0012025. And I'd appreciate if you turn off your cell phones as this meeting is being recorded. And Ellen, can you please do our roll call? >> Absolutely. Good evening, everyone. Miss Callen Carson, >> present. >> Mr. Kerry, >> here. >> Miss Debbacco, >> present. Mrs. D Roberts here. >> No, no, >> no. D Mrs. I'm sorry. She's not here tonight. Okay, my bad. There we go. Okay, >> Mrs. Drew >> here. >> Mrs. Gold >> here. >> Mr. Riley >> here. >> Vice Chair Mr. Lacavoli >> here. >> Chairperson Mrs. Granado. She's here. >> And Weathersfield High School student representative Ms. Nushka Gandhi. >> Running late. She called us. She had a conflict. >> Okay. I'll note the time when she gets Thank you. Can I have our girls championship swim team lead us in
002the pledge of allegiance tonight? Just stand there and lead us, please. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Thank you. And we're going to go right into student and staff recognition here. So, tonight we have our student recognition of our Weathersville High School CIAC class M girls swim team champions and we're so proud of you. So, thank you for being here. Siobhan, is she here? Can you come on up? >> Sterling, come on up. Thank you. >> Good evening everyone. Um, when I first uh took over my position here at Weatherfield High School, uh, one of my first, uh, meetings was with Coach Lee. Um, and I had
003heard a lot about the, uh, swim and dive program. Um, prior to me taking this position. And when Coach Lee came in my office, he had a couple frank words. He said, he said, "We don't really care about conference championships uh, in this school. We care about state championships." Um, the girls have won their 17th straight CCC North Championships, which is a incredible acknowledgement. Uh, so clap for that. Um, and they obviously captured their first ever state championship this year. Um, these girls not only excel uh in the pool, but also in the classroom. um it seems like you're not able to get into the pool at Weather High School unless you have a 3.7 GPA or higher as all of these girls really excel um in the classroom as well. Uh so without further
004ado, I'd like to bring up Coach Lee Schwarzman to talk about their season and their championship run. I promise I'm not redoing the banquet speech. All right. Um, I want to thank you for having us to celebrate the incredible season of the 2025 Lady Eagles swim and dive team. First off, I want to thank the administration at the high school and especially Mr. Scanland for coming in and supporting us so much and really being open to learn about our program. As a teacher and a coach, my three main goals for all my students and athletes every year are to teach goal setting, working hard to reach those goals, and having a growth mindset. This team, led by the seniors, hit the trifecta. While the Lady Eagles have had a lot of success, including winning the
005last 17 straight conference titles, the team has been reaching for the ultimate goal, a state championship. After the previous three years results of third, second, and third, that was the goal for the year. It definitely took some coercing by me to convince them that it was possible because making a goal that has never been done before is scary. Anyone that knows me knows that I love data and I showed the team the data and the path, but it was up to these 26 girls to decide to follow the path. The Lady Eagles learned resilience the last three years, just falling short of the goal. But they decided that the experience was only going to make them stronger, and they set forth working hard every day to have a shot at being the team that is
006celebrating in the water at the end of the state meet. Every coach of any sport would dream of a season where he or she never left practice thinking, "Well, that just wasn't a good day of practice." In my 39 seasons of high school coaching, I never had a season like that until this year. Every day was a great day. It truly was a dream. One of the team's main goals of the regular season was to beat Glastonbury at Glastonbury for the first time in over two decades. They did that just four weeks into the season and they did it on the last relay drawing from that growth mindset and coming back from 18 points down at the halfway mark of the meet. For those not familiar with swim meets and I'm definitely not a Patriots
007fan, but that point deficit is like being down 28-3 in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl and still winning. Before the last relay, I gathered the team and told them all we had to do was get second and third on the final relay to win. And that is exactly what the team did. After losing on the final relay the year before, the team learned across the river that day that they could do something unbelievable and just rode that way that wave all the way to November. I've seen a lot of incredible days at state meets, but no prelims was like the prelims that the Lady Eagles had this year. We were ranked fifth before prelims and shot all the way up to first before the finals. I've coached a long time and often visualized
008what it would be like to win a state title. But that day at finals was nothing like I dreamed of. I always thought that the team was going to be tight or edgy, but instead they were confident and poised because they had learned and practiced that in practices every day. Of course, they were nervous, but they were prepared to take home the state the title to Weathersfield. In many ways, state finals just seemed like another big duel meet like that day at Glastonbury. And when we got to the end of the meet, surprise surprise, it came down to the last relay. Just like eight weeks before when I gathered the team together at Glastonbury to tell them we just needed second and third to win. Here we were at state finals trying to win the
