001Mr. Kerry >> here. >> Mrs. Roberts >> here. >> Mrs. Granado. >> Mrs. Granada >> here. >> Ms. Hernandez Williams >> here. >> Mr. Lacavoli >> present. >> Mr. Riley >> here. >> Miss Walters >> present. >> Mr. Winer >> here. >> And Weathersfield High School student representative. I'm sorry I have Anushka >> all present. >> Thank you. And Don Campbell, would you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance? >> To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, thank you. And student and staff recognition tonight. We're always so proud of our student scholar athletes. Tonight, we have an opportunity to celebrate with the boys golf team as they are the CCC golf school
002golf team champions. So, congratulations. And I gather, you're going to come up and introduce them. Come on up. All right, good evening everyone. Um, golf by nature is an individual sport. Um, and coach Ryan Turner has done an incredible job of taking these individuals that you see before you um, and putting them together as a team and putting a heavy emphasis on character um, and commitment to excellence by all. Um, I've been very fortunate in these past few weeks, months, I would say, to get to know a lot of you. Um, a lot of staff, community members. Um, but the warmest welcome, honestly, I've gotten is actually from the golf team. Um, and it's just funny that they're here now representing us uh for this huge award. Um, I went to their first golf match
003a few months ago and I had never been to a high school golf match and I went and I drove around with Coach Turner, watched maybe a few holes, get saved about 2 hours or so. And the next day I arrived my office where I had a card. I thought it was a card maybe from someone on staff and it was from the two captains of the golf team, Jack Ruby and Jess. And it wasn't just like a little thank you card. It was two paragraphs. handwritten telling me how much it meant to them that I came to their golf match. And now it's 2045. So what did I do? Took a picture of it and sent it to all my ADA colleagues from around the state asking them if they also received this story
004and not not a person did. Um, so I think that really talks a a testament to the leadership that we had on our team by our senior captains and it played out very evidently in their last match in the CCC tournament where they had to come back from a pretty big deficit against Connor and uh and came back and won. Um, so it was great to see, great to celebrate with them. Um, and great to see this one team get this recognition. Uh, so without further ado, coach uh, Brian Thank you for the invite and having us here. I was just informed a few minutes ago that I had you guys talking in front of everybody. So, I'll give you a little rundown. Um, we had a great season this year. Overall team record of
00517-4. Um, we lost twice to Glass to Barry. We were second place in our own division in the conference. Heading into the CCC tournament. Uh, we were fourth or fifth in the conference in terms of team differential. Um, you can certainly go crazy watching the scoreboard. Everything's electronic on your phone. As a coach, you just drive yourself nuts, you know, following the team bounce around all afternoon over the course of four hours, 18 holes, like trying not to scoreboard watch. Um, I actually didn't know where we stood until Justin birdie two out of his last three holes and he goes, "Coach, we're tied for the lead right now." I'm like, "Really? All right, let's go. Let's get it." Uh, Ryan Rivero uh was the only golfer left on the golf course and it was deadlocked
006at we were plus 24 25 over par which is a phenomenal score in and of itself. um hit the fairway, hit the green, a 30 foot putt for for birdie and heck it and we ended up winning. It was a phenomenal moment. Um the kids really pulled together and I had asked Ryan afterwards, did you have any idea what that puck was for? I do three club and lose tournament two club meet high go the tiebreaker which no one shot out 83 and the tiebreaker was the fifth score so no one shot 83 and kid from farmington fifth place he shot 83 too so we were going to be co-CCCC tournament champions but uh that 30 foot putt um made history so team did great and uh we had a great season so thank you
007for having appreciate it. >> Okay, thank you. coming up. Yes. >> So, last week also after the conference tournament, we had a state tournament. Um, and Justin Crossen does want to stand for a second. Uh, Justin Crossen was finished co- medalist believe that he won uh tied for the state championship uh for the division 2 golf title. Um just a quick backstory on that. Justin was down um two strokes uh heading into 16. Uh the player he was eventually tied was already in the clubhouse, so he already knew the score he had to shoot. Uh so Justin um birdied 16 and 17 at K Park and part 18 to finish uh co- medalist for uh the state championship uh for division 2. So just another incredible honor for Justin Cross. So ladies and gentlemen, the
008Connecticut Division 2 state champion, JUSTIN, >> could we embarrass these golfers by having them stand and tell us their names? >> Stand right there. Go ahead. Right there. >> Congratulations. Justin Cross. >> Guys, come on up here and stand in front. We're going to take a picture with the coach and bring the Brum. So when principal O' Conor and I interviewed athletic director Standom, he said, "Look, we won a lot of state championships around here." It didn't take long, Sterling. Only a couple couple of months. Thanks guys because I can't I couldn't catch all your names >> as they get the names. >> Thank you. Appreciate that. No problem. >> Okay, so thanks again guys. That was wonderful. Next On tonight's agenda is the approval of the minutes for our regular board meeting on October
00914th, 2025. May I have a motion to approve those minutes? >> A second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All right. All the vote. All in favor? I oppose. Any abstensions? Those minutes are approved. Also, we have the approval of the minutes of our special board meeting on October 20th, 2025. May I have a motion to approve those minutes? >> A second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Second. >> Thank you. >> All right. A vote. All in favor? >> I oppose. Any abstensions? >> Two extensions. That's John and Chuck. >> I mean, Jim and Chuck. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, so those minutes are approved. Now, is there anyone wishing to come up make a public comment? Please come to the podium and state your name and address. And may I remind you
010that you have a fiveinut limit. and also a board member or any board member will now be responding to your comments at the podium. Thank you. >> Okay. So, Mr. Communications for us. >> So, just a message from the superintendent for this month. As part of my entry plan, I've now complete completed full day visits to each of our seven schools and I remain deeply grateful for the openness and insight shared by the students, the staff, and our families. These visits have been both energizing and and instructive, offering a clear view of our district's strengths and the areas that we must continue to grow. So in my first communication, I know that that staff pride in their schools is palpable and that educators are deeply committed to student success. I also heard clearly that many
