00125. And I'd appreciate that you turn off your cell phones as this meeting is being recorded. I'm going to turn off mine in a minute. Ellen, can you please do the roll call? Yes. Good evening, everyone. Nice to have you here. Miss Callen Carson, here. Mr. Carrie, present. Mrs. D Roberts, present. Ms. Hernandez Williams, here. Mr. Riley, here. Ms. Walters present. Mr. Winer here. Vice Chair Mr. Lacavoli. Chairperson Mrs. Granado present. Weathersfield High School student representative Ms. Angelique Ada here. And me get this right here. the Withersfield Public Schools Board of Elementary Kid chairperson for Emerson Williams School, Colin Craig. Q. All present. And Colin Craig is now going to 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
002it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] Okay. Thank you. And I guess we'll continue right on with student and staff recognition. Yes. Uh thank you, Mrs. Granado. Good evening, everyone. We have several um events tonight uh to share with you for staff student recognition. Uh we'd certainly like to start off with our performers from Web Elementary School who I believe are going to be uh presenting something tonight. Come on [Applause] up. We need you on the team. We need more. If the world is going to end tomorrow, wallowing in sorrow isn't where I want to be. We got a Bluetooth drama. So sorry. Yeah, Mr. Mr. Spongebob is off to an awesome start. Actually, well, I would love to invite you guys to watch them from the top.
003I would love very dynamic call that The world is going to end tomorrow. Walling in sorrow. Is it where I want to be? Cuz there isn't a catastrophy. Hello. That could ever measure up to me. Try it and see. Come on. Travel. Hero is my middle name. Fixing trouble is my game. A good game. Just give it the old no. There's no better time than now. Don't give up and don't give in. Yeah. Your thinking swim. The right answer. Swim. Courage is your play to fade when hero is your middle name. That's my voice. My Jennifer is real. Your machines, they made a real prediction. It's not science fiction, but no one knows it all. I don't see but your friends you use to heed the call. Sandy, we need you. Patrick can help climb
004the volcano, but you have to handle this stopping erupting part. So, we have no clue how it's running out really, really fast. But no pressure. Sure. Yes, I have an idea. Figure one, a diagram of the volcanic eruption caused by the rapid pressure in the magnitude. Figure two. If the pressure is released, no eruption will occur. Figure three. As the glass with the sound bubble. Figure four. The bubbles will release the pressure and prevent. You lost me at one. The point is this could work. So, boys, I'm still going to push through this town of yours. You're my friends. So, first I say we give this idea a shot. Three heroes to the rescue. So hero is our middle [Music] name. Facing trouble is our game. I'm out back down and we're going to save
005this town. I am standing here. Don't be praising no more. Word is my place to my middle name. And here is our middle name. Here is our middle name. [Applause] You guys agree? Uh, so talented, so young. That was wonderful. Thank you very much. Can I just give a little Sure can show info just, you know, for ticket sales sake. Um, so our show is this coming weekend. It's Friday at 7 o'clock and Saturday at 4. You can get tickets online and I'm happy to give that information to you. Um, or you can just buy him at the door. And um, we have a cast of 24 kids and we have 10 teachers led by Mr. Craig who is our lead pirate. Um, he's always a good sport. He always plays a cameo and he
006plays it well. Um, so we're really excited. We hope you can come see the show and support these kids. They're fantastic. So, thank you. Thank you. Okay. And we have a Do you want to continue or can I have my gentleman here next to me? Let's um if we could please. Um, we also have the Keen Foundation here this evening. and the Keen Foundation is really one of the entities that's behind the musicals that are happening in our elementary school. So, Carolyn Pina all set. Um, hello everybody. My name is Carolyn Fazina. I am the director of the Keen uh used to be afterchool programs but actually uh enrichment programs we say now because we have some inschool and out of school. Um this is our ninth we're finishing up our ninth year with afterchool
007programming in the Weatherfield elementary schools. Wow. This year, um, as a total, we've had, um, 1,983 enrollments. Basically, um, an enrollment equals an opportunity taken by a student to learn something new, spend time with friends, make new friends, be challenged. Um, so we're pretty proud about that. Um, we've also given out 101 scholarships, um, totaling almost $6,000, which has provided opportunities for students to participate in after school programming. Um, and then there's just a few just u a listing of our programs, some of the programs that we've had recently. I also want to take a second just to um speak about um our besides our instructors that we come come from the outside, we actually have eight Weathersfield teachers and staff members that teach after school. Um we have three Weathersfield graduates um that are
008instructors in our afterchool programs. And we also have three current Weathersfield students who were um we employed and were instructors for us in our after school programs. Um we're very excited about the youth that comes back for sure. Um they're great mentors for our young students. I wanted to talk quickly about our play and create club. Um this is something new we started this year. It basically came from the anxious generation book that um we read as a town in our book club and um trying to figure out now that we know the things that we've learned in the from the book, what can we do to try and um get kids to start doing more screen-free activities. Um we had 16 we had program the program at all five schools. It ran for 8
009weeks. We had 69 children this time participate. I am pretty sure we'll have many more next time as the word gets out about what the program is and and what they do. The format was basically uh they filled out a worksheet initially and that worksheet was in intended to get them asking them questions um what is your favorite thing screen free thing to do? What did you do last week that was screen free? Um was it a loner with friends? and is there anything that you'd like to do in our club that is screenf free? Um I we collected that data. We did it partly for data collection to kind of see what kids are thinking and also um to keep kids weekly thinking about screen free screen free screen freeing activity. So sort of
010continuing that in their keeping it in their u minds. Um we collected the data and we did find um it was not always completed. The kids were at the they fill it out themselves so the questions weren't always answered. Some answers were quite repetitive um which is a little telling I think because um I don't want to read more into it but like it was the same screen-free ideas every time. like they maybe don't do many screen. I mean, it might be a takeaway from that information and some um answers didn't quite make sense. What screen free thing did you do last week? And we got video games and Roblox. So, um we've just next year we're going to have them fill it out as a group led by the instructors. So hopefully we can
011get some more answers um and provide that information to parents and families um so that maybe it would give them ideas of what the kids can do. Um we also like I said at one of those questions was what would you like to do here? So kids did come up with some new ideas. They asked for slime which we we gave them at one school and the um high crest kids asked they wanted to make um cardboard robots and you can see in a couple of the pictures that was their idea. Um so they collected cardboard. I provided the tape and all different things to use and they created cardboard robots. So it did kind of start that thinking um for the kids. Um and just these pictures are of various things. The program was
012games. We provided games. We had arts and crafts. Um, the kids got to do things together. Um, communication was a big thing. When they're playing games, they played car, just normal cards. Uno is a hit. That's really pretty much the most fun thing that these kids um like to do or at least that's what they said. So, it was very successful. I'm excited for next year. Um, like I said, hopefully we have a a larger turnout. Um, but we're definitely going to keep doing it year, you know, year after year. Um, next of course are musicals. Um, so we've had four of our musicals happen already and as Cindy said, the fifth one is this weekend at web. Just a little bit of um, participation information. Um, we had in last year when we started
013with all five schools, we had 98 kids participating and this year we had 108 um, participating students. I expect that to keep growing. I know at after the performance at um Emerson, the inschool performance, they asked um who wants to do this next year and pretty much half the audience raised their hands. They kind of warned me. I'm like, "Okay, that's exciting." But yes, there's it's really getting these kids. They get to see it in school and they get to get excited about it. Um, and just a kind of an interesting fact since we started doing our five schools, um, in 2024, the M middle school, and I know you've we've you've already kind of talked about this, but the middle school participation in 2024 was 33 cast members and 16 crew members. This year,
014there was 64 cast members and 30 crew members. So, doubling really. Um, and that I'm pretty proud of that. I think we've offered an opportunity for a lot of kids to try something that um it's hard to try the first time in middle school potentially with a lot of other that age is hard to start something new in front of your friends when you don't really so giving them the opportunity at the elementary school level I think is really important um and they obviously a lot of them have stuck with it um and even kids who were in the musical in elementary school but may not really want to be on the stage um could switch switch to the crew where there was a lot of opport opportunities to still be part of it, just
015not as an actor. Um so hopefully we'll see that number keep growing. Um and um yeah, and Spongebob this this weekend, please. Um I will say that also I just want to mention that our many of our students also have um either they've already been doing or they started doing theater programs outside of our program. We have students that participate in Harford Stage, the New England Children's Theater, um the Weatherfield Teen Theater, and then as you know, several if um the Broadway at the barn this summer. Last summer, um many kids of our kids performed with Cindy there as well. So, they are really um taking to it and we're excited about that. Um the other program that we um are running and that we are part um doing is our keen hands-on learning program.
