HBOE - Regular Meeting - 12/16/2025-ORG

001Good evening. As chairperson of the Harford Board of Education, I hereby call the December 16, 2025 regular meeting. I wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone present and to our television viewers. The board superintendent and I are pleased that you have joined us as we celebrate achievement, review information and make policy decisions related to the effective operation of the Harford public schools. This is a regular meeting and all the items that will be discussed or voted on this evening have been posted as required by state law. As the board of education, we are here to set goals, listen to the reports of the superintendent, approve budgets, contracts, and personnel appointments, and make policy for the district. We are not here to make management decisions or solve the problems of individuals. Management is the responsibility

002of the superintendent. The monthly meetings of the board are open to the public. They are a time when the board conducts its business of governing the school system in a public arena. The regular meetings are not meetings with the public. Therefore, comments from the audience will be confined to the time designated for the public to address the board. Decorum and courtesy are important elements in effective public meetings. Please silence your cell phones or communication devices and refrain from talking while others are speaking since it is legally mandated. Sorry. Since it is legally mandated that proceedings be accurately recorded, I may have to ask for order periodically should noise begin to interfere with our recording capabilities. I am pleased that you have taken the time this evening to join us. We are very proud of this

003school system and thank you for your interest in Harford Public Schools. Now, this will be read in Spanish. Harford Hartford. Harford administr responsibes and Jack.ch. Hartford oath of office. Um, we will be swearing in Miss Madison Chica, recently appointed by the mayor to fill the vacancy left by Jennifer Hawinhal. Attorney Miserich um will now swear her in. that you will faithfully discharge according to law your duties as a member of the Hartford Board of Education to the best of your abilities. So help you God or upon penalty of I congratulations. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. And tonight we will be recognizing the arts for attendance winners. Um, Superintendent Townsel. >> Thank you, Chairwoman Broaddy. As you know, Hartford Public School has been working strategically and collaboratively to improve attendance across all of our

004schools. Thanks to the hard work and commitment of our student engagement specialists, family and community support service providers, and all members of our attendance culture, climate, and engagement teams, plus the collaboration of our partners and families, I'm proud to say that we have made significant improvements in reducing chronic absenteeism and are currently meeting our ontrack goal of 90% average daily attendance and 27% chronic absenteeism. One of the many initiatives designed to create awareness about the importance of our attendance is our arts for attendance contest. For the past five years, we've asked students and staff to create videos, visual art, and slogans that demonstrate why attendance is important. This year, the submissions from across our district received almost 600 votes from our community. And I'm proud to say the winners are here with us tonight. When

005I announce your name and school, please stand and come forward for a photo. The winner of the attendance visual poster, a student collaboration by Zanab Abdul Abdul Hassan, [applause] who's in the 11th grade, and Miriam Ba, who's a senior here at Weaver High School. >> [applause] >> You can see their beautiful creation on our screen. We have the picture. Another picture for [applause] the winner of the slogan contest is Jessica Casino, a school guidance guidance counselor at Weaver High School. The slogan is show up, show out, every day counts. >> [applause] [applause] >> And the winner of the video contest is Annie Fischer dinosaur magnet school [applause] >> and we'll play the video now. >> Hi guys, >> we're going to be talking ABOUT WHY IT'S IMPORTANT to come to school. >> Why I think

006it's important to come to school to graduate, to learn new things, to be successful enough to get a scholarship. I think it's important to come to school for your mental health and also to succeed. But um I think friends are just like a priority whether it's a pet in your class, a teacher, or just a student. I think it's important to come to school cuz that's how you learn new things and your brain gets bigger. >> I think it's important to come to school to develop a good academic performance and to learn responsibilities that will help you in life. >> And remember, success is based off attendance. The more you show up, the more successful you'll be. Bye, guys. [applause] >> All of these winning designs will be used for our 2026 and 2027 attendance

007campaign. Congratulations to all of the students for being leaders in their community and creatively spreading the important message about attendance. And a huge thank you to your teachers for encouraging and guiding them along the way. Let's please keep up the good work. Let's make some noise one more time for them. [applause] Let me do a group picture coming up. Thank you everybody. [applause] And we have we have two students the both the weaver students are going to speak. Um, I want to thank my family number one. Sorry. Thank you. I want to thank my family for being so supportive and my brother for driving me. Miss Giano, thank you so much for being so supportive everybody and my classmates of course the board of education here. Weaver Hartford. I want to thank everybody so so

008much for being so supportive of everyone. Thank you so much once again. [applause] Oh hello everyone. I am Marama Ba and I just wanted to like give out a short like just a short story of like how important attendance is and especially as a senior students I feel like it's very um important to look at the attendance of students. So as a student of Viva High School, I have noticed that some people comes to school but other people don't. But we know like everyone have their own reasons for not being able to make it. So I feel like sometimes just pushing the people, you know, trying to encourage them to come especially like all the town halls we have with like Mr. Hall and Miss Webly, Miss Griffith, and also our lovely teacher over there,

009Miss Williams. She's very supportive and she tried to make sure people are here in school on time and Mr. hall all the time. We'll be making town halls every 3 months just to talk about the importance of attendance and like getting weaver points or like going on field trips for perfect attendance, getting those certificates. It just encourages students to do more and more good, right? And especially like coming to Hartford as I know like it happens in like most of the United States, right? That they all have like school buses that takes them to school. me in my country when I just came it was kind of like you have to take yourself to school which was kind of challenging for other people because they wake up very early just to walk to their school.

010So I feel like it's very like amazing. It's a good opportunity to be able to have this amazing resources and you know to be able to be here and also make a change. So I thank the board of education and I thank my uncle for being very supportive helping me making it possible. Miss Webbley, Mr. Hall, Miss Williams, Miss Catiana of course, and also Miss Griffith. Thank you all and thank you Weaver. [applause] >> Okay. Weaver High School, any opportunity, I'm telling you. Um, thank you all. um thank the families for showing up um for their um students. Um we will now move on to public comment. Mr. Mills, >> I am not happy that I have to follow that. >> Um we as a board in collaboration with the superintendent and district leadership are

011committed to cultivating a culture of excellence at all levels of HPS. We thank you for taking the time to attend tonight's board meeting. We appreciate you coming out to learn more about Harford Public Schools and for sharing your thoughts and concerns. We have established a protocol to track and respond to concerns raised. We want you to know that we take your concerns seriously and to that end, staff will follow up within 48 hours if follow-up is required via the preferred method of contact the speaker has indicated on the signin sheets. We will follow this no contact method as followup for the time being, adhering to safety protocols. As a reminder, you have three minutes to speak. At the two-minute mark, the bell will ring, letting you know that you have one minute left. At the

012second bell, please wrap up your comments. Now, this will be read in Spanish. at the Harford. participants. Inad Our first speaker is Melissa Bakis. Good evening. Uh, my name is Melissa Bakis and I'm here tonight because of a situation in my child's first grade classroom at Capitol Preparatory Magnet School. Uh, my daughter has attended the school since preK3 and has had a wonderful experience until this year. Her teachers, including Miss Anderson this year, have been wonderful and helped her grow in amazing ways. Before this year, she had extreme love of school and dreaded the summertime where she was not able to attend. However, this is about the actions and events going on this year. This is not about a single bad day or a difficult transition. This is about a single student's concerning behavior and

013a sustained failure to provide a safe learning environment for six-year-old children. We were first made aware of serious issues in the classroom on July 23rd. At that time, parents were advised to talk to our children about kindness and forgiveness and to view what was happening as an adjustment issue. When I spoke to my daughter, she did not want to talk about it at all. That alone should have been a warning. By July 30th, we were informed of additional incidents still described as a climatization issues. That was when my daughter explained to me that the class was evacuating the room so frequently that they had a code word, pineapple. She asked me a question that no six-year-old should ever have to ask, "What do you do when there's a code pineapple and it's not safe in

