001tonight to introduce our new school superintendent, Mr. Jeff Whby sitting right next to me, who comes to us with an impressive track record of leadership and innovation in education. After an extensive search, the board of ed is confident that he embodies the qualities we were looking for to guide our district toward excellence. With 27 years, nine as a superintendent, experiences in various educational settings, Mr. WHBY has already demonstrated a commitment to foster student achievement, to enhance community engagement, and to promote a positive school culture. He brings a vision that aligns with our strategic plan along with a spirit that we believe will unite our students, staff, and families. We are excited to give a warm welcome to Jeff Whby as in we look forward to a successful journey ahead. So, welcome Jeff. Thank you. Okay,
002so we'll get started right in. Good evening again, everyone, and welcome to tonight's board of ed meeting. The date is Tuesday, August 26, 2025. And I'll just remind you to turn off your cell phones as this meeting is being recorded. And Ellen, will you please do our roll call? Good evening, everyone, and welcome back to the school year. Miss Callen Carson >> here. >> Mr. Carrie >> present. >> Mrs. D Roberts >> here. >> Ms. Hernandez Williams >> here. >> Mr. Riley >> here. >> Miss Walters >> present. >> Mr. Winer >> here. >> Vice Chair Mr. Lacavoi >> here. >> Chairperson Granado present. All present. Thank you. Um, and we were hoping that Sterling Scandlin, who we're going to meet this evening, would lead us in our pledge of allegiance. Sterling to the flag
003of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. All right, we have student and staff recognition and Mr. Woodby, I'm going to turn it over to you. >> Excellent. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, so I'm going to skip over the the content of this is also part of the superintendence report, but we are very excited to welcome Mr. Sterling Scandlin to the Weathersfield High School administrative team. Sterling joins us from over a decade of service as a PE health teacher and an athletic director for Weaver High School. He has an educational background rooted in in a family of educators, including his mother's 25 years in the Hartford public schools, his grandmother's 30 years as a teacher
004at Clark Elementary in Hartford, his grandfather's 35 years as a professor at Mount Holio and Hartford College for Women. He has a deep commitment to student development and community leadership which will always put what is best for the students, staff, and families of Weathersfield High School at the forefront. For the past 10 years, he served as the athletic director at Weaver High School in Hartford, where he has been responsible for growing athletic programs, building strong community partnerships, and fostering a culture of integrity, inclusivity, and pride among students, coaches, and families. While serving as the AD at Weaver, he simultaneously served as a health and physical education teacher. So, we know he can certainly multitask. He's excited to join the Weathersfield community, stating that his professional experience and personal values align perfectly with the Weathersfield High
005School tradition of athletic excellence and dedication to student success. I have to tell you, uh, Principal Okconor brought her up, brought him up for a final interview in the superintendent's office, and I threw a couple of fast balls under his chin. He didn't flinch. He he showed us uh, and we looked for someone who was deeply committed to our student athletes, their growth, their development, and um, we're really thrilled to have Sterling join us in at Weathersfield Public Schools. He he's a fantastic addition to the administrative team and for um Weathersfield High School. So, welcome aboard. So, glad to have you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, we'll move on. >> Okay. Next on tonight's agenda is the approval of the minutes for that board of ed meeting long ago on May 27th, 2025. May
006I have a motion to approve the minutes? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Discussions. We okay on it. Any corrections? No. All right. All in favor? >> I opposed. Any abstensions? >> Abstain. >> Okay, those minutes are approved. Now, if there's anyone um 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 we have a fiveinut limit. And another reminder, board members will not respond to a resident speaking at the podium. Thanks for your understanding on that. Okay. All right. We'll move on. Mr. Whby, you have some communication to share? >> I do, Madam Chair. I placed into the packet what I'll be calling the superintendent'sformational update, which um will be information from the superintendent on general items
007from each of the departments on a monthly basis. We'll have updates from the schools and uh various other important happenings across the district. So, we'll look to share many uh key activities, accomplishments, achievements, and things that are going on to keep the board in informed. And um the the first thing that I want to do is just share the invitation with the with the board of education to join uh the superintendent. I I was thrilled to have several board of education members at convocation uh this morning welcoming back the the teachers and the staff. it was uh they they're always thrilled to see see uh our board members in the buildings. And I'm going on some school visits in the coming days. So on Thursday the 28th, which is the students first day back this
008week, I'm going to stop by and visit each of the schools for a little bit of time starting at 7:25 over at the high school. And then I'll be going uh immediately from there to the middle school to Emerson Williams to Charles Wright over to Highest then Web and then Hammer. And I'll invite all the board members if you can join me for one all as many visits as you can. We can have a board of education train and and visit all of the schools. Um you know, at that time to kind of welcome folks back. we'll we'll stop in and say hello to folks in in classrooms and in the hallways and um looking forward to that. After the first day, I'll be spending a little bit more time in each of the schools.
