Avon Board of Education Meeting - 05/19/26

001[music] Good evening everyone. Like to call to order our monthly meeting of the Avon Board of Education on Tuesday, May 19th at 7:00 p.m. So, we'd like to start with a roll call for anybody who's new and joining us um so that you know who's sitting up here at the table. I'll start with our board members. I'm Deborah Shoot. I am the chair. Our um vice chair, Dr. The Singh, is unable to join us this evening. We have Nicole Russo, our secretary. >> Oh, I'm sorry. We have to share mics tonight. >> Present. Thank you, Dad. Um, so everybody knows we have to share mics tonight. [laughter] Okay. Um, and then we have Lynn Catz >> present. Thank you. >> Sarah Heath >> here. Thank you. Susan Zakaris is unable to join us, but we

002have Chris Campbell >> here. Thank you. >> Jessica Gilletti >> Here. Thank you. You and Dr. Kevin McGary >> here. Thank you. >> Thank you. And our administrators, we have Dr. Carnola, our superintendent. Thank you. >> We have Mr. Medic, our assistant superintendent. >> Thank you. >> Miss Russo, our business manager. >> Good evening. Thank you. >> And Miss Ardens, our executive assistant to the superintendent and board clerk. >> Thank you. Would you all join me in saying the pledge of allegiance? >> 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. Great. And we start by reading our mission statement as it reminds us of the work that brings us all here to

003the table. Our mission is to inspiring each student a joy and passion for learning and a commitment to excellence, personal integrity, and social responsibility. So that's the perfect segue for our recognition piece, which is my favorite part of the meeting always. And we have a very exciting evening tonight because this is the time of year when we get to announce who our valadictorian and saladan is. So, I'm going to have Dr. Lockheart um introduce for us. >> Good evening everyone. >> Good evening. >> All right. I hope that's better. So, in the past, usually when I have had to introduce the validator and saludiatoran, I usually have them come up and do that and tell you all the things that they are involved in involved in here at Avon High School. But this year, we

004would be here all night if I was doing that because these two young ladies are involved in every single thing here. So, I think it would be best if I just read a little description of how we see them at Avon High School because I'm not joking. We really would be here all night. They do everything. So, our valadictorian for the class of 2026 is Miss Hannah Chu. Hannah is a student whose intellectual brilliance, quiet leadership, and deep commitment to service truly distinguish her from others. Hannah possesses a rare and remarkable intellectual curiosity. She's one of the few students who can seamlessly span the worlds of engineering and the classics, pursuing both academic and creative disciplines with equal passion and excellence. But her impact extends far beyond the classroom. Hannah is a deeply principled leader

005who never seeks the spotlight. She simply sees a need and steps up. Whether she is spearheading a charity drive for women's shelters, founding a public speaking club or contributing on the field hockey team, her actions are always rooted in empathy and a fierce commitment to equity. She flawlessly balances a demanding schedule while remaining consistently generous, curious, and high achieving. To put it simply, Hannah is a multi-talented individual who leads with kindness, learns with passion, and serves with sincerity. I asked her counselors and her teachers to send me some things to say tonight and no lie, I got six pages, so I had to cut that down to one paragraph. And if I actually told you what her GPA was, you wouldn't believe me because it doesn't sound real because it's that high. So, our valadictorian

006for the class of 2026, Miss Hannah Chu. [applause] So, I'll actually um Would you like me to read Cassidy and then both of them come up or you want her to come first? All right. So, we'll do Cassidy next and then they both come up. All right. Saludiatoran for the class of 2026, Miss Cassidy Hazel. Cassidy is a student whose intellectual capacity is matched only by her moral clarity, compassion, and deep sense of purpose. Cassid's academic record is extraordinary. Another GPA that doesn't sound real. What sets Cassidy apart is not just her mastery of content. It's the depth and maturity of her thinking. Outside the classroom, Cassidy seeks intellectual enrichment wherever she can find it. What truly makes Cassidy remarkable is her character. She's deeply principled and guided by a strong moral compass. Her leadership

007and organizations like the Circles Club, Avon Climate Action Club, and Avon Voices for Equity reflect a genuine commitment to justice, sustainability, and inclusion. She leads with empathy and courage, never seeking recognition, but always willing to do the hard, often unseen work of positive change. Cassidy demonstrates maturity and ethical grounding that far exceeds her years. She consistently models integrity, humility, and kindness. And right now, I'm sure she is so uncomfortable hearing all of these things. She is trusted, respected, and admired, not because she seeks praise, but because of the quiet strength and unwavering principles she brings to everything she does. She's the kind of student who not only excels personally but also elevates those around her. A true scholar and a true leader. And if you remember, Cassidy was here last year receiving the award for

008the Cape Leadership Award. So, Cassidy and Hannah, please come on up. Our valiator of the class of 2026. [applause] Congratulations. You go up, they're gonna have >> congratulations. >> So, we're going to take a picture and parents are welcome to grab one as well. Come in a minute. I'm gonna go first if that's okay. Everyone look at me. Three. >> Thank you. Congratulations again. [applause] >> All right. Tonight I also have the honor of introducing our CAE award winners. The Cape Award is presented by the Connecticut Boards of Education for students who meet the following criteria. Willingness to take on challenges. capability to make difficult decisions, concern for others, ability to work with others, willingness to commit to a project, diplomacy, and ability to understand issues clearly. And our winners for this year are Krisha

009Sha and Adve Kolu. One of them is not able to make it tonight because he is at CCC's running at a track meet. [laughter] So I will read um first about Advith who's not here um just so it can be on record and then about Krisha. Adbe Kalu is most deserving of the Cape Leadership Award. He is a standout student in several ways. His commitment to academic excellence, his service to his home and school communities, and his overall character. Advate is at the top of his class, taking a rigorous course load. His academic success not only suggests a student with natural abilities and a strong work ethic, but also highlights his ability to persevere through challenging times and his ability to collaborate with others, taking the lead when needed, but also knowing how to support

010the others he works with. Advict does not shy away from difficult tasks. Advict also has a strong connection to his school community, serving as the treasurer for the class of 2027 and being a two sport threeseason athlete since his freshman year. His dedication and comm commitment to community also extends to his home community. He is currently working on his Eagle Scout project and Adith has also volunteered at the Bristol Hospital for the last few summers and serves as the treasurer on his HOSA committee. He is a true leader and a remarkable student. He is humble and level-headed and he treats others with kindness and respect. His commitments in and out of school demonstrate a student who takes his obligations seriously and he is someone who deserves to be recognized. That was written by his school

011counselor, Mr. Chrisco. All right. Our second winner for the night is Miss Krisha Sha who is here today. Her counselor wrote, "It has been an ongoing inspiration to work with Krisha to observe how her curiosity for learning as well as how she intends to impact her community continues to broaden her opportunities and strengthen our school community. Krisha seeks challenge with purpose and with clarity. And most recently, her pension for writing inspired her to participate in a college partnership program where she is currently thriving in a Chinese writing course that focuses on Asian scripts. This came on the heels of her completing a summer internship with a local writer. She attended a summer college writing program and she developed her own screenplay. As the founder of our diversity outreach club and an active participant in the

012arts, Krisha approaches each day guided by an unselfish desire to add value to her community. Her productive example of modeling patience, collaboration, and commitment is truly authentic and a testament to her unwavering drive. Beyond tutoring elementary students, reading to patients in hospitals, honoring the demands and expectations of five AP courses, attending swim practice and theater tech rehearsals, Christian manages all of her commitments with an abundance of joy and with strategic precision. If leadership is truly an enduring gesture of goodwill toward others, then Krisha Senha most certainly delivers on this expectation. from her counselor, Miss Laura Sullivan. [applause] So you don't feel weird. [laughter] >> Thank you everyone. Have a wonderful night. >> Thank you. >> And you're up. >> All right. I'm going to invite Miss Wallace to come forward for our middle school cape

013award winners. >> Good even Good evening. You can hear me. Okay, I don't usually need a microphone, but well, congratulations first to the Valon Sale and our CABE award winner from the middle school. It's nice to see so many familiar faces and excited to see what you do in the future. So, congratulations. Um, I have the honor of recognizing two Avon Middle School students for the middle school equivalent of the CABE um boards of education student leadership award. Um, so I will start with Mia Sylvester. In her own writing, Mia describes herself as someone who walks with the dreamers but keeps her feet on the ground. This balance defines her leadership. While many students today are consumed by social media, Mia chooses to focus on genuine human connection. Whether she's playing games with her brother

014Jackson or preparing to serve as a one-to-one mentor for families with special needs at camp in the summer, her heart is always directed towards others. Mia's leadership is not about seeking the spotlight. In fact, she admits to being someone who often hides from it. Yet, she consistently pushes herself to the stage, finding her voice in town hall meetings and through her piano performances. She understands that true leadership, as she puts it, is the ability to learn about those around you and connect with them. She carries with her a deep resilience learned on the cross-country trails and a profound gratitude for the educators who shaped her. From Mrs. Lavasser who built her confidence to the teachers at AMS who have prepared her for the move to Avon High School. Mia, you may be a self-appointed round

015peg in a square hole who sees the world a little bit differently, but that's exactly why you lead so effectively. You have credited your family and this community for changing your world, and today we recognize how much you have changed ours. Congratulations. [applause] I'll have you come up when All right. Next up, I have the honor of recognizing Anushka Badachari, uh, another eighth grade student at Avon Middle School selected as a Cave student leader for this school year. So, it is my distinct honor to present our next Cave Student Leadership Award to a student who truly embodies what it means to lead by example. To this student, leadership is not just a title. It's about listening, supporting the community, and following through on every single commitment. Joining the Avon Middle School community as a brand

016new student this year, Anushka did not spend time adjusting. Instead, she chose to step forward immediately, running for and winning the election for student council president, just one month into the school year. In that role, she's worked to champion student voices, hoping to launch a digital feedback dropbox to ensure every classmate has a say in their school environment. Anushka's leadership spans a range of incredible talents. She's an author who has written and published a book using the proceeds to give back to over 20 charities, including Avon Gifts of Love and donating books to children in hospitals. Anushka is an eighth grade mentor, a competitive speed skater, and a math athlete who qualified for the math count state competition at Yale. Academically, Anushka pushes boundaries by taking high school geometry honors and was one of four

017students who represented Avon Middle School at the VEX IQ Robotics World Championships in St. Louis. Whether Anushka is teaching younger kids to skate, mentoring seventh graders, or putting in extra hours in the robotics classroom, Anushka shows us that true leadership means using your opportunities to help everyone around you grow. Congratulations on this well-deserved honor. [applause] I'll ask both Nia and Anushka to come on forward, ladies. >> It's a beautiful dress. There you go. Please come join us for a picture. >> Yep. >> And parents, if you want to take a picture as well. All right. Congratulations. So before we move to our next person, I just want to acknowledge we all know just how much work and effort goes into all of the things we just acknowledged all these um students for. So please know

018we are incredibly proud of you and we're so excited that this is just your beginning. You're just getting started. So, if these are all the accolades that you're receiving at this age, I can't wait to hear about you in the future. So, keep up the great work and thank you for spending a little time with us this evening. I do have one more person I'd like to recognize and then I will happily release you all if you came here for this purpose and no one will be offended if you want to retrieve your night back to yourself. But before we um move on, we do need to recognize our senior student representative who has been with us for 2 years now and Madison has done an excellent job attending all of our meetings. We ask

019that they reach out to the different schools and get updates on what's going on so they can keep us apprised of the different things that are happening in the district. And she's done a lovely job. We are incredibly proud of you. And um we know that you're going to go far. You've done all your academics and your sports and now you've got the prom coming up and you've got graduation just around the corner and we like to cheer a little bit when our person comes across the stage. So we're right up there with you. So you might get a few more woohoos out of us. But um we do have a gift and we have some flowers for you. So, we'd love to give that and we'd like to take a picture with you as

020well. And this time, mom gets to take a picture of you. So, [laughter] come on up. [applause] >> Exactly. >> Stand right in the middle. That's >> ships for the official one for proceeds. >> Love it. >> Love that. Thank you for Thank you. All right. So, before everybody heads out, one more round of applause for all of our [applause] Can I say one? I just want to take a moment also and of course, yes, I see you all the time. I see all the students that are here all the time, but I just want to back up a second and say a couple of things. for the cable award winners. Many people don't realize that that is actually the Connecticut Association of the Boards of Education. So, it's an important piece for our board

021of ed to be able to recognize you here based on the uh recommendations of our professional staff and we are so proud of you for representing us as both the school district and of course the board of education. Um, as you know, leadership, citizenship, and the contributions to the SU community are what get you recognized by CABE. And I think you heard tonight that these are exemplary uh examples of that kind of leadership and service. So, thank you again for recognizing that you are part of a larger community and giving back to it. We appreciate you. Um, for the validatoran saludiatoran, I I'm not going to add on too much to what Dr. Lockheart said besides you guys are amazing. Um, I've enjoyed watching you since [sighs] fourth grade maybe. I think we started together.

