00125 and I would appreciate if everyone in the audience would turn off their cell phones as this meeting is being recorded. Ellen, can you please do the roll call? Sure. Good evening everyone. Miss Caren Carson >> here. >> Mr. Kerry >> present. >> Mrs. D Roberts >> here. >> Ms. Hernandez Williams >> here. >> Mr. Riley >> here. >> Miss Walters >> present. >> Mr. Winer >> here. >> Vice Chair Mr. Lakavoli >> here. >> Chairperson M. Mrs. Granado present and Weathersfield High School student representative Anushka Gandhi >> here. Welcome. Okay. And Anushia, can you lead us in the pledge of allegiance? >> 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. >>
002Okay. Thank you. And Anushia, if I'm correct, you're going to give a report for our student program, not for for our um student and staff recognition tonight. >> Yes, I did. >> Great. Um so, good evening everyone. My name is Anushka Gandhi and I'm so grateful for this opportunity to be the high school student representative. With that said, I'd love to get into what's been happening at the high school for the past weeks. Before school started, freshmen had a great introduction to the high school where they were escorted around by members of the Eagle Crew. Additionally, seniors were able to get a chance to paint their parking spots. It was an amazing way to kick off their senior years. The following day, we had our annual first day, the Eagle Way, consisting of numerous activities
003like pickle ball, uh bouncy houses, and my personal favorite, the dunk tank. Um, athletics and clubs are all underway and off to a successful start. On another note, there's a new project that's been introduced at the high school called Changemakers. This year, the WHS student government and our school leadership program want to hear from students as they work to improve the change the high school for everyone. This could be a physical change uh to the building like adding a space for students, having an event they'd like to see, an extracurricular opportunity, or anything else that will help fosters foster school spirit, involvement, and ownership. To conclude, students in AP government and civics classes are going on a field trip later this week to visit the Vietnam War Memorial Tribute Wall. Overall, school is off to
004an an amazing start, and we are so excited to see what the rest of the school year holds for us. Thank you for your time. >> Oh, thank you. And that's life at our high school. Thank you very much. >> All right. Um, so next on our agenda, we we have nothing else for student program services. Okay. Next on tonight's agenda is the approval of the minutes for our regular board of ed meeting on August 26, 2025. May I have a motion to approve the minutes? >> Motion. Okay. A second. >> Second. >> All right. Um discussion, any questions, any corrections? All right, let's make a vote. All in favor? I opposed. >> Any abstensions? Those minutes are approved. Now, is there anyone wishing to make a comment, come on up to the podium and
005state your name and address. And may I remind you that we have a fiveinut limit. And also remind you that um board members do not respond to comments. Thank you. >> Okay, Mr. Wibby, you have some communications to share. >> Um, I do and I'll reference us to packet two. Reference two and 2 A. Oh, you know what? I'm sorry. We do not have communications. I'm skipping to uh number six for action items. >> Okay. So, wait on that. Okay. This is further down on our agenda. All right. Well, tonight we have three recommended motions. Um, Matt, I'm going to put you on right now to read recommended motion 6A. >> So 6A, uh, I'm going to combine one and two in this motion. um moved that the Weathersfield Board of Education approve policy number
0065175, Connecticut school climate, Connecticut school climate and policy number 5650, restorative practices response. >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion? This is our second reading on these. All set. Okay. Let's vote. All in favor? >> I. Anybody opposed? Abstensions. That motion is approved. And we have another motion. Jim, would you read motion 6B for us? >> Certainly. Uh move to establish the Weathersfield Board of Education as the assistant superintendent executive search committee. >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion? >> Yep. >> Can can we get some background on the purpose of this? This is new to us and what your thought process was? >> Absolutely. Um, so just as part of our ongoing efforts to ensure rigorous and confidential selection process for the assistant superintendent of schools, I'm I'm requesting that the board establish an executive search
007committee. The search committee will review ideal candidate qualifications, dis uh discuss interview outcomes, and consider potential appointments in a manner that protects the privacy of the applicants and supports the integrity of the process. So I would intend to bring a final candidate to the board of education at the September 23rd meeting. So that would be the time that we would uh meet at the conclusion of the meeting. Similarly to how we would do it uh in in an executive session, this was um with the advice of board's legal counsel to to do it this way, Mr. Kerry. So, I was thinking about going down the the pathway of the um you know, just setting it up in an executive session, but um but our our attorney had advised us to go this this pathway uh
008instead. I I I so you know ultimately we're just doing it so that the board can meet in like a in a in a session to um meet with the candidates, ask questions, and um have some deliberation about a a potential candidate. Um we begin the first rounds of interviews for the assistant superintendent next week. So, we'll be looking to um interview between six and eight at the most candidates for assistant superintendent. I have to tell you, we're we're having a hard time just getting uh getting the pool down to six or eight. There's uh just a a ton of outstanding candidates. We're going to have some >> tough choices of really excellent, high quality people who've who've applied uh for the job. Now, the job closes on Friday, so A lot of people wait
009until, you know, the last minute. There's probably a good chance we're going to get seven or eight more uh outstanding applicants between now and even the end of the week. So, um if we if we close the job today, we would have a great plan. It can only get better between now and Friday. So, that's a little bit of the background about, you know, what we're looking to do and and why we would do this. So again, this would uh commence at the September 23rd board of ed meeting similarly to how you do it at the end in in an executive session. >> Question. So how would that work though? Because the meeting would have to adjourn for us to start a committee meeting and according to our bylaws, the special committee cannot have the
010authority to his only authority is to make recommendations. So then we wouldn't be hiring the making the vote that night to hire because we'd be adjourned from our regular board meeting. >> Correct. Yeah. >> So how is that going to work then? We're not with then the board itself will never vote on that person because it can't happen that night. >> That was the way attorney Murphy had explained it to me. Yeah. So perhaps this is something that we need to flush out a little more. >> Would you would you prefer to just do it in an executive session and that time and then come back and and approve it at the end of the meeting? I guess. >> Well, I'm just going by what our bylaw states. I'm just trying to figure out where