009So, I'll I'll spend couple of hours in each of the school a couple of hours in each of the schools uh for each of the days going from uh Friday through next Thursday just to kind of get to get to see the the the rhythms of the building and start to talk to people and and meet people. So, I'm really excited uh to be kind of incorporating that into my entry plan. I'll share that the district leadership team on on uh August 15th 16th 17th and 19th we had an offsite workshop where administrators worked together on creation of our district continuous improvement plan which is a reflection of the board's strategic operating plan that's currently in place and I was just so impressed and overwhelmed med with the um the the um skills and the
010strengths of of the group. So, it was it was a great two days of of hard work. I mean, at the end of the second day, we were all pretty exhausted. Um they really worked hard and and uh it was proud to be part of that team. Just kind of shifting through just I'm not going to read all of these things because it's 12 pages, but every month I'll kind of pick a couple of things that I think are important. looking at food services. >> Um it's important to note that on August 14th, the Department of Ed issued us a um a a 30-day um no cost for student lunch reprieve and it's they they call it Matt, they call it a um >> transition period. So the first month of school, we will have
011universal free lunch for all our families uh for that month of September. So that's a little bit of a change up. At first we were told that we wouldn't have that kind of grace period or they call it the transition period, but we are to expect that the state will reimburse all breakfast and lunches for uh the month of September. I'm going to shift gears to the talent accountability and human resource office. Um, I I'm I'm so excited to report that as of this morning, all certified staff positions have been filled for Weathersfield Public Schools. As you look around in the news across the state, there's many school districts that have 40, 50, 75 certified staff vacancies on the first day of school. So, our children in Weathersfield will have uh all their teachers will
012be in place other than, you know, substitutes, long-term subs. We're still looking for a couple of long-term subs, but all the hiring was done over the summer. I have to say that's a great tribute. We were lucky enough uh when we had the vacancy for the assistant superintendent to have Dr. Gan Pattyfoot join us over the summer. Dr. Pattyfoot, as you know, is a retired superintendent of schools that has many areas of expertise, but she led our wonderful human resource department and our building administrators and our central office administrators worked their tails off over the summer. There were folks working on fry saw people conducting interviews on Friday nights in the summertime. I I think I had to throw Mr. the cars are out of the building on a Friday night. There was people were
013working really hard to staff up the building and that is so important that our kids start the school year with 100% uh uh teachers. That's a a big task that uh that that folks worked hard on. I'm so proud of the work that HR, our administrative team and um and Dr. Pattyfoot, that's a big win for our our buildings. As you know, that takes a lot of stress off the the kids, the families, and the other staff members. Uh, looking to the teaching and learning office on August 18th, we welcomed 18 new teachers to Weathersfield Public Schools. Um, along with 11 more who joined us in the middle of the year. So, it was like a induction to Weathersfield Public Schools. Week of week of induction uh on good practice here in Weathersfield Schools. So,
014it was great to see our new teammates uh joining us here in Weathersfield. As you can see, uh a little bit down further in the pages, I have school updates. Every month, I will ask the principles for a couple of bullets. In the past, I would have to pull teeth to get, you know, a couple of bullets for principles. I come to Weathersfield public schools and I had to call principles up and say, "Tone it down. You're, you know, they're putting pictures in and like quotes from books." I That was one of my first experiences with the administrative team. I was so blown away with the quality of administrators that we have in Weathersfield. Uh I mean, they just went so above and beyond one of the first tasks I asked them. and and as
015you can kind of see in here, you know, the the detail and the the amount of information they provided blew me away. So, I I hope um the board uh enjoys kind of looking through some of these uh some of these updates from the school. Um so, with that, Madam Chair, that concludes my first uh superintendent report here in in Weathersfield. >> Thank you. And we're also going to have a fire and crisis response. You have an administrative letter. >> Yes. Thank you. It's fine. I I linked that also to the letter. We had a little bit of a conversation at the policy committee about the difference between an administrative letter and a board policy. And from time to time, what I will do is I will issue what's called an administrative letter where I
016take a board of education policy. And as we know, they're usually written usually very legalistic and legalistic language. For a lot of us who are not attorneys, sometimes it's we're not sure how to interpret those things. So an a superintendent's administrative letter is an interpretation of a board of education policy and it makes it easier to implement at a school or a classroom level. So we kind of make it so it's more understandable for the folks that are using it. So, I will issue from time to time administrative letters during the year. May sometimes there might be three or four. Some years there might be eight or nine just depending on what we're kind of wrestling with in the school district. And I thought that it was important that my first administrative letter was focused
017on school safety and crisis response drills, developing a coherent process for crisis response drills in the schools. I think that we did we've done a nice job previously, but I think it was important that we were all using the same definitions and vernaculars and explanations so that our families are clear about what the parameters are for safety response, our staff, uh, everybody across the board coherently kind of understands that. And what it calls for is the scheduling of safety drills in August for the full year. And we ask that all the drills are scheduled for August 20th of each month. And the reason for that is if there's a snow day or if we have a fire drill scheduled and it's supposed it's raining cats and dogs that day, the principal can make a game
018time decision or call an audible at the line. I'm talking sports language for, you know, Sterling, uh, you know, and say we're going to not have the fire drill today and we'll reschedu it for next week cuz as you know, every school has to have one crisis uh, drill per month as as per um, you know, Connecticut State Fire Code Part 5 section 20-2-3-1-2. Um, so you can expect to have a report from the superintendent of schools every June. Actually, every August, I'll uh forward a a report to the board of education showing that we've coherently uh completed our required drills for the year. That'll be kind of a dashboard item. That'll be something that potentially I could share at the summer uh board workshop. But just wanted to give you a handful. I won't
019walk you through extensively. admin letters every time. What I will do is I'll bring them to the policy committee for review, consent, and advice. But I just wanted to take the time to just do the first one with the whole group. And um most of the time these will come through the policy committee. I'll pause if there's questions or >> Yeah. Anyone with questions. Okay. >> Good. All set. We're going to go on to our action items. So, tonight we have two recommended motions. Matt, would you please read recommended motion 6A for us? >> Yes. Yes, Bobby. Uh, I move to approve for the superintendent and business manager to become authorized signers of the DO99. >> Okay. Do I hear a second? >> Second. >> All right. Any discussion on this? We okay with it?