011have been working within a closed loop system in of instructional data, giving assessments, but not always getting the the information back and the results that inform their instruction. That is something that they were concerned about. We're moving towards an open loop system where teachers are empowered to use data as a tool for learning, not judgment. In my second round of reflections, I highlighted a consistent message from students. I asked the kids, you know, what do you like the most about coming to school here? And they said, we love our teachers, mister. You know, that's that's what we really enjoy. And uh it was so matterof fact. Their appreciation for their care and availability of our educators speaks volumes about the relationships that define Weatherfield. I've also heard important operational concerns from support staff being pulled
012from primary roles to EL educators seeking co-planning time to families advocating for more outdoor time for their kids and improved building maintenance at work. These reflections, including the dignity centered feedback from students about bathroom stall doors, are shaping our priorities moving forward. Most importantly, students shared very strongly that they feel safe and can name trusted adults in their buildings. This is an affirmation of the culture you've all built. These entry visits are informing our district continuous improvement plan and reinforcing our shared commitment to growth, transparency, and student centered decision making. Just to kind of point out a few highlights, I'm going to do a little have show a little more brevity this month just because we do have a a pretty pretty full agenda. Um, looking down at operations and information technology, we're excited to
013announce that the IT and curriculum departments are actively collaborating on a project to replace our aging fleet of smartboards to find the best tools for our educators and students. We're currently meeting with multiple vendors to evaluate their latest interactive display devices. Our primary goal is to select modern, reliable devices that will significantly enhance classroom interaction and support group instruction. We'll share more information about the final selections and implementation timelines once the discussion has been finalized. What I'm really proud about is director Dagan and his team are including teacher voice in this decision making process which will become a growing leadership demeanor in Weatherfield public schools moving forward. Um that madam chair I think we're going to cut the cut the superintendent's report of that for this. The rest of this is here in the back.
014>> Thank you. Okay, moving on. Tonight we have two action items and the first is on our district continuous improvement plan. Um, we have a presentation, but before we do that, Christina, can you please read the recommended motion for 6A? Yes. I move that the board of education accept and adopt the 202526 district continuous improvement plan DCIP as presented. Adoption of the DCIP affirms that the board commitment to the strategic operating plan in the district's performance management system and authorizes the superintendent to the actions, timelines, and metrics contained in the DCIP. Monitor progress and provide periodic reports to the board as outlined in the plan. Submit the DCIP and any required documentation to state or external agencies. and make ministerial or technical edits that will now materially change goals or resource commitments provided the superintendent
015notifies the board of such edits. And this motion shall take effect. That's our motion. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion? And we'll have our presentation. >> There's so many of education So I just I wanted to say that I appreciate that Imagine yourself. I'll hold the curtain. First, first of all, as we do our presentation uh on the district continuous improvement plan, And I want to deeply thank our administrative teams and our leadership folks who are here this evening. I can't tell you how many hours they all put into this going all the way back to August. Uh you know we spent couple of days in August and multiple uh multiple meetings for multiple hours uh in early fall. Um, and uh, this team is fantastic enduring a new superintendent.
016Uh, you know, putting up with the, you know, the new things that I've been talking about. I mean, that's a that's a a pain uh, going through that. Someone who's kind of endured new bosses myself. I can't tell you what a great group of professionals and how much they care about your schools. your schools that are in wonderful hands with uh with the leadership team that you've uh you've had here for several years. So before anything else, I just want to thank this leadership team for the the work that they put into this district continuous improvement plan. So this year we're going to kind of rolling out our plan and we're really strictly connecting this with the strategic operating plan. My job as a superintendent is to make sure the work that we do on
017a yearly basis represents the board's vision and the board's strategic operating plan. And the way we're going to manage this is through what we're calling a performance management system. The Weathersfield Public Schools performance management system. Our system will ensure that our work is coherently aligned to the board's vision and strategic plan. The superintendent's theory of action is basically rooted in a growth mindset. which states, "Weatherfield Public Schools is a continuously improving organization that practices incremental and persistent growth." It's about one page long, one page long. I'm not going to read the whole document to you, but essentially the gist of it is we're always going to work on continuously improving. And that's going to be incremental a little bit each day, each week, each month, each marking period, each year. But it's also going to
018be persistent. We put together one slide just with many of the there's not enough room on a slide to capture all the wonderful accomplishments and major work uh for the for the school year. And then moving forward to our district continuous improvement plan goals, strategies, and data review. I have Dr. Sllayton here with me and Miss Don Campbell, our instructional supervisors that are going to help me with this presentation. But essentially, for this school year, we're proposing 20 of the board strategic actions for the year. These are straight out of the board approved strategic operating plan that runs through uh 2029. Now, I'll say this is about double of what we'll normally recommend to the board for a given year. And part of the reason why we've bitten off a lot this year is there's