011attorney Murphy's and he's not here to address it. So where he's coming from when it says the sole discretion of the committee would be only to make recommendations to the full board. So therefore, for the committee to convene, we'd have to be adjourned as a board and we couldn't come back cuz the meeting would be adjourned to actually hire the person. >> So I guess what we could do is we could have the meeting we could have the non-meating beforehand, I guess. >> Yes, that would >> that would be the other way to do it, >> right? I'm just trying to iron iron out the process. I have no problem with the actual committee. I'm just trying to iron out how how it's going to work statutoily within our regulations of a board meeting. [Music]
012>> Well, I'm glad this is up for discussion. Come on up. >> Thank you. >> So, basically basically it's similar to when you did your uh search for your superintendent. So your meetings would be non-me because that's under under FOYA that's one of the conditions that you can um conduct non-mech. So whatever your bylaw is you could still follow your bylaw but all of the other preliminary work would be done by the committee. >> Correct. No, I understand all that. I'm just going back to them as a board then we would have to have another board meeting to actually have a motion because the actual board meeting that Tuesday night if we did it after the meeting that meeting would have to be adjourned for us to hold this committee meeting >> right you you
013have to do the business at the board meeting right >> correct >> okay any other discussion here Liz um I believe I heard you say that a final candidate will be presented to us. Um would we handle that the same way that we handled the high crust principle? >> Exactly the same. >> Okay. So, which was in executive session. >> Yeah. >> And we came back out. >> Yeah. That's the way I wanted to do it. But um so why don't we do this? Why don't we approve this? And if uh or I'll recommend that we approve this and if uh need be, I can circle back. We have a few weeks that I can work with attorney Murphy and that way we have both processes queued up. We can do it either way. So,
014>> all right. Any other discussion on that? All right. So, we'll leave it as is. You'll work it. Okay. So, we will vote on this motion. Okay. So, we have a second. All in favor? >> I opposed. Any abstensions? That motion is approved. Thank you, everyone. We'll get that. All right. So, this evening we do have four district reports. We have a facilities report, a vacancy report, an enrollment report, and a board of ed workflow and meeting process report. And I'll hand that over to you. >> Thanks, Madam Chair. So, um, reference 4 has two, uh, pieces of information and it just the board committee schedule as well as dates to remember for September. So, I've added that into the packet for board members review and I'll pause for any discussion or deliberation on the
015schedules and the calendar. >> Mhm. Am I allowed to ask a question or just am I can I only make a comment? You can ask a question. Of >> course. Yeah. >> Yeah. Is there a minimum number of times that we are supposed to meet in certain committees? Because I do have questions about facilities um like about the frequency of the meetings and I felt like it was a little late last year and I I wasn't sure because with the upcoming referendum we have been asked about a maintenance plan and and other items that relate to that. So, I'm curious to see. >> Sure. I'm planning on speaking to that in um in item five uh >> Okay. >> 54, but >> I believe the board has the latitude to have as many committee meetings
016or as few. The only thing that's mandated by statute is that I believe you have to have, and I did reference it in here in the packet somewhere, so I'm going off of memory, but I believe you're required to have board of ed meetings every 6 months. So, you have to have two board meetings a year statutoily. Now, bylaws for the Weatherspield board call for uh two meetings a month on the second and the fourth Tuesday, and then it's quiet about everything else. So statutoily you're you're you know and then now your second part of your question is good practice. You want to schedule a workflow that makes sense for what's important for the board for the community. You know you decide you know I obviously I recommend you have a finance committee meeting every
017month you know at least 10 months. I I recommend that you have facilities meetings between two and four times a year, you know, and and we can kind of work that out and and I'll talk to that in in greater detail in a few minutes when we get to a future agenda item. But to answer the question, twice a year is statutoily mandated. uh Weathersfield Board of Ed bylaws the on or around the second and the fourth Tuesday of the month is um and it's not even a mandated it's like a suggest suggestion from the bylaws. So >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Any more discussion on those four all four of them? Okay. I would I'd make a comment on the um the board change for our meetings. I do like one of the
018options there because we really are looking, we're all young up here, but we're looking for young families too to be part of our board of ed. And in order to get them, we really have to curtail our time. Um, and less meetings would help young parents a lot. Um, so to have two board meetings of which one is a committee meeting, board meeting would really help. It would also help in our quorum issue that we have so often. So, um, I'm thrilled that the idea that we're looking at this and we'll all get together and make sure we have the one that we're looking for. Okay. So, >> any other comments? >> I jumped ahead a little bit. I have a couple of other um reports to to share with you. Um, the first is
019the facilities report. So, if if I can point the board to reference 5A. So, every year, if the board so pleases, I would like to come forward to the board of education and share with you a list of all of the projects, the summer facilities projects that were completed and conducted on the school schools and central office over the summer. And um you know, and that that's included in this report at the end. uh director Katz was good enough to provide me with the list of all the projects and those are I don't know if I called it an addendum but it's the last two pages of reference 5A. This is all the work that's been done and I provided a quick uh executive summary for the board on this as well and I'll just
020kind of walk you through some talking points uh connected to this. Um, you know, there's a substantial list of projects. Nearly all the work was done in occupied buildings, which required careful coordination to protect students and staff in the summer programming. As you know, our buildings are heavily used during the school year and throughout the summer. So, the the facilities folks worked really hard to make sure that they were working around the kids, the staff, and the programs. I'm just going to highlight kind of the key work. I'm not going to read the, you know, hundred things that were listed on there, but the work was kind of divided up four ways. Health and safety work. There was mold abatement work, ceiling tile replacements, targeted HVAC repairs to improve air quality. There was infrastructure work
021was roof patching, masonry repairs, plumbing and electrical fixes. There was learning environment work, flooring replacements, painting, classroom reconfigurations, systems maintenance, generator servicing, uh, which is great as long as they turn the switches back on when they're done servicing them. Uh, boiler chiller preventative maintenance. Um, you know, and and this was a significant cost, uh, you know, to the town kind of keeping keeping these buildings up. Um, you know, just a strategic observation, a significant portion of the summer work and the costs expended is driven by the age and the condition of our oldest elementary school buildings. The facilities require frequent, laborintensive interventions that are more expensive and less sustainable than modern efficient buildings. So, you're paying a lot of money to maintain older buildings. There's a cost to that certainly. And you think about educational