016These are our uh this is our fourth year visiting every elementary school classroom. Andrea Aglico has continued to be our instructor. She has become a very familiar face as you can imagine with the students. um they have seen her now um for four years as they've gone and in every grade she visits again. Um we in sixth grade um just some of these we talk about where calories are from. They learn the different caloric values of fat, protein and such. They make butter from whipping cream and then talk about the which is visual. They see it they see it separate and then they can talk about milk has proteins, fats and learn all about that. Um the um fifth grade is uh engineering the engineering design process which is really fun. They um do a
017lot of trial and error and it's very simple activities, hands-on activities but uh there's a lot of learning that takes place. They through trial and error they turn regular piece of paper into many unexpected things like they need to create something that can support a structure or climb their task to just climb through a piece of paper. Um we we had a lot of fun in that class because um Andrea likes to give in not too many instructions just tell them what to do and sort of and let them start to think about how would I do that and then eventually jump in and start if they don't you know help them along but it really gets them um thinking on their own try working on problem solving skills. Um, a lot of times in
018our programs once they complete that activity, the kids on their own start thinking about ways to expand on it. For example, um, they find more and more items around the classroom to see how much weight they can put on these structures. The boy in the, um, bottom right there has, I think it's Yeah, bottom right has found trash cans and all kinds of stuff. And underneath, it's hard to see, but are his paper is his paper structure holding it up. Uh kids like to balance shoes, Chromebooks, all kinds of fun stuff. So um and it becomes a contest. She Andrea is good about saying, "Well, at the other school they got this done." And then so it challenges the kids to try and beat that that record. Um they also win the stepping through a
019piece of paper. Then they decided the kids wanted to connect all their pieces of paper and see how far around the room that they could go with that piece of paper. Um these students are not just taught the lesson but are through these programs are just part of participating in the learning process physically. They are are our activities. They touch, they see, they hear, they smell, they taste. Um so in second grade they we talk about forces, potential energy. Um the kids in a couple you'll see the kids sitting across from each other, they're using catapults to talk about um um potential energy. And then also um it's a little hard to tell, but the bottom left the kids um we talk about magnets and pushing and pulling with magnets and they got together on
020their own and they like to connect them all together and see how they work together. Um third um oh I skipped third grade they we talk about soil and worms. Um it's probably our most popular. Um they are given um they're talked they uh Andrea talks to them about the different types of soil and the importance of all the types. They create their own soil recipe. Um they mix it up and then they plant grass and then it's left there in the classroom and they can see whose grass is growing better based on the combination of um in their recipe. And then of course the worms they touch, hold the worms, look at them through magnifying glasses. We talk about the importance of worms and you're in, you know, good soil, that sort of thing.
021And then in first grade, um it's states of matter. So, you know, some of these topics are a little tough with first graders. You say states of matter and then you have to consider your audience a little bit. So, and Andrea has been great about that. So, um in first grade they make a gummy candy by com combining sugar and thicket and water. So, talking about um and then it makes a semi salad gummy um candy. They add more water and then they actually make finger paint, edible finger paint, which is really fun. Um they then at uh towards the end they got get to play with bins of uh non-newtonian fluid which is uh oobleck for some of us who know it in another way which is sometimes behaves as a solid sometimes as
022a liquid. So it's a real um visual learning um opportunity for them. Um I also want to as a side note Andrea teaches sign language as she's doing her lessons. So in that particular one, they learned 10 different sign language um words in in uh the first grade which they remember and we'll come up to her as she visits the school to show her that they remembered it. Um and just a couple things I want to point out in these pictures, the one in the middle with Andrea and the young boy, um that boy heard that Andrea was coming to school that day. He remembered her from probably kindergarten and he said he had to wear his lab coat to school. he had because he was going to have the science lady was coming. So,
023um that's pretty fun where you know when the kids start to remember the fun time they had with you, it's it's amazing. And then the the picture in the top is um that's Tommy and Brian. Tommy is Andrea's uh son, and Brian is a graduate from Weathersfield High School as well. And um they often come with her to help um her out in the in the classroom. There's um some of the classrooms are quite large, so it's helpful to have a um some extra hands. Um you'll see that they're holding a note and I just um this is sort of one of those unexpected things that happens in our programs. I just wanted to share. Um at the end of the afternoon or the time that she was there with them, a young girl came
024up to them and gave them a note and it said, "Thank you for making us feel smart and you guys are very funny and I hope to see you again. You guys are awesome." I mean, that's, you know, that's the reward right there. And not that we're just teaching, but, you know, we're we're doing it in a way where we're encouraging the kids to explore and learn and it's and it's safe to make mistakes and all that sort of stuff. So, um, yeah. So, we're excited. We'll start our fifth year next year. Um, and we also are really appreciative of the, um, the teachers for we we coordinate times to come in as well. So, and I'll talk a little bit more about our partnerships and that sort of thing, but um it does take
025some coordination and and the teachers are are great about um helping us figure that out. I do want to talk a little bit about um uh the Keen Foundation commitment to the kids in Weathersfield. Um so since 2004 and that's really when we started I think it was probably post the building of the community center and then um we have um we have offered or we have provided grants to the community and the after and an afterchool program at the community center. That's how it started. Um, and then we've expanded to the after-school enrichment program for nine years, the keen hands-on learning for four, and this year and next year we will be f fully funding the SDMS Encore afterchool program as well as the class summer learning program. Um, and that's for the next
026two years. Um, that those programs um are because we have well those programs we are happy to support because they do align with the same our our principles of providing enrichment to um the kids of Weathersfield. Um and because of our recent grant award um we are able to do this um we also because of that award um we'll be spending this year about $285,000 um between all of those programs and probably and the same again next year. So the grant was large and we are happy that we are able to continue and grow and and provide that opportunity um for these programs to continue um and then also um enrollments. So since our inception of the afterchool program we have had 13,820 enrollments and again that's o those are enrollments but are opportunities taken
027by a student for enrichment for enrichment learning for a chance to do something after school to make new friends to um connect with people to learn a new skill. Um, so those numbers are something um, we've never um, this is actually the first time I've ever kind of looked at them. Um, I'm very proud of them. Um, but we are also I want I want you know we're are very committed to continuing um, funding though as much as we can and and participating and um, committed to continuing these programs going forward. Um, I wanted to take today just to um kind of go through and say a thank you to a bunch of different um people and organizations because um this success is only possible because we have great partnerships. Um I you know it's
028great I'm very lucky I get a lot of um kudos for the job that I do but in in reality I'm one person of many and I could never do it on my own. So um first I would like to say my five afterchool site coordinators. These people work after school for me on the days we have after school programming. They are my eyes and ears of the afterchool time. Um they work on developing not just not developing um relationships with the students and families when they come to pick up. Um so they are an important piece. Like I said I couldn't do it. I can't be everywhere. And so they manage those after school times for me. um parks and recreation, they manage the registrations and the scholarships. Um Natalie Morrison in particular, she
029is my counterpart or my partner in this and my connection to parks and wreck and always is really available for any kind of support that I might need. I would like to thank the Weathersfield School District and I want to start with the um Michael EMTT, superintendent of schools. And I'm going to try and do this without Thank you very much for your commitment. Sorry. Um, I can remember when we first met about this and I, you know, trying, it wasn't a hard cell, but you know, trying to explain everything and from day one, I appreciate your commitment to us and to all the little things that we needed from you were always a yes. And um, yeah, like I said, I couldn't do it without you. So, thank you very much. Sorry. Um, and
030Sally Dulli. Uh, I can't believe you're both leaving at the same time. It's really hard. Um, but Sally, thank you very much. Sally has been like one of our number one supporters. Um, when I wrote last summer that very large grant with really almost no grant writing experience, Sally was my go-to all summer long. Where do I find this information? How do I do this? And always available for me. And I'm so appreciative. But I've learned so much from you and thank you very much. Um, we've also been partners sort of in the the creation of the Encore program at the middle school and that's been very, you know, really rewarding as well. So that those partnerships um are just um I appreciate you so both so much. Sorry. um uh the school principles one
031here right now um just for the um helping me determine which rooms within the school we can use um helping me get information out to families. I don't have everybody's information so the principles are always um very um willing when I have something to send to send it out for me. Um so I really appreciate that and also support during the after school time when we need it. you know, we have a really great afterchool pro time, but occasionally we need a little backup and the principles are always there for us um in that situation. Um school staff, the teachers work with us to coordinate our inschool um visits and support our program. Uh the school social workers, they are key in identifying and helping coordinate the registration of students who could benefit from our
032afterchool program. many of the scholarships that most probably I don't know 90% of them came those students were recommended from the school social workers. Um and it's not always just giving me the name but a lot of times they have to help after the scholarship is approved. There's a lot of hands-on or or interaction with families to help them register because many families haven't ever participated in anything Parks Rex. So there's it's not just a one-time thing. It's it's it's a bit of time on their part. Um and they they have been great through all of that. Um the school support staff, secretaries, we send out our registration information to the school and then they disseminate it to the teachers to let the teachers know which kids are staying after school. Um and so that
