Board of Education Meeting

001please join me in um oh it's 7 o'clock thank you very much and please join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge of Al to the flag of the United States of America to the repic for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all so in terms of roll call W this feels very loud it might be because okay all right so Dustin and Kathy please give us feedback if we are um excruciatingly loud on your end uh so in terms of Ral call everybody is here this evening um it's nice to see everybody especially on this rainy night and we're going to move right to um public comment so um just a reminder for everybody uh the board welcomes input from the public I see we have a

002couple of new names here so for new participants and in keeping with our desire to conduct the board's business efficiently let me lay out the guidelines so persons who wish to speak um must sign up in the book prior uh to the meeting indicating the relevant agenda item or marking second public comment at the podium please give your name and street address each speaker will have three minutes um and we may actually brush up against this other Proviso uh with a maximum of 20 minutes allowed per topic we'll we'll see how that goes um because we have a lot to get through uh the chair will indicate if a speaker's commentary is out of order um we rely on your Civility and good intentions to make this process smooth informative and productive okay so the

003um first uh person for public comment is Melanie Korea speaking about uh the agenda and written correspondence hi my name is Melanie K I'm in nth grade at Brookfield High School do I have to say should be [Music] do I have to say the agenda part hi my name is Melanie Korea I'm in ninth grade at Brookfield High School I asked the board to add this agenda item to review my suspension and have it taken off I recorded a meeting because a student was saying a lot of bad words about me they also took photos of me on my cheer Instagram and put an eggplant emoji on my mouth and put it to their Snapchat story for lots of kids to see the students said they were proud of doing that at the meeting for

004grown-ups did not stop the bad language using at me for 45 minutes but I got suspended I because I think the school got caught at first they just gave me a warning but after after they told my dad and they got too worried but one rule but one rule instead of the suspension they gave me a suspension but they are doing it because my dad scks up for me and my sister when they treat me badly in school I want to know why they didn't listen to my dad in November and I want to know why the principles hate me I want to know what what the Board of Education Mak this stop I have copies of the pictures of the Snapchat stories if I can share with you I think I think this is

005out of order this is a student matter that's like not not our purview here this is um this this ni yeah thank thank you for um for bringing them in but this not a appropriate for us to look at these at this time uh next is Andy Korea to speak about agenda and written correspondence hi um Andy Kaa uh 45 West wh Road um I would also like to uh reate um Melanie's comments and ask that the board put a an agenda item on uh to review her suspension as well as a written correspondence I sent about a policy 13 uh 1312 complaint is fully within the board's jurisdiction to review um the what has been presented to you by melon and what has pres been presented to you guys over the course of the

006past since at least Thursday is your job to manage the one employee to ensure that they manage the rest of the employees thank you thank you um Mrs Rice to speak about the budget hi Denise rice 3 old Hemlock Road first I'd like to say to the public comment speaker that missed me last month I'm back I hope you're happy I would also like to say that I don't expect to be stopped as nobody was stopped during the public uh none of the public comment speakers from praising a board member by name last month so if you actually play fair you won't shut me down I would like to take this time again to ask the board to use their experti you have on the board to really go into the weeds and deep dive

007into the budget the money ultimately can get spent anyway as soon as it passes but please try to have it look as it's allocated in the right places which is to give direct instruction to the students as I've said and I've heard board members say more interventionalists and no more Administration is the way to start turning this around Joy You're A literacy interventionalist I can't begin to tell you the difference a liter literacy interventionalist has made in my son's reading this year it's been amazing I'm hoping the board listens to your words in the of on the importance of tears of intervention and puts money there it's a way to also curb special ed expenses but somebody has to listen Sarah you teach and from the reviews I see are an amazing man tutor the

008board should listen to you as well especially that this is another major area of weakness in the district your input can help us turn around the decline I know that it's difficult when you're a Target but please keep fighting an erron your input is invaluable we met when you were on the other side of the table you fell in love with my kids and fought harder for students and staff rights while fighting for your own now you're a part of a very difficult board and your words should be valued and and listen listen to which I don't really see happen a lot just know it's appreciated so I'm asking the Board of Ed to please take the time to listen to Sarah joy and Erin get into the weeds it is your job especially that

009our ter testing is terrible clearly the method that has been used is not working the Board needs to understand that you are what we have and your job is to make a better district from con from a constantly declining one and to the three of you thank you I appreciate everything you do on the board and you're trying to Enlighten others to better the district please don't stop the kids in the district need you thank you thank you Mrs Rice and just as a point of clarity uh to the folks watching at home it's really important that you know that the board does not um have a role in student Discipline matters that those go up through the appropriate channels through Administration and the superintendent um and uh more more on that in in a

010bit um Mrs Eric Kell did I get it right okay I have to I have to really practice I'll say it now Christine Eric hello 15b Richards Road I am back again on behalf of grab party just to remind you to think of us when you're setting the date in a couple of minutes um as much time in the building as possible for us is ideal if that means ending school earlier the week prior to the four 180 days I believe is Wednesday if we have Thursday Friday full days or if we go to the 21st and have a bunch of days the following week whatever gives us the most time in the building is what ultimately we're looking for so I hope you will keep that in consideration when you're voting later thank you

011thank you very much um Mr Grimes to speak on leadership evening Matt Grimes 11 Orchard Street here tonight as a taxpayer recovering Board of Education member and chairman and as a citizen contrary to the views of one political party that term has zero negative context first I have to thank three of our Board of Education members two of which are among the four that have been elected by the people two others sit on this board merely because they received a vote in one political Town committee and another field of vacancy to the three Board of Ed members who have been vilified by this board's officers and the Democrat Town committee leadership I'm here to say thank you when your colleagues rubber stamped you questioned when your colleagues blindly backed an Administration with zero accountability you

012stood on the side of students and taxpayers when your colleagues want the people to write the administration a blank check you stood tall and said enough is enough in 2002 I was part of a board of education when Brookfield went through what became known as the summer of the Meltdown among the many areas plaguing the community throughout the community was an ongoing crisis in confidence by the students parents and taxpayers in their elected Board of Education of which I served on and the school administrators that the Board of Education majority blindly supported with unlimited funds and unjustified confidence looking back I can say now that brookfield's endurance was tested tried and eventually we passed with flying colors today the issue is the direct responsibility of the board of education for this unprecedented mess which is

013leading us to another meltdown I fear I saw it in 2002 and I see it now we're told how wonderful the administration is we're told Brookfield schools need so much more money or we can't do our jobs they tell us we live in a school district of sacrifices not of opportunities those are views that I reject I believe that those who hold those views have no business leading this board or administering the school district the People speaking here tonight are here for different reasons but I think they're United in they resolv to do something about it we can't look at this Board of Ed and administration and say great job keep up the good work and let's have more of this no I believe that these three Board of Ed members have stood tall on

014the side of students and taxpayers and see the problems the community and the school district faces I believe they understand that the status quo is not acceptable before I close I'd like to quote the Declaration of Independence a leader quote whose character is defined by Every Act which may Define a Tiant is unfit to be the leader of a free people when the people of Brookfield have witnessed bords of tyranny thank you thank you Mr frell to speak on um board recognition hello um Jeremy frell 13 South Lake Shore Drive um I just want to speak on board recognition for the board's work um in Board of Education Month to say thank you very much for the work you guys are doing I hear a lot about how this board is getting nothing done or

015is constantly having arguments and clearly that's not true there is still stuff getting done there are votes being made there are policies being passed and I'm very aware that that is due to each and every single one of the board members here there is a huge difference between a board being in any level of chaos and being unable to function and I know its ability to function is based on every single member deciding that that is important and I'm very thankful that everybody has made that decision so I just want to take the entire board for what they are doing and for continuing to um to make sure that the students are receiving the things they need as well as fight the battles that people feel need to be fought thank you thank you very

016much Miss dhy Jillian dhy 49 hbr Road I also wanted to speak on board recognition I had no idea that it was Board of Ed appreciation month until I read the agenda today so I too would like to recognize the fact that all of you are elected to serve you're all volunteers you all do a great deal of work thinking about what is best for our students and our school district I'd like it if you could come together and do that a little bit more peacefully sometimes but that doesn't always happen um but I have a great deal resp of respect for the work that everyone does and I just hope that you can all come together and keep doing it thank you thank you very much um next is Mrs CES um Mrs C

017I'm having trouble reading the uh agenda item it's are these about board minutes yeah okay great thank you good evening Deborah C Brookfield resident Mrs C could you just indicate your street name um number please um for my own personal protection I wish to not do that I am a Brookfield resident I wrote it in the minutes of the agenda and just so you know that was actually what I wanted to speak on but um also I put two time by my name meaning that I wanted to speak at um public comment for the agenda and then at the end thanks for clarifying thank you um what I wanted to discuss tonight in regard to the meetings was I had noticed that come the end of November into December the meeting minutes have completely changed

018in regard to correspondence and comment I don't remember if a vote went out on that or there was any discussion on that but it concerns me because on the meting meting minutes as of last week especially I noticed that um after public comment people's names and their private home addresses were noted in the minutes I don't think that that pertains at all to what needs to be in meeting minutes and it's private residences and I think that needs to be taken out um also I noticed when it comes to um where are we for corresp written correspondence the nature of the corres respondence what's what the correspondence about has been changed as well it's only like one or two how many times a person wrode in it's really not in tune with um transparency so

019I'd like that changed as well um I especially would like uh you know if the board can make a motion tonight to take out um the need for private uh residents addresses when they come to address the board especially since this is live streamed so if I'm here I'm not there um so that concerns me I'm sure you wouldn't like it if I made my own meeting a you know minutes and put it on and and noted your um home address um in that as well I do notice that you have Brookfield high school media center when it comes to um your meeting minutes but you don't have the actual address of that yet you put in ours so it's really important to me that that gets changed thank you thank you and and we'll

020look into that um right away you bring up really good points there um Mrs Orban can you do this thank you sorry speak about leadership I apologize sure um Laura Orban 95 Stony Hill Road so I have been coming to Board of Ed meetings for 14 years um this has been my choice of Engagement um when my kids were entering the schools um you know learning about who's on the boards how different boards in our towns work um trying to educate other parents on how they can get involved the budget process and I just need to say that I've learned a lot in this process and um the three members of the board who have S stood so strongly in the face of um the adversaries on the board the thing you needed to do

021for the students you're standing for was make a motion even I have learned that in the past 14 years and so if you were standing up for those students you would have made a motion to include what you wanted in the budget and you didn't so that wasn't part of what I was planning to say but I just think it's worth making that point again what I was here to say was that my kids have had a great educational experience um and I'm very grateful for the teachers um the administrators um the par professionals and everyone who has made that possible but that's not what most people come here to talk about and that's understandable um the comments are not reflective of the educational experience collectively in Brookfield and I think that that's that's reasonable