022impact, you know, reactive maintenance diverts resources from strategic improvements that are that directly enhance teaching and learning. Um, and recurring health and safety issues will keep coming up. Air quality, these can disrupt instruction, you know. So moving forward, I think the the summer work highlights the needs for long-term facility strategies focused on capital investment in and modern, efficient and healthy learning environments. Um, you know, these investments will reduce recurring maintenance costs, improve sustainability and energy efficiency, and provide stable highquality environments. Um, so in closing the if the board so chooses, every September I'll provide you with this type of report. Here's what happened over the summer as much as we can connect the costs, the timeliness. Um, and it it's an opportunity for the board to have discussion to align facilities kind of kind of
023as um as as Liz had had mentioned. It's I'll provide these types of reports as an opportunity for the board to have deliberation and discussion. And um and um I'll give you some other examples uh in a bit. And you know, I I didn't want to read the whole report at you. I I I'm really proud. But I I worked on this infographic that summarized what I talked about there. I never really knew how to do that. So that was a great uh area of growth for the superintendent creating this in infographic. Um but anyhow um so so I'll pause here and this is an opportunity for um you know for board deliberation, questions, discussion um and and that was the purpose for this. >> Okay, Christina. Yeah, Superintendent Wy, I do like the graphic,
024the infographic, but um more importantly, it's great to do it in September because then the budget can get started, you know, we can start working on the budget and what we need earlier on. And I've said that multiple times because money talks and the buildings need that attention and so it's been a lot of money for that, but it's very clearcut and we appreciate that. it's broken down by schools specifics itemized then you need that to save money and also for transparency for the t the tax failures really. So thank you >> and in the future that list will even probably have more of a line item budget connected to it. So as we do this more frequently we'll get more specific with information uh connected between the money and the the the work done.
025Okay, >> Mr. Whippy. So, the list is large at the high school, which is disturbing as we're a high school is only 8 to 10 years old. I mean, and the board needs to remember although it's our taxpayer money, this none of this falls under the board's purview. It's all under the town's purview. So, we don't actually budget for anything on this document. The town does. But, uh I mean, one thing that stood out was, and I haven't heard about this, the urinal stalls that we needed 10 of them due to vandalism. if you could get more information for the board on that. That's new. I haven't heard that at the high school. And then I'm curious about I mean some of the stuff at the high school is maintenance that should be occurring. Painting
026floors, painting walls, that's great stuff that should be power washing. I'm curious to know if any of this what is unusually happening at a high school that's less than 10 years old, 10 years old, give or take. can't remember when I was on that committee but like like what is from wear and tear and what is just normal maintenance of a school if you could give us a little idea of that. >> Sure. >> What I can do is as we move forward you know it is important to code work done you know in the facilities world they call them PMS which is a fancy way of preventative maintenance work. So, a lot of times they'll code the work as repairs or PMS, preventative maintenance, and it helps you kind of get an understanding on
027what was planned. You know, you know, you're going to do belts and filter replacements are going to be PMS cuz you're going to do those three or four times a year. But, as Chuck said, sometimes things get broken that are not planned for and they're outside of the, you know, the lifespan. And that's important to to to look at. And um you know that's something that we can certainly you know talk to our friends um at at the town side to try to gather that data. I am a firm believer in gathering facilities data helps us become more strategic. >> No I agree and I mean we we in all my years we've always gotten updates like this. So this is great. But what's concerning is I wonder what our paint schedule is. So, when
028we had facilities, when I was first on the board 14 years ago, our facilities director had a yearly paint schedule. So, it seems like we're painting at the high school and a little bit here and there. Can we find out if the town has a schedule where they're redoing our classrooms and and looking at trying to making making sure they're maintained paintwise and >> blinds? >> I I know one of the answers to this. During co um the director of physical services had them paint every single classroom. know that because she's mentioned it because they she needed to keep them busy and the schools weren't being occupied so she had them paint every single classroom. >> Yeah, it's usually a good practice every four or five years. So, you're doing about 20 to 25% of
029the painting each summer, but um I will I I'll get a a specific answer on what their rotation is on that. >> Thank you. >> Okay. I would like to make a comment on the the maintenance and I it it is what we need. We need to move towards a maintenance plan rather than replying to things that have happened or will happen. Um and I you know with possible changes in the future this is exactly what we need. I was going to ask now what was your role in working with the town if any or is it the town's decision to assess this condition of the schools and say x y and z needs to be done because I I'm curious you know were you a recipient of what was done because you asked for
030that information um or were you proactively sought out so that you know it was more of a partnership um I echo the sentiments you know from my my fellow board members um consistently and my concern would be how much decision-m power do you have or do you need with the town to make sure that the facilities are maintained in a way that's not going to be overly costly. Um you know Bobby you had mentioned a some a reference to what I would call proactive versus reactive. Um, and I know that a schedule of sorts will be required at some level, but how do we solve this? And any thoughts? >> We we've got this. I I can tell you I didn't have any input and it's not fair to them to I don't want it
031to come across like nobody listened to me. I mean, I started in July and they had already done the prioritization and planning for the summer and and I'm not going to, >> you know, it would have been foolish of me to come in and try to change things. I mean, equipment had been ordered, everything was was moving in the direction. Now, moving forward, what I would ask for >> is a dual inspection. I would like to inspect with the town and with my administrators in the springtime and set a priority schedule for the year. >> Um, and that gives them a good portion of the summer to get a lot of those projects done like similar to what you see here. So that's how we can infuse our voice into what's important in the buildings
032is the inspections that happen in the spring. And then we would conduct a second set of in inspections two or 3 weeks before school was to open. And we would go in and check in on things that um you know they were either complete in progress. And that's the structure that I'd like to kind of bring back to the board. like next year this list may very well >> have like an O, a C or a an N on it so that we can kind of keep keep our eye on it. And um as Christina mentioned, you know, this does turn into the capital uh requests that I would probably look to bring to the board in maybe as early as October, probably more reasonably at a November board meeting and say here's our list