019a lot of leadership transition going on. We have we're going to have a a very new uh central office as I kind of mentioned earlier. We have two new principles. So there was really a lot of um thought about finishing maintaining and finishing some of the priorities uh that have been working well over the last couple years as well as adding some new things in. Let's dig into these um priorities for the year by goal lab. We selected in strategic priority the board strategic priority one is student achievement and we've selected the four strategic priorities from goal one and we'll be referencing these strategic actions as well as some of the 32 smart goals as we kind of look through data. So we're going to try to show some of these connected to district and
020school data as we go along. First, it's important to note, you'll hear me talking a lot over the coming years about what's called the accountability index. The accountability index, okay, is is is a it's a measure of many different things that school districts do. And I like the accountability index because it doesn't just use high stakes tests. It also includes art access for kids, physical education indicators for physical fitness, high school graduation rates. It makes sure that every indicator is counted twice. The big indicators for the general population, but also for our high needs learners. And as we know, our high needs learners are all of our students who have a 504 or an IEP, any of our students who are EEL, or any of our students who are on free and reduced lunch. So
021the I like the accountability index because it makes it look it makes us look and focus on all of our kids. We also have to look at growth rates. Sometimes people get caught up on just achievement scores of what was the score, what was the score. Growth rates are important because it shows how much a grade level grew for a year, how much a school grew for the year, how much a district grew for the year. It shows that all that wonderful value added that a school district provides. The accountability index doesn't generally come out until like now. And we're just basically we know you owe me somebody owes me a dollar because I said I bet you it comes out the night of or the night before we have to do our presentation and
022it came out today. So this is last year's because as I said nobody's staying up until 1 in the morning to redo the slide but last year's accountability index. Of the 201 school districts in Connecticut last year Weathersfield was ranked 62. Somebody might say Jeff there's only 169 towns in Connecticut. How could there be 201s? There are many school district towns that have that participate in many school districts. So you might be part of one school district for K through six and another district for 7th through eight. Region 8 is a good example. Like if you lived in Hebrin or Marbor or Andover, one of those towns, your kids go to Hebrin public schools up until a certain grade and then they go to region 8, you know. So there's many districts like that where
023kids actually transition um from multiple school districts. So, we're ranked of all the school districts 62 out of 2011 last year. So, um it's just just information at this point. We'll like to keep an eye on this um each year. Top 30% of of school districts. Um you know, we remember what I kind of said, the the incremental um you know, growth rates are important. We want to see ourselves improving every year. So this is just something to kind of keep an eye on. This is the whole state. We also want to look at how we compare against school districts that are very similar to us. So when looking at data, we always like to look at what's called districts that are in our we we say DUR is an acrony acronym. It's a district
024reference group. So it's schools that are economically similar to us, demographically similar to us. Our kids and our families are the same. They make about the same amount of money. Um the composition um of the kids is about the same. So Dirt D, these are all the towns that the state department of education say are most similar to Weather Steel. Can you see some of our neighbors up there? Brooklyn, Cromwell, Rocky Hill, Waterford, uh you know, Southernington. These are districts that are similar to us over the course of the last few years at accountability index. Now, we look at 1819 and then we look at the last two years. And the reason for looking at 18/19 is we're still watching and analyzing how our kids are doing coming out of the pandemic because there's still
025learning loss that's going on um with kids around the town, around the state, around the nation. So it is important to look at that 1819 for a little bit longer just so we kind of see where we were before and where we are now. So in our third we're we're 13 out of 24 last year and 11 out of 24 the year before that. I had a former board member who asked me, Jeff, I love to see us against the dirt, but I think it's important that this is a board member from a previous district. He said it's important for us to look at how we fare against districts who are in higher dur. And these are places where per pupil expenditures are much higher than we have here in Weatherston. It's just a it's
026a point of reference and this includes towns like Avon, Darian, Glastonbury. Um we also include some towns that are nearby because we want to be competitive with you know our neighbors as well. That's why we also have Newington in there and Rocky Hill. Um because you you want to you want to think about that as well. You kind of take a look at how we how we're doing against schools that are expending three, four, five, $6,000 more per pupil than we are here in Weather School. We're doing better than several of those schools. One of the larger indicators that goes into the accountability index is the ELA performance on the Smarter Balance Assessment. Now, this is given to every third grader through 8th grader across the state of Connecticut. Like I said, this is one
027of those things that's measured for the general population, but it's also measured a second time for our high needs Yeah, because it does correlate with health and well-being of our students. So, it is really important to look at physical fitness. Um, you know, focus on physical fitness allows our children to begin developing healthy habits such as aerobic fitness, flexibility, and general strength needed to to live well for a lify lifetime. off. Um, it's a it's a lifetime skill that we want to help embed in our kids while they're with us K through 12. This just breaks down the test. Um, you know, students, as Don mentioned, have to perform on four tests. That's the push-ups, the curl-ups, the sit and reach measures flexibility, and their aerobic fitness is measured in either the mile run or
028the pacer test. The pacer test is a mile run that the kids have to do inside in the gymnasium where they go back and forth. Um, you know, as as you can see, our students show that they perform the best on the sit and reach, but our students also show that they need the highest uh they have the highest room for growth in their aerobic capacity and also in their strength in the push-ups. And as you can kind of see, it's pretty fairly similar, except coming off of the pandemic, our kids have made over the last two or three years have made nice gains on that aerobic session. >> So, our strategy in this area this year will be to develop and implement interim physical fitness assessments aligned with the state and national physical education