022I started with you in fourth grade, which is kind of crazy watching you come this way. So looking forward to spending more time with you here and seeing you at graduation and coming and working on your speeches and all the fun stuff that we still have to do before we get there. Congratulations to both of you. And Maddie, you were hard to let go. Um I think that one of the things that we've said very often and and as uh chairperson she just said when you serve in this role, you really have responsibilities to balance. Um, there were many a night that Maddie was sitting here while she was waiting to, you know, get home and study for a chem exam or come running in from athletics or the like. And it really is a

023huge commitment that students make to be able to be a board of education rep. And it's an enormously important one because these two representatives, we'll speak to Maddie in particular right now, is how the board stays connected to the students at all times, not just during recognitions or going to athletics or coming in in visit visiting schools, but Maddie brings us the perspectives of our students and helps to make decisions. and you have been incredibly gracious, bright, and committed, and I appreciate you. Sorry to see you go. Thank you. [applause] >> But happy to see you go. >> Yes. Yes. >> Well, as I said before, we will not be offended. If you do want to excuse yourselves, we understand this is a big celebration. Maybe go get some ice cream. It's hot enough out

024there, right? Go celebrate. Thank you for taking the time to celebrate with us. >> Thank you. It might be hot enough in here. [laughter] >> That is true. All right. So, moving on. We have approval of the minutes. Can I please have a motion to approve the board of education regular monthly meeting minutes of April 21st, 2026? >> So moved. Thank you, Lynn. Do I have a second? >> Second by Sarah. All in favor? I passes unanimously with seven. Yep. Thank you. All right. Any communication from the public? Do we have a signup sheet? >> Where is it? Oh, back with Mr. Connelly. >> I came in. >> That's okay. >> Should I do it now? I think it's okay. >> Oh, just to jot it down so you know who. >> Okay, perfect. >>

025Excellent. Yes, please come forward. I just have some um rules that we kind of read ahead of time so that it makes every um session equal. >> But thank you. We appreciate it. All right. This is the section of our meeting where Avon residents have the floor to share their thoughts and or concerns with the board. It is not an opportunity for conversation. Rather, it's the board's chance to listen to feedback from the community. Please add your name to the list and Miss Ardinskus will then call you in order. You must state your name and address for the record. Each speaker will have up to three minutes to speak. In an effort to hear as many of you as we can, we must adhere to this time limit. You can certainly state that you agree

026or disagree with the previous comment if you'd prefer to be brief. Brevity will allow more attendees to be heard. After 15 minutes are up, the board may choose to extend public comment or not. No speaker will include charges or complaints of a personal nature against any individual Avon Board of Education member or individual employee of the Avon Board of Education, whether the speaker names the individual or not. Please refrain from clapping or cheering. Miss Dinskus will be our timekeeper tonight. If you should reach 2 and 1/2 minutes, she will alert you with a 30-se secondond warning. At the 3minut mark, you'll be alerted again to signal that your time is up. We welcome your engagement and participation. >> Great. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Um my name is Megan Hoffman, 15 Bon Run in Avon.

027Um I'm the mom of two kids here in Avon Elementary and lower middle school age. I've already been in touch with a couple of you um about this the topic of start school later initiative. Um but I wanted to communicate a short 2 minute 45 second summary of the topic um for those who may not be as familiar. Um, across the United States, many middle and high schools begin classes before 8 a.m. with some starting as early as 7 a.m. While this schedule may seem practical for transportation and after school activities, recent research in adolescent sleep science suggests it is misaligned with the biological needs of pre-teen and teenage students. During puberty, the body's internal clock shifts. The release of melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep, occurs later in the evening, making it difficult for

028most adolescents to fall asleep before 10:30 or 11 p.m. As a result, early wake up times often lead to chronic sleep deprivation. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, teenagers require 8 to 10 hours of sleep per night for optimal health, learning sa, and safety. Yet, many get far less. Studies from districts that have implemented later school start times, including several here in Connecticut, have shown consistent benefits in delaying school start times to later than 8:30 a.m. Benefits include academic performance. Students demonstrate improved attention, memory retention, and problem solving skills. Mental health. Adequate sleep is linked to lower rates of depression, anxiety, and emotional distress. Attendance and punctuality. Later start times reduce tardiness and absenteeism. Also, safety. Communities with later school start times report fewer motor vehicle accidents with teenage drivers. I'm well aware

029that there are logistical concerns with implementing any change to school schedules, including after school activities, sports schedules with other towns, and bus transportation. However, case studies from districts that have made the change indicate that these challenges can be addressed through adjustments such as shifting practice times, coordinating with community programs, re-evaluating homework loads, and consolidating bus routes. The evidence is clear. Aligning school schedules with adolescent sleep patterns supports both academic success and overall well-being. A later school start time is a policy decision that is grounded in scientific understanding of adolescent development. By making a change, schools have the opportunity to place student well-being first ahead of short-term hassles and logistical hurdles. I've already contacted our state representatives Paul Honeig and Tammy Exom about supporting this initiative and hope to gain traction at the statewide level. I'm

030asking the Avon board to please consider taking steps toward the goal of later school start times. We owe it to our kids. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Hoffman. Is there anyone else signed up? Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Okay. Moving along. Student representative report. Hello. Okay. Hi. Um, so I'll be beginning with Roaring Brook. So, just some things that are going on. Um, I believe they're doing an alphabet countdown for the kindergarteners, which I'm pretty sure I remember doing at PGS. Um, I think yesterday was B for Bubbles, which was fun. Um they have a new art gallery opening um that opened yesterday. Um and next Friday they will have an assembly for the significance of Memorial Day um just showing appreciation for armed forces within our town. The day of play

031is coming up um for Roaring Brook and something organized by the PTO is happening on Friday, May 29th, which is Blazers backyard bash. Um a fun celebration just for the end of the school year. And additionally, the spring concert will take place on June 4th for the fourth graders. I believe their orchestra. As for Pine Grove School, um a pep rally was hosted um uh before state testing kind of just to pep up, you know, before um testing. with the first graders um leading a cheer, the second graders um sang and the third and fourth graders were given kind of notes of encouragement from kinder from the kindergarteners through second grade which I think was really cool just showing appreciation for the um upper classmen. Um during teachers appreciation week a cinco deayo lunch was

032held with flower bouquets, kindness cart snacks and um massage envy provided massage chairs um through the central office team. The principles had provided donuts, coffee, and plants um just just to show appreciation for teachers. Aspect testing occurred last um in late April and early May. And incoming kindergarteners vis are visiting PGS within May um late May and early May for a story time to meet teachers, interact with other students, see the school, and just try out activities, which I think is a nice way to um integrate them into a new school. Um, and as for Thompson Brook, the fifth graders take the NGSS next week, which is the next generation science standards. I believe the eighth graders also have to take that and the 11th graders, unfortunately. Um, uh, the staff completed instructional observational rounds

033in late April just to see what's going on in other classrooms and, um, just observe the different teaching methods. Um the rise and sing coral ensemble of Thompson Brook um was able to perform at last week's yard goats game and I heard it was um very nice and they performed excellently. Um next week the fifth and sixth grade has their orchestra and band concert and some field trips went on. The sixth grade class went to the Peabody Museum in New Haven as well as the fireman's recreation area for an exploration of the ecosystem and I believe they released sam salmon um which is pretty interesting you know um just being in tune with their surroundings with their community. Um they will additionally have a memorial day ceremony similar to Roaring Brook um this Friday morning

034with select student authors sharing original poetry regarding their personal ideas of freedom. Um and additionally on May 29th uh the junior achievement day will take place to learn about financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship with over 50 parent volunteers um attending that day. And that's all for now. >> Well, first of all, thank you all for your kind words. Those are very nice. I am going to miss you all very much too. Um in terms of the high school spirit week is going to be next week, Tuesday through Friday. just like some different activities like normal like I think one of them is like dress up like a character maybe. Um there's been an announcement about a trip happening over spring break of 2027 to London and it's STEM focused. Senior and junior prom will

035be held next Saturday, May 30th at the Hartford Marriott. This Thursday night is awards night. So those who have been selected to receive an award and or scholarship will be in attendance and I think anyone's welcome to go to that as well. National Honors Society is hosting a college application process webinar May 27th and that's going to be virtually. And this Thursday is also going to be decision day for seniors. So students have the opportunity to wear their college decision shirts to school that day. Obviously, this is optional, but if you're going to college and if you want to share, I'm sure we'll all get pictures together and stuff like that. Um, in terms of the middle school, seventh graders on the Amethyst team engaged in a poetry recital and presentation of a long-term project

036where they created their own poetry. Quarter 4 report cards were released to families on May 4th. May 12th, 13th, and 19th through 21st, the Smarter Balance assessments were and will be held. May 27th through 28th, there will be, as you said, the NGSS assessment. And this is new that I haven't heard of before, but the Avon High School cheer team is going to be hosting a cheer clinic over the summer um June 29th to July 1st. And AMS students are encouraged to sign up for this. It's just a day camp run by some of the older cheer people. [laughter] >> Thank you, ladies. All right, moving on to our financial report. Miss Russo. >> Good evening, everyone. Uh the month of April ended with just over $1.7 million or 2.42% remaining of our unencumbered balance.

037That's right on target where we were last year. Um in salaries, we saw some variances related to six class coverage for FMLA leave. Um thank again our teachers who stepped up particularly here at the high school when we had an a leave and it was just easier to fill with um those folks teaching the class rather than getting a long-term sub and actually more fiscally reasonable as well. So, we're using the saves from any of those unpaid leaves throughout the um out the salaries to cover that. As well as for non-certified, we have some unveiled positions or unpaid days um when we get this time in the year. Some of our um PAR educators interventionists that we've had some turnover throughout the year. You'll see some savings in those lines. Some of that was spent

038through Kelly services. So you'll see on the transfer later in um on the agenda we use some of those um unpaid that unpaid time to offset the Kelly services bill and that's a normal thing we do during the year in other expenses um telephone and telecommunications we talked about that last month we created those new accounts to better track it make sure it goes under the IT department so we have a full outlook of the year I'm going to wait to do that transfer till we do the end of year cleanup you'll see the negatives and posit positives on the on the schedule for that and maintenance repairs and HVAC repairs. Um there's been a lot of talk still about the drip grant, the district repair and maintenance grant. Um our allocation was confirmed at

039$126,37 for this fiscal year. So 2526. We have not received the cash yet, which is why you do not see transfers off of our books onto the grant. Um I won't do that till I actually have the money in the bank, so to speak. uh in budget transfer 2026 026. It's just cleaning up the schedule a little bit more so um as we approach uh June, we have a better handle on where we are with each individual account. In special education, um our students continue to present with new or um increased needs or changes in the placements. So that continues to be an area where we have to have a little fluidity. Um, and there's a transfer on 20260 to cover uh an additional expense we had um in our special education outplace tuitions, but

040as we talked about earlier in the budget cycle, our magnet school and v vocational school tuition went down this year and we reflected that in our budget forward, but we had some savings in that line that I used to to offset this. Uh, in general expenditures, I continue to see the the pause in spending. Again, curricular needs, things that need to be done are happening. Um, but until we kind of get over the finish line at the end of May, we're still holding steady there. Um, and one item I want to update everyone on is uh, nutrition services. We've talked periodically throughout the year about um, bad debt, what we call unpaid meal balances. That continues to be an issue. Um, we had just over $32,000 at the time I wrote this report in unpaid

041meal debt. Uh, any in the community who are listening or watching, I asked them it's never too late to apply for frame reduced or if you had a change in status um with your SNAP status, your husky status to apply for that as well. Uh, it's not retroactive, but it does stop the debt going forward. Um, also we reach out, we make phone calls, we send letters trying to collect this. someone on my team's doing that as well as nutrition services. Um that along with uh increased food cost, increased labor cost, um and just unavailability of some of the goods that we have in our uh consortium agreement currently uh through our our bid process. Uh we we collaborate not only with region 10 and Canton to run the program, uh but we also collaborate