033for the year. But I think that twice a year inspection schedule together as a team. We we have a voice in setting the priorities with them. We work together. Um honestly, they've they've been wide open to that concept. We've had some great conversations. The chair and I uh got had a had a a great opportunity to meet with uh with folks from the town side and um I I see a great partnership in in this work together. But I think those are some of the structures and um strategies and procedures that we would get started in um and how we'll properly maintain our buildings and set the right priorities for what we need and making sure um you know our voice is included there and and I it seems like everybody is really interested in
034moving in this direction. So, next September, I'm very excited to come back and see where we came from this report to, you know, maybe next year's opening a school report. And and I I do think it's a good idea to keep the board in the loop on this a couple times during the year, two or three times where we we might infuse um you know, updates either be it at a committee level or at the full board. But I I definitely would want to keep the board of ed um informed on how things are going just just because it's important. It's so connected to our budgeting process and our capital project process. So >> wonderful news. Thank you. >> Anyone else? Jim, >> uh thanks so much. Uh I'm I'm glad that there's going to
035be a maintenance uh checklist of sorts. That that's going to be great. we didn't get to uh $65 million. Uh hopefully we don't get there again. So, thank you for that. Uh the other question I had for you, um this list is great. Is it possible in the future to maybe get some of the costs captured because looking at this list, I don't know if it's, you know, 300,000 or 2 million. I I don't can't wrap my head around that. So, going forward, that would be great. Thank you. >> I I promise you, Mr. Riley, we will 100% connect the costs to this. I I asked for this. It was my fault cuz I asked for this kind of late in the game and I said, "Is there any way we could put together a
036list?" So, I wish I had started working on this a little bit earlier, but but you should expect to see that with costs connected to it. Definitely. Yes. >> Thank you. I mean, certainly this is a a great start. H >> um I I would just say that we also need to like be clear on short-term planning and long-term planning. And I know that we've discussed this before and I believe this will happen. Um, a lot of what we're seeing on this list for like the high school especially that it's a lot of it's short-term things and and it's I actually like seeing this list that it's so long on the high school cuz it shows that a the amount of traffic that that goes through the high school and the use that that building
037gets and people just have no idea like it's constantly being used whether it's a floor tile being cracked or a rug that needs being replaced. Um, but that it's actually getting done right and it's a newer building but you got to still keep everything up. These are the short-term maintenance things that, you know, are happening every day. They're being painted. They're do, you know, this. But what's more, I think a lot of people worry about is the long-term fixes. We know that within 10 years something is going to go or need to be a bigger priced item will need to be replaced at the high school or at the middle school or wherever. And those are the concerns. It's like do we know and can we plan on it and can we budget for it
038and not just let it sit there and fester and just place you know replace with you know do replacement parts you have to find on eBay which is happening in the elementary schools um they can even find replacement parts for some of this plumbing. So um but I'm I'm I have all the confidence in the world that this is the way we're moving and then it'll be transparent just seeing that there's a plan that we know what to expect in the future especially for the long term. We know we know how long these things will last. Um, I will also say for people that may not read it, but the town manager's report is is he puts one out every two weeks and he also on that report lists all the things that gets fix
039that get fixed in the elementary school. I mean, I don't know if it's all, but it is a long list of things. I think they added it maybe last year and he also puts in things that were fixed in other buildings in town and other things that physical services done, but it does give the town resident who reads the his report every two weeks kind of an idea of what's been happening. So, Anyone else for discussion? I'm glad we're talking maintenance, everyone. It's a of a need. >> Madam Chair, the third report that I I'm sorry, the second report that I'm bringing to the board's attention is another one that you can reasonably expect that I'll bring it to the board of education every September, maybe even in August. We might get to the point
040where we can have this prepared for for an August board meeting, but it's it's called a um a vacancy report and it shows the end of the year vacancies that we had in June and it just benchmarks it against the vacancies that you had last June, the the year prior and the year prior. So you can kind of see what the patterns are internally. So, as you can see, we had um 32 total resignations of our teachers last year. Eight were due to retirement, 24 were due to uh non-retirement, and we had a 10% turnover rate. Now if you look at the first bullet underneath that in 2024 2025 teacher turnover rates across the nation were at 16%. We don't currently have a rate for the state of Connecticut. Um so he shows that our
041turnover rate is slightly below what the um the national average is and that's something that we want to keep an eye on because there is definitely concerns around teacher shortages um across the nation and some areas are worse than others. You know certain STEM areas, mathematics, science, special education, there's various areas that uh you you have uh a harder time to find folks. Um, if you look at the the the graphs down on the bottom of this report, you can see the codes connected to the exit interviews for people, you know, you see uh, you know, the percentage that uh, people left due to retirement. Uh, some reported workplace fit, some reported uh, they just moved to a different school or family reasons or end of the assignment. That means they might have been hired
042on a one-year contract. So it just gives a little bit more data. >> So this is the second type of report that I would like to provide to the the board of ed if the board likes seeing this each year. This makes sense either in August or September to just give you information about um what's kind of going on with with the with the turnover. So I'll pause for discussion and questions uh if you have any. Um it looks from the sorry it looked from the graph like um there were a number of of people who did participate excuse me in the exit interviews which is wonderful. Um that has not necessarily been true in the past. Um so we did have a high compliance rate >> it appears. So, I wasn't here at the
043time of the the exit interview, so I can't tell you qualitatively, but we are as of last year, we are required by the state of Connecticut to provide all we we have to provide six exit questions to all staff who leave and we actually are required to provide that data to the state of state department of education. Um, so we are mandated to um to work with uh with with our staff on at least those six questions. I like to see more questions because you can I personally like to sit and do exit interviews um because you get other information from from people outside of just those six questions. But um so I can tell you um I I can't tell you how these went on, but um it does represent everybody who left and