009first state title in school history and I got to gather them together to tell them that all we needed to do was to get fourth or better and we would be the ones jumping in the pool. It was literally the same thing we had done in that dual meet. I actually remember saying to the group at finals, "This is just like we did at Glastonbury. Obviously, we succeeded because I am here talking to you today." They got second in that relay to knock off PROG. I'll never forget cheering for that last relay, surrounded by all the girls going nuts. All of us. Imagine for almost four minutes watching everything a group had worked for for years. three-hour practices the first week of the season, swimming four miles a day on an easy day, learning new
010dives on the board, coming to practice at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning when all their friends are asleep. All the perseverance, all the dedication, all the commitment and hard work literally coming true over the course of 4 minutes. Just about the time since I started talking to you. So, as we wrap up, I go back to the three things I try to teach every year. Set a goal, work hard for it, and believe you can grow into the person who achieves it. And this team did that. They lived it. They set a huge goal, showed up every day, and used every setback to get stronger. That's why they ended up as the state champions. But more importantly, it's how they did it together, encouraging each other each other every step of the way. Thank you
011again for celebrating this great group of young women and for supporting a program built on goals, hard work, and a growth mindset. There was no red light, so I think I did good. Okay. >> Well, we'll have you come. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> We'll have you come up in a minute to take a picture with you. We would love that. In the before that, we have any questions? >> We just like to have all the girls names, you know, just if we could uh identify each of the kids would be great. >> Come on up. Introduce yourself. shy. >> Call Call them up one at a time so we can get their name into the video. >> Come on. Come on. You guys aren't shy. Trust me. >> Good. You guys go first. >>
012Okay. >> Just say your name and you're here, I guess. >> I'm Claire Smith and I'm a junior. >> I'm Elizabeth Man and I'm a senior. >> I'm Georgia Evans and I'm a freshman. >> I'm Madison Kelly and I'm a junior. >> I'm Lillian Parker and I'm a sophomore. I'm Caitlyn Fairley. and I'm a freshman. >> I'm Morgan Tracy and I'm a junior. >> I'm Summer Miller and I'm a freshman. >> I'm Joe Stangarone. I'm a freshman. >> I'm Tally McDonald. I'm a freshman. >> I'm McKenna Linsky. I'm a sophomore. >> I'm Leah Elwood. I'm a freshman. >> I'm Maline Cardney and I'm a junior. >> I'm Julia Marcelinus and I'm a freshman. >> I'm Saran Fuss and I'm a senior. I'm Heather Stson and I'm a coach. >> We wanted to do that so
013we could get your name forever cemented into the minutes of the board of education for Weathersfield Public Schools. >> Okay. >> Any questions, comments, ma'am? >> Yeah, I just have a comment. Uh it doesn't sound like there's too many seniors, so we fully expect you to be back here next year uh with a similar looking group. Um, I just want to thank AD, uh, coach and the whole team for coming here tonight. Um, it sounds like you truly embody the definition of student athlete. Um, sounds like you have good grades and you're awesome in the pool and on the diving board. Um, I remember when I was in high school, the swimming and diving team was always awesome >> and it was the CCC West when I was here. They always won it, but they
014never won the state championship. It's awesome that you guys got over that hump and you guys got it done. We're all very proud of you. Very. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Well, I just want to thank you, too. And poised and smart. We have our scholar athletes here. You're going to take this with you for the rest of your life. So, enjoy every minute of it. Thank you for making us so proud. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. I know you guys have to go, but I'll >> Why don't you come up here with your backs toward >> and bring it up? >> Lord should go up too, >> guys. You want to go up there? Come on. >> Yes. Marjorie Marjorie in the shop. >> We're all smile. All
015right. Thank you. >> I'm a professional doggy paddler, so they got you. >> Yeah, right. >> I am I am not a swimmer, so >> I think it's awesome. So cool. >> Thanks, coach. Great job. Great to see you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Hey, Lee. >> I was I'm still doing this. >> And just before we go, sorry. Uh during this season, Coach Lee also received his 300th victory, which is also a great accomplishment. Everybody's half. >> Okay, thank you again. Um, and we have another staff recognition too tonight. We have our Weathersville Public School teacher, author, Heather Fischer, and she is here with her book, Learning Looks Different. She's not here. >> You don't look like her. >> Well, I No, no, I don't look like her. She's probably very fortunate that I don't.