042um through a co-op to purchase our goods and services, right? It's better if you co-op co- with other districts to do that. Um the current co-op, we had some issues with some of the vendors um because of supply chain issues. I feel like we've been saying that since 2020, but it's still the truth. Fuel search charges and etc. Um that we went and shopped for a new co-op for next year. We're hoping that will help reduce food costs, hoping that'll help better availability. We're switching from our main vendor for our main food purchase to a different vendor. um that they've used in this co-op, we hope that'll stabilize some pricing. Uh but having said all that, with the $30,000 in debt and some other things, we're forecasting the possibility of a loss this year, an

043operating loss for the program. Luckily, we've been profit profitable for many years uh in food service and we have reserves to cover that. If we see the same kind of thing next year, we might be having a different conversation. Um but we've already proactively I just this morning I spent my morning um with my co- um my peers region 10 and Canton talking about changes to make what what can we do bringing in somebody for advice so we're we're already pivoting making changes um looking a way to market the program better uh the I attended a legislative update this morning as well and breakfast is free for everybody next year which is fantastic um so we're going to look and see a Okay, if we can make sure every single student that would like to

044partake in breakfast, we get them through that line uh cuz we'll get reimbured for that. And then lunch is going to be free for those who are reduced price. So right now it's a free or reduced. Uh those reduced price um those reduced students will get the lunch for free as well through a reimbursement grant through the state. So again, we're looking to increase participation, make sure that folks are aware of that, and you know, encourage students to try lunch. It's actually pretty good. I've had it quite a few times. Mr. Medic over here's had it quite a few times. Ladies, do you >> Yeah. Good. All right. All right. >> So the day and we we welcome feedback. So, um, we'll be, you know, collaborating as well with the high school to maybe do

045some surveys, try to get a better might lean on might lean on you next year, um, to get a a better take not only on what we're serving, but what the students think about it. >> Thank you for being forward thinking. We appreciate it. Does anybody have any questions about the financial report? Go ahead, Lynn. I'm just wondering, I mean, when you get together with your cohorts in other towns, is this $30,000 uh situation typical of other towns? It is. It's typical >> as well as other places >> or worse. Yeah. Or worse. And as well as the food cost and the the loss, this is a state problem. So, thanks for asking the question, Lynn. It's it's a statewide problem top to bottom. Um, and part of that is there is folks in our

046community that may not be able to afford lunch. And I'm glad they're eating, right? We're all glad of that. Um, the the federal frame reduced parameters do not have a weighted formula based on where you live. So, the amount of income that's needed to qualify is the same as Mississippi as it is in Connecticut. It's the exact same through across the country. So you can imagine folks in California and northern New England and New York and above are it just doesn't make sense, right? Um that's what we continue to lobby for on the federal level. Um our director of nutrition services was named as you know we talked about it I think when she was recognized on a national committee um and as well as CASBO I'm on the board there. We're continuing to to

047try to point this out and get some um help at the federal level to change those things. So this changed for next year. >> It's on the state level. This is why we >> Correct. >> It's great. Yes. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> Thank you yet again, Susan. We appreciate. >> All right. Committee and liaison reports our curriculum and professional practices. Lynn. >> Yes. The minutes uh are in the packet from April 28th and we're going to be discussing all of the agenda items that was that occurred during that meeting tonight. And our next meeting is June 2nd. >> Thank you. For finance, that's me. We do have the minutes from our May 12th um meeting in the packet. We just heard our financial report. We are grateful that the town supported the budget.

048So um we are able to move forward with our plans and we have another agenda item coming up that will speak to rescending certain notices that we had to send out. Um but other than that, we can move on to negotiations. Um Suzanne is not here but we are beginning to work with safety and security and our administrative assistance. And then for policy um Fage would mention that the minutes for the May 5th meeting are included in this packet and we do have a number of policies coming up on this agenda under new business. So moving on to our liazison report with Capital Region Education Council Chris. >> Yes, we have our annual meeting tomorrow at the Bushnell. Um it'll be nice cuz it's the 60th year anniversary of CRE I believe Dr. C will

049be in the building with me. Um and then our then after that oh then we will be giving giving out awards and some other fun stuff. >> Awesome. Take pictures. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> All right. Moving on to the board chair update. I just want to acknowledge that we had 11 amazing interns out in that gallery space before the meeting. Absolutely. I love what these students do every single time. I'm so impressed with their presentation, their ability to explain what their experience was like. Um I love how candid they are about whether it was a good fit or not. And they actually appreciate even when it isn't because it helps them narrow down their focus to what they're looking for. So very grateful to have this program still running in our schools. Um I

050heard that they're on letter B for the countdown. So what does that mean? Are they how many late 25 days left? Okay. Maybe >> or maybe 24. I don't know. Mr. Medic, do you know? >> Yeah, >> we're not counting. >> No, nobody's counting. >> We have to usually ask someone in a school to know. We don't we don't know if we don't ask someone. >> Got it. Well, we're getting there, everybody. So, hang in there. Um we know this is a busy time of year. Excited. Um there's still fun things coming up for the students and um we're excited to join you at graduation. Um, and I hope pretty much everybody here is able to do it because it's one of the best parts of being on this board is to participate in that

051way. So, it's definitely worth it. Um, and I will keep it brief and leave it there and turn it over to Dr. Carnival. >> Thank you. And we'll pivot to the hiring report, Mr. Medic. >> 22 days for those who are counting. >> So, so a little less for our graduating seniors, but um, good evening everyone. Um, in the board packet for May is our hiring report. Um, we are welcoming five individuals to our district to fill various long-term substitute roles either in um, non-certified capacities or temporary positions um, within classrooms through the end of this school year to cover a variety of leaves. In addition, I'm pleased to welcome Miss Tia Ramo, who will be joining us on July 1st uh at central office as the new administrative assistant to me. Um and we

052>> the person >> and the backup to Dr. C. Um we're very excited to have TSU joins us after uh many years working at the Renbrook School supporting both the head of school as well as the division heads for the upper and lower school. um she's already begun transitioning with our staff and we look forward to bringing her on board uh July 1st. We don't have any resignations or retirements this month, but as the board knows, our June hiring report is quite lengthy. All of those will be there. We have uh quite a few um retirements this year, some that we got even this afternoon. Um so we'll be um sharing that with you in June. Uh we are continuing to fill positions for our ESY program. We're down to a handful of part-time positions

053to support our extended school year students and we will be posting positions for next school year now that the budget has passed uh to fill some of the vacancies that we'll share with you in June. So that's the hiring report for May. >> Just want to thank you again uh Mr. Medic. You know, staffing is one of the mo most significant areas of our work as you know. I believe the actually one of the most important things that we do as leadership is hiring because hiring the best possible candidates in every facet of the organization is how we continue to be the top-notch district that we are. And I appreciate uh Mr. Medic, Mr. Ms. mates, Miss Russo, uh, and all of our building leaderships who've continu leader leader leaders, excuse me, who've continued, um,

054managing, interviewing, posting, and it kind of just gets worse at this point because, as Berto said, sometimes people do wait until the end for a reason. I would be one of those people. You don't want the party, you don't want the big hubbub, so you wait until the end to tell anyone before you drift out. And so over the last few days, as Roberto said, we've gotten some others that we were not expecting. So we will continue on hiring and there are some they are some key positions in our schools. So we will get right on that as soon as we can. We can don't want to say the names tonight because they just came in and they're still telling their own colleagues, I think. Um enrollment, we're relatively steady overall. They're obviously a little

055bit lower than they were last year at this point, but they have increased gradually over the course of the year. So, we're going to continue monitoring that closely because, you know, even relatively small fluctuations can affect our staffing or programming. And tonight when I update you, it's to the best of my ability right now related to the AMS AHS uh alignment for busing and so on like we heard uh public comment about tonight. It's an example of how even small fluctuations can necessitate changes. So we'll keep an eye on that. Um I I also want to it's probably a good time to mention I know there were a few of you um that have asked me if we have been in talks with the town related to some of the uh potential housing developments and

056what the impact might be projections forward for enrollment in the schools and so forth. Um typically that is a part of the process. Um I believe somewhere along the way before they get to planning and zoning. What I do know is that uh Christine was [clears throat] asked for some of our enrollment current enrollment and um remember we had hired a firm to do enrollment projections but also a space utilization study. Uh they asked for that a copy of that. Again, honestly, I'm not sure how helpful that is for them, especially um without more conversation. Um so, all I can tell you right now is I am now aware of more of the plans and um Susan and I are going to set up a meeting and with on the town side to speak a

057little bit further with Brandon and um hire him and so forth because typically that is what happens. It has not happened yet, but typically we have at least come to the table so that if the building will impact us potentially, we can start to think ahead because as you know, there were times in the past, particularly at Pinerove, where we were, you know, a few students away from having to bring in portable classrooms. And so we we do need to at least be forward thinking and start to plan for that eventuality based on the number of um housing units that we are talking about and they do have a formula um but they that I don't have it but they use it on their side projecting forward you know how many bedrooms there are and

058such. So hopefully we'll get some numbers and be able to bring them back to you. Okay. Uh strategic plan. So, this is the time of year where we're doing everything. Go ahead. >> Question. >> What's the incoming kindergarten numbers? I missed that. Or is that on? >> I didn't say them tonight. Um, what where are we right now? Do you know, Roberto? >> The most recent enrollment or give me just >> Yeah, this is so the person that we don't have right now in that seat is who helps us do the registrations. And we have had, as you know, Miss Kathy Patton graciously uh filling in for us, but she had also been out for a few days. So, we are catching up on some of those kindergarten registrations right now. >> When you look

059at enrollment going from middle school to high school, is there like a typical number of kids that will go private and make an impact on teacher on teachers? Do we when do we have access to those numbers, if you will, so you can plan more effectively? So, we start to talk about that even before students have actually made the decision. Um, the leadership works with counselors at the middle school because you know when students are starting the application process, they're looking for letters and and so forth. So very early on in the fall when that begins and and in mostly through February because generally speaking those private school applications start to become due in February and decisions turned around. Um but we have a sense typically around then. So we are already thinking about it

060as we're doing the budget. But that said, you never know for sure until we get back here in the fall because sometimes even students that say that they are not going to attend do and vice versa. Um, so I would say that in any typical year, you know, it fluctuates based on the number of eighth graders there are, but you're usually safe saying maybe 20 students. And sometimes there's less and sometimes there's more. And a lot of what it seems to depend on I found over the years is athletics and students who are looking to play sports that we don't have as robust program for or any program for like we have a smaller ice hockey program for example we lose number of students every year to avo uh we have 142 2 currently fully

061registered for kindergarten and 17 more who've done the pre-registration process. That puts us to 159. >> You have 20 classrooms and teachers. >> We do. We have capacity. Um >> if we projected 208 >> Yep. And on kindergarten, we'd always rather over project because when suddenly there's a rush of, and we've been through this before, a a rush of registrations during the summer and we have to hire some people quickly, move rooms around, that's a bad thing. So, >> we also do have the early kindergarten um screening process that was put into place several years ago. We had a smaller number of families uh come forward requesting an evaluation for their child to attend early. Um we have conducted all those evaluations. We continue to conduct those on a rolling basis at this point whenever

062an individual uh presents themsself to us. Um as Dr. Caramel probably will share um definitely at the start of next school year with the legislative update update, there is a change to that law that will go into effect. um in an out school year to come making the September 1st date hard and fast without um an early um entry process. So this year we did see a smaller number request for their child to be evaluated. Um our communication process was the same. It it was probably at the lower end of of the range of what we have seen. Um, so that really um kind of stood out to us a little bit, but also it didn't really impact the number of students um that were [clears throat] seeing register in total. >> Yeah, we saw

063that bigger fluctuation when the law first went into effect. >> Um, any other questions about that? Few things about the strategic plan. Um, as you know, we've been doing the technology vision committee. Uh we've continued discussions around the future of technology in Avon public schools uh artificial intelligence, student needs, skills students need moving forward, uh and evolving instructional practices. And the discussion really has been intentionally focused beyond just the technology itself and instead on what we want students to know and be able to do. And in meeting with the committee and surveying and so on, we have some themes that seem to be consistently emerging already. I would say um technology should support learning rather than drive it, which we all agree with and it's part of the reason we move forward with this committee.