044it looks like everybody who left participated at least in the minimum exit interview criteria >> and I did notice that it was now law that we need to do that. >> That's great. >> Yeah. We're just going to mention for a minute that HR um chair Christina worked very hard to try to get exit interviews in the previous years and we knew how valuable they would be to us um to get that kind of information about you know are teachers dissatisfied are they you know burnt out what's going on and it was valuable information when we finally got a hold of some exit interviews. My one question about exit interviews is can we broaden the results or the answers people get so we have more detail. Um some of them are broad like ret I
045mean retirement is great workplace fit I find to be such a broad category. It would be nice if we could get some details. I mean we don't want somebody telling us their whole life story up there but um first of all I'm thrilled we have exit interviews and secondly I would love more details. >> Sure. We absolutely I've I've conducted exit interviews in a couple of different ways. I've actually we've sat down with 10 or 15 questions and asked them. Some districts have folks take um an online survey. Um there's a lot of different ways to to to to do that. This would be definitely some of the work that um you know our assistant superintendent uh would be you know finding best practices moving forward and and um certainly working with you know with
046uh with the with the subcommittee on um gathering information that would be important to the board of education >> and I do believe it's a way to correct things if we know there's a problem. If we don't know there's a problem we don't know what to do or who needs extra help in anything. So this is great. Thank you for this. Anybody else? >> Madam Chair, the third report that I'm bringing forward is called an enrollment report. Um it just basically shows where the kids are, what grade level. I'm I'm in I'm used to providing the board of education an enrollment report every single month. Um, it's important to note that the October enrollment report is the big one. The October report, as many of you know, is the one we actually have to report
047to the state of Connecticut. And our funding is connected to that. Many other um services that we receive are connected to our 101 uh uh enrollment report. This is one that it doesn't necessarily need to we need to pause and have a discussion every month, but I do think if the board so chooses, I do think it's a good idea to put this in the packet um every month, even if it's in a consent agenda type of an addendum uh for the board to to review. But it is important to at least pull it out um once or twice a year to kind of look at the trends because this eventually the next trick that I'll pull out of my hat uh you know down the road will be a staffing report and I think
048it's important to connect the enrollment report and the staffing report. Um, so we'll be working on staffing reports moving forward because you want to make sure that the staff is flowing where your kids are and that you know the you know you're you're adjusting your staffing to where the um the enrollment adjust adjustments are um each month. So as you can kind of take a look at it um as of 94 we have 3384 students uh here in Weathersfield public schools. So, I'll pause for any questions, thoughts, or considerations. >> Yep. I have a question. So, >> I'm going to go on an assumption, Mr. Wibby, that the kindergarten classrooms all have we have two at all the schools. >> Not not always two. Um I I can't speak to you exactly where we would
049have three, but um I do know that we have um three and at least one or more. So, >> Okay. Because the numbers that Charles Wright are strikingly low for so cuz if you I know we don't three at all three of those other schools which means they have classrooms of 23 and Charles Wright has a classroom of 11 and 12. >> That's correct. >> So that's I mean there's a disparity there kind of how our numbers are. So I'd be curious to know and we we are used to getting a staffing report as well. So that's a common not so that's not nothing new for this board. But so it'd be interesting to see what our staffing is. >> Yeah, we're going to be ready to pro to to provide a staffing report pretty
050soon actually, maybe even at the next meeting. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> I I would just ask um sorry if there's anything for Mr. would be like if you any outliers anything anything notable in this enrollment report and as far as the numbers go that you're seeing because you know this is your first enrollment report for us and you're a new to the district. I >> mean the third the first thing that caught my eye was that we had um huge numbers in kindergarten at web. we were looking at 25 um and and um so over the summer we were looking to remediate that and um you know that was the first thing that caught my eye and we did open up as I had mentioned a third section um you know there
051um we we tried a couple of other things first but that was the first thing that caught my eye was the kinder numbers at web were very very large um at the time you it's just I get very nervous at kindergarten sections that get 20 or above. It It really It makes me nervous. I like to see kindergarten sections, you know, ideally between 16 and 18. Um, but 20 is you can make them fly with at 20, but once you get over 20, I I do get nervous with kinder sections. >> Thank you. Yes, kindergarten teacher. Thank you. as as you'd know. I mean, in kindergarten, his children are coming in and, you know, many of them don't know how to tie their shoes. They're having, you know, it's there's just so much that has
052to happen. Uh, and and when that group size gets too large, um, it's hard to do any of the academic work um, inside the classroom because their poor teachers are tying shoes and taking kids to the bathroom every 5 seconds. And it's just becomes uh it becomes hard to manage a classroom when there's too many kids in there. >> 16 is ideal. 18 is good and 20 is pushing it. >> That's my scientific assessment. >> That's my experience. >> Yeah. But you know what's interesting? Yes. The kindergarten, first grade, those early childhood years are difficult. But you go into a fifth or sixth grade class that isn't sized right. there's too many ch children in there and boy is there very little womb with all those big bodies by that time they're much bigger they
053have more about them um so we'd like to keep an eye on those too and keep them down low and it really would be wonderful if we could rightsize all our classes that would be the answer anybody else okay thanks thank you >> my last uh report that I provide provided was just an an observation that I made on board of education workflow and meeting process. So I put together a little bit of a memo here and the cabinet team sitting here uh we we did a little bit of action research um as we kind of work to reflect on operational practices and we strive for efficiency and effectiveness. You know, I'd like to respectfully recommend a review of the current workflow and frequency of board of ed and subcommittee meetings in Weathersfield. Um, you
