2-23-26 Groton Board of Education Meeting

001Okay, good evening. Uh, this is a meeting of the Graten Board of Education. It's a regular meeting. It's scheduled today on Monday, February 23rd, 2026. It's being held online only due to the um bad weather that we experienced today. Give people a chance to shovel out and keep safe at home. So, the first order of business is a call to order. And when I say your name, can you can you say that you're here with so people know that you're in attendance? Um, I'll start with Dr. Acriman. >> Sure. >> Jen White, >> I'm here. >> Mitch, >> I'm here. >> Ian. >> Yep. I'm here. Okay, Sean, >> I am here. >> Jay >> here. >> Um, Adrian and Mike Mike Whitney is not here. I know that for sure. Okay, so we have

002a quorum. The first order of business is the second one is the pledge of allegiance. So, I don't know if you all want to stand for the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. >> One nation under God, >> indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. >> Uh the next item is recognition and participation of visitors and delegations. I don't think we have any tonight. >> We don't not not today. >> Okay. The next item is comments from citizens in regard to agenda items and other subjects of concern that lie within the jurisdiction of the board of education. This is the portion of the agenda where the board welcomes comments from citizens. Each presentation

003should be limited to 5 minutes or less and citizens should, if possible, submit written comments. Presentation should be related to matters pertinent to Graten. Board members will only ask questions in order to clarify the speaker's presentation and cannot respond during comments of citizens portion of the board meeting. Citizens should make their presentations tonight by raising their hand and um Caitlyn will let me know if there's anyone that wants to speak and please state your name and address for the for the record. Anyone online? Caitlyn? >> Uh, we only have one attendee and no hands raised. >> Okay, thank you very much. Uh, the next would be student representative report. Do we have any students, Susan? I don't see any. >> I I don't think so. I asked Matt if they were going to come that

004they would have to come virtually. >> I I reached out on Friday, but I didn't get a response and then I'm not sure because of because of the snow day. >> Yeah. I wasn't able to connect with any of them. >> Okay. Thank you, Matt. >> Yeah. >> Um, next is superintendent administration reports. I'll turn it over to Susan. >> Okay. Well, I just want to say that um I really appreciate the hard work that went into this budget. um certainly from this board going through it for the past two months and being able to bring it down to 6.33 while also making sure that certain um staffing was there for our kids including tutors and building subs that the principles really felt they needed. Um I want to thank you. I want to thank

005my staff, you know, having Rita Pariac at the helm in finance and working with her team, um, and Lori Leine in HR, Sam, um, really the all the directors have been and Clint have been phenomenal. And when we called them to say, "How can we trim this down from 7.7?" Everybody kind of came together and figured out a way that we could do it, but still keep, you know, our district as as good as it can be. Um, so I want to thank everybody. The collaboration even with the town has been really good. Um, you know, Rita has been working closely with D and you know, I with John, you know, even looking at, you know, what are um the the grants that we have and and what are the um you know, revenue sources

006for next year because it's really a prediction. It's hard to predict. You know, you kind of look at what you've done, but what's happened before and you kind of measure it from there. So, thank you to everybody. Um, it's been a really good process for me. So, I appreciate it. And I know Emory wants to talk a little bit about attendance. We're also doing well with our attendance and the um lessening the chronic absenteeism and it's been all hands- on deck and a lot of hard work from our administrators and our counselors and our teams at the school level. Um but we're really seeing good results. So, I'll let um Ann Marie take it from here. >> Thank you. Um yeah, so Susan just kind of talked a little bit about what I was going

007to say. I really feel like it has been a collaborative effort. We started with um the uh I would say uh a little prompt from you Bev in asking us to um really look at our policy and I'm glad that you asked us to do that because I hadn't realized that the policy hadn't been updated since I think 2018 and a group of administrators came together over the summer. We really looked closely at what we can do first with improving the policy. Once we did that, we brought the entire team together uh in the beginning of the school year and we created the attendance improvement initiative which we like to call fondly AI uh not to be confused with AI and um we decided to really think about how we can improve our uh chronic

008rate of chronic absenteeism which quite frankly was just too high. And so we did a lot of things. We first looked at what we can do around tier one and we meet monthly as a group. Actually we have a meeting coming up on Wednesday um to think about what strategies we can do with our teachers um not just you know our our leadership team but what how we can involve our teachers in that effort. Uh in addition to that we've done a lot of work around communication. We've improved the tone of our letters that go out you know when we have students that are absent. really try to be more collaborative with our families to see, you know, what help um can we lend rather than, you know, making it seem like people are bad

009and wrong because their students have had to be out because there's a variety of reasons that students are out. Um the other thing that we've done is that we send letters home uh where we've sent letters home at day 45 and day 90 so that families are aware of just how many days their child has been out um and how does that compare to, you know, where everyone else is. just a more of an awareness. Uh we've done just a lot of positive messaging around uh around attendance. You probably saw the day 90 video which we've gotten a lot of compliments around that. That was the first time we did that and uh you know again we were really proud of that. The other thing that um PR our principles have done is they've done

010a lot of uh kind of like I would say incentives around attendance. One person who's really led the effort around that has been our newest principal, Principal Sawyer at Charles Barnum. And I think a lot of the other principles have taken her lead. And that could be anything from spirit days um to, you know, just getting on uh the Facebook page that she's created and and creating little videos, but the kids have really enjoyed those and has really motivated kids to come to school. Another principal who's done a lot of work in this area is uh Jamie Gerardano. um and she's created a student leadership program um that has really motivated kids to come to school. So, we've done quite a number of things and then again around tier 2 and tier three interventions to

011really supporting our families who have students that, you know, for a variety of reasons just need some more support in coming to school regularly. Um, the one thing I really want to note is that our most recent uh data poll shows that we've decreased our rates of chronic absenteeism by almost 6% from this time last year. So, we're really pleased and we're excited to see um those numbers continue to decrease by the by the end of the year. >> Okay. Thank you, Amarie. Um any questions for Dr. Mancini? No. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Mancini. Um, next is the director of finance report. >> Hello. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can. >> Um, will you be sharing the document or Kaitlyn? Kate's >> got it. >> Okay. Thanks. So the attachment one, yeah, is

012the um current financial statements. See if it comes up. >> Rita, can I say something real quick? >> Sure. >> Um Amry, I just want to thank you for your hard work and helping us improve attendance because we need those students in school. So, I appreciate everything you and your committee have been doing to get our kids or our students in school every day because if they're not in school, like Adrienne always says, we can't teach them. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> You all set? >> I'm all set. So um looking at the financials as you can see um there I've made some notes where we still need to make some budget transfers particularly in transportation and tuition um the uh major objects 500s. We are still continuing to look at

013the incumbrances um in every area, but um my main concern is to get some transfers done um to cover those overages in transportation and tuition. I do want to let you know that we made the last and final journal entry for FY25. Um and I'll be sending over that report to the town. So, as of today, our non-mapsing funds it will be 663,500 and change. I'm not sure um once I send that report if that's when we'll be able to, you know, they'll release the funds and we can um vote on how to use them. But if anybody has any questions as as we go through the pages um can you I did do a little narrative of where um where that stands the salaries are as of February 6 um because we haven't done

014our second payroll yet in February. That's this week. Um so you can scroll down. I'm not going to go through every line, but I did make notes on when or where we have to move some funds around. I'm hoping to do that in this month before the next financials come out. It's been hard juggling the budget for next year, this year, and last year. So, >> I know there are some some things I need to catch up on for this year. Are there any questions? I don't see any hands raised. >> Believe everybody has their packet. >> Yeah. >> Any questions for Vita? >> None. Okay. So the next attachment is the budget transfers and that's going to start on page seven >> as all the blue area has already been approved. So once it

015comes up on the screen I'll walk us through just you know some of the the larger ones. Um the first two as you can see were um the department is Fitch High School um moving funds around to cover expenses. The um the finance reclass there's $137. I mean, these are some of them are really small, but they have to get into the right place when you're doing Can you scroll down, Caitlyn, a little bit? Thank you. Um the transfer for 43,425 I just wanted to point out from finance that is for the purchase of the budget module alibu for next year. So hopefully it won't be a manual process for my staff. as we go down. Um the the large ones for tuition and basically for tuition is to cover overages in the tuition area.

016uh people services. There's a couple there and some of them are, you know, reallocating and reclassifying expenditures. But if anybody has any particular question on any of the transfers, feel free to to speak out. There's a $100,000 one that I did on the last page, and that was to reallocate the contingency funds for the negotiations that we settled on with the maintenance custodians and secretaries. So, sorry that took me a little while, but it would that's the $100,000 reallocation there. I see somebody's hand up, >> Adrian. Yeah. Um um because the codes look a little different than I'm used to. So, if we go back to that $43,000 transfer, um, is that coming out of function 1110 and going into 1231 or like So, this is on page seven for the bottom. >> So, on

017page seven, can you say which one it was again? >> Yeah, it's four lines. three and four lines up from the bottom. That $43,000 one that you just said was for Alo which function um because it says in department at the beginning of it finance. So what what function code is it coming out of and going into? >> So it's coming out of the tech technology education um software and there were funds there that were prepaid the previous year. the software was prepaid out of uh title one funds. So that's where I moved funds from. >> So is that which which function was that in originally because I see that it's moving um >> 1107 12 into 12 >> right? So it's coming from 1107 which is technology education computer software. See the label. >>

018Well I see it's like I couldn't which function it was. So then it's going into 2313. >> Correct. It's coming out of 1107 into 2313. >> All right. So what um 11:07 I I don't have my 11:07 is going to be is that like in the high school or something like like education in the high school? >> It was actually in the administrative line the 00 line. >> It was not from a school. Uh, what's the if you have it in front of you, can you tell me what 117 is? >> One second. I'm not sure if I can look into that for you, Adrian, because I don't know if I can pull it up right now. Let me see. >> Going to go for the students. That's now going into the business office. you