020All right. All in favor? >> I opposed. >> Any abstensions? That motion is approved. John, would you please read recommended motion 6B? >> Absolutely. I move that the Weatherfield Board of Education approve uh the educational specifications for Samuel B. Web Elementary School. >> Second. >> Okay, let's have a discussion. Any questions? We could use um our consultants there. We're all set. Okay. Thank we'll go on to a vote then. All in favor? >> I opposed. Any abstensions? That motion passes. And this evening we have a first read for two policies. I'll give that to you too, Matt. >> Yep. Thank you, Bobby. So, the policy and planning committee met on Wednesday, July 30th um to discuss two statemandated policies that are in front of you for a first read tonight. The first one has to
021do with the school Connecticut school climate policy. Um what is that? Uh it is currently uh set to replace our existing bullying prevention and intervention policy. Um what is it overall? It's basically a framework that guides our school district as to how we are going to deal with behavior issues that may arise in our buildings. Um, Dr. Pattyfoot and John Carar were able to walk us and talk us through it and answer any questions that we had about it. Um, it's basically uh a guideline and framework concerning who does what, what are the forms, what supports become available, all sorts of stuff like that in terms of behavior in our schools. Um, that's in front of you for a first read tonight. Also in front of you for a first read tonight is another state
022mandate um brought to us from Shipman and Goodwin uh ultimately coming from the state that has to do with restorative practices response policy. Um also having to do with behavior issues that arise in our school. We had a little bit less discussion on this policy mainly because although it is newly mandated to school districts in the state of Connecticut, we are currently in our sixth year of this practice of practicing restorative. So that's in front of you first first read as well tonight. >> Okay. Thank you. So that's the first read for us and then next board meeting we will be voting on those two policies. Thank you Matt. Okay. Tonight we also have discussion from HR and personnel committee chair on our superintendent's recommendation for central office reorganization phase one. >> Thank you Bobby.
023Today we met at 5:00 and the committee members were all present. Um, Mr. Wee gave us a great explanation of what he was thinking of and we're going to um, piggyback this, but I wanted to just let him talk about it a little bit and let the committee also discuss. Um, I did want to say that we had a consensus and and supported him. Um, our biggest reason for that is because it was great for for students and staff. And so that's always my focus and I always like to to have that. Um, and budget-wise, it was not adding costs, which thank you, Matt, for always thinking about that because those things talk to the communities, money, staff, families that students are getting what they need, and that's important. So, I'll let you discuss it.
