steadily increasing career pathway experiences for kids as they're
052increasing the level and the number of credentials that they can get that show that they're career ready and they're gaining experiences and internships. I was really impressed with the high number of our kids in two or three years. Siobhan and I would like to see north of 100 150 of our juniors and seniors out one period a day towards the end of the day out doing shadowing internship experiences getting prepared to get those relevant um experiences to deepen their learning. I always like to tell that story. Uh when I was up at Yukon and I took physics at Yukon, I remember feeling inadequate in math. I saw how important math was and I fooled around probably too much in math in high school. I didn't pay enough attention, I think. And then when I got
053into physics, I was like, "Oh man, I wish I paid attention more in high school in algebra and wasn't passing notes to the girls all the time like I probably was doing." But what I noticed was I accelerated through algebra on my own because I wanted to learn about it because physics was so cool and I was so motivated and that's why when kids go out and they have those types of experiences and internship it turns the light on on what why that learning is important and that's why those types of experiences are important for us to program as we move forward. We want to give the kids these great classes, but we also want to put alongside them those great experiences because it builds that relevance for the kids um and they understand why
054they're learning about that algebra one. Okay, first and foremost talking about my vision here. Weathersfield Public Schools. I'm a continuously improving learning organization. I'm an incremental, persistently growing learning organ. We will operate as a coherent student- centered system where scheduling, staffing, and instructional supports are intentionally aligned to meet every learner's academic and social emotional needs. We will protect instructional time, strengthen our supports. Weathersfield Public Schools will always place our highest needs learners in supportive instruction with our highest skilled staff. Our schools will be organized around protected time for highquality instruction and intervention. Staff will have clear role expectations and decisions will be guided by timely, meaningful data. at the right moment. This is what it'll look like. We'll build a strong, empowered workforce. Strengthen talent management systems through competency aligned hiring, targeted professional learning, and
055consistent back cycles. Cultivate a skilled empowered workforce capable of delivering on our instructional vision. Number four, we will establish systemwide role clarity. The district will implement a clear coherent system of role clarity to strengthen communication, responsiveness, and accountability. I'm looking forward to the board's decorum and civility policy, which we'll be looking at soon, and it'll anchor respectful, productive engagement. will update job descriptions and user-friendly responsibility charts will guide families and staff in understanding who handles what in each level of the system so our families and stakeholders will know who to call and how can we help. We will strengthen uh SDMS communication and family partnerships. Middle school will adopt more intentional growth focused structures for communication. We will have regular conferences, datainformed check-ins, and clear progress tools which will ensure every family has a consistent
056window into their child's learning. These practices will deepen partnerships and help students take greater ownership of their growth. Number six, we will work to create a grade 5 through six intermediate school at web. district will move towards establishing a dedicated grade five six intermediate school to better support early adolescence. We will have a special focus on what fifth and sixth graders need to be successful. This model will provide developmentally appropriate structures, clearer behavioral expectations, and more gradual transitions into academic rigor. Grade five and six is when kids start to grapple with extremely rigorous math problems. They need to conquer these so that they can be successful in those seventh and eighth grade pre-alggebraic and algebraic skills that the learning curve is off the charts for kids in seventh and eighth grade when it comes to
057mathematics. Um, it's just one of those things where it's a sharp uptake in uh in rigor and we want to make sure fifth and sixth grade gets the kids prepared for that. We will have a strong STEM focus to prepare students for advanced and rigorous concepts at the middle level. We will set our kids up for future success at at our middle school. Weathersfield Public School's vision of a graduate pathway will guide benchmarks for successful transitions from elementary to SDMS and equally for our kids going from the middle school up to the high school. Finally, we will advance long-term facility stewardship. Weathersfield Public Schools will adopt a comprehensive capital planning framework to protect new investments and ensure all facilities remain safe, modern, and instructionally aligned. This includes clear capital priorities, proactive maintenance, routine inspections, transparent