019you were breaking up a little bit, but I I understand your concern, but what what I looked into that software was purchased previously at the end of last year for from title one and the software was prepaid. So, I know it wasn't going to be used in this um budget season because it was was a prepayment at the end of last year. We're not foregoing some software in the schools um like some education related software um in this transfer. We're just kind of speaking efficiency because we had more money than we really needed in that option. Is that correct? >> Yes. You're breaking in and out a little bit, but I I think what you're trying to say is it's not coming from a school or so the software from a school. It's coming from

020a prepayment from previous year. So I wasn't taking it from any school if that makes sense. >> All right. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Yeah. Sorry I don't power so trying to do this through. >> All right. That's my only question. Thank you. >> Thank you Adrian. Any other questions for Rita? Okay. Do you want to add anything else, Vita? >> I just He was breaking in and out. I just want to make sure I heard everything. Did you guys hear it? >> Yeah. I think he was he was making sure that um that the $43,425 wasn't coming from a school and so that it wasn't money that we're a school was losing and we're spending it somewhere else. >> No, absolutely not. It was something that I had researched and that we had prepaid

021for at the end of last year. So, it was already budgeted, but when we had to spend Title One funds, it was prepaid, if that makes sense. >> Yeah, that makes sense. Do you normally prepay for stuff like this? Is that standard practice to prepay? >> If you have the funds to prepay, you can you can do that. >> Okay. the alivoo we had to sign a contract because it's actually being implemented this year. We're doing the implementation and we should be able to use the budget module next year. >> Okay. >> So, this is going to pay for three years. >> That's good. And that's going to help the budget process be a little smoother, >> right? It's going to put extract the data right from einance >> into much improved. >> Yeah. Any

022other questions? Farita. Okay. I don't see any hands raised. So, you want to go to healthcare? >> So, the healthcare report from MDG is attached. Um, as I've said in the past, they do do this monthly report, but it is based on their budgeted um, Anthem rates. So, I'm not sure if it's really of a of assistance for you guys. I I'll wait till Kate then brings it up. Hold on. I mean, I think I just recently let you know that the reserve has $4 million in it. Um, OPED is a little bit short, so we do have to watch that um next couple months to see how it's doing. And if you'd like to see those reports, just let me know. Those come from the town. And >> can we see those reports next

023month? >> Yeah. I just I just think the MDG is kind of like showing you their the claims versus what they told us to budget, which might may not have been what we budgeted. And looking at the fund balance on a monthly basis, I think would be more um more beneficial. So, yes, you I don't know if you want to have both, Bev. >> Um, both would be good. >> Anything unusual on this report through December 2025? >> No, looked at it. It, you know, it's claims going up and down. >> Yeah. Our claims seem to go up and the town's claims seem to go down. >> Yeah. But it could be the reverse at next month or the next quarter. >> That's why I think we should just keep we should be also keeping

024an eye on the >> on the fund itself and the OPAD. >> Okay. >> I think someone has a question. >> Jane. >> Yes. Uh thank you Rita. Um I would be interested in seeing the other report uh that you're speaking of. Are you um if I understood correctly during the budget process you are now receiving uh monthly reports about the reserve? Yes, I have been receiving those um this year and I also Oh, sorry. >> Yeah, >> I was going to say if you can share those that that would be helpful though, you know, we we're used to seeing this report and what what this report says to me and correct me if I'm wrong is that based on budget. So, we budget 1 uh 181 uh million monthly for um healthcare cost and

025then um MDG gives us uh you know it's always lagging. It's it's the claims from a month or so ago. Um, but I mean at this point the trend is good in that um we've actually paid out uh $969,000 less than budget. Um so I mean that's positive, but um you know I I see where we did have a month where we were at 108% of budget. So you know obviously it changes every month. Um but theoretically that 969 is what um is contributing toward toward the reserve. I just don't know if they account for that monthly or if they just take a snapshot um you know I don't know when they take that snapshot. So I I want to explain that it's the budget that they told us to put in. That's not necessarily

026the budget that is in that was is what was approved. And to my knowledge, we reduced the budget for FY26 by $1.3 million. And that's not reflected on MDG's reporting. So, I do feel like it it's not a true picture of how we're doing budget versus claims. >> Does that make sense? >> So, now I wasn't aware that this um that this document did not take into account um use of the reserve. So it it it would be good to see a a bigger picture of of what's actually happening here, what we're actually contributing versus claims, >> right? That's what I'm trying to explain. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, I thought that when we so when we when we say we're going to use the reserve in in our budget, so to speak, it's my understanding

027we reduce the amount that we um put into the fund um and and that adjusts the reserve. >> Correct. >> So, these but it was never my understanding that these reports were not in sync with that. So, personally, I'd like to see where this report is in sync. Basically, um my understanding was so we took the the yearly budget divided by 12 and put it in um the uh you know, the board's budgeted amount. And so, I personally would like that number to to sync up. >> Yeah, I agree. I would have to h I would have to talk with MDG and and and have them have us meet about what is budgeted versus what they you know what they told us to budget basically >> right because to my way of thinking the Anthem

028renewal monthly um you know which is was it's just kind of a a fiction because we we're self-insured but >> um what we're setting aside side that should be one 12th of what we budgeted less what we used from the reserve by my way of thinking. So that when we look at that variance it's it's true. So I I appreciate you're pointing that out because um I think there's been a misunderstanding about what this represented over the years. So if we can get those in sync um I think that'd be much better. >> Yeah, I agree. So I will make a note to um con going forward include the I get a monthly I think I just got Januaries recently um from the town. Um, I also looked into when the town council approved the

02915% reserves and I have the date and the minutes from that u meeting that occurred I think December 24. So, um, I know somebody had wanted proof of when they decided on the 15%. So, I have that too for you guys. >> All right. Thank you very much. Any other questions on the front side of the handout? All right. You want to go to the chart side, Vita? >> Yeah, that's what Jay was just speaking about. Um, I really do think that this number is I can double check, but I I do believe that it's the Anthem projected rates, not what's actually in the budget or what's been being being contributed monthly. >> Caitlyn, the the chart is a little it needs to be turned lane. >> Yeah. I'm not sure how to do that,

030but um yeah, I'm sorry that it didn't that way. >> Any other questions for Rita? None. Okay. Thank you, Rita. >> You're welcome. >> Next item is director of facilities, but I don't see Sam on. Oh. Huh. >> Nope. Sam's not here, Susan. >> Well, I didn't know that he wasn't going to be here, but maybe he got involved with snow removal. I'll text him. >> See if Okay. >> All right. That's okay. All right. Next is committee reports. The first is policy. Sean, are you gonna report out on policy? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you, Sean. >> Um, we had a discussion of policy P51 1113-11, credit for work experience. We're going to talk about this in a little bit. This was approved for a first reading. It is a state required and and

031really formalized practices that are already happening at Fitch. So, that is something that we will look at as a board later on today. We had discussions around PR 3323 around purchasing. This is necessary uh talking to Rita from an operational standpoint. It'll be a first reading. Um discussion on P3160 line transfer items. We discussed this again at the meeting. It's still being updated and Rita you are coming to I believe at the next policy meeting with some additional information. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. Perfect. Um we had a discussion on P1330 the use of school facilities. Uh this was a really interesting discussion around utilizing it um leasing facilities out to folks. Uh we discussed it but we need more information on the current users and other aspects. So that'll be coming up sometime soon.

032Um and then the final thing we we discussed was committee goals and we have a good start to those. We'll formalize that next plan. Um the review of policies will begin with 000000 category. We'd like to add dated review by policy committee line just to be able to track things better and we'll look at that uh as a as a group. We have rel re received several um referrals from department of ed members over the past few weeks and we'll be looking at those. I wasn't able to circle up with Mike to see if we could get an updated uh document, but we'll get that out to the board in the next couple days. >> All right. Thank you, Sean. Uh curriculum Mitch. >> Hi. Sorry, I was trying to unmute. >> Um unfortunately, I

033don't remember the day we had our meeting. We did have a meeting. It was um uh Amarie Mancini was there. Um I was there. I believe Dr. Acriman was there. Uh we had a uh quorum. Um we had reviewed the results um and the uh minutes of two previous meetings from 2025 which I was not at those meetings for. and we listened to a discussion from the high school principal regarding um class rank which has now been referred to the uh um BOE as a discussion item. And I I I don't have my notes in front of me so I don't remember the date. I don't remember exactly when we started and I don't remember when we ended but it was fairly quick >> so that's the best I can do. All right. >> Thank

034you, Mitch. Any questions for Mitch? >> Let me do that this summer. >> Okay. Thank you, Mitch. >> Next is finance and facilities. Jen, >> hi. Um, we met first um Tuesday in February um at 6 um normal time. Um, basically what we did was we established or like discuss um goals. Um, hopefully when we meet next week um we can finalize or at least review um some of the goals um that were discussed. Um and um we also received um um a finance report from um Rita and a facilities report from Sam. We also um wanted to Oops, I don't have my notes cuz it's dark. Um so I don't have all of the specifics. I apologize for that. Um but um basically we did meet and we are meeting this upcoming Tuesday. Well,

035next week >> March 3rd at 6. Sorry. >> That's okay, Jay. Um Jay, communications. >> Yes, communications meets quarterly now. And uh I have a um email out there um uh checking to see if members would be available to meet before finance on March 3rd. Um uh it's um just a matter of um when others would be available and that was the only date that had come up so far. So I'm just waiting to hear back on that and hoping to meet then. If not then we'll we'll set a date. >> Okay. So, if you're on communications, try to get back to Jay about whether March 3rd at 5 will work for you. Uh because I think the topic, if I'm correct, Jay, is how to get the community engage in um in our budget