016>> Thank you for being here. >> You're welcome. But thank you guys. Uh thank you for having us here tonight. Tonight we actually have a little bit of a surprise, a little more than that. We actually brought with us uh our both of our English language learner teachers as well as some students from our L department and their families to present some of their work. Uh and so as a part of that, we wanted to show off uh not only uh how important Heather and Alexis are to us, but uh the hard work of our students. And so I am going to start with honoring uh Heather and her hard work. Heather and I actually joined the Weathersfield public schools together 7 years ago. Uh we both walked in from uh districts outside of Weathersfield.
017We've been here 7 years. Heather actually was our the very first certified L teacher at Hammer and I think maybe only the third in the district. Uh so it just represents uh how young this program is. But to put it into perspective where we are right now, uh in Weathersville public schools, I believe it's one in every three families has a second language spoken in the home. And at Hanmer School, we just did the math real quick. Uh just shy of 21%. It's 20.8% of our student population is in our is represented in our L department. >> Uh and about 50% of our families have a second language spoken in their home. Uh so Weathersfield is really very diversified and and Hanmer School really represents that and we're very proud of that and we're proud
018to have our families here tonight with us. Uh I have had the great honor over the last couple years, not only that the last seven years now to work with Heather, but the last two years I've watched Heather uh do a couple really important things. Uh Heather went back to school two years ago to Central Connecticut State University and received a six-year diploma in educational leadership. uh got her 092 uh in uh so not only administration but with a focus on special education. Uh and I know this is a subject very near and dear to her heart uh as it is to mine. Uh and I had the great honor of uh working with Heather and kind of coaching her through that program and that was a really uh an honor of my career uh
019to help her with that. And then surprise surprise as she finished that program uh suddenly she's like hey by the way I wrote a book uh while so while being a mom a full-time teacher uh and uh a full-time student uh she she managed to find time to write this book. Uh and so uh I did trick her into this. She did not realize she was doing this until late in the game. Uh but I did ask her to sign a copy of this and we'd like to present this to you the board of education uh signed copy of her book to you guys uh here tonight. And then we're gonna I'm gonna call them up. >> Very much. >> So I'm going to call Heather Fera and Alexis Malika to uh So again, we
020love acronym. It's right now we're switching from ML to EL Lmento little meaning no official purpose. Feel free to use that. That's from John Laverty Hartford Public Schools. Uh, so uh, with that said, I do want to turn it over to Heather and Alexis, and then I'm very excited to turn it over to our students to present some of their work. >> Great. >> Thank you, Patrick. >> Good evening, everyone. Um, I'm Alexis Malikica. I am the second EL teacher, ML teacher at Hanmer. Um, tonight we have some very excited fourth and fifth graders to share with you some of their writing they've worked on. Um, something that Heather and I really strive to do is like her book says is provide a level playing field for all of our learners. So, what we do
021when we pull them out is we provide them with the work that they would get in the classroom, but it's very scaffolded. Um after each unit we have a writing component where we spend a lot of time step by step going through each process and how um all of the elements that they need to have in their writing. So this unit we worked on argumentative writing and our fourth grader Nicole Zang um had to write an argumentative essay and it prompted her to think about if people should build in a flood zone. So Nicole, could you please come on up to read your essay? >> Oh god. >> As she walks up, I'll just explain some of the things that we required them to have were a hook, um a strong claim, and then we
022provided them with um all of the elements of having a strong argument, their reasons, their evidence, and then a closing. And Nicole did a really good job. So, welcome Nicole. I believe that people should not build in flood zones. The first reason is because North Carolina has a lot of hurricanes and can cause a lot of damage to buildings. My second reason is because trying to build in a flood zone in the wrong place can make flooding worse. My third reason is because FEMA wants to make more wetlands to help stop flooding. My fourth reason is because hurricanes can happen again and again and can damage newly constructed buildings. My fourth reason is that people should not build in a flood zone is because hurricanes can happen in North Carolina and they can cause a