029standards to monitor the student growth and make appropriate instructional shifts to support students proficiency in each domain and across all four. Because, as you can see, we have some pretty high scors in all of the areas. We're just not having kids mastering all of them. So, our kids are doing great in some. We just want to get them around and hitting their targets in all. And we want to focus. If kids are passing two, we want them to get to three. If they're passing three, we want to get to four. If they're passing none, we want to get them to go to one or two. You know, we want to have that that growth mindset so everybody is kind of improving. We could have the best academic curriculum and strategies and the best teachers in
030the world, but if kids aren't coming to school, you know, the value added that we provide for them um gets negated. So that's why it's important for us to look at chronic absenteeism over uh yearover-year. And um you know chronic absenteeism and it's defined by the state of Connecticut is students who miss more than 10% or more of the um the school day. So if we have 180 school days or 182 school days um that would be 18 days. Once students hit that 18 day mark we actually have to report them to the state of Connecticut as chronically absent. As you can see, weather field is Happy birthday. Board priority 2.4 before asks us to expand collaboration with the town council, town employees, and state elected officials to increase transparency of district priorities and fiscal
031management. So, our strategy that we're going to work on this year is by June of 2026, Weatherfield Public Schools will strengthen fiscal transparency and collaborate planning by publishing a capital priority list and a budget handbook and presenting both of these documents in joint sessions with the town council and to our state representatives, resulting in increased stakeholder understanding and alignment of our district priorities. So, our strategic actions are to develop and publish a a Weatherfield Public Schools capital priority list using stakeholder informed ratings. What this looks like is we're engaging with our teachers, our head custodians, our principles about capital needs in the buildings. We're giving them a voice. We're we're putting this these lists together and we'll share this publicly with everything. Every every one of our sites will have top five top list priority
032priorities um set so that we're very transparent with the public. We heard loud and clear from from many folks in the public this fall uh that it's important to them for for us to maintain our buildings. So this is a good way for us to uh to be transparent about that process but also include voice of many of our stakeholders, our our board, our leaders, our teachers and our families. The second thing that we're going to work on, our our second strategic action is we're going to create and distribute a Weatherfield public schools budget handbook process that clearly explains district funding sources, expenditure categories, and strategic investments in our student learning. We want to have that process from the superintendent level be very transparent. also pulled aside board strategic priority 2.13 to utilize district website
033and social media to highlight progress towards actions in the strategic plan and our district improvement plans. So, our smart goal here is by June 2026, Weatherfield Public Schools will implement a coherent and consistent communication strategy that highlights district achievements and progress towards strategic operating plan, district continuous improvement plan, and school continuous improvement plan goals through our district website, social media, and culminating in the annual catalog of accomplishments. So, as you see, every month we we include highlights from the schools and the departments and several of those make its way onto social media. We know that many I I certainly don't know how to use social media, but I know a lot of our families do and a lot of the folks who live in town. So, it's important for us to communicate in spaces where
034our community seek their information. So therefore, we want to put out a lot of the things that are going on in our schools and in our district. Our schools, our district provides a wonderful service for the town of Weathersfield and we think it's important for us to get the word out to see some of those great things that the schools are doing. Um, so folks can see and understand that. So this is just one other example of our a smart goal connected to gold too. And we're moving on finally to the board strategic priority three, which is management, operations, and finance. And for this school year, we're recommending the following eight board of ed strategic actions for 2025 2026. So, I'm going to go ahead. The first one that's mentioned here is class size. And
035as you saw last board meeting, we provided the annual class size report. Some of the highlights from that report were that our elementary class size averaged 16.73 students and that was down a little bit from 17.3. So we have really healthy average class sizes, but we do have blips in there. you know, we have uh I know Hammer, we have uh you know uh third or fourth grade has fourth grade that has u higher numbers you know higher numbers significantly than this and um you know we kind of take a look at our middle school at the 21 level and our high school at the 20 level. This is something that um the the the referendum approved plan to move towards the four elementary schools in the 56. This is going to give the board
036a lot more flexibility and economy and scales to um to better manage those class sizes. So, we're really looking forward to that. Um, strategically, we're looking to work on putting together a formal class-size set of guidelines for the board's review, consideration, and deliberation in the spring of 2026. So, that's something that we would like to bring back to the board this coming year. Just kind of some ideas on how to look at capital and improve them, how we manage class sizes. We talked a little bit about capital priority list establishment. It also is included in goal three very specifically. So we talked about how the capital uh project priority list will serve as a strategic tool and um they let us kind of see investments uh appropriately to what matters the most. And again we'll
037document facility needs annually. We'll score all our buildings twice a year. We will align financial commitments, incorporate stakeholder voice, and incre and and create accountability structures. The next thing that's called for in our the board strategic plan is improving student voice in school lunch. We plan on doing this this year with food ambassador programs where kids will get to have a say in what will be on the menu in next month's school hot lunch program. And we'll also be conducting um advisory board meetings as well so that our community has an opportunity to have some say in that in the school lunch programs. Next, uh, we've established the Office of Talent Management and Growth. And we're hoping, we're not hoping, we're we're planning strategically to provide the board of education with the staffing plan connected