058reporting, and coordinated planning with the town. By anticipating needs rather than reacting to them, we will create learning environments worthy of the pride this community holds. This point I want to close with gratitude. I want to show my deep appreciation for the Weathersfield community. want to acknowledge the extraordinary generosity, patience, and openness shown by students, families, staff, leaders, community partners, and board members. Pride and support expressed for our schools were evident in every conversation and every classroom visit. I was especially moved by the professionalism and the dedication of our teachers, specialists, support staff, and leaders daily efforts sustain student learning and school culture. A personal reflection standpoint over these months, I've truly come to care deeply for Weathersfield school community. Warmth, commitment, and shared belief in our students potential have inspired me. I am energized
059by the work ahead and grateful for the trust placed in me as we move early insights to thoughtful action and lasting progress. The moment I'd like to pause for board of ed initial comments and questions, but I also want to kind of lay out what I'm thinking for our next steps ultimately at our next February workshop. I'd like to dig in deeper to appendix A in the finding sections and spend 15 or 20 minutes and present to you some specifics. Um, and then that would lead to further board of ed discussion and questions. But with that, Madam Chair, I'll pause now for comments or questions that the board members have at this time. >> Okay. Anyone for comment or questions? Dennis, I just um was so excited reading this um over the weekend to actually
060have a road map, a cohesive plan coordinated and where people really know what they're supposed to be doing and the, you know, no role confusion and that together with um the maintenance plan. I just I'm blown away. We've never seen anything like this. and um and reading it, I thought, of course, this this makes sense. This is great. So, thank you so much for all of this. This is a lot of work and um we I am so excited to see it happen over time. >> Okay. >> The best part about it is everybody in our community helped, right? I just wanted to say um thank you and you know I think when we when we hired you we're looking at you know change is it's it can be difficult and it can be either
061one of two things you can stick with what you have in the past or you can make an inroad and do something new and I think um I think everyone here on the board is supportive of of you know we're going to do something different we're going to make some changes We're going to try to improve things. We're going to shake them up. And that comes from, you know, from the top. So, um, much appreciated, um, by myself and and the board. >> I just wanted to say that I really appreciate your willingness to not only just meet with the school and the staff, but to also meet with parents, um, non-parents, and and us with the board. Um, and I I really um it warms my heart to know that you recognize how much
062everybody here loves Weathersfield and how much we're willing to like fight for it and uh you know even this board um no matter what our political affiliation, we all really get along and we really you know know what what our goal is in mind and we appreciate that. And um there was one thing that you said that I just we have everything we need to be the best. And so I think that right there just tells you we have it. And uh so now we just need to show everybody. So thank you. >> I was just going to say you've only been here 6 months. It already feels like you've been here a year at least through all the stuff that you've shown us. I'm looking forward to seeing where where you're at and where
063we're at once we actually hit a year. Um yeah, but no, this presentation and this project that you've undertaken so far is just I think it's like everything that we've been looking for. Uh >> yes. >> Yeah. A fresh set of eyes, uh fresh ideas, fresh energy, all of that. And I I feel like thus far I've seen all of that. And appreciate it, Jeff. And I so appreciate this. And as I was reading it over the weekend, as many of our us were, I thought I should have my strategic plan here and Jeff's state of the schools here because now we've got we've got everything. We've got the roadmap. We have the knowledge of what's out there and we have the strategic plan to get us where we want to go. So, I can't
064thank you enough. I'm telling you, this is a bestseller. It's great. Thank you. >> Anyone else? I would just say I I really appreciate this and I also like it was like a listening tour, you know, for you and I know you kind of intimidated like sometimes you didn't know if they were wanted to be honest or they were afraid to be honest, but you were like, "No, really, just tell me." Like, and I I so much rather have that be how we find out about things or how we find out. like everyone is so well educated, all these staff members, all the teachers, everybody, and they all have ideas and um and being listened to and just hearing them out, even if maybe it's something that you can't do anything about right now. Um
065but I'd rather hear about these things now than in an exit interview. Um and and also just taking everyone's good ideas and seeing what you can do with it, you know, moving forward. Um because we it sounds like we have all the parts. We just need to figure out how to how to put them back in a in a way that works best. have great parts. It's easy to see. >> Anyone else? Okay. >> I look forward to the work ahead with the board of education partnering to build our vision and our strategies uh to to move this ball down the field. >> Thank you very much. like I should. Okay, we have one more report tonight on our Weather High School course catalog overview and I think Siobhan O' Conor is coming up. Thank