033that's a big part help for us. It's something that has to happen and they've always been uh great with that. And they also are really helpful for me to let me know if there's something going on in the school that I should know about. I have to move a room, I have to They are always um really helpful with that as well. Um so yeah, I mean it takes a village they say and it really does. Um and I'm very thankful for everybody. Um so the last thing I wanted to do was um some of you may have seen it but um we recently had a video produced about our afterchool program and I'd like to show that to you now if I hopefully I can get this to do its thing. I don't know
034how to use a Mac, so I'm a little here. Help. Can we turn the lights down, too? I think it might be help. Oh, thanks. I'm done now. Okay. You want We have the lights. Thank you. I have to thank you. [Music] Foundation where everyone and our goal is to reach out to each child and family in the community to allow them to fulfill their potential. Playing, creating, and learning. These are the ingredients for happy, healthy kids. In Weathersfield, Connecticut, more than 1,000 children enjoy Keen Kids after school enrichment program at all five elementary schools. It's an awesome opportunity for everyone. I think they're great. Those experiences are like learning. Maybe like you're having a bad day in school, then you can have some fun after. There's so many nice people that it's fun to
035interact with. We make new friends, do fun things. The Richard M. Keen Foundation is the organization behind Keen Kids After School Enrichment Program, Keen Hands-On Learning in the 911 Memorial Sports Center. Dick would have been absolutely thrilled. He loved coaching. He loved teaching kids and probably very proud of me that I did this. The success of Keen Kids After School depends on partnerships between Weathersfield Public Schools, Parks and Recreation, and the Keen Foundation. It's impossible to have a good after school program and not partner with the school district or other entities. Keen Kids After School also partners with many highquality instructors including Connecticut Science Center, Play Well, Abricad Doodle, Skyhawk Sports, and Hartford Stage. Keen After School is one of the best programs I've ever seen come into a school system. It is so enriching.
036It is so powerful to a kid's learning. These classes give kids an opportunity to shine in ways that they may not shine academically. Really does broaden their horizons. It encourages the love of learning in a lot of different diverse ways. What it gives is kids confidence. It gives them poise and knowing that they can do it. Musical productions at each of the five schools are extremely popular. I'm in the Spongebob play and I play as Mr. Krabs. I don't really like sing in front of people a lot cuz I'm not very confident about it. But when I got this part, I felt a lot more confident. I am a big fan of the Keen Foundation. To have my kids involved in an activity that they come home so excited to be involved in just makes
037it so rewarding as a parent. My favorite part actually the opportunity to be able to get together with not only some of your friends but also to make new friends and have fun with them, too. It truly has been life-changing. He's grown in confidence and in amazing ways. Expressing creativity is part of the Lego STEM exploration program. Our teacher shows us stuff that we can build if we want to. We can also just like build whatever we want. Maybe there's some new pieces for you or like some new techniques of how to build. I'm learning that I can take apart pieces from like a set that you're supposed to make and you can use it for other things to build. That's cool. I think it's great to have um something where the kids can do
038something different, more creative or catered to what they like because Keen has so many different options. The after school gym programs are a great opportunity for students to increase their fitness level through fun and exciting physical activities. Play and create is a fun hands-on break from screens with arts and crafts, board games, and interactive group challenges. We make little bracelets and necklaces and we also paint. As a parent, you want a successful child and you want them to be a well-rounded child. And through Keen, we've been able to get exactly that. Several Keen Kids after school programs keep learning fun while teaching science and engineering concepts. We had these like little robots and markers. There was like little cameras in the front and it detects the marker and it just follows it. And sometimes if
039you put the right sticker down, it does a little dance. It's given them a good way to try out new things and kind of like a lowrisk environment. They're at school. It's already a familiar place. They get to do these activities with some of their friends. We did like these uh gears and then spin it around. It makes like these cool shapes. And the last thing that we did, shadow puppets, but like with objects. And it's actually like really cool for me. It started with a form of child care, right? It's going to help me stay at work longer. But it opened up this whole world for my child that I never would have been able to discover otherwise. I love it. [Music] Keen Kids After School Enrichment Program is a great place for all
040Weathersfield students to learn, grow, and have fun. These kids are amazing, and I see it every day that I come and see them. It means everything. The most rewarding thing is when the kids are just really loving it. When you see that aha moment in them, you feel alive. We're really forever indebted to the King Foundation for the impact that they have made that will have a lasting impact on our community. It takes a village to do what we do. I hope that the program will be self- sustaining and that it can continue for years to come. Thank you for letting us have fun after school. I love it. It's like an offscheduled playd date. You did a great job because I really like this program and I think others would too. Thank you because
041I finally have something to do after school. And the after school program is like one of the funnest parts of school. You should go there. Oh, they're beautiful. They're the best. We love you after school. [Music] [Applause] So, thank you everybody for Carolyn. That was really well done that video. Yeah. Um, thank you for everything tonight. Thank you. Any other board members or comments? You know, so I don't know what we do without Keen. Hopefully you never need to find out. Yes. I hope not. Thank you very very much. Judy Keen I know is away otherwise she's away otherwise she'd be here godmother would be sitting there telling us about this. Thank you. Yeah. Welcome. Thank you. All set. Thank you. One more. Hang in there. All right. Our our next item for staff student
042recognition. Uh we have here this evening a couple of essayists. Uh if I could have Mr. John Casio, come forward. John, are you an essayist? Good evening, everyone. I feel like I'm on American Idol. Dim the lights. Anyways, it's great to be here. It's good to see all of all of you. And uh we welcome the new superintendent into Weather Shield as well as the principles at uh all of our new schools. But today I'm here with one of our essay winners. What Memorial Day means to them. Each year the Memorial Day parade comes together and asks eth grade students through their history program to write an essay and submit it to the parade committee. This year, the parade committee congratulates Georgia Evans from the magenta team and Garrett Scholarsio from the Indigo team. A
043reminder, this year's parade is Saturday, May 24th. Parade location is the Department of Motor Vehicles, 8:00 a.m. Be there. If it rains, the location will be at Weathersfield High School. So with that being said, part of the uh program that Garrett and Georgia have committed to is to read their essays at the parade at the cemetery and one of your board of education reps was one of the recipients. Um so this has been going on now for approximately 25 years. Oh. So, it's hard to believe that we're here today. So, Garrett is 14 years old student who lived in Weathersfield his entire life. He has an older sister, Zo, who attends Weathersfield High School, as well as a twin brother, Gavin. He has two amazing parents, Joe and Kelly, who are here with us tonight,
044and a mischievous cat named Jasmine. He is very active member at the SDMS participating in the lion team and the kindness club and also in the access club. In addition, Garrett is devoted to scouts. He has earned the life rank and is working towards his goal of becoming an Eagle Scout. Garrett is hoping these skills will come in handy later in life as he wants to be involved in environmental studies and possibly a park ranger. He is excited to continue his educational journey at the Weathersfield High School next year. With that, Garrett, it's all yours. To me, Memorial Day means more than just the unofficial start of summer. with the family gatherings and the barbecues. Rather, it's a holiday that honors those who have served for our country and died in service. We often forget
045the differences between our military recognition holidays such as Armed Forces Day and Veterans Day. Veterans Day is meant to honor servicemen still with us, such as my dad, who has served our country in the military. It is important to honor those servicemen because they take time in their daily life to help keep this country safe, too. Such as when my dad was in the Navy reserves. He had to be gone for many trips across the world in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. However, Memorial Day is different because it honors the thousands of soldiers who have died in war and gave their life to keep this country safe. This makes it unique and very special. We should always remember those people, both those who lost their lives, those wounded and disabled, and those who are currently
046serving because who knows what life would be like without them. This country would not have been protected. We could not have faced the threats from Germany, Japan, and others who threatened us all. But because of the thousands who gave their life for this country, gave up their future, our nation is able to stand today as a nation under God with liberty and justice for all. I believe that while we are enjoying our family gatherings and barbecues, we should also be reverent to think about those who have died for our country in order to keep this country, this nation still standing. Thank you. As you can see, it's amazing what these eighth grade students have done. The recipients this year were heartfelt. We had many students write, but apparently this year, two of the recipients, Garrett
047and Georgia, wrote from the heart. Georgia interviewed her grandfather and he would never talk about his service, but he did share a story with Georgia. So, you'll be able to hear that at the parade. She had a commitment tonight um with her gymnastics program. But with that being said, we are so excited and happy to have the eighth grade students and their team be a part of this. Uh it wouldn't be possible without the eighth grade team uh bringing their students and asking them. This is a voluntary essay program. It's not mandatory and the students came forward to do it. So, we're very excited. Uh, this year's theme is Military 250, honoring Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. I'd like to put a shout out to Kathy Williams at the board of education office for her
048help in organizing the essays and gathering the the uh from the schools and also we had the web school this year be a part of our art program. So check out the town hall. You'll see their arts uh projects uh in the in the town hall. And uh so what we try to do as a Memorial Day parade committee, integrate the schools with the veterans in the parade. So it's been a real good uh avenue to get people to know what we're doing. So I think it's a great thing. Garrett, I can't thank you enough. A great job. And thank you, Board of Ed. And thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Well, I have the pleasure of introducing Colin Craig who's been patiently sitting next to me here.