024>> Sure. Thank you. Thank you. Um, you know, we're we're looking to take two currently vacant positions that are open in Weathersfield Public Schools and we wanted to repurpose them to better uh rightsize and right fit the needs of Weathersfield Public Schools moving forward. And as as all of you know, we currently uh have an a vacant assistant superintendent position and a vacant director of human resource position. So, as I kind of explained to the committee, I was looking I I as I'm analyzing and talking to people and observing and gathering information about the district needs. I was thinking very deeply about how that makes how that fits in with the needs of the structures that we have centrally. Previously, we had an assistant superintendent that handled teaching and learning, and I was looking at
025the size of the district. Larger districts generally have multiple assistant superintendents that are very myopic and specific to a uh singular type of role, but do lots of volume within that role because there's, you know, a big district. Then in smaller districts, you have more generalist type of assistant superintendent roles. In in our circumstance in in Weathersfield, we're more of a medium-sized district, and we do need some flexibility to have an assistant superintendent work on multiple focus areas, but at the same time, we also want to focus in on some some specific big tasks. and we want that to be able to change and evolve over the years as things become more prominently important connected to the strategic operating plan. >> So these were some of the kind of the fundamental thought processes that went
026into some of the the act you know some of the research into this process. As I said previously the assistant superintendent role handled teaching and learning. I'm looking to expand that to having an involvement in teaching and learning, but also to handle development, growth, and talent management and looking at human resources a little bit differently and more appropriately for school districts. School districts have unique things connected to the work in human resources. First and foremost, school districts deal with teacher certification law, teacher tenure law, public bargaining units, and labor relations connected to to public bargaining units. That wouldn't happen in in a corporate world. There's mandatory professional developments from our friends at the Connecticut State Department of Education that mandate what's called a PDK committee. That's very unique and different for school districts. And we
027really need someone who knows human resource function but also understands the nuances of schools and teaching and learning so that we can rightsize and fit our PD to to support the folks that are working. We also want to be competitive in staff recruitment and retention. You know, when you look at human resources in a talent management uh perspective, you want to always recruit the best people. You want to hire the best people. You want to give them the best professional development that makes sense for the tasks that they're going to be involved with. And we want to keep the best people. Once we get our hands on the great people in Weathersfield, we don't want them to go anywhere else. We want them to stay stay here in in Weathersfield, Connecticut. Um, you know, so
028that competitive piece of of um talent management is important. We also want to align student learning into professional feedback loops. We want to have what's important for our student learning connected to what's important to the community be part of our measuring or our accountability systems and structures and you know so accountability has to be connected to PD. That's a that's a third element of this. And finally, we want to have strategic oversight of human resource functions. our human resource department or talent management department has to be able to interface with the board's vision and the strategic operating plan and and as I said these are distinct uh roles in in a school district that requires more of a senior level leader versus more of a of a director role. So that's the first position that
029I'm talking about. It's a position that we already have. It's it's budgeted for just repurposing the the job duties a little bit. Um to go along with that, I'd like to take the vacant director of human resources and because we're channeling a lot of the executive leadership into that assistant superintendent role. I'd like to convert at a at a no increase in salary. I'd like to convert that director of human resources role into a director of teaching and learning. Um, so that we can, you know, I I I've I've learned uh in my short time here that we really could work towards more systems and structures of coherence to support our our teachers and our school leaders. um you know moving more towards holistic good process that can be replicated from school to school. There's
030great things happening at web that we would like to replicate at Hannar. There's great things at Hanmer that we would like to replicate at EW and so on and so forth. And so we're looking to really to develop a coherent, replicable set of outstanding, highly reliable, research-based instructional practices for our our teaching and learning process. And so these are kind of the nuances of the um the adjustments I'm making to to these two vacancies and and what I'm kind of looking to do and and thinking about that. So I'll I'll pause here if Do any committee members want to add to his comments? >> No. If anybody just wants to have questions here, that would be a good time right now. >> Anyone? Liz, >> I have a couple of thoughts to share. I'm also
031on the HR committee. Um, a couple of things, Jeff, that you had mentioned before and again tonight. Um, more boots on the ground. Um, I loved hearing that. Um, also you're working to de-stress the teachers and distress the building principles. Very, very important. Um, the professional feedback loop that you're talking about, I think, positions uh, Westfield Public Schools very well to remove impediments quickly and without a ton of fanfare. Just get rid of them quick and and, you know, get back on. Um, but overall, what you're proposing to me makes Weatherfield Public Schools scalable. I believe that in our current or slightly former organizational structure it was it was not scalable. It was you know there were many many many steps to go through and make one change there uh there were more constraints than
032I think we saw opportunities and what you're proposing to me um and connecting it to our strategic plan means it's scalable. So, whatever hits Weathersfield, we should be able to accomplish. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else? We have talked about this quite a bit lately, but we will be talking about it as we move forward with this. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. With all that information. All right. Well, tonight, let's see where we are right now. We have board of ed meetings held. >> Hold on one second. Can I just interrupt you for the second position? I'm sorry. He just we we wanted to just describe the second position which is the director of teaching learning and curriculum. So we just want to give a couple points of that. So the first position is
033for the assistant superintendent and then the second position right >> in the high school. >> Yes. At the high school. Yes. Obviously. So if you want want to just describe those >> Sure. >> those changes. So the second change that that I would be proposing would be um the conversion of um the the um athletic director into the dean of students role and that would uh generate a a some savings to the um to the high school. And in working with the principal, we were looking to remove some of the instructional focus uh from the athletic director. There was we we found in analyzing the position, they were stretched pretty thin. They were dealing with observations and evaluing classrooms. They were dealing with student discipline. They were dealing with a very robust athletic program at