066you. Thank you very much. So, this is probably the shortest presentation I will ever Mr. uh Superintendent Web did mention the course pathways. So, I'm going to have Mr. Sutton bring that up so I can show you the complete version of that that's now available for parent. Um, so as always, thank you for the opportunity to be here. I I enjoy coming here and bragging about our school and the changes that we're making. Um, in my five years now at the high school, this is the shortest number of changes that we're making this year. So, I don't know if that's good or bad, but I think it just means that we're we're running in the right direction. Um, I think as you know, as you've heard, um, for those of you who have been here,
067for those of you who are new to us, um, my my role really is, um, and my driving force are two things. We want to make sure that every student has access to rigorous curricula, but that every student who needs support also is getting that support to be successful. The changes that we're making this year are reflective of that. Um, so really only two new courses. Um, one of them is pseudo new. Um, one of them is moving our um, pre-calculus honors class to an AP pre-calculus. Um, when we really looked at the curriculum of the that the college board was offering for this experience, it was only two we definitely knew we had the time to make that shift, but it's also another opportunity for students to access college credit within the high school
068environment. Last year alone, we had 300 tests representing about 125 students who all got threes or above on their AP test. Look at the average cost of a three credit college class in the New England area, we saved families potentially a million dollars. I believe that we are also a customer service environment and with two children in college, I really appreciate that savings and I know that our families here in Weathersfield. If we can make that easy shift to the honors pre-calculus curricula, it's again offering another opportunity for our students. So that that was an easy win and an easy shift for us. And the first year that we do offer that does mean that we do not offer honors pre-calculus. It's a replacement pretty much the same exact. We'll see that change. Um the
069other piece that we're going to be doing in the math department is we're going to be offering geometry with lab. Geometry with lab class offers our typical geometry curricula um but with one additional period. So for those of you who know our schedule and certainly knows it well um we do a six drop two or an eight drop two. So that means we're having six classes a day. You're missing two of your classes. For those students who have a geometry or an algebra class with lab, they meet actually they get an additional period to really look at remediation of skills. could be um skills that they didn't have from previous algebra experiences that are limiting their ability to understand. We want all of our students to master that geometry curriculum so they are eligible and
070ready to take algebra 2. That that is the kind of entry way for almost all of our higher level math classes is successful completion of algebra 2. Want everyone to be there, right? might not want to take it, but it's one of those classes that almost every student who is college going into the college prem area really does need to take and first in. And so we really want all of our students to be able to have certainly love the vision of algebra algebra within the eighth grade class that would open up a lot more FTE in my building to offer those higher level math class. Um but in that interim period while we're making that shift it's really really important that we provide these supportive classes. Also as a current resident now I can
071say I'm also always really making sure that we're doing this with a zero budget implication if possible. Um so the way that we're able to offer that this year is we had a new course last year called advanced mathematical decisionmaking. um for next year we're going to shift that down to a halfyear class to open up some FTE that allows us to offer this geometry with one class. Um we felt that that is really where the need is and so that's a more um efficient pragmatic use of our FTE within the math department rigorous curriculum that that would be the offset in order to make this change possible. Other two things are simple name changes. So we have our in our culinary department we had nutrition one, nutrition 2 and then our culinary arts. Um
072what we found is that they are super popular. Everyone would like to take those classes. Um and the original um outline that was developed was that you would have to take all three courses in order to or all both of those two courses to really access our culinary art. They're so popular and I could run our culinary classes every single period of the day. um can't do that with the amount of FTE I have. So we really looked at what what do we want and if we want our students to be accessing that highle culinary arts class. Let's break down those barriers. We've really shifted nutrition one to cooking, nutrition to baking, and you can take one of those classes in order to access your culinary arts. That will open up more doors, allow people