049He's a sixth grader at Emerson Williams School and he's our kid board of ed chair. So, Colin, your voice matters and we are so excited to hear your ideas and together let's make our schools even better and let's inspire your classmates to work with us. So, Colin, the floor is yours. Hi, my name is Colin Craig and I am the board of education chair of Emerson Williams Elementary. School is great, but I think that our lunch program needs improvement. Food is what fuels the brain. We have budgets and I understand the issue with spending more money on food. But with a with such a a capable public school system, I think that we can brainstorm possible solutions and ways to make enough money. I want to help Weathersville public schools to have better food, good
050food, and healthy food. According to Boston's Children's Hospital, 19.7% of kids in America ages 2 through 19 are obese. That's almost 15 million kids who are obese in America. That's more than the whole population of Pennsylvania. I think options like unhealthy snacks are not ideal. If kids want candy, ice cream, and cookies, they should get some at home. Some unhealthy snacks should still be optional, but having one ice cream, one snack, and a candy added to the additional chocolate milk is not very healthy. For a happy, healthy life, we'll need more nutrients and freshness. If our food was healthier, more of us would re-enter the class feeling focused and ready to learn. Additionally, we would feel healthier. I think we should also be able to choose what to eat. If a kid doesn't want a
051biscuit and they get a biscuit without having an option, the biscuit is going straight in the garbage. This is to save food that could you be used to fuel other children. The food that I see wasted the most is the vegetables. Kids, including me, don't eat the vegetables because they look unappealing. It's not that we don't like vegetables, it's just that we think the vegetables need a little bit of improvement. I want to serve a new recipe of vegetables that we believe to be more appealing. I want to try serving new vegetables until I see people eating them. Be honest, we really approach these veggies. I think serving appealing healthy foods will make an astronomical difference in our health, mental and physical well-being. We should use Kaisho Farms because we spent millions on it and
052Weathersfield still owns it. Town volunteers could maintain it and fresh food would be shipped to each school. We could also compost wasted food to create a cycle. I think that we can go down to Kaiser Farms and clean the place up a bit or weed and plant until Kaiser Farms is as good as new. I want to add a greenhouse so that we can grow and maintain healthy, nutritious foods all year round. I recently noticed though that Ker Farms might transform into a new school. I think that we can relocate to another area if necessary. I also think another solution might be to add rooftop gardens to the newly constructed schools in the future. Thank you for letting me share my ideas with you. I believe that we can supply Weathersville Public Schools with the
053energy that everyone needs to focus, learn, and grow. Thank you. We have the uh TSKP architect out in the audience tonight and he's got his pencil. Love the rooftop gardens. That was a wonderful idea. Thank you very much. You're awesome. All right, we've got we have to move on here. So, um next on tonight's agenda is the approval of the minutes of our April 22nd, 2025 regular meeting. Can I have a motion to approve those minutes? So moved. Okay. A second. Second. Any discussion on them? All right. All in favor? I opposed. Any abstensions? Those minutes are approved. Now, is there anyone wishing to make a public comment? Come on up to the podium. State your name and address. May I remind you that public comments are limited to five minutes. And also another reminder,
054board members do not make comments immediately following a resident speaking at the podium. So, thank you. I will try my hardest to keep this within time limit. And also, I apologize. I haven't I don't do prepared comments, so I might start a little bit. Um, good evening. My name is David Kman. I reside at 70 Baneberry Lane with my wife Jessica and two children, Matthew and Ryan. Both children currently attend Samuel B. Web Elementary School in the sixth and fifth grades, respectively. I have nothing but absolute love and respect for Web and with all that the school has done for my two sons. It is an incredible school run by an amazing principal, Mr. Craig, and staff with highly devoted and committed faculty. I appeared before this esteemed board on January 28th with Mr. Craig
055to request permission for web to accept the facility dog from Blue Path Service Dogs, tracing the same footsteps as Berlin Public Schools Griswald Elementary School. At that time, we asked permission to donate the dog to Web and guaranteed that the community would support all costs so as not to burden the Weatherfield taxpayer. Typically, a process like this takes several years from ideiation to receipt of the facility dog. But we found ourselves on a very expedited timeline given the incredibly fast approval of our application by blue path. At the time I was unable to provide specifics which I am now happy to announce have been finalized. During the web PTO meeting on March 12th graced by the presence of our beloved chairperson and liaison, we approved the finalized plan. I apologize if this has already been
056relayed to you, but I feel necessary to circle back with this board to ensure complete awareness. The PTO after a very lengthy discussion about specifics unanimously approved the following resolution. One, the full cost of Blue Path facility dog of $10,000 has been approved. We raised the funds. It's there. Two, the full first day costs like leashes, beds, dog food, bowls, etc. of $500 has been allocated for Mr. Craig to spend as he sees fit. Three, the establishment of a $2,000 emergency fund to be used by Mr. Craig or the new WPS superintendent for urgent needs and for annual go forward amount of $1,500 to provide for maintenance costs like food, veterinarian services, and grooming. Mr. Craig has already secured a local veterinarian double A willing to donate routine medical care. In doing so, Mr. Craig
057will be able to shift the money allocated in the annual amount of funding to purchase emergency health insurance, further insulating the community from unexpected costs arising out of the ownership of said dog. Holding true to our promise, Web PTO and town residents will support this dog and his or her invaluable efforts with our school children. I stand here today not only to relay you these great details, but also to show my deep appreciation for all those individuals who made this possible. First, I'd like to thank this board for their permission. I understand this concept was novel, but you can see from our neighboring towns, including Berlin and G and Glastonbury, school districts are aggressively adding facility dogs to schools, not just for emotional support, but also because of the significant academic benefits such as reduced
058absenteeism. Second, a heartfelt thank you to our current superintendent, Mr. EMTT who championed this effort and used his many years of experience in finding solutions like the writer to our insurance policy in such an expedited manner. This endeavor would not be possible without his guidance and support. And while I hope he finds retirement enjoyable, we as a community will miss him and his steady hand leading us through the many challenges we face. Third, to the entire web PTO for embracing such a radical plan and supporting this effort. The support amongst the members of the PTO was overwhelming and honestly heartwhelming to see parents who really want change for their schools, their children's school. And finally, and is I am so proud to be able to do this in front of his son. And finally, I
059cherish principal, Mr. Craig, who committed whose commitment to his students and staff is so obvious that the parents, me included, feel empowered to approach him with radical ideas. I mention this specifically as I know from my own children and their friends how involved Mr. Craig and is and how he encourages civic engagement with his students. Jess and I scheduled time with Mr. Craig to present him with the idea in the same exact manner that he he meets with his students and he received us and our idea in such a welcoming and respectful manner. Granted, our idea was one that was not expecting. He was not expecting nor even prepared to respond to, but in his usual manner, he went about conducting his own due diligence, eventually understanding that this is isn't just a great idea,
060but one that helps keep us on par with our neighboring districts. His re he excuse me, he recognized the benefits and worked extremely closely with the PTO to ensure this came to fruition. It is not lost on me how much additional work this has and will cause for Mr. Craig who already contributes much more than we could ever ask. But he understands the importance and benefits not only to his students but also to his staff who will have this dog available as a resource for their classroom and themselves. It was an absolute pleasure to work with someone as committed as Mr. Craig who cares so deeply about his students and staff and who's willing to put in the effort to effectuate great change. We are forever indebted to Mr. Craig, not just for his work
061in this campaign, but in all that he has done to make web a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all it serves. And finally, beyond extending my appreciation, I leave you with a simple plea. Web should not be the only school in Weathersfield that has a facility dog. As my high school math teacher wife reminds me constantly, older kids need that resource just as much as younger ones. I love to work with the new superintendent to help facilitate adding more facility dogs with the hope that each school in Weathersfield has their own and highly encouraged my opinion that Mr. Craig be tapped to help that initiative. Web proved this can be done. We now need to focus on expanding and capitalizing on this amazing program. I wish Web the best of luck with their future