023lot of damage to buildings. According to the text, more wetlands needed. It says a storm surge is the biggest danger during hurricane. This happens when ocean water gets very high. My second reason is because trying to build in a flood zone in the wrong place can make flooding worse. According to the text how to build in a flood zone, it says it can actually make flooding worse in nearby area. It makes it worse because you need crack, concrete, and dirt. Third, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, wants to make more wetlands to help stop flooding. It is important for builders to remember that wetlands help keep safe people safe from storms. Wetlands help to keep pe people safe from storms because extra water goes into the wetland so it doesn't flood. My fourth reason is
024because hurricanes happen again and again and can damage newly constructed buildings. According to the text, the debate on flood zones, it says they argue that builders are follow rules to make building as safe as possible. In the conclusion, I believe that people should not build in flood zones. I believe this because many hurricanes happen in North Carolina and cause a lot of damage to buildings. Trying to build in a flood zone in the wrong place can make flooding worse. FEMA wants to make more wetlands to help stop flooding. And because hurricanes happen again and again, it could damage newly constructed buildings by Nichol. Great job, Nicole. I'm Heather. I'm the other ESL teacher at Hanmer. Um, so next we have a few fifth graders here who are very excited to share their argumentative essay and
025they had to write about whether or not kids should have cell phones. Um, first we're going to have Yura come up. Kids should have cell phones by Yuri Cosmic. Did you know that parents across the generations 11 to 13 years old are the optimal age for a child to receive their first cell phone? Phones are good because you can talk to your friends, you can play video games and keep in touch with your parents, but phones are distracting from a schoolwork and their life. I believe the kids should have cell phones. Smartphones can help kids with research shows that 65% of students report using a phone to look up information or get homework help at least. Sometimes when kids are stuck in the math problem, they can search it up and also they can use
026chat GPT to help themselves. Having cell phones help uh kids get fast help fast in an emergency. Study found that about 84% of kids having a phone makes them feel safer. You can uh call your parents 911 or people that you know when your house is burning and you are home alone. If somebody tries to kidnap you, you when you are hanging out with your friends, you can call 911. When you are lost, you can send your parents a pin with your location and they can drive to pick you up. Cell phones make it easy for kids to keep in touch with their family and their friends. One survey showed that over 70% of families use texting to coordinate pickups and after school plans. You can call your parents to pick you up after school
027and ask what you are going to do after school. When you move into a different country, you can still call your friends on your phone. I believe the kids should have cell phones. Smartphones can help with school work. Having a cell phon help kids get fast in emergency. Cell phones make it easy for kids to keep in touch with their family. Thank you, Yura. That was a very strong argument and I think the record should reflect he does have a phone, so maybe that worked. Um, Hava, come on up. You got me nervous. Should kids have cell phone? By Hava Mahmuda. Did you know that over half of Americans be believe it's important for kids to have access to a cell phone during a during the school day? by age 13. A cell phone is
028an electronic device that helps kids get where they need to go. Some people say that phones are bad for kids eyes. It would be unhealthy for for school because it will make kids too tired to learn. I believe kids need a cell phone. If a person steals your stuff, you can use your phone cell phone to to call a parent, sibling, or 911. It it will help kids with their schoolwork. And during activities, they can call each other and say what activity they want they want to do. My first reason is that having a cell phone helps kids or teens get where help fast in a emergency. A study found that about 84% of teens say ha having a phone makes them feel safe because they can call or text a parent when they need
029help. If there is a fire, they can call a fire department to be safe. My my second reason is that cell phones make it easy for teens to keep in contact with parents, sibling, and friends. When plans change after school during school activities, wait school during activities. A quick call or text keep everyone informed. it it can help when a teacher say something and you need to tell your mom about it. My third reason is that smartphones can help kids with any hard school work. Kids can use educational apps to to look up facts and calculators to check math works. It can be helpful for teens and other kids with any problems that are hard to do. I believe kids should have phone. It would help when your teacher gives you hard math work. If
030you're if you're lost, your parent can track your phone your phone. Teens can talk with their parents or their old friends. Kids will be safer and happier with a cell phone. Next, we have Mustafa. And Mustafa is the only one out of 10 fifth graders who wrote that students or that children should not have cell phones. >> Mustafa, right? >> Good boy. YEAH. YEAH. Did you know that classrooms that banned phones saw improvements? Some people believe that kids should have cell phones. I believe that kids should not have cell phones. Cell phones make students learn less. Kids with phones get less sleep. And kids with phones get bullied online. I believe that kids should not have cell phones. My first kid reason kids should not have cell phones is because cell phones make students learn