014the classroom? And a code yellow when it's not safe in the hallway." As parents spoke with their children, a concerning pattern became clear. These incidents were not always random. They were repeated situations in which the same children were targeted, creating fear and anxiety, not just in the classroom as a whole, but in specific students who began who began to anticipate being singled out. That kind of environment erodess any sense of safety for children who are still learning how to feel secure in school. At the same time, my child began to change. She became withdrawn, increasingly anxious, clingy at home, and prone to emotional outbursts. This was not who she was before the school year. My husband and I met with Dr. Davern on August 1st. We were told there was a plan in place. We

015also agreed to additional support for our daughter, including her meeting with the school's social worker and us receiving regular updates. After one week, I received a phone call where I was made aware that there was now a pair professional in the classroom. Past that, those updates never came. My daughter did not receive the support we discussed until two months later when she finally did meet with the social worker October 6th. Her clearly expressed discomfort was dismissed with a phrase we had heard repeatedly, "There is a plan." We are now five months into the school year. There have been no updates from administration, and the behavior has escalated. On December 11th, the student in question became so uncontrollable that the teacher was knocked off balance, fell, and struck her head. My daughter and her classmates witnessed

016this because it was not safe to evacuate. These children watch their teacher get hurt while trying to protect them. My daughter now avoids talking about school when as she says I try not to look so I don't have to see what's going on. That's not resilience. That is trauma. The failure has resulted in 22 traumainformed children. The plan in place is not working. The classroom teacher has been put in an impossible position and the rest of the students are paying the price with their education and their mental health. When I met I told Dr. Davvern the parents would pro provide support whatever way was needed to create a safe learning environment. Instead of asking for help or advocating for additional resources, students were kept in or families were kept in the dark while children continue

017to experience violent disruptions. That's why I'm here. These children deserve safety. The staff deserve support and families deserve transparency. We're not asking for perfection. We're asking for safety and we are asking for it now. I'm also speaking tonight on behalf of Alvana Abodini who is not able to attend. Um she did have surgery yesterday. Um but she did ask that her concerns be added to the record. She states, "I am deeply concerned about my daughter's safety and emotional well-being at school. After witnessing a student suddenly erupt into yelling and violent behavior in her classroom, her sense of security was shaken. Since then, loud noises and raised voices have caused her physical pain, anxiety, and emotional withdrawal. She often zones out as a protective response. What was once her second home no longer feels safe, and

018she is now fearful of returning to school, not out of defiance, but out of self-preservation. She was told that this behavior was normal. And I want to be very clear, this is not normal. If this kind of behavior is not acceptable in my home, it should not be acceptable in what is meant to be my ch daughter's second home. The situation escalated further when the student pushed Miss Anderson, causing her to fall and hit her head. My daughter witnessed this incident and it has had a serious emotional impact on her. As documented in my daughter's record, she had previously been exposed to a similar behavior. Took me three years of focused work to help her recover from that experience. I cannot allow her now in first grade to be placed back into that same dark

019emotional space. No parent would want that for their child. For my daughter's safety and well-being, the situation must be addressed immediately. And if you cannot provide proper support, the student should be removed from the classroom. Thank you. [applause] >> Tama May. >> Good evening. My child well ch my children are in Capitol Prep. One is in Miss Anderson's class with witnessing all of these actions that we do not teach at home. We do not like them allow them to watch on TV. My kid should not be exposed to this. My further concern is it that that child can see and speak for themselves. I have another child in the school that is disabled. If that child can't tell me what's going on, where do we go from here? Is it okay to keep allowing these

020children to go through these things that they're not even exposed to in their own homes? Joseph Sokalovic. >> Hi, good evening members of the Harford Board of Education staff and residents. My name is Joseph Kavik. I live in Bridgeport, Connecticut. I was recently elected to my third term on the board, but I speak to you today with the experience of a board member, but not as a board member. I speak here today as a father of a Connecticut public school student, a taxpayer, an activist, and a proud member of the Bridgeport, Greater Bridgeport NAACP. Um, I sit where you sit and I understand the frustration of constantly having to worry about cuts and stretching a shrinking dollar to balance the everinccreasing budget. I know how it feels. I know how it Oh my gosh. Excuse

021me. I know how it I know how it feels when the community comes out in an uproar when the cuts you've been forced to make when it's far too late to have an impact. I understand Wow, I lost my whole speech. I'm sorry. >> Yeah, I understand the position we're put in. The position we're put in is unfortunate due to basically what amounts to underfunding by the state of Connecticut to our inner city schools. The schools have been underfunded in Bridgeport, Harford, New Haven, Waterberry for years and decades. We've got the ECS foundation formula which has not been adjusted for inflation since 2013. This has caused Hartford to lose $92 million in this fiscal year alone. And historically since 2013 to today, about $500 million. Rather than the state stepping up and fund funding our

022schools, Bridgeport like Harford is suffering state intervention. And I say suffering because they're talking adults and not with us. Every suggestion they have costs money and is meant to deflect from their responsibility of funding the formula. We inner cities, we may not have the power to flip the governor's budget, but we have the power to come together as a collective to pressure the governor with the upcoming election to fund our schools and to fix the formula. So, I'm seeking uh in I'm seeking all the board, all the inner cities, all the big cities, all the rural districts to come together around one message. Increase the foundation amount of the ECS formula by $2,000. This would give Harford about uh if I drop my notes, it's about $39 million, don't give or take, and it would

023cost about $400 million or less than 25% of this year's budget. this year's um increased um what you call it man surplus. Thank you very much. This year's surplus because less than 25%. There should never be a surplus or a rainy day fund when our children's education is suffering. Our children's s our children's future are drowning. It's raining now. We need that money spent now on our children today. So I ask everybody to come around that common mission message. Advocate like you haven't advocated before. Get out to your local community groups. Reach out to your parents. Let them know how dire the situation is and that they do have the power as a collective to reach out and make change. Thank you, [applause] >> Bobby Brown. >> Good evening, members of Harford Board of Education,

024staff and residents. Please excuse my voice. Uh my name is Bobby Brown and tonight I'm the president of the Greater Bridgeport NAACP standing in arms with NAACP members and President Corey Betts. Um I want to start by saying plainly I see you. I was a chair of the Bridgeport Board of Education and I've also served where you're sitting. I understand the position you're in. I understand what it means to try to do right by our children and feel like the work that you're doing is not enough. I understand the frustration of being forced to make cuts and having to carry the weight of decisions that were shaped long before you sitting in these seats. Bridgeport and Harford are walking the same path. Our cities are experiencing state interference and local school governance that distracts us

025from the real issues. Inequitable ECS formula that has not kept up with inflation and has failed our students for far too long. the foundation the foundation amount hasn't been adjusted since 2013 and that matters. Many of you know exactly what I'm talking about. Um it has been it hasn't been adjusted in in such a long time. Harford would be receiving 9 95.5 million more this school year alone. Nearly half a billion dollars lost over time. That's not a talking point. That's simple math. You know the math. So, I'm here to simply gather support. We're going across the state of Connecticut supporting board of educations and families and community leaders and activists to stand strong and firm when it comes to our students education, to urge action, to urge support, to urge our elected leaders to

026do what they have to do to make sure our students are not failing or left behind due to funding situations. We are not in a constraint. We have the power to do that. So, tonight I stand with Harford. I stand with all the districts across Connecticut to address what we're facing. We are simply concern we are especially concerning that the currently that there is no increase towards our ECS formula in the second year of this budget which is concerning. I'm asking Harford, your board of education, your residents and elected leaders to advocate to stand strong to partner with your local NAACP to community leaders and let's work out this. The NAACP was founded on the beliefs of equity. And equity must and should take place in education. Without education, the seats, the doctors, the lawyers,