022but I also think that it's important and we have other tools and we need other tools to collect the feedback from the general Community here um I think that it's important to recognize that while most parents I think do have a great experience because the ones that come here are coming here with a voice and a concern there is also an organized effort to Target school boards m Orban is this about leadership it is about leadership um yes because that is to um that effort is to take over school boards and change the leadership of school boards and my request of this board is not to take that bait and let it divide um this board because I think that the tone of this Board needs to be one of cohesion and one where um

023you're not being divided by those issues so that the voices of parents who do have legitimate issues are not drowned out so thank you for your service thank you to the administrators and the teachers of this community for the experience that we've had and I hope that um you can continue to serve future students the way that mine have been served thank you very much um Mr Zimmer to speak on actually Mr Zimmer yours is about climate yeah which is second public comment I believe okay so I'll come back later yes yes um Mr K to speak about executive session Chris kti 28 flax Hill Road I would like to thank the members of the board who have put students teachers and our schools first you know who you are those that continue to undermind

024the schools and the teachers hopefully tonight's executive session will bring an end to the damage that continues to happen and the Damage that you are causing with the Bea when you enter executive session tonight make sure you carefully consider the messages you are sending your last message was not well received by the Bea our students our teachers our community deserve better thank you thank you um I think uh Mr Keller you are next to speak on leadership Tom Keller through newb Ro just want to speak briefly about the actions of the Board of Ed recently seems to me from watching the meetings that we have three members that are looking off for the needs of the students and the teachers why four others are just there to assist the administration with let no care about

025the needs of the students or the teachers then of course we have the union President coming in for the assist for the administration making it seem like the opposite is happening ask yourselves which three want the budget to have more Frontline employees who are actually helping the student student population versus the four that want to make the administrative job easier which doesn't help the students at all each year the school system asks for more money which they usually get all while the testing and proficiency continue to drop there seems to be a reverse relationship between money spent and proficiency does that mean if we drop the budget the proficiency will increase because we can all see it's not working by giving more money if anyone read the February 24th article in the news Times about

026the proposed increase in positions in Rich the additions were about 90% Frontline employees rather than administrators it's no wonder they kick our derri a when it comes to education they hired people to help the students rather than more to manage it seems to me at least that the Board of Ed leadership would rather attack members that are looking to help the students and the teachers than do the right thing and try as a team to make our education better so many spoke last meeting about breaking the rules by some issuing an answer to a press inquiry while the same people complaining about breaking the rules when the chairperson admitted once again in the last meeting about breaking the rules by un unilaterally making the decision to do away with the second public comment only to

027add it back after getting the thoughts of the entire board which she should have done in the beginning if she had been properly corrected after her unilateral decision not to broadcast a meeting in the past maybe she would understand she is not the entire board and unilateral decisions are beyond the official duties of the chairperson person from the bylaws dated 10:30 24 it makes it very difficult to take the chairperson seriously about breaking the rules when she does it herself we need to support the three members who are looking out for the students and teachers rather than demonize them as this board has been doing and also in regards to Melanie talking earlier the fact that you won't do something that the administration's been ignoring it it's kind of upsetting it had me flash back

028to when I was in high school more than 40 years ago and I had an administrator attacking me for things my my father said you know the the administration should be taking care of this and not ignoring it it's just it's ridiculous I went through it in high school so I know exactly how she feels thank you thank you Mr Keller um and now Mr Korea for a second public comment my bad I'm I've I've gone I've gone rote um okay so uh I think it's I think it's important before we move on um to to thank the people who have come out to share their thoughts here in person on a rainy night um that's it takes extra effort to do that um the board has the board um has seen uh evidence evence

029that there have been a lot of other ways that people have reached out to the administration over the past um couple weeks since our last meeting and um some of that communication um was vitriolic and just respectful um and I think it's safe to say it would violate Norms here um so I appreciate the fact that people didn't bring that language or accusations to public comment um but it's really important for our teachers and for our administrators to know that the that the board does not condone that kind of tone or language um we don't view it as effective or productive or frankly very mature and um I just want to give a shout out to our um our building leaders and our administrators for comporting themselves with dignity and professionalism so with that um

030Dr bril the floor is yours so um echoing the com some comments from public comment want to thank the board it's March it is board appreciation so month so everybody knows that want to thank the board for the continued volunteerism and extreme hard work um I think uh Stephanie you mentioned the policy committee has adopted somewhere near 50 policies already this year so I mean I'm thinking of the policy committee right now and the work that's G on and all the other work that's happened uh this year incredible eff effort thank you for the continued support um and uh I continue to wish you well thank you okay now we move to one of the highlights of every meeting which is a report from Melissa Baines hello everyone um so per usual starting off with

031Athletics uh congratulations to Varsity Cheer Dance and Gymnastics for placing top five in their individual State competitions um for their respective divisions Samantha Joel Pena Addison Crist Charlotte aacea Matt Trey Trey Parker and myself um were all named All State athletes um in our respective Sports and once than once again um congratulations to all the winter sports and athletes uh in partnership with Unified sports uh the penguin Pudge at Candlewood Lake will be hosted on Saturday March 22nd at 11:30 a.m. registration is an hour before um student government is still currently working on planning their spring p rally um which is March Madness themed they hosted a Batman tournament last week uh this week they're working on cornhole um so we're just very excited to see how this is going to play out um and

032then tickets for junior prom are also on sale in my school books uh last Tuesday National Honor Society hosted a blood drive during school for students and staff to participate in um we collected 30 pints of blood which calculates to 90 local Liv saved um on Monday during ilt seniors watched a video created by Save a Life tour um which is basically a program dedicated to helping with distracted driving amongst um high schoolers uh and then we attended a session yesterday with um virtual simulators um so students can firsthand have that experience on how dangerous distracting driving truly is uh the drama club has been working tirelessly day and night on their spring Musical Chicago um that they debut next weekend Thursday through Sunday um tickets are on sale online and will be sold at

033the door and then lastly Leo Club is still running their fundraiser collecting and distributing shoes um there's still boxes at the front of main office and might I say ours is pretty full which is great thank you awesome thanks so much did you guys have any questions I did Melissa can you repeat the date of the penguin flood yeah it's um March 22nd at 11:30 a.m. the down okay great thanks so much have a great night all right so um Stephanie when you're ready we'll move to written correspondence the following people have emailed the board of EDS since our last meeting on February 19th Tom Keller Irene Korea Andy Korea 15 emails Mark B okay let's move to um the next item um approval of board minutes I approve that the board sorry I move

034that the board approve the minutes listed recommended regular meeting from 21925 special meeting from 22025 I'll second the motion um but I would also actually like to am the motion to the home addresses of people providing comment yeah it's up do I can I second I second okay so um so now we have a wow okay mine is cautiously on okay um so uh the motion that we have well let's let's talk about the amendment first yes okay um so the amendment is to uh remove the um home addresses from people I see nodding around um is there discussion about this I just don't I just noticed that it changed when did that change and is there a reason why it was changed because I mean it may have been when I you know there

035was um did it happen last week when I wasn't here or was it just changed it just I don't remember discuss um it happened back in I want to say December um we aligned our minutes with the board SEL minutes because we had had multiple meetings at that point where we were disting what public comment was about so we decided to take off the um comment or the subject of the public comment because as it changed as people got up there it changed and so we just decided to align the minutes with the board of selected UNS and so that's how deal was them so that's yeah I think if we're going to align with the board of Selectmen they upload the actual correspondence so if we're going to go all in maybe that's what

036we should doac but but if we're following minutes I just don't understand why this wasn't a board discussion it just doesn't make sense to me if we're going to change something we're all here I think it really should have been a conversation that's totally a reasonable Point um I I don't think that we need to um follow into to lock step with the way that the board of selectman operates we have different I mean obviously we're protecting children's information um but I think uh it's it is reasonable that we would remove the addresses um Erin I mean sorry Sarah you wanted to say something I was just asking um Stephanie was saying we I was just wondering who the wi was that made that decision so since the motion's on the floor and uh let's

037vote let's vote on the amendment um so all in favor um of the adding the amendment um to the motion to remove uh addresses um of uh meeting minutes um please say I I I any opposed any extensions okay so it passes 70 we are unanimous okay so then the motion on the floor is to approve the minutes listed below as recommended oh as amended thank you okay it has been and it has been seconded are we we good to vote or did you guys want to discuss so there's just one thing um the executive session I think we have to note in there that talking about the last yeah the executive session 10:9 or a time when you exited when the chair exited that was 109 it it just doesn't say that so I

038would I would say where it says the chair informed the officer the chair exited the executive session I thought that was in there and informed I could have sworn that was in there no it says 10 it says 109 the executive session for recess yeah yeah I remember Stephanie saying out loud for opening the door 10:9 when stepping out she said it out loud she does every single time it was the chair exited or paused for recess and the chair exited the session twice she didn't exit so offic the officer knocked on the door and she went to the door and then she sat down and then at that point we had told her to go inform the officer of protocol right and then she left so I can add that she sat down and

039then left that's fine how what do you wanted to say so executive session paused for a recess and the security officer knocked on the door to inform the board chair that a member of the public was still in the building and that he requested that the person leave the chair exited executive session we were recessed though so she didn't exit executive session she just exited the room that's why I didn't feel like it was important to indicate that what time did we exit it 10:09 10:09 is when the officer knocked on the door and I picked up my phone and and or we had had the discussion at that moment that how did we handle that cuz we' never had that happen before and we needed to recess so I read out loud recessing at

04010:09 because the resource officer or the officer on duty knocked on the door to talk to the chair right and then we then we reconvened um as you know it took a few minutes for me to track him down and for us to talk and then we reconvened um at 1012 yeah I mean Wendy Wendy sat the door closed right Wendy sat back down and got back up we had not in that time it was we were still talking about how do we recess what are we like telling the the officer he has to tell the person they can stay so all of that was during the recess but if you'd like to describe how the recess looked a little more no all I'm saying is I it's it seems important to say that she

041exited it but she didn't exit executive session she just exited the room so I can say the chair left the room to inform the offic sure is that what you want me to say yeah sure that's what I said originally okay cool y so um is it cleaner to just U move to amend now and then we can approve yeah so I'll just I'll say it cleanly unless Joy you want to so well I don't you want me to reread the whole thing no just make a motion theair left I'll make a motion to amend the section 109 to add the chair left the room to inform the officer second any discussion on that um all in favor I um any oppose okay well n okay any abstentions so it passes um six the amendment

042passes 61 with um Sarah voting n and um so it is so these minutes have been amended all right with that we have a motion on the floor to to approve the um meeting minutes as amended and it has been seconded Is there further discussion on this okay are we ready to vote y all right um all in favor of approving the minutes um please say I I I any opposed okay so um that passes an i for me too so that passes 61 with Sarah um voting no all right great so now we move to the uh superintendent update all right thank you good evening everyone I'll be very brief tonight um given uh we have a presentation this evening under teaching and learning uh want to let everybody know that we conducted our