031less. One study found that classrooms that ban phones saw improvements in tests by 6%. This is good because kids that still have cell phones get bad grades. My second reason reason kids should not have cell phones is because kids with phones get less sleep. Re research found out that 70% of teens check their phones and get bad grades. This is bad because teens get bad grades and have trouble listening. My third reason kids should not have cell phones is because kids with phones get bullied online. 15% to 35% of students get cyber bullied. This is bad because kids with phones get bullied. I think that I think kids should not have cell phones because cell phones make kids learn less. Kids with phones get less sleep and kids with phones get bullied online. This is
032bad. This is bad because kids with phones all night get less sleep and and by Mustafa >> to call him. I I think Mustafa is a future Hanmer school principal. >> Might have a good cell phone policy. >> Um next up we have Ashley. Should kids have cell phones? By Ashley Reyes. Did you know in 2006 74% of people save themselves because of their phone? I believe kids should be able to have a cell phone. Having a cell phone may help kids get help faster in an emergency. If kids get lost in a force, they can get help fast if they have a cell phone. Kids having cell phones makes them stay in touch with family members or friend. A lot of cell phones can help kids with their homework or schoolwork. Cell phones have
033math games to help them with our hard problems. Some people say that kids should not have cell phones because they will they will be playing on it every day like Roblox. But some kids can actually use math games or search up something like a hard word. Kids can use their cell phones by getting help in emergency. If they didn't have a cell phone, it would take longer time to get help. A study found out that 84% of teens say having a cell phone makes them feel safer because they can call their family members and friends or siblings. Kids having a cell phone makes them stay in touch with family members, friends, or siblings. Over 70% of families use texting or school pickup lines or school plans. Also, kids should have cell phones because they can
034call or text like on Roblox on with their friends that live far away. Cell phones can help kids with their homework and schoolwork. Kids can use math games to help them with their homework or school work. If something is too hard or if the kids get are are stuck on a hard problem or question, they can go on their phone to search up what the hard question means or word. I believe kids should be able to have a cell phone because having a cell phone may help kids get help faster in emergency. Cell phones make them easier for kids to stay in touch with their family members or siblings. A lot of cell phones can help kids with their homework. >> Okay. And last we have >> all right. >> Yeah. >> Authors in the
035house. >> That's a future superintendent right there. Did you know that 88% of Americans think it's necessary for kids to have a cell phone? But some people think kids should not shouldn't have a cell phone. I believe kids should have a cell phone. I think this because phones can help kids with school work. Kids can call someone in case of emergency and cell phones make it easier to keep in touch with parents and siblings. One reason why kids should have cell phones is that it can help kids with homework. According to source one, 65% of students report using a cell phone helps them with homework. This is important because some parents can't help their kids. My second reason why kids should have a cell phone is kids can call someone in case of emergency. Based
036on what I read in the article, 85% of teens report having a phone makes them feel safer. This is important because if something happens to them, they can get help from other people. My third reason is that you can keep in touch with friends and family. According to why having a cell phone can be good for kids, having a cell phone can make pickup plans easier and it can help kids with keep in touch with parents and friends. In conclusion, I believe kids should have cell phones. Phones can help kids with school work. Kids can call someone in case of emergency. And cell phones make it easier to keep in touch with their family. Bye. Thank you. >> Thank you very much for listening to our students. You all did such a nice job and
037we're so proud of how well you're doing with your writing. >> Such articulate young people. We were so happy to have them tonight. Thank you so much to two wonderful teachers. >> Thank you. Any comments from the board before we move on? Any comments? >> I'm on team Mustafa. >> I just want to thank you all for coming tonight. Um, we're not in these schools, so we don't always see what is going on in them, so we really love it when uh teachers and authors and principles and especially families and students can come and show us what is going on in these schools. Um, you should all be very proud of these kids. Not only did they uh not not only did they write what they wrote, but they got up here and they spoke