036coming out in support of our budget. Is that correct? >> Yes, that's correct. We um originally were planning to meet later in March, but after um your request uh we moved it up and unfortunately that was the only date that really uh worked for some of the um um administration that we would like to to be there. So I'm hoping that we can get together um before finance on March 3rd. >> Thank you, Jay. Um the next is AGSA GA border ed laison and I forget when that meeting was on January 28 2026 myself Adrian Dr. Mancini and Susan were there with the a GSA and the GA and we discussed some and anyone that were there please feel free to jump in and add to what I'm saying. We discussed some safety issues. Um,

037they also want us to look at the lockdown drills because they haven't been lock looked at since 2005. So, they like us to look take a look at that and see what other districts are doing in regard to lockdown drills. They also asked um when parents and students have community concerns, they seem to be taken more serious than the when then than when teachers bring up something. And um they like us when this happens for the board not to respond right away to refer it to Susan and let Susan get back to the board. Um, and that was a request that they had. Also, they want us to be very careful about focusing too much on test scores because there's a lot of variables with test scores. We know what the scores are, but sometimes

038and and this came from Waterford also, Waterford Public School, their administration said that they know the scores, but they're trying to find out why. What is the why behind the scores? So, if our scores are low, why are they low? And that's what we really need to get at and try to resolve that problem. Um, I don't know. Anybody else want to add anything? Susan, Amarie, Adrien? No, I think you really covered it, Beth. Adrian and we addressed some of the some of the um facilities issues at finance and facilities at the last meeting with Sam. Adrian, you want to add anything? >> Um, no, I don't I don't have anything to add. >> Okay. >> Dr. Mancini, >> I don't have anything to add either. >> Okay. Next is athletic fields. Um I don't

039think Mitch, you were not able to go to athletic fields, correct? You and Mike, because we had a board meeting. >> That's correct. >> Okay. Next is um Learn. Learn had a meeting on February the 12th and we had um the superintendent, the principal, and assistant principal from Waterford High School. Um they would they talked about um student data and um they do student shadowing and this was I talked to Dr. Mancini about this. I thought it was really interesting. They uh one of the staff members a teacher can shadow a student to see what a life of a student is like during the day. So the student has to agree to do it. They have to find a teacher that wants to do it. And the the student and the teacher, they traveled together.

040And the sis, the principal did it at the high school. He actually met the student at his house, went on the bus with the student and did everything the student did during the day. Um the assistant superintendent, the assistant principal did it also. And she her student had gym and the gym class was the pool. So she actually had to go swimming with the with the student, you know, and this is so they can see, you know, what the life how, you know, we know how we see things, but you don't know how the students are actually seeing things in their life in school. And they wanted to get that perspective. So I thought that was an interesting program that they have. They also have a cell phone policy. They they put their cell phones

041in in the caddies and they can't they can't use them during the day, but they can use it in the cafeteria. Um, what else do I have? Oh, something I had that was interesting. They did away. Let me see if I can find it. I'm sorry about this. Um, oh man. Okay, I can't find it. Oh, they got rid of they got rid of eight one half days for midterm and finals. I guess for midterms and finals, they had a half a day. So, they got rid of eight of those. Um, they got rid of eight of the one and a half days for midterms and finals. And they went to performancebased. So they got more hours back in instructions by doing away with the midterm and finals and going with performance base instead. I

042thought that was interesting. And okay, and also um at learn we talked about teacher residency program and they had 172 teachers in the last seven years and 95% of those teachers that went through that program are still teaching. So, that's a thumbs up for that teacher and residency program. And we do have a student in that program, don't we have Susan? Do we have anybody in that program? >> We've had a couple every year. I don't we don't have it in the budget for next year just because, you know, um we actually have quite a few. I I would have to find out from Lori how many total, but it's been a very successful program and each one is in a classroom now and doing a really superb job. >> Okay. >> And they also

043are talking about um looking at at the high school Waterford. I'm going back to Waterford. Looking at class offerings, maybe offer a class every other year. So instead of offering a class every year because they're having problems with the AP and not problems but with class sizes for AP and ECE. So maybe not offering the same class every year doing it every other year and uh and doing semesterbased courses courses instead of year-long courses. >> Yeah, that's similar to what we've been thinking about too, Bev. I think it's kind of a trend for all of us. >> All right. and they talked about absenteeism and that's about it. And uh oh, I did ask I learned um about class rank and uh Waterford, they don't have class rank. Killingly, Hadam, this is their last year

044class rank. Montville, no class rank. And a couple of other school districts have no class rank. So just to go along with what curriculum was talking about, I thought I asked that question to the board members at learn. And that's it for me. Uh the next is action items, consent agenda. Any questions about learn before I go on? Okay. Consent agenda. All matters listed under the consent agenda are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion. Points of clarification will be allowed. Um we have approval of special meeting minutes of January 28th of February the 2nd, February the 9th, February the 9th, February 12th, February 12th, all of 2026 and acceptance of gifts from Daniel Packer in restaurant and pub donated $150 in the form of gift cards to the mentor program.

045Um, do I have a Adrian? >> Oh, um, well, I'll I'll make the motion to approve the consent agenda, but I also have a clarification. >> Okay. Do I have a second to approve the consent agenda? >> Second from Mitch. >> Second, Mitch. Okay. Go ahead, Adrian. >> All right. So on attachment number four um under section three where it says comments from citizens on the first page um it states chairperson Washington referred this item to the facilities committee um and I'm you can speak to this Bev but I'm pretty sure that you said you would um bring it up as um in future board action to see if the board had interest in bringing that issue that um concern up. This is talking about uh Carl Franklin and the land um >> Oh, yes,

046I did. >> All right. Yeah. So, it just says in here that you referred it to the facilities committee. So, I just wanted to um correct the record there that you were going to refer it to the full board. Um and then on one other comment on the same thing on the bottom of page three, um it said under Mr. Johnson noted um budgeting support for pair of professionals and then finance commitment for IB testing. Um I read kind of a long thing on that um and and I think that that summary um is a little bit too short and it didn't really get the idea. So I would like to add um just that it say after that financial commitment for IB testing in concert with low number of awarded IB diplomas over the

047last four years. >> Could you um put that in writing and send it to Joyce Adrian if you don't mind? >> Yeah. Yep. No problem. >> Okay. And I think I said I would ask the full board if they are interested in in that referral for um from Mr. Call Franklin. So I'll be doing that. >> Y >> Okay. Any other suggestions or comments about the consent agenda? >> Okay. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda as appro as as amended as corrected say I. >> I. >> Okay. So that's Adrian said I. Dr. A, you said I. >> Yes. >> Um Ian. >> Yep. Mitch and Jay, I see their hands up. Jen, are you I? >> Yes. >> Okay. Sean. >> Yes, my hands up. >> Okay. All right. Thank you.

048Um, next on the agenda is a discussion and possible action regarding the FY26 budget transfers between functions in the amount of 1,71,975. And I'll make the motion to approve the FY26 budget transfers between functions in the amount of 1 million71,975. Do I have a second? Sean Sean, you have your hand up to second. >> No, it's been up. >> Okay. Do I have a second for that motion? >> Okay, Jen. All right, Nita, you want to talk us through it, please? >> Well, during my discussion, I did go through all the transfers in the white. That's where I come up with the 1 million71975. If you look on the page nine, that's where the um dollar figure comes from if anybody has any questions. So, it's all the transfers in the white, >> not in

049the blue. >> Yeah, blue and white. >> Yep. Okay. Any questions for Rita? I need to scroll up. No questions. Okay. All those in favor of approving the FY26 budget transfers. AJ, you have a question? >> No. Sorry, I was just in favor. >> A little too quick on the draw. All those in favor of approving the FY26 budget transfer between functions in the amount of 1,71,000 $975. I see hands. Okay. Adrian, Jay, Andrea, Mitch, Sean. Um, >> I'm a Oh, sorry, >> J. >> I'm a Yes. I just haven't figured out how to raise my hand on the phone. >> Okay, that's okay. Ian. Ian, are you there? >> Yeah, my hand my hands up. >> Okay. Um, and did I miss anybody? Dr. A. So, that's everyone. Mitch Mitch has his hand up.

050Okay, that's approved. Thank you. I didn't have any oppose or any abstensions, did I? Nope. Okay. Thank you. Next is discussion and possible action regarding No, sorry. Discussion and possible action regarding the approval of Fitch High School's music department's field trip request to Orlando, Florida scheduled for April 8th, 2027 through April 11, 2027. It's attachment 10. And I will read the motion because it's easier for me to do it this way online to approve Fitch High School's music department's field trip request to Orlando, Florida scheduled for April 8, 2027 through April 11th, 2027. Do I have a second? >> Yeah, second. Adrien, >> thank you, Adrian. Okay, we have Miss Sandra Brown online. And do you want to speak to your trip? >> Good evening. I hope everyone's warm. >> Yeah, >> I'm warm. I'm

051in my house, so I'm warm. >> That's right. Um, we had the trip originally approved for this April and um, after discussion with our boosters and the other music teacher and admin, we thought it would be a better idea to postpone for a year, give the students an opportunity to fund raise um, even even more. When we went to Hawaii, we had a lot of donors, which was fantastic, but we wanted to put more of the ownership on the students. Um, so that's that's the plan. >> Okay, >> you have your hand up. You have a question. >> Uh, no, that's a leftover from the vote. >> Okay. Any question, Mitch? >> Uh, yeah. I'm not familiar uh with this was um is so how much of this is being financed by student fundraising? >>

052Uh right now all of this will be um the students will have to fund raise to raise the money to go. Um but we will also be our our boosters are also open to supporting our students as well. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. So, the $2,000 cost per student could be offset by fundraising. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> And the chaperons will pay $1,000 a piece. >> Correct. >> Okay. Mitch, you have another question? >> No. Just raise my meant to lower my hand. Sorry. >> Okay. That's okay. Ian, >> uh yeah, I just want to check in. Um in regards to students that may come from um more difficult means, uh if my memory serves correctly, uh the boosters usually offer that's where the boosters come in is to help out with students