073to be in that culinary class. Um, and look, if you were at the uh the breakfast for our CTE department and our internship, our students catered that event. That is our culinary program. So, that is real world experience, being able to cater, budget, do all of those things. We want more students having that experience that can fill that class over and over again. We're excited about that change. We really think it'll allow more students to be in that classroom. Um other two small changes is concert orchestra is now called chamber orchestra and um to lessen the confusion about what exactly is ecology and evolutionary biology. We simplified it. It's environmental science. So we're hoping more kids understand what it is so they take that class because it really is a lot of people's passions but
074they just we don't think understood exactly what the course is. And so we're trying to be a little more clear in our descriptions to ensure we're accessing the high level class. That is the summary of our course um changes, but this is uh something that we've been working on at the high school is currently attached to our course catalog. We are working very hard on making sure those pathways at Superintendent Whibby um are present and in information for our students. Again, this has really not been rolled out much at the high school at all. So you're getting kind of a sneak peek of who from but we've identified these 11 different pathways um that we have courses that will support students um who are interested in these fields from STEM, marketing, law and public safety,
075consumer family sciences, education, etc. So for every pathway as we scroll down into the document it will list all of the courses kind of a description of what is this pathway what are related careers associated with this pathway what are recommended on this side is recommended courses kind of those core courses within this pathway additional courses and the exciting new development and if you've been following some of the things that are happening at the state is what are the micro credentials that students could get um within each of these pathways. And so this is all work that we've been doing through our teaching and learning department um connected with our internship and career counseling department and myself trying to all kind of get all of us on the same page so we can really offer
076these true experiences for kids beyond the classroom and give them another opportunity, another leg up as they're building building their resume here at Witherspoon. We'll continue this work and integrating this within kind of all of our courses, but kind of our our first beta edition. Sweet. Siobhan, I'm so excited of all of these courses. I was probably most excited about your description of that geometry with the supported section. That is exactly what I was talking about in my entry plan. When I learned that you guys were doing that, that just made my day. Um, kudos to the to the whole package. But I'm very very excited about this. >> Um I I remember reading through the um geometry and the algebra with the lab curriculums and I was just really struck by the idea of
077having the lab for those and how helpful that would be. Um and how I would have really liked that too. And also the baking and cooking classes are so much more than baking and cooking. They're thinking about marketing. They're thinking about managing their bit their own business. They're um they're such wonderful full courses. They're really wonderful. So, thank you for doing all that. Thanks. >> Anyone else? Marjorie. >> Um I the lab that's like is that like two years in a row we've been doing that those? >> Correct. Yep. So we currently have um English 9 with lab and algebra with lab. Um what we did find based on our standardized test scores not seeing as much done our data isn't showing that we need it right. Um, I love how many more classes you
078guys have been offering since my daughter was a freshman. Um, as far as like college ready and EC and career pathways and um, it's just an amazing difference. It is an amazing difference and I'm so glad you got this award. And what does do you know what the I don't need to put you on the spot. What does bronze mean? >> Sure. So um, it's it's the level. Um, so we were go >> you're on the podium. >> You're on Right. We've made it to the podium. Um, I can give you the specifics. I can actually send it to Mr. Ruby. so he can send it out to you. We're actually in it's three different scores. One is around the percentage of students taking tests. One is about the actual percentage of students who are
079successful with within the test. And then what is the school offering? And so we're at different levels in each of those areas which equals bronze. Like we were gold in one area but bronze in two others. So equal to bronze. I don't I don't like how the judges did that. >> Yeah. >> But I'll take it. I'll take it for all of these years. And then my final comment with like with all you know I've always been on this subject about all the APs and all the ECAs. Is there a way and we don't have to do it this year but is there a way that like as cuz I was reading the whole catalog and I read it really I'm really obsessed with the catalog all the time and I'm like oh I wish
080I could take that and all the great courses have been added over the years. um acting, I mean all these like great electives, but um just one page of all ECA AP uh career path like all the different classes that are offered that could a kid like somewhere in the catalog in the future just one page saying so that people can see it all of it and one page because when you go through the catalog you see it eventually on under the math and but it would be great for parents to see like all the possibility. We actually took that feedback and we had um our eighth grade parent night is coming up February 4th if you'd like to come and see that show. It's a great show. >> Our kids do a phenomenal job.