064Uh innovation being balanced with responsibility and developmental appropriateness. uh human connection of course we think remains the central experience that students ought to have at school and that students need also to develop the skills and dispositions necessary for the world that they're going to eventually land in on their own which is a combination of course of interpersonal skills and technology skills. So we are working hard with um the committee and faculty, staff and administration as a whole to come up with some pieces that we expect to see implementation of even next year. And as you know, you talking about cell phone free schools and and so forth. But we've also heard quite a bit about um the idea that minimizing screen time is important to all of us as as educators and as and parents

065alike and particularly in the younger grades. So you know we we went one to one as you know during the pandemic and I expect that you'll see that we are moving away from that in the way that we have been implementing it over the years and not to say that students won't have access to technology but that we are going to make sure as we said it is the best instructional tool at the time and that we are minimizing or as much as possible eliminating much of the screen time for at least K and one. Um so expect to hear more about that and I want to thank uh Elizabeth again for helping to move that work forward. Uh committee is still making the recommendations and the next steps for 2627. So I expect we're

066hopeful that we'll have a a presentation for you of where that landed at least the end of this school year next board meeting. Uh we'll see the way the school's h hurtling to an end right now. So finding a time to meet about anything is almost impossible. Um related to the AMS and the AHS busing uh you know you you received as a board I think a few communications from uh folks in the community. We heard public comment here tonight. Um I have spoken to nearly all of the individuals that reached out. There are two that have kind of been playing phone tag with um just to answer the questions and so on. Those conversations have going well for the most part, hearing things like you heard tonight, but also hearing not what we heard

067tonight. You know, there's kind of two sides to this coin and one is folks just being concerned about the ages of the students on the buses together and the other is sleep deprivation and sometimes it's both. Um, as I you know, the primary driver here is is staffing though. And while we've been able to limit the staff that we've shared between the high school and middle school in most years as of as of late, we we do need to share instructional core staff between the buildings next year. And when I say core instructional staff, I'm talking English language arts, math, social studies, and science. So that presents a different challenge when you're sharing that type of faculty between a high school and any other school, a middle school, than it does say a music teacher

068or an art teacher because of the way the schedules run. And here we've got a block schedule and an AB schedule. There's there's a lot of constraints. Um, so as you know, we identified through the budget process a way to share without having to hire four new teachers at the middle school. And I want to be clear that that's not just simply an enrollment number, which is why we've been talking about both enrollment, but it's also scheduling. It's also based on student needs. With the number of sections we are running at the middle school currently, there are some issues that we need to we needed to take a closer look at and need to address. An example is um ensuring that disabled students are able to have access to their non-disabled peers. And one way

069that you do that is by having more sections of students because we're trying to avoid having some classes that are have a disproportionate number of students with special needs and regular education students. Um that has been difficult with the number of sections we're running. For example, um middle school building is what it is. The classrooms are what they are in ter in terms of size. The science labs are difficult to work in. You know, that has been a concern for a long time. Shape of the building doesn't lend to you shaking your head. I think you were there and you you lived it when you went to the school. Um, so it's those are the issues and the class sizes in in especially in certain classes being up at the limit or close to it

070when even if contractually we could do it, we can't do it because of the other issues that I'm explaining now and more than I'm getting into right now because I kind of can't really at this point. Some of it would be to direct about some of our students special needs programming, but it that is a big driver behind needing to do this. As I said in the letter and we talked about before, is it permanent? Most likely not. Um, we are looking at, you know, we look at this enrollment constantly all year long. Um, I don't know what it'll look like next year. I also don't know what the budget will look like next year. I don't know how many more people may retire and there's savings there. So maybe the better option is to

071stop sharing the staff for example. Um one of the things that I mentioned also in the budget process Thompson Brook um had asked for additional teachers and again it wasn't based on the enrollment but it was based on the model of scheduling that they're utilizing when they did the self-study and they're trying to keep consistency for the students and not have you know quotes half teams of of um core academics. It's also what they've been trying to do at the middle school. The middle school, it has been impossible ever since we eliminated the extra team years ago in the budget. So, that's something I think a lot of people don't realize either. There, this actually was less of a problem years ago because we had a whole extra team there and it was eliminated. And

072while it was able to be eliminated because of enrollment, it never lent itself well to the instructional model. So that's still really what we're talking about here except some other problems have compounded. Um there's really no way to share these core area teachers the way that we need to schedule them so that they can teach what needs to be taught at the high school that they are certified for and to be present for the middle school sections we need without those schedules being realigned. And so I said it very clearly in the letter because I want to make sure that families understand that I don't see any way backward from there because I don't think we are going to hire four additional teachers at this point. We that was not something we were talking about

073in the budget and luckily as part of my regular update I would have said this. Thank you. you know, we we are glad that so many people came out to vote. So many people engaged with us, asked us questions, um dug into the numbers with us. You did as a board, of course, and did a ton of work for months, but also we had many community members who sat with us and went line by line and still come and do that. Um we're happy to do that. That said, we're also very happy that the that we can move on now at this point and the budget has passed and, you know, putting another I don't know at least $300,000 into it or moving something else, not purchasing something, not doing something to put those staff

074members in doesn't seem financially responsible to us. Um, especially when to answer the question, is it permanent? I I don't know that it is. And so if we have the capacity, I think we should be using it. We are able to do it. If we were not able, I would not have recommended it. So there the the time based on the current schedule they are going to run at the high school and the courses that students have selected and the individual grade levels, how many students there are, it all comes together to allow this to happen. Um that said, back to the school start times. Um we have worked on this many times in the past. Um those of you and now it's only and it's only Yeah, it's only Deb at this point, right?

075Deb is the only person still sitting here that was on the board um when I was hired. Board has switched many times as you know. But the um what I did as a what you might call performance task with the board was exactly this. It was to study the research on school start times and um to make recommendations to the board on what we might be able to do in Avon and before they hire me. Um so many of the sleep studies that we're looking at even right now we I've already we've all already seen um and people are correct that sleep study after sleep study and adolescence says they should get more sleep um they should come to school later if that's possible and as you heard tonight and I've told you before there

076are a few districts that have done that the main one that is a public school district that has done it recently ly and been able to sustain it because that's another thing. There are school districts that have done it and within a year or two went backward in in pushing the times back because it didn't work. New Kanan um has done it. They've been successful in doing it. Um I am part of the superintendent network as you know that superintendent and I have known each other for years as a result of that. I talked to him about it years ago when they started talking about it. I talked to him again about it when they put it into place and I just, as you might imagine, touched base with him again as we were in

077these conversations and it is going well and they would recommend, you know, from their experience that if school districts are able to do it, they do. What I'll say about that though is it's not it's not a simple switch. It's not a let's just flip one school with another. It's you you have to look at the start and end times at every school and every school would need to change not just two. Um numerous reasons for that but yes the main one is transportation and are there ways to do things differently? Yes. Are there way to do things more efficiently? Yes. But for the time being, while we are in a what we call three tier system, that means that two of our schools always have to be together or the busing can't work. So

078AHS and the middle school did that for I don't even know how many years and then as you know during the pandemic we switched to Brookbrook and middle school together. Um we've looked at different versions of that. We continue to look at different versions of that with the bus company even since I last communicated about this. Can we can we put say you know Thompson Brook and Roaring Brook together and Thompson Brook and Pine Grove together I've heard as an option that we can't figure out how to work logistically right now with the bus company. Um because it's actually a pretty simple reason a lot more kids ride the bus when they're younger. So you we have more full no none of our buses are full in Avon. Many students are driven to school. However,

079when you do look across the school district, there is more writership so to speak at the younger grade levels up through sixth grade is where you see more of it. So for example in um the middle and high school um I believe we need is it 20 buses that we use in the older grades. We use they use 20 buses give or take for the most part >> 24 but >> they have to have 20 >> between 20 and 21 >> at the younger level they have to have the 24. So that's another example of some of the different logistics. Um about 40 minutes between bus runs is tears is another thing and that's even too close. We have >> issues >> we're having issues there with getting students to school on time at times

080at the elementary level with buses arriving on time in the afternoons. You know we've talked about that before. Um the bus >> an issue with crossing seating. Some of the buses may you may have done your own research and the buses can seat up to 78 students. Connecticut law says they can only have a maximum of 72 students and there's further laws about how many inches per seat the students have. So K4, yes, we triple them up. We we >> can put three in a seat from K to four, >> five, six, you know, maybe a little fifth grader possibly sit because you can't even have like a millimeter over into the aisle. they have to sit fully on the seat. There's a lot of logistics that's all, you know, by the the state. >>

081So, basically from 6 to 12, the rule that gets implemented is two students to a seat. >> Go ahead. >> If I heard you correctly, precoid, the middle school and high school start at the same time. >> Yes. And they were busted together. >> And they're bus together. Okay. >> Yes. For many, many years. >> You may have this information, may not. If you look precoid at exam scores and success academically, has that changed postcoid since the middle school has gone with TBS and Pinerove to kind of understand, you know, to the the comments from the public of, you know, this makes an impact on education. You know, we actually have studies, right? B should be able to look at our past history of the change. What was that impact if anything? >> I think

082that if we look at student performance on um standardized assessments for example, we are going to see differences but I don't think we can correlate them to the time that school changed. um not >> um you know we for example we as a school district as a whole came out of the pandemic and our um standardized assessment scores actually went up when most went down in the state you know and now again they have fluctuated back and forth. So correlating that kind of performance based on just that variable is nearly impossible I would say. Um can we correlate it with um the numbers of behavioral issues on on buses? Yes. Um and what we have learned since we made that change was not actually what we anticipated and what I think most people would have

083anticipated. We thought, you know, educ as educators that developmentally the younger students together would be better on the buses. And not to say we had a ton of issues when the middle school and high school were together. We didn't. But there's always something. On the other hand, since we made the change, um, we do have a lot of issues on those runs. Um, and that has been something we've been talking about, you know, offline for at least the last two years. and the bus company has spoken to us about also and you stop and when we pump the brakes and think about it again it makes perfect sense in some other ways. One very few high school students ride the bus and the ones that do are primarily 9th and tth graders and what do

084they do when they get on the bus? You guys know what they do when they get on the bus? They sit down and put AirPods in and wait to get to school. So when they get on the bus with the middle schoolers who don't necessarily do exactly that, [laughter] um it doesn't matter as much because they're not there's there's not as much interaction when you put five, six, seven, eight onto the same bus. There is a completely different dynamic. Um and I I know if you've had children come through the district while that's been the case, you some of you have actually seen that happen. Um, and it's just again it it actually is developmental but in a different way than most people would think about it. It's there's a big difference between a student

085who is in eighth grade and a student who's in fifth grade. And we have seen the repercussions of that over the past 5 years. So, we are hopeful that in doing this, we'll actually see the numbers of issues between students on the bus go down. Not that we're going to have more of them. Um, can I guarantee that? No. Unfortunately, there's very few things I can guarantee. I wish I could guarantee a lot more than I can. Um, but as I say, if I had magic wand, a lot of things would be different. But um I think Nicole may have been the one that asked about No, it was you Sarah about bus monitors for example. One of the questions was well if we do this can we put bus monitors um or even if

086we don't do this you know just to keep an eye on the bus one they're truly nearly impossible to hire because sometimes we need them based on a student's needs and very often we still can't find them. We sometimes work with the bus company when we need to to adjust our own pair of educator hours for example so they can get here late or leave early so they can be a monitor on the bus. Um and that's you know at any given moment we only maybe need two of them and we have a hard time finding them. So to put them on all of the buses impossible? No. Maybe difficult? Yes. But besides that, uh, the wage that they would be paid, it's a minimum of $346,000 to put buses, bus monitors on. Is it

087something we could talk about doing? Yes, certainly. That's we could talk about doing that in another budget year, but I don't think we want to entertain it in this one because again, we would have to decide what was being taken out or shifted to pay for that. And would I recommend it? No. because I think it would be not fiscally responsible particularly when I don't think we'd be able to hire them and so we would be setting money aside not using it for what we intended for and what you just passed the budget to use it for and I don't think it would be actually be put to use. Um, three tiers as I said means it runs the way that it runs. Two two together, one one solo and then the middle school I

088mean sorry the two elementary schools running simultaneously. Can we put a fourth tier of busing in? Yes, that has been discussed numerous times even before my time here um between school district and the bus company and the board of ed. It's there's it is a financial issue, but it's not only a financial financial issue, but let's start with a financial issue. It's in today's prices, they would char we would be charged by the bus company a minimum of another $1.6 million a year. That's a onetime charge. That's a year because we pay quotes for the buses. When you think about the way the math is done, generally speaking, right now, we count on a bus costing $80,000. That doesn't mean the actual bus costs $80,000 and more than that. That means in one year, that's