034the high school. And in talking to the principal, we we agreed that that was a a heavy burden. That was a lot to ask on one individual. So we looked to rightsize that position to a much more manageable role. still it it remains within um the administrators association and it we're looking to replace some of those responsibilities into some of our potential current teachers and make them department heads. So, we're not looking to add any positions. What we're looking to do is repurpose three teaching positions where they're still actually going to teach. They'll still teach several classes, but they're also going to provide instructional leadership connected to mathematics, a second one in English language arts, and a third one in science. And as you know, those are the three testable areas in uh for for
035state assessments. There are also the three areas that you see the most college credit courses connected to that and that was some of the robust discussion that we had in the personnel committee as well. So what this would do is this would allow some really acute support structures in place for three departments to help um grow the uh the instructional capacity of the high school. And um you know I thought that this was a great idea and um in looking at it that way and the analysis of the redistribution of the duties, we're not asking for any more FTE. It'll be the same FTE. It's just kind of shifting uh shifting that um from one position spread it out over three other ones. I thank you. Thank you. Um so go ahead. >> I I
036just want to make a comment on all of these positions. Um so I'm I'm happy that these are being looked at and um that these moves are being made. One of the things, Jeff, when we were looking to hire a new superintendent and you went around the room at the end of one of the interviews and you asked us individually what each of us board members was looking for a superintendent, I believe that two of the things that I mentioned were I wanted the superintendent to take a hard look at central office and see how that we can best organize it. And I also was hoping to see in a superintendent someone that could find costneutral savings. Um, I feel like both of these moves do uh do those goals, provide those goals uh that
037I was looking for. Um, and I'm happy to see that Siobhan is here tonight because the department heads were something that she had been asking for in multiple budget cycles. I don't know if it was two or three and we were just never able to provide it for her. I'm happy that Jeff was able to find that for her at a at no new costs essentially. We're not going to be adding one more dollar to the budget and Siobhan is going to be able to get some of the things that she needs to make her job better at our flagship school, the high school. >> Great. Thank you, Matt. Anyone else? >> Are these new positions in the administrative bargaining unit or the teaching bargaining unit? >> Great question. We had first looked to keep
038them in the teaching bargaining unit and um and engaging with the teachers union. They were in wildly generous and and a a absolute pleasure to work with. They did struggle having supervisory impact coming from within their own bargaining unit, which makes a lot of sense to us. And um they asked if we could move that into the uh the Wasa bargaining unit um which uh is a big win for that that bargaining unit. We worked closely with both unions uh on this and it was it was wonderful to see the administrators union, the teachers union and central office kind of arm in arm uh agreeing on um something like that. And that's uh we all kind of pledged at the end of that meeting that that's the way we kind of wanted to do business
039moving forward. It was such a a wonderful uh example of of labor relations. I have to give such credit to the uh the two union leaders uh and and how much they cared about what was best for Weathersfield Public Schools. It was it was wonderful. So, um these would be transferring uh these and it language does permit uh in both unions that they're they're still allowed to teach inside of uh of the school um multiple sections a day. So, they still actually will be classroom teachers as well. So before this is done, are we going to get an analysis of how the money shakes out and then how uh the concern I've heard from central office prior to this was the class size issue and the number of offerings we have in those three areas.
040And I'd like a detailed analysis of how that's going to break out if we move these teachers out of some of these classroom positions. We we did do an analysis and um you know it didn't affect um you know we we we found areas of efficiencies where we would not be putting um you know we would not be putting kids or teachers in situations where where there'd be overbearing class sizes. Um I I I can't sh I can't tell you like I you know there's so many sections in the high school master schedule but I can tell you that um you know we did look at that and we didn't see you I'll I'll call on Siobhan if you have any examples. >> Sure. So historically within um our core subject areas we have had
041lower class sizes that we've been able to um condense some classes. So, for example, we had a phys physics class that was running at 12. That's not efficient use of FTE, a 12 person class. And so, that was able to be condensed down and and shifted over to the two other sections of physics. So, we still only have 22 students in a physics class, which at a junior and senior level class, that makes complete sense. Um, we were still able to completely um keep our low class sizes in our lower level content areas. So 9th grade introductory classes are still running around the 20s um sometimes lower than that. Um when if we did have to make decisions around increasing class size, it was always to the older students who were able to do that
042and none of our classes were any bigger on average than other classes that already existed in the building. So there was zero what I considered impact um on those individual teachers or classes. I would never do that to to my staff. But at the same time, um, as a person who wants to be a good steward of your tax dollars, it doesn't make any sense for me to be running those really low classes when I don't have to. So, we did have some opportunity in those areas. So, um, when I did do this initial proposal, I did provide those those breakdowns and how it how it would shake out, but we never have class sizes in the classes. I did have to condense um over 24. So, any class that was impacted is still at
043that level. So, I feel confident that is a good stewardship of your tax dollars while also getting a really good impact for you overall. >> Great. Thank you. Any other questions for Siobhan before she sits down? >> I don't have a question. I just have a comment. Oh, I mean, I guess it could be a question, too, because I mean, what I've been concerned with for a long time is being behind in curriculum because this this high school was caught being very behind in curriculum before you started. And I know that a lot of teachers were taken out of teaching the last couple years to create curriculum. So we, you know, we created a high substitution rate, you know, bringing in subs. And I feel like it having department heads, I'm hoping and I'm assuming
044will kind of take care of some of that while they they'll head off um or lead on curriculum and won't cause other teachers to have to kind of always come out to create curriculum or or just keep keep it up to date, you know. >> Correct. Um so they would be the leaders in the curricular areas for those three departments. They're also going to help professional development not only with their departments but with other departments because they will have more more time within their day to do that. There's also a very emphasis on heavy emphasis on being in classrooms supporting teachers modeling best practice. Um helping teachers see new things. We're doing building thinking classrooms. You've probably heard that a lot at the elementary level. Um our math and science department are also embracing that.