038to our budget proposals. This upcoming year, we we're going to get our toe in the water with a a first run rudimentary staffing plan this year. And every year over the course of the next several years, you'll see a more sophisticated uh level of a staffing plan that will drive our decision making. And finally, we mentioned uh in this slide technology infrastructure coherence. We will be working to develop a 5-year technology plan. It will be driven by a district-wide technology committee that will include staff voice of our teachers and our administrators will participate in this um with our great IT team to develop our 5-year plan in moving towards closing. We're looking for systems coherence. We're looking to make sure that we're we're working together on similar goals. Honestly, honest honestly, this is the most
039rigorous district continuous improvement plan I have ever presented to a board of education since I became superintendent in schools. 20 strategic actions and 32 smart goals. We've got our work laid out for us. But I have to credit the administrative team. They felt very strongly, you know, that we could we could accomplish these and um they showed a lot of care and thoughtfulness and um you know, so this is this is going to be a busy year for our team. I had confidence that we're going to complete this plan because this leadership team had such great conviction about this work. Frequently I tried to talk to him into well maybe we can cut this one or let's get rid of this one. people really felt ownership for this work and our our leadership team deserves
040a lot of kudos because they really felt invested with this this uh work and they showed um you know like I said great conviction about completing this plan. Next year I'll I'll say we're probably going to be looking more at like 10 strategic actions and 13 smart goals. Right. Okay. Anyways, we're very proud to present this plan to the board of education tonight for consideration. You know, always like to model it on something. John Wooden's continuous improvement talks about just getting better a little bit each day. I love this quote. It's kind of a great way to to to finish up the presentation. If you get a little bit better each day over a long time, you make some big improvements. So, you know, we think that this continuous improvement plan is going to take
041us in that direction towards big improvements. So, we're really proud to to present this to you and we thank the board of education for your consideration on uh this year's plan. Okay, we'll continue on because we're on um a recommended. So, we've had a discussion. Any further discussion on this? I do I just want to mention the fact that Mr. Woodby is saying how much faith he has in the administration and the teachers and the students of the Woodsville public school system. That plan will be done. I'm positive of it. And I think the harder we strive, the higher we strive, the better we're going to do. So congratulations everybody. It's just the start. I'll congratulate you again at the end. Anyone else? >> I just want to thank the administration for being here and
042for collaborating with Mr. Wibby on that great presentation and this plan that looks very thoughtful and very u forward thinking. Just curious what when will we see how this is going to be put into the school improvement plans? Is there a plan for that too as well for those presentations? >> Yes. um our next board meeting the um the schools will be presenting their plans that will basically be a coherent next step from from this. But normally we would probably present all of these together on one night but with the you know with the transition in central office and myself just I think I slowed the process down a little bit. So I held these poor guys up. and we chrome and uh so next year I promise we'll probably do this like one meeting
043earlier. So I held the principal's office they'll be here next. Okay, more discussion. I'm just going to say I appreciate that there's going to be student boards for the school lunches because every kid chair came out here and talked about school lunches and so when you feed your soul to feed kids the right way then you know it helps if they're hungry they're going to learn. So I think that that just listen to me. I'm really excited to see that and hear their voices. I'd like to thank the administration for putting together that presentation. The amount of data that was collected, analyzed, presented. I can only imagine the number of hours it took to pull that out and, you know, on top of your your every day. Um, I was wowed by it and I'm
044so excited for this to be shared so that the public can see this information. You know, a lot of times we hear, oh, US News, right, does, you know, X, Y, and Z. But here are, you know, the updated numbers. You can look for your kids and and follow the cohort lines and see how am I comparing, you know, what can I expect as my kids, you know, continue to advance through all the different grades. I just sincerely appreciate everything that went into pulling that off. Um, it's a fantastic tool. Um, and I thank you very much. >> Thank you, Liz. Anything else? Okay, I think we can move on to a vote. All in favor? >> I >> oppose. Any abstensions? That motion passes. Thank you. So, we also had our student program and
045services committee meeting on October 21st and chairperson Janice Roberts and Dr. Christina Latin. This committee works to understand the needs for our 21st century curriculum for our schools. Tonight, we will review and vote for each new course that was presented to the committee and purposefully um we are going to do each course and the reason for that is I want Weathersfield to understand what 21st century courses are going into our high school and middle school. So we'll have a short description of each one. So we'll get started on that. Um Liz, would you please read a motion recommended motion 6 one? >> Happy to. I move that the Mosesfield Board of Education approve item 61 for AP US history. >> Okay, I have a second. Second. All right. And discussion J. Um I will just
046read a little bit from the minutes of the meeting that Dr. Slayton was so wonderful about doing the minutes for. Um this is the US AP US history. Um It history is usually characterized by it mile wide in deep curriculum on the college board designed the course about a decade ago and the resulting focus on historical thinking and in career skills is reflected in the current curriculum. This course encompasses all US history through the lenses of major historical themes and with an emphasis on primary and secondary source of analysis which is so important. um to contextualizing historical events um and causation in history. Um this curriculum features a strong focus on I believe his work the work of history um interpreting and and analyzing primary source documents and developing written arguments based on historical evidence.
