Avon Board of Education Meeting - 02/24/26

001Good evening everyone. Welcome to our February monthly meeting of the Avon Board of Education. I'd like to start our meeting at 7:00 p.m. And I'll begin with a roll call for those of you who are joining us for the first time or those who are watching on Nutmeg so that you know who's sitting here at the table. Starting with our board members. I am Deborah Shoot. I am the chair. We also have Dr. Thage Singh joining us online tonight. She is our vice chair. I don't know if we can hear you. Thank you, Thage. And tonight as we go through, if you just want to raise your hand for voting, that probably is the easiest. I'll keep an eye on you. I can see you. Thank you. Nicole Russo, our secretary, >> present. Thank you.

002>> Lynn Katz, >> present. Thank you. Deb Sarah Heath, >> here. Thank you. >> Chris Campbell, >> here. Thank you. >> Jessica Giuliani, >> present. Thank you. >> And Dr. Kevin McGary, >> present. Thank you. >> Susan Zakaris is unable to join us this evening due to the weather. She was held up in another part of the world. Um, as for our administrators, we have Dr. Carnamola, our superintendent. >> Thank you. >> And Mr. Medic, our assistant superintendent. present. Thank you, >> Miss Russo, our business manager. >> Good evening. Thank you. >> And we are grateful for Elizabeth Ferry, who's stepping in for Christine Sardinskus this evening, who is also held up in another state due to the weather. So, she will be our extraordinaire of it and all things we need her for. So,

003thank you. >> She's also been taking the 4 a.m. calls for me for the weather. So, public thank you to >> Well, thank you. You look amazing. So, you're handling it very well. >> All right. All right, if everyone would stand and join me for 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. All right. Thank you. I always like to start with our mission statement to remind us of the work that brings us here together. Our mission is to inspire in each student a joy and passion for learning and a commitment to excellence, personal integrity, and social responsibility. We don't have recognition this evening, so I'll keep moving

004us along. We do have guests with us and we want to respect their time as well. So, if we could please have someone make a motion to approve the board of education regular monthly meeting minutes of January 20th, 2026. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Chris. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. Thank you, Lynn. All in favor? I passes unanimously with eight. Communication from the public. I believe we do have at least one. Is it just one? Okay. We'll invite you to come forward. If you don't mind, while you're doing so, I will read the way this section of our meeting works. Okay. This is the section of our meeting where Avon residents have the floor to share their thoughts and our concerns with the board. It's not an opportunity for conversation. Rather,

005it's the board's chance to listen to feedback from the community. Anyone who's interested can add you can sit there if you'd like. Yep. Can add their name to the list and then we'll call you for um forward in order. You must state your name and address for the record. Each speaker will have up to 3 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 or disagree with a 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

006member or individual employee of the Avon Board of Education whether the speaker names the individual or not. Please refrain from clapping or cheering. We will Oh, are you our timekeeper? Thank you. All right. Miss Ferry will be our timekeeper tonight. If you should reach 2 and 1/2 minutes, she'll alert you with a 30-second warning. At the 3 minute mark, you'll be alerted again to signal that your time is up. We welcome your engagement and participation. So, welcome if you don't mind saying your name and address for the record. >> Uh Lisa Yorio. I live at Paperchase Trail. >> Thank you. >> Um and the reason I'm here is I understood that Craig was going to be here and I wanted to finally get up the nerves to share a story. I probably should have shared

007a long time ago. Um this is very uncomfortable for me. Um but I owe it to my daughter, so I'm just going to read it. At the end of my daughter's freshman year at Avon High School, she experienced something she experienced something deeply painful. Before this incident, I didn't have any opinion about the open choice program. Over the years, she had encountered a few troubling interactions with students participating in the program, such as negative comments about race, being told she wasn't welcome in a club because of her skin color, being pressured to buy another student's lunch during Black History Month. These moments concerned me, but as a family, we talked about responding with kindness, understanding, and love. My opinion changed when my daughter was racially bullied in the high school bathroom by a senior participating

008in the program. This student forced my daughter to hold her lunch tray while she ate from it, telling my daughter that white people owed her and directing other racial insults at her. The entire incident was recorded, captioned, and shared on social media. So my husband and I watched what happened to our daughter. None of the other girls present intervened until much later. And afterwards, my daughter called me in a panic, hysterical, unable to breathe or speak clearly. I raced to the school and brought her home. We spoke with administrators, including the superintendent and assistant principal. They were compassionate, supportive, and assured us they would do everything to keep her safe. But when my do daughter returned to school, the student who bullied her was still present. My daughter was terrified to return, especially knowing the

009student had been physically rough in the past. We were told the other student received community service hours and would write an apology letter to our daughter. We never saw that letter and therefore we don't know what the consequences were put in place. At that point, we made the difficult decision to withdraw her from Avon public schools and enroll her in a private school. It was heartbreaking because we chose to live in Avon for the school system. And now we no longer felt safe sending our daughter to the high school. I spent much of my career working to improve lives of people living in extreme poverty across African countries. I care deeply about the well-being of others and the challenging challenges many communities face. That is why it feels difficult to say that while I believe

010the goals of the program to be altruistic, I personally do not feel positive towards it or supportive of it. I am a mother first and my number one priority is to my children. As a community, I'm sure we all want every student, whether they ride the bus from another town or walk down the street, to be treated with fairness, consistency, care. When harm happens, consequences should be clear and equal. Families should feel supported and students should feel safe. My hope is that Avon reflects on this program and the impact it has on all emphasize all students. I hope we continue to work towards a community where hate is challenged, racism of any kind is not tolerated and kindness is something we actively teach and model. Our childrens deserve a school environment where every student is

011valued, protected, and encouraged to care for one another. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Yorio. All right. Is there anyone else for public comment? Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. We'll move on to the student representative report. Cyra is here tonight. Madison is unable to join us. Hi everybody. Thank you. Um so I'll start off with Roaring Brook. So something that went on. Um they had a food item donation where I believe they raised 400 food items for families in need. um with $1,000 in direct donations to the CT food share through um a Valentine's drive. Um there was a school assembly at the end of January that kind of just honored again like the portrait of the graduate um cultural competence. Um grades one and two shared about Lunar New Year and about the

012Underground Railroad. Um this month they're honoring Black History Month and they're preparing for Women's History Month next month. Um, something that's coming soon to Roaring Brook is the Around the World Fair. Um, and something else that's going on is the school drama club is um, hosting their Mary Poppins performance, which is um, nice to see. Um, and next week they're beginning the jump rope for heart um, for the month of March. And as for Pinerove School, the Valentine's Day celebrations, which even I remember from when I went there, um, uh, where Avon Old Farm students came to perform, um, the, uh, PTO decorated and organized, um, a restaurant during lunch. Something else that continued and it will continue through early March is the Bridges mentoring program where elementary students are paired with a high schooler

013for um, sessions to improve literacy and just engage in collaborative activities. Um, Pine Grove School had um a spirit week where students dressed up as favorite characters, twins, wacky days, and just showing school spirit. And this, I believe, goes for all schools, is mid-March, the parent teacher conferences will be held. Um, as for Thompson Brook, they continue their program, grades five, focusing on strong emotions and identifying stress in themselves and how to manage it effectively. Um, as for sixth grade, they're working on developing a positive sense of self, who they want to become, and focusing on how their internal beliefs can impact daily lives and their relationships. They also had um a school rally uh honoring students of the month with some friendly competition. And it seems like all the schools are kind of joining

014together um to make an impact on the community as they held a Super Bowl for non-p perishable food items. Um, something else that began which I thought was really cool was the Penguin Pod, which is now running at TBS, is a studentrun podcast planned conducted um, interviews by students about the ongoings of their school. And so I'll share Mattie's as well from Avon Middle School and the high school. For the middle school, the robotics team has been invited to the state tournament after competing. Um, and as for the mathletes, they competed at the University of Hartford with five out of 10 participants advancing and moving on to the state level. Um, March 20th, uh, there will be no school due to professional learning. Um, and they're also holding, um, something for the community, a winter