089the cost of using a bus, the staffing, the, you know, whatever whatever it costs on their end, that's what we're charged by our current contract, basically. And so to put another tier of busing in requires how many buses did we come up with to was it another 20? It was yes that's where it is right here. And this is you don't spread out time. >> Right. That was also not changing times necessarily. That was just putting in another bus run. So not bus run I should say bus tier. So something we can talk about. Yes. something maybe we want to talk about when we're talk we're doing another bus contract. Yes. But there are a lot of other things still coming down the pike. So again, would I recommend it right now if you were

090asking me? No. And one huge reason for that besides the sticker shock of the 1.6 is that's an estimate right now. We're still dealing with the state um having passed laws related to electric buses that no one knows how we're going to comply with. And they're even talking about walking back. >> They just pushed it back. The the most recent has pushed it back by four years, but any bus contract you sign, ours expires in 2029, we have to have some portion of it electric buses, >> right? So, we open up a bus contract right now. When we sign a new one, that that has to be there. And I think it's something to pause. I have nothing against electric buses. That's not where I'm coming from. And I'm saying the cost right now is

091something we are really going to have to plan for. And so opening up the contract again to put another 20 buses in is not advisable. So I know I sound like, you know, doomsday Nelly right here now, but I'm just want to make sure we're as transparent as possible with all of the facets that we've looked at because we have completely pulled this apart. Um, not just this year, but in previous years. And I think right now this is just where we are. >> Would there be any change in the times or would it be the current time of AHS? >> As of coming here tonight, the answer right now from the bus company still is. They have not been able to find a way to push that 7:40 time any later and still make

092the rest of the runs on time. So, if they went to 8, let's just pretend they go to 8:00 for both of those like people have talked about, it's going to have a trickle down effect. And we are we're going to push everyone. The only way forward would be everyone moving forward. They're still not even sure that would work for other logistics reasons related to traffic, you know, that builds up later in the day in town and so forth. But as of right now, that would mean our littlest ones are not getting out of school until after 4:00. And I don't think people really want that either. I mean, we can survey and we can find out, but I do know that during the pandemic, we dealt with this because of having to stagger the

093buses and things for later. We had a lot of upset parents with how late students were getting out of school or worse, home on the bus because I can't get to gymnastics on time. I can't you know all of the other kinds of after school activities which is another consideration with how late you let students out in the afternoon. Um so the new Kane model back to something like that. What does that look like? It looks like as I said changing all of the times and there's still if we maintain three tiers which again I think we would still want to do and new Kanan did that also they they have the same type of uh busing situation we did because many towns do it because it's really the most financially responsible way to do

094it basically when you're talking about the numbers of students on buses and so forth too. Um they went to 8:00 at the high school and the middle school, 9:15 at their 56 school and 8:45 at the elementaryaries because they have the same setup, exact same setup we do. They have a 78, a 912, and two K4s. So that's change everything, not let's change a couple of things. And is it doable? Yes, possibly. Those times like they have may not be exactly ours. Those might need to be adjusted. But generally speaking, that's exactly the way the model would have to work. And I think that needs more deliberation and consideration before we would be doing that next year. Obviously, I think Kevin had a question. Sorry, Jose. Um, so should we continue having this conversation? Yes.

095Do we have to have the middle school and the high school at the same time next year? Yes. Um, can we make those times later? As of right now, no. And I I just want to say it clearly now because unless there's some sort of different miracle that comes to us from the bus company, the answer has not changed since we started asking them. And you know, we keep coming back, well, what if we do this? What if we do this? Could you do that? What if we send out a survey? we figure out how many students won't ride the bus because they're going to get driven to school. Can you then consolidate? I mean, we're happy to hear ideas because maybe there are things that we haven't thought of, but when I tell you

096we have exhausted every possible question and angle we can look at right now, that's where we are. >> Wondering, I know it's a crazy idea, but I'm wondering if any district in the country has ever swapped elementary and high school. So, the young kids who get up early anyway. >> Yes. >> Has that ever worked? Is it because of sports that we can't do that? >> Um they have made it work. Um in some places there are also um is it California somewhat? There isn't. No, there's a state that passed a law that it had to go that way. So that changes things entirely because now the whole state has to abide by that. You're not worrying as much about athletic contests being, you know, five towns away and they get out at this time

097and we get out at that time. Um most of the research about related to this that is what it says that you you you flip it and you have the and it that say it makes more sense for parents in a lot of ways too because your younger ones are the ones that you need to get to school so if you're working you can get to work and the older ones can go on their own like getting on the bus or driving. So there are a lot of benefits to doing it that way. Um, >> it's also very dark in the winter, too. >> It's dark in the winter and there are the athletics considerations. One other thing, you know, just I have Tim Tim Fer, our athletic director here, has been um digging into

098this also from the athletic standpoint. He's done it for me before. He's doing it again. He did talk to the athletic director at New Kanan, for example. One of the things that he found out when he spoke to that athletic director was the vast majority of maybe all of their fields have lights. Um they many of the school districts they're playing down in Fairfield the fields have lights um so when they are starting those kinds of contests later they have the lights even in so that is something else you know there's just numerous variables that we're talking about I'm sure you guys would like to come to school later and you [laughter and gasps] yes and no though because the other thing we have talked about and and there are two sides of this story

099also. When you have athletes who are competing in um sports like indoor track, you know, I know I know at least a couple of people besides me sitting at the table have have been there. Um those meets run incredibly long and the later they're getting out of school, the later they're coming home. So it's it's also a two-edged sword. It's like you're making school start later so they can get more sleep, but then if the athletics are starting later, they're still getting home later. Um, and as I said to one of the parents I spoke to, is everything about athletics is that what's driving this money, you know, athletics and buses, uh, bus company, logistics? No. But it is a all three of those together are huge. And it's especially [sighs and gasps] a a

100large factor when you talk about the fact that in any given year, it's about 70% of our high school students that are participating in at least one sport. So yes, we are we are talking about a driver for sports. It's it's not a handful of students that it impacts a lot and I think we just it needs more time to be looked at decisions made. >> I just had a quick question. Um, has it been looked at at all? I mean, we're talking about 20 minutes, right? Essentially wake up. >> I know. It sounds like it's 20 minutes. >> Um, no, not that's not directed at you. Um, any solutions during the school day as far as like a slower warm-up into the day or just like something else like you get there, but then

101what's happening during that time um to help kind of ease into the day or I don't know. I'm just curious if any conversation has come up about the school day versus just the time. >> Yes. But yes, and that um would mean some changes in the block schedule to high school for example, the number of minutes um that students are in those, you know, there's they took home room out of high school a long time ago, for example, for that reason. Um, so that and also because something else that I don't think a lot of people remember, we actually pushed this forward to 740. And when we did it, the bus company said, "We're we're not going to make this work." And I was like, "You're going to make this work. We're going to figure

102out how to make this work." And >> that was actually going to be my point. >> They really haven't. They [snorts] >> any issues we have because we did that and didn't adjust any of the other times to allow it. And I think we did put another bus into the contract back then also. We put one in. >> Yes. >> I think that was pre everyone here but you dead but when we did that change we also purchased one more bus. So could it happen? Yes. Um, but I I think part of the impetus for the 740 and I what I said in the letter is I didn't want to split hairs. 720 is not actually the earliest the high school has started either. High school has started earlier than that years ago. I at

103one point I think it was 710. So, >> so when we pushed it forward to 740, it was a little win and we had a lot of folks who are concerned about things we're talking about tonight that were happy when we were able to do that. Like wasn't quite enough, but we're grateful that we were able to do that. Moving it further is a different animal. Um, just a question. Has there been talk on a state level? Is that something we may have to think about? >> It's never um gained much traction and I think part of the reason for that is um numerous things that have been passed in the state that are laws that impact every district usually or even just regulations in some cases usually don't land well and you they at

104one point or another fail because there were reasons it didn't work to begin with. And again, I'm not saying this can't, but I think one of the things that people were kind of soured on at the state level was when they made the decision that all school calendars had to be the same. Remember, we were all supposed to have the same >> uh April break, for example. The law changed years ago and we all had to have the same April break. That didn't work. >> And so, they had to repeal that law. So, I think one of the things that has stymied more of this conversation is, well, look how that worked out. I think we need to think about this a little bit more. Does that mean that, you know, we'll be in the

105next session and someone will put this law through and everybody say hooray and let's do it. That could absolutely happen because I'm we we never cease to be amazed at some of what gets put through in any one legislative session just like this last one. There will be a lot of policy updates and changes in our procedures as a result of this legislative session that just took uh effect. >> Okay. >> All right. Let me keep moving. Um just a couple of things. Uh doing the AF prize patrol. This is more um you know fun updates, not all of the um logistics. Um she's not here right now, but Christina Wallace um was uh appointed to the uh Connecticut Associations of Schools, the Cass board of uh directors for middle school, middle level, middle level,

106excuse me, education in the state. So happy for her and um glad she's able to represent us there and also to bring us back um ideas from all over the state and the country because they um participate in a number of professional development sessions and networking events and so on. So that we're really excited about that. Um and we got named the best community for m music education again for 2026. That was also pretty exciting. Um, one thing if I can and I'm just going to stop there because I there's, you know, million things I could still tell you, but you two did a fantastic job and some of what I had to say tonight I don't have to say as usual. So, thank you for those updates. One thing I just want to ask

107this Deb and I apologize because I didn't think of it until we were sitting here. Uh Elizabeth is here tonight so that if there are questions about the library policy, she can um jump in because she was with us on the policy committee meeting and the way the agenda is set up is not such that that's what we're doing first. And as you can see, she's like the one person with the crickets out there. So I I just want to allow you to be able to go home to your son and whatever else you have due tonight if you don't mind moving the agenda items. >> Yep. Because it's the last item. >> Yes, I do. And I didn't we didn't do that on purpose. I realized that we sat down. >> All right. So,

108just bear with me. We'll get through a couple things when we get to new business and we can do that. Okay. Are you all set? >> I am all set. Thank you. >> All right. So, we are moving on to Thank you. That was very helpful. And this is a great thing to send parents to watch this meeting so they can >> There's no one here to see >> hear all of the explanation. >> I do have one quick question about that. When will the next update be sent about the bus? >> Um, as soon as possible. I really was just Susan has been working closely with me and and with the bus company. You know, Miles does transportation, but this is a rough time of year for him with capital projects. So, she and

109I have been trying to manage this on top of everything else. And we just want to be certain that every last possibility we ask the bus company to look at has been exhausted before we say, "Okay, this there is nothing else we can do." because I've tried to hold out hope that maybe something else could still happen. But as of tonight, the answer is still no. It has to stay the way it is. >> So soon. >> Yeah, they're they're extremely busy, too. We have a a field trip almost every single day. >> So almost no one in the office to even have a meeting with right now. >> Right. [clears throat] >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. So, moving on to our consent calendar. Before taking action, I do just want

110to note that we're grateful to Lorie Arnold for donating a violin. So, that was great that she went through her stuff and found something to share with us. Um, do I have a motion to approve the consent calendar as it stands? >> What consent calendar are you talking about? >> On the agenda, it says consent calendar and it has transfers and donation letters. This is the part of the meeting where we can lump um pieces together that don't generally require a lot of conversation, but board members can remove an item if they want to have further conversation about it. It's item 11 on the agenda, page two. >> Yeah. No, I saw it on the agenda. I just It just said transfers. I didn't know what you >> It says transfers and donation letters. >>

111Got it. Okay. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> So, I was commenting on the donation letter, which you'll find on page 23. >> All right. Do I have a motion to approve the consent calendar? >> All right. Thank you, Sarah. Do I have a second? >> Thank you, Nicole. All in favor? >> I passes unanimously with seven. Thank you very much. All right. Um, we have one old business item which I am thrilled to be able to um, address this evening is discussion and possible action to resend the letters to certified staff regarding non-renewal of contracts due to budgetary reasons in accordance with section 10-151 of the Connecticut General Statutes. Now that the budget has been passed successfully, we no longer need to apply this. So, barring any conversation, do I have a motion to

112approve the rescending of these letters? >> Thank you, Chris. Do I have a second? Second. >> Thank you, Lynn. All in favor? >> I passes unanimously with seven. Thank you. Now, I will make a motion to amend the agenda to move our final item um 25-26 number 62, letter I, at the very bottom of the page to our first item of business under new business. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Uh thank you, Sarah. All in favor? >> Passes unanimously with seven. So, we will now address that final item so that Miss Ferry can be released. um discussion and possible approval of policy 6161 um.12 the library collection development and maintenance library displays and programs and library material review and reconsideration. It is a new policy. You can find it on page 146.