027the teachers do not matter without our students being educated. We need education power and we need the support across the state. So Harford, we stand with you and we're rooting for you and let us know how we can support you. Thank you. [applause] Melissa Peton. >> Hi, good evening. Um, I'm here to speak about my son. He also goes to Capitol Prep, Mrs. Anderson's class. I'm also speaking for my son's father, as well. He couldn't be here tonight. Um, but we are just showing our concerns. Um, since July, there have been numerous issues with this one student. We met with the principal and the teacher due to behavior that my son was exhibiting um due to not listening. Um during this meeting it was discussed that he sees this other child hit, scream, yell, not

028get punished. So he acts out. Um this is not how he behaves at our house and this is not how we raise him. Um we are strict parents. He has consequences. He has rules in place at home and if he does not act well or way he behaves, he needs he's going to be punished. Um, we don't tolerate this behavior, but when our son sees this behavior in school with zero consequences, he thinks it's okay. The behavior that this child exhibits should should not affect the other 22 children in his classroom. This child has on four to five occasions come after my son, specifically hitting him in his private area, his back, and other body parts. On one of these occasions, they called the code purple or cold pineapple and were leaving the classroom. But

029this guy, this child got away from his parrot and hit my son directly in the chest. We as parents send our children to school for learning, social, and helping them become a productive member of society. My child no longer talks about how school goes because his words is the kid's always causing trouble. We as parents have waited long enough for something to be done and this is apparently not the right setting for this child since he is unable to control his behaviors, nor are the parent and the teacher able to control this child's behavior in a safer setting for themselves and our children. We are asking for this child to be removed from the school setting and in a setting that is more appropriate for this specific needs and for our children to finally feel

030safe in their school settings again and continue to thrive. Thank you, Michael DS. Good evening board members. My name is Michael DS. Um 74 Rosemont Street in Hartford. And um I just uh want to say that my absence uh was due to a uh my second uh uh corateed artery uh endardtomy. So now I have uh plenty of blood flowing to my brain. Um, and I also want to uh take this opportunity to uh congratulate the new member sworn in this evening and also the members that were uh recently elected on November 4th. And uh I had an opportunity to uh poll stand for one of the uh members, Shante Browy. Uh she was the only one that asked me and and the only one that had anything to pass out. So, um uh I

031stood for the park memorial and uh campaigned. Um and that's my very nature. Uh also like as president of the Harvard Federation of Substitute Teachers, I just want to state that our contract runs out in June. So, we're preparing uh for negotiations for another contract. And uh lastly, I want to say with the the new year coming and new members or newly elected reelected members of the board of education and um we should be uh thinking about again getting more money for the Harvard public schools. I stayed with the NAACP as a life member of the Greater Harvard branch and being on the uh being on the executive committee for many years on the greater Harvard branch that uh the money's available. I've mentioned this before, but we need vocational technical education, family consumer science,

032art, music, u library, afterchool activities, inschool activities, you know, things like band. Uh used to be all the high schools in the city of Hartford had a band. Now there are no bands, not even one, not even a consolidated band. And uh we're not doing anything uh to to uh improve that situation. The money's out there has to takes the political will and the political guts mainly the all the board could do is uh request but uh the council the city council I brought this up to the city council. I've also brought it up to the mayor and uh you have to have the political guts the political will to go after that money. There's money owed to the city by the state. The state should also take over the $30 million uh transportation costs.

033We should go after the corporations, a trillion dollars worth of corporations in this city that uh that that don't pay their fair share of the tax and uh they too many tax breaks. So that's that that maybe takes a lot of guts, but you got to face these people say, "Look, this is what we need. This is what you owe. Pay up." Thank you. >> [applause] >> Cheyenne Lambert. [clears throat] >> Good evening board members. Thank you to everyone else who all came out. H my name is Cheyenne and I am a pair professional at the sports and medical sciences academy. um spending every day in a special education classroom. I can tell you from experience that we are in crisis. Special education teacher shortages have limited our capacity, [clears throat] contributed to burnout, and

034kept students from getting the attention they deserve. Every day I show up because I love my students. But there are many times when I'm asked to take on responsibilities that are far beyond my role. And not because anyone is forcing me, but because I care deeply and I don't want my students to go without. Like many parents in Harford, I often feel stretched thin. Oh, sorry. We step in wherever we're needed, yet the compensation and support that we received doesn't often reflect the weight of what we carry. I'm told all the time that I should become a teacher. But how can I look my students in the eye and tell them that my love for them is not enough to overcome the lack of support, resources, and stability that educators face? I see my colleagues,

035parents, and teachers alike, experiencing burnout, juggling impossible workloads, and doing everything in their power to fill the gaps that are created by certain vacancies. Our administration does what they can, of course, but so much of this crisis is beyond their control. And we need systematics. We need systemic solutions, not temporary fixes. I'm asking that you commit to pursuing evidence-based solutions to the special education crisis, specifically focusing on financial incentives and administrative support that will reduce teacher vacancies and ensure that students receive the services that they need to thrive. This is this call for action is a continuation of the letter that I signed on to in June, which was later shared with Superintendent Dr. council and echoed at the November 18th board of education meeting. Thank you so much for listening and I just wanted

036to add one more thing. So, um just speaking of everything that I said before, uh at the specific school that I'm at now, I was at Milner before and I just enjoy being a PAR in general. Um but the support this year, the parent advocacy, it has gone down a lot. And being one parah having to deal with three to four students daily, it's not easy for me to take on the role of being student parah as well as like a classroom parah even though I love the students. I love my job and I appreciate everything that you guys have done so far and everything that you will do in the future. And just thank you to everybody that came and listened today and I hope you guys have a good night. Thank you so

037much. >> [applause] >> Edwin Vargas. >> Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today on this evening. My name is Edwin Vargas. I reside at 141 Douglas Street, Hartford, Connecticut. I want to congratulate the new board member. Uh, also I want to let you know for those of you that are new to the board, my wife Sylvia and I were lifelong educators. We worked 35 years for the Hartford Public Schools. Our kids went through the Hartford public schools and we still live in the city of Hartford, never left. We're community activists. We try to go to all the community events, support the community any way we can. And I'm here today to address an issue that is really uh something that is like an open wound for the people who live in the

038city of Hartford. And that's what's going on with Buckley High School. Now, I know it's supposed to open up in January, um which is already delay after delay after delay. Hopefully, it will open in January because I heard a rumor that they may be trying to postpone that till August and that would be a disaster. Now, I know that the city's capital improvements uh sometimes are not handled directly by the board of education. And I know you're in a situation where, like Mike DS from the Substitute Teachers Union said, you're in a position where you advocate more than decide on some of these issues when you're hampered by lack of funds or by decisions that have to be made by city government, not directly by the board of ed. But, you know, we had this

039building, Weaver High School, was delayed forever and the community was up in arms over that. And we should have learned from what happened here at Weaver High School. It shouldn't have been repeated at Buckley High School. And it seems that we failed to learn from the lessons of the past. I was listening to the parents talking about that poor kid who seems to be out of control. It's not getting this proper support that that kid needs. The teacher, Miss Anderson, who's thrown to the floor. I heard about this tonight. The other students that are traumatized traumatized by what's going on. We have to learn. This has been going on. It seems like I I was here 35 years. I served this community on the planning and zoning commission for 10 years as a leader with

040the plan of development with the iquilt project. I served in the state legislature. I was elected for six terms, retired to accept a professorship at CCSU, and I've been I've done everything I I think I can do as a city resident, participated in all the meetings, gone to city council meetings, talked to the mayor, and it seems like sometimes we fail to learn from the mistakes of the past. This issue of, you know, special needs kids, uh, it's a recurring issue. The issue with the Buckley High School, that should not happen. And these kids have lost out on athletics, like Mr. Down said, on the band, on having a swimming pool, on having a fieldhouse, on having the whole cultural social experience of of being members of clubs in their high school, their whole high