015clothing drive, um, and sports registration has now opened at the middle school. And something that has been going on at the high school um is tonight we had our internship um showcase um where the ongoing interns presented um and they're hosting an engineering pathways virtual program um um Monday March 3rd um I believe that's for engineering and something else that happened um just two weekends ago our um girls swim team won their splash swimming championships um for the second year in a row and that's Yeah, those are some updates from the schools. Thank you. >> Thank you, Sarah. We know you had to take it all on, but you did a great job. We appreciate it. >> All right, our financial report on page nine. >> Good evening, everyone. We ended the month of January

016with just over $3 million unencumbered or 4.06% of our budget remaining compared to last year, which was just under $2.7 million. uh we remain in a pause in spending or a budget freeze as the outlook um from the winter has been harsher as we all know uh and more to come maybe tomorrow and maybe this weekend. So um we continue to hold strong on on that pause in spending and I thank the administrators for their support during um this difficult time. Certified salaries um we had some overages from deficits of sixclass coverage. We had a few um folks that had to go out on a short-term leave and it was more financially responsible to cover that with uh teachers stepping up to cover that rather than bringing a long-term sub. So, we thank them for

017that as well. Uh nurses, I believe in the hiring report, you'll see we on boarded a new nurse um and that training period happened. So, we had some overlap with the outgoing nurse. And administrators, you'll see some savings um due to the vacancy of the assistant superintendent. So on budget transfer 202618, you'll see the cleanup of all those salary line items. In other expenses, I believe we talked about last month, our disability and dental insurance have some variances as we onboarded and offboarded folks during um throughout the year. And we adjusted the encumbrance to make sure we had those folks encumbered for the rest of the year. So you'll see a little variance there. Uh maintenance repairs and HVAC repairs, we continue to see some um things break, a lot of things break. um particularly

018as as the Roaring Brook team has been managing for quite a while now um some heating issues there and we've had a part that has to be manufactured from scratch to fix it. So that's been taking a little bit of time and we thank them for their grace and uh understanding during that. Um we've had some issues at Thompson Brookke as well. Uh the list goes on and on. I won't read them to all to you, but we continue to face some um maintenance and building challenges this year. We had some variances in our transportation as um we had some changes um for RA routes. As you know, we always try to decrease cost by ride sharing when we can um through different placements or different shared rides for um specialized transportation. We had some

019adjustments there. So, budget transfer 202619 cleans up all those variances you'll see that are not salary related. in special education. We had some revised and new placements that were inc that were encumbering in February, but you'll see some variances as we started to move those funds and made a proactive transfer for that. Uh in transportation, uh we saw some pivots again with those new placements on out of district transportation. And that's it. >> Thank you. >> Keep it nice and succinct for us. Does anybody have any questions for Susan at this point? >> All right. Thank you very much. All right, moving on to our committee reports, curriculum and professional practices. Lynn, >> yes, we uh met on January 27th. The minutes are in the packet and we're going to be discussing tonight um the

020math curriculum and changes that have occurred in in that curriculum. Um our next meeting we have to reschedu um we're working on that as we speak and uh it will probably be earlier in April or later in May. Thank you, Lynn. For finance, we just got our update. Thank you to Susan. Our next meeting actually falls on March 10th, which is the same night as the newly scheduled tri board meeting. So, since our meeting is at 6:00 and that meeting is at 7:00, stay tuned, but we probably will just stick with the 7:00 tribard meeting um rather than having our own as well. But, let's all try to be there. I know um Kevin is the only one has told me he cannot. So, if the rest of us can be in attendance, I think

021that would be a good showing for us. um to participate. So stay tuned for when the next um finance meeting will be. Negotiations. Suzanne is not with us. We are beginning negotiations um starting in March, but nothing to report at this time. And policy. Uh Sage, do you have anything? Would you like me to announce when the next meeting is? >> Excellent. Thank you very much. All right. Our leazison report. We've got Chris for the Crack Council. >> Yes, ma'am. The last meeting was um on the 18th. Our next one is on March 18th. Uh there was also a legislative uh breakfast. I wasn't able to attend it, but I heard great things. >> All right. Thank you. And now for the board chair update. I will keep it brief. I just want to acknowledge

022um that I'm pretty proud of us for being one of the like almost the exceptions to the rule with the two-hour delay this morning. It seemed like last night everybody was closing, but we pulled it off. So, you got it. There was plenty of parking out there. It was fantastic. Well done, right? >> Yeah. We don't We don't celebrate because the next time it'll be the wrong call and everybody will be mad. You know, you can't >> No, you get this win. You get this win. We'll take it when you can, right? Um and the internship showcase is always amazing. Very proud to have our very own Syra out there talking about our Farmington Valley Health District experience. So very proud of you for participating and everybody just does such a nice job. We're incredibly

023proud of the work that happens there. Um other than just another reminder to make March 10th a priority on your calendar for 7 o'clock at the senior center, I will throw it to Dr. Carnamola. Thank you. And yes, not to make live. What I do want to do is to follow up on what you're saying, Deb, to thank all of our maintenance and custodial crew and Miles Altimus, the director of operations, and again, Elizabeth Ferry, um, who's been, as I said, taking my very early morning phone calls, weekend phone calls, and so forth because we won't we won't go through all of it now, but you know, there's a lot that happens behind the scenes to make those decisions, and it's typically very early in the morning. And uh as you see, Christine has been

024way laid in Florida. So, Elizabeth stepped in to do the website and send out the messages and so on. I really appreciate it. But also, our maintenance and custodial crew have been amazing. And the in both this storm and the last and I think the last storm was actually worse overall than this one, even though this one was made into a a hubbhub. Um and they they were sleeping in the schools at the last storm to make sure that they got cleared out and we were able to open when we did. So um you know they they joked with me about eating out of cans and apples and so forth because they ended up here longer. They were half joking um with me, but um they really just hunkered down and did everything they had

025to do so that we were able to open after that last storm also. So just want to publicly thank them. And of course, Miles, who's the other one that's up with me at 3:00 in the morning, coming out, calling the bus company, driving around, seeing what's going on. It's It's been a rough winter. I don't think it's I don't think it's going to get any better right now, and I think the next couple of decisions will probably be what they are. A lot of it's about timing. Um, for the enrollment report, we are three up from last month. Again, that's just some fluctuations um with students moving in and out. We have kindergarten registration going on still. If you know anyone who has a potential kindergartener at home, now is the time. Uh we're doing

026some of the screenings and processing all that paperwork. As you know, uh Mr. Cabrera, our administrative assistant and registar in our uh central office has uh taken a job closer to home. So, right now we have that job posted, which I'm sure Mr. medical will talk about, but I just want to pause for a moment and thank Miss Kathy Patton who once again came back to us from retirement. Um, and is just whipping us all into shape very quickly right at the front door. So, we are very glad to have her again. Thank you, Mr. Medic, to for the hiring report. >> Good evening, everyone. Uh the monthly hiring report for February shows uh the onboarding of seven new non-certified hires to the district. Elizabeth Stross and Kim Davis join us as pair of educators

027at Thompson Brook School. Rebecca Webb joins us as a teaching assistant at Roaring Brook School. Alen Jordan, Adriana Delaria, Nettei, and Robin Baris Robin Baron join us as student support assistants at Pinerove and Roaring Brook uh respectively. The student support assistants are a new position. Uh we secured some grant funding uh this year and these positions are working with students both regular ed and special education to um support them academically and behaviorally. Uh it is finite through the end of the year. Uh but we're grateful for the funds and the additional support. and we are very fortunate to our uh principles Nome and Amy and to San Haynes for working so closely to find us some quality candidates to bring on board. Uh in addition uh we do have three resignations uh to share, Miss