062facility dog and truly hope this marks the beginning of an amazing journey for Weathersfield public schools. Thank you for your time. Thank you. [Applause] Hi, I'm Megan Glennowski. I live at 24 Morris Avenue. Um I'm going to start by thanking Mr. Voychek for running the school band and the festival band. Band has been an amazing um bright spot during a difficult fifth grade year. Um I would like to thank Mr. Karzar for sending me a summary of the professional development and neurodiversity that educators in Weathersfield public schools have participated in recently. It looks like the district is has been focusing on restorative and trauma-informed practices, which is wonderful. As the packet says, restorative practices offer an alternative to punitive approaches, emphasizing dialogue, accountability, and responsibility to address conflict and wrongdoing. My question to the board
063is, what can you do to hold school administrators accountable for this focus? Mr. Dr. Carzar discusses Ross Green's collaborative and proactive solutions model, which he states focuses on understanding the underlying reasons for behavior rather than just addressing the behavior itself. Collaborative problem solving is grounded in the idea that children struggle with behaviors because they lack the skills or capacity to respond to demands in a way that is expected. It encourages schools to adapt expectations and approaches to better suits unique needs and strengths. Collaborative problem solving minimizes the use of punitive measures. Mr. Dr. Kar's packet also acknowledges that many neurode divergent students experience trauma as a result of misunderstanding, exclusion, and systemic abbleism. For example, an autistic student who is constantly reprimanded for stmming or for non-compliant behavior may internalize a sense of shame leading
064to chronic stress and emotional harm. This suggests that there should be a shift to more a more inclusive approach in Weathersfield where punishment is not the first solution and where kids can be themselves. So, if this has been a focus of professional development in Weathersfield for the last five school years, then why is an autistic elementary school student assigned to detention for arguing with his teacher, sent to the office for talking too much, sent to the office for being too loud in the lunchroom, left alone in the office to complete his work, and then scolded about breaking a school pencil as a coping mechanism when he became frustrated? Why is he called to the office to repeatedly watch videos of himself misbehaving at lunch and recess, taken out of his reading group because he talks
065too much at the direction of the principal and with no replacement learning activity for several weeks? Why is he losing recess because he argued about not wearing a coat on a 50°ree day? These responses do not seem to align with the focus that is outlined in Mr. Kar's packet. Gifted autistic children are often disciplined for behavior that is directly tied to how their brains work differently. impulsivity, emotional outbursts, or rigid thinking powders. But punishment does not teach skills. It only teaches shame. The problem with trying to fit a square peg into a round hole is not that you can't make it fit, but that you break the square peg in the process. When I was recently called to the school after a more severe incident to talk about next steps, the only next steps discussed
066were punishment. I had come prepared to discuss ways that we could work together to teach my child new skills and coping mechanisms because, as Dr. Ross Green tells us, "Kids do well if they can. If they're not doing well, something is getting in their way." When we treat kids as if they're choosing to misbehave instead of trying to manage a world that they don't know yet how to navigate, we make it harder for them to succeed. Punishing a child for skills they haven't developed yet is not only unfair, it's ineffective. But there was no plan put in place to help and teach at that meeting. I had to push for another meeting to address any next steps beyond punishment. What can I as a parent or you the board do when an administrator sets a
067tone at their school that is so misaligned with the stated goals and focus of the district? We have to actually implement these inclusive practices in our schools every day, not just talk about them. Dr. Barry Present in Uniquely Human, which is an amazing book that I recommend to everyone, puts it this way. Supporting a child with autism isn't about changing who they are. It's about changing how we understand and respond to their needs. When we change our approach, we change the outcome. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Anyone else? All right. Mr. EMTT, you have some communication for us. I do. Thank you. Good evening again, everyone. Um, we are heading to that time in the calendar where we are starting to think about graduation, step up ceremonies, field trips. Um, I look down the dis
068and I see Angelica. Um, I had the honor of signing diplomas today. So, the the time is coming fast and furious. So, graduation is Tuesday, June 10th. Um, we are working with the town with regard to setting up the show mobile. Um, we have all of our vendors. Um, caps and gowns for board members have arrived at Stillman, so we'll be making sure that we get them out to you. Um, again, things will go very quickly here as we wrap up this um, school year. Um, just want to let everybody know that we anticipate tomorrow the budget allocation coming from town council. They'll be meeting here in council chambers. Um, that must be done by charter no later than the 15th of May. Um, once we get the allocation for us, it'll be a time
069to come back together and talk about um, what the allocation entails. U, um, what priorities we have moving forward for next year. Um, I'm certainly hopeful that, you know, again, we strike the balance. We know that town council is dealing with some major challenges with regard to our referendum upcoming as well as the re-evaluation, but at the end of the day, we have an obligation to provide the best possible education for all of our students in Weathersfield. And with that, we need the necessary resources. So, looking forward to getting that number tomorrow evening and then um being able to hammer out the final budget um at the upcoming board meeting on the 27th of May. Uh please remember that the meeting scheduled for Tuesday June 10th has been cancelled because we have u other business
070that evening that is graduation. So again the um calendar is moving very quickly. Do want to let members of the public uh know that uh the recent Tik Tok challenge um yes we we did have some students here in district that decided that it would be fun to uh vandalize the Chromebooks and and stick items into the Chromebooks. I dealt with the situation at the middle school. I dealt with the situation at the high school. Um, one issue at the elementary level. Uh, again, I want to remind everyone that the Chromebooks, while they may be yours students, they really are the boards. Um, there is an acceptable use policy and the expectation is you will treat those uh devices appropriately, professionally, and making sure that they are not being vandalized. Um, I have to admit
071I was somewhat disappointed in seeing the condition of some of our Chromebooks where, you know, pieces broken off, keys broken off, keys colored on. Um, we had a couple of screens that were all gouged, and this was like a second replacement screen. So, again, I'm I'm really asking all parents and all students to treat Chromebooks with dignity and respect. They are your tools that you need to succeed. I'm hopeful with the Tik Tok challenge, it's it's hit its peak and people realize that they should not be doing that. Again, we're holding people accountable in the event that you're vandalizing these machines. And parents, I'm sorry to say, you're going to be getting a bill. If it's an intentional vandalism, we need to hold your kids accountable. That's the bottom line. So, I'm hopeful that this
072um Tik Tok challenge has passed. Um would also like to say to parents, um it is May. I am dealing with the series of discipline issues. Parents, if I can say one thing tonight, please carefully monitor what your students are doing on their phones. We're dealing with a couple of situations now where students don't realize when you post it, it's out there and you don't know necessarily where it's going. So, by all means, monitor. And I heard Carolyn say it this morning or earlier today at the uh presentation about the anxious generation that book club. There was a reason for that and we're seeing the impacts of social media. We're seeing the impacts of phones. So again parents please be diligent with your kids and monitoring what they're doing online and what they're doing on
073their phones. Um finally tonight I I do want to give a shout out. I see he's still in the audience. Um my uh successor Mr. Jeffrey Wby. Uh it has been an absolute pleasure to work on the transition process with uh Jeff. Um obviously we've known each other professionally for many years and um I've been committed to making sure that this transition goes as seamlessly as possible. Um so this evening one of the next steps for us is the appointment of the next principal at Charles Wright. So we will be heading into executive session later in this meeting to do that. And also this evening we have an action item before you that is of utmost importance and that is the approval of the educational specifications for highest. So we have in the audience uh
074Mr. Michael Scott from TSKP to answer any questions that you have. Um and with that that's communications. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. So tonight we do have two action items and Chuck can you please read recommended motion 6A? Yes. I move that the weather I move that the board of education approve the attached proposed schedule of the regular board of education meetings for the 2025 2026 school year. Okay. Do I have a second? Second. Um discussions. Yes. I have some concerns. So when you look at policy 9750, it states the West Board of Education set a calendar of regular meetings for the ensuing year at the first regular meeting in November. This is about as far from November as we can get. So, I'm just wondering why we're setting it now and
075not November. Well, I would say because you didn't have a new superintendent. Yeah, but I mean still the bylaws are the bylaws because then it's going to bring me to the next bylaw which says normally there the board shall schedule regular meetings on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month except during school vacations when the board shall schedule no meetings and there's at least three months that now we're eliminating the second meeting of the month. So just curious on that decision-m as well. Anything else? I need some answers. It's just I asked two questions, Madam Chair. Well, I of the motion that was made. So, I don't have answers for them. So, I'll get back to you. I don't And I think the motion should be tabled until we have answers. So, my understanding