041school experience. This is a lifechanging event. This is not just for this moment. This will affect these kids the rest of their life that they missed out on their high school experience. I think it's unconscionable. I think it's a crime. I know you're limited on what you can do, but you can sure you can sure raise hell. I remember we had one superintendent when they were refusing to fund the schools, sat at the steps of city hall and refused to move until the city council moved on their budget. His name was Dr. Josiah Hey, and he stood on those stairs. the city council finally had to relent because he wouldn't move until the city responded to the needs of the Hartford Board of Education. So, if you have to go a little ballistic, then go

042a little ballistic. But whoever is negotiating these contracts should put benchmarks of when these completions for the different aspects of a of a project, a capital improvement project like this takes place with penalties for the contractors that fail to meet those deadlines. That's the only thing they understand when it hits them in the pocketbook. Thank you for your time and attention. [applause] >> Carol Gail. >> Good evening members of the board, superintendent of schools, and again, congratulations on the recent election and and the recent appointment to our new board of ed member. My name is Carol Gail. I'm the president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers. Dr. Townsel frequently shares his goal of bringing students back to Hartford as well as his desire to retain staff. The two are inextricably intertwined. Students need to feel

043they belong and are connected to a school and that connectedness comes from the people who work in the school. As a reflective practitioner, I recently asked myself, what made me stay in Hartford public schools for 35 years. Here's some of the factors that contributed to many productive, successful, and rewarding years that I enjoyed as an employee of Hartford Public Schools. I received excellent advice from human resources upon my hire as an elementary teacher that with six additional credits, I could cross-endorse in social studies. I receive a differential for being a Hartford resident. I receive weekly mentoring by a veteran teacher in my early years. I read my teacher contract early on and learned that my sick days could be saved and become a severance upon retirement, which encouraged my excellent attendance record. [snorts] After four

044years with Hartford Public Schools, I received a letter congratulating me on achieving tenure. For many years, I only had to administer one standardized test a year. My mistakes were always handled professionately, professionally, never punitively. I received numerous opportunities for meaningful professional learning outside of Hartford and of my choosing. I also was encouraged to advance my own education and receive tuition reimbursement for graduate credits. Two colleagues and I received the support of the board of education to open an innovative charter school in Hartford. I was reminded by human resources every time my teaching certificate was up for renewal. For the first half of my career, I worked a 6.5hour day. I was consulted on matters that affected my job. I was respected for my professional opinions. I was supported with regard to behavioral issues in my

045classroom. After 10 years with Hartford Public Schools, I received longevity payments recognizing my service and dedication. I was granted two voluntary transfers in my career so I could continue to grow professionally. My seniority prevented me from losing my position during budget cuts. I had leadership opportunities in every school I worked in. I enjoyed academic freedom throughout my career. When I needed a greater sense of urgency and voice as a veteran educator, I had a union to turn to. Less than onethird of these factors remain in place. The disappearance of the other factors are a part of the retention problem. Severance was lost in 1995, longevity in 1999, standardized testing ramped up in 2001. Our school day was lengthened in 2011. The state department of ed changed the requirements for professional learning in 2012 and in

0462017 management policies began to change within a culture of distrust. By 2020, teacher turnover was a worsening problem. I will be following up in an email to all the board of ed members and the superintendent with some of the ideas about how we could address what's been lost because it would be important to bring back the benefits that I've enjoyed so that others can give Hartford Public Schools over 30 years of their service. Thank you. [applause] >> And our last speaker is Rebecca Peebles. Thank you very much for your time and for hearing what I'm coming to share with the board. My apologies. I wanted to take the time to put together my thoughts as cohesively as some of my peers have done, but unfortunately being a parent of three children in the Hartford district

047and also a full-time working parent, I did not have that opportunity. So, I will probably be a little bit more long-winded than my uh peers here, but I came out to speak to you about the state of the special education program. Um, I've listened to the other testimony today, and I do feel for the students who are in Miss Anderson's class over at Capitol Prep. Um, I have three children, two of whom are in the Hartford Public School System. All three of my children have autism diagnosis. They have various levels of need. My middle child is a child who exhibits the behavioral issues that were discussed by these other parents. It was a little difficult for me as a parent to hear these other people saying the answer is just to exclude those children from

048the general education classroom because I know as a parent who has to deal with the other side of sped that isn't always the best solution to just take children and shove them into a box. Um, I came into the Hartford public school system knowing that my [clears throat] son needed support before I even enrolled him in Hartford public schools. I said, "Is this the right choice? Will you be able to support my child?" And I was told by the um, vice principal of the school, "Yes, absolutely. We have great supports in place. um we we typically don't put those into place with children when they come into preK, but you know, we we can support your child. So, halfway through his pre-K year, his first preK3 year, uh his teacher said, "Yeah, you should you

049should ask for a PPT." Um I put in for that PPT. Um he was they agreed that he had speech deficits. They said that they would test him for autism. That never happened. I paid for it over the summer. The next year he was completely devolving. They just looked to me for what to do. I said, "Well, what? I don't know what to do." So, I went through all of my resources. I have the ability to fund things. I was able to pay to bring in an ABA provider to provide him with ABA services because they told me, you know, even if we put a parah into his IEP, because he had an IEP, even if we put a parah into the IEP, we won't be able to fund. We we can't give him that

050because there are no paras in the district. So, I paid for private ABA as well as an assessment all of last year. For whatever reason, the district I we did IEES um thanks to me bringing on an advocate and at the end of going through the IEES they decided to discontinue my private paid service. They finally gave him a parah who is not trained who has never been a parah before. I don't understand why you would take away from somebody willing to use their private funds to be able to support their child when the district cannot support their child and take that away. I know that there are budget issues, but at this point, right, I'm I'm trying to deal within what is given to me. My son isn't exhibiting as much behavior anymore because

051he is more supported than he was. But I don't know that I can continue to stay in the Hartford public school system. I am actively considering lotterying to go outside of Hartford public schools because I don't have a solution. Every PPT feels like a fight. I just had my son's annual review this morning. I found out it was the annual review because I had to ask for a link for my advocate and it said annual review in the link that I was sent a couple days before. So I asked in advance, can I have the progress reports? Can you please give me your proposed changes to my son's IEP? One of his service providers gave a progress report. None of them gave changes proposed changes. And when I got into the meeting, do you know

052what his speech pathologist was proposing? Eliminating his speech services. I I don't have the answer. I know that this is very difficult solution, but I am in Hartford. I live in Hartford. I love Hartford. I want to be in this city. I want to help other families because other families don't have the resources to private pay for services the way that I did. But we need to do more by our students because that student was crying out for help who pushed over that teacher. My son was crying out for help. These children need to be supported with early intervention. Thank you very much for your time. I greatly appreciate the time you've given me. [applause] And that concludes public comment. Thank you. Um I'll go right into um the report of the chair. Um I've

053been to kind of too many um meetings to kind of remember them all. One that um stands out for me. I met with um um a group of of of parents. Um um me and another board member attended. Um we were asked many questions. It was a lot of interest about um the workings of um Harford public schools. They were excited um to be under the leadership of our new superintendent. They um like the um direction that we're going, but there was some concerns because many of the parents there um attend um the schools in which the construction is paused for. Um, but we um I think we did a great job just explaining um our process and how parents um can advocate for themselves and the appropriate um steps to take um to do

054that on behalf of their students. So that was a community meeting um that we were invited to. Um the next thing I'll say um is yesterday we had our Harvard school building committee um which um the superintendent representative him himself or his representative sits on that myself and board member um Stephen Wilson. Um in that um meeting um I did you know advocate as always um in regards to this pause construction um there were a public comment for the first time um in a long time. I don't think um the Harford School Building Committee does a good job in with the public comment because it used to be an in-person meeting. You could just walk up and say and now it's you got to enter a into a chat on YouTube and you got to