028Flynn, Miss Sorowick, and Mr. Cabrera. Uh we'd like to thank them for their service to the district uh and their respective positions. As I do each month, I go over just a synopsis of uh positions that we have available at present. Uh we are currently working to fill several long-term substitute positions for upcoming medical leaves, uh special education teacher at Roaring Brook, uh social studies teacher at Avon Middle School, as well as a PAR educator at Pinerove School. Uh these are all posted. We are in various stages of uh following up with candidates. We're also looking to hire uh several non-certified positions uh nutrition service worker at Pinerove as well as several PAR educators throughout the district. We have some seasonal coaching positions here at the high school that we're working to hire for. Uh

029assistant crew coach for this spring, freshman baseball for this spring, and freshman volleyball for fall 26. In addition, uh we are working to fill the administrative assistant to the assistant superintendent. Uh but as Dr. Carmelo said, we're very grateful to have Miss Patton back out of retirement and she's whipping me into shape more than anyone else. Uh and then we continue to hire substitute custodians and substitute nurses for our substitute pools. Thank you. >> Thank you. And I'm going to pause in terms of an update from me tonight because we have our uh associates from CRE here to talk to the board and I want to make sure that you have enough time with them and be respectful of your time. I want to thank you for coming out again. Um as you know we

030have had some discussion about the choice program. um some questions from board members about the choice program and we have answered some of those already but we were thinking about larger scale I every one of the board members that's sitting here and myself included were not here when choice started so I think it's and and many of the board members are new even from the last time we had someone come and present what uh the program entailed so I think it's timely that we had this discussion and two of you were able to come back out. Curtis and Sarah, thank you very much. >> May please come on forward. We'd love to have you sit and join us. And I just want to also share that Chris had gone to he goes every month to

031the meetings and he reached out to me and said that you had shown an interest in wanting to come and talk to boards and asked me if we would be interested and I said absolutely. Um so he worked behind the scenes to help get you here along with Dr. Carnomola and we are incredibly grateful that you've taken the time to do that. um thank you for fielding some of the questions that were provided to you ahead of time as well, but we are very open to um hearing what you have to share and um just grateful. So, thank you. >> Great. Thank you. And you have our great um so I am Sarah Voka. I'm the deputy superintendent at KRE. I oversee um the Magnus schools in the open choice program. I've been at CRE

032for 14 years now. And I'll introduce my colleague Curtis. >> Good evening. Thank you for having us this evening. My name is Curtis Rodriguez Porter and I'm the managing director for school choice and the Harford region open choice program and I've been at Craig for about eight years. >> So we put together um someformational slides for you just to frame the conversation tonight. Um but first what I wanted to do is just explain um in general CRE's role with open choice. So we are it is in legislation that CRE manages the open choice program. And so what that means is that we provide the transportation for students. CRE resco transportation provides the transportation for open choice students out to all the districts. We also oversee the lottery that families apply to provide support to districts

033in um managing seat offerings in the lottery. And we also receive a number of grants from the state department of education to provide additional support and resources to open choice districts as well as open choice families. So we consider ourselves really a partner with both the state department of education as well as open choice districts. the state department of education continues to oversee all of the grant um dispersements and anytime there might be change in legislation that is all at the state level. So we are really that liaison and a partner to both. So I just wanted to set that in context for you as we as we move forward. So we have um thank you um just a brief agenda of what we plan on covering tonight. Curtis will take you through an overview

034of the program, provide the history. We are coming up on our 60th anniversary open of open choice. Um we'll talk a little bit about participation data that um we have for Avon. I don't think that will be new for you. We also have information about grants that are available to open choice districts as well as what Avon has received. I also don't think that will necessarily be new. Um, but it's an opportunity for conversation and questions. And I will talk a little bit about how special education works. And then lastly, we'd like to share with you the different open choice supports that CRE offers to open choice districts as well as families. And I'm hopeful that this can be an open dialogue and just ask questions as they come up. >> Absolutely. Thank you, Sarah.

035And so just starting off uh today, I'm not only the managing director for the Harford region open choice program, but I'm also a Harford resident as well as a new parent to the program uh through via the Harford Region Open Choice program. My little man attends Newington public schools. So uh exciting times for me as well with that. And as Sarah mentioned, I do want to just go over the uh brief history of our uh program with the program launching in 1966 as one of the uh first three around the country from the city the urban to suburban programs that we have. And so that started off in 1966 and over time the program has grown from about five districts to now 27 districts which in 1996 we've transferred from project concern to the Harford

036region open choice program as it is called today. So just wanted to make reference that it was originally called project concern and is now the Harford region open choice program. And since then we've uh have over uh countless thousands of students that graduated from the program. And as Sarah mentioned, we are currently in our 60th anniversary of this uh you know uh chef mandated program supported by the state department of education. As you can see here is our 27 districts in which we partner with Harford. The city of Harford is split up into four zones by zip codes and students are able to select up to five districts that they want to participate in based on their zip code and from that the state department of ed uh regional school choice office runs a algorithm

037behind the scenes um through our role wise system and that's how districts are selected for the particular family. The overall mission of the Harvard Region Opens program as started from 1966 is to be an uh a choice for families who reside in the city of Harford to have access to a choice that uh consists of higher quality education uh to have access to different opportunities that they may not have access to within the city of Hartford. And through that mission, the vision is to ensure that every student who participates in the Harford region open choice program along with the students in district that they attend school with have a community building uh robust educational setting that is inclusive and supportive in multiple capacities including social and emotional. One of the things I just want to

038I just want to mention is the the um in terms of the chef the O'Neal settlement the importance that open choice serves in filling the mandates in the stipulated agreement. So it is it was the goal that there would be 2800 students enrolled in open choice um as part of of the chef agreement. And so the program is very important to that particular lawsuit in terms of meeting demand as as far as the state is concerned in terms of um their role as being defendants in that lawsuit. >> And for Avon, Avon public schools as mentioned you know came on board as a partner uh before many of us uh were working here around. So back in 1968 the program started in Avon receiving 12 students from the city of Harford which over time that

039number has dramatically grown. Present day here uh there's 101 students actively participating in the program that reside in Harford in the 10th school in Avon public schools today. And some of the other inaugural districts were Simsbury, >> West Harford, uh, Canton, and, uh, Summers. >> Um, I'm sorry, can you go back? Thank you. So, um, you'll notice that your enrollment has decreased slightly since 22 23. This isn't unique just to Avon. We are seeing this in other towns, particularly towns that are farther out from Hartford. Um and and as well recently, this past year, I don't know if you've seen in the paper, but there is um there is a significant push in Hartford public schools to bring Hartford students back and to keep Hartford students in the city. So, this is not unique to

040Avon. We do see this trend in other in other communities and in fact in this latest lottery which just closed the overall open choice applications are lower than they were last year. >> I would like to add that also with Avon being a zone one zone one and two uh historically trend and lower applicants again as a result of the distance. And so that leads to folks who have little ones, but particularly in the prek K first level, you know, really uh considering whether or not they want to put their little ones on a bus at such a a long distance. uh which is one of the factors in which we do encourage uh districts to take a look at seats um where there's potential applicants in higher grades to kind of um offbalance um

041that uh that in which is happening um at those grade levels. Also um in regards to zones one and two in regards to enrollment we do see trends you know uh with different administrations and things like that there is that s sense of the unknown and so there are hesitencies right where folks also are considering where it is that they want to send their students um their little ones I should say and so we saw that uh during um the former administration and that's currently happening in this current administration as well just that sense of the unknown. And so that is one of the things I've already been meeting with various districts just to talk about um marketing efforts and what that looks like in regards to building community in Harford and really sharing the