081Um we actually adjusted our presentation for that to highlight um all the great things that we do offer at the high school and so that will actually be a part of that so I can easily enter. >> Yeah. And it's also just like cuz you have to plan some of it. And I think you know some of like some are offered every year or some and and um that would also be like just knowing that knowing that in advance like these are offered every other year. I are they still do every other year classes? We've been trying to at least put them as options within the catalog to take on what are the options that we can offer based on both student interest and an FTE allocation. So we try to run as many as
082possible. Like for example, we used to offer physics C on the off years. What we've decided to really do is put it out there every single year and see if we have enough students who want to take it. Oh, we've actually been more successful at that model than the the older model prior to to my being there is every other year offering, >> right? Like AP Euro it was like every other year and then if you didn't realize it was wasn't offered. Yeah. So Oh, that's great. I think I s noticed that in the catalog like it's still everything's offered and that's more like the college experience like the college will just take off a section if they don't get enough people in the class and then that those students then have to find another
083class but it it gauges interest. >> Yeah. And that's we tell people all the time you're salespeople of your own courses. If you love you have a passion for this course get out there and advocate for it because we we really do have to run it based on what our student need is and but what else is the student desire. So, >> anyone else? Anyone else? Siobhan, I want to say thank you. I'm losing my voice again. I want to say thank you. Um, this started a bit ago at Student Program and Services when you would start hearing about your new courses and all of us were in awe of what we were putting into that high school for our students to learn, to be ready for their time. Um, I I thank you and
084I thank your staff, your teachers, everybody there and the kids are wonderful. They really are. Thank you. Did someone else want to say anything? Well, set. Okay. Thank you, Siobhan. Thank you very much. Okay. So, we finished our reports. Um, our board of education meetings held. I'm gonna turn to you first, Matt. Okay. And you can wait for that to go up. >> Um, no, no worries. I'll just get into it. So, prior to tonight's meeting, um, the finance and operations subcommittee met. >> Okay. >> Uh, we talked about a couple things related to the budget. This year's spending um on a month-to-month basis. We are now back to being under budget. um not because of the reversal of any outplacements but due to lower cost new hires that we had brought in um that
085cost us lower than expected in terms of what we were spending for employment. We there were about 30 changes in positions uh where we realized the cost savings. Uh we looked at some of our outplacements as usual as we do on a month-to-month basis. We are currently above the amount of students that we budgeted for being outplaced partially due to an uptick in expulsions. And we discussed insurance which uh is one of the main drivers in uh next year's budget. Uh early projections had it had us uh incorporate the number of 15% to plan for. It's ticking downward as it normally does. We hope that it can tick down a little bit more. Um, most recent projections are at 13 1.5% and that's a big number that we watch for in terms of what we
086ask for during budget season. So, more to come. >> Okay, any questions for Matt on that? We just had that meeting. I'm always thrilled that you get those minutes done. Thank you. Um, so we'll move on. We have our meeting scheduled. We have policy and planning coming up. Um, is that going to be in our workshop? >> Yeah. >> Yes. Okay. During our workshop meeting. Thank you. 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 five minutes. Okay. Are there any board comments? Janice, excuse me. Thank you. Um on Sunday as it was snowing, um one of our former board of ed members, Liz Walters, who's also my neighbor,
087um let the neighborhood know that some of the members of the boys, um Weathersfield High School boys ice hockey team were willing to shovel as a fundraiser. Um and we were thrilled. There was just so much snow. And uh of the person she gave me to contact was another former board of ed member Christina Hernandez Williams. And so her son Raj and his fellow member um ice hockey member uh Tyler Jean Jean Grave I believe is how you pronounce it were at our house bright and early Monday morning. And I'll tell you, by the time they got done with the driveway and the sidewalk, there wasn't so much as a little cloud of snow that fell from a shovel. They made it sp and span. And then a friend of mine who um lives alone