038in front of us all, which can be scary. Um, we appreciate you. We appreciate your work and we thank you for coming tonight. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Marjorie, do you want to say >> I just want to say thank you for coming out and the families to to watch this and and it's so brave for you to come up and speak um and write and read your essays in front of everybody and you did such a great job. It's a lot of work just getting your ideas on paper and then organizing them and revising them and it's just hard work really pays and and it really showed. Thank you. >> I just wanted to say thank you to these amazing teachers for sort of sharing this moment. it seemed like maybe on the agenda
039the moment was going to be about you and your book and then you sort of took that and shown a light on your students and I think that just really speaks so highly of you as an educator and of the culture that is you know present at Hamner and throughout Weathersfield and um in addition to the amazing writing and speaking that we just heard I love looking at the families and how proud they are of their kids and so thank you so much for being here tonight >> and I want to thank you too and teachers thank Thank you so much. You know, when we first started teaching persuasive writing, most of us were a little apprehensive about, you know, what can they possibly argue about? Give a child a piece of paper and tell
040them that they can persuade somebody for something. It was amazing. They It's like they've been waiting to tell us their opinions. So, thank you very much for showing them and giving them the opportunity. Thank you. Another row. Okay, we'll move on. Next on tonight's agenda is approval of the minutes for our regular board of ed meeting on November 25th, 2025. May I have a motion to approve the minutes? Anyone? Okay, a second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Yes. >> Go ahead. >> On page one, Ellen, I was not present at the meeting and it lists me as present. >> Okay. on page well that's going to be the on the last page it has me present for executive session. I was not present for executive session and I'm not sure if it matters but
041on the bottom of the page it says page 70 of6 it should say page 7 of7. I'm not sure if that matters for the official record but definitely strike me from the record. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else for changes? Okay. With those changes let's have a vote. All in favor? I >> opposed. Any abstensions? >> Abstain. >> Those minutes are approved. And now, if there's 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. And another reminder, board members do not make comments immediately following a resident having comments up at the podium. So, thank you for your understanding. Okay, Mr. Wibby, you have some communication on your entry report
042tonight. >> I do. So, in the board packet, reference item number two is a little bit of a teaser. >> Yeah. >> I plan on um presenting to the board of education in January uh what's called the state of the schools, my entry findings. So, I figured at this point I had been saying I was planning on meeting with 150 and students, teachers, parents, residents, community members, community leaders uh across Weathersfield schools. And Miss Underh Hill came into my office very excited two weeks ago and she said, "How many people do you think you've met with?" And I said, "I don't know, 180." and she said, "No, 363." So, I've put in my log of um everyone that I've met with going back to my very first meeting uh back in May was with uh
043Chairwoman Granado and um Mr. Roberts. I met with you guys on uh uh May 14th um all the way up to I I did another uh meeting uh this week as well. Um, so I have all the, you know, all the adults. We didn't put the kids' names in, but we just, we didn't want to identify the kids, but we just kind of put placeholders in there so that you see um, who the, you know, where they were and when they were. Some of them were one-on-one meetings with um, you know, with staff and community members. Some of them were in a focus group format. And um I'll be uh looking forward to kind of sharing with the board next month a little bit about uh what I learned um in talking to all the
044stakeholders. And um I'll I'll be kind of giving you like a state of the schools and uh here's what the superintendent of schools thinks might be pathways forward um for us to kind of travel together over the coming years. So I'm I'm really excited uh with with that. I'll I'll pause for any questions or thoughts. And then I had one other thing I wanted to mention as part of my report. >> Any comments, thoughts, questions? >> Okay. >> Madam Chair, normally I like to provide the superintendent'sformational update to the board at the second meeting every month. Because of the holiday break, we won't have a second board meeting. But I also and we just had a report uh very short time ago. So, and we have a couple more weeks of school. So, what I
045will be doing this month is I will be providing the report to the board of education um before the holiday break via email and I'll enter it to, you know, I'll I'll provide it to the board in the public record at our first January meeting just as a point of record. But uh just so the board members know, you can anticipate receiving my report before we um we leave for the holiday break. >> Okay. Thank you. Any comments from anyone? Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, we will move on. Um tonight we have no action items and also this evening we will be talking about oh finance and operations committee. We will have that meeting which was held and we're not going to do that. Just go. >> Okay. Okay. >> Okay. Yep. >> No action