043learning walks uh with some Administration and some teachers um at the various schools uh in regard to the portrait of the learner which you'll hear about later in the presentation uh in the meeting from Dr man's presentation on February 4th and 5th we were at the high school for learning walks February 26th and 27th at skir and um earlier in the month on February 11th and 19th we're at C CES so just want to let everybody know that and at our next meeting two weeks from now Mr uh Roland will give his uh update presentation on the status of the department strategic plan for special education a lot of uh a lot of good people working very hard on that under business and operations just to let everybody know uh we still are looking at

044the last day of school being on Monday June 16th which would be the8 82nd day as a reminder statutory requirement in Connecticut is that students have 180 school days um and we have 182 and that ends us right now on Monday June 16th I'm sure there'll be conversation later when we talk about the graduation date and um we did have only one cancellation of school this year it was on February 26th and it looks like we're going to be in the 50° range all the way through next week so that's a good sign for us although losing power early wasn't a good sign um I would like to turn it over to miss diot for just a second she's going to talk a little bit about something I shared with everybody in the weekend update

045on Friday and also was discussed at the facility committee meeting I think it's important for the full board to know and the community to hear sure um thank you um so just is really just informational at this point um there's not a ton to share but I do want the board and and the community to to know that um we are we did start looking at um all the requirements for uh submitting applications for non priority projects non priority capital projects um to the state for Grant reimbursements on a lot of those projects so non priority projects are things such as roof Replacements boilers um oil tank Replacements window repl you know all those sort they're capital projects they're you know not an maintenance item per se but um they're non- priority um these Grants

046open up every month the first 10 days of the month um at the um with the state and so that's something that we're looking into um it will require um three resolutions that the town will have to pass in order to initiate the application process to form the or you know assign the building committee um as part of these projects um and then um authorize the schematic drawings for all these projects we have to do educational specifications for every project so there's a lot of um of detail that goes into it but um certainly um it's worthwhile to get um reimbursement the reimbursement rate I'm not exactly sure what that would be um they it depends you know they it's based on the uh the wealth of the Town essentially um so but I just

047wanted you all to be aware that that is something that we're moving forward with and so you'll be hearing more about it um certainly through the facilities committee meeting um as these projects get underway is this something that could come to fruition in the spring or does it typically have like a longer turnaround time like are we talking um you know like May referendum kind of thing yeah so um there it's not not necessarily for May referenda I mean we have to we have to be able we have to have the projects we have to put in on all the applications all the cost estimates all of these um the Ed specs all these things but um yeah for each project as they um as they come up and they they're prioritized and on when

048we're addressing them um this is something that will be um part of every project that we that we put forward that that's applicable to the non priority list and when Casey mentions the oh I'm sorry no no and just I want to be clear when Casey mentioned building committee sometimes people equate that to the facilities committee the building committee that she mentions is the standing NBC Municipal Building committee here in town right and do we I just have a question do we have like the manpower to do what needs to be done for the grants is there anything we can help question we've been having that discussion with Mr Dunn and and Miss Maran about that yeah that that that is a very good question there is um it is quite cumbersome there's a um

049a lot of things that have to be compiled um I will let you know as um I'm I'm right at the tip of the iceberg of sort of you know getting my hands into all of this um I think there's probably um I think you have to get through the first couple in order to sort of find the the routine of it all and I I I think we will get there for sure I will probably be reaching out for support keep us posted if you need help absolutely no I appreciate that thank really really appreciate that thank you all right thanks k and then the last thing under School climate and engagement just to let everybody know the next speaks meeting is next week on March 13th make sure we're ready on on schedule

050and um our big big uh topics of discussion are followup on how cell phone Protocols are going feedback from parents and students and administration uh faculty if they're able to attend and also budget engagement exercises and kind of budget flyer and communication and those kinds of things um by the way we did send out a budget blast uh just yesterday on the board of uh Finance meeting presentation that was put out there so we have uh the board's adopted budget presentation posted for everyone on Facebook as well um the state of the district um working on developing the state of the district for you know it's I think in our third or fourth year now of putting that together toward the end of the school year looking to publish the week of March 24th or

051April 7th just a heads up on that and then the Brookfield care survey was conducted uh last Monday at whiskin for our eighth grade students and for all all students um who wanted to participate at Brookfield school um and uh 9 through 12 and uh I I believe there was no significant incidents or concerns and it it went through quite smoothly that's all I have time any questions for Dr gr thank you okay great so let's move then to subcommittee reports um starting with policy okay you will see several policies on the consent agenda tonight for first read they are all shipment and Goodwin required policies and we are recommending we adopt them as written so you don't have one of those fancy charts I've been doing because they're um pretty straightforward um in addition

052to the policies from the February 19th meeting please send me all of your feedback by the end of next week so I can compile it and the policy committee can go through it all before the April meeting I did get some um based on the February 19th meeting if you haven't done that yet you still have some time because the way our meetings fell this time we've been trying to um space the policies out on the agendas but it just so happened the way these last few meetings fell they're all going to be on the April agenda um so yeah if you could get those to me since we don't meet before we meet on the night of the next Board of Ed meeting and so we will have um all 17 of those policies

053from the 19th and from tonight on the April 9th agenda for a final read um committee will spend the next regular meeting which is um March whatever our next meeting 19th thank you I didn't put that on here for some reason uh our next regular meeting on March 19th discussing and reviewing the fundraising policy um the shipment and Goodwin policy that has been put forward and how it would change and affect our current policies some which are very outdated and then we will have a special meeting which will be virtual scheduled for March 28th and we will spend that meeting going through all the policies to recommend um everything that is currently pending for a a first read we will we will go through all of those to recommend those on the April agenda for

054a final read and as always if you have any questions or there's anything confusing or you're not sure about anything please feel free to reach out I just have a question since I was remote oh yeah yeah and I didn't have access to print anything where I was so um I just want to know uh policy 93 25 was given in the packet and that's what you're looking for feedback on it was just that policy in particular I was trying to find out um because I have some questions on that one in particular 9325 yeah that's the the um meeting conduct one it's really the shipment version Oh that's on the previous agenda nope that's or on the previous meeting I'm totally on the wrong policy I just had that one that one is but

055it's it's still out for a first read yep that's not even the policy it's um it's that big poliy the the the furpa one the are you talking about the cave um climate 622 one it's invasive 61 6251 so that one is what you're looking for feedback on yeah that's that's one of the first read I just wanted to make sure I didn't print anything from yeah I can make I can get you all those if you need them do have get it online it just poor Lisa today was trying to help me just trying to figure out what was presented at board meeting yes that one is on for a first first read from tonight so we'll go through all those through okay and then I also noticed can we put on the policy

056meeting um the next one we have we have two policies in the Thousand series that need updates and they're the only ones everything else in that series um is current um or has been reviewed so it was just two that we kind of bypassed so if we could put those on just so that whole thousand series is done and reviewed it may not need any changes I just um yeah I can look at how they would fit into what weema very short policies but I think we should at least look at them and sign off if we can it'd be nice to have a complete series a complete series yeah exactly sure and if I may on board appreciation month just to again looking at the folks from policy committee across the me and over

057here Stephanie I had asked Stephanie today if she knew as I was putting together kind of the summation of some of the Great accomplishments that have gone on this year um over I think over 220 policies maybe more yeah between the three of us read over this year since since August so uh Kudos thank you incredible effort okay and so um healthy school start times thank you Jo thank you Joy for chearing that for me I was not just got back into town so uh we met on uh virtually on Monday February 24th um we pretty much were talking about um old business um continuing to talk about um busing um possible cost savings if we went from two to three tier if there is a savings how much lead time um we also discussed

058um at length with um Dr BR and Steve I don't think Mark was on Mark didn't make it was Mr B that they have gone through every scenario at the high school to see if they can change dismissals like kids leaving early for sports if the buses could come later um if they could change athletic events and could they change ilt they've looked at every scenario to try and make this better and there is nothing that they can do with the schedule um to make the dismissals not happen as often um so um I think that I thank all you guys for at least going through every possible scenario or every option um it just doesn't seem like there's anything there um we discussed um you know where to go from here we're kind of

059at a roadblock um you know the high school kids are missing school and I think that we just I don't know if we put it on an agenda item and talk about it and see where we're at I'll let Dr just I want to add one thing so on the on the back end of the day it was very challenging and we really Mark Steve and I met and went through the grid that uh Steve and and his uh assistant Mary negri keep for the various seasons look look through all that so that was very challenging and we didn't have a lot of answers for that and that was unfortunate because I wanted to have kind of an executive nobody leaves um you know before this time kind of a thing and we couldn't get

060there because of traffic congestion with all the buses that we brought an Athletics bus in uh all the various situations given our two-tier scenario in the time we're dismissing right now the good thing is and maybe Casey could lean into this a little bit is she's worked with Allstar the concerns that you really brought up Aon about and and joy had some specific um anecdotes about buses coming earlier than you would anticipate for the later sleeping and later start time and then dropping off earlier Etc so maybe you could talk to that Casey about some of the things that Allstar said we can start to adjust and maybe almost immediately start to work yeah so it had to do with with the um the timing the time change um starttime change of school whereas um

061previously when when the when the high school started [Music] at um uh okay when school okay okay buses when uh when when school started at 7:15 um uh buses were not able to drop off students prior to 7 o' so there was just a 15minute window of time for drop off now with school starting at 8:00 um buses are dropping off as early as 7:30 so possibly possibly possibly by a few minutes but this is this is what um what I was told that that it's there's there's a much bigger window of when students are being dropped off um and so and so that can be that can be tightened we can we can say students can't be dropped off before 7:45 and they'll have to you know to squeeze that um there is one

062bus that does have to continue to drop off at 7:30 because it is the um the magnet bus that is shared with New Milford and so that bus has to drop off the our our students and then pick up New Milford students and get to the magnet um all in that amount of time so um that bus does have to drop off at 7:30 but other than that we can sort of shorten that window um and that can have an impact on obviously the first pickup time of those uh bus runs um you know as as earlier as you know this year um so we can we'll start looking at that there was some timing with the with being in the middle of winter and she had a lot of she it's always a challenge

063with um bus driver shortage and folks calling out and you know more more days than not I think you know Deb Jones is driving a bus herself to to cover these things so it's um it's a struggle but she she's going to we're going to work on that this this spring um and see if we can get better better uh results that way so if we can get better results that would go with the spirit of the point of the later start time which is adolescent bio rhythms and having more time to sleep in the morning but if our buses are not able to or there's a problem and they're coming earlier it defeats the whole purpose so we it appears we're hopeful optimistic that we could make it better on the front end but

064that backend challenge with students being dismissed from the last period is really still an issue um it's a it is just a real conundrum yeah so I think we just have to decide if you know we want to take it up as a board or just drop it well can I ask a question about buses so we're on it have we looked at um bus stops I know some communities like my community is a bus stop Community because of the way our road is so is there any reason why we couldn't look further at like certain areas being a bus stop rather than stopping at five houses on a road or is there any way to tighten things up that way have we looked at that or asked that I think like a few years