076here is that the uh meeting schedule was set with uh consultation with incoming superintendent Wibby and the board chair. That accurate? No, it's not. Not yet. No. Okay. So, we can table it then. Would you like to? I make a motion. I withdraw my motion. Okay. I believe whoever second it has to withdraw their second. I withdraw it. All right. Any other comments here on any of this? So, then that tabled. Thank you. All right. We do have another motion. John, can you please read recommended motion six? Sure. Recommend that the Weatherfield Board of Education approve the educational specifications for High Crest Elementary School. Second. Okay. Any discussions? You want to come up? Sure. Good evening. Michael Scott, TSKP Studios, 146 Willis, um, Hartford. That's okay. Um, so tonight, the business before you is the
077first step in the comprehensive plan that, um, we discussed last time I was before this board. Uh, you'll recall that that is a six-phase plan to comprehensively address all five uh, elementary school sites. And what you're approving tonight is the educational specifications for that first uh pivot school which will be located on the Kesha Farm site. Um this will be um a new facility and so it'll be a new construction grant and it's to house 405 students which is larger than the typical what will become the typical K through 4 uh elementary school because this uh this school will incorporate uh 90 additional preschoolers or eventually once it's done in its swing school function Um, this building will receive five classrooms of preschool. Uh, this will expand from the three classrooms that you have at
078web. And those classrooms, I believe, um, currently run on half-day sessions. So, you'll have the opportunity for 10 sessions potentially in L of the current six. Uh, other than that, it's uh, K through four school. uh its first uh six to eight years of its existence uh will house a essentially the high crest elementary population uh which will begin to shrink as soon as uh the web renovations are complete and that becomes the 56 academy. So this edspec builds on the basic idea that uh every K through four elementary school will have three grades per classroom. I mean, three cla three classrooms per grade and um with uh one additional classroom to take on any demographic surges that the neighborhood school might encounter uh in the future. Okay. Anybody have any questions? Yes, Marjorie. Oh,
079go ahead, Janice. Um, looking at it, um, I believe there was one handicap unisex bathroom in the nurse's office. Is that correct? Was there more than the one? Uh, yes. Uh, what what you're really looking at here is the educational program spaces, uh, which total about 38,000 square ft of space. In reality, this school is going to be about 53,000 square ft of space. That's what Downs will tell you. they're cost estimating for this building. So that will include all of the toilets, mechanical rooms, janitors, closets, IT rooms, corridors, stairways, mechanical rooms, all of the stuff that really um is important for the proper functioning of a building, but doesn't necessarily relate to a quote unquote educational specification. Okay. The reason the that uh unisex bathroom is called out in the adspecs is it's in
080addition to the normal classroom, that program needs uh a single use toilet nearby. Okay. Um well, I'm just wondering if you know how many we would need. Um but would we see more of that in the architecture plans? Um you you will need to provide adequate toilet facilities for the entire building. Uh are you asking about more toilets or more unisex toilets? Gender neutral toilets. More about unisex hand. Gender neutral. Yeah. uh we are seeing that as a trend in not not only a trend I mean it's frankly it's facts on the ground for most uh education educating authorities but um uh less so at the elementary school although um certainly um we can work that out with the superintendent and the building committee on how we would allocate that. Um, I'll also mention that
081every preK and kindergarten room will likely end up having its own dedicated toilet room in the classroom. Thank you. I just have a few parts where I kind of note it. Do you have it in front of you? You okay? Just a couple of things. One is um the general language of the music general music room. Is there gonna is there a there's a reference to just one room of 1,000 square feet and then there's a reference later on to more than one rooms that are going to be carpeted and I just know that there's a band component and then or there's I don't know with the K4 I'm kind of curious is there's less music instruments maybe I don't know there's a chorus component general music component and then there's a instrument room I
082it's envisioned that in in its final form the K through four form there'll only be one music uh educator in the building. So they that individual will have a room. Uh it's obviously edited back from the previous version when this was a K through six facility in which you would normally have uh you would probably not only need another music room just to support that from a teacher station standpoint. But typically the the older kids have a much more robust instrument program that requires a slightly different facility. But here it the idea is it's one room, one 1,000 foot room for the uh 320 kids, right, for whatever music that they do. General music instruction that they'll cycle through. Okay. Um, and then on page 27, looks like there's an error where it says 3500
083ft at the top instead of 350. Okay. Uh, just give me the page number again, please. 27. I don't have a page 27. Do I? The wrong way. I don't have it. No, just hold it up so I can see it. Oh, I don't even have it on me. I didn't print it. I just wrote notes. Okay. I could send this to you later. Um, just little errors. Okay. I I looked at it. I You know what it was? It was probably like 27 on my computer as I'm scanning versus Sure. That's okay. Um, there's just a couple mistakes of numbers where it just didn't seem like Okay. I can't remember even the the topic under this. I just made notes. Okay. Um, and at one point it mentions technology personnel. So there like that
084goes to your point about how that's not really educational. So there's there should there's going to be space for technology personnel that might need need to be in the building. That's right. But that'll be figured out later. That's right. Okay. That's right. That'll come out of that plus or minus 14,000 square ft of other space that you're not seeing. Right. Just to ju just to be clear, we end up tracking three types of square footage. We track the number of square feet that are in the edspec, um, which really is there to enumerate and and, uh, qualify the educational space. Uh, we track your eligible grant square footage, which the state tells us you're entitled to based on the student population. For this school, it's about u 50,000 ft². And then um your constructor like
085Downs in this instance will tell you the gross square feet foot foot which includes things like the width of the exterior wall all the way around the building. Um they also tend to count stairs twice, that sort of thing. Um and so that they'll tell you that it's 53,000 ft². So the numbers can be confusing uh if you don't look at this every day. Uh but you'll often see three numbers um thrown thrown out here in discussing this facility. Okay. And the and is it more popular now to have gymiums and not cafatoriums? Is it more popular? Um I can't comment on which we see more of. We see both. Okay. I know we have castors now, but I didn't know if Yeah. I mean, interestingly enough, again, um we don't have an uh architecture
086to this building yet, right? But if you think about how we are laying this building out, we're trying to put things like the gym and the cafeteria on one side of the building so that the classroom wings can be closed off after hours or on the weekends and the community can use those large spaces. So in the diagram that I showed you, this the stage I'm pretty sure uh abuts both the gym and the cafeteria, right? So the possibility is you could have both, right? You could just open um wall on one side or on the other side a variety of of things. Um and we we do that too. Yeah, for that it it would add for safe safety and uh scheduling for the principles as well. I mean, it's it just makes sense
087for those kinds of spaces. It just gives it flexibility. Yeah, I know that it we're thinking of saving in square footage, but just a thought. I was just thinking like maybe gyms just have more space in case there's a concert or something. Anyway, right. You can you can put more people in a gym typically, more parents, more kids in a gym. That is that is true, right? Can I ask a point of clarification? Yes. We are approving this because this is what's going to be submitted to the state on our behalf. Right. So if Marjorie has concerns about numbers that should be brought out now because once we approve it, this document shouldn't be edited from the version that we approved. Correct. Um it is possible to edit uh educational specifications even after you submit
088them as part of the grant. um the um the architect in me wants to get them as right as possible before we submit it on by June 30th. So if you have edits, you can certainly approve it with the caveat that you know you're going to forward, you know, a handful of edits and we'll Yeah, it's not like substantive. It's just I could tell that like instead of instead of one zero, there's two zeros. You know, like you just know it's not a substantive change, right? Well, I I hate to be off by a factor of 10. I know that. I was going to say that's a big difference. We're talking about zeros. And then I have a question on page 11 under classroom storage. It says open storage for ORF instruments. O RF. I
089think there's two Fs. What is that exactly? That's probably a hold over. Again, this um in passing this around with um town staff and professional educators, we tried to uh track changes between the new and the old version. So, that's probably a fragment in the track changes page 11. ORF um under classroom storage. Yeah, I see it. Uh it's really open storage for instruments. the ORF should be struck for instruments for general music classroom. So these would be the um I mean back in the day it would be like recorders and xylophones which is the type of music that I learned as an elementary school kid. Um but nowadays it could be little synthesizers or keyboards that they're using as well. But it's not uh what it's meant to signify is it's not a um