042things that districts offer at a variety of events and through marketing and just really sharing that story on your particular district. >> Thank you. So on this slide we see a variety of grants. There are several many grants that aren't listed just in this table, but these are um the primary grants and the allocations that have been awarded to Avon over the last several years. So the per pupil attendance grant is what every district receives for each open choice student and this is determined by the percentage of students who are en percentage of total enrolled students who are open choice. The larger your percentage the larger your per pupil will be. Right now Avon is at $8,000 per open choice student. Um, if you go up to 4% and correct me if I say anything

043in Thank you. Thank you. Uh, if you go up to 4% and higher, that increase uh that increases to $10,000. The next line is the Open Choice Early Beginnings Grant, and you've received 6,500 for each preKK student. Um, you'll see a little bit later that we also have supports at CRE that are also funded by the Early Beginnings Grant. And we use the grant to provide early literacy instructional support in classrooms really designed to benefit all students in the preK, K, and one classrooms. And we'll talk a little bit about that um in in the next few slides. There's also an academic and social support grant which is really um designed to promote the academic success of open choice students but really designed to benefit all students in a school community. So it's not designed

044to just target out open choice students. It's designed to put into place programming and services that all students can benefit from. And then the last two are smaller grants that um that districts can receive. The next several slides. Um so we talked about the attendance grant early beginnings. There is the last one on this table is what's called an open choice entry grade incentive and this is for districts that enroll at least five students in the same school in the entry grades. And so why that's important and why the why the state has put this grant into place is that when we think about bringing a Hartford student, think about a four-year-old or a 5-year-old on a bus from Hartford out to a suburban community and if they're the only one in that school, then

045they may be on that bus by themselves or one, you know, very small number of students. So, they've put together this incentive grant for districts to offer and enroll at least five students in an entry grade so that they're not alone in that school community. The the open choice enrollment bonus um grant is for those districts that increase by at least 20% over their actual enrollment from the prior year. So this is another incentive for districts to significantly increase the number of open choice students that they enroll in any one school school year. Open choice transportation is handled. You do not have to pay for open choice transportation. However, an open choice district can choose to provide their own transportation for open choice districts and we do have a handful who do that. Um can

046can you speak a little bit to how that works? >> Absolutely. So we currently have two districts that take on their own transportation. That's Plainville and Weathersfield. And those districts uh you know through their own company that they work with, they uh bill the state department of ed and the state department of ed then reimbures them for the transportation bill. So there's no out-of- pocket cost to the district. Also during the summer, there's available um transportation grant funding. Should there be summer school or after school or summer programming that's happening over the summer, there's also a grant opportunity available where districts can apply for wraparound uh transportation funding for summer experiences as well. So again, there's, you know, the opportunity for students to attend and be re district to be reimbursed during the school year

047as well as during the uh summertime. Also, what is a benefit to districts uh handling their own transportation that then supports any afterchool programming, clubs, sports, any kind of activities like that that available during the district. uh the transportation grant will also be reimbursed for those funds that are incurred during those activities as well. >> And we've seen some towns opt to provide their own transportation because they have a little more control over when the buses are picking up and bringing to school um on time. Resco transportation is is a huge endeavor and is transporting for Open Choice, all of the chef magnet schools, some of the technical high schools. So there are times where those buses are running late and there are certain districts that saw a repeated pattern and so they opted to

048just handle their own transportation. Thank you. And then there are a couple more grants, the wraparound grant and aid grant. Do you want to talk a little bit about that too? >> Absolutely. So the wraparound grant is new and this is the second year of its existence. Last year the $2 million from the state department of education was awarded to one community based organization in Harford to go out and support um a variety of districts with programming for open choice students. This year they decided to expand that opportunity to the reg region and to the state. And so with that, Avon is a recipient of that that wraparound grant this year. So you are are part of the um opportunity to expand programming through this grant for your fiscal year 27 as a result of

049that that grant opportunity. >> And then that last one is just a note that the state education resource center did receive a pot of money from the state department of education to provide targeted professional development to open choice districts. And then I think the last is bonus set aside grants. This is within available appropriations. Some years it exists and other years it doesn't because of the appropriation. But I'd like to move on to I think my next is about special education. So this is a question that comes up in many. >> Can I ask you a quick question? >> Yes, absolutely. Please. >> Could you go back to the grant the grants you had mentioned the wraparound grant that Avon is participating in? >> Yes. >> What's the dollar amount? I didn't see it on

050the on the front list. >> It's around $123,000. >> Okay. And is that specific to anything that needs to be funded for that or is that just broadly for the overall budget? >> That grant is earmarked for what uh was described in the grant. Um it is a program. you know, I don't have all the language with me, but uh it is a program to help support the experience in regards to academics and experiences for uh students. >> That's the one that I mentioned last board meeting uh Mr. Haynes taking students to the historically uh black colleges and uh some other pieces technology that's in it. >> Okay. So, >> that's that grant. >> That was that grant. Okay, perfect. Thanks. and the student support specialist. >> Yes. And >> yeah, the student the student

051support specialist that Mr. Medic mentioned earlier that we're embedding in Pine Grove and Rory Brook um are also that's the main support of this grant is is for the funding of those salaries. >> Okay, >> that's in addition to the interventions you position funded by the grant. >> Thanks. >> So special education. So when an open choice student enrolls in an open choice district, they essentially become a student of that town. And so the district owns the IEP. The district writes what's in the IEP, holds the PPTs, works with the parents, and is responsible for implementing the IEP. This past year, the legislature put in a requirement that open choice districts must require a Hartford representative to must, let me rephrase that, must invite a Hartford represent representative to the PPT. Um, I don't know

052how often that is actually happening. Um, what we hear from the field is not often, but it is a requirement that they're at least invited. The open choice district can invoice Hartford public schools for all special education services articulated in the IEP that are above and beyond the attendance grant that they receive. So Hartford is build for the bulk of the special education services that are provided in district. So I want to pause and see if there are any questions about special education. You mentioned the bulk of is it actually you know whatever the dollar amount is is it 100% reimbured or is it just the bulk of it like what percentage is actually covered? >> So you are you will recoup 100% of what you bill Hartford >> okay >> we bill them the

053the net of the gross cost of the special education service delivered less the per pupil attendance grant. So in our case it's 8,000 per student. So the first 8,000 is considered the cost of educating that student. Anything above and beyond that, we bill Hartford and we are reimbursed. >> Okay. Thanks. >> We're still in special ed, right? >> Yes. I I we were told that 40% of our choice students have been identified for special education services that act >> that seems higher than perhaps what the percentage is in a Hartford school, a typical Hartford school. So I'm wondering if there's a feeling that we're overidentifying. What's what do you to what do you attribute this? >> I you know it's hard for me to say without knowing the individual students and seeing what the cases

054are that are coming into district. Some may have already come in with an IEP. So they came previously identified. What we do see um and I'm not speaking just about Avon, I'm speaking uh you know open choice in general. What we do see um is younger students, preK, K, grade 1, starting to receive support early, which is good. That's good for the student because I will also say to put on my magnet school hat, we receive many students into the magnet schools, say 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th grade, never been identified and they should have been. And you know, I'm not casting dispersions on any one district, but I think that early identification is key in terms of ensuring students um meet success and graduate on time and and can do what they want to do

055postsecary. Um but as for the the 40% rate in Avon, I can't speak specifically to that prevalence rate here. >> Is it typical of the other 20 26 districts? >> Um I'm just curious. I would have to look at all of the percentages across district to even be able to answer that question. >> Yeah. And just to um just to add to that, what's the percentage in Hartford schools? >> Do you know? >> Uh not off the top of my head. I I do know statewide it's about 20%. >> 22%. >> Okay. >> Over overall um >> just to give you a frame of reference. Okay. So go ahead. Okay, you go. Give >> a little break. So here we have a variety of supports that are supported from our team. We have a team

056of 17 individuals. Um in Hartford we have a series of instructional coaches. We have six that are support various districts. Not all district. They're small but mighty but not all districts. And so every year I I send out a um information request to our superintendent asking who would like to have a instructional coach support their district. Again, these coaches are certified master teachers. And so they are certified staff that are able to support in the classroom, push in small groupoup instruction, play-based learning, things like that. And so those um individuals are supports. In addition to what's happening in the classroom at no cost incurred to the district as a result of being a partner of ours, we also have resource specialists, one for elementary, middle, high school, as well as a college and career advisor.