065ago I when because one of our policies says that I believe Elementary schoolers can walk like half a mile or something half a mile with no sidewalk in mile yeah and a yeah up to a milean that's a little far I'm not talking about having I'm not suggesting that but I do think we can stops a little more I mean yeah so I I can speak to that a little bit um uh and part of it too is the expectation of the community right um and and I think um there's more than not I'm getting I get many calls in the in the start of the school year um to adjust stops to have more stops or closer stops or you know go down go down this road rather than not and so and and

066and I I'm glad that you brought it up though because each of those changes does add minutes on to every single run um and you know and and a lot of times you know we have to make the call certainly we always go by by policy and it's different you're right for an elementary student that stop versus a high school student um things like that so you know decisions are made looking at every every situation and there was plenty of bus stops that I drove out uh myself several times this year just to put eyes on what you know what the concern is um but certainly you know it's it's tough you know the expectations of the community are are are one thing and and we want to you know make decisions that are in

067the best interest of safety for students first and foremost obviously um but you know if if safety is not the concern then we do have to look at you know the feasibility of turning down every culdesac road or all those because it does add all those minutes and it has impacts for for the scheduling so absolutely y um yeah I think you make a really good point Stephanie um and I speak from experience my cross street uh the bus stops three times along the cross street you Mom my kids walking the whole length of the street um because I get stuck in it every morning so I agree with you that that can be tightened up but I think it puts Casey in a typical position when parents are calling and saying you need to

068stop at my house yeah we'd have to adjust the expect yeah I think that's a kind of a culture change right yeah yeah agree um but I think that maybe can save some time for sure I think one important thing that came out of the meeting is that we really did want to appeal to the board to kind of of get help with where do we go from here like we feel like we've you know really Tred to you know let leave no stone unturned um we're we're really at a crossroad um you know Aaron did ask um John to pursue Dr dcia but I know he had they' been going back and forth or he hasn't gotten back unless something tag I don't know just today okay and I was thinking of you and

069I said she's gonna ask me and yeah John talk to Steve Harding about the state you know what they put out and that's been going on for years and Steve thinks quite a delay very late in the year if it even came to a discussion so I don't think that's something that's and he thinks it's most likely going to be left to the local boards right so um we asked Steve about other schools that are in our league and it's only new town they have their dismissal is 232 so we tried to you know talk about that um you know we did talk about the busing that was and that's information we didn't know that um if we move to a two-tier to a three- tier know each bus is about 82,000 so we could

070potentially reduce the fleet by three buses which is about $250,000 so um and there would also be a possible savings on athletic transportation and we know that's a big item right a big um budget uh line that we spent a lot of money on is athletic Transportation so um we do have more flexibility if we have our Fleet of buses able to make a run and then come back right those athletic buses is that correct yeah I think there's there's there's more um flexibility that that Deb would have with with a athletic Transportation although I want to be super clear that there's no that's not you know sort of the Magic Bullet that will fix the athletic Transportation because the driver of that um that budget overage and having to use other vendors really is

071the bus driver shortage now if we can reduce our Fleet by two buses that means obviously we would not need as many drivers so that may help in that sense um but I I don't want to make any promises that you know the athletic transportation is going to revert to what it was you know three years ago um but it it realistically it should help some you would think yeah so I think the question is would you know we've looked at every option I mean I know little the kids at Candlewood Lake the parents aren't going to be really happy if we switch them to go first and the high school go later you know is the board willing to entertain talking about bringing the high school I don't know what was it before 75

072I can't even remember 715 to bring it to 7:30 which is when they're getting dropped off now and it may help with athletic transportation and go back to a three tier I mean I think that's where we're at it's the easiest solution um or do Elementary first you know so I mean just intended I not to kind of make this meeting a health school part time meeting um you know I would I would like the committee to come forward with a recommendation um because we should discuss it as a board but with the committee recommendation um I do want to just clarify some of the maybe some of the assumptions that the committee's been making um Richfield did not revert back to an earlier start time they never changed and there's some comp with their

073particular situation um they had board support with their Superintendent at the time they approved it and then there a superintendent left and I don't I don't know if you remember back a few years ago they they went through a few superintendents um and so they postponed it and essentially gave up on pursuing that initiative um and their current superintendent just has other priorities um and then there's grenwich which just never went back to their original start time they're currently at 8:30 and they like it they're not considering changing I mean Grenich I think is in a league of its own well I'm just saying it was reported several times by the committee so I just wanted to clarify it so I mean I guess we either will put a healthy start time what no no

074I thought I thought Greenwich I'm not sure what says in the minute so forgive me went back to the original start okay I I if if that's inaccurate that's fine but I believe Greenwich the the real question was we were talking with Mark about Greenwich and they moved ilt to the end of the school day and that became very problematic with everyone trying to leave early and then ilt lost its value um so whatever they call it down there we call it ilt here this means went back to the original start time so that that might be what it means we'd have to go yeah that's what it was ref the IL okay good is that whole paragraphs about the IL because we asked them to relook at right yeah that was part of the

075mark to look at yeah so I can make that more clear thanks that that's regarding I and then just just be just as a housekeeping thing just because I know a lot of people are concerned with the accuracy of our minutes just record the actual vote on on the minutes um I I assume I can I can make an assumption that the the motion was approval of the board minutes but um just a record of the vote would be good so you me sorry go I was gonna say um I I like Rose's suggestion that the that the um committee bring forward a recommendation but I also appreciate hearing that you want more input from us so I'd like to know um and you guys can send in an email if you want um I

076want to know more about the research like what the recent research about um Pediatric sleep and teen sleep especially so if you guys like had highlights like we found this article useful or this article useful that would be really great and I think it would help me um weigh in I guess do we have does everybody have access to that folder because all that research is in the folder everything's in the folder I is it the website um well I think it might be on the it might be on the website but it's mean it's accessible to the board I know we and I definitely sh I looked at a couple of those pieces I was just wondering what you guys um because this has been like you you've been you know soaking in it

077um I was wondering what you found really valuable um just so we could like make the most of our time um and I wonder I don't know never mind well I was just going to say you had mentioned switching the elementary and the high school I I would like to learn more about that and exploring why you think that wouldn't work I don't know what the original conversation was about that cuz I wasn't part of part of the board at the time but that could be potentially a great solution to you know having I believe at the time it was we just didn't want Littles to be out when dark well it doesn't have to be 6:30 but to go even later than it is now and if the the Practical part is the high

078school going later then you've already got this problem with Athletics you know it's just not after school activities no matter what you look at it's not fixing all the problems right so I mean I mean I don't know I mean like I said I think we're getting this is like becoming like a starttime like agenda item right now in a meeting and so I I would just prefer a recommendation from the committee that's that's doing the work but I mean I don't know I I I'm not seeing glaring problems I mean the pro the the push back that we had initially um on this work was you know transportation and we knew that we went into it Eyes Wide Open that you know we're going to go from a three tier to a two tier

079we saw all the pros and cons we went through them all and we made this decision and so I'm not seeing like this like really powerful evidence that's saying we have this massive problem and we need to change it especially considering so many parents would be unhappy if we went back to the original time so I mean that's that's just I mean my but I'm happy to like talk about this more as an agenda item I don't think it's like a right now type of discussion but again I would just I would want the committee to to come forward with a recommendation I mean that's that's why we have committees but and we could schedule another one Aon right invite Mark and Steve and look at the data sched I feel like we're you know

080talking in circles I also think as a board where we are financially I think we really need to look at the financial piece of it too I think we have to uncover it if we can get rid of three buses and save $180,000 250 250 I mean it sounds like you're pretty close to a recommendation then so could we put this on as an agenda item for the next meeting and in terms of timing um we worked with Allstar and they've been very clear that as long as before the before the end of May yeah yeah before the end of May if the board had a change in mind they'd be able to make that adjustment so there is time for the committee and the board to have further discussion yeah and if you can

081look at your calendar see when you're available and we'll just do it virtual sure okay Emil stay with the Monday night maybe kind of how we've done it and take it from there okay fine so can we move then to the consent agenda great thank you so much I move that the board approve the items listed below on the consent agenda as recommended new hires resignations and policies for a first read 61 6251 3280 354 3.31 and 3570 is there any discussion all right all in favor of approving the consent agenda please say I I I any opposed right so the consent agenda is approved 70 great so now we're moving to new business and Dr man who going to talk to us about a portrait of the learner evening everyone thank you so much

082um I have sent around copies of the the presentation I'm about to give I'd like you to note that they are not color copies they are black and white and they are also done in the draft form to save on Inc um so Casey was proud of me for that um so I'm excited to to be here tonight to present to you our current working draft of uh portrait of the learner and just kind of um update the board on where we are in this process we um the you know when I was at when I was interviewing for this position I talked to Dr burill about how excited I was that there was a nice kind of kind of framework for portrait of the learner and kind of I you know idealized for him

083what my vision was was to flesh that out and and develop it because the portrait of the learner for any or portrait of The Graduate or vision of The Graduate or whatever it goes by a mission statement whatever the case may be um and I'll talk a little bit about how we got from portrait of The Graduate to Portrait of the Learner in a little bit but um it really is that North Star for any school district it's not only um aspirational but foundational and uh you know what it provides for is that unifying kind of uh vision for prek through 12 in a very transparent way for us to be able to present to the community that these are not only our values that we expect of all students to be able to um

084the skills and dispositions to master but it also kind of reflects on on where we are as a district and also where we want to go so um it's really that focal point for the Educators for the Learners and uh outlines those transferable skills for students as they develop throughout and again it's very important that and I'm going to you're going to hear me reiterate this over and over and over again prek through 12 right um this is a uh list of all the committee members we really began this work in Earnest last year the 2324 school year as part of our professional development pathway uh work there was a pathway that was specific to this work and um they they focused in on identifying where we were at the time and again I'll go

085through that and then uh where they kind of wanted and did a lot of work over the course of the year to really focus in on the uh domain and dispositions and characteristics and now we're in uh the next phase of that work so there's a ton of names here it's one of the reasons I gave you the the list one of the names that's not on here is um this work was partially facilitated by Dr Marie Alcock who is a uh educational consultant that this district has partnered with for many many years um and so she helped us uh on a couple of the days but then also helped us do a lot of kind of the um crunching the data and information so when I arrived here we had something called the um

086the Brookfield Seas right so that was uh you know our our Focus was on these different ideas and um Concepts but that was really kind of it there wasn't anything uh any kind of drilling down into what does it look like to be a critical thinker what does it look like to be a collaborator um and so we wanted to explore that a little bit and that's why that uh that essential question is kind of what are the dispositions of the Brookfield diseas and what what does it mean right how does it how does it actually operationalize for a student in third grade in fifth grade in 8th grade and 12th grade and and what do we hope for our students as they graduate and go on so one of the portions of uh the