045And sometimes that's a pretty heavy lift for some of our secondary teachers. Um but I will also be able to implement that um and help help our teachers along which is what they deserve. Um they deserve to learn learn by doing. We all learn best by doing and you need models and coaches to to do that. So this would all be something that they would be also taking on. Um so there's a lot of benefits. I think there's also this also takes some of that lift off of department liaison because we were able to redistribute or we'll be able to redistribute our evaluations and so that provides more time for us as individuals to act as coaches for those departments who don't have administrative leads. We can we can now bear that burden and help
046them because they do teach a full class load and they were trying to run departments at the same time which just wasn't fair to them and wasn't making them ultimately the most productive people that they can be. Um, the other positive that this will allow is it frees up one of our administrators at the high school level to run our intervention system, our MTSS system. So, Miss Stephanie Hassler will be spearheading that to ensure that all of our students have the access to intervention resources and data collection that they need in order to make sure that they're everyone's making the growth that we want to see from from students at Weathersfield High School. So, um I think it costs a net negative of $66 I'm saving you um through this, but I think for all
047of that for a negative $66 is is just a win for everyone. >> And and with that negative down $66, it also adds in summer work as well. Um which we didn't have before. If we were going to have to um if we were going to have to have um folks come in and work over the summer on curriculum, we would have to stipend. This is all included in the in the salary. So that's even with the $66 negative, we pick up uh summer work days for curriculum work. So that's another ne positive. Also, >> extreme extra months of work. I >> I have to give kudos is extremely creative solution um you know that principal Okconor brought forward. >> I have another question. Does this start? Is this already happening? Okay. And when does
048it start? Well, we were we wanted to talk to everybody here tonight and um you know, we we engaged with both of the bargaining units. As I said, we got very positive responses to them and we wouldn't want to move forward with something like this without the advice from the board and um you know, that's that's what we're here. You know, if if folks are feeling comfortable um you know, we'll we'll start moving forward with job postings and and um interviews and and so forth. But how could you do that with the school about to start and you're going to reduce the the number of sections being offered? It would seem like you you're playing a bait and switch on us here because it would have to have been done already for this to actually
049be successful because those in those positions would be teaching less classes unless you're not ready for it. And then how would you start that in October? Let's say that doesn't seem to be a logical thing. >> We could start off the year with much smaller class sizes or we could shift to this pretty quickly and have more right-sized class sizes like Principal Okconor mentioned. you know, we would be looking at class sizes with 20 or below. So, I think we're we're in pretty good shape to to make this move at this at this point. I I would agree. It would be something if if we were uncomfortable that we were shifting um you know to class sizes up or too far down, it wouldn't be something we would be looking to move along quickly. But
050I do appreciate that. >> But I guess I reiterate, I'd still like to see analysis of the class sizes from last year to this year and then what would happen if we do do this. And then I'm still looking for the financial analysis cuz I'm trying to wrap my head around how it's a budget neutral process and we're moving all that. >> We're moving teachers out of the uh teacher bargaining unit into the administrative bargaining unit and I've never seen an administrative bargaining unit where it would be budget neutral on that. >> I I promise you it is and we have the money I have all the details for that. >> We'll be happy to provide all of that to the board uh moving forward. >> Can I make a comment? I I respect that.