088was becoming very weary from trying to keep up with the snow and clear everything. And I told her about the fundraiser. and Raj and um Tyler got over to her house and she said she could not believe how perfectly thorough and wonderful of a job that they did. So um maybe if we have that big storm Sunday they'll be ready to do that again. But anyway, so very much thankful to them for doing that. It was a big help and more than the help and more than our um opportunity to contribute to the um team um it just gave everybody a really nice warm sense of community. It was really really lovely. Um so we really appreciated that. >> Well, thanks for letting us know. Thank you. Anyone else for comment? Matt, >> uh I
089was just going to say that I appreciate the fact that out of uh in an abundance of safety precautions that the school was closed today. Schools were closed today. Um last night my wife and I went for a long walk. We like to go on snow walks when it snows a lot and uh I was just walking around town and I I I didn't feel safe walking around town personally. Um the roads didn't seem done uh at the intersections where sidewalks had already been plowed. the plows then re-plowed in um the walkways, you know how that goes. Um I just I just feel like it was it was good because we have a lot of walkers and >> a lot of kids that may have had a tough time getting to school today. So central
090office was open though, so it's nice to see that they all showed up and that they worked today. They didn't get us all day. >> Okay, anyone else? Um, I just wanted to let everybody know that the building committee um actually met last night um by Zoom. So, um we didn't have to shovel out >> but um >> done it for you though. We would have gotten you there. We met um actually we met for the first time with our architects which is TSKP and um we discussed the um I'm going to cough in a second so I apologize. Um we discussed the timeline in regards to um making sure that we're actually on target for 2028. 2028 is a really big year for us. Um currently we are um we're on target. We we
091were able to move a couple of things. Um we're a little bit behind in regards to um getting an RFP out for our construction manager and that helps us in regards to figuring out the actual dollar numbers for the things that we want to have done and completed. Um, and then also we want to get an um uh an an owner's manager so that we can make sure that that instead of having Sally being the one who's in charge of everything, we're actually having somebody actually do that. Um, so our first step is um hopefully by the end of this week we will have a draft of an RFP for the we decided the construction manager was way more important for the numbers. the owners the owner can can come out but we want to
092make sure that we get the RFP out for that um and then they will just fall in line probably like one month hopefully we'll have like a month long opening so that they could bid we'll make the decision and then we'll go to um the owner's um the the owner's I want to say it's OPM the yeah the owner's rep there's a lot of like acronyms um so that's where we are right now and um it's great and uh I I we're moving forward and so we're ready to go. So, thank you very much. >> Great. Thanks for telling us. We love >> Oh, there was one more thing. Go ahead. >> Sorry. So, there was also a discussion in regards to um when we were going to bring information to not only our stakeholders,
093our towns people, but also to the board of ed and the town council. So, um if there's at any point in time you want or there's a period where you think that we should be um giving you information, you know, to let me know. Um it might be a little bit more sporadic or whatever because we're still be in the beginning phases, but if there's ever any something that you need us to present, um just let me know and I'm happy to, you know, see if we can get it done for you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. Anyone else? Marjorie >> want to make a report on um Weatherfield High School Safegrad and they just finished their raffle this past month and um uh kudos to the award winners raffle winners. Um I
094was not one of them, Amanda was not one of them. No. Um but thank you for everyone who participated and helped uh Safegrad and and raise this money for them. And uh their next uh big event is next Thursday, the music bingo night, which is basically their parents night out they have every year. And it's from 6:00 to 9:00. and they have plenty of seats left if you want to go and it's $30 per ticket and it's a fun night of just basically listening to music and hoping the songs are on your bingo card and uh lots of raffle prizes uh including some Yukon tickets, yard go tickets and some other really big prizes. So um hope hope you can attend and they're uh yeah they'll take tickets at the door. They'll sell tickets at