057These individuals uh are out in the field every day supporting students, uh teachers, uh families, schools in a variety of ways to ensure that students are accessing their learning and to ensure that they're feeling supported. And if there's any kind of cultural challenges uh that may be faced um in the school, they also are able to support with that. Many of them have worked in Harford public schools and or are from the city of Harford and so they are a diverse team that do really great work. We also support question. >> Yeah, just a question from the resources that sound like they're >> uh funded by uh the actual program itself versus the district. >> Correct. Assuming that, you know, given the fact that our special ed needs are 100% higher than the state average,

058what resources do we have access to that we're not using? And then how do we use those resources more effectively uh to cover, you know, the the additional costs that we incur? >> Absolutely. So, in regards to staffing wise, uh our instructional coaches currently aren't um in district and so that could be uh one way in regards to folks from my team that could come out and support in in some form of capacity again with small group instruction and things like that. However, outside of that, there are additional grant opportunities that uh Sarah has mentioned. For example, the bonus grant which increasing you know um your enrollment of open choice students by 20%. Um is an opportunity as well. >> We can also help facilitate let I know with um depending on the needs of

059certain certain students with disabilities they may require the services of a parah educator or a one-on-one which can be difficult to find. I don't know if it's been a challenge in Avon but in other communities it has been a challenge. And so we can help facilitate that with another office at CRE called the CRE resource group um who can actually um find go out and find paras do all of the initial screening for a district and then send you um some recommendations in terms of providing the staffing that students may need. I don't know if did we answer your question? Well, what you had talked about, it sounded like there was resources that are funded by this program that are not funded by the district, but it sounds like it's just your staff that we

060have access to ask questions or what have you versus actually in district help in the schools. >> Correct. In regards to a a full-time uh staff member, no, we do not have uh that capacity in our office. However, the opportunities through the grant can fund again additional uh staffing for >> you have a question. >> Um >> Oh, was there something? Okay. >> Yep. >> So, also we in addition to our resource specialists, we also have our welcome center team that supports with registration. Uh the open choice program has a two-part registration. one on behalf of the district and one on behalf of our our office so that we can ensure all students have access to transportation and that team supports in a variety of ways for the enrollment uh of all of our students

061and then also as Sarah mentioned we have the correct resource group and so if there's any need outside of the scope in which the district can support and or our office and or um any community based organization in the city. We do uh recommend the correct resource group um because they're able to provide again uh opportunities for hiring paras uh professional learning for community building as well as uh districtbased professional development BCBA support as well through the correct resource group. Any questions in regards to the supports? Great. Go ahead, Nicole. Um, I just have a a question that's came up to me. Um, you you are like a liaison between the district and the state. Is there a metrics for analyzing or collecting data about disciplinary issues? Is are those conversations that are being had

062with the district with the state how the assimilation into the district works and and whatnot and how what does that look like? >> Good question. Yes. Uh the state department of ed launched last year a open choice working group that is comprised of some uh superintendent or district representation. Uh Taan has actually attended some of those meetings on Avon's behalf. Uh we also uh as part of that we look at data, we look at special education, we look at student experience and we also look at funding. And so those are the main uh subgroups that are um major components in which we discussed during the working group. And so yes, these things have come up. We are in the process of um possibly having a potential tool to kind of support with that to see

063what districts u may require additional support in various areas as well. But yes, those conversations are being had to kind of just look at the landscape of the program, assess how far we've come, but then also where is it that we need to go to ensure that all students are successful. >> I'm one of the superintendents on that group. Dan came in. >> Yes. >> Because of the grant and so on. He's somewhere back there. Um, and the, as Curtis said, the primary focus is looking at um larger scale data and um looking for ways to reduce exclusionary discipline, for example, is one of the the goals I think of the committee that was put together. Um, I'm not sure what supports will I don't think any of us know that yet. what might come

064out of it really the the meetings that that we've been a part of and as um Curtis said there's a couple that Tassan has gone to that I haven't been able to do um it's all of us looking at data both our own and statewide around attendance >> grades um disciplinary exclusionary discipline I should say exclusionary discipline incident numbers um everyone knows what that means right exclusionary discipline is anytime students are taken out of class uh in school suspension or out of school suspension. Um, and a number of districts in the state are flagged, if you will, for the number of exclusionary uh, practices. And it's disagregated by um not individual grade level but um groups of grades like elementary 7 to 12 and um >> race um ELLL status, special education status. And so

065>> that's data that we have to look at >> all all the time. And we've been doing that again right now actually looking more specifically at the special education data >> as a group here. But this working group is is a pretty big group that has been divided up into looking at the data. >> And it's kind of TBD right now I would say. >> Absolutely. >> Just real quick on that data that you all have been looking at. Is anything kind of bubbled up or emerged as far as trends go >> um as a whole with discipline you mean for for Avon >> um we one of the things that we are working on is actually related to special education because that's we have a disproportionate number of special education students who have uh

066received disciplinary consequences and depending on the year and the level um we've also been flagged for a disproportionate number of um I guess black male students um being identified as special education. And from the disciplinary standpoint, we have also been flagged in several years for um disproportionality related to race. Also, >> it's not broken out by choice >> students. So >> when we do that state reportable data and it's put back on the >> you you can see it on websites usually few years behind at least kind of depends on the year how quickly they've gotten it up there. >> Um they they just disagregate by the school district and as I said the race um and some other factors like whether or not they're ELLL students andor special education students. But >> can I

067ask a question? Have you disagregated by students who have begun with us in kindergarten or preK versus older kids who have started? >> We haven't disagregated any of the choice data, >> right? >> Um because >> I wonder though if you're aware of trends that kids who start early, it would make sense if we get them when they're young. >> Not necessarily. I mean it it does help but you know we also have cases of students who may start in the open choice program in 9th grade and have tremendous success. >> True. Okay. >> So it it it's so student specific. >> Absolutely. >> Just in regards to discipline if you're breaking out all that data. Is there a propensity to not hold certain students accountable for actions that they have during the school year

068because of special education or race that may increase those numbers? And so I guess the question is how do we make sure that we are holding all students equally accountable regardless of you know whether it's race or or special education. So in terms of I'll separate that out from special education because that's that's kind a different animal so to speak when we talk about um disciplinary consequences when we're talking about race. However, um we had better make sure that we are carrying it across in an equal manner um no matter what race a student is because that's exactly what is being reported to the state. And as I said, we're being flagged on for disproportionality that from a percentage standpoint, it's a higher percentage of our African-American students that have been given exclusionary discipline. Um,

069it's tough when you're looking at the numbers because when you're looking at the numbers, they're also a much smaller overall number of our entire population. So, to put that in perspective, if if you have 30 African-American students and there are 26 that have had some sort of exclusionary discipline, you're at a 20% level, right? then versus you know the other thousands of students. So um what we have to do when we receive those reports is go back through them student by student and one of the things that we have to look at is whether or not students were given similar consequences for similar behaviors regardless of um their background. And in terms of special education, it's a little bit different because to enact exclusionary discipline, depending on what the exceptionality of the student is, um

070that changes things. So, if you are a student, for example, who's on the autism spectrum and you have an IEP that has exceptionalities noted, that would mean you might act in a way that would be different than than the other students in your classroom. That's already what the disability is for. We are going to work not to exclude you for that. and and we have to work not to exclude you for that. On the other hand, there are times if things are considered dangerous, for example, that we no matter what the situation is, will exclude a student at least for some amount of time. Sometimes it's even just for an evaluation or diagnostic testing or something. >> Thanks. >> Yeah. What I'm sorry what is the procedure um or the consequences if you're flagged for