047Anyone else want to continue that discussion? All right. So we'll um vote on that. Um, all in favor? >> I oppose. Any abstensions? That motion passes. And Christina, would you do the one on a psychology? I would have the board of education approve the CB2 Federation curriculum psychology. Okay. A second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Okay. Yes, I do. The psychology Um it was significantly revised by the college board. Um uh last year was the first year with these updates um that took effect and reflected in the curriculum. It has uh reflects five pillars a biological basis of behavior, cognition, development and learning, um social psychology and personality and mental and physical health. And it also has more science-based and skill-based approach. Um the college board now classifies AP psychology as a science course as
048well as a social science course. Uh throughout the course students practice applying science concepts and theories to real world scenarios into their own lives, analyzing data and making arguments based on scientific evidence and interpreting research methods and peer reviewed studies from the field of psychology. It's a pretty intensive um course. >> Anyone else? >> I would just say that um this is one of the most popular courses at the high school. I know there's like four or five sections of AP students for this class. I wish I was in high school, but it just shows you how popular it is and how you know well received it is at the high school and also give you credit college credit. says we will vote on this. All right. All in favor? >> I oppose. Any extensions?
049That motion passes and we'll move on to John construction technology. >> Move that the board of education approved to access construction technology. >> Okay. A second. >> Second. >> Um let's have a discussion. Okay. Um the construction technology course is a one semester elective course. Smartly, it's one semester. It covers quite a bit. It's for grades 12 to 10. It provides students with knowledge and skills relevant to the residential construction industry. Students learn the principles of structural engineering, read and interpret blueprints, learn the to safely handle essential tools and materials, to perform basic operations in plumbing, carpentry and electrical systems. other technology education courses construction technology includes career exploration and community connections through this course um students are actively doing and continuously problem solving through authentic tasks and it's a great course also I think
050for um art students teacher engineers anyone um it just makes a lot of connections um Thank you. Any other discussion? All right. All in favor? I oppose. Any abstension? That motion passes. So Janice, you are going to do honor. I move that the board approve um the honors biology course. Okay. A second. >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion? Yes, discussion. Um, I biology is offered to 9th and 10th grade students. It is aligned to the next generation science standards including the standards disciplinary core idea science and engineering practices and crosscutting um concepts. The course is also closely aligned with the level one biology course. The core content and skills are consistent across these courses in order to ensure that all students have access to rigorous standards of aligned curricula. Key differences are evident in the
051depth of content. But this honors course integrated additional concepts in order to prepare students for AP biology should they choose to pursue this. And we were happy to see that even after they took honors biology, they would be eligible to go on to Um, as with our level one post, biology emphasizes engaging in scientific scientific class and inquiry as a basis for understanding complex content. It's very hands-on. Okay. Thank you. Any other discussion? So, vote then. All in favor? >> I oppose. Any abstensions? That motion passes. Um and I make a motion to approve fashion design 2. Do I have a second? >> Okay. Discussion. >> Yes. Um fashion design 2 is a new course that replaced our previous costume design course. Elements of previous uh course were maintained while also increasing flexibility for students
052who are interested in different aspects of fashion design. The course spirals in and extends content and skills from fashion design one, empowering students to pursue individual projects in line with their interests while also increasing their skills in relation to standards. Students deepen their understanding and application of design elements, fashion trends over time and apparel construction culminating in the production of an original finished garment by the end of the course. Okay. Any other discussion? All right, we'll move on. All in favor? >> I >> oppose. Any abstensions? That motion passes. And that would you do some painting? >> I move that the board of border education approve WHS curriculum painting. >> Second. >> Okay. Discussion. Um, painting is one of the discrete discipline courses in our redesign high school art program. Paralleling these other discipline specific
053courses such as drawing, conceptual crafts, 3D design, students deepen their understanding of color theory and value, composition and observation as they approach national core art standards through the lens of the discipline of painting. Throughout the course, students plan their work, execute their work, reflect on their own work, and respond to others feedback. They study, critique, and respond to others work both of their peers as well as some of established artists in the field. >> Okay. Any other discussion? All right. A vote. All in favor? >> I oppose. Any abstensions? That motion passes. And Mr. Mr. Carrie, would you do percussion ensemble? >> I move that the West Board of Education approve the percussion ensemble curriculum. >> Any other percussion ensemble is a blues collective open to all percussionists at Leburg High School offered as both
054an honors and um level elective. It provides percussionists at the intermediate to advanced levels with an opportunity to refine their techniques, strengthen their music literacy and enhance their performance in a specialized ensemble setting. Students who enroll in professional ensemble also perform and collaborate as percussionists in the marching band concert orchestra and musical pit ensemble. Okay. Any other discussion? Let's vote. All in favor? I opposed. Any abstensions? That motion passes. And Jim, approve physics. >> Thank you. >> Make a motion that board of education approve WH's curriculum physics one. >> Second. >> Under discussion. Okay. Physics one is a level one physics course offered to 11th and 12th grade students. It is fully aligned to the um NGSS standards. Students develop an understanding of physics through both mathematical and conceptual models and apply these understandings to
055real world scenarios as they study forces in motion, electricity and magnetism in waves, light, and optics. As another science course, students design and engage in purposeful problem solving and investigations to explore, model, predict, and draw conclusions about essential physics content. And um reading through the entire curriculum, one thing that really stood out was that it really makes physics um accessible to a larger number of students um through being hands-on and just really um making it very clear and understandable. Any discussion? All in favor? I oppose. Any extensions? That motion passes. And our last one, general music be for the middle school. Marjory. >> Yes. >> I move that the board of education approve the curriculum for STMS curriculum. General music B. >> Second. >> Discussion. Um, General Music B is um SDMS's nonsemble music option