053that need uh financial assistance. >> Yes, Ian. Yeah, absolutely. Um, I I know my first year at Fitch, we went to Hawaii, which was an amazing experience. And um, I didn't let anyone tell me no, they weren't going to go. We made it happen. So, it was either fundraising or um reaching out to some some donors. Uh, but we we do not have any intent to say no. We intend to say, "How can we make this happen for you?" I I did ask Susan, I know we approve these trips. I asked Susan if it was ever possible that after you go on the trip if you can come back and give us a little like how the trip went. We never hear how the trip always. >> We always approve them, but that's it. We

054don't know, you know, what the kids learned or >> Well, you can come with us, Bev. >> Don't test me. that I think they did it for England. They had us with, you know, watching the videos throughout the whole thing and then coming back and same thing with Hawaii. So, >> I know that they have done that in the past. It is a good thing to do. We'll have to remember that. >> Um, Jen has a question for you, Miss Hall. >> Jen, >> hi. Um, since you're postponing, um, are there some seniors who will not be able to like experience a trip? >> That is a great question. We actually just got back from going to the Providence Bruins game on Friday night and um, our band, members of our orchestra and our choir

055all performed. So, that was our our mini trip this year. Um, and the idea is to go every four years on a big trip. So, our actual rotation would not be until next year anyway. Um, so when our seniors this year came as freshman, they had the opportunity to go to Hawaii. >> Okay. So, they were at least able to experience it regardless of um their grade level they were in. So, >> absolutely. Yes. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Yes. >> What kind of performance do they do? Oh, in Florida. Yes. Uh we we will be working um individually with uh different musicians and singers there. They will we will sing for them. They will critique us and then we'll do a bit of a competition if you want to call that a festival uh

056where we will compete against other bands and other choirs or orchestras there um for for an award. I'm not sure what day, but I do believe that the band will also march in a parade at one point. >> Oh, that will be fun. >> Yeah, >> that'll be fun. Is this during school vacation next year? >> No. >> Okay, so Okay, >> that's the bad part. >> U Mitch, >> what when is it that you're going? Um, it is >> it says April 8th through the 11th of 2027. >> Yes. Thank you. >> 2027, >> correct? >> Oh, okay. I I was going to say I thought it was 2026. I was gonna say I'm going to be in Florida. Tell me where you are. >> Okay. >> You can go too. >> Everyone can

057go. >> I know. Everybody should go. Everyone's going. >> Okay. Any other questions for Miss Hall? Okay. Seeing no hands up, I look one more time. See no hands up. All those in favor of approving the Did I miss somebody? All those in favor of approving Fitch High School's music department's field trip request to Orlando, Florida, raise your hand. So, I have Dr. A, I have Jay, I have Ian, Mitch, Sean, Adrian, Jen, are you a yes? Jen, >> she was saying her phone might >> uh go out. >> Go out because she's not had power. >> Adrien, >> I was a yes. I'm sorry. >> Adrien, are you a yes? >> I'm Yes. >> Okay. Jay. >> Yes. >> Okay. And Ian, you said you were a yes. Yes, that's correct. >> Okay, so

058that passes. Thank you very much, Miss Hall. >> Thank you so much. Have a good night. >> You as well. >> Uh, next on the agenda is discussion of possible action regarding a first reading of policy P5113.13, work study, student employment/credit for work experience. And that's attachment 11 in your board packet. And I'll read the motion. The motion is to approve policy P5113.13 work studies student employment/credit for work experience as a first reading. Do I have a secondandria? >> Okay. Thank you Dr. A. Okay. Um the principal is here to discuss that and I think so is Dr. Mancini. So, I'll turn it over to you, Matt Brown. >> And I have Amy McKenna with me, too, who >> Okay. >> presented to I believe policy. >> So, I'll let Amy go ahead and lead

059the way on this one. >> Hi, good evening everybody. Um, we're happy to answer any questions. I know the policy committee invited um Mr. Brown and I to just answer any questions about what the school is currently doing for credit for work experience. They allowed us to kind of do a deep dive with them into the policy and also work alongside them on a couple of revisions. So, we're here to answer any questions you might have on the policy. >> Did everyone get a chance to read the policy? Can you talk about the major revisions? You don't have to talk about everyone, but if there's any major ones you might want to address. >> I mean, I think when you kind of like look through it, there are a few highlights that I think are

060important. Number one, uh the school really does partner with the student uh in approving credit for work experience. Um we work very closely with the student, works with their administrator and their school counselor partner. Um they have to be eligible to receive credit for work experience which means they have to be a student in good standing. Uh they have to have a promise of employment from an employer and they definitely have to maintain good standing once they actually land that job for the work experience. Um the school does work alongside the employer in that regard. The student establishes sort of a documentation trail. One of the things that we we currently look at um hours for payroll um that's how we know how many hours a student is working typically in existing credit for work

061experience arrangements that have existed prior to the state policy. They they are pretty rare. We don't have too many of them. student usually does 60 hours of work to earn a half credit towards their graduation requirement. And in most cases, it's just that half credit. Sometimes students will earn another half credit if they work an additional 60 hours, but we do limit them to only earning one credit towards graduation. They have several other uh academic graduation requirements that they have to uphold. Um, and we have to limit the credit for work experience. >> And Amy, can you tell us why the work study student employment is a benefit to the student? >> Definitely. I mean, I think a lot of our students already have, you know, either, you know, summer jobs or weekend jobs. I

062think the more we can get students out into our community to give back to our community, I think one of our biggest employers for our students, believe it or not, city wreck and town wreck. kids are already asking for recommendations and references for things like that. Um, so I think certainly like working with Graten Youth is a huge huge benefit. But also what we are looking at for this program in particular is maybe to make our postgrad planning a little bit more robust. That's something that we've been working on quite a bit with our career pathways. So, we do see this state policy as, you know, kind of a a reason to recharge with some of those community partnerships that that we've been looking at to make sure that we are really supporting students in

063working with community partners, you know, such as partners in hospitality, uh, partners like Electric Bo, um, really seeking opportunities for students to learn learn a little bit about what they're going to love to do or at least enjoy doing uh learning, you know, what fits and what doesn't. And I think that a program like this is going to give them that chance. And then they get paid at the same time. And teenagers like getting new responsibilities when it means a little bit of pocket money. For sure. >> Thank you, Amy. >> Sure. >> Any questions for Amy or Matt? Okay. All those I don't see any hands up. So all those in favor of approving policy 5113.13 as a first reading, put your hands up. Okay. I have Ian, Andrea, J, Sean, Adrian, uh, Jen.

064>> Yes. Uh, who am I missing? Mitch. Major, are you in favor of approving um the work study student employment slashcredit for work experience policy? Mitch. Okay. Anyway, that's um seven approves the policy. Mitch, I I can't I don't see Mitch raising his hand or anything. So it it passes. Thank you Sean. Thank you Matt. And thank you Amy. >> Thank thank you. >> Thanks everybody. >> Thank you. >> Beverly. >> Yes. >> Sorry I lost I lost the picture on my screen and that's why I couldn't answer you. I was in favor. Okay. >> Okay. All right. You're in favor. Okay. Thank you, Mitch. >> Yep. >> All right. Next is new business discussion and possible action regarding a first reading of policy P3323 purchasing guidelines. And I'll make a motion to approve policy

065P3323 purchasing guidelines as a first reading. And that's attachment 12 in your packet. Do I have a second? >> I'll second this. >> Thank you, Sean. Okay. Um, anybody on the policy committee want to say anything about this or I can ask Rita to talk about it or Susan? >> I can talk. >> Rita's been spearheading this as she's, you know, cleaning up some things and getting everything in place here with these policies. >> Okay. >> Do you want me to talk Sean or Good, >> please? So this is a complete um not revision a complete completely new policy um and this is based on the shipment in Goodwin um and cave model policy um and it helps with you know the exceptions that need to be made um on a board of ed side

066of things as far as you know waiverss to exclude special education. Um, couple other things I think that's on page, let me see on the page four um of the would be the waiverss. So, this is just really needed um for my department to be in line with um what the ops review is was recommending on um purchasing. Anybody has any questions, I'm I'll be happy to answer them or try to. in >> I just wanted to um clarify. Yeah. So to my understanding this is one of the policies or this is one of the areas that the um operational review suggested that the board of education tighten up on. >> Is that >> correct? >> Yes. >> Correct. At the back of this policy is the appendix um A which is the federal guidelines

067which was never included in the policy which needs to be because that was a law that passed a couple years ago. So um that's appendix A. It's pretty lengthy. I'm not gonna read through it, but um basically this is the type of policy that I'm um comfortable with and and used to using for purchasing. But yes, Ian to your question. >> Thank you. >> Any other qu you all set Ian? >> Yep. No, I'm glad to see it come through and it looks uh pretty comprehensive. So, I think it's a great step forward >> and the policy committee looked at it a couple times and we've been through all the wording. So, I think I think it's a good policy. >> Any other questions about uh policy 3323? >> All right. All those in favor

068of approving uh the policy P3323 purchasing guidelines as the first reading, raise your hand. So have Dr. A, Mitch, Ian, and Adrien J. Jen, >> yes. >> Sean, >> yes. >> Okay. And myself, that passes 8 to Z to zero. Okay. Next um action item number five, discussion and possible action regarding approval of the preferred maximum class size guidelines. And the motion is to approve the preferred maximum class size guidelines and that's appendix I mean that's attachment 13. And Susan I'll turn it over to you. So, um, Adrian and I were discussing this just recently with Bev and, um, when he first was interested in maximum class size, as were many other board members, we looked at some research and I actually did some studies and um, gathered some studies. Yukon works closely with the

069superintendent and one of my requests was to look at class size. Um, and so I looked at that. I looked at other historical um studies that have been done and most of them I've said before to the board it's coming into numbers like 15 to 18 for the primary grades the littlest learners and then um you know that it measures up very similarly to what the board has had um the number I also have gone um Ann Marie and I have been going to faculty meetings at each of the schools the only place we haven't gotten to yet I think is the high school, but I did talk to and and ths River, but I did talk to um principal Gordono because we're planning on getting there too to find out what their results are.