087work last year 23 through 24 was that each of the kind of subgroups the that large committee was broken up a lot of the time um and then jigsawed all over during many of the work sessions to really explore the the not only the purpose of portrait of the learner but also what does it look like here what are the what are the values of Brookfield schools and what is that kind of and this is a big part of our strategic plan is that assured experience of a student as um that student matriculates through BPS um so this elevator speech is one sample kind of a summary that explains the the our Brookfield Public Schools portrait of a learner so that uh Learners demonstrate personal and social responsibility through compassion practices for developing a healthy

088self and community and work to build effective communication critical and creative thinking skills which promote curiosity open-mindedness and empathy and one of the things that I find kind of fascinating is that this was developed in the middle of the year last year and then come along this year where we're doing this reflective intelligence work and this and working partnering with the purpose Lab at Boston College and that is that is kind of the essence of purpose right finding personal relevance and and how that personal relevance in your learning and how that learning can then benefit your community around you and it is identified right there so it's really nice that all of this is kind of aligning and Lessing um to the same end and the same goal so here are the different uh aspects

089that were really kind of the different standards that were pulled from um in order to develop the portrait of the learner uh they so the the group of Educators um worked toward kind of incorporating and crosswalking um habits of mind uh and then the global competency Matrix the castle framework Castle stands for collaborative for academic social and emotional learning it's a kind of a national framework um the IST standards which are the technology standards that's the international Society for technology and education and then the feedback um from longrange planning uh teams so lrp teams so these are just different kind of um accepted areas that are nationally based and uh give that kind of framework that are not content specific to any one content literacy or stem or any of those but really uh focus

090in on those um transferable skills and positions so that was so then the next work was to take those kind of original um five C's the Brookfield C's and then kind of bring them into as this as the group was jigsaw uh and reflecting on and looking at those dispositions they came up with these draft domains so collaborators and communicators caring citizen critical and creative thinkers and social change makers and then they crosswalked where those various standards or uh kind of Frameworks could fit in into our developing portrait of the learner so here are the proposed po domains descriptors and categories so just to kind of help with the again framing uh where we are or what these all mean so the D domains that we came up with are those that I just went

091over collaborators and communicators critical and creative thinkers caring citizens and social change makers and the reason there are the slight differences again and and some of the coupling together um of those C's is to group those group you know those uh domains so they make sense for um students as they're working towards developing those skills but also for educators as they are writing curriculum as they are working toward High leverage instructional strategies and they can kind of crosswalk whatever the topic is that they're whatever the content is that they're teaching with these more Universal transferable skills the descriptors are going to give kind of a just a brief par mini paragraph description of each one of those and then the categories kind of help again crosswalk back some of those areas that uh like where

092a teacher if a teacher is thinking about how am I going to develop you know caring citizens in my physics class what does that mean that's where um those categories can begin to come in and then we'll talk more about those learning Targets in a minute um so again the portrait of the learner uh categories are helpful and c and descriptors are helpful for guiding the analysis of our programs so they're not only a um that aspirational North Star they're also an opportunity for a reflection tool to kind of go back and say okay so if we're saying that these are the SK the transferable skills regardless of the content area regardless of the age this is what we're trying to develop in our students it offers the opportunity to kind of crosswalk in our

093written curriculum in our actual instruction and even in our assessment practices um and so the following slides provide these categories and descriptors for each of the domains so here are the domains and descriptors and I'm GNA just put that up there because that's kind of what the one pager would look like but I would like to work walk through a little bit more specifically so for social change makers the descriptor reads demonstrates skills in being a decision maker and positive action taker including the ability to persevere through changes both personally and socially in healthy ways while also showing self-navigation skills when learning so the categories of that would be a self-starter a positive action taker given whatever the situation is positive decision-making skills or the capacity to develop those decision-making skills and even articulate those

094decision- making skills personal responsibility and then the intrapersonal so that reflection internally right interpersonal is that internal reflection um I do want to kind of just use this first one as an example of how much more robust these portrait of a learner um domains and descriptors add what what how much it adds to those uh those categories the descriptors and categories add to those domains rather um whereas before we kind of had statements kind of I would kind of say a um a skeleton of the learner now we're having fleshing out like a full portrait of the learner for the C collaborators and communicators um those are where they are able to demonstrate skills in contemporary and classical literacies including being a collaborative team member strong and effective communication and showing empathy for others um

095and the categories are that clear purposeful communication classical literacy skills so it's not necessary classical literature it's classic literacy skills so really developing those foundational fundamental literacy skills um so it really probably should say classic not classical contemporary lit literacy skills which would be juxtaposed from so let's say the scci like the foundational reading piece to can I um navigate and um understand other forms of media so am I able to you know navigate the internet am I able to take in various aspects of um information and then develop an the a more informed view interpersonal and group work skills that's that working together with others right and then active listening skills with understanding and empathy so one of the things that you may also notice is that the these uh domains uh really try

096to Encompass um a variety of different areas and you can see where different content areas might be able to fit into all each one of these um so whether you are a health health uh educator or you know um a social studies teacher or a fifth grade um you know unah or music teacher let's say you can kind of see where these would begin to factor into your instruction the other two domains are caring citizens um and critical and creative thinkers the descriptor under caring citizen is demonstrates social responsibility including healthy interpersonal skills that promote effective leadership kindness and respect for all people and the categories for that would be recognizing perspective perspectives social responsibility skills interpersonal skills and Leadership skills and then those critical and creative thinkers are demonstrating flexibility curiosity and critical thinking

097to solve problems create value and share ideas through both the creative and design processes so that's where that kind of creativity piece factors in and uh work Works nicely in with that critical thinking and then we have inquiry um flexible thinking creative process really that growth mindset aspect in there problem solving skills um the design process synthesizing and analyzing and then evaluating so um at the beginning of this year we were uh you know we had these this draft but the last part of the puzzle was that we had to develop these um we had to flesh it out even further to identify what does it mean to be a critical and creative thinker in a k through two class versus uh you know all the way up the the the gamut um because it

098will look different right and it will be the instruction will be different the assessments will be different um all of those so then the last kind of step in the process for the portrait of the learner group was to develop Ian statements so Ian statements are student facing statements um that are so that students can understand and parents can understand that these are the things we're focusing on um and they really would would bring together you've seen from me many times that you know Tri triumphant of curriculum instruction and assessment this would kind of be in the middle of that so so that it can be crosswalked to it can be identified in a written curriculum a teacher can very clearly focus in on I'm working on this Ian statement right now my students can

099articulate that back to me and then develop an assessment around that to to De so that students can demonstrate that they're able to develop that skill so uh sample um I can statement these are just a few that that are currently being vetted and that's the process that we're in right now um as a quick aside I mentioned portrait of The Graduate last year or when I got here and through last year I gave this presentation or the beginning of this presentation to Cape in the end of August to kind of level set for where we were going into this year and some of the feedback was um rather than portrait of a graduate which seems very finite and very high school and it's hard to get that kind of Buy in from the entire

100prek through 12 uh group why not call it portrait of a learner because everybody is working on learning all all the time um and so I presented that to the group I actually before I even presented it to the group I referred to it as portrait of the learner at convocation and um one of the members Jeremy cassic came up to me said I love that idea let's totally change that so that was the first order of business we changed it so thank you very much to the cape specifically to Sarah for that feedback we appreciate that feedback so that's where we are at Portrait of the learner um and so I just Ed the uh symbols so you can if just for frame of reference so social change maker and collaborators are on the

101Le hand side so an example of an i statement for a social change change maker would be I can be a helpful member of my community now um as we are vetting this that's part that is the focus of our learning walks is um taking a kind of series of uh of I can statements and the way we develop those is that we had a bank of I whole bunch of Ian statements that are all aligned to those various Frameworks and standards and the group spent the fall kind of populating the different um domain areas for that seem to fit right so I can be a helpful member of my Community seems to fit with that social change maker um and now we are in the process of going through doing learning walks and the

102way we organized learning walks was by asking for putting it out to the entire faculty asking people to either volunteer as a member of a learning walk or as a someone who's willing to have people come in to to do a learning walk or both or neither if they didn't want to do either that was fine too um and we've had really s really strong success uh so it's vetting the I can statements but it's also also helping the members of The Learning walk coll you know kind of calibrate on where we are with our portrait of the learner domains descriptors um categories and even the N the I can statements and it's also allowing us to kind of say this doesn't really fit here it really fits more over here or we're not really

103seeing this is this is this doesn't isn't really relevant so for the portrait for the learning walks that we've already done we started with the um critical and creative thinkers and collaborators and communicators those are the two domains that we have have done learning walks for one mainly we started with those because as Educators we're pretty comfortable looking for those specific um skills being demonstrated in a classroom as we walk through so it was kind of for us as a warm-up and um you know an easier starting point the next round of um learning walks will be this month in March and we'll be focused in on social change makers and caring citizens and we've already talked about with the group um not just sticking to classro but actually going kind of organizing our learning

104walk so that we are able to see cafeteria passing time going through the hallways um you know those kinds of less structured time as well as the formally structured time so those are kind of the next steps that we're going that we're going through with our learning walks and to develop these I can statements and then once we get all of that information all of that data we have um you know everybody collects kind of data and makes notes on sheets that have a series of I can statements um we have all of them we're going to kind of uh synthesize all of that information which Marie will help us with and um then once we kind of we will have a more formalized understanding of what our uh whole list of Ian statements that

105to finish out that puzzle uh with the full portrait of The Graduate um as you know it relates back to our strategic plan one pager uh the th those portrait of a learner dispositions are or domains are up at the top um you probably can't see it well maybe it's a little bit easier on that screen but um definitely not on your copies um but really this helps us hit many of these goals that we've set for ourselves um for this particular year for 2425 that if we can get to the point where we have fleshed out the Ian statements um and the Ian statements as I didn't say this about them they are um scaled for each grade level for grade bands so K2 35 68 and then 912 um so it was it's

106the same skill identified kind of under the same I can statement but at language that is developmentally appropriate so that again has the the whole purpose of I can statements is to be student facing so students can engage with that and really um become self-directed Learners um and so this is you know again this just identifies where it fits in to our work toward the Strategic plan achieving the Strategic plan and I wanted to end usually I end with that one pager I know you got to excited but I have one more slide um so I wanted to end with this uh to kind of give you a framework of the timeline so again this just Recaps where we've been uh 23 through 24 it was really that Pathways team that did the Yan's work

107of fleshing out portrait of the learner the domains the descriptors and the categories um and then we worked through uh and that was one of the reasons I presented to Cape at the end of the summer that kind of awareness and Clarity developing a shared understanding for what those those mean in general and then the specific aspects of the portra of the Brookfield portrait of the learner um throughout the fall into the spring we've uh done done that research and learning about Target creation right that learning walk work um that says that we've focused in dece really we started around December and then we're going to work through April um my goal is to have another series of learning walks um April into May so that we can kind of just get more experience the