046items and reports. So we have meetings held finance and operations committee which we just left and I'm always in awe that he gets these minutes done. >> Yep. Thank you Bobby. Uh so prior to tonight's board of ed meeting the finance and operations committee met. Uh I believe it was the longest meeting we've ever had since I've been on the board and we had a lot of discussion. Um, we have a new member. It was nice to have Gabby present with us. And we actually had some visitors. Uh, not to be named, but they were present as well. Uh, we are currently over budget. Um, unlike last time I gave these minutes where we were under budget, and that is due to five unexpected outplacements, two of those being expulsions. Uh, we uh looking at
047the possibility of having one more outplacement as well. Um we did realize some savings in some areas of spending but we realized unbudgeted expenditures above those amounts in other areas mostly outplacements. Um, we discussed state excess cost reimbursement rates and special ed grants for us to engage our state representatives and senators about and we started early discussion for the upcoming budget cycle as well as a newly planned capital priority list to begin monitoring our facil our physical facilities. That was it. >> Great. And thank you, Matt. All right. We do have some meetings scheduled right up to the beginning of next school year in 2026. Community and Public Relations 121025. The CRE Council has been um it won't be this month. They will have it next month. It's been cancelled. WEC is on that is
048that January 12th 26. Okay. And human resource and personnel on January 13th, 2026. Um and is there anyone wishing to make a public comment? Please come on up and state your name and address. And let me remind you, you have a five minute limit. Okay, we'll just keep moving on. Are there any board comments? So, um I just wanted to give everybody um an update. I'm the uh rep for the building committee. >> Thank you. >> We met um last night. They have interviewed three different architecture um architecture firms. We reviewed that. We are going to uh go back with them for some more questions and we will have uh hopefully a decision at our next meeting which is January 5th and we will hopefully bring a recommendation to the board of education in January
049and then in turn it will be uh brought before town council for approval. >> Thank you Amanda and thank you. I'm so glad you're on this committee. It's a continuation. You've been on it since the beginning. Am I correct? Great. That's wonderful. Anyone else with comments? >> Yes. >> Y >> So, I apologize. I wasn't here last meeting. Just want to congratulate the boys soccer team on their state championship. I'm a little past doing that. Uh I was also fortunate to attend the Cape Caps conference in November. Always a great opportunity to learn and network and I know there was a lot of us there this year which was great to see. So, and um Miguel Cardona came and spoke to us and he's very insightful and it's great to have the former secretary of
050education to come back and talk. And then today was new board members and leadership training by CAB at the Sheridan in Harford. I was fortunate enough to speak there to about 150 new board members about budgets. So, but it's great to see lots of people being engaged in professional development and being in the board. That's it. And oh, happy holidays since we are not back for everybody. >> That's true. >> Anyone else? Yes, Mindy. >> Um, so I was able to attend said CABE convention today. Um, Chuck did a great job talking about budgets and it was it was really nice just to um hear more from throughout the state of how boards of education are operating. We got to hear from um the commissioner of the department of education um for the state and
051um you know and then I had a full uh BOE day. I did that today and then I got to have a one-on-one with Superintendent Whibby. Got to attend uh I was an observer, a guest at finance committee um and now here today. So, um, I think I'm just reflective of how, you know, I I I learned what boards should do and how they should operate in sort of the abstract this morning. And then being able to see it all, I feel like we are doing it the right way. And just to sit in that finance committee and hear the collaboration of, you know, our finance and operations director and, you know, our superintendent and and our engaged board members and just collaborating to do what's best for students and residents. Um, call me green,
052but uh it was a really um it was just really nice to see it all in action. So, thanks. >> Great. Thank you. Anyone else? >> Marry. >> Oh, I just want to talk about a couple things. I was at the WS SPC meeting this past Thursday and it was a really full long meeting and we got a lot we talked a lot about a lot of things. School schedules, uh, ebikes safety, um, plans for the future. Um, it was a a really good gathering of parents and, uh, Kelvin Kevin Sullivan from BikeWalk Weather Shield was there as well. And there's just more talk of maybe collaborating with with that group whether and that's one of the issues was you know learning about ebikes and ebike safety since so many kids uh are getting them