090band or orchestra program at this age. We don't need a full instrument storage room, per se. All right. Thank you. All right. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you. We'll take a vote. All right. All in favor? I I opposed. Any abstensions? That motion is approved. Thank you everyone. Okay. And this evening we have an advisory building committee update. John, we do. Yeah. Wasn't that just the update just for you? Uh well, first I want to thank um obviously Superintendent EMTT and TSKP for putting together those ed educational specifications. Um that will be obviously as we do this for every school as we approach this uh the most important thing the board does is approve those educational specifications. So, thank you so much for your input there. Um, just for public knowledge, the reason why we
091we are looking at highest now and there there's I way I put it is there's kind of two trains moving at once. We have our grant application process that has to be prepared by June 30th for the state. So, if highest being the first school in our plan, that needs to be submitted before June even though we don't have an approved referendum by the town just yet. So the other train is the actual referendum being prepared and the other train being the actual um approvals to get through the grant process. So those two things are moving. Um this board will have to do educational specifications and approvals for every school as we approach the different phases. So um obviously we will be all all uh very much in tune to this process as we go.
092Uh from the from the building committee update, we did meet last week in a special meeting. Um our building committee subcommittee met with uh DS construction on the line item est through the cost estimates. So these are the the actual spec specifications of the cost of uh the different phases of the referendum. Um they reviewed it and then was then presented to the full building committee on March 5th right here in town hall. Um those obviously are all prepared as we go forward with the town council because the town council needs all that information as they start to prepare for their referendum question. We are still marching forward to June 16th as the meeting where the town council will set the referendum question and we look forward to that. So there are a lot of
093meetings in between there. Obviously I mentioned both of these drains. Uh but we look forward to to actually reaching that June 16th date. Uh and with that that's really the update from building committee. Thank you. Any questions for John? I I have a question. Um the date of the referendum uh I know it's right before the upcoming election. Um is there any discussion of combining the referendum with the municipal election? You know the building committee made their recommendation that it stands on itself on September 16th. Um I do stand by that decision by the building committee. Uh this is an an effort that should stand on its own and deserves its own vote. That's what we believe on. Uh but then at the end of the day again the town council decides to refer question
094June 16th. Okay. Thank you. All right. Anyone else? All right. Thank you, John. Thank you very much. Okay. Board of Ed meetings held. We had our finance and operations. This was 422. And Matt Lacavoli, our finance chair, did report on that at our last meeting. Um but community and public relations Marjorie got the specs. Yes. Um we held our meeting last week last month and uh we were able to put out a second newsletter and we approved that for the month of April where which was solely focused on explaining kind of what's happening with the schools the elementary school plan and thus far you know what what's happened and maybe some of the reasons why things have happened the way they they decisions have been made whether it's a K through four and a five
095six school um where prek can go and how um a lot of People have been asking why can't pre preK be put in every single elementary school. And the answer is that we just don't have um the the money and the resources and and most school systems, especially um there's a lot of cities that have pre-k in every elementary school, but most um school systems like ours, we don't get the funding for that. So, we have to have one a prek uh centralized prek. Um and so that would be High Crescent. It'll be the first building, new building built. Um, but there's a lot of good feedback I received um because people were were looking for some of these answers and clarifications on some of the the questions out there and we're hoping to keep,
096you know, pursuing that and adding more um information out there um and hoping not just the school district that gets it but the town overall will get this information um in the next month within the next, you know, so many days um because a lot of people outside the school district have questions and they're not always plugged in because they're not getting the emails from the schools. So working with the town council to also um put out that information as well. Um, and we're also looking to do, you know, basically we've come up with a draft of a communications plan that we're hoping to adopt in the next month or so that the whole uh board can adopt that for the, you know, future years. We'll look at ways we can improve on communication within
097the district um through you know a lot of one of the things about the communication plan now is noting how the various ways we also we already do communicate. U parent square um is one of the most successful things we've done as a board um or this board has done um approving and it's just an amazing communication tool um that gets so much information to people from who have you know English is not their first language and they still can get all the information they need. Um but there's other things we'd like to improve on. So there's a looking to kind of write it all down and get a get kind of a goal oriented approach to communication and so hoping to get that completed by by the next maybe board meeting or so. We'll
098see. We'll see how it goes. Um we're having a communications meeting tomorrow to talk about that further. Um, and lastly, we did u do a uh a message to um for teacher appreciation week and um and to to let everyone via email all the staff and teachers know that the board of education really appreciates what they do and um that you know we're here and we're we know what they're doing. We know it's a hard hard job um but that we we really appreciate their efforts and that's about communications. Thank you for all your work on that. Thank you. And human resource and personnel. Christina, are you ready with minutes on that? Always. You are good. Okay. Um that was a great segue. I did want to start by saying happy teacher appreciation week to
099our teachers, but not only them, but the the um educators that decided to become administrators um in central office. And it's funny because everyone's always saying, you know, you should become an administrator. And I'm like, I don't know if I could do that job. That's a really difficult job to run and help support the teachers and then help support the students. But anyways, I'm an HR committee, so it's kind of a perfect time to do that. Um, the central office has been trying to fill as many positions as possible, but um, they are waiting for the budget to be approved. So, um, they're trying to get those great candidates that are going to, you know, enrich our our school district, but they're also trying to be very, um, you know, careful to to wait for
100the budget. So, I appreciate that um as a board member and as a a parent in the district. Um many of our staff um our second agenda item is absences and lease of absences and they usually don't leave um our district except for to go maybe closer to um to their own district. So, that means that they're, you know, dedicated to our district. So, that's awesome. Absences and leaves of absences are fluid. So, we're we're trying to support staff members, but also um you know, let them take this time that they need. Exit interviews will continue in June. If staff members that have decided to leave the district um want to participate in that, that gives us some feedback as to what needs to be improved. Um we've received a timeline for the surveys that
101were given out in April and they concluded in May. Um this will fulfill the state department of uh requirement for the climate policy that all schools will have to have to ensure that staff, students um are supported in the district. And um I'm looking forward to working with the new superintendent, Mr. Wavy, on coming up with an agenda when we come back for the new school year. And I think that's it. Thank you. You're excellent with all this. Thank you. We do have a meeting scheduled on May 20th at 6:00 and it's student program and services. All right. So, moving on. Is there anyone wishing to make a public comment? Come on up and state your name and address. And may I remind you that you have a fiveinut limit? Anyone? All right. So, let's
102have some board comments. Anybody with a board comment? Janice? Well, a couple of little things. Well, a few things. Um, I had the pleasure of attending um, oh my gosh, um, the Adams family at Emerson Williams. There's so many. I did get to see that one and, um, the students did a wonderful job on that. Um, and also to tomorrow, no, Thursday, Thursday evening at 6:00 p.m. at Loretta's place in Milwoods, there will be the, um, pep graduation, parents, empowering parents. Um, so if you're able to go to that, that's usually very nice. Um, and then also, um, I went to the last, um, the April 26th, um, Charles Wright PTO meeting, and like all of our wonderful Weathersfield PTO's, Charles Wright, the Charles Wright PTO is winding down a s very successful um, school
103year of fundraising and events for uh, faculty, students, and families. I can't say enough about the contributions that all of our PTO's make to our our schools. Um, wonderful job with climate and just an amazing job in raising money. Um, they've also have many exciting um, grade six activities coming up, the end of their elementary school celebrations. Um, and excitement seems to be building for Mr. quarters retirement party on May 30th. Um Charles Wright parents Wright's parents are asked to bring some dinner items. Um Village Pizza is also donating food and Charles Wright alum um are asked to bring dessert. So it will be held at Cove Park at the Solomon Wells House. And I know that they're very excited about that. Great. Thank you. Thank that was an invite for all of us, right?