108more experience we have and also the more we're actually doing it the more um I'm I'm hoping that people will be encouraged to join and it'll it'll kind of be a Grassroots spreading of awareness um we will need to kind of formally adopt this we have may slated for because the board should be able to vet this and um ask questions and then U formally approve it um oh PG is still in there I missed that one sorry Sarah I will I will fix it um so we will formally adopt the portrait of the learner it doesn't doesn't have to be may it might be June or July it kind of depends on you know where we we go we're flexible even though we have a strong you know timeline we still are able to

109be flexible as our needs arise and then as we move into next year the idea would be that we would begin to integrate um we would begin to formally write it into our written curriculum um we can as part of our curricular writing tool add these um I can statements and the domains and dispositions as part of our standards so they would be kind of like you know our Brookfield develop standards that are all aligned to these General Frameworks um but we will begin to work those into our formal written curriculum um and then crosswalking that through to the instruction Ure making sure that these are assured experiences for students and really that's one of the best parts about having a a fully vetted portrait of the learner prek through 12 because students will begin

110to see how their own that their own skill development happens over time we have not come up with we haven't really even talked about really um how this might be assessed in a formal way as part of a graduation requirement or you know how students might be able to present all of their a body of work that demonstrates their skill devel development that would be a kind of a post- adoption um plan um and also once we start really integrating it into curriculum and instruction we would have to figure out the um overarching uh assessments of that however many of these um dispositions can be assessed um you know within smaller projects um you know specific to classrooms and so the the the goal would be to have a full implementation by the time we

111are doing our self-study for our collaborative conference for our district neas accreditation in 2627 in preparation for the fall visit in 27 so that is where we stand I'm happy to go back to any slide or answer any questions quick question great job by the way um the I can statements and I think they're awesome because I hate it when my kids say I can um the students are creating these right are you so are you guys creating on your your learning walks I I just want so that's a good question so these are actually there's a there's a body of Ian statements that um we that was developed from all of those different standards you might want to just um and so actually Dr Alcock has has coalesced a bunch of them like I

112don't even know a couple hundred um and so we the but the adults have gone through and crosswalked them to the domains descriptors and categories So based on the information how do these I can statements fit in um with our learning walks we are you we've been using the Middle School actually I think it's the Upper Elementary I think we use the four five because frankly um whether you you know a a kindergar kind kindergartner can kind of identify I can change choose to change my mind when other ideas are presented right if you're you know playing and you say I don't like that I want to do this and they oh okay that's a good idea I'm GNA choose to change my mind just like a 12th grader can stand to sometimes you know

113work on that skill as well so we thought that kind of Landing in the middle would be an opportunity we'd be able to extrapolate up and down um because we wanted to have the same I can statement sheets across the the um when we're doing our learning walks when we actually Institute this and and embed this in curriculum we would have um learning walk uh um templates that would be specific to the grade level or the B grade band level I have a couple questions so you have emphasized repeatedly the need for um Shoring up tier one curriculum and it it feels like this will help to do that do do you see that is this is a contributor to that effort absolutely because one of the things that this you know one of this

114is another step towards addressing one of the concerns that was brought to my attention when I first got here which is the and this is not again unique to Brookfield but the silo effect that happens in public education where everybody is kind of doing their own thing and you get so bogged down in what you have to do every day whether it's in a classroom or in a grade level or in a whole school um that it's very difficult to find the time to really meaningfully communicate with your peers and your colleagues we are talking right now about eighth grade teachers working with ninth grade teachers and just arranging a a conversation um gets pretty difficult so one of the things that this will do is provide that backbone of consistency and Continuum um and

115vertical articulation vertical connection prek through 12 and again because it's irrespective of content everybody can be speaking the same language and so then the students all students in their regular classroom instruction begin to hear that same vocabulary that same you know focus on skill development rather through content right each teachers are going to be developing these things through it's not as though this is an this is separate from literacy instruction or math instruction it is embedded in um and that's why it's really important to create this is what will help create assured experiences like we identify in our strategic plan and it will absolutely create a more robust tier one curriculum and instruction approach yep um I was thinking looking at this that it that this allows the portrait of of the learner these core

116skills that you guys have identified to grow with the child as the child grows in their own individual way you know um and then I don't know Sarah if you felt this way too I feel like some of the the pieces that you had up there are are super useful to the practitioner of like okay the these are like I can see how it this definitely supports uh instructional priorities assessment priorities um but it's not you don't feel like like Shackled there's still room to breathe you know for for the student and for the teacher so I I really like that I think that this honors the individuality of teachers but while also sort of threading the needle towards those assured experiences um I definitely agree I think um it's very clear and and um

117cohesive and it I think the fact that you can use it in kindergarten use it through 12th grade is just going to help with that consistency um I just I think it's wonderful I can tell there's a lot of that gray area was it December through through now I can tell there's been a lot of hard work um that that's gone into it I think it's just it's really clear and makes a lot of sense thanks please tell the team um thanks for their efforts on this I will thank you at some point can we see it broken down what the bands look like what the I can statements are absolutely yeah I think it would just be really interesting to see as absolutely yeah that would be something that we would not now you

118know when you get to I I Envision creating kind of a whole page on our on our website and having you know these various aspects but um the I can statement certainly I mean that's the whole point right you want kids to know what they are you want parents to know what they are um these are not you know I often say learning does not just happen in the classroom a huge part of a student's experience happens in unstructured time and so this is the kind of thing that this is a collaborative effort a partnership between families and the school uh the school district so um the more we can all be kind of speaking the same language the better it's going to be for our students awesome thank you thank you Dr man oh

119my pleasure much appreciate it sure thing all right so let's move to the second item of new business um discussion about executive session protocols so Sarah you um asked that this be added as an agenda item do you feel like what we talked about earlier I I didn't ask for it to be at his agenda item I wanted to discuss the the minutes and you said it was going to be addressed it as an agenda okay do you feel like your concerns were covered are there more things you want to talk about then or anybody else regarding um executive session protocols I think maybe just clarification on you know um the public and entering I mean because I think there was some confusion so I think if we're clear with it um just going forward

120I mean I've never had that happen um so that so please um have a look at the information that's added there in italics of bottom that was meant to address uh that issue um apparently you guys used to meet in this um which is um I can you can you speak to that I haven't been well I haven't been in that room in a while but yeah we used to use that room and I'm not sure like yeah there sometimes there storage sometimes it's a screen issue you need a tech technology so it doesn't have that and it's quite stuffy for a lengthy uh meeting doesn't mean yeah it's small if the board wishes to go back into that room we could make arrangements well we we checked this out because we recognized that it

121got a little bumpy at the last meeting and so we definitely want the public to have access and to know where to find us but we would also like to be in a place that allowed us to like carefully consider whatever we need to consider and not be kind of rushing out because it's so physically uncomfortable um plus if we have to invite people in so that was the thinking that went behind this so we talked to did you talk to through Russell with this yes um I spoke yep I spoke with Russell Blair um the at the Foya commission to make sure that we were doing things the way that we should and he indicated that as long as we have a note as long as the public has access to where we are

122um that's acceptable and he did suggest a note on the door of the media center might be a good idea to allow anyone that kind of wandered or didn't hear um and then Wendy I think it was your idea to put or Rosa I don't remember whose idea it was to put this on the agenda but um I think this also uh he thought this was a good idea as well and said that it was an adequate way to inform any attendees um or members of the public that want to attend just after if that arises does that answer the question yeah I didn't I didn't have a qu I mean I wasn't there I don't really know what happens I wasn't physically there but I just think the clearer we can be but if

123the door gets opened and you know the Foya commission's okay with a note then I just think we need to just everybody needs to and our security guards need to know but like where I think we need to be clear like where is the public supposed to wait do they wait in the hallway like where I think that really should be discussed too I mean sorry go ahead no no go ahead oh one of the assumptions was that when we came when when this current board minus you started in uh November of last year or two years ago now that's just how it was done and none of us questioned it and so it hadn't been something we we the public had always had access to the room um once the door was open but

124there had never really it never really come up so that was one of the things where um that I had invested at and wanted to make sure that you know we were we were we were doing right by the public so the confusion that happened at the last meeting shouldn't happen again and um yes essentially the public would wait in the hallway because it's right near the front door um we wouldn't have them come all the safety issue of having them wait in here if we're all the way over there is and Security's aware right so yeah right so now going forward that would be what happens is yeah we'd have to make sure Security's aware and you know just think about yeah uh the shift of evening security and you know maybe having to

125work an extra hour or whatever the case may be we just have to think about that okay so um is there further discussion or are we okay to move to Old business right let's go to Old business so um the graduation date I'm not going to make a motion until after the discussion okay so um Mr Blanda provided a memorandum for everybody he's not here tonight um so board members if you haven't had a chance to read this memorandum would you please take a a minute to do so matter Mr Blanda um followed through as the board requested to um PLL the students and senior students and Senior parents and so you have the I'll let everybody read all right um so this is a memorandum from um Mr Blanda uh he based on our

126conversation at the last meeting um Mr Blanda sent out a um poll both for students who are seniors and for their families um asking which date they would prefer for the graduation ceremony because there had been much discussion um at the meeting and we needed more information so in um it's not quite 3 to one um but it's pretty close I I because that's what I do but um so9 thank you9 having some analog difficulty there with the the clock okay so we um were just uh discussing the memorandum from Mr Banda where the uh responses from students and families who prefer um June 14th as graduation date to um June 21st was I think it's fair to call it overwhelming and so we have some um we also have uh some um open responses

127that are uh informative and quite humorous so it's really down to us to to say what do we want to do if we if we want to move the um if we want to honor the results of the survey it looks like we will be going with June 14th and the grad party um organizers have asked that we not do that because it really puts their back against the wall with this time honored tradition um of of many decades and it's it's like a I think it's a super fond piece of Brookfield graduates um experience here it's a it's a great send off and it's a safe send off as well which is important so it looks like we have two things to consider what we prefer as a grad date and then if we

128prefer that earlier date if we decide on that um what are we going to do are we going to change the number of days of the school year so can we get some thoughts out about that I think we should do whatever we can for the grab party because I don't know if any of you guys had an opportunity to see it last year but that was my first year participating in it stayed the whole night it was an outstanding I cannot stress to you the amount of fun these kids had and how important it was for the people who were setting it up like they put their time I could not believe the I saw this one dude outside setting up the outside forever every time I came back dropping something off a jacket

129he was always out there so the amount of work and effort that goes into it I truly truly feel we should consider the grab party for the kids and for everyone and obviously the work with the staff too I H it's hard to overlook these numbers I'm not discounting this I read the memo I get it but like the the and my son already graduated I'm like we're helping out this year just because it was so awesome last year so I don't know if I'm saying all night but I mean I'm G to be there but it's uh I just truly feel we should put our thoughts and E focus and our efforts into that can I ask what it would look like I I recall Mr milanda saying something about that with if they're

130no more days out of school there's the he has the ability to shift everything up by a day was did I understand that correct you have you have a makeup day for exams but you have to consider underclassman and then seniors because of graduation rehearsal and other things their exams are earlier anyway right so um this is something our high school admin team frankly could do in their sleep uh in terms of uh making the schedule work um and also being as flexible as they can to um if if graduation you know we honor the not only the survey results but the High School principal's recommendation for the 14th work with the grad Pary parents to give as much time in the school prior to um you know because you got to remember during um