056for students in grade 8th grade. It serves to extend strengthen the music literacy, composition, performance and critique skills that students developed in general music. A um students understand how society has impacted music broadly and in specific fields such as music, theater, and vice versa. They apply music composition skills to practicing ukulele, guitar, and songwriting and experimenting with the physics of sound. and they consider the many careers that contribute to the modern music industry. This is um a wonderful course um with a lot of depth and a lot of rigor. >> Thank you. Any other discussion? >> Just wanted to make a brief comment about all this curriculum that we're approving tonight. I want to thank the committee for their work um in approving this curriculum. Um, I remember during the course of our campaign recently,
057I was asked a question on curriculum and one of the answers that I gave was I feel it's accomplished by a lot of this curriculum here. In addition to teaching our kids history, science, music, and the arts, we're always looking to pass curriculum and classes that kids can then use to earn college credits, which saves them money and time if they do choose to go to college. Additionally, we can use curriculum as a tool to make kids excited about coming to school. Not every kid is excited by the core classes, English, math, and science. We've been in forming classes having to do with fashion design and construction technology and like I think that's a that's a good one for us. So I appreciate the uh work on these classes. >> Anyone else for discussion? I
058just want to mention that the reason we spoke about all these courses in our discussion is we talk about 21st century curriculum. I want people to know what a 20% course might look like in some way that our students would be taking. So I thank all of us for all this work and all those who did the work. Okay. So let's vote. All in favor? >> I oppose. Any abstensions? That motion passes. Okay. So we're on to meetings held. anything else. >> Okay. For um CRE, there was a meeting on Wednesday, October 15th. Um and I'll speak to that. The CRE meeting met on Wednesday, October 15, 2025. And the CRE council is the Capital Region Education Council of which Weatherfield is a member along with 35 other surrounding towns. The council is responsible for
059our regional magnet schools and project choice and has also organized and are running the Harford head start program. The council heard the most recent finance and audit committee report. Craig is always so pleased that they come away with an excellent report from auditors on their budget planning and implementation. Dr. Greg Florio, Craig's executive director, spoke on their DEI work and on Greg's conversations with the governor about the shutdown's focus is to work with the state and to maintain staff and programs. The legislative update told us of no special session for our general assembly. CRE continues to work with our state government to work towards full magnet school funding and the meeting concluded with board members discussing consequences of the government shutdown. Basically, there is no impact right now for Wville public schools other than our
060lunch program reimbursement, but there could be other staffing issues for tutors next year if our title grants are reduced. Other systems had similar comments and it is a wait and see situation in our communities. Okay, we'll move along to a special meeting of the board of education on and that was for a confidential student issue. Um, student programing services. Jim, do you want to repeat yourself? >> Um, I just had some notes that I made. Um I can read my writing but um the courses that we approved um this evening complement each other supporting and deepening learning by making interdisiplinary connections. Each course is notable for rigor hands-on activities fidelity standards based learning and emphasis on the importance of evidence credibility collaboration and discussion among other understandings and skills. Students while acquiring an impressive array
061of knowledge and skills will also become aware of knowledge yet to be learned as a result of the developing developing an increased depth of curiosity. These courses make room for students of different levels of experience and interest giving equitable opportunities to explore potential future areas of study and career choices. Okay. We have a special meeting of the board of ed 102825. >> Sure. Thank you. So today we held an RFP session in accordance with our bylaws to select a legal services firm who will provide the desired legal services inclusive of special education. We participated in the RFP procedure, a request for proposal um including interviews, discussion, scoring and we did reach unanimous consensus vote for recommendation. >> Thank you. And our finance and operation committee just met. >> Yep. So, prior to this transport by
062meeting the finance and operations committee met um as a rather brief meeting a couple items uh the good news is currently as of today for this year's budget this year school year. We are still under budget. We are as usual monitoring potential outpacings which could affect the budget and we are still having discussions about what to do with last year's excess funds. Um while they were minimal, we now have two options for to do them uh as per new 2% fund uh rules that were implemented by the state of two two two% funds. Um so we're trying to decide what to do with our bonds from last school year. So >> thank you. All right, meeting schedule. We have web annual meeting which is one night at 4:30 at the community and human resources and
063personnel. on November 9th. >> November 3rd. I can see it. Thank you. And the next web meeting for um is November 10th. And that's the regular meeting. 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 25 minutes. Okay. Are there any board comments? >> Uh, I would just like to thank Superintendent Jeffy and Ad Sterling Stanley for their work um on a public comment that came out last meeting. It was an individual that lives near the high school that had issue with the sound system and Jeff had sterling reach out to this individual and they worked together to come up with a solution. So, so much appreciated. Um, some of us
064had the opportunity to work the concession stand at the World High School football game last week. It was a really fun time. Um, John got really good at slinging baked potatoes and pizza, but even more fun was getting to meeting all the students um, and all the parents and all the families. Uh, it was a really good time just talking to them and interacting with them and seeing how much they could eat. Um, and last lastly, uh, I recently met a couple members of the safety committee. Um, I had a good interaction with them at Maximos, um, and seemed to enjoy what was going on with their plans. Um, we talked about it a little bit. So, there was all happy. I just wanted to recognize uh folks that will be uh leading us and