055have a YouTube account to do that or Facebook. Um it it we can do better there. Um which I advocated for but there were many parent comments. um almost all of them is Spanish um that they expressed their fears, hopes and frustrations um caused by the mayor's pause on school construction. So that again was um a topic um very fresh and in the minds of not only parents but people who support Harford, who live outside of Harford, who've raised their kids um and by many board members, too. So I wanted to lift um that real thing up. Um, the next thing is that 44 of our students will be participating in Central Connecticut Youth Empowerment Conference this Thursday at Central Connecticut State University. Um, two of our students that are up here with us. They're

056going to be two of the 44. Um, all of our 11 high schools will be represented at that conference. U, we are very excited. I think we'll be the most represented district there. Um so kudos to um all those who did hard work to get those 44 students signed up because it was a great lift. Um last but certainly not least, our very own superintendent, Dr. Andre Townsel is the presidentelect of the National Alliance of Black School Educators. And I think that is super duper um special. Um and he he may in his report get more into what the organization is about, but we are very proud and that is my report. Your report, Mr. Superintendent. >> Thank you. Um, I'd first like to introduce our superintendent student advisory council for 2025 2026. On December

0573rd, I had the opportunity to meet with each new and returning member of the Superintendent Student Advisory Council. The council, which is made up of 22 high school students, gathered to meet with district leaders, the Connecticut Brown and Black Student Union, the Connecticut Youth Summit Representative, and the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education representative to prepare for their year of service as student representatives. I'd like to congratulate our student council officers and representatives to the board of education. Uh, first we have president and board member, student representative Mccandre Wright from Buckley High School who's a senior. [applause] Our vice president and board member, student representative is Shanlay Claude for SMSA who's a junior. [applause] Our secretary and treasurer are both both from UHSSE University High. uh John Lee's Nunez who's a sophomore and Julia Barry.

058We can clap it up for them as well. [applause] >> Before I continue with my report, would our president and or vice president like to say anything? >> Hi, my name is Muandre Wright and as he said, I am a senior at Buckley. One major thing, we are going in that new building January 7th. >> [applause] >> So, our parent tours start on the 5th of January, led by students, of course, and we will have a pep rally beautifully done on the first day of school. So, we will be the first class to graduate from that new building, class of 2026. [applause] Hello, my name is Sean Lelay Claude and uh I'm from SMSA. My goal for the for for the thing for the for the student board is to make sure Harford is a

059better district than it was before because um I heard a lot of bad things about it and I've been raised in Harford and I grew up but I moved to New Brand because things happened but I always feel like I always feel like a part of Harford because I want to change that and I got a lot of many things happen here and I want to I want to empower empower the students. I want to make sure the students get their learning and education that they need for the future. That's my goal. [applause] >> Thank you very much. I'm very excited to have you guys on our team and we really look forward to working with you. Um, a little bit of student excellence at Monasuri Magnet at Annie Fiser. I'd like to share that

060on November 14th, Montasauri Magnet School at Andy Fischer celebrated both student individual gains and excellence for the 2024 SBAC and the fact that they are a Connecticut state category 2 school for the second year in the row. So, let's make some noise for them. like to give a huge congratulations to Ren Zulie Gifted and Talented Academy fifth grade student Samuel James on his appointment to the cabinet of the new Connecticut Kid Governor. Connecticut Kid Governor program helps fifth grade students learn about the three branches of state government, the role of the governor, and why elections are important and the history of voting in the United States and Connecticut. So, shout out to Samuel. That's him. [applause] >> It's important for everyone to know that the welcome center in the central office of Hartford Public School,

061we have relocated. We are no longer located on 280 Trumble Street. We are now on the fourth floor or the top floor of the new Buckley High School. So, we have already moved. We've blessed the building. We got the water running, got the heat on, and we're very excited to welcome our young people in January. So, I'd like to give a major shout out to our chief operations officer, um, him and his team, Miss Sher Davis, Goose Davis. I always say it backwards. Shout out to her and her team for making this all happen. The principal of Buckley High School and his team, everyone did a great job transitioning us over. So that new address, ladies and gentlemen, is 330 Weathersfield Avenue, Hartford, Connecticut. So 330 Weathersfield Avenue is where central office is located. It's

062where the welcome center is located and it's where the new Buckley High School is located. It's no longer Buckley North and Buckley South. They'd be right at the new building. Um, I want to give a shout out to the Hartford Co-op football team. The Hartford co-op team made it to the CIA Class L semifinals on December 8th verse new Canon after an exciting 63-28 win in the quarterfinals against the number 5th seed Abbott Tech and Immaculate on December 3rd. Sadly, we lost to New Canon High School on December 8th, but I do want to shout out our team for making it that far to the semifinals. Shout out to the players, the coaches from Hartford Public High School, Weaver High School, and Classical Magnet. It is important to say that we have some young people,

063some young student athletes that are doing some ex extraordinary things. For example, the starting quarterback for the co-op team was a freshman at Classical Mag, excuse me, Classical Magnet. Um, quarterback Kaden Kathleen Koy threw over 2,000 yards and 24 touchdowns. and our senior wide receiver had over 770 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. So, uh, don't be surprised if you don't see them on the all state allconerence list and possible some scholarship opportunities. So, clap it up for the coaches and those young student athletes. The last thing I'll share, ladies and gentlemen, as you know, um, it's time for uh, young people and their families to select schools in the upcoming year. And we're really encouraging our students, specifically our eighth graders looking to go into our high school system to strongly consider Hartford Public Schools.

064As you know, if you graduate from a Hartford public school, if you live in the city of Hartford, if you maintain a 3.0 gradepoint average and a 93% attendance rate, you are guaranteed up to a 100,000 scholarship in college. We do know that we have young people that go all across the community to find the best education system possible. But we do believe that we are building Hartford to its greater days today. So people are working hard in real time today to address all the issues and all the concerns from special education to pedigogy in the classroom to climate and culture. We're doing all of those things in real time. So I truly pray that our families consider Hartford Public Schools for their high school experience in this new year. I've learned that we have

065over nine roughly 9,000 families that live in the Hartford community that do not go to our Hartford public school. And we do understand that over time it is possible that trust has been lost. The goal is to earn that trust back to whereas we have families coming to board meetings speaking positively about the experiences once we address them. Do we have problems? Absolutely. In real time, we're working hard on it every single day and we are committed to that. um that scholarship opportunity is through the Hartford Promise. So with that, Chairwoman Brody, my bus is parked. >> Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. And I do want to first I did what I didn't um remember to put in my report is that our student senate the the students were trained by um a representative from um

066Cape Connecticut Association Boards of Education and I hear that there was um and then I saw an email um that he complimented what we do as a district in elevating the student voice cuz he does this all over the state and he said that we definitely stuck out um in our commitment to elevating the student voice. So, I wanted to say that was someone that um engaged with us um in our training of um our young leaders. And as a reminder, um all committee and workshop meeting are live streams as well as our viewable after the meeting. The YouTube links are saved in each meeting's agenda on board docs and I highly encourage the community to review the meetings and read the reports when possible. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact Christina

067Santiago, our board liaison at cantiagoschools.org. Now we're going to move into our agenda, our business agenda. So item 5.1 contract approval Hill for literacy. Um, the motion is that the Harford Board of Education authorizes the superintendent to execute a contract with Hill for Literacy Incorporated for the term outlined in the contract ending June 30th, 2026 at an amount not to exceed $114,720. Do I have a motion? >> So move. >> I'll second. and I will turn it over. I see some folks moving over. I'll turn it over to Dr. Al Saki. Um that's going to lead us in the discussion. >> Good evening, members of the board, board chair Brody, Superintendent Dr. Sansel, our new board members, and our students. Uh before we begin, I'd like to quickly review our mission, which is to provide