131exam time and so forth there's less use of the cafeteria and things like that for lunches and things so there's there's a lot of opportunity we can have the school open for the parents what would it look like if we shifted and had the last day of school stay the 13th and have 181 days what would that look like for the high school so then the makeup day for exams would be Friday the 13th and that would be an open day that would be an essentially essentially a very open day there'd be students but it'd be very few yeah because remember a lot and a lot of seniors as well do well with their grades so they're they're essentially qualified out of having to take a a final exam as well is that something the

132board would be willing to consider as a compromise to give I know we had a conversation earlier in the year about wanting every single day because it's not just the last day it's the back up to it but in this particular instance shifting it the one day to Friday for the entire School District gives pretty much solves that issue of not having access for the grad party there's no adjustment like major adjustment to the schedule that needs to be made can we change the last day just for the high school um I think we can I don't I don't know that we're looking to break up households yeah that could be a big risk but may I ask how many days you think you really need is can I ask for that oh yeah thank

133you okay realistically I remember last year it was a lot right yeah so so Rob can I follow in this I'm sorry in this case it would be less kids in a building if well with exams and they're done by noon I mean so so they're you Friday during exam week they're short days I just got to stress I think we should do whatever she needs I'm just throwing that out there really is that good I mean everyone saw I just want to if the board wanted to you know I mean we can make an assumption as well that again statutory have to do 180 days so we could back this up to uh Thursday being the last day of school right can we can we give Sarah a chance to talk you've been waiting

134for a while I mean I I can't agree more with the um the night graduation night I mean and Mark talked about being safe and making sure the kids had something safe and it's it's F I'm coming back again too I don't have kids here anymore um it it it is great and anything we could do to help um if we can go back to Friday Thursday maybe we're going to have so many exemptions that it's really going to be a moot point and the other thing Sarah that we uh talked about before with this is um we've had this conversation last year um the uh question was and we we'll come back with a plan what do you do with your teachers because teachers can work up to 187 days and believe me there

135are plenty of things we can do to close out the year you folks know that as Educators help with the party so they're right exactly Rob's gonna do more walkthroughs that's but I just want to say I don't think changing it for one school versus the other is going to be a good idea um I why explain this why why why does it need to be a district wide change well I think for families I mean I feel like if you have families with multiple kids in multiple schools that's a really difficult break of you're finished with your high schooler but it would just be the high schooler that's out you know what I mean I just mean like the family in general if they're celebrating if they have family in town I I don't

136know it's something to consider in terms of I think about my kids at home if my high schooler doesn't have to go my middle schooler is going to say he doesn't have to go either I there's going to be cases like that and I I feel like then you know then there are um I don't I don't know if that would be like the majority I mean I would still just sort of say like just pretend then the last day of school is the is the 14th or the 16th is you know it's just an exception for the high school I don't know I I want to give the grad party like all the time that they need but like if we go to the 21st like there might not be as many participants and

137then that defeats the purpose so I want to make the 14th work I'm trying to like I also know personally rapping to a Monday makes a big difference if you could end at the end of the week and not have not have to have a whole weekend where you're like thinking going back on Monday yeah it's just a lot yeah um I'd like to build on something that Robert said uh and this is this is a one event in our community that really feels like a community event and that is that's bigger than I'm sorry it's bigger than exams it's it's really big and it's multigenerational and we meet each other you know um as community members doing this this thing with staplers or tape or whatever and that's so important for the community and

138so with that I'm gonna suggest that we um go to 180 days and I know that that's not po popular with some folks but I I would like to that's I'd like us to have that pointed discussion why 180 instead of 181 um to maximize to allow no to to allow more time and I think that yeah so that was the last day of school would be Thursday oh the Thursday Thursday the 12th and there and and all and it would be a makeup exam day which means very few students would be in the building so there there'd be a nice opportunity for grad party to get in there and then all day Friday is open Friday right and even time on Saturday right so and I would propose that we do a dist districtwide

139yeah so one thing I just caution we have two different you know there's the vote on the unless you're going to bundle it as one motion you would have the graduation date and the amending the school calendar so might be two different motions we to amend the calend before we do right so whatever I think we should definitely honor the results that came in um pretty telling is the students want it on the 14th and a lot of the parents although we only heard from half the parents um that's pretty good compared to other feedback other surveys um would you like to put a motion on i' like to make a motion that um we do the graduation date for June 14 is there more discussion on that does that include 180 days no that

140that'll be a separate separate discussion SE discuss are we good to vote okay all in F I mean I can only vote we're do the 18 we do but I that yeah that would have to be like a se but I think we should table that and first vote on on the 180 the 180 because I think that would influence so I motion to table the current motion to uh set the graduation date and move that we amend the the Brookfield Public School District calendar to 180 days for students a second is there discussion on the 180 days so the last day of school would be Thursday Thursday the 12th the 12 a gra stud full days again right two full really two and a half because it would be Wednesday would be a half

141day right they have opportunity with they'll be in immediately if I know right but you would have the makeup exam day is on Thursday so there very few students in the building so they they I wouldn't call it a full day but there's a lot of time do the teachers time that they work to it's more than a full day anyway so teachers usually stay an extra day say again do they usually are they usually done the same day as the kids or they no it's 187 days teachers work 187 so they would work they would work to the 16th they're 187 which is the okay that's what I did the 16th is 187 okay thank you so this would also give give them more time to wrap up the year right and plan for

142next year I mean there's a lot lot of work to do as you saw with with Anna's presentation tonight there's a lot of work there that can get done as well we can structure some things oh yeah we we'll have a plan for you so we have a motion on the table to change um the the school calendar to 180 days and it has been seconded so I kind of agree Rosa like I don't I don't see it such a terrible thing to allow the other schol to go later you know to give them the opportunity I mean I'm always a strong Advocate with you know schools are a safe place save space they rely on it um I don't want to sell them short just because of an issue not an issue but a

143problem problem we're trying to solve it for the high school yeah I mean especially since I feel like the little kids with parents and working it's you know sort of the younger kids that going of need to be in school maybe wej the high school to 180 and the other one to 181 whenever gets out on Friday I mean we could do that um are you is a lisal is that yeah is that a logistical nightmare to kind of change have um just the high school have the last day at 180 there'll be an un unintended consequence that we can't even think of right now there will be a problem yeah yeah I I I I don't think we can do that all right so we have a motion on the table for 180 and

144it has been seconded um and we've had some discussion is there more or are we ready to vote on this okay all right so um all in favor of um changing the amending amending the Brookfield Public School District calendar to 180 days students for students only ending the school year on June 12th all in favor of that motion I say any opposed any extensions so it's unanimous so we have just um uh passed a motion that the school year will be 180 days now let's um so the current motion reopen the motion that is that was tabled uh Joy made the motion and Sarah seconded that the grad date uh be set for June 14th okay so the motion's on the table it's been seconded and is there more discussion on this are we ready

145to vote yeah okay all in favor of moving the or setting the graduation date for June 14th please say I I I any opposed all right it is unanimous it appears is it possible to make a motion to change the teachers um total days at this point I I think that that's contractual and well they they have to work up to 187 um so can we get let them go on Friday I I would I would say if you would let us if we can talk about that in two weeks would that be okay we I want to triple check the contract on that and talk with the teachers union but if there's a sentiment I'm happy to do that thank you okay I think they'd be happy not to okay thank you for thinking

146of them all right so um then the next item uh for old business is uh the adopted [Applause] budget um I will provide a little bit of an update I guess um we met with the board of Finance this past Monday um and we had a really good conversation um about some new budgeting strategies they were very receptive to understanding um the challenges in in budgeting for special education there was always a challenge there but it has escalated in the in the last couple years years and so they were very helpful um and receptive to um you know just kind of working through some of these challenges so I think it was a good it was a good meeting we talked for a couple hours and there was a lot of contextual information about um

147you know just differences between districts in the same dur and um how it's really hard to compare between districts but um if we focus on this town's budget then you know I think we're we're um we have really good budgeting controls and it's a it's a good budget that I I personally stand behind I think the sentiment is you know it was well received I also did find out just chatting with Marsha today she said that uh the board of Finance is scheduled to make their final decision on the budget next Tuesday evening but they have built in just on their calendars to come back next Wednesday if they need to if it's that meeting happens to go along and they need to deliberate more but by midweek next week we should have a sense

148of uh whether or not there are reductions to the board's adopted budget if there is we'll have those communicated to us and then of course then we discuss uh you know as a team what is the that mean for for the board's adopted budget have they indicated that they want any of like um the team there at there any final I didn't hear anything on that yet um there are also a couple other things that I think we should um that everybody should know about and one is the the special education vote that happened today but we don't know this is the $40 million that the governor vetoed but then they voted again today and it looks like it's passing and if if it does happen then it's um April 20th is the dispersement date

149so that that could be that could help ease some of the strain that we encountered for this year um and then the last thing is we all know that there are some budget drivers that are accelerating in terms of their um just the percentage of increase and so it prompted people around the table to start to thought to start to think about um how how could we radically reimagine some parts of what we do here in town um and we've we talked about like bringing services inhouse and and and other other strategies that so for the the people on the board this is going to be a time of like um really digging deep and like let's reimagine some things let's let's really get creative and and think expansively and that so that's that's a

150pretty exciting and we should note that bill um Roland is has already been working through he had pointed out some of the things he'd been talking to other districts about and looking at ways he could bring things in house so um he's been very proactive in that area and that was um the board of Finance received that really positively they were Aon and I have had conversations kind of as part of the strategic planning team but kind of aside that um having realistic expectations too you know we have a sense of urgency we have to get to this but you can't snap your fingers and just have this happen in one budget year cycle you have to plan for it so that's very important to be thinking about the other thing and and thinking a

151little differently just as a reminder more for the public than the board uh we did talk about uh health insurance very expensive it's been going up other districts um are seeing in our area um who are either in hsas or self-insured seeing 20 and 30% increase I mean it's up around but then there are some districts that really have had separate funds to help level out when there are spikes um and uh done some things differently uh we do have health insurance for employees in the district the same as employees for the town so it still would likely be a collaboration but is there a way we can look at that differently and and and mitigate uh those costs and try to control them even better so and those are those big chunk volatile areas

152awesome okay then are are we are we all set with that yeah okay so now we're going to move um to the second public comment and so the first person um is Mr Korea and Korea uh 45 West f Road um I did want to correct something that was said um earlier I recently got an foia of emails and I read Mr Russell Blair's response um and the discussion around exec did you guys pause the meeting are we on now just curious okay um so I'll start over um so Melanie left uh here because crying and she said that that board members name girl humiliated me she tossed the paper they didn't even have a thought about me uh and that lady with the glasses is so mean um luckily I have a video and