065Lisa and Marjorie. Thank you for >> excuse me. >> So, thank you so much for your contributions and I'd also like to say at this time, you know, we're certainly in a time of transition with our schools and our superintendent. So, you know, with that comes a lot of opportunity as well. So, thank you. Thank you. Anyone else would like to comment, please? >> Sure. Thank you for the kind words, Jim. And uh we certainly did have a lot of fun on this end of the table. Certainly with everyone as well, but a lot of great memories. It's been an honor to serve and I wish everyone the very best. I feel like in very good hands and very excited to continue following all the great work done by our administrators, our staff, and certainly
066the board of education. Um, I was just going to say I really hope that Christina and Liz will be here for the meeting November 11th. Um, I was planning on having something to say then. But anyway, um, that it's it makes for a really nice ceremony, too. If you can come that night, that would be terrific. >> Yes. >> That's like a quick run through, right? It's not I'll I'll talk really slow though so you can enjoy all the last >> I will see if my panel works for you as well. So that will be good for me. >> Um first Matt, thank you for bringing up my baked potato and pizza. Um if my career challenge doesn't work out, I think uh concession stand management is going to be my thing. Um, that's a
067joke. Um, I want to first start off by acknowledging the ball team again. Um, just an absolute tremendous job. There's some golfers up here at the table, including myself. I know how hard that game is. Um, it was truly impressive. I also know there's some Indian Hill Country Club representation, so that makes me feel very personal. Um, I also met my son as well as our students on both were on the JV team this year. So, um, it's also a close. So, really great job. I coached her, coach on the team. Congratulations again. Um, and of course, as everybody knows now, this potentially could be my last um, board meeting. So, I did prepare some remarks. Um, so I'd like to read those now for everyone. Um, you know, tonight marks, you know, regardless of
068election, that's next week, my potential last full meeting here on the board. And as many of you, um, know as I'm running for town council now, um, I don't want to make this speech about the election. I want to talk about my time here on the board of education. Two years ago when I was asked to run, I had zero expectations and didn't really have the slightest clue we want to respect. But diving into the unknown has some been something I've embraced as of late than I did just that. Being elected to a position to serve this town has been a profoundly humbling experience. I couldn't have been more happy to work along all side all beside all of you for the last couple years and especially can't express enough thanks to the teachers, staff,
069administrators, and children of Shield. You all made it worth it. We had some major accomplishments, new schools and a new superintendent. Um, but let's also celebrate some of the small things. The disagreements, the budget workshops, countless committee meetings. All of these things are so important to the job as a board that we accomplished over the last 20 years. I think I've missed the most of the small things. Talking to Bobby and Chel about how well we played on the course this weekend. Les asking me how my day job is going. Matt and I talking about basketball. What's the sport? It's an exhibition. and so much more. Uh regardless of political position, we all work together for this community in the spirit of education that give us an A+. Regardless of what happens next Tuesday, a
070new board will be here. And the same optimism that I have, I'm sure they will have as well. That it is such an honor to serve. My advice to them is to embrace it. You'll have highs, lows, just breathe through it. It's okay to have your own voice. Use this platform to be heard and use it to speak for those who are unable. Finally, listen to what the community is telling you. It might should not change your opinion, but at the very least, it'll make you a stronger leader. To the children of Weatherfield, it took me many years to become a great student. At one time, I never thought I could be a leader in any capacity. I wasn't top of my class. I barely broke a thousand on the SATs. I didn't have a
071single scholarship college. But if I could provide any hope that regardless of all the metrics that you're measured on, regardless of test scores, you all have something special within you. You all someday could be the next leaders up here at this day. like me, a summit to educators just looking to make a difference. Last certainly not least, I want to thank my family. Without your support, I couldn't have been here and I'm forever grateful for that. So, thank you again for a great couple of leaders and hope to see you all soon. All right. Um, anyone else for comments? Okay. I just want to say a reminder to everyone that we have early voting going on right now and it's at the town hall one day and voting on Tuesday, November 4th is at your
072district voting site and a wonderful learning experience for our kids is to go with mom and dad to vote. A hands-on learning experience and finally uh a great concern is the issue of food insecurity as we all experience a shutdown in DC. Please try to contribute to the Weatherfield Food Bank located here in our town hall. Let's work to make sure our Weatherfield families are able to get through these challenging times and none of our children are hungry. Thank you. And now, please tell us about life at last year's school. So, good evening everyone. Here's a quick update on what's been happening these past few weeks at the high school. Last week was quite eventful with juniors taking their PSAT and the music department having their fall honors concert. It was an English trip to
073the Harford stage to see a place titled Rope which students said they thoroughly enjoyed. Additionally, as the quarter comes to a close, college representatives are actively visiting the high school and many seniors have been attending these visits. On the athletic side, there have been many positives from all teams. Our girls swim and do team continued their incredible legacy by winning their 17th consecutive CCC Northwood championship title regarding girls cross country junior Alexa numerely seventh at the class L state championship earning herself a spot at the state open meet this Friday. As we heard earlier, boys golf had a very successful run with senior Justin Crossen being crowned CIA boys golf division 2 coate champion. Finally, all sports teams are hoping to make a great run in state tournaments as they head into their postseason and
074that's what's been happening at the high school. Thank you so much. Any questions? All right. Is there any unfinished business tonight? All right. Well, tonight I need a motion for an executive session for the purpose of our superintendent evaluation process. Can I have a second? >> All right. All in favor? >> I opposed. Any extensions? That motion passes. And thank you all for joining us. And good night.