113So we had a robust discussion about this at the committee meeting and and all the policies that are on the agenda tonight actually. So, just wanted to thank all of you again who were able to attend because I believe we had a majority of the board members with us, not just the policy committee. Um, so I'll just kind of give a recap and then we'll answer questions. I know there may be still a few that we didn't get to in the committee meeting. So, uh, law was passed last year and it requires boards of ed to adopt these uh, policies related to school libraries. And one, it's about collection development. two display and program and three material review and reconsideration. Uh it has to be reviewed before you can put it into effect. It has

114to be reviewed with the director of curriculum or similar um position in a school district. If you don't have one of those and the school librarians that has been done uh Elizabeth did that and uh Jod assisted also. The policy has to contain the provisions that are outlined in the statute, which this one does. And um really the the the goal of this I think was transparency and consistency around process uh and how to select materials, educational value, age appropriateness, student interest, professional review, curriculum relevance. Um that said, we do already uh continue to review our collections for relevance, for accuracy, for use, for damage, for you name it. Um and we will continue to do that. But this policy will ensure that we are compliant with current law and make it very clear to

115uh parents, community members, and faculty and staff how this works. Right. Elizabeth, was there anything you wanted to offer? >> I think we talked a lot at the policy committee itself. >> Does anyone have any questions? >> Go ahead, Nicole. >> Um, just had a question about the materials that are put on display. Are are they all from approved book lists? And if it happens to we get a complaint that there is a book or material that was not on an approved list, does it have to go through the entire process or can that be removed if it wasn't from like an original approved list? >> Go ahead, Elizabeth. You stayed here for a reason. So I'll I can answer, but you go ahead. >> No. So any of the ones that are on display

116are also part of ones that have been purchased by the library special officials that have gone through the list of any of the ones that their professional organizations have recommended or have vetted through the process. I've mentioned at the policy committee that when they purchase the books they give me the list so I can look through it or the they request to purchase them. They give me the list. I look through them all, look through I do my research as well, even though they've already exhausted on their end hours and hour and days of research that they've done through. Um, normally when they do the displays, you'll see not so much in this one in this building, but actually outside it's to some type of theme, but they are from the collections that are in

117the library spaces themselves. So, and then if anything is a question that go through the review process of this policy addresses, too. Okay, >> any other questions? >> Uh, I just wanted to go on [clears throat] record or have it said again because this was important information for me in the uh meeting that at least during your tenure, we haven't had anyone wanting any anybody outside of the school or parents or anything wanting anything reconsidered >> other than the reconsideration material. in curriculum. I'm sorry, curriculum. But I'm talking about at the library displays or books that are in our library. >> No, that the biggest difference too between the instructional libraries and or instructional materials in the library spaces is it's self inquiry. It's what the students are choosing to do. It's not something that

118they are being required to to use or to read based on instructional material. So, we haven't had right >> any since my supervision as well over the libraries. >> I'm not aware of any. And the reason I'm bringing this up is is just a testament to the rigorous process that or you know the process that's gone through to make sure that everything is appropriate and you know a good diversity of literature and books that are in our library. To be clear, there have been questions. People have um reached out asking if we had Xbook or thinking we had Xbook because there was confusion between us and the Avon Free Public Library. But each time that one of those questions has arisen when we've looked into it, it it they have not been books in our

119collection. >> It is definitely a testament to what our library made a specialist. >> They do great. And as a former math teacher, I get very excited because they do look a lot they look at data a lot in terms of circulation data, what students are choosing to select and what they're bringing into the libraries as well. >> Do they ever Oh, sorry, Kevin. Are do they ever present that to you or is that part of being, you know, that data is readily >> I I see the back end of all it's called Destiny is our library management system. So I can see the back end and I I'm a nerd >> um when it comes to statistics. So, I actually look at a lot of data on all different levels, but the library in

120particular, too, when we're looking at budgets of for book budgets as well, just to see um I was talking to Susan the other day about our the age of our of our collections. I look at that piece as well because it's an interesting number. When you look around, you see 20,000 books, but if you look at the average age of the books and what our average collection age is, it's not it's it's not fairly new. And that's one of the things when we talk about budgets and library purchasing of resources, it's one of the ones that what I try to promote it as much as we possibly can and find ways to to bring in newer collections as well. >> I mean, and the reason I was asking is I'd be interested in seeing some

121of that, but not as an extra work or extra ad that they have to do, but that I think that I think the community would be interested in some of some of that information as well. How would a parent find what books are available in the library should they have questions if a book comes up whether they're concerned about a book I wonder if this is in the library how would they go and find that >> Destiny is our library resource manager and you can actually go on our website and there is a link to our collection that you can type in with the state >> and the students actually they also can log into their Google log into Destiny through their Google account and they can reserve the books put them on hold see

122if anything's um available in the library space or do requests for them as well. >> Okay, thanks. >> That's excellent. Thank you. >> You do a great job. I can't speak enough about that. >> That's great to know, though. Any other questions? All right. Would a member of the policy committee like to make the motion to approve policy 6161.12? >> Sure. >> All right, Lynn, weird. >> That's okay. I think we just did it. We just approved 6161. I'm just giving you credit for it. Thank you. And do I have a second? Thank you, Kevin. All right. All in favor? I passes unanimous with seven. And thank you, Miss Ferry. You are released. >> Thank you. >> I will not be happy that I'm making him do his homework. >> Oh, tell him I said

123hello. I'm sorry you were here this late [laughter] >> for you, not >> Yeah. Thank you. >> All right. Moving back up, we will have discussion and possible approval of stage one K through four literacy curriculum. I believe that's you, Mr. Medic. >> Good evening. At the curriculum and professional practices committee meeting on April 28th, we had an extensive discussion regarding stage 1 curriculum for K4 literacy. Uh at that meeting, we were joined by Joey Krzanski as well as two of our elementary curriculum specialists who have worked extensively with uh the development, implementation, and coaching support of staff. Um, as members of the board are aware, My View Literacy was approved as the primary instructional resource for ELA instruction in March 2025. This resource was selected from the list of state approved reading programs. Content

124and instruction represented in the units are aligned to the Connecticut core standards and English language arts and uh for English language arts and Avon's portrait of the graduate. Our implementation and utilization of my view literacy has led to greater consistency and coherence in the areas of exposure to grade level text and skills, focus on knowledge construction, vocabulary development, and comprehension strategies. The development of the Avon K to4 units for reading and writing has allowed for our elementary teachers to continue to apply their classroom experience, skill, and continued professional learning in the science of reading and best practices while following the My View scope and sequence. The units presented for approval represent the integration of My View with Avon's beliefs about highquality effective literacy instruction. uh at our meeting at uh with the committee members, we

125got some wonderful questions which um focused on the materials that come with my view for intervention and tiered support of students. Um our elementary curriculum specialist and Jod were able to speak to that being an area of focus for us for the upcoming school year because this program has so many resources. uh we really have gotten through over the last little bit to really get a firm basis of working with the daily resources and we're excited to get into that um extension intervention support modules that come with it. Um at the same point um we also did talk about keeping some of the val uh the literacy values that we hold dear here uh phonics instruction um and blending it within the my view literacy program. So, um, I'm happy to take any questions from

126board members regarding the curriculum. >> Okay. We had a great conversation at the CPA meeting. >> Again, I think most of you were there. >> Yeah. >> Yep. >> Good. All right. Lynn, >> just want to say the minutes were great, too, to be able to look through that. Anyone who wasn't there can read the minutes and learn a lot that way. >> Thank you, Christine. >> Yep. So, um, I'd like to make a motion to approve of the stage one, uh, K4 literacy curriculum. Thank you. Do I have a second? Thank you, Nicole. All in favor? I passes unanimously with seven. Thank you. Next, discussion and possible approval of course proposal public speaking at the high school. You'll see it on page 30 in the packet. Mr. Medic, >> I'll speak briefly about the

127public speaking course and I'll talk about the meteorology course when we're ready. Um, but both of these courses came to our staff as requests by students. Uh, there's significant interest in both of these classes by students here at the high school and our staff felt um that it was appropriate to start to look at some of our elective offerings within ELA and our science department. So, the first course, public speaking, will be open to students in grades 10 through 12. This course is designed to strengthen students communication and presentation skills through the development and delivery of a variety of speeches including informative, persuasive, extemporane and extemporaneous formats. Students will analyze both historical and modern mentor speeches and practic practice rhetorical techniques and effective delivery. This course strongly supports our portrait of the graduate and will

128align with the expectations of our capstone experience. In addition, it will build life and career readiness skills such as confidence, critical listening, and audience awareness. Uh, as I mentioned before, there's very strong student interest for this course. Uh we anticipate this being a semester long course that we would hopefully be able to run uh in both semesters of the school year for 40 or more students. Uh there is really no budgetary impact to implement this course as we'll be able to use existing resources that have been approved for ELA as well as existing staffing. Um so that is public speaking course. >> Excellent. Thank you Kevin. Yeah, I do think this is a great um course, great opportunity for kids to learn how to public speak where, you know, where and how to design a

129presentation and be able to do that. >> Has there been any thought or maybe there already exists a group in the high school of for toast masters to give people this opportunity to take a course like this and continue on with learning about public speaking? >> We actually um I believe we have like a debate club and they [clears throat] I don't think it's a masters sort of thing, but I think they do have like public speaking and I think there are definitely like different opportunities for that like voices for equity that was mentioned earlier. they do like public speaking like diversity week where students present and that um and it's like I know a lot of the English classes have actually started doing this this year like some of my um um classmates in

130other classes like they've had to do more oral presentations just on like speeches >> and like as opposed to like if there's a group there is like clubs but it's less so >> working on like rhetorical analysis like this course like and more like debate public speaking model US like that. >> I'm glad it's a lot of opportunity. That's good. >> I would say saying toast master not necessarily but yes we in revamping ELA curriculum over the years too that this is one of the things that was looked at from the oral speaking perspective. Um and we're seeing it more consistently in ELA here at the high school. >> Thank you Sarah. Any other questions? Okay, Lynn. >> Okay. Um, I move to approve the new course public speaking. >> Thank you. Do I have

131a second? >> Thank you, Kevin. All in favor? I. It passes unanimously with seven. Thank you. And now discussion and possible approval of course proposal meteorology at the high school. >> Second course, meteorology. It will be a semester long science elective that'll be open to students in grades 11 through 12. This is um this course will focus on weather systems, climate forecasting with uh real world application across multiple science disciplines. Uh students will study atmospheric pressure p I'm sorry not pressure that's part of climate atmospheric patterns explore modern forecasting tools including AI based models and examine the human impact on climate. This course also aligns with the portrait of the graduate and will provide students an authentic uh learning experience. And one of our hopes is that we'll be able to connect this in an

132interdisciplinary matter uh interdisiplinary way with our um video production class that does our morning announcements. And if Dr. your carnival is fortunate after a year or two maybe the kids will be able to call the snow days for it to give them some rest. >> I I think that's why I got suggested this year. They knew they knew I obviously needed help >> um [laughter] because of the nature of the science class um and some of the labs that may go along with this. The project enrollment does get capped. We anticipate offering this to about 15 to 20 students per semester. Um budget implications minimal. No required textbook will utilize existing staffing. Uh there's about $200 for a weather station and software that the course will need to run which we'll be able to uh

133work within our budget for. >> Great. Any questions? >> Okay, Lynn. >> Okay. The committee was very excited about this and the I the prospect of the interdisciplinary approach. It's wonderful. We all want to take it. >> Okay. So, I make a motion to approve the course proposal for meteor meteorology. Do I have a second? Thank you. I got Sarah. No, Jessica. Okay, let's do Jessica. All right. All in favor? I passes unanimously with seven. Thank you, everyone. All right. Moving on to our policy section. Discussion and possible approval of policy 1316, relations between public and school personnel. It is new and you'll find it on page 33 in the packet. Um this as we discussed in the policy committee meeting is a is a new policy. It combines language both from the Connecticut Association

134of Boards of Education CABE and the Shipment and Goodwin uh model policy that they does not exist as a shipment model, but they um wrote in conjunction with us um when we were going through uh the possibility of a policy such as this, which many other school districts had already put into place. Um it's really just consolidating expectations and also um other terminology into one place. Right? We have numerous policies um in place already that address much of what's here, but this is one place to ensure that we bring them all together for both our faculty, staff, and administrators to be able to reference, our parents, and community members to be able to reference you as a board to be able to reference because it is also connected to your board bylaws. Um I think