054know, if you kind of take a look at our number of meetings and compare them to some of the other districts around, you see that Weathersfield has, you know, 22 meetings a year. We have multiple standing committees and and um several joint and special meetings as well. And you kind of take a look at some of our neighbors in Rocky Hill who have 11 meetings and Newington has 18. In South Windsor, she does them in 10 meetings a year. And you know, so it just kind of goes to show and it goes to um Liz's comment earlier, her question earlier. We we're we we currently hold board meetings on second and the fourth uh Tuesdays of the month, but also subcommittees are at different times of the week. So, you know, just a key insight
055that I notice. The Weathersfield board meets more frequently than most pair districts, often holding multiple meetings and subcommittees. This level of engagement reflects a strong commitment to transparency and collaboration, but it also may present some opportunities to streamline for efficiency and alignment with best practices. Holding meetings on different days and times each month makes scheduling and participation challenging for our citizens, our staff, and and our board members. And I just listed here best practices according to um to to the CGA, the general assembly and and CABE. Um and I also put in here uh links to the our board of education bylaws and our policies. And you know what I ultimately recommend is that we kind of take a look over the course of the next year at our workflow. And I put in a
056couple of documents called board of education workflow which just lists month by month. And I just started to populate things that could be happening whether it's action items, discussion items or executive items, negotiations, RFP, legal, where they might fall. And this kind of helps you sketch out you know your year. When's the busy months? You know, busy months, you might really need two meetings plus subcommittees. There might be some light months where you can can kind of shift off of that. And um this process is is helpful to kind of identify the flow. I I put into the board packet I no reason. I just grabbed the policy and planning workflow. It's blank. We would want to work out when certain things are important to happen there. So you could do the same process at
057um each and every committee meeting as well. And you know I put a couple of options for consideration in the future. You know potentially option A you may have a a board work you know many boards of education who have two meetings. They have a workshop meeting and a business meeting. Usually the workshop meeting is the first meeting of the month. The business meeting is the second meeting of the month. Sometimes within that workshop, you're actually doing committee work or committee meetings. So, it just gives some some ideas. Some board of eds, and this happens usually in smaller towns, they decide we're going to meet twice a month and we're going to do we're we're a small board of seven people. Um we're in a smaller town. We're going to do all our committee work
058together. So every committee kind of becomes the committee of the whole, the finance committee, the policy committee and um you just make that the workshop meeting um of the whole each month. So these are a couple of options to look at and and and consider. I I present these uh ideas for um looking at things respectfully over the over the course of the you know the next year and and um you know have have conversation and deliberation and um you know I'll I'll pause pause there uh for comments or thoughts. >> Yeah, I really appreciate this superintendent just not just for the board members but for the staff members. We've sat in student program meetings where administrators had to come up with a a presentation and the teachers were there and it's a long day
059for them and we've lost some administration because of the amount of time that you have to spend after school um their sports events and all those things. It's just very thoughtful of you to consider that and um I appreciate it especially for everyone that came to do these amazing presentations. But it was timely. I mean, another 3 4 hours after the school day. >> Um, I would also like to say that I appreciate the uh thought that went into these options presented. Um, I think it would be a good idea to possibly reconsider how we meet, when we meet, why we meet, how often we meet. Um, being a board member, uh, it's volunteer work. Uh, it can burn you out. Um, I think if we were to meet less often with more purpose, uh,
060and accomplish the same thing, uh, I don't see why we can't reimagine, uh, a different a different scenario as to how we organize our board meetings and our committee meetings. Um, when I saw these options, I went back to my calendar from last year to see how many times I met or how many times we met in terms of board meetings and committee meetings. And this doesn't even include all of the times that we meet on the side. Um, last year I believe I went to about 40ish meetings over the course of 30 nights. I feel like this would reduce that to about 20 nights and we would accomplish the same thing. Um, I think it would give more people more say on more issues if we were to meet as an entire board and
061discuss things that individual um, committees were discussing with a smaller subse section of the board. Um, I also think it would draw more people into being a board member. Uh, I think it would be good if we can get younger people, people with children, um, people that may not be retired, um, to have a say in the board. Um, I also think that we we end up meeting a lot throughout the course of a year. Um, I'm trying to see my list of of what else we meet for. Um, besides policy meetings and board meetings, we also meet for budget meetings. Uh, we do caucuses, we have special meetings, we have executive sessions, we have expulsion hearings, we meet with PTOs, we meet for contract negotiations. So I mean you you add up all the
062policy meetings and all the board meetings and all of those meetings that I just mentioned and it becomes a big time commitment. I think if we can cut into our time commitment a little a little bit it would work wonders for all of us. So I appreciate this and I and I look forward to thinking through this and talking through these options. >> Thank you Matt. Yes, Liz. >> I echo Matt's sentiments uh 100%. And I also love the idea of coming at this from the perspective of what would work best, not we've always done it this way. No one else does it like that. >> I love the forward thinking. Um I love the opportunities that this would open up for younger family members to participate in the board. Um I specifically waited until
063my youngest was out of high school. I don't know how families do it that have younger children because this is always, you know, at bedtime and and things of that nature, but yet when we think about the families who are closest to the education system that we support, you know, they're the ones with littles. And so, um, I'd love to see the the possibilities that this would open up. Thank you for taking the time to do this. >> Anyone else? Jim, >> I appreciate all this uh work. Um, and uh, to echo Matt's sentiments, uh, I think to get more board members involved in subcommittees is is a great idea. For myself, there are things that are presented by some of these subcommittees that I think are major changes and I have no idea that
064they were even in discussion. So, uh, change can certainly be good. Thank you. Um and just lastly, I think you know the idea that all of us are meeting for all of the committee work. Um I think all of us take responsibility um for what we know we need to go over as far as approving what um the reading the minutes, the agendas, the minutes of all the other committees. So we're all doing all of the work to begin with. So, this makes more sense. We're all responsible and we we all have some say. >> Wasn't lastly cuz I was going to say something. Um I I personally love the workshop idea. Um I think it gives some good cross collaboration across all of us to actually give input to ideas which is always hard.