071example? So you're saying that um we're flagged and you go through the data and you look at each individual case. Do you then have the opportunity to go back to the state or of the organization to explain that? Because I think an argument or a concern could be that then we may not in be in the for the future be giving certain disciplinary actions that should happen because we're afraid of being flagged again. Is there a conversation that where you where the faculty the staff can explain why those measures were taken? So what we have to do when we are flagged for disproportionality is a plan for how we are working through professional development. Um looking at our consequences, looking at um classroom settings, looking at the tiered interventions that we're putting into place, pretty

072much everything that we do as a school district and how it might impact student behavior. And then we submit a report and we have to measure our progress, come back again and um continue doing some pieces, maybe discontinue doing others. Um I think the question you're to get to drill down to it that you're asking me though is and I think you're asking the same question. Does this mean that we would not enact the same sort of consequence for a student of color that we would of a white student, for example, because we're we're worried about getting flagged? And and the answer is no. >> And and just as a a follow-up question to that, when you say flagged and we're talking about accountability of students, look, what's the accountability of this school district from

073being flagged? Is it just, hey, they're flagged, or is there some sort of, you know, accountability or punishment, if you will, that's being enacted on the district itself because of that? >> Well, I not necessarily a punishment. I mean, it isn't easy to put together these groups and drill down even further into the data and write the reports that have to be written and continually monitor it as as we're doing right now. Um, and so that's it. Yes, it's an added layer of of of work. Um the other issue that you can run into as a school district and and I have had to deal with this since I've been here um is when there is an issue with say a particular student and there's um there's a disagreement about what the consequence was. So,

074for example, there's a let's just say there's a student of color and whatever the offense was warranted some sort of exclusionary discipline. On the other end of that, if there is a a parent andor an advocate and or an attorney that does not agree with what was done, one of the things that's going to be referenced is the fact that you already have disproportionality in the disciplinary consequences. So from a it's not that it's a punishment so to speak, but it is it now it's noted. So you have someone who is at any point someone who is um pushing back or disagreeing and advocating for for the administration, school district, the board, wherever the exclusionary disciplinary consequence lied to do something different. The the data will show that You have a history if you will

075of of enacting different consequences. That's why you have disproportionality or enacting con should say enacting consequences in a disproportionate manner not different consequences. Does that make sense? It does. Real quick, I just wanted Kevin to for you to clarify because I was confused of your question after it was stated that that not just the open choice students, but specifically the black male students are dis they are disciplined way more. So your question was to make sure that they are equally disciplined or I wasn't sure what your question was. My question was for the same offense within the school, let's say fighting in the school, regardless of the color of the child's the student's skin color that if they started a fight, they're all going to have the same discipline and not necessarily if it's a

076African-American student, a white student, doesn't make a difference. But whatever the offense is that we are as a school district applying the same discipline for the same action. Does that make sense? >> I will say sometimes to the people on the receiving end of that or the parents of the of the students that are involved in a situation. No, it may not always look that way. Um, and sometimes that's for some of the reasons I already said that the student might have a 504 plan that speaks more specifically to the behaviors and what we then will or will not do as a result. Um, or an IEP, 504 or an IEP. And so sometimes that's it's a case by case situation and so very often unfortunately um when you can't explain that to a parent

077who's on the other end it does look different you can't explain that to a parent on the other end because of privacy I mean of the of the other students. Are there any other questions that we could we could answer for you regarding the open choice program while we are here? >> I just had one one additional question is we you stated your vision and your mission and the goal was to have um 2,800 students enrolled. I'm just curious, you know, how are you measuring against that goal as a state? And you know, how has that historically been? that seem that I mean unless get me correct me if I'm wrong is there another goal but it seems like that was the goal stated for the program >> currently we have uh around 2300 students

078enrolled in the Harford regional choice program and so um from us that's just continuing with uh ensuring that the Harford residents are aware of the program we have a very strong legacy alumni base of generations of families who participated in the programs and and want particular districts. And so it's just um with us in collaboration with the districts to continue to ensure that we get um that that messaging out that folks know that it's an option um for for Harford resident families. And so, you know, that's the goal and we'll continue every year to um try to meet and exceed that goal. And of course, various factors, retention, um attrition, things like that um all roll into that. But we are tasked uh through um the SDE to ensure that we're uh putting our best

079foot forward to market uh the program through uh marketing dollars that the state department of ed um gives us via a grant to ensure that we're doing that not only for the open choice program but for magnet schools as well. >> Thank you. >> Do you have a question? >> I'm kind of switching gears though. Okay. Um, I understand we're talking a lot about disciplinary action and thing like things like that, but I'm curious, maybe you don't have the stats off the top of your head, but how much of an increase in graduation rates for students that are coming to choice schools or kind of the positive side of being enrolled in this? I'm just curious if you had anything to share. >> Yeah, that I think that's part of the working group's charge is

080to is to look at all of those metrics. It's hard for us and for the general public and even districts to be able to disagregate because of the way the state department of education manages and and presents their data, but I do think this is part of the working groups >> absolutely part of the working group um to be able to tell that story because that's a story, right? And so we need to be able to tell that and so that's something that we are actively working on because the SASID, the student ID belongs to the district. It's just so difficult to be able to just pull out the >> transport. Is that a I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> No, no, I was just gonna say that's what I was saying by it's hard for

081us to disagregate it in that way because you're an Avon student. You're an Avon student no matter where you came from. You have a you have a SAS ID that belongs to us. >> Yeah. I just know that Hartford Public Schools attendance rates are >> not ideal right now. So, just even comparing the the two, but um it when you're talking about getting that data, is there a goal for kind of a yearly report out or what's what what is the goal as far as being able to report out of that working group? >> Right now, we're such in infasy stage of it. We're only in year two. Um only came together a doz not even a dozen times, a handful of times and so we're still trying to organize exactly what those uh those

082specific goals are. >> Okay. It's a it's a mountain of data. that has been amassed and the more >> that is fantastic but >> figuring out what to do with it once you have it and sort through it is is another situation. I think that's kind of still where we are. >> Absolutely. >> And then for some districts uh the the data is suppressed because there's so few of students and so therefore it provides gaps. So then it's not a full story for the program overall. So we're all >> and that is that is an issue with us. M >> we have we do have grade levels where there's one child for example in one of the schools um >> K to seven most grades have no more than six students and so again the

083data is getting suppressed >> which is the other reason >> even if we worked to pull it out I wouldn't report back out >> in because it would violate the privacy of the students it's too few right And I we've been asking a lot of probing questions, but I want you to walk away knowing that you have a great deal of support for uh the open choice program on this board. And even though I'm always asking about data, data, data, I feel as though there's some there benefits that you are won't show up in any number to increase d we're increasing diversity in our suburban community. There are so many benefits to that. I'm just wondering if you can speak to it nondata uh celebrations better. Absolutely. Good stories. >> Absolutely. Yes. We you know

084we have students that go on um to uh do amazing things. I know that uh we have examples like uh former state treasurer Shawn Wooden who's an alumni of the open choice program. you know, we have um various folks around the region um who have gone to do great things and locally, you know, we just recently had a student who received the prestigious four-year scholarship. I forgot the name of the scholarship, but um >> the QuestBridge scholarship scholarship. And so, you know, she has uh the young lady, she has her academia paid for in its entirety, right? And so, you know, those are great things. And then we also have again like I said generations of folks. Me being a Harford resident I consistently uh connect with the variety of folks who talk about the

085legacies of their families being in the program and they rave about uh the experiences that they've had and that had it not been for the opportunity to participate in the program they just don't know. And I've you know I've often asked as well again as a Harford resident you know sometimes do you feel like it would have been better if you stayed in Harford? from alum that I spoken to, they were like for their experience in particularly, they said no that no matter what that that experience while not always easy, it still benefited the trajectory of of their life. And so for that, you know, those are stories that we continue to lean into and to amplify for um the reason why the program has again existed for 60 years now. >> And it appears