135you already know this. We've had uh concerns uh regarding interactions between um people that do not work in the school district and people that do work in the school district uh raised by uh multiple employee uh groups and associations and and individuals over time. and um folks were just looking for a way to be able to establish some common expectations around the way we all treat each other um the way school staffs interacts with uh community members and parents and vice versa. And I think you we all have seen this in other organizations. You go get your blood drawn at Quest and you sign in and you know they're telling you that they won't take profanity and all the other things. I'm always too nervous when I get there to really read the sign. So

136I don't all I know is I can't act up when I go to get my pledge wrong. But um similarly this was how do we put something into place that's public facing not someone digging through you know 50 policies to try to figure out what this looks like. Thank you. Any questions? Good. All right. Would a member of the policy committee like to make the motion? >> Sarah, >> I can do that. >> Thank you. >> I make a motion to approve policy [snorts] 1316 uh relations between public and school personnel. >> Thank you. Do I have a second? Thank you, Chris. All in favor? I passes unanimously with seven. Thank you. All right. discussion and possible approval of revised policy 4118.235, reports of suspected abuse or neglect of children or reports of sexual assault

137of students by school employees. Beginning on page 38, uh these are revisions uh to be in compliance with recent changes in laws and regulations uh particularly in regards to department children and families. Uh the revisions clarify the procedures and now allow limited preliminary questioning uh regarding immediate safety concerns. Uh so basically as I said the law changed regarding mandated reporting procedures. Staff is still not to function as an investigator of the issues. Um but they they can ask a limited number of questions to determine whether or not the obligations are triggered to to report something. Thank you. Are there any questions? Go ahead, Jessica. >> Yeah, I do have a question. Are there any guidelines on what those questions can or cannot be? >> No. Okay. Um, however, the people in the district that would

138be asking those types of questions would be administrators, social workers, school psychologists, potentially counselors who are trained in asking questions unfortunately such as these. But also um most of us are trained in you know what's called minimal facts training which is a type of questioning that you utilize when something is uh related to sexual abuse or assault and then we stop and turn it over to police and department of children and families if it needs to go that far. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? All right. Someone like to make the motion to approve policy? >> I'll make the motion. Go ahead, Kevin. >> Uh, motion to approve the policy for8 >> 235. >> Oh, sorry. 235. >> All right. Do I have a second? Thank you, Lynn. All in favor? >> Passes unanimously

139with seven. Thank you. All right. Next, discussion and possible approval of reprise of revised policy 5141.22, administration of student medications in schools, starting on page 68 in the packet. This is a familiar policy to all of you because it continues to be modified based on changes in uh state law and um department of health regulations, state department of ed regulations. These are very minimal this time thankfully. Uh the Connecticut general statute, I think it's uh 10212A are we already had in place. It allows qualified um employees of boards of ed under certain circumstances to administer epinephrine or um uh gluccoagen always get that wrong students. So this really is just to broaden the range of equipment to uh include nasal spray for example instead of just injection. This is really just an update for current

140medical practices because new technology if you will in pharmarmacology has come into play. >> Nothing else has changed. those termin that terminology. >> Thank you. Any questions? All right. Would someone like to make the motion? >> Thank you, Lynn. >> Motion to approve revise policy 5.41.22 administration of student medications. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Jessica. All in favor? I passes unanimously with seven. Thank you. Next is discussion and possible approval of revised policy 5144 for student discipline beginning on page 104 in the packet. >> This is another that we have seen numerous times or sometimes more than once a year depending on what's happened in the legislature. Um, so you may remember uh earlier in the year and at the end of last year we had to talk

141about the changes in the law related to challenging behavior instead of bullying. I was actually in my own mind conflating that with this because that was a whole new um process. And we talked about that, but we did not what we did not do at the time was update the discipline policy to match the language in that one, which is about um require the requirements to use historic practices. um what constitutes challenging behavior and the processes that you have to utilize for investigation. That was the discussion that we previously had before we put that policy in that you might remember was required by law and cave um put it together for for the state and we had to adopt that policy. What we didn't do at the time was update the terminology here and match

142and so that's what this was to do. Um I know there [snorts] were other pieces of uh conversation that we had but they were not necessarily about these updates. Uh one other update to this is the synthetically created image and as you imagine that's exactly what it sounds like. It's the use of AI which had to be more explicit in this policy. uh basically anything that is not wholly recorded by a camera, partially or wholly generated by a computer system and depicts uh and is virtually indistinguishable from what a reasonable person would believe is an actual depiction of an identifiable person. That's the legal s that that came from um both board counsel but also to comply with uh the similar definition in the law. Um, also protected class harassment. Um, status as a victim

143of sexual assault or a victim of trafficking is uh also added into um protected class. We had already updated that in our title 9 and um other policies. It's just to be clear here in the discipline policy that it is a protected class also. Any questions on this one? >> Kevin, >> um could you just confirm that under the policy if a student is caught selling cannabis on school grounds, expulsion is discretionary, not mandatory, as long as the quantity is under 1 kilogram. >> Yes. Um, so this is the the real delineation I think that has to be made in mandatory versus discretionary expulsion is mandatory expulsion. The way it's referred to in the policy is um related to the law that you have to expel a student when they bring a certain types of

144weapons like guns in the school. So that's when they're saying mandatory expulsion. That's the only time it applies by law. Everything else is discretionary. Not meaning you can't be expelled for it or that you shouldn't be necessarily, but that you have there's a hearing for an expulsion. With a mandatory expulsion, you still come together as a board, but it's very the law is very clear. If you bring a gun to school, you are getting expelled. So, that's the difference here. We're not saying um could could a board put in that they want to have a mandatory expulsion hearing when a student does something like you're saying. Yes, you could revamp your local policy to say something like that, but you can't write in that it you are automatically, which is what they mean by the

145mandatory expulsion, expelled for that thing or or any other one besides the weapons. Mhm. [clears throat] And I don't know if everyone's clear on this, though. Like when you think about 1 kilogram, it's 2.2 pounds of cannabis. That's an enormous amount of cannabis. Um, is there like from a board standpoint, is there any realistic school scenario where a school a student in the schools might be selling that much cannabis? >> I'm not sure if it matters if it's relevant. It's just for the policy purposes to make sure you have the the language there. Where is that in this policy? >> It's on page 113 under number three. And if you read it on page um oh sorry 115 I apologize 115 under number three. It says um sailor distribution of less than 1 kilogram of

146cannabis is not subject to mandatory expulsion. >> Mhm. >> And as you think about, you know, our role as a board and our obligation to protect students, um those selling cannabis in school are preying on other minors, other students to sell cannabis. I think it's our role and responsibility as a board to any any sale of drugs in the school, cannabis, any drug. It should be a mandatory mandatory um >> Hearing Thank you. hearing for expulsion at any, you know, whether it's a minor a bit of cannabis or 2.2 2 lb of cannabis. You should have a mandatory hearing for expulsion. >> Any other comments? >> My exper uh I'll let you speak. Go ahead, Jessica. And then I'll speak to my experience with it if you don't mind. >> Okay. Um yes. When I

147saw this wording, I was surprised, especially as a community member and a mother and with my beliefs and and value system that I I stick pretty strongly to. Um I I personally, you know, read through a lot of this and took it in. Um and this new policy with community relations, um it is listed on page 33. Um saying based upon the above, the board expects no person on school property or at a school event shall and it lists eight if not more on the other side. Yes, it lists many more than eight, but number eight does say consume, possess, distribute, or be under the influence of alcoholic beverages or illegal drugs or possess dangerous instruments or weapons. So I just see, you know, a lot of divide amongst that wording and I would love

148to see something more like that here, especially when it comes to our students and being safe at school. What I can share is in my time on the board, we used to avenize all of our policies so that it was very particular to the board that was existing in that moment. And it got very complicated when things would change legally. So we switched our mindset to follow legal language so that we were in compliance at all times. As Dr. Carla explained, the difference between mandatory expulsion and a hearing doesn't mean that a hearing wouldn't take place and there still could be an expulsion. But when we decide as this group of people that we don't align with the legal terminology, then it just complicates every policy that we talk about from here on out. It

149doesn't mean that a hearing wouldn't take place and it doesn't mean the student wouldn't be expelled. >> I know Nicole had a question, so I'll I'll wait for her. Um I've been here hearing the um Avon eyes and I do understand that but it is concerning and I think especially for community members to look at this and maybe mixed messaging. So I don't necessarily see the harm. I think that the benefits would outweigh if we put um something that it would be a mandatory expulsion hearing. You're not saying the child is automatically, you know, expelled without a hearing, but we're being very clear that we have a no tolerance for distributing any type of, you know, cannabis or or any other drugs. >> Okay. >> I can I ask I just I'm sorry. I want

150to clarify something before before we keep going. Um Kevin, you know, I I [snorts] looked at this >> um earlier also. Um Okay. Nope, I found it again. Go ahead. Sorry. I I want to find >> the only thing that I mean obviously the behaviors would be egregious and we might very well expel a child who came with that much of a a drug to sell. I guess my question is there's so many other egregious behaviors. Does this document need to list every possibility a attempted rape for example? I don't want that child. I would want to expel personally a a student who engaged in that kind of behavior, but we don't see that in the policy. So, I guess what I'm saying is I don't think listing all of the possible behaviors that would

151lead to um an expulsion is the way to go. I'd rather have some wiggle room >> and make you know what I'm saying? I I um I can understand that except it already says 1 kilogram of of cannabis. >> It's very specific. Right. So I guess the question would be how much is okay? Right. How much would a student be okay to distribute cannabis at school? Do you do you have a a specific number or ounce that you would feel comfortable with? >> No. Go ahead. >> No. You know, I agree with Lynn. can't list every single thing, but I think what's alarming is that this does stand out and they're bringing attention to it. So, if we take that out, we're not saying that this is the only thing, but that we're not there

152isn't wiggle room here for like in our district to even possibly allow this. >> So, I think, you know, and I'm appreciative that um I actually touched uh base with Dr. from Gary earlier because I wanted to make sure that I brought whatever I might need for us to speak about this because I knew that I remembered when this change was made and it was in conjunction with um a change of law in the state of Connecticut. So I was able to uh pull it up. Thank you Christine because you know my my memory works for knowing we talked about something and why but finding it in the documents is what I say. I don't have time. Please find it, Christine. Um, so in May 2023, this uh policy was revised, been revised since, but

153um because when Connecticut law uh changed to legalize cannabis under certain circumstances, um they then clarified that the sale of or distribution of less than one kilogram is not subject to mandatory expulsion. And so according to the Connecticut General Statutes because that is in the statutes in that manner they the spec I remembered us having the conversation about why it was so specific to because that exact amount is what they referenced back >> the statute that I I don't want to cut you off. Go ahead. Sorry. >> No, no. So all I was going to say is so still does that mean that you can't put something different in? No. But the reason it was that technically specific was because they were writing it in the same way that the law was. That said, if

154you are intending to sell or selling any amount of any substance in school, we're having an expulsion hearing. We we always have. >> We always will. That's another thing to consider that I remembered after um we spoke. >> There was another part here. remember they changed the law when they did this. That one thing you could not do was um enact any different kind of consequences um related to cannabis than to alcohol. >> And so um that could also be you know well you shouldn't have you know one drop of alcohol. But um I think it's also perhaps could be quotes as simple as if that see if that line wasn't here, you wouldn't read it the same way, right? If it just didn't say it's not subject to mandatory expulsion because when you go

155back to the beginning, the way it starts is we we have to recommend expulsion in all of these cases that you see. they have a a deadly weapon, a dangerous instrument. Um, is defined by law, which sometimes people think things are that that aren't because that law is also very specific. Uh, you possess the fire round off possessed a firearm off school grounds or you were um involved in a crime that involved one versus you brought one to school, mandatory expulsion. um or you were engaged on or off school grounds in offering for sale or distribution of controlled substance. So right there that tells you that we have to recommend an expulsion proceeding because you had it. Does it matter the amount that you had? No. But that I can understand what you're saying. Seeing

156that in that way makes it sound like, you know, up until that, you know, it's it's okay. But it's in previous iterations of policies, it didn't have that years ago, even when I was still a building administrator, because it the law said we had to recommend an expulsion no matter what the amount was. >> So, I think there's a difference though, and that's the recommended versus mandatory expulsion hearing. And if you think about who we are as a town and what we're responsible to to protect students in, you know, in the in the schools from distribution of alcohol or drugs, we should be a a drug-free school >> that has if you're selling drugs in school, you should have a mandatory expulsion hearing. Doesn't mean you're going to get expelled. means you should have a

157mandatory not recommended it's mandatory you get caught you have a mandatory hearing >> I agree but I guess what I'm saying is and it took me going back and looking at this again we are saying the same thing because we as a responsible administrator must recommend an expulsion proceeding if students have any amount that they are intending to So on the other hand, for whatever reason, the law says it's not quotes mandatory when it's that much. I mean, it actually to be honest, it's kind of stupid that it's even written this way because it's it's at odd even even the way that it's written is at odds because it becomes mandatory by the fact that it says we must recommended to you because if they do that and right, it's the same thing. Must recommend

158is it's a mandatory hearing. It's just not a mandatory automatic expulsion >> and only if you're a responsible administration. >> Well, right. But if we are irresponsible then then we have a whole different you know so administrator comes to me and says this happened and I don't bring that to you as a hearing. >> Then >> you have an issue with me. [clears throat] So for sorry for clarity and for optics, can we just take this part out of on page 115 under number three that last >> that I could have answered if I knew if we were thinking about this before today. I couldn't get that answer before we were here tonight. meaning I I just don't want to recommend something to you even after this kind of a discussion without running it past

159your council because >> that's how this got updated in this fashion. It may be that they say, "Yeah, Bridget, you know that actually you're right. I don't like the way that's worded and we don't have to have it there." But I don't know the answer tonight. >> So, can we make a motion to table this for next month? We can >> certain deadline. >> I mean, can I just ask one question before that too as well? Um, if we're going to change something in like line three, why not change must recommend to must recommend a mandatory expulsion hearing or made like make it so that they it's clearer must recommend. I don't know. It's nuance, but >> I want to make sure it's clear to students that >> I understand why you're saying it. Yeah.