065I couldn't make everybody's committee meeting all the time, right? Um it gives us a chance to actually speak to something maybe you've already been discussing. Um, and I think the other part of it that wasn't uh talked about is the public, right? Because if you do it this way, the public's going to actually hear all the work that we do throughout all those committees, which doesn't always get seen by the public. So, I really love that idea. Um, and I support it. >> Definitely transparency for the citizens. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> It bothers me that we keep saying getting young people involved cuz I've been involved for 14 years before my third child was even born. Jim has three young kids. John, I believe one or two young kids. My >> I have two children.
066>> Two children younger. Right. So there are people who have young kids who are getting involved. So changing it for that I'm completely against. Changing it for >> other reasons. I'm for but we people keep bringing that up. And then there's at least three people I know running that have young kids and they're running. So just keep saying that we're trying to get younger people involved. We have plenty of people who have young kids involved. That is one of the reasons this is being done. There's many reasons that we're looking at this. That's one. And I do know of a couple of board members who have had to leave because they just don't have the time. And there's others who can juggle it all. So I would like this for a variety of reasons. And
067one of them too is we're like the recital after we have all these practices in these committees and then we come here and we talk about it in a short minutes of that meeting. So it's really not um understood by all and this is a way to get everybody involved on the board in all the committees and also for other people to say I can use that time wisely. I can do this. So that's what I'm talking about here. I think all of us are talking about this. We're not saying we're doing this for young people out there to be on our board. We want them on our board. >> I don't think there's anything wrong with saying that though, Chuck. I'm kind of surprised that you are. >> No, no, no. I'm saying there's
068plenty of people who have young kids on this board who chose it. And I wasn't done with my comments, but I was cut off. And to remember that state statute says we are a meeting of the board in public, not for the public. And I constantly remind that we're not here for the public. It's a meeting in public, not for the public. And until we learn what our roles and responsibilities are, it's hard to do what's right. But I have no problem with young people running. We have plenty of them running on this time around with young kids. So I don't know what surprises you, John. I I'm just saying I've been around 14 years. >> It does. I mean, I can tell you on a personal level, right? I mean, there's a lot of
069work that goes on here. I I made a lot of sacrifices, right? >> I if there was a chance that there's another younger family that could have utilized a smaller schedule. I mean, if they really wanted to be in public service, which is, by the way, is a great great choice to do, I'm all for it. I'm surprised that you would bring that up that way. >> Yeah. And and I don't see that as being the uh main driving factor in doing this. I I think it's a a benefit that comes along with it. >> Um I I like the idea personally of everybody being involved in the decisions that go on in uh the committees. >> Um I've really never been to a communications committee meeting. I've never been to a student programs and
070services committee meeting. um some of the people on those committee meetings have never been to my committee meetings. I think if more board members could have more say in more issues. I think that is the is is the main driving factor behind this. I think if we can meet less often and accomplish the same thing and it would also encourage more people to run and get involved with mun municipal government. I think that that's just a side benefit. I I don't think that is the main driving factor and I but I don't see what's wrong with that. I I don't see what's wrong with crafting a municipal government that enables more people to get involved and not less. I've had conversations with possible candidates that we have been trying to run on our side and
071when I explain to them the process and the time commitment and what it is, it's a deterrent. So, I don't think again I don't think that's the main factor or the main reason for why we're doing this, but I do think that it is it is beneficial for that for that reason as well. And I I would just say that um I will find I I do if we do it this way I will know more. I will know more as a committee person as a as a board of ed person and also like especially students programs and services or any situation where staff is presenting in a committee forum like so much work goes into that and I will have a deeper understanding of kind of what goes into that what they're offering or
072what they're trying to get us to approve um if if we change to this kind of um schedule. So I'm all for it. And uh last thought, so you know, I agree these meetings are not the meetings are public meetings, but we're all up here because we are elected by the public to represent them. This is 100% a servant leadership position where we are supposed to represent the town. Um you know, regardless of political affiliation, anything, you know, we're supposed to keep our ears open. Um, you know, it's better I I always think it's better if I keep my ears open and my mouth closed. Um, we learn so much more when we listen. And I think we are doing this, you know, for the public. Um, I I get that this is not a
073meeting for the public, but we're servant leaders representing the town. We serve at the pleasure of the town people. >> Okay. You think we discussed that enough? I think all set. >> Chuck, just for the record, I I think you're a young person. Okay. So, we'll move on. So, meetings held. Well, we almost had our wet meeting, but it was postponed until the 22nd, I believe. Okay. So, that's on then. >> All right. For meetings scheduled, we have finance and operations committee on um September 23rd, 25. Human resources and personnel committee, that's next Monday on 9:15. in the correct council which is on 917 2025. Um, and 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
074you have five minutes? Okay. Are there any board comments? Christina? >> Yes. Thank you, Bobby. Um, so I wanted to present um, Superintendent Wibby with a gift from Dorina Fedishi, who is the vice president for the Weathersfield Chamber of Commerce. I've had the opportunity and pleasure to be on the um, wall committee um, meeting. So, I haven't missed I think I missed one, but I've I've been working on this not just because my husband's a veteran, but because this is a wonderful opportunity for Weathersfield to bring the wall, which is a monument, it's coming tomorrow. they're setting it up and on 911 they're going to have a great um just presentation of different people and I did want to mention that some of those people are motorcycle riders who are bringing in the wall and