068every student with the learning and supports they need to succeed in school and life. Our vision is for all students to graduate prepared to transform the world. Last month, we had the opportunity to present to the teaching and learning committee. Tonight, I'm here with two of our partners from the Hill from for literacy, Jenna Gamble and Stephanie Gonzalez, as well as two members, um, Dr. Mario Kulo and Miss Amanda Kushner, our director and elementary director of elementary. and we get to talk about the contract and answer um the contract for the Hill for literacy and answer any questions you may have. At our last meeting, we highlighted how the work that cohort one schools um will be doing for the with the Hill for literacy aligns with our district's priorities and connects the contract we'll

069be presenting tonight. I'll now explain why we selected the Hill for literacy as our partner. The Hill for Literacy is the official Connecticut partner for the Connecticut Literacy Model, CTLM, which enabled us to access state funding for this partnership. The Hill has demonstrated proven results in districts like ours, including Bridgeport. The state is covering half the partnership cost allocating 119,250. We are requesting 114,720. The contract aligns closely with our strategic priorities. So when it comes to whole and healthy students, the Hills multi-ed systems and targeted intervention supports English language learners, students with disabilities, and economically disadvantaged students. Their approach is culturally responsive and evidence-based, promoting inclusive and welcoming classrooms. The Hill also fosters family partnerships through literacy sessions and at-ome resources. In terms of expansive learning and opportunity, the Hill helps teachers deliver a rigorous

070standards aligned instruction focusing on high quality researchbased practices. The partnership emphasizes data analysis tiered interventions and support for under served students to close achievement gaps and prepare students for advanced coursework. Regarding skilled and divi diverse teams, the hill provides robust ongoing professional development and imple implementation support building teacher and administrator capacity for literacy leadership through monthly meetings and differentiated learning. In terms of operational and managerial excellence, the hill strengthens datadriven decision-m through regular assessments and data reviews. Our partnership also leverages 119,250 in state funding. This is the first year of a multi-year initiative focusing on cohort one schools this year with cohort two schools joining next year. The work is a collaboration between the Connecticut State Department of Education, the Hill for literacy and Hartford public schools. CTLM aims to improve district-wide reading and instruction

071starting with 10 schools in 2526 and adding 13 more schools in 2627. And um I had shared the cohort one schools um at our last meeting but those are Burns, Capitol Prep, Environmental Science, Expeditionary Learning, Global, Canelli, Naylor, Parkville, Rosson, and Webster. Those are the cohort one schools. Work has begun with state funding, including meetings and professional learning for principles, teacher leaders, um and staff. We're requesting funding for implementation facilitators who will work with school teams to improve instruction at the building level. I now invite our Hill for literacy partners um Jenna and Stephanie to share some data and background on their work here and in other districts. >> Good evening. I'm Dr. Stephanie Gonzalez, director of state partnerships at Hill for Literacy. And to follow up Dr. Saki, I just want to underscore um

072the extensive partnership that the Connecticut literacy model encompasses. Uh the partnership includes stakeholders from uh the state legislature, the state department of education, university of Connecticut and the partnering organizations like literacy how um and us at Hill for literacy. And so we at at Hill for literacy are the direct uh support in the areas of the model that Dr. Saki mentioned, including leadership, assessment, tiered instruction, professional learning, and family engagement. All of which encompass what we call uh a comprehensive multi-tered system of support model. And so with that, I'd like to turn this over to Jenna Gample, who is the project lead. Good evening, everyone. Uh my name is Jenna Gample. I'm the lead facilitator with Hill for Literacy and as Dr. Saki and Dr. Gonzalez were sharing the work that we've started since this

073past August is focused around leadership and within leadership we are focusing on district literacy leadership team meetings, district administrator meetings, principal meetings and literacy leadings to make sure that we're really building a sustainable structure of support to support our literacy initiatives at this and this cohort one schools. Um, and for assessment, as Dr. Saki mentioned, we are working to build a consistent meeting structure to drive database decisionmaking. So, this includes five data meetings a year. We've already had two really successful data meetings in person with our kindergarten through third grade teachers. And this is where we assign an instructional focus for our students and progress monitoring plans. And then we're going to use that instructional focus and the data to form groups, analyze response to instruction, and most importantly action plan to support teachers in

074improving response to instruction for our students. And for professional learning, teachers have engaged in both asynchronous small groupoup lesson plan training as well as in-person professional learning. and participants and teachers alongside um prayer professionals and Tesaw teachers, principles are learning how to utilize what we call the foundational skills lesson plan during their literacy lab block, which is designed to connect and extend the whole group foundations instruction. Um in your agenda today, you'll see some examples in the beginning pages. is I don't know exact page numbers but in the beginning if you see some bar graphs you'll see some examples of the work that we have done in similar districts and the outcomes we've had. Um, so you'll see the graph. It says closing the gap on positive data outcomes. And you'll see a school-based example

075from a um Bridgeport Public School and a district example of how we were able to reduce the amount of students in that well below below range and increase the amount of students in the meeting benchmark range. So, that's really the goal is to increase the amount of students meeting those really critical foundational skills benchmarks. Um, and I'm happy to answer any questions about that as well as Dr. Gonzalez and the team um about questions you have about the partnership. >> And, uh, thank you Jenna and Stephanie. Um and just to talk a bit about the contract. Um the contract's objectives are to build sustainable internal supports by transferring expertise to school literacy leaders and teachers, provide individualized classroom support through a model observe feedback cycle and six visits at each of the 10 schools. Enhance

076datadriven instruction with systematic assessments and grade level meetings. Promote collaboration via district and school literacy leadership team meetings. Del the deliverables include 60 site visits, six per school, monthly principal and literacy leadings, five grade level data meeting cycles per year, similar to what um General was just explaining, asynchronous professional learning, assessment training and lesson plan support. We're requesting 114,720 from the alliance grants for the period of July 1st, 2025 to June 30th. Each of the 10 cohorts um each of the 10 schools in cohort one will receive six visits to school year model observe feedback coaching cycle foundational skills lesson plan implementation tier one instruction improvement professional learning which includes asynchronous um courses assessment training and instructional routines. We have monthly principal literacy lead and district leadership district literacy leadership meetings. Five data focused meetings

077annually to set instructional goals, form groups, analyze student data and create action plans for students. We're going to evaluate the success of the partnerships um by using Dibble's assessment the beginning, middle, and end of year and by monitoring curriculum implementation and leadership engagement. And uh we'll now open up for uh any questions. >> And I will just ground us in that um all of our contracts are presented in committee. They're vetted there. Questions are asked there, but of course board members may have questions um tonight. Any questions? Mr. Walker. >> Thank you, Chair. Um I I wanted to give um some comments accommodation. Uh Dr. Kurulo and uh Amanda Kushner uh did an outstanding job I think setting up uh the presentation and the proposition. Um they made it clear what the district's shortcomings were,

078why we needed the support. It's clear we don't have coaching capacity. Um, and the Yill I think was very well laid out. I certainly would lift up this kind of model presentation. This is kind of what we need. It makes us smarter, makes it easy to understand why we're doing this. Um, I also um want to congratulate um the Hill approach that has seen in the three-year cycle. um we not only kind of improve the reading level and we understand how you're doing it by using a dibble baseline uh but also you're going to build the capacity of the schools. So at the end of three years our schools will have the capacity to maintain and sustain this. So I just think this was really really really good work and I um I just want

079to give a thumbs up to what was presented to us. Um the one thing I would ask is those initial numbers that you presented um those are the baselines for our schools. So those are numbers that we we already baseline from our schools um already. Is that the understanding of the starting point for this? >> Now which um which number referring to >> um do you know which >> welline? >> Yes. Yes, that was our baseline data. >> Okay. because I say because you kind of showed here's projected growth we would have. I'm assuming that was our baseline. I just wanted to confirm that. That's the only thing that I wanted to confirm. Other than that, I think this was really really good work. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Tatum. Thank you, Madam