070But I just, you know, it's it's a wonderful time for us to be able to hear what the principal's working on and to listen in on a faculty meeting, but then to just be there and be present and to take questions. And one of the thing questions I've been asking is what do you feel is the most appropriate class size? and and they basically we've also done this with the liaison group with the GA and they're kind of reporting what some of the studies have shown you know for the littlest learners it's it's nice to have that class of 15 to 18 um and they know that it can go up I would say that um the 25 number at Fitch and in some of our buildings doesn't really work out real well so we

071try to keep it under that like 20 you know 22 to 24 for the upper grades. Um but in talking to um principal Gardano, she was saying that um she knows that she has a couple classes because of the transient nature of her school, Saint Fames River Magnet, and being a military school where there's a a class that had started at 16 and is down to 11 this year. The summary went out. I think another one's coming in. But she says that's almost difficult for the teacher. There's not enough kids. And that's what I was hearing from some of the teachers, too. You don't want to go too low. You know, you need a valid class size, but then it's hard if they go way way up there in the 2425. Um, in my 12

072years here, I think Pleasant Valley had a time when there were 2728 in a fourth grade and we provided a um, you know, an extra um, parah educator in the classrooms and that was per their contract, but that was necessary, but it's it's tight and especially if you have the other adults in the class. So, I feel like this is really the preferred class size is really related. it relates to not only research but also what we're hearing from teachers and principles. So, um the 25 number I would say um it just depends on on the um you know for general music, for orchestra, band, chorus, they sometimes have to have the larger sizes to create the band. Um science I know they can't have in the secondary they can only have up to 24.

073So the principles will um schedule for that no more than 24. >> Okay. So the preferred maximum class size as of today for the board kindergarten to first grade is 20. Grades 2 to three is 23. Grades 4 to 12 is 25. Remedial self-contained 6 to 12 is 14. Remedial individual SLS small group is 40 and that's the total teacher load and special areas tech education 9 to 12 is 20 culinary arts 9 to 12 is 16 um general music K to 12 is 25 art 9 to 12 is 20 physical education 6 to 12 is 30 and guidance counselors on the ratio is 200 00 to 1, library media specialist 500 to one, special ed self-contained 12 to1 and resource room 20 to1. So any comments or suggestions? Ian and then Mitch. Thank you.

074Um the only thing I'm not seeing on the list here is I'm I'm curious to know how uh what kind of ratio are we looking at for a career counselor? Susan, did you hear Ian's question about the career counselor? >> I think it's within the realm of 200 to one. >> Okay. Is that where we're at now? >> Well, she mostly does um the junior and senior class. >> So, numerically like that works out. Is that the 200 to one? Um, I'd have to find out exactly um how what her case load is. I didn't >> didn't prepare for that, but I can get that for you. >> I appreciate it. >> Um, I'll just say in general, um, I'm probably going to vote against this. Uh, I'm I'm in favor of seeing the numbers

075lower. Um but uh I understand that that may not be uh possible to accomplish at this point in time but I I I think it's a matter of principle. Um I'm also thinking like you know moving forward looking at the budget looking at future investments. I think uh you know looking at the career counselor uh position. Um, and well, I think I think they we got to do some more research on that and and and get a good handle on what the ratio should be and also a 9 to 10 uh looking at like a early start because um a lot of times uh some kids are really eager to get on a path earlier in life. Um so, um things to look at for future future issues. Um >> well, and all of our

076counselors in middle school and high school um have had the Naviance program and do work on college and career readiness. So, just know that all of our counselors are very invested in that kind of work um at those middle and um high school years. But I would say that the numbers that the board their per your preferred max class size is even probably better than what's in the contract. But we just settled on the GA contract and there was no question right Bev as to changing the numbers I don't think. >> No question. >> All right. Well, again, you know, that's that's just my my position, you know, as as you know, my own my own experience, my own perspective. It's a matter of principle, >> but uh >> yeah, so I just say like,

077you know, back to the career counselor real thing, you know, that that's something I definitely think we should look at further in the future. Um because you know parents and caregivers out there are are um some people are are are paying for career counseling and and and um because they're not feeling they're getting sufficient assistance inside the school. So I think there's a matter of equity and accessibility that we have to take a look at. Thank you. >> Can I just ask a quick question based on what Ian's asking? Uh do the guidance counselors talk about careers also or is that strictly what the career counselor does? No, I would say and and because of some of our DODIA grants which really are based on career the one that's closing this year with Val that

078has been a real driver and that that um grant is affording a upgrade from Navian so that all middle school and high school will be able to do um a series of online and um teacherdriven um orientations on career and college. So that's work starts in sixth grade all the way through to 12th grade. So I would say that it's really been a push for us to think about, you know, what are they good at? What do they love to do? Um and really this is our opportunity in prek through 12 education to really you know offer many different choices for kids along with the course so that they really experience um what they might want to do in their future. >> Yeah. Yeah. I do agree with Ian on starting like ninth grade and

079to get them on the right path even earlier to get them on the right path. this way they know what classes to choose and you know know how to move forward. >> I'm I think we're all in agreement on that and we're all trying to work even harder to make sure that's happening for our kids. >> Uh thank you Susan Mitch. >> I I have a couple of questions about this. Uh it's lack of knowledge from my my end. Um, is this going to be an absolute requirement or is it a guidance document? >> I think it's more or less a guidance document. >> It's guidelines, right? >> Okay. >> Because one thing we have to think about, Mitch, is do we have the space and do we have the money if we need to

080hire more teachers? So, is this a guidance document? >> Okay. >> Yeah. driver is really the GA contract and even that has some leeway Mitch because it like I gave you the example of the Pleasant Valley that year that I came in and we had to add a par educator to the class because their class size was 27. So um you know I would say the GA is is more critical. This is guidelines and we try to stick to them. I mean we try to do this you know keep it lesser Okay, thank you, >> Adrian. And then Jay, >> all right. Yeah, thank you for that explanation, Susan. Um, let me just make sure. All right. Yeah, I'm unmuted. Um, so um I I kind of support looking into the um the career counselor

081that um you know that that Ian was um mentioning and I know we had just talked about that in budget. So I would be interested in some more um discussion on that by the board. Um, you know, I don't I don't know that it necessarily um that I it would hold up me voting on this, but I did want to mention that the GA and Susan kind of talked about this, but the GA contract is really written um from the teachers point of view, from the teachers workload, not necessarily um what we think is best for education. I think that's more or less um you know uh you know, it's kind of a tap out. I've got 27 kids in my classroom and I need help to be successful teaching. Um, so that's my int

082my my um understanding of the GA document and this document um in in my opinion um should mirror what the board feels would be the best class sizes um for educational um improvement given financial implications. Um, so these are just guidelines um for where we would like to be in in realizing that we can't um you know we we can't necessarily hold these numbers, but these might be something to strive for. Um so so with that um and with and with some of the data that um I know Susan and Ann Marie put together for us um you know I believe it was in September um about about that. Um I would I would like to make a motion to um just amend two parts of this. Um so the the kindergarten to one I

083would recommend um to just make it eight from 20 to 18 and then from grades 2 to three um recommend to move that from 23 down to 20. again realizing that this is um that this is just a guideline of where we would like to be and and you know next year in the in the budget that we just passed it shows um it shows that I believe all of our kindergartens are going to be at 20 or 21 students or something like that. Um so there so the class sizes are higher than the high school and and we don't actually have space to run um you know smaller kindergartens than that. So so we're going to have to do what we have to do. Um, but I would like to make that that motion

084um to try to go with the data on this um to try to improve and improve instruction for our for our youngest learners. >> I'll second that. >> Who is that? >> Thomas. Thomas. >> Okay. Any discussion on the motion on the floor? Um to reduce kindergarten and first grade from 20 to 18 and grades two to three and two and three from 23 down to 20. Any discussion? Jay Jay, you have your hand up. >> Yes. My discussion was about the main motion. I I didn't realize Adrian was going to make a um an amendment, but basically um you know, I'm all for lower class sizes. In fact, I think we're all aware that the state of New York has mandated uh lower uh class sizes and maybe Connecticut will do that as well.