160What I would say about the the nuance is in school administrator land. >> Yeah. >> Mandatory expulsion means mandatory expulsion. Those that's the terminology that we use when we mean you are getting expelled. Not that there's a hearing, but you are getting expelled. And I think that's the reason for the difference in the way that it's worked. The question is if someone's selling I mean 2.2 pounds, right? Anything under that you could you could literally bring to school, you know, a joint for every kid in in in high school, right? But like >> but who's not going to expel that student that's bringing that much? >> Well, so then the question is if they sell one, why would that not be a mandatory expulsion? Is there a difference between a thousand joints and one? >>

161Yes. I think so. >> Where's the limit? Where do you say that they don't get expelled? >> I'd rather not have any language in here. I think it should be discretionary for pe for administrators to look at the all the totality of the circumstances. >> What's the totality? Selling drugs. >> He's desperate for money. I mean, there could be so many scenarios. I think putting any amount, >> but like if you're desperate because you need money, like does it allow you to rob a bank >> to sell drugs? >> Okay, Kevin, calm down, please. Can you ask? >> Can I ask a clarify? Okay. Um, >> how can I help? Yeah. >> Yeah. Um, well, it's just interest. I mean, I agree. I think we all agree that we want our schools to be safe.

162That's number one. Um, the way I was reading this was more flipping it that if it was a a kilogram, it's mandatory. Um, so that you don't even debate that. But um clarifying question is and I don't know if this can be discussed because it's student matter related but h how frequent is it that we're expelling or having hearings for kids bringing drugs to school? >> We have. >> Right. But is how I'm just trying to get a feel for how common this issue is in our schools. Well, I mean what I will say is if we have caught students, right, >> we have brought them. >> That's the best way I can answer that question because do we you know sometimes have suspicions that we are not able to get enough evidence of to

163be able to bring forward? Yes. Mhm. >> Um but in actuality of >> hearings or >> being able to provide the evidence that it has happened in such a manner that it >> it could come to a hearing, >> we have not had that in a while. Um I mean I think you know at one point my maybe my first year here we there were a couple of expulsions just you know students that had vapes even. Um, that's not that's kind of gone by the wayside because of how common it has been for students to smoke vapes, nicotine vapes instead of cigarettes. So, um, I guess if we just back up for a second though, here's what I'll say about the policy in general. Do I think that you should table it and bring it

164back so that we can revisit that line and that idea? No. Not because I don't think we should revisit the line and the idea and have another conversation about it and or maybe not even maybe it's a phone call that I make and say there's no issue take you know come back to you take it out. um because the policy as a whole, these changes, some some of them that are in here actually go back to July 1 of the year we're just ending. And so what I want to be able to do is at least have the minimums that are in here on the record. And if we want to change that and we're able to, then that could be as simple as we don't even have another policy committee meeting. If I contact

165board counsel, she sends me something and you know I bring it to you. We could just be at the June meeting and I say we can change this sentence to read this. >> Um could we just as quotes easily do the entire policy again? Yes. But I think other things that come into play there are you're going to be in another public meeting with people who maybe paid no attention to this one and we're not going to talk about the policy at all. And then people are going to say, "What are they doing? They just vote policies and in effect don't even talk about them." >> Mhm. >> So if we bring it back again, I think we're going to be talking about the entire thing again versus we already put that into effect and

166by the way, we're making this change and this is the reason why because we had this discussion as a board at a previous meeting. That's just like do what you want with it. That's my two cents. >> How do we get that on the record for voting? because I I don't feel comfortable right now to vote on something with this now >> out there as an option. >> I think it's just we've done that before that we put it in as >> uh >> like with a caveat that this >> that we are um >> because I just I personally I >> we have absolutely done that before. We have said and we can do it now. We are um examining we are examining possible changes under um section 4 um subsection three. We'll get

167them we'll get that correct because that has to be exact. We'll get it correct. We have to back up in the policy to get all of it right. Christine, you know what I'm talking about. um related to um sale or distribution of 1 kilogram of cannabis and and um expulsions. >> Go ahead. >> It sounds like there's an issue with like policy committee meetings. Like I'm open to having a policy committee meeting to talk through having a policy that says if you're selling cannabis that you should get expelled. Like I mean obviously some people have different views on what that amount can be and what you're comfortable having people sell in school. I'm I'm at zero tolerance but you know I I'm not comfortable trying to pass this today knowing that oh we'll we'll revisit

168one section of it. I would say let's redo this policy. I think though I understand why you're saying it, but just want to revisit the back to the mandatory and and the and the must. I know you're not going the advice is not going to be to make the policy say it is a mandatory expulsion because that's not going to be legal. The only mandatory expulsion we can have is about weapons. but to say the hearing is already here. >> But I think if you look at um local towns, district 10, region 10 has that same policy that they have a zero tolerance. If you sell drugs in school, it's expulsion. So it's it it can be done and our local towns have it. >> Expulsion proceeding a hearing mandatory or expulsion mandatory? hearing. I

169don't >> I didn't I didn't have time to >> I don't I don't know of any school districts that have a mandatory expulsion. I I know of everybody that has the hearing the proceedings, but just the exulion. I don't know any if I'm wrong, you know, >> I don't but I also have >> I think it's worth looking into. I haven't looked everywhere, but I do know that what I'm saying about >> what you can put in because we've had conversations about different things in the past, not exactly this related to mandatory expulsion. And I know and I can follow up and make sure the advice is the same, but I know the advice was don't put anything in as a mandatory actual expulsion. That's not what the law already says, which is that because

170you can't really enforce it. You can have a mandatory hearing, >> which is what we're talking about, but you can't say that you are going to automatically expel someone for for doing that. In other words, they're they're required to still have due process by the hearing. That's what I have understood. How would the board feel if we just crossed out sale or distribution of less than >> Well, that's what I'm getting at. I think I think that might be accomplishing the same thing we're talking about. I just don't want to recommend to you to do it without asking the question about whether or not it's required in there because I have not had any of this conversation since the last time this was changed in 23. And my memory is good, but it's it's not

171that good to remember. Exactly. I I think we actually had one of the policy attorneys with us at that policy committee meeting. And I'm not opposed to having, you know, 100 more policy committee meetings. I just meant the time of year that it is. I don't know that we're getting another one in. So, if I can cut to the chase for you and find out what other language is possible, >> I'll do that and bring it back so that we change we're able to change it more quickly. So obviously up to you whether you want to put it in. We're passing it with a caveat that superintendent's contacting board counsel and we want to have more discussion about the mandatory language related to um sale of cannabis and this one kilogram or table it all

172together. But I do think if you do that you should talk about the entire policy again. >> I would make a motion to table it all together. All right, there's a motion on the floor. Do I have a second? >> I would second that. >> All in favor? Those opposed? Motion fails. So now, if we make the motion to leave out that piece as the caveat, but pass the rest of the policy, I'll make a motion for that. Do I have a second for that? >> I'll second. >> All right. Thank you, Lind. All in favor? Anybody opposed for that? That one passes 4 to three. >> Can I I'm just making sure I'm under. This has passed. When was the last time that this passed? I know 2023 it changed, but this policy has

173come up >> many times. >> A lot. So, didn't we pass this last year in this form as well? >> Mhm. >> Okay. There wasn't there just wasn't a question raised about it at the time and we >> and tonight we're supposed to be focus focusing on the highlighted >> I'm not saying supposed to be focused that's poor language >> the the intent was to pass or the revisions >> that were highlighted. >> Yes. So to >> the same point we just the question had not >> I think every time we talk about the discipline policy >> something comes >> things come up that are not totally unrelated to >> what is there to be updated and I think this was one of those things >> that's a good point I don't >> I don't

174disagree that it should be talked about >> we'll just get advice to see if it puts us in a vulnerable position that's the only thing when you start changing language when we've decided as a board to stick with legality so that it can protect us. We don't want to put oursel in a position that makes us vulnerable in some capacity. So, let's just get um a conversation with our attorney and then we can come back and we can address that. >> And can I just add to what you said, Deb, and just to, you know, state for the record kind of my intent um in wanting to take a a better look at this student discipline policy. um just because I'm looking side by side with this community relations policy and it doesn't seem in

175line. So does that include students in some way? Because it is listed out quite you know everything is listed out. It's already here. Why would these things not pertain to our our youth right? We're setting an example for our youth. So yes, I believe we should hold adults accountable for their behavior and also and maybe not it's it might not be this exact wording with the student discipline, but I believe that would be in line with what we're trying to put out there into the community for community relations and and behavior between adults. And I I see it as a positive thing. I'm not going at it trying to cause a problem in any way, but just morally, this doesn't make sense to me while I'm sitting here looking at it. So, that's my intent

176behind my vote. >> Okay. I appreciate that. All right. Okay. So, we'll wait to hear back from your discussion. Okay. Thank you. All right. Our last um item under new business is discussion and possible approval of policy 5145.52, child sexual abuse and assault response policy and reporting procedure. It's a new policy starting on page 140. Sorry, I'll delete a second because my mind is still turning about how to make sure we write that properly into the into the minutes. But we'll tomorrow. Yeah, it's it's not it's not uh coming as easily right now. >> All right, this is the student facing one, I believe. Right. Where are we on the agenda? >> The last one. What should have been the last one, but it's not now. Um so this is this is new. It was

177required again by some changes in the law. We need a policy that had clearer studentf facing process regarding uh reporting and the available supports. Um so the policy does what it's supposed to do by law and it creates these clear reporting pathways for these types of um incidents that you hope never happen and never have to be reported. Um and it's a complement really to the existing employee reporting procedure that we already talked about earlier. It's they go hand in hand. this one and the earlier one. [snorts] All right, any questions? All right, Chris did have to leave for child care purposes, so now we are down to six. Um, do I have a motion to approve um policy 5145.52? >> Thank you, Sarah. Do I have a second? >> Thank you, Jessica. All in

178favor? I passes with six now. So we'll make note that he left at 9:30. All right. So that was six. And now we move on to communication from the public. Anyone else? All right. Communication from Avon board of education members. >> Just briefly. I'm sorry. Did you have did somebody Oh, um just wanted to extend my gratitude to the community and voters for passing the budget and again congratulations on a hard process but a successful one. I thought that the board presentation specifically at the last meeting was very very clear and easy to digest. So I recommend we do similar kind of visuals and the way that the information was uh presented was great. >> Thank you. >> Agreed. Thank you Kevin. >> Um just a comment from you know from where I'm sitting. I

179think as a board we really do need to focus on the student safety focus on the zero drug policy within the school. think about, you know, any sale of cannabis, any sale of a a drug within our school system that people should get expelled. And that, I think, is that higher standard of being able to set the expectation for our students so they can be successful in life and uh throughout their their educational career. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? All right. Seeing none. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Sarah. All in favor? I mean, I'm sorry. I need a second. Thank you, Lynn. All in favor? >> I passes unanimously with six at 9:31. Thank you, everyone. >> Thank you. [music]