095the door as well. >> Hey, thank you Indy. I was just realizing I don't think I've we've had a meeting since um I went to the web PTO. So, I thought I would just mention really quickly that um I went as the board rep for the first time. And I just want to give such a big shout out to Weatherfield PTO's. They are the most wellrun organizations and I'm a board chair of a nonprofit and I would take all of them as board members. Um I've been to a couple different PTOs now and I'm just so impressed. they care so much and but also they just are so like organized and efficient and they talked about the holiday shop and how successful that was and like master fundraisers. Um, one thing that did come up
096that just I thought I would mention cuz I know it's been mentioned in BOE meetings in the past is dollars for scholars. Web currently does not um participate. Uh and that is due to their um not accepting or considering open choice students in their um awards. Um and so they're kind of looking at other opportunities and other uh other ways to fund, you know, collegebound web graduates. Um, so I'm sure there could be some shared learnings for the other schools if they're interested. >> Hey, thank you. Anyone else? Well, I'm just going to do a um challenge to all our fifth and sixth graders out there. The town council and the board of ed are leading a contest to find a kid mayor and a kid chair from each school. The contest begins soon in
097all elementary schools. If it stops snowing, we could get in there. At each school, Ken Leser and I will be presenting the challenge with a presentation that explains the system of government we have here in Weathersfield, highlighting the town council and the board of ed. We hope to inspire and challenge our fifth and sixth graders again to tell us how they would run our town government, what they would change, and what they would add to make Weathersfield an even better community to live in and to go to school in. The board is so excited we to have the winners for kid share sit up here with us for a meeting and read their award-winning essay. Each elementary school has a meeting uh has a board meeting here to show off their awardwinning kid chair. So,
098please join me in cheering and motivating them on and our young students and possibly future leaders to take up this challenge and give us their best ideas and effort. And we can't wait. It really is fun. And I also want to give a shout out to Kristen Underh Hill who became my right hand for her expertise and support. Thank you. Okay. Do we have any unfinished business tonight? All right. Um we are going to I am going to report almost did it. I apologize. Okay. Um you're on. Good evening everyone. Here's a quick update of what's been happening these past few weeks at the high school. Last week, students had their midterm exams, which were concluded with some snow days, which are very much appreciated. So, thank you, Mr. Web. I was manifesting a second
099on Monday night. >> It was like removing an or an internal organ. >> Yeah, um midterm exams also concluded the first semester of the school year, and tomorrow marks the start of the second semester. This week, underassmen will complete their course selection process for the upcoming school year. And next week, like Miss Okconor said earlier, on February 4th, the high school is hosting their annual eighth grade night where eighth grade families can come and see all that is offered at the high school. So, there will be like different clubs, honor society, sports. I usually go for like the tennis section. It's I guess cool. Um, on the athletic side, our dance team had an outstanding weekend earning second place at the annual cheer and dance challenge held at Quinnipic University. Additionally, our boys hockey team
100will be featured in an upcoming story on the CIA website highlighting their player leadership com council and the positive impact it's had both on and off the ice. And that's everything that's been happening at the high school. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. We don't have any unfinished business. And I am going to make a motion that we have an executive session to review the superintendent's midterm evaluation. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor? >> I opposed. Any abstensions? That motion passes. And I want to wish everyone out there a safe and warm evening. Good night.