051But I do I do understand that sometimes in education movement doesn't happen and we do things so many we just do things and then we don't change them in the middle of the year. We don't change them because it's not the right thing to do and it's not the right thing for kids and departments to do either. So I think we're so afraid sometimes to make changes that because it's been done that way and I just want to say it like that. I'm sorry but it's it's not a bad movement. um especially if we're customizing PD for teachers and the assistant superintendent job is to retain teachers and to hire teachers and then the director of teaching and curriculum is going to help those teachers and if we're talking about the MTSS program to help
052students in special education um which is so costly. So it's just important to look at that and if you can send it to us then we can look at it and then we can maybe move forward >> and I and I appreciate your point Mr. Carrie too that um you know one of the things that we discussed pretty ro you know quite quite a bit uh based on some board questions at the at the committee meeting is the assistant superintendent would be expected to provide a staffing plan and that's exactly what Mr. Carrie is talking about um you know where we connect the um the student enrollment to the staffing and the budget and that would be something that um you know that the board would expect to to have during the budget process is
053a pretty robust staffing plan moving forward and Mr. Car's questions are are good ones and um you know I think that uh moving in these direction with with these with these positions will help us better accomplish the the analytical questions that he's providing that make sense. >> I just want to be clear I so I have no issue with any of them. I just need more data on the third one. But certainly the assistant superintendent and the director of curriculum or whatever we're call I apologize. I totally blanked on that one. I have no I fully support and I've been an advocate for the last multiple months of let's not move forward and let let our new superintendent reorganize and I'm happy to see that that's the direction you're going in and I'm okay with
054that and I clear clearly we need that. So and it's kind of like a bell curve. We're going back to where we were cuz as I explained to you 14 years ago it was a director it was assistant superintendent of special ed and then it was assistant superintendent of HR and finance and then it was an assistant superintendent. So weatherfields historically just moves assistant superintendent job around as needed. So I have no problem with that and I'd have no problem with the high schools as soon as we see the data behind it. And and one of the other things that we did talk about with the bargaining units is the board has the opportunity when we go back into negotiations the next time to regroup and rethink these type of positions. So the board and
055the uh bargaining units will get another chance to rethink this after a couple years of seeing how it how it operates. So, um I believe that there's two years left on the collective bargaining agreement with uh with the teachers union. So, it's almost could serve as a two-year pilot. >> Just two years. I feel like Matt and I just did it. >> Okay. Two more years. >> Okay. Anyone else? Thank you, Siobhan. Thank you very much. Okay. So, we'll move on. A little redundant here. Our board of ed meetings held. So Matt, we'll just talk to you about the special meeting of policy and planning committee. >> Yes, I'll be very brief on this, Bobby. Um, so in addition to the two aforementioned policies that are in front of you from that committee for a
056first read, the Connecticut school climate policy and the restorative practices response policy. We as you all know uh we had a PTO come in front of us uh during one board meeting last year and asked us to craft a policy concerning animals live animals in schools specifically therapy dogs andor facility therapy dogs that um is is still it's a work in progress. Um, we're still looking at other districts policies and or administrative regulations to see how best uh we can uh glean information from their policies to craft ours. Um, so that discussion is ongoing as well in that committee. >> Okay. Thank you again. Thank you. So, also a special meeting of human resources and personnel committee. Christina, another sentence or two. >> I'm happy to do that. Um, we did uh you know what?
057I'll I'll mix it up a little bit. We did talk about other business and we are going to we're going to add this to the agenda. We want to thank the staff hopefully maybe do it a little differently, but I'm hoping that central office can support us in helping to just say thank you to the staff in a creative way. Um and um other business was just um yeah, I think I think that's it. I I'm just going to leave it at that >> because we we discussed a lot, but we'll have more in September. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, is there anyone in the audience willing to make a public comment? Come on up to the podium and state your name and address. And may I remind you that public comments are limited
058to five minutes. Okay. Are there any board comments now? >> Go first. >> Go ahead. Oh, somebody else wants I saw his hand raised first. We'll go ahead. Um, so I just uh also want to wish a warm welcome to our new superintendent, Jeff Wibby. Um, you got your first public or board meeting under your belt. I think you've done well. So, so far you're a success. Uh, Jeff has been busy this summer um, hiring and dealing with some tricky situations, but so far I've been impressed and I look forward to working with you into the future. Um, I also want to say hello to this entire board again. Uh we only have a few meetings left as this board is currently comprised. There will be a new board come November. But whether it's this
059board or the next board, the goal remains the same, right? We want to uh create the best school system possible for the kids in town, considering equity, empathy, and achievement. And we want to graduate kids that are uh communicators, collaborators, and problem solvers. And we also want to consider every taxpayer and every resident while we try to do all of that. So, I look forward to working with you all again in the next couple meetings. >> Thank you, Matt. Anyone else for closing comment? Um, just as we head into a new school year, I've been thinking about play. There's a lot of discussion and legal um legislation about that. So, the Connecticut State Legislature has passed laws concerning play at school. Play-based learning is mandated at the preschool and primary level and allowed to be
060utilized up to and including grade 5. Free play or recess is mandated for 20 minutes a day for elementary students with the stipulation that building administrators may allow for more than 20 minutes. So, we've had teachers report to us about how they're incorporating it. And just to sum um recap, play-based learning can be very explicit, such as bingo games to practice word recognition skills or perhaps with higher elementary grades to practice subject area vocabulary. That's just one example. Another type of play-based learning is dramatic play, which while more open-ended, can be structured by the teacher to ensure that intended concepts and skills are introduced, practiced, and ma mastered. An example that I read about was a floor shop theme. This play corner gave students firsthand experiences with colors, shapes, sizes, and along with varying sizes