080Chair. Um, and thank you again for the presentation of the contract and the the way that this partnership strategically fits in with our improvements in literacy instruction in the elementary grades. Um I am someone who is always skeptical of some of these contracts with external organizations especially with regard to professional development because I tend to be someone who wants much more to um try to build from the ground up with the capacity that we have and uh lift up the teacher leaders that are in the district and um have have seen somewhat of a revolving door of consultants come in with their great ideas about how things will be improved. Um, and this feels like something a little bit different partly because of the work that has been done with our district staff to set

081up the structures that uh that this um support for staff will will be able to catch and and help help lift that up further. The last point that I would want to make is is that even though this I think I'm supportive of this partnership and that it will lead to good outcomes for our students, it's not an ideal situation that part of the rationale for this contract is that we had to cut so many coaching positions that would have provided for that support in house in in district. And so it's the the budget realities that we've had the past few years have made it so that we actually have less capacity for this work in the district. And um in some ways it is more efficient financially to uh partner with um an organization

082like this and and an initiative like this. not least of all because the state is willing to put up money for them for that to help um and uh to the point that we heard some in public comment. I think uh we'll be advocating for the state to uh continue to invest maybe in some other more structural ways uh to allow us to build that capacity uh and continue the good work with our own staff and people who are really, you know, embedded in our communities in a longer term way. Um, >> thank you. So, the motion on the floor is that the Hartford Board of Education authorizes the superintendent to execute a contract with Hill for Literacy Incorporated for the term outlined in the contract ending June 30th, 2026 at an amount not to

083exceed $114,720. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Nays abstensions. The eyes have it. The motion moves. >> Thank you. >> Item 5.2 two, contract approval um with timely motion that the Harford Board of Education authorizes superintendent to execute a contract with Timely for the term outlined in the contract ending June 30 of 2026 at an amount not to exceed $181,500. Do I have a motion? >> So move and I will turn it over to Dr. Condra Ratley. >> Good evening. As we prepare for the upcoming scheduling season, we are seeking to contract with Timely Schools to support our building level administrators and staff with the technical aspects of master scheduling, providing more time for their strategic considerations. This resource is intended to support schools with maximizing their resources in order

084to determine course requests and student schedule configurations. High school master scheduling is a complex process given the expanse of different types of courses, individualized student needs all among hundreds of students in any one given high school. comparing the student course requests in comparison to graduation requirements, individual student needs driven by IEPs or multilingual learner plans, postsecary plans, and the availability of staff given their certification areas present a massive undertaking for our high schools each year. This tool will not eliminate the need for school-based counselor expertise in advising students and families on their course selections, nor will it remove decisionmaking from administrators tasked with finalizing their scheduling matrices. It will cut down the time spent on solving scheduling conflicts and provide additional approaches for leaders to consider to use when determining what is best for their

085schools. Leaders will be able to spend more time engaging in our budget process staffing decisions with data to support their areas of need. This contract would be funded in part by the bar grants which is a grant that we received for innovative high schools and then in part by general funds which is denoted on the paperwork. In the Zoom room, we have several members of not only the Timely Schools team, but also some internal staff, including executive director of instruction, including members of our powers school team and accountability department, as well as a counselor if there are any questions. I'm joined tonight with Jennifer Torres, who is representing our finance team should there be any questions regarding that as well. Thank you. questions. Miss Dar Ledger, >> thank you so much and thank you for

086bringing forth this contract. Um, my question is with regards to the sensitivity of personal information, how is that protected? Yes. And I'd like to turn that over to the team that's on Zoom. We have timely as well as our accountability department that guards for that on our end. Uh Miss Abing Abby Olinger Quint. So if you would please um respond to vice chair Deriselle Ledger's question. >> Good evening everyone. Can you hear me? Okay. >> Yeah. Okay. Um, so as part of any contract that um ingests student data or uses student data, we would include a data sharing agreement that aligns with FURPO requirements or and Connecticut State Department of Education data privacy requirements for students, which would require the vendor to have to abide by certain regulations to protect our student information. Um, that

087is our typical practice. But if um the timely representatives have any other information that they would like to share about their specific data protocols, I would invite them to come off mute to do that. Thank you, Payman. >> Uh good evening everyone. I'm Payman Rahana. I'm the co-founder and CEO of Timely and I'm a former educator and superintendent from the state of New Jersey. Uh appreciate the opportunity to weigh in on this proposal. So I would just say uh fundamentally first and foremost we uh are very happy to agree upon the district standard data sharing agreement which is what we do across mo almost all of our partnerships and we work with districts small and large across the country which includes New York City Department of Education and districts like Dallas and Texas. Um in

088terms of our own practices, we're happy to share uh a detailed overview of our own internal practices. There's there's a two-page document which I can send to um to the district team which we've reviewed verbally but we uh take into account um you know encryption in terms of all personal information is encrypted in transit and at rest. Um access limitations, access credentials we take very seriously. you know ultimately we for whatever it's worth uh you know in terms of uh our our our exposure we are not a solution that use that is predicated on large language models which I can understand would be a concern that a lot of districts would have um we keep everything internal uh we use optimization technology so we don't have that exposure that a lot of other solutions do

089um and so you know uh happy to take any further questions but um again we are very happy to agree upon on uh the basic parameters the district would put into place uh for data practice uh data privacy and security. >> Thank you. Any other questions? >> Mr. Walker. >> Yeah, thank you, Chair. Um I I have a a request. Um the presentation um was good and I think the tool has merit. There were two things two things I didn't see and apologies for not um um sharing it earlier because we we made love the tool but there's still two things I I think is important. One I didn't see what our current state is to understand our baseline of what we're actually trying to improve on like how do we do this today. I

090think that needs a little bit better spelling at least for me to understand um it because a lot of this is riding on it's going to benefit and save us over something that we're currently doing. Um the second part is um the actual users um schedulers instructional staff the people who are actually going to execute it uh at least to this point I hadn't heard their voice very actively. So I would love to understand and hear them as this tool is either either they palleted it and just love to hear their embracing of this tool too because in essence they actually have to execute it for us to get all those savings. So those are two things that I would like to to to see u regardless to how we decide on the um product

091tonight. >> Dr. Rally. >> Yes. Understood. Um, primarily master schedulers will be using the tool of course with the support of counselors who will be advising and collecting all of the information from students and families regarding their course requests. In terms of uh the current state, this tool helps to advance the process. So, uh we do have a counselor that's on the call that could give a little more insight into what happens in the scheduling process as well as a member of our power school team, Mr. to Lindwall. What happens in the scheduling process once all of those courses are selected and you have all of the students I mean I'm sorry the teachers that are to be paired with then it's a matter of almost trying to fit a puzzle in terms of what

092students need and which teachers can provide them. This tool will help to configure what are some other options. So while I may sit and figure those things out through one lens, this tool would help advance that thinking in giving other options for the principles and school teams to utilize in order to determine how to leverage the tool to make sure that they are um efficiently using their staff. So again, it's it's the current state. It's actually folding into a process that will not change. We will still ask students to select courses. We will still advise students on courses and we still have to figure out how to make all of that fit in what's called a master schedule. What this tool will do is give those school teams double, triple the number of options in

093terms of leveraging all of that information that the team just mentioned in order for them to make some decisions about where they want to prioritize course selections and such. Um, Miss Spar or Mr. Lindwall, if you want to lean in more on that scheduling process and some of the challenges that often come with trying to help students or meet student need. But I think one of the challenges we really face is just the the time it takes to collect the data to analyze that data and then really trying to ensure that we have that uh full all the student demand that for each are going from those who are utilizing the tool. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Tatum. >> Thank you. Um, I know that some of the context for wanting the impetus to look