085But my concern is having two documents out there, the confusion um in the public. I I certainly would like to to get class sizes as as low as um the science says that uh that they should be um to provide the best education. But if a parent comes to us and says, "Well, the teachers agreed on this number, the board has this number, my class is higher than your number, I want you to bring in a parah." I think it it creates confusion. So, it's one thing to have a document that in a perfect world, this is what we would do. But by having two guideline documents out there, I think it's very confusing. I never understood why the board had um two different documents going. Um I would have thought class size would be

086something that we would work with the um teachers uh union on. So, that's my only thought. Okay. >> Thank you, Jay. Ian, you have your hand up. >> Oh, yeah. Um, to Jay's point, I think, um, well, as Adrian said, I I think the the way I interpret the contract language is that that is a fail safe. That that's a that's a catch basin. Um, that's a back stop. um where they have like you know um basically yeah it it's a break in case of emergency like um for excessive sizes like that's a hard stop at 27 um what we're going for what our goal is is something different I I can live with that duality I I think you know if we just refine the communications on that um I think it's it's it's

087it's it'd be It's just a matter of like refining the communication so that we can explain anytime that comes up that you know the the whatever is in the contract that's a hard backs stop to protect the teachers. Um so they have they're backed up by the the contract so that they they know that you know if the class sizes gets pushed to a certain level that they they have that tap out. Um that's protection for the teachers. But the goal for what we're striving for our our our um steady state so to speak to to to you know invoke Dean Antipass's favorite phrase um you know would be striving for a lower number um but in cases of like you know some fluctuation since we have a dynamic population um you know the language

088and the contract is there as a back stop protection for the teachers. So I think it's just a matter of looking at the communication. >> Thank you. Thank you, Ian. Uh Mitch and Jay, >> um hi. Uh with with regard to the uh career counselors that you talked about earlier, >> um years ago when uh Dr. Arian was a principal, she used to have a uh a career day, which I understand went over very well. Did do they still do that? And is that something that Dr. Rakman might be able to talk about a little bit to educate the people that are listening on this conversation. >> Susan or Amory, do we still have a career day? I think we do, don't we? >> We have different versions of it. I know that um with

089our career pathways, our eighth graders go up and they are able to go into the classrooms at the high school where there are certain career paths like culinary and >> um you know the different offerings that we have the business and they're able to really experience it >> program at the prison. >> Dr. Mancini, >> the middle school just this past year had a career day that Ben Moon ran and coordinated um uh as a part of the career pathways program and he brought in a number of different uh businesses and organizations that um they had different stations that the students could visit and different uh I don't say yes different stations and organizations and students uh visited a number of you know the different organizations they talked with them. They had prepared questions. It

090was really a positive event I attended and um I know that he wants to do it again this year because he got great feedback from the kids about it and I believe it was eighth graders but it may have included seventh and sixth graders as well. >> Yeah, that was a good event and Marie >> and we even had our N our NDCC there. Um and the Navy was there and EB and like many of our partners. Yeah, that's more along the lines of what I was thinking. Thank you very much. >> It was great, Jay. >> Yeah, just one more quick thought. Um, since we're getting on to what what our actual reason for making this vote tonight, um, is, you know, would would we agree then that this document will drive our budget

091for next year? uh when we go into the the budget um that we're going to aim for these class sizes or is it just this is what we wish we could do if all the stars were to align? I mean, I think we need to make it clear. Ian said, you know, we're going to have communication. Um so the contract is the um the stop and that also triggers certain things like adding more bodies to the over um the already overcrowded crowded crowded classrooms. Um so when we get too many students in a classroom, we bring in more staff to overcrowd the classroom more. That's how the contract works. So with this guideline, are we committing to to budget next year um for these new um uh class size um you know board policy? >>

092Anyone want to answer that question? Um I would say yeah let's like let's I I would be fine with using this as a guiding document to try to like you know target the budget better because you know again like at the end of the day like the budget's all about um you know maximizing impact on students and staff. So, like if uh you know, and also moving forward looking at the contract, I mean, I think Jay brings up a good point there, too, that that you know, maybe the remedy should not be putting more people in the classroom, but you know, splitting the class up and and finding a way to deal with that. Um, but yeah, I think if we're going to if we're generally interested as a board in in having lower class

093sizes, especially at the foundational level, then let's make that commitment. I mean we have been making we've been moving that direction already um with some of the investments that we've proposed since budget and the year before where we wanted to you know in increase staffing levels at the elementary levels. Um so uh yeah I would be fine with using this as as something to prompt our budget discussions. Thank you. >> Can I can I add to that Ian and Beverly? Um, the other thing I think if if this Mary Morrison project comes to fruition, like we're hopeful it will, and we're able to eventually move all of our three and four year olds into that school to have an early childhood center, that's going to free up some classrooms at Thames River and Mystic River.

094So, you could then feasibly, you know, this could happen. we were concerned about not only the finances of hiring the extra teachers but also the space issue. So, you know, I think that these projects kind of go coincide for our early childhood elementary laying that strong foundation which I hear board members talk about quite frequently and I appreciate. I wonder if we went with these lower numbers in K through three and we used the same number of students we have now, what would that look like for our budget now? How many teachers would we have to add and how much would that cost us if we did this now? just to get an idea of the financial impact this will have on us because I hate to vote to for something and I don't know

095what the financial impact is going to be on us. And the second thing um when we did talk to the GA they they said that that they were more concerned with the makeup of the class than actually the class size. They're more concerned with who the students are in the class and um than the class size. I just talked to somebody else about that today and they said the same thing. >> You know, the makeup of the class is extremely important >> and I heard that too at my um my listening tour. >> Yeah. >> You know, after school with the teachers, they did talk about that. >> Okay. All right. So, I'm gonna um take a vote on Adrienne's motion um to move >> have this is Joan. >> Uhu. >> Who second the

096original motion being called for a second >> on the first motion? >> On the main motion. >> Uh oh, you know what? I don't I didn't write it down. Um, I made the motion. Did who second the main motion to approve the preferred maximum class size guidelines? Do I have a second for that one? >> It was me. That was me, Thomas. I second both of them, I think. >> Okay. I didn't write it down, so I apologize. >> Oh, good. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. So, let's um take a vote on the amending the amendment to reduce K class um grades K and 1 from 20 to 18 and grades 2 and three from 23 to 20. If you're in favor of that amendment, raise your hand. So, I got Adrian, Ian, Sean.

097Okay. Yeah, I didn't see your hand. >> I know. >> All right. So, that fails. Three in favor. Um, five oppose and no abstensions. >> No, the Mitch is an abstension. >> Oh, Mitches. >> Yes. >> Okay. Mitch is an abstension. Okay. So, three in favor, four opposed, and Mitch Sings. Uh, so that fails. >> Yeah. Bev, do you mind do you mind um just clarify just asking who's opposed >> just to make sure that everyone's connected in? >> Okay. Adrian was opposed. >> no. Adrian's opposed. >> Jay's opposed. Dr. A is opposed. And I'm opposed. And in favor was Adrian, Sean, and Ian and Mitch Sane. J. >> Yeah, I would just like to explain um my vote. I know we don't have to explain our votes, but um I am concerned about what

098this is going to cost and um having had situations in the past where we voted for something before we knew what it was going to cost and it came back. Um I I am at this point um not that I'm against lower class sizes at all, but I'm against voting for things that um will affect our budget um without having any numbers and um so that that's why I'm voting against it at this time. >> Thank you, Jay. Okay, so now let's take a vote on the main >> I had a question on the main motion. >> Go ahead, Ian. Uh so um these numbers, do they include students that are not um students that are that that push in from time to time uh that are not like full-time members of a class? Um

099you know, students with an IEP that that that may not be in a class the whole time the whole day like in a given class, you know, they shift around. >> Okay. Susan, you have an answer to that? >> We do. It's in the contract and it's also as we go through and keep track of enrollment throughout the year and starting with the October one numbers we absolutely account for the children who are in um ABA um at Mystic um River and also the academy at the river and then there's another program at CK. So we are mindful of the kids who are pushing in and >> and the high school as well. High school and middle school. >> Yep. Okay. And so they're they're counted as one of the numbers was one of the

100members of the class. >> Yeah. >> Very good. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Okay. So, all those in favor of approving the preferred maximum class size guidelines attachment 13 as recorded in attachment 13. And we'll get back to the get back to everybody about the career counselor position. Um, raise your hand if you're in favor of attachment 13. >> I don't see any. >> Okay. Nobody's in favor of uh the preferred maximum class guidelines as recorded in attachment 13. >> My hand is up. >> Your hands up, Dr. >> Yeah. Yep. >> Okay. Uh Mitch, how do you vote? >> I'm abstaining. >> You're abstaining. Jen, >> I'm no in regards to like what Jay had mentioned for the prior vote. >> Are you No, against what we have in the packet. >>

101Correct. Just in the same mindset of what Jay had mentioned with the lower numbers, I am with this as well. >> Okay. Um, Dr. A is a yes. Jay, >> again, I'm voting no. Um, I don't think there's any, um, need to, um, I don't think that, um, there's any urgency about this. And by voting no, um, you know, I'll be able to, uh, to bring it up again. Anybody that votes no could bring it up if, uh, if they voted against it. Is it the no people that could bring it up or the yes people? You better check on that, Jack. >> Adrian, >> um I'm going to vote. Um yes. Um and that's specifically I I I don't necessarily agree with those caded three, but I appreciate the um the will of the

102board. Um, but I am going to vote yes. And that's specifically so this does get filed because I I am concerned that this document will just disappear if we vote no. Um, it won't come up again. Um, so I am going to vote yes for this. >> Okay. Thank you, Adrian. Ian, >> uh, just a a quick side note on parliamentary procedure. I believe whoever has whoever is on the prevailing side would have the ability to bring it back for reconsideration. >> Right. That's what I thought. >> Yeah. So if the document if so so if this >> the no people when they could bring it back but the yes people when they could bring it back. >> Exactly. >> Yeah. Okay. How do you vote? >> I I I remain I'm going to vote

103no. >> Okay. Um, Jen, Mitch, Sean, >> I'm going to vote no based on the same reason everyone else gave. >> Okay. >> And I'm going to vote yes. So, the no has it. Um, you can bring it up at a different date. So, we don't have any class size guidelines as of today. except for what's in the GA funds act. Okay, thank you very much for that. So Joan, that failed. We don't have any past guidelines. >> And the vote was four nos, three yeses, and one abstension. >> Yes, that's what I got. >> Okay, moving right along. Um, let us >> Bev. >> Yep. >> Uh, just a quick clarification. Um, the board votes on this every year. I'm not sure why because it it never changes. So, I'm just wondering the one

104that was last voted on is still in effect. Right. >> Right. >> We We haven't We haven't actually revoked that one. >> No, we haven't. >> Okay. So, just just to make that clear. >> Okay. You're welcome. Okay. Um, next is letters, communications, and comments by board members on meeting items and other items in their jurisdiction. Um, Aan, you have your hand up. >> Yeah, I was just going to um, really quick, I just wanted to voice um, appreciation for Black History Month because I think this is the only meeting that we're going to be able to just acknowledge that. Um, I realize that the schools uh discussed this in the classroom, but I wanted to acknowledge the commitment and benefits to our country um that we've beened, you know, by many of the black