053and they don't understand the rules and there's state laws and there's like you know various thing issues and and parents don't always know either. So that was an issue maybe we'll start to um get going with as far as like spreading out to parents. Um, and I believe there's talk of having an internet safety night again, um, to, you know, uh, educate parents on cell phones and, uh, social media risks and, um, so that's all good stuff coming up. Um, I also attended Safegrad meeting and there we're gearing up for a few more fundraisers. Um, right now there's a raffle. So, if you want to purchase a ticket, it's it's an online raffle uh link and they're also selling Weathersfield shirts and some swag and it looks really good and um fun for the holidays
054if you want to give a gift. And there's also going to be a singo night on February February 5th for their instead of a parents night out, it's going to be singo, which is music bingo. So at pickin uh Thursday, February 5th and instead of bingo like B6 or whatever, it's uh it's like songs and I don't know if anyone's ever played singo before. I've done it one time at a restaurant, but you hear music and you just have to figure out if your song is on your card and it's really fun. It's great. So that'll be our big uh raffle and um night out for our one of the bigger fundraisers for for uh Safegrad. And I think I had one more thing. Oh, I just want to congrat congratulate again one last time
055the swim team swim and dive team for all their hard work and an amazing accomplishments this year and I really look forward to to you know future years. I did not realize how many freshmen were on that team and I was like wow this is going to be an amazing >> amazing tra trip for the next few years as they get better and better. >> Anyone else? I just like to do some closing remarks. I do love these holiday times. The holiday times. I know I got it right here. I do. As we wrap up another successful and busy year in our schools and community, I want to shout out my heartfelt thanks to everyone involved. From dedicated educators we saw tonight, enthusiastic students we saw tonight and supportive families. We've created environment where learning
056can thrive. And let's celebrate that. And looking to 2026, I'm excited about the possibilities that lie ahead. Let's continue to build on our successes working together to foster growth and learning for all. So, thank you Weathersfield. Thank you board of ed. Thank you superintendent administrators for a wonderful year and here's to an amazing journey ahead. So, thank you all. And now I don't forget her because I so like her and we saw each other freezing on holidays on Maine the other night. Um, Anushka, our Weathersfield High School rep, is here to inform us of life at the high school. So, good evening everyone. Here's a quick update on what's been happening these past few weeks at the high school. Um, so starting off, students in Miss Gallivan's CCSU multicultural education course went to CCSU this
057past Friday and presented their final projects to the college professors overseeing this course as well as some of the college students who are taking the course. Many of them said that although it's nerve-wracking, it was a great experience. And additionally, the winter coral and band concerts are taking place today as well as Thursday if you want to get a ticket. As we get closer to the end of the year, seniors are starting to hear back from colleges, so we're both simultaneously nervous and excited. Um, last Thursday, students in the athletic leadership council welcome welcomed some students from the CRE academic of computer science and engineering for a joint team building and leadership development workshop facilitated by empower leadership which is a local small business that works to improve leadership amongst high school students and college
058students. I was a part of this workshop and I thought it was a really great experience that allowed us to practice leadership through a variety of activities that we can apply to our respective sports as well as both in and out the classroom. Just yesterday, the same council as well as other upperassmen met and listened to Kendrick Moore who's the assistant director of equity and leadership at the CIA. Uh Mr. Scan's known him for a while. So, um, he led an engaging session where he focused on what leadership looks like in the high school both athletically and academically, the transition from high school to colleges, the realities of college life, and more. Lastly, students who currently take Mrs. Hos's art classes or an ECE or AP Spanish travel to New York City today to visit
059the Museum of Modern Art, which is where I just came back from, actually, and that's what's been happening at the high school. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Any questions before we could put her on the spot. Thank you very much and good luck on your pursuit of your next step. Please let us know. >> Yes, I will. >> Okay. All right. Um, no more comments. Any unfinished business tonight? I think so. So, I make a motion that we adjourn this meeting. Can I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. Any abstensions? Thank you all. Happy new year and good night.