086as though Avon has been participating for 60 years. So, that's something to be proud of as well. This is nothing new to us. These are our kids and we are proud of them and we celebrate with them. >> Um, we appreciate the time that you've taken to come and it's always good to refresh everyone. Um, I've been on the board for 10 years now, but it's always nice to hear it again. So, thank you for coming out this evening. Um, I'm sure if we had any other questions, we can certainly email you and hear back from you, but >> absolutely. I think it's working. >> Absolutely. And we appreciate the partnership. >> Thank you, Sarah. Thank you, Curtis. We appreciate you. Have a good evening. >> Thank you, Chris, for helping us organize that. It's

087always important to stay. >> Oh, welcome. >> All right, good to know. All right, moving on. We have um a difficult conversation that we had to have last year based on the budget situation discussion and possible action regarding notification to certified staff of non-renewal of contracts due to budgetary reasons in accordance with section 10151 of the Connecticut general statutes. It's an annual notification recommended in advance of budget processes um to be rescended as necessary after the budget is determined by the town. So, this is just playing it safe in case our budget um is not approved for what we are looking for. And I'll allow um Bridget to speak to that a little bit more. So, as Deb said, by state statute, if a um teacher is going to faculty member, anyone certified, could be

088an administrator also going to be non-renewed as a result or rift as we would call it as a result of budgetary constraints, they have to be notified. And so, unfortunately, they have to be notified well before when the budget process actually moves on. And so, um, last year we did that. Um, I went out to, uh, Mr. Matic joined me at most places, if not all, I think. Um, went out to the schools, met with the principles and the non-tenure teachers and just had the conversation so they understood that this is procedural, not substantive, and we assume and hope it would stay that way. And I honestly can't imagine that it wouldn't because we go through the class sizes and as you know we've been letting um some positions move along based on attrition at

089a particular grade level moving people around and so forth. So we don't have any room to spare for someone to be um reduced. So I can't imagine that anybody would be based on the budget because I don't know how we would fit the students in the classes the way the class sizes are right now. But nonetheless, as a procedural matter, we notify all of them and I go and sit with them and it takes the time that it takes and so forth. But it's nerve-wracking for people, especially the the few of them that this year, for example, will be the first time. If they've done it with us already, they're like, "Yep, give me the letter. Okay, you know, I'll see you when you resend it." But you just took a job here. You're fresh

090out of school and you're worrying because the letter says that you're not that you're not renewed. How many are there this year, Roberto? I don't have the list with me. We haven't We just >> believe 42. >> This date snuck up on us. So, we just pulled this uh list together. I talked to the union president. He talked to the non-tenure teachers to lay some foundation. And then when Christine gets back from Florida, I'll start scheduling the meetings to go out to the schools. I just want to >> for that purpose specifically. I mean, I'm already here, but >> and I want to say how much we appreciate the way that you handle it. Um, you did do the groundwork before bringing it to the board so that this isn't a a surprise to anyone.

091It's not a position that we like to be in, but it's one of those um obligations that we carry. Does anybody have any questions? Do we think that >> do we think that this is going to just be common practice every year or it is recommended procedurally to be done every year? Yes. Anyone else? They good. Okay. All right. So, I will make the motion to allow Dr. carnomola to notify um anyone who needs to be um I read all of that. I don't know. I can pretty it up in the Okay. Um do I have a second? >> I'll second it. >> All right. I'll take Kevin. All in favor? I passes unanimously with eight. Thank you. >> Deb, can we pause for a moment? I think we um skipped over the consent calendar

092in our in our haste, too. Yes. Yes, we did. We absolutely did. Can we um do I have a motion to accept the transfers as presented in the consent calendar? Thank you, Lynn. Do I have a second? Thank you, Chris. All in favor? I passes unanimous with eight. Thank you, Susan. I'm sure you noticed that. >> Did you see it? What? >> I I missed it. >> And I didn't raise your hand. >> No, it's all good. Did you raise your hand? You participated, right? Yeah. Okay, we're good. We're all out of whack seat. Can I just tell you earlier in the meeting I looked over and I saw the purse in the seat and I saw you come in. So I went I said, "Dead, where's Nicole?" >> She went like this. >> It's

093like, "Okay, this is what this is what happens when you sleep three hours a night." I >> was on the agenda. >> Got it. >> It's just odd. You know, I've been looking at you in that seat for years. >> We're all getting our our feet. I think we're up to date now, right? We're in line. >> All right. Thank you, everyone. So now we have discussion and possible approval of stage 1 curriculum for K5 math and seventh and eighth grade math. The beauty of this topic is that I am grateful that the entire board attended the curriculum and professional practices subcommittee meeting um in order to hear um this in greater depth but I will throw it to Mr. Medic. >> Good evening everyone. Uh first off, I uh took some professional learning time

094myself to learn how to beautify my Google Slides. I'd like to thank uh Miss Ferry for teaching me and also for the first time in my career here at the superintendent showing me something to do with technology. Um so we have some beautified slides. These are exactly the same as the CPP meeting on uh January 27th. However, just prettier and more mathematical. Um I won't take a considerable amount of time this evening as all the board members were present at CPP but uh for those in the audience or those who may be watching at home um we'll just go through a few slides briefly before we talk about the curricular updates go ahead and advance. Um so as members of the board know and as our district staff know our curriculum is written in three

095stages. Um stage one is home to our content standards. It's the driver of the curriculum. Uh establishes the standards, goals, and understandings for student learning. Stage two focuses on assessment, what we assess, how we assess, when we assess, and that is where we ensure that we measure student understanding. And stage three is the section of our curriculum or part of our curriculum where staff um our certified staff exercises their p their professional judgment in their daily lesson planning and instructional decisions based on student needs. Go ahead to the next slide. Uh as I mentioned at CPP, the board has an active role in curricular approval and its uh development. you are responsible by policy to approve our stage one curriculum uh which we'll be presenting this evening um in addition that you had in your

096board packet as well. Um your role helps affirm for our community that we are meeting the standards and goals that we set forth for our students. We have a multi-layered process. Yeah, you could go uh go up to Yeah, there we go. We have a multi-layered process that involves all stakeholders within our school district from our professional staff through the board of education in our revision process. So tonight uh we are taking the work of our professional staff and bringing it full circle for your approval. And these are the uh our next slide are the primary goals of all of our curriculums that they align with the standards that there are that they are clear and accountable that we have true vertical alignment K through 12 and that they are rigorous and relevant to meet

097the needs of our students. All right. And now for the curriculum, we'll first uh just to highlight the K through5 program on the next slide. Uh in June 2024, the board approved two new instructional resources for K through5 math instruction. Uh developing roots for kindergarten and think mathematics for grades 1 through 5. Our staff work to develop units that follow the scope and sequence of these resources, making minor changes to better align with grade level standards as well as allocating appropriate timelines for teaching concepts in each grade. In addition, the concept the content from developing roots and think mathematics was reshaped into our curriculum format to ensure consistency with all Avon courses. Through curriculum development, these programs and units bring greater consistency and coherence in what is being taught as well as how students engage

098in mathematics. Math instruction and learning activities look different than they have in the past. As uh some of our board members know from their walkthrough last year and also from some of the photographs that we shared of what math instruction looks like at CPP. Uh the units and lessons place a greater emphasis on mathematical process, problem solving and reasoning. And in addition, lesson format and delivery has become more consistent, which allows students to develop that familiarity with content as well as the routines that are aligned with the daily lesson plans. Obviously, from your board packet, you have the links to all of the stage one curriculums for all the units in grades K through five. Um, happy to take any questions that you have. Uh, Joey Krzanski is also here uh, to answer any questions