075veterans for peace which is just different perspectives so sometimes people think Vietnam war and I it's just really cool to have different perspectives for this great you know for this for the town but also just for this opportunity for students superintendent we sent everything out to the staff is allowing ing teachers to plan field trips, which is just awesome. I know it's last minute and it's, you know, the start of the school year, but these teachers are trying to figure out a way to get the students down there. So, um, Dorana sent a couple of books in a camouflage bag and she was really proud to bring all of this together. So, I get to give this to you. So, here you go. >> Yeah, you can. Then lastly, um, Bobb's going to join me
076reading on Thursday. And then if you want to see our superintendent reading to kids on Friday afternoon, that would be great. So, um I think the weather's going to be beautiful. Bring a blanket, bring a towel, put your cell phones away. It's a little, you know, commercial for that. But, um bring dinner down and just wash, you know, do the wall and and maybe even look up names for the wall. So, I'm really excited about it. >> And Bobby, go ahead. I think you want to talk about >> my segue right here. So, um, this this wall is, uh, if you've been to Washington DC and you've seen the Vietnam Memorial, there are tears in everybody's eyes. It really is very dramatic. Um, but I always like to think of how a child looks at
077things. So, we do have a book. It's called The Wall, and if parents can get a hold of it, it is a fabulous book about the Vietnam War Memorial. And it helps children understand that we are saying we're not saying that we need war. We need to understand the causes and to produce peace. It's a wonderful book that explains it to a child. So many of us will be reading this at Cove Park. Um I'm so excited to be reading it. And so, please join us as we uncover this moving tale behind the wall and discover how honoring the past shapes our future. Um, hope to see you all there. Anyone else for closing your remarks? Marjorie. >> Um, I I uh attended the first WSPC meeting of the uh school year and that's the
078Weatherfield Schools parent council. And again, just to remind people that it's a representative or two representatives sometimes from each school in the district and we get together um the first Thursday of every month at the central office. Anybody's welcome, any parents are welcome to just come and observe. Um and the first hour or the first, you know, part is is usually a report by the superintendent. Mr. Whippy was there his first meeting. Um and it's always very informative. And then we also talk about what's going on at our schools and any act actions or activities that the WSBC is putting on. So, they're doing a lot already, which is great. Um, one of the things they're bringing back is instead of Movie on the Green, which WSBC used to do to kick off the school
079year, they're doing movie on Cove Park. Um, and it's on October 7th. I forget the movie. It's a animated movie. I forget the movie, but um it's from 5 to 900 p.m. And, um, and it's be going to be lots of different things. There's going to be a DJ. Um, the movie itself, obviously, some bounce houses. There's going to be a lot of stuff going on. So, a lot of things happening at the Cove Park this this season. Um, but anyone's welcome to come. Another chance to just sit, enjoy life, bring bring a blanket, and um hang out with your kids and um they'll just run around like pretty much. Um, and I uh they are also going to do uh a little differently this year uh where they're going to try to bring a
080guest in every meeting for the WSBC and um try to just inform parents and and one of the things that happens is every member of the WSBZ that hears whatever's happening at the meeting, they go back to report to their PTO's um and then everyone at the PTO meeting gets to hear what's happening. So our first the first guest was just confirmed as be Mike Barbalt who's our security director of security and he's going to explain and talk about security in the school district. So that's great that they're starting to do kind of a more formal guest structure every every meeting. Um their first big fundraiser is Portoarta night on October 7th which is you know love that restaurant and they do an amazing service for this uh town honestly in the school district um
081with so much other um giving to our our our students and uh WSPC is also going to be promoting walk bike roll day on October 8th which we've as a district have done for really many many many years. It gets everyone very excited um just to make make their body move and walk and you know meet in groups to walk to school or ride their bike to school or roll or whatever they're going to do. Scoot. Um and uh we used to be able to give out goodies. I think this over the past few years they haven't really had any chachkis they could give out. They used to be funded by the Department of Transportation, but it's still like a great way to for the community to come together and walk a little. Um and
082then finally the Weathersfield Education Foundation. I don't know if you were going to bring this up, Bobby, but they're having I'm so excited about it. They're having a trivia night on >> We got our team. >> We have a team. Anyone else want to join the team? I will put it out there. Um October 3rd. It's a Friday and it's like $20 a person at Pickin. They're going to have a trivia guy do trivia and and we're going to everyone has their different teams, but it's a fun way to get together, bring your own food, and all the proceeds go to um supporting the Weatherfield Education Foundation, which does a great service as far as giving little grants to teachers all over the district to do special things in their uh classroom. So, anyone want
083to join or add a team and we could compete, let me know. >> We call a friend. Call a friend. Okay. Anyone else for closing comments? Liz, >> just quickly, um, I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Kelsey Rogers, who is the STEM, um, career and advance coordinator at the Connecticut Science Center, and she, um, was able to give me a lot of information for opportunities, um, that are open to juniors and seniors in high school for STEM internships. I have passed this along to m uh, Mrs. Collins at the high school who is already meeting with Mark Danaher who you may know is the lead for the career advisory board um to see what can be done uh for Weathersfield High School. So I look forward to continuing to report on any
084opportunities that the science center has. Um they've offered opportunities from preK all the way up through seniors. Wonderful programs um coming to Weathersfield or going to the science center. um different opportunities to go into environments where from a sensory perspective it's more um more um I don't know it's it's more comfortable for students who may have concerns with certain sensories. Um but I look forward to to bringing more updates to the board. Very excited about that. Okay. Thank you, Liz. Anyone else with board comments? All right. Usually at this time, Anushia, we have you talk about life at the high school. So, we'll look forward to that in two weeks. All right. Um, well, we'll move on. Um, any unfinished business? Nothing here. All right. I do Liz, I have a quote. Hold on. Love
085it. >> Got it here somewhere. Um, a very timely quote, too, by Coen Powell, who you know was a general. He was also a secretary of state. There are no secrets for success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. Sounds like a plan. All right. So, thank you all for joining us tonight. And good night. >> Now, we have to motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> I move. >> Second. >> Thank you. All All >> none opposed. Approved. I >> Any opposition? No. Thank you. Jeff Sure.