105leaders throughout America's history. So, um, again, just an acknowledgement to Black History Month. >> Okay. Thank you, Adrian. Ian, uh, >> appreciate Adrian bringing that up. Um, I also feel the same way in that regard. Um some communications uh I received uh early this this month there was a uh there was a walk out at uh Fitch in regards to um a demonstration against uh ICE and um I took it upon myself to observe that that event and in doing so I met a couple parents and um we did receive a communication from one of the parents. Uh, and now most of the students that that were there and the parents that I talked to, they were fully aware that they were going to receive some discipline. That was part of the civil disobedience. That

106was part of the whole um process of what they're trying to do. And um so one of the parents sent an email in I believe and it went to the full board uh where they're just saying that um they're hoping that you know moving forward the school would uh would emphasize the fact that the the students are being punished for for you know the breaking of of policy for leaving unattended or leaving a class unexcused or or whatever it was that they were uh in violation of. And it was not the message that they were saying, it was the fact that they chose to leave school to do it. Um, and they had expressed in this email that uh that you know it's a good learning opportunity like as far as like the history of

107civil disobedience in this country and what what that's done for our democracy. Um, so I I just uh wanted to take a chance to to to emphasize that and I also just wanted to to um note my appreciation for the finance director and um in the budget process that we just went through and also hearing in her report earlier tonight about uh the software that's coming online um for next year. Uh so I look forward to uh uh further improving the process and um definitely very appreciative of of uh her guidance and and knowledge. Um, oh, one thing, the other thing I heard from, um, in regards to that, uh, the walk out, um, some of the students, uh, seemed to be concerned that the, uh, the policy of like how the school deals would

108deal with an incursion or or an attempted incursion by uh, those officers. Um, I know we discussed this uh back in 2025, early 2025, January I believe, and uh we reaffirmed our policy about, you know, judicial warrants and all this and all that. But I think what I got from some of the parents is that they they weren't clear they didn't get a clear communication when they asked um uh staff that they they had direct contact with um what the policy was and how it would be rolled out. So, I guess, you know, just um moving forward, if if I'm not sure what the administration is doing as far as like communicating all the way down the chain of command to make sure that everyone's on board and understands what the one two three-step policies

109are and and how they're supposed to react in a given situation, you know, primarily like teachers and site administrators. Thank you. >> So, Ian, I'd like to respond to that. Last year, we did a lot of work when this first came to our, you know, attention with policy and also presenting to the staff, um, presenting to the admin so they were really fully aware, um, and then letting parents know. And a whole year later, I did that on January 31st, 2025. So, um, the week after I, well, it might have been around the same time frame. Um we we reposted and we sent out parent square messages. Um talked to the principles who are um making sure that the staff is very much aware. Um the only ones who wouldn't have known maybe weren't here

110with us, but everybody else was really informed. So um but I appreciate that. um you know that that is a concern and it's a concern for all of us and it's it's something that does need a refresher if you know what I mean but it's exactly a year from the date that we first submitted it that we kind of resubmitted it um you know for people to be aware and it was a question that in the town hall that we had at Fitch where about 700 kids stayed and want and were very respectful um and then we had people from around the town including Chief Assaro talking to them, but they were really curious about how they would keep safe and um I thought the chief did a great job and other speakers did a

111great job um informing them that they are safe in our schools. >> Understood. I appreciate the feedback and I would just also note that yeah, I I observing the whole event and and I do appreciate um the superintendent and what you did um as far as organizing the town hall inside the school as well. Um, so is it is good to see that duality occur, you know. So I I appreciate your response to the situation as well. It's a difficult position to be in and I think you handled it as about as best as possible. >> Thank you. But I have to commend the admin team at Fitch because they also allowed kids to stay in their advisory period if they didn't want to participate. So kids had several choices that they could make. So,

112you know, um we just wanted them to be safe and they were and I heard they did a good job down at the the town hall in town, too. So, >> they did is is Yep. >> So, >> much appreciated. Thank you. >> Thank you. Jay, you have anything? >> Yes, Bev. Um first of all, um I'll send a copy of this in case anybody missed it. the day um did an article about Fitch High School being designated as a heart-safe school and I just wanted to uh mention that um high school senior Samantha Morren who's president of the club that that led the effort to help the school be more prepared to respond to cardiac emergencies also worked with Karina Vanderberg teacher and club adviser um and they took uh steps to uh do

113fundraising to add another um automated external defibrillator to the school, making sure all the existing AEDs had all their proper supplies, helped with additional CPR trainings, and holding an emergency drill. So, I just want to say I I appreciate what those students and and teacher uh did to uh help Fitch uh receive the designation hearts safe school. Um, so I'll send that article in case um, anybody missed it. Um, also I want to say thank you to Adrian for um, acknowledging um, Black History Month. Um, thank you for bringing that up. Ian uh, mentioned the email, very thoughtful email from the parent who I think made very good points about there were consequences for what they did. um but that it should be understood that they if if they received I I personally don't know

114um uh what happened to to those students but if they did receive it was due to school policy. Um and again I make these comments as a as an individual not as a board member. So this is nothing official. Um, however, I think this is one of those situations where um they got into what uh Congressman John Lewis would call a little good trouble. >> Uh, Mitch, you have any Thank you, Jay. Mitch, you have anything? Mitch? >> No, I'm good. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, Jen, >> I'm all set, Beverly. >> Okay. Dr. A >> no, I'm all set. >> Okay, Sean, >> I'm all set. >> Okay. Um, we did I I don't know if the board received it, but we did receive a nice note from Juliet Parker for Mayor Parker about

115Jacob. I don't know his last name, Susan. >> Oh, yeah. >> Who spoke at the Black History Day event on Saturday at the city municipal building. Um they were very very happy with the words that he with the with the speech that he gave. Um they said >> he's so impressive. He did another speech. He he was the first one who spoke up at our own pitch high school town hall about ICE and he was just so articulate. I think he made a few people cry. I mean he just and then he wanted but when I talked to him at school and asked him to join us or join you know I wasn't able to join but Rebecca and the whole crew who went to the city he said he'd love to but he wants

116to he wanted to create another speech for black history so he he took the time just a wonderful student. >> Yeah >> we have so many of them. That's what we have to be so proud of. We have so many wonderful kids. >> Yeah. Juliet was very happy that he um was able to come and give a speech. Um I do have some communications from board members about referrals. So, um we'll see how this goes. I'll give you the referral, then I'll go down the line and see how many people want to move it forward. If I get the majority, then we it goes forward. The first one is the purchase of the land property adjacent to Fitch High School being sold by Mr. call Franklin if you want to move this forward to facilities.

117Um, raise your hand, Ian. Um, please. Okay. All right. So, we have five. So, that moves forward to facilities. I'll send it to facilities. >> Was I included in the five? I'm a yes on that, Beverly. >> Okay. I didn't write down names. I'm just counting. If I get the majority, it just goes forward. Okay. >> Okay. >> Um, number two, Sean would like the policy committee to review policy 3542-43 has to do with food service charging policy because, you know, we have a uh outstanding balance for unpaid lunches of about $40,000. So Sean would like um the policy committee to do this policy. Sean, do you want to speak on it? >> Yeah, I was brought to my attention that we have already this year over $40,000 in student uh lunch meal debt. And

118uh it's very concerning to me. I know that we had some changes in the way that uh Fitch was funded. and uh would love to review this and set up a policy to make sure that this gets covered so that it's not a >> a fee that that the food services team has to encumber. and it adds a lot of stress to them and they're trying to figure out a process and they've talked about even um sending collection notices to families and I would really like a policy around this to really help us out and better approach this and be able to um make sure that no student goes hungry. >> Um they talked about collection but that is not going to happen. I don't want that to get out there that that we're gonna

119go we're gonna send a collection agency after these families that haven't paid their bill. But we it was discussed but it we're not doing that. >> I still think we need a policy. >> Yeah. I'm not saying we don't need a policy. I just don't want that out there that you know we're going to have send these people to collection. I just want to clarify that. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Beth. >> Yeah. So, um that would go to the policy committee to review that policy P3542-43. Um who would like that to move forward? Okay, I got five people. That's good. Okay. The next one is uh referral that the board consider a policy that all lawsuits filed against the district or the board or employees um be reported to the board in a what

120Ian wrote within 30 days um by their superintendent or attorney. Ian, if you want to say something about that. Um, yeah. I mean, I think I got it all in their sentences, but basically, I just think we should make it a matter of policy that, um, you know, we get notified in a time um, when things like that happen. >> Okay. All those in favor of that, moving that forward, raise your hand. >> Casey. >> Okay. >> I have a one, two, three, four. >> I'm a yes on that. >> Okay. Five. Okay. So, I'll move that to policy. Okay. Number four is um a referral to the policy committee to review or modify policy P9132 um slash9133. It has to do with committees and advisory committees. Um, this is about negotiations if I'm not

121mistaken. How we um do negotiations. I think it came from Adrian. He's not happy or how we do I don't want to speak for him, but that's what it seemed like in his comments how we do um negotiations and if if the board needs to have more say in the process. Adrien, you could speak on that. >> All right. Yeah, thank you. I I don't know that I'm unhappy about it, but I think it could be um improved and I'm I'm on negotiations now, but policy as I understand it currently um negotiations to kind of inform >> Adrian, you're breaking up. >> Um >> Adrien, you're breaking up a little bit. >> All right. Yeah. Um All right. Let me um go back to the other screen. >> Is that any better? >> Yeah, it