104I'm not sure. Yes. Okay. Okay, that sounds good. All right. Um, anyone else for closing comment? I'd like to go. Um, I did not attend this, but I heard it was amazing because I had a family engagement, but the high school um students uh performed or created, produced, directed what they call Cabaret for a Cause. I believe it's the third or fourth year they've done this. Um, it's completely studentled. Um, and they just did a multitude of songs from Hamilton, all kinds of musicals. and my husband went and my son went and um he my son my my husband could not stop talking about how great it was. Um and just the time that these students take they're all doing different things and also one of the things that is amazing is that students some
105of the students were people who don't generally always do the musical theater but they decided to throw themselves on the stage and do something uh throw play the guitar sing a song in front of everybody. So, um, very supported by by the school and it's a great great way for kids to just, you know, organize something themselves and, uh, get the support of the of the of the, uh, the the high school staff. Um, and then there's a blood drive this, uh, Wednesday. Actually, tomorrow, I guess. Um, I don't know if it's all already full. Is it already full? I think we have like seven more slots. You can talk about that. I'm going to let you talk about that. Um, Safeguide is um, uh, the organization that raises money to have one big huge
106graduation party uh, on graduation night and there's still need of donations. So, if anyone wants to, a business or just an individual wants to send money to them, um, you can always contact me. I can let you know what their Venmo account is or or who to contact, but they're always um, looking for gift cards or anything that would help uh, make that night better, even better for the students that just graduated. Um, and the I want to uh shout out to the WSPC, the Weatherfield Schools Parent Council, which Mr. Wibby is going to be introduced in um a few months, and he's going to meet uh those parents. They're all um representatives of one representative from each or one to two representatives from each elementary school, middle school, and the high school that come
107together once a month to hear about from the superintendent and talk about what they're doing at each other's schools. But one of the things we have done as an organization is um promote bike to school uh days. And this past Wednesday was bike walk, bike stroll. Uh and uh I love the one in the spring because they we they also uh give money or gift cards to all the crossing guards as appreciation to them. Um so it was a beautiful day between lots of rainy days and I was very excited for them for all the kids to be able to walk or bike or roll to school. Okay. Thank you. Hello. Um so first I want to say thank you so much to Mr. EMTT, Superintendent EMTT for coordinating um the expansive uh deep list
108of all of the different training that is done for our neurodeiverse community. Um I found that information to be very helpful and informative and I do appreciate that. Um, the second thing is I know we're not supposed to address the public, so I won't, but I will say to my board members, if anyone was to spy with their little eye a young man, perhaps someone at Charles Wright who would like to take the balloons home uh this evening, we did intend to give them out uh to students. Uh so I just wanted to make sure this is an important decision. It really is. It really is. Um but uh thank you. That's it. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Yeah, last Tuesday I had the opportunity to see the Silstein Middle School concert and it was
109phenomenal. They did a great job, the seventh and eighth grade orchestra and band. There was so many students on the stage. It was great to see it being revived after co hitting and the kids were awesome and the uh teachers did a great job. Just wanted to commend them on that. Great. Thank you. Okay, anyone else? I just wanted to make a a thank you say a thank you to our towns people who came tonight to meet and greet with Mr. Jeffrey Wby. Thank you for being here still too. And also I get a moment and it's probably the one of many to thank Mr. EMTT. Um how long have we sat here together? Quite a long time. Yeah, it's a long time. So I want to thank you for all your dedication to our
110beloved Weathersville school system. So thank you. All right. and Angelica life at our flagship school, Weathersville High School. So, as always, we have lots of amazing things happening at the high school. Um, a few weeks ago, actually, our DECA group traveled to Orlando, Florida, the students that placed at the state conference um to compete in nationals. We had a medalist, Marcos Velasquez Ramos for scoring like high on one of the exams as part of his category. And then this is also exciting, but me and my partner and best friend Ava Thompson were recognized as international finalists in our category um the community awareness project. And we were It's funny cuz before the anxious generation was mentioned and our project called New Year you was focused on social media safety and digital literacy. And one of
111the main key components of our project was a social social media detox day where students around like a hundred students in our at the high school pledged to not use social media for a day. Um so it was certainly a meaningful project and we all had so much fun there. It was also Mrs. Dardi's last like trip um with the DECA students as she's retiring this year. So it was really bittersweet. Um a few weeks ago too the junior class 2026 had their prom. I heard it went great and it was really fun. Um, and then we had this past weekend the cabaret. They raised, I believe, over $5,000 in counting. We also had the Walk for Bell. It's the third annual walk. Um, Valerie Peralt, she was a former um she was a WHS
112graduate who unfortunately passed away of cancer. And this walk was created to keep her memory alive and it was a beautiful day um with lots of amazing people. And then these past few weeks, we've had lots of like AB testing going on for students. So, they've been busy with that. We also had some students um and part of the choir and band and orchestra program travel to Seattle for a few days. I also heard that went great. And lastly, I believe not this past weekend, but the weekend prior, um, two of of our amazing students, Marcos Velasquez Ramos and Katherine Katie Moran were recognized as our school or recognized as CIA scholar athletes. Um, they Katie is a two sport varsity athlete in swim and lacrosse and Marcos is did varsity swim. They're both exceptional
113students and human beings. Um, and with that, these are my updates at the high school. Um, and thank you, Mr. Emtt, for all that you've done. I remember like when I moved here to Weather Public Schools back in the fifth grade, you were always like smiling and kind, and I'm really grateful. Emerson Williams. Emerson Williams. Yeah, Emerson Williams. I remember it well. Thank you, Angelica. Thank you. Angelique, I'd also like you, as we get towards the end here and you're getting ready to graduate, you are so involved in that high school. I'd love to hear like you know your a summing up of all your thoughts as you're leaving high school cuz you have been a wonderful participant with us here too. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Are we all set on closing comments here?
114All right. And is there any unfinished business today? Nope. You skipped executive session. I I was going to go right to You're right. Um, I move that we go into executive session for the discussion and possible appointment of a principal for Charles Wright School. Second. All in favor? I I. Anybody opposed? All right. So, I'm not adjourning this meeting. You're not. But I am asking um everyone we have to