099that you might have regarding K through five. >> Any questions? >> All right, >> I know we did cover this in depth at CPP, but again, for the folks at home who may be very interested in our math curriculum, we want to be able to share this with them. So, going on to our next slide regarding seventh and eighth uh, math. Um, we we made some changes to seventh and eighth grade math to create relevant pathways for students uh that allow us to teach standardsbased mathematics at seventh and eighth grade while also having an advanced pathway in pre-alggebra and algebra 1. As Miss Lawler, our department coordinator, shares CPP, participation in either of these pathways at the middle school still allow students to get further into the course sequence here at the high school. It's

100not restrictive by any means. Um, we now have these clearly defined grade level courses that align with the common core state standards for mathematics and the goal of both pathways is that the students have the strongest foundation in order to access those advanced courses here at the high school. Um, in developing these courses, we used illustrative mathematics as a guiding resource. I'm sorry, illustrative mathematics as a guiding resource. Uh it's a highly respected standards aligned curriculum framework that emphasizes conceptual understanding, problem based learning and mathematical discourse. It helped ensure coherence, rigor, and alignment to standards across all units. We also incorporate our current textbook big ideas as a resource. Rather than replacing materials entirely, we strategically blended the existing textbook with the newly designed curriculum structures to have that continuity. uh while improving the instructional

101alignment and flow. Uh and then again as we redesigned the pre-alggebra and algebra 1 for seventh and eighth grade respectively. Uh this ensures that students who are ready to accelerate continue to have access to the rigorous options for math. Uh for pre-alggebra specifically, we reordered several units to create a stronger blend between seventh and eighth grade standards. This helps students transition more smoothly into algebra 1 by strengthening proportional reasoning expression equations and fund and foundational algebraic thinking. Finally, the algebra 1 curriculum was written using the common core 9 through 12 math standards. This ensures vertical alignment and consistency with the algebra 1 courses taught here at the high school. Students completing algebra 1 8th grade will be fully prepared for geometry at the high school. and that um experience with algebra 1, 8th grade will

102help prepare for the advanced classes beyond geometry here. Uh so overall, we've created these pathways that allow students to take math at the appropriate pacing while also ensuring that they're able to access the majority of courses here at the high school. Uh from your packet, do you guys have any questions regarding uh seventh and eighth grade math? Mr. Dr. McGary? >> Um thanks. And I know we talked about this in the um in the policy or the committee meeting, but as we look at this and as you kind of begin to add a new curriculum, what are you looking at for where the standards are today? And then how do you measure three years from now, four years from now the improvement of education for the students? >> Yeah, I think that that's obviously fundamental

103to just our work in general education. I think for us it's really ensuring that the adaptive parts of our curriculum, stage two and stage three are kind of living breathing documents that allow us to kind of see how students are progressing, how we can take things from unit to unit or semester to semester and even year to year and make the appropriate instructional adjustments to help support their learning. So we have data that we have both localized here. We don't have to necessarily wait for our standardsbased assessments. we can make these changes kind of as we go. And that's part of the goal for our professional staff in their collaborative learning time to reflect on their practice, what students struggled with, what students did well with, how do we adapt that for either the upcoming

104course or the next sequence of that. So, we're constantly looking to make changes in the stage two and stage three that really allow us to meet the needs of the students. We talked about at the meeting. You might want to just touch on why it looks like we're skipping sixth grade, but we're not really for now. >> We aren't skipping sixth grade. Um, sixth grade was the best two years of my life. No, I'm only kidding. Uh, had had to get that joke in there at some point. Um, in sixth grade, we're currently piloting the Think Mathematics. Uh, and we've done some work with our staff there. we've done some observations of how that work is going and we'll be working to kind of bring what our sixth grade plan is to you uh in

105the near future. So we are kind of looking to see that as the bridge year. Um and we do have some very good experience that we're seeing within the classrooms that are using uh the program now. So question. >> So um looks like starting in middle school there's you choose pathways one grade level and then the next the advanced pathway. If when a student gets to high school they either are showing tremendous growth or need to take a step back is there flexibility for those students? >> Absolutely there's flexibility. We do have students that take a variety of different pathways once they get here at the high school. Some students are elect to double up certain years. Some students progress in a sequential format year to year. Obviously, they go into different level courses and

106we do have the procedures where they could drop down an academic level within the same course and keep that sequence progressing. So, the options do remain here um for students to kind of continue at that but with different pacing at the different levels. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> All right. Thank you for that synopsis. We appreciate it and beautiful slides. We look forward to what you bring to us next time. >> Excellent. >> No, no, no. I was It was actually Dr. Lockheart who who Yes. She She brought us the slides. I showed you how to use Gemini. >> I appreciate the large font. >> Yes. >> It's very >> Yeah, I need that. I need that at this point. >> Yeah. >> All right, Lynn, would you like to make a

107motion? Um, yeah. I'd like to make a motion to approve stage one curriculum for our K5 mathematics. Should I separate it into two votes? Do you think, Deb, or? >> Uh, sure. Let's do that. >> Okay. Okay. So, let's do it for K5. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Kevin. All in favor? I passes unanimously. Lynn, would you like to make another one for seventh and eth? >> Yeah. Move to for uh approval of stage one mathematics for grades seven and eight. Do I have a second? >> Thank you, Nicole. All in favor? I. Passes unanimously with eight again. Thank you, everyone. All right. Our last item of new business is our appointment of the CATV advisory council member. Um, you will see in the packet at the end a

108bit of a background um explanation of this. This is actually a unique situation. And usually what happens is the town council um approves and votes on all appointments um for various positions in town. This one is dedicated to the board of ed in particular and it's connected to Nutmeg TV. So it's a person who is willing and wanting to attend these meetings. And I can honestly say I'm not exactly sure what is discussed there. Um, but we do have someone named Michael Saxs who is willing to do this on our behalf. I'll check in with him and see if he has any updates for us that he could possibly inform us and educate us on what this role is. This is only the second time we've ever voted on someone in this position because we've

109taken interest in doing so. It's gone empty for years. So, might as well do it when we have the opportunity. So, I will make the motion to approve Michael Saxs as our um designated uh appointee to the CATV um position. Do I have a second? >> Thank you, Chris. All in favor? I passes unanimously with eight. All right. Thank you everyone for the chair. >> Yeah. uh the last time we had than the first time >> first and the last time we had to do this. I did some research on it just as a reminder and maybe for the newer people it generally speaking is supposed to be to um review the kind of programming provided on public access if it's meeting the needs of the community if there are different programming needs so forth.

110So that that generally speaking is what the committee is there to do >> and I will do my best to follow up with him and see what we can glean from it. So thank you. Any more communication from the public? >> All right. Any communication from Avon board of education members? Go ahead, Sarah. >> Yeah, I just wanted to comment that, you know, I I 100% agree that student safety should be top priority. Um I'm sorry to hear that if you know families have experienced certain things um around that topic but I also don't want that to be a shadow over the positive outcomes of open choice. Um I feel very strongly that open choice is a is a beneficial part to not only students who live in Avon but the students who are coming

111to Avon. um it's constitutional, it's educational, it's not just fiscal, and I want to make sure that we don't simply focus on cost, but um by multiple measures, and I'm just grateful for our discussion tonight. >> Thank you, Sarah. Anyone else? Go ahead, Kevin. >> Um first, I wanted to just uh congratulate all those that were at the internship. I thought the those people were super impressive. Really really did a fantastic job. and to see what um they're actually doing was so impressive. Um not only what they're doing now, but what they're what that inspires them to do in the future. So, congrats on on everyone through the the internship program. I think it was really really special. Um that's it. Thanks. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> Page. You good? All right then. Uh

112Chris, would you like to make a motion to adjurnn? All right. Do I have a second? Second by Sarah. All in favor? I pass. We um unanimously adjourn at 8:33 p.m.