153I'll be posting it so everybody can so so the town can see how the board reacted um it's a manipulation for the board to say that uh we're asking you to address a student discipline issue Melanie did nothing wrong she protected herself what happened when she hit record was her being humiliated the youth officer heler said it was smart and glad he recorded because this many situations where he wishes there was a recording Melanie and I are asking you to address lying of Administrators their failure to follow their own policies unlawful retaliation and the disruption of her educational environment it was their total inappropriate the their tool was an inappropriate discipline assessment I laid out the issues versus the office of civil rights plain language resource to illustrate it and by the way the district

154has refused to mediate my OCR complaint for my older daughter which means we spent a lot in legal funds as opposed to them just saying oh yes we should have had a PPT eight months earlier oh yes we shouldn't have altered records oh yes yes we did have an administrator harass your daughter and oh yes the administrator did lie and say there was a report and now there's not a report Point Mr Korea EXC what what's your point um tell me your point you saying that our administrators are lying they do I have emails of you lying about him and then with and defaming a person and BCC uh to her and BC seeing him you I have you on multiple lies it's a fact that you lie it's a fact that he lies they're

155facts it's not a point of order it's a fact and I would ask that the motion be to have to review my 1312 today occur thank you um I would like to point out before continuing that there were um multiple emails with Russell Blair um asking clarifying questions and there were answers so if there are further concerns with the um with with any of that uh it should be directed to the foi commission yes um I also uh feel like the the public needs to to know um that we do not condone or accept the kind of language or tone that we just heard and that um there are processes within our policy manual that allow for formal complaints of school Personnel for Appeals were applicable and for the mature resolution of conflict for most

156of these processes the superintendent is and should be the last stop the board is not an appellant body for everything people are dissatisfied with we have a very narrow scope and a very narrow appeals purview the board does not have a role in undermining the superintendent or School administration on student Discipline matters if legal legal charges are filed the board would become involved in evaluating the superintenden handling of the situation Mrs CES it's your turn oh boy I don't even know how Deborah C Brookfield resident I I had something planned and now I just got sidetracked because first of all there is an outburst that wasn't corrected in regards to Mr Korea otherwise he'll complain forever that wasn't corrected so I have a problem with these when we come up here and I speak respectfully

157all the time I never do that to anyone else who's speaking but then when I see it done to somebody else it's it's very upsetting so you correct some but not all anyway like my three minutes so you know you were very quick to defend the superintendent um and saying that um somebody called him a liar and I was not planning on speaking on this tonight I was planning on speaking on something completely different um in regards to um what's going on with um the union and um uh one of our board members here being under attack I feel um I was here when um pretty much they stormed the meeting with the signs the public at home couldn't see it there was signs here I myself when they left after a very V um

158commentary was given by the union representative it was not clear on what the grape was I myself said out loud is anyone else concerned on why our teachers came in here holding up signs saying protect our schools protect our students protect our teachers because I you know I've I've come up here many times and spoken in support of Paris teachers and special ed students so I was very concerned when I saw those signs and when they left matter of fact the teachers themselves the next that weekend I happened to run into two teachers and they said to me what happened after we laughed and I said well actually it was crickets nobody explains anything I didn't know I actually said out loud what were they here for what's going on um well anyway fast forward

159I don't want to waste my three minutes on that but even the teachers didn't know why they were even here so I myself reached out to teachers saying hey what's going on I was able to um understand from some teachers that they were emailed privately on their private email um asking to get together for this they really weren't sure a lot of them felt that they were being used as a political Pawn after the fact so um you know I think it's really important that we start from the top and instead of on the back end and attacking one Board of Ed member or three Board of Ed me members and see where it started from what the Catalyst was that led us down this path so I'm not going to point fingers I'm not

160going to go tit fortat but that's very something that you need to explore because when you have a meeting with a union rep and you talk about your counterparts your board of ed members and you talk about behaviors and you don't include them in on those meetings it's not recorded you that's dangerous and you have a I have a problem with that especially when somebody on the back end is going to be punished but here's my other issue Mrs C your your your time is is done okay can I have three more minutes you have the power to give me that no you don't want to hear from me right you have the to give me more time you can have you can have another minute okay thank you well it really upsets me because

161last year as you know I myself my child's I had to file a complaint that my child wasn't getting the services we'll beat that dead horse another time anyway I went on record prior to that about the CT saids in the crack report I was not for that crack report I already knew the atrocities and the shortcomings that were going on in the district with special ed we parents were coming in here for years prior to that corre report stating what was going on what was going on in the schools anyway I was against it I said please don't put that $35,000 into a little short little dive not a deep dive into what's going on as a parent I already know teachers were notifying me parents were notifying me I was getting cheesed through

162town thank you for speaking up for us thank you thank you thank you I myself Mrs um scair are there so anyway getting back to that I said please put the money into Paris please keep put the money into Contin education on the teachers that we have it here that want to continue to educate our children that's what I wanted the money to go to I already knew when the crack report came out it was very Val validating on my end it was everything we ever spoke about fast forward I had to file my own complaint for my child in regard to um special education whatever I won't discuss that right now but in that the the result was that was my daughter got 100 hours compensatory Services part of that was was that this

163when the state dug in and saw what was going on in my child's case there was things that were spoken about in saids uploaded in CT sets that were not my daughter's data that were put in by another teacher whatever could could you WR up but to wrap it up um I have an foia here that when we spoke about that Mr burill himself called us pretty much us parents Liars and that he is asking the board to develop a strategy to protect theu superintendent so you called us parents Liars when we came up here and have it in your own words thank you Mrs C so y thank you it's it's um unfortunate to end on uh a note like that I think that Brookfield is always working towards improving its processes but um

164but um insulting our staff is is not the way to go and the board does not support or condone that uh the public needs to know that we value our employees and we value our teachers and staff I actually um want to make a motion to add to Executive session I really think that we need to add an agenda item to discuss a student issue oh we can't no that's not that doesn't meet the criteria for so we have a picture that was circulated all over social media Brook field schools are tagged in it and you guys are okay with a girl it doesn't matter if we're okay with it it's not it doesn't meet the standard for job here but it is our job as a board but Aaron whether or not it's our

165job it does not meet the standard the criteria for executive session then I'm going to request a special meeting tomorrow that's fine but you can't add there's very um narrow purview for what executive session can be called for and that is you can't just talk about Personnel or students in executive session it has to go through a process and could potentially fall under attorney client privilege if we engaged the attorney or if there was some kind of legal action but we can't just that's fine discuss I will request a special meeting tomorrow but this is but this is not this is not a board issue this is an administrative issue look I've seen these emails back and forth for three months I saw a kid sitting up there standing up there absolutely heartbroken and she's

166not comfortable in school that bothers me and it is our right as a board to make sure that every child has a safe learning environment whatever that looks like so as far as I'm concerned whether we can fix the problem it needs to be discussed that we're aware of it Erin we can't step outside of the law to do that we are not privy to that information when and if it becomes a legal problem for the board that is the moment yeah it will be I'm sure well then that is the moment that we can evaluate the practices but before that it is not and it is a dangerous practice to undermine the administration that we do pay to do that job you can't bend the law just because you have a problem with this

167particular student or that particular student or any particular students I don't have a problem with a particular student student I have a problem with a child there matters that's what I mean I I have a problem with a child sitting up there and doesn't feel comfortable in school I have a problem you cannot go outside of the to deal with that thank you for your legal opinion that's it all right so um obviously this this is probably a good time to say we we need we need um we could benefit from some cave training on this to understand our roles and responsibilities what is and what is not and I'd like you guys to um I'll be sending you an email about this tomorrow we have a a date that's possible um that nicar can

168come and um talk with us so we can get a better more complete understanding of what our role is versus what the administration's rule is okay so um now three main points Stephanie sorry Sarah did you have something to say you said the date um he is available on on April 5th so um three main points well if you if you could look at the at that um your avail ility on the fifth I mean Joy indicated that she's available well it's probably the least essential for joy and you because you are I very clear on my role in this board that is for sure well you all guys are closing in on eight years of service here so this is not new information to you but for the rest of us we're still like

169growing into it and you know situations like this really strain us because we of course have empathy towards the cases of individuals but our role as board members is not to undermine uh our Administration So that obviously we don't get that fully um so I'll send out an email asking you about the fifth and you can let me know um Stephanie can you uh turn your attention to the three main points what stood out to you tonight yes um I wrote down the portrait of the learner presentation uh the graduation date discussion and the budget update are you guys good with that MH yes okay okay all right and upcoming events yes we have quite a few because it is the beginning of the month uh okay so let's start with Candlewood Lake Elementary school

170this week March 3rd through 7th is read Across America week and there are themed events each day including fun dress ups March 5th through 13th is the book fair during Library classes and March 13th during the afternoon conferences is the day that families can attend and March 6th is Pop Warner football and cheerleading visit during lunch March 10th is Unified sports day March 12th is future teachers of America visit March 13th and 14th in the afternoon are parent teacher conferences and both days are early dismissal at 12:30 for the elementary school March 14th is the PTO sponsored spring dance in the evening from 6:00 to 7:30 and you need to sign up to attend so visit the Facebook page to figure that out the um PTO uh CES Facebook page March 19th and 20th the

171PTO sponsoring a popup shop during classes so send cash with your students to purchase items March 27th is Cubs Club wh School Community Connection event March 28th is PLC for teachers and a 12:30 early dismissal for students um at the middle school wiser Middle School March 6th is the after school movie they're showing up and it's to raise money for the penguin pledge Penguin Plunge to benefit the Special Olympics March 7th is their web unplugg day March 10th is Unified ELC field trip to the Ridgefield Playhouse March 11th is the eighth grade PSAT testing March 12th is BHS counselors to visit WMS eth graders for course registration and March 14th is the 8th grade um panoramic picture they'll be taking a panoramic picture and then at Brookfield High School March 13th through 16th is the

172Musical Chicago as Melissa pointed out earlier March 26th is the career fair March 22nd is the Penguin PL plunge March 28th is junior prom at the Amber Room at 600 p.m. the um art show the high school art show show at the Brookfield Craft Center is March 8 through 30th and a community event the film festival at the Brookfield theater is March 27th through 30th and the proceeds from that event go towards the BHS art scholarship that the Arts commission gives out so I encourage you to attend and help an art student okay so this um ends this portion of our meeting and at 9 31 no we're moving into ex I'm just noting the time because you know we get a motion to move into exective session oh yeah do you want me to

173make it sorry go ahead uh let's see I move that the board enter into executive session for the purposes of one discussion of attorney client privileged information relating to correspondents from the teachers union and two discussion regarding performance of a board member I'll second um all in favor to enter uh executive session please indicate by saying I I I any oppos okay so it's passes unanimously so for the public here we are going to go into Mr uh banda's conference room um I just texted our attorney so he'll be joining us there I mean via Zoom um we will not be returning to um the BHS Media Center following executive session if there's any action to follow the public will have access at or near the conference room beside the main office thank you and

174um drive home safely