122sounds better. >> Yes. >> All right. Um All right. Yeah. So, sorry. I'm trying to do like multiple screens on my phone here and I think it's losing for some reason, but um but yeah, currently um currently the negotiations committee kind of operates independently of the will of the board. Um so board members have in the policy to voice an opinion. Um but the negotiations committee has um they don't have to actually even acknowledge any opinions even if it even if it's by the um by the majority of the board. Um so so currently negotiations um is supposed to inform the board of of upcoming negotiations. um which I think we we might have to improve just the the function of that in the future. But um but also just kind of informs the board

123of what's going on of of negotiation, but um but um board members really don't have any way to say um what they'd like to see in the negotiation if there's if there's improvements in areas that um that they think might be a benefit to the contract. um you know, not not just the not just the bottom line numbers, but also the the the other things that go in along with the um with the contract. So, this policy um we've been told by the attorney is is um something that other boards do um where the negotiations committee just kind of operates um because obviously we don't want, you know, nine board members to be involved in the negotiation. Um but this at least um would would uh tell the board the negotiations committee to negotiate towards

124what the will of the board is. >> Any comments? Okay. All those that want to move this forward um to policy raise your hand. Okay. So, that fails. Only three people had their hand up. All right. Next is a referral to review um policy 1312 and it's about complaints. It's that all complaints beacted as to honor all established privacy and jurist prudence concerns are reported to the board of ed within 30 days of a status change including initiation of any such complaint. And that comes from Ian if you want to address that Ian. Ian. Ian. >> Yep. Sorry. Um, >> okay. >> Did you hear what I said about about the referable? Which one it is? >> Yeah. Yeah, I got all that. I'm ready to I'm ready to explain it. Um, >> okay. So

125yeah, this dates back to a couple situations where I was just looking to create I think the board should have some kind of report from administration that can um show us how a complaint is handled and resolved and on what level without revealing the private concerns of the complaint or without like compromis romising our quasi judicial status um you know should any complaint ever escalate to a hearing. But my concern had to do with uh you know the timeliness with which complaints are handled to to make sure that they they are taken on board and they are you know either addressed on the most immediate level or if they are escalated to the next level that that they're escalated in a timely manner and that everything kind of proceeds through the pipeline. Um, I'm not

126going to go into the details, uh, but, you know, there was a couple situations, um, in the past couple years where it seemed like there was a bit of a log jam of some kind or something. It was unclear as to like, you know, how complaints were moving through the system. And I was just looking for a way to to make it part of um part of part of our just established policy that you know we get um you know and and and and and also like you know having like results pop up in the newspaper uh before we're even notified like that was a bit of a surprise um in one particular situation. So again, like you know, just keeping the board in the loop. That's all. You know, >> I think uh Ian,

127I think the the policy committee will get to this policy because they're doing the the zero series and then the complaints is in the 10,00 series. So you'll be hearing about that shortly, but we So it's going to go to policy one way or the other. Even if people don't vote for it to move it forward, it's going forward anyway because the policy committee will be reviewing the thou the zero series and the 1000 series and then the 2000 series and so forth. So, all right. But this makes it clean, too. All those in Jay, any questions for Ian Jay? >> No, I'm sorry. I was just voting for this. >> Okay. All those in forward in favor of moving uh this forward, raise your hand. I see four. >> I'm I'm in support too.

128>> Okay, great. That's a yes to move forward to policy. >> Okay, thank you, Ian. And the last one um is um Sean, you have a question? Sean, you have your hand up. Okay. Um, the next one is um referral to consider making it a matter of policy for administration to craft an annual calendar for board of ed deliberations as we transition from superintendent proposed to board of ed approved. that is as detailed, articulated, pre-planned, and over a similar span of time as the one that town council produces every year. Um, this is Ian's um deferral if you want to speak on that, Ian. >> Um, yep. Uh, so yeah, I think it I put a lot into that explanation, so I think it's pretty straightforward. Um but uh you know anyone that's been on

129the board with me for any number of months now knows knows my uh um desire to have a more formalized and a predictable manner in which we handle the budget. Um and that would also include like forming like a doing as a committee of the whole meeting that's recessed. Um, so it's it's a bit of a parliamentary uh, you know, procedure thing, but uh, really I think it would it would help us kind of like just uh move through the thing more efficiently. Um, >> do we have to have a policy, Ian, or can you can we just request like the superintendent and the business and the director of finance do this? >> I I would I would want to see like I want to see something that exists beyond this board. like I I

130feel like this is something that needs to happen um you know for the board whether we're the members of the board or not. I think it's a thing that we have to do. Um >> but you know what actually happens >> and I've already I've already asked we've already asked in the past for for this to happen like the ad hoc budget procedure committee you know and the re the recommended recommendations that we put forth were that was part of it. So, um I would like that. So, you know, it has been asked. >> Oh, okay. I didn't realize you wanted it as like the town council. I think that's a simple thing to do um to do do the agenda like the town council. I also asked when I first got on the board,

131why why they didn't recess? Why did they adjourn? Because my prior life on the board, we always recess their budget meetings. We didn't adjourn, but it seems like they change and this is what they do. But I I was really thinking that this is something we could just ask and not make a policy. But if you feel we need a policy, that's fine. We'll take a vote to move it forward. >> Can I ask Ian a clarifying question, Beverly? >> Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. >> So Ian, the way Joan is able to um set it up in the minutes where she goes over every function, is that what you're looking for? >> Uh No, I mean I'm looking to mimic the process that that occurs on the town council and the RTM. Um and and

132you know so I I think you know we should look at that and you know I don't want to get into it now because it's like I don't you know I don't want to you know get into you know it's a detailed discussion but it's a matter of like establishing like the committee of the whole meeting and then like having the calendar of functions so that we know which days we're doing what and and um also like you know the formality of the votes to do like a line item vote on common tracker that sort of thing like you know it's basically an extension of what the ad hoc budget procedure committee was doing before. So maybe it might make sense for finance or policy to handle it and also so the community can know

133and have some predictability when they tune in as to what's going to be handled on any given night. >> Yeah. That's almost like what's in the minutes too. >> But after the fact. >> Yeah. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Put it before the fact. Remember, I showed it to you the other night when I Yeah. before the >> Yeah. We just want to have it published and have it be a thing that happens no matter who's on the board. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> We did have some successful nights where we were able to even continue that conversation. So, we're able to get further along. So, sometimes it's hard to gauge how much we're going to actually accomplish in all of that. Okay. All those in favor of moving this forward, I will move it

134to finance because um it has to do with the budget. So, I'm moving it to finance first and then see what they come up with and then to and then we could send it over to policy. They can do it together almost. Okay. So, we got Ian, Aunt, Adrian, Sean, Jay. >> I'm in support. >> Okay. That moves it forward to finance. Okay. Uh so we're all set with the referrals and the next item is the future meeting dates. The only date that will be different >> is the >> Beverly. >> Yeah. >> Oh, sorry. Before we move off the um suggested agenda items, um I just wanted to bring up two things that um the curriculum committee um sent to the board for discussion, but I don't see them on the most recent tracker.

135Um so the last meeting that I had as chair of the curriculum meeting on December 1st, um we sent two things to the board. I sent you in a December 2nd email. Um the two things that were um in the committee voted unanimously to um send to the board for discussion in the CO were um one it was consider current and future world lang language offerings and the second was discuss student performance on AP and IB tests. So I don't know that that's because it's coming out of a committee I'm not sure how we handle that but um >> I just wanted to kind of bring that up. student. Could you tell me that again? Student. Go ahead. >> Yeah, I can forward you the email from December 2nd, but it was um so the

136first one was um to consider the current and future world language offerings and the second one was to discuss student performance on AP and IB tests. >> Okay, I'll send it to curriculum. I'm I'm going to need a little bit more clarification. >> We already talked about those in curriculum. >> Yeah, we've we've talked about it. We've talked about both in curriculum. I and I gave deep very detailed reports on both. So, I'm going to need a little bit more direction on on what exactly we would want. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Well, we could you could just go back and listen to that meeting from December 1st, but um but we voted on we because we talked about both of those things in curriculum. Um and in that December 1st meeting, we we kind of

137went through some of the things that we had talked about in the fall and those were the two things that we voted um to send for um for the CO for the CO to discuss. So So yeah, we did talk about them in curriculum, but we um in that meeting we voted to um we voted to send them to the to the board for discussion. >> Is that your understanding, Amarie? I'm happy to present um I'm happy to present the IB and the AP scores to the board. Um but I believe Mr. Brown did that as well when the uh when when all of the principles presented their student achievement scores. Um so I feel like that would be a repetitive um presentation. Uh again, that that went to the curriculum. Uh I not only

138did I present the information, but I there was a supplemental document that had all of the information. Then Mr. Brown came forward and presented to the to the board just like all the other principles did. So I I again I'm happy to present it another time. I I just don't know what else what additional information um you know we're looking for in terms of uh the world language. Again, that I'm happy to present that to the full board because that went to curriculum, but um I would I would need additional information about about what that what that would what that would uh involve. >> Okay. I I'll listen to the tape. What What day was it? December 2nd. Yeah. December 1st. >> December 1st. Okay. Okay. Thank you, Adrian. >> Yeah. And I'll I'll I'll

139resend that email out from December 2nd. >> Okay. All right. For the future meeting dates and calendar items for board attention. The only changes um communications, they will not be I don't think they'll meet on March 26. Hopefully they can meet on March 3rd and they can help us with um community engagement for our budget. Okay. And any suggested agenda items other than what Adrian brought up? If you have any suggested agenda items, just um forward them to me or Susan and we'll take a look at them. All right. Um Dr. A, your turn. Motion to adjurnn. Do >> I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay, it is I think it's 8:17. Sean and Andrea and 8:17. We are adjourned. Thank you everyone. And um stay safe, stay warm, and no school tomorrow, right

140Sus? >> No school tomorrow.