061of vases and access to water. Um, other math and science concepts of capacity, volume, and weight. So, the teacher can also structure the play for a multitude of other skills that individual students demonstrate needed support for. But the gold standard for play is however free play. I found so many wonderful explanations of why it is important. I think any of us in this room could probably spout off a million. Um but I did copy a couple of quotes from uh the mother's pet kindergarten website. First of all, when children engage in free play, they activate parts of their brain responsible for critical thinking, decision ma making, and emotional regulation. The more opportunities they have to play, the stronger these neural connections become, supporting future learning, and emotional well-being. And there's this unstructured play can help
062improve memory, language skills, and attention span by encouraging children to navigate challenges on their own. And to continue, free play is not a way for children to pass time. It's a critical aspect of their overall development. So there's many lists and I, as I said, probably a lot of us in this room could list the benefits. Um I found this list on AI mode site. Um number one cognitive development which would be critical thinking, problem solving, creativity and imagination, decision-m um another would be social and emotional development, learning to negotiate, cooperate, emotional regulation, um self-esteem and confidence. Another would be physical development, gross motor skills, coordination, balance, and just developing a healthy lifestyle. Um, and then reducing stress and anxiety. Um, it helps children just like grown-ups to relax and manage their stress, develop the
063language um to express that in conversation. Um, so these are just categories. Um, what's included in each category could fill volumes. Play is an important part of the school day. It is also important for the community at large to understand and support free play after school hours. Our WEC um which is Weathersfield Early Childhood Collaborative is doing extensive work and so making so much effort to educate families in the community about the importance of free play and they have had many activities um and really taken the lead on showing parents how it can be done. um and connect with their own community at the same time. So to some um the free play is not extracurricular. It is the essence of early childhood development and education and we can't get enough of it. >> Oh,
064thank you. Thank you. I just want to add to that. You know, the science of child development has been kind of put to one side for many years now and it's slowly coming back and play is really the first sign that this is how we should be working with our children. I'm talking to the choir up here, but we need to to treat them for where they are in their developmental stages um and not sit them in a chair all day. So, thank you very much for that. Anyone else for comments? Marjorie. Um just a quick comment and I can barely talk because I'm so tired right now from my other job which is new and then my brain is full. But anyway, um I did want to make a comment about um just also
065just to like wish everyone a great first day of school and um my son is a senior so this is a little bittersweet. This is his last year, but he's going through all the motions already and >> painted his parking spot at seniors, which is a new thing that is so excited. And um they're going to have senior sunset or sunrise, sorry. Um soon. And they're doing a backpack thing. I'm not really sure what that's all about, but uh he ordered his backpack. Um but just really excited to start the school year and be leaders for the for the high school. And also with the high school, I one of the things in the superintendent's update was the amazing increase in the high school um students taking AP classes and passing at AP tests, which
066is, you know, great with Siobhan and Stephanie. Obviously, there's a a big effort by a lot of people, the staff um and some of the teachers are just, you know, creating students that are just doing great with AP tests and doing and scoring really well. And I would love to advertise this more. hint hint, get this more out there to not only show the progress just in the last four years, uh, which is unbelievable, but also to encourage more parents to encourage their kids to take these classes. Um, and the what's noted in the superintendent's update is how much money you could potentially save. many students at least uh you know as seniors from the high school have already done a semester or two sometimes of college um and they get they can potentially get
067credit for that and that's community college credit that's you know uh Yukon credit or other kinds of AP credit so um I'm look forward to even more uh students taking those tests and doing well on them and um just making us all look good in general. >> Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Liz. >> So, pivoting off of what Matt had mentioned earlier, when Jeff had asked um me what I wanted to see out of our superintendent, I was looking for a very strong leader and I think that you've clearly started off as a strong leader. Um I think that your recommendations and what you're looking into. Um I can't say the word scalable enough. Um I love all the research that has been done into how we can benefit from these department heads. you've
068clearly crossed all of your tees, dotted all of your eyes, and I know that, you know, your decision on how you proceed with that is not within the purview of the board. Um, but I do appreciate the dialogue and bringing it up so that it can be discussed and so that the public can be aware of the great work that's happening. >> I promise I will always include the board in all of these. >> Thank you, Liz. Anyone else? Well, the uh Weathersville public school teachers and staff gathered this morning for our back- to-school convocation and I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the incredible dedication of our staff. They are the lifeblood of our education system, consistently going above and beyond to inspire and nurture our students. So, retaining our outstanding staff is
069essential for fostering an environment where 21st century learning can thrive. To this end, we are committed to providing compet competitive contracts, targeted professional development opportunities, and state-of-the-art school facilities. By investing in our staff, we are ultimately investing in our students futures, equipping them with the skills and knowledge they need to excel in a rapidly changing world. So, I urge every Weathersville citizen to continue supporting our students, their families, and our invaluable teachers as we move the system forward. Together, we have the potential to create vibrant learning environments that not only meet the demands of modern education, but also enhances the overall well-being of Weathersfield. So, let's unite in this commitment to to progress, to pave the way for a brighter future for our students, and to strengthen our system. Weathersfield, thank you for your continuing
070support. All right. Right now, we don't have a high school student, but soon maybe to um learn what's going on at our favorite um flagship school. So, is there any unfinished business tonight? that one. All right. So, I am going to make a motion for an executive session to approve the recommendation of the superintendent to hire the principal of Highest Elementary School. Do I hear a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. Abstaining. Okay. So, thank you all for joining us tonight and good night. >> Yeah. Right.