094for a tool like this is um, given that we're starting the budget cycle again and and anticipating another deficit, really looking at strategically and efficiently making decisions about staffing. Uh and I see, you know, some of the selling points that are listed in the contract from the vendor are um you know, 15 vacant teaching positions optimized through strategic relocation and uh uh in this this one district, this is reports from another district, not ours. Um but but examples uh of success of this tool. Um also uh 1.05 05 million in projected cost savings captured without layoffs. Could someone um speak to what that looks like? The reading the phrase optimize through strategic relocation sounds kind of like spin to me a little bit like like what is what is that actually going to feel like

095for the the principles or the master schedulers in the buildings when they use this tool? So, are they going to use this tool and it's going to tell them that they need to cut four positions whether they want to or not? Is that is that kind of what we're getting ourselves into? Like, someone help me uh come back from the cliff that that looks like it is. You know what I mean? >> I do. And the intent is no, not to go down that road at all. But each year a school is given a set amount of resources whether that be with the time that the schedule is to be built in the number of student course requests the staff and their certification areas and so what we are doing or we're helping the leaders

096to lean more into how can I efficiently use the resources that I have uh we were just speaking with the principal earlier today to just as an example Buckley High School we've talked about it before it's split in two different campuses he knows that as he combines them into one building. There may be opportunities to create some of those um spaces with their his staff that he can't do right now but can do in future given that they're all in one place. So instead of spending time trying to figure out the numbers, let the tool figure out the numbers, give him a slate of options to consider and then he can think about if I want to expand on this special course that I use that all of my children take, then how might I

097do that with the staff that I have. not at all making decisions for schools and not at all trying to point schools in a certain direction for their decision-making, but giving them options so that they can make decisions beyond what might come up. Just if I'm in my scheduling think tank with my team thinking through what the possibilities may be >> if if would it be okay if I just quickly added on to that to respond to the question? >> Go ahead. So, I just wanted to also share because you referenced the case study in your packet that was prepared by our team. A lot of our district partners, not all, but a lot of them have a priority of trying to identify inefficiencies in staffing within the master schedule to try and then uh

098realize budget savings that can lead to bottomline savings that you can then reinvest academic priorities. And so what does that mean? The case study that was referenced by the board member has to do with one of our partners, a district roughly the size of Hartford's uh district about 25,000 where across 14 middle and high schools. We ran an iterative process um as just described where by Dr. Bradley whereby we met weekly with someone on the academics team, someone from HR finance and the principal and assistant principal who was building the schedule. And throughout the process in the spring, Timely was used as independent arbiter of truth to help really think intentionally about average class size target, teacher target, and building a master schedule that fundamentally solves for students getting the course requests they need to

099graduate and be on a trajectory for college or career. Um, and so what they were able to do was they had vacancies during the course of the spring that they realized they actually didn't need to fill those positions because the master schedule was developed in a manner that would deliver on student needs and meet their average class size targets and meet their teacher load targets. And I felt this acutely when I was a superintendent when I would walk into some of our comprehensive high schools and I would walk by a class with six students and I'd walk by another class in the same hallway with 33 students. And so what timely allows you to do in the master schedule is just be really intentional about enabling your goals, enabling your academic priorities, your budget and

100staffing priorities. And so just to close that out, during the course of that weekly iterative process, the principal AP and central office teams agreed upon eliminating those vacant positions that led to really meaningful bottom line savings. And they did this without one changing the average class size target as the year before, without eliminating any course offerings or affecting student choice, and three without impacting any teachers because these are of course vacancies. And a number of our partners have been able to do that. And we think that's one of the benefits if that is a priority for the district in addition to the assistant principles and counselors getting a lot of time back to be able to focus uh on on all things instruction and supporting teachers. >> You have a followup, Mr. Taylor? >> Just

101a just a quick follow-up comment. I I appreciate the clarification in the process. Um and would just remind the staff, the administrative staff um that will be implementing this that there are um clearly like guide guidelines from the collective bargaining agreements related to um staffing reassignments and and um any of those transfers or changes that might happen. and would just encourage the mindful following of those alongside the use of a new tool if that does eventually um become a need and correct me if I'm wrongandria >> muandre >> yes I would like to speak on this as a student It is December. School started in August and my schedule is still not fixed. Um, hi Miss Spar. She's my counselor. [laughter] So, I have classes are still being added to my schedule in places of

102others. So, at the moment, I have senior privileges. So, I leave after my classes end, which is around 1. But coming the next semester, a new class will be added to my schedule because I don't have the classes that I need to pursue what I want to do in college. So I now have to do more classes on top of the classes that I have during the school day and I don't have a teacher for those classes. So I will be teaching myself for calculus actually. Yes. So I will be teaching myself calculus because there's not a teacher and I don't have the my schedule is not fixed. So there is no one there. Um I know my counselor is working on it. Administration is working on it. My graduation I don't know her title

103but my graduation counselor is also working on it. So there there's just that. So, if there is a tool that could help like ease that burden or like get me a schedule or any student get a schedule faster at the beginning of the year cuz I know other kids that have to now do more classes after well our schedule was supposed to be fixed in September, the second week of September and kids are still changing classes. So, if there is a way to put that all in a timely matter, that would be wonderful. Thank you. >> Thank you. I think that was a um a a nonvote but a vote at the same time. >> Miss Daryl So Ledger. >> Thank you so much. Um, Madam Chair, so the question that I have is, um,

104since it's this contract is not to exceed $181,500 being that this should we approve this, this would be the first time that we're doing this and we should we renew it, would it still be that amount or is like is there a setup or something or will it be less the following year? it it would be less moving forward because there's a 10% setup and installation fee built in given the work of onboarding uh in that first year and so it would come down >> and there's another piece to our strategy where we will leverage the experts that are in the building right now. We know that folks we have people at the counselor and administrator level who know how to schedule well. So we will leverage that throughout this process. Also with bar grant

105funding, although we won't receive more of that funding, there is still some that would carry over so that if there was a need and principles wanted or needed and all of that, then there would be an opportunity not to do it at scale to this amount, but definitely um if there was still a need and a desire to move forward. Okay, thank you. The motion on the floor is that the Harford Board of Education authorizes superintendent to execute a contract with Timely for the term outlined in the contract ending June 30th, 2026 at an amount not to exceed 181,500. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Nays. >> Um, one nay. >> Abstension. The eyes have it. The motion moves. And we're moving into our consent agenda. Item 6.2, acceptance of

106funds, adult education grant. CC grant. This is the annual acceptance of funds for the adult education provider grant for the program. We are also accepting the adult ed cooperating eligible entities grant. A pass through from the state for the vendors also chosen by the state. Literacy Volunteers of Greater Harford, Urban League of Greater Harford, and the Harford Public Library. Item 6.3, second reading and adoption, food services charging policy. This is a statemandated policy that districts must now have. Harford Public Schools has not charged families for breakfast, lunch for over 20 years. This is just now codifying into codifying it into policy. Item 6.4 second reading and adoption bylaw 9321.2 move consent agenda. This policy change would allow the board to have flexibility in moving the consent agenda. First item 6.5, second reading and adoption. Batch

107of policies reviewed and no changes. This is a batch of policies that have not been updated for approximately 20 years. District staff has reviewed and determined they are all still good and do not need updating. We will add a reviewed date at the bottom. 6.6 Six, first reading, employment reference checks. This is a policy recommended um in the CABE audit and already aligned with current HR practices requiring employment verification checks for all new hires. 6.7 first reading increasing educator diversity. This is from the public act 23-27 and requires compliance with CABE model policy. The plan itself was completed in 2024 and in place the policy is serving as a statement of compliance. 5.7 approval of minutes from November 18, 2025. Any question or comments on the consent agenda? Do I have a motion to vote

108on the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Nays. Abstension. The eyes have it. The motion has passed. Um the December 16th Harford Board of Education meeting is adjourned and thank you for joining us.