001Good evening everyone. I would like to welcome you to our Avon Board of Education meeting for the month of October on the 21st of 2025 at 7:00 p.m. Um, to get us started, I'd like to introduce all of us sitting at the table so anyone who's new with us this evening is aware of who's sitting before you. I will start with board members. I am Deborah Chute. I am the chair. We have Dr. Thage Singh, our vice chair. >> Present. Deb, thank you. >> Jeff Fleman, our secretary, >> present. Thank you. >> Lynn Katz, >> present. Thank you, Jeb. >> Sarah Heath, >> here. Thank you. >> Nicole Russo, >> present. Thank you. >> Suzanne Zakaris, >> present. Thank you. >> Chris Campbell, >> here. Thank you. >> And Romesh Candilly, >> present. Thank you.
002>> Thank you. And now our administrators. We have Dr. Carnival, our superintendent. >> Good evening. Thank you. >> Mr. Janini, assistant superintendent. >> Here. Thank you. >> Mr. Medic, assistant superintendent. >> Present. Thank you. >> Miss Russo, our business manager. >> Good evening. Thank you. >> And Miss Sardinskis, our executive assistant to the superintendent and board clerk. >> Thank you. If you would all please 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. Thank you. I'd like to begin every meeting by reading our mission statement, which reminds us of the work that we sit here amongst you to do together. Our mission is to
003inspire in each student a joy and passion for learning and a commitment to excellence, personal integrity, and social responsibility. This is also the perfect segue into our recognition piece. And I am thrilled at the people that we are going to be recognizing this evening. And I also think that it's lovely that each of our principles are going to come forward and help to um celebrate you. So I will call I guess all the principles forward if that works. >> Want start with rowing brook. Is that easiest? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, >> you're going, bro. I I'm just thinking prek you're the start of, right? >> Yeah, we started here. >> That's it. >> Yeah, there we go. Okay. Um, I feel like most of the time when I am up here, uh, with the privilege of
004honoring somebody, I'm usually talking about how schools play such a pivotal role in terms of being at the center of our community. And I've talked about our students, obviously. I've talked about our staff. We've celebrated so many different people. And it's so wonderful to be able to celebrate our parents and the ways that they have celebrated our school and supported our school. We are very lucky to be in a well-resourced kind of an environment and a town and yet PTO and their the way that they think through things have been able to do um so much for RBS over the years and for uh the past couple of years. We have been working on our courtyard, a space that we've been using so heavily over the last 5 years or so. And I hope that
005um Dana and Dana, you guys get to see it because it is they spearheaded the efforts and it is fully renovated and it is absolutely awesome. So, we are so grateful for you to serve as a sounding board um as a laugh track at times. We've had so many good times sharing ideas. Um to hear concerns as they come up is so crucial. Of course, um you are part of that community and I'm so grateful for that. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Is it on? Okay. Okay. I am representing Pinerove School tonight. Um I'm Amy Boreo. I'm the principal at Pine Grove and I am so excited to be celebrating our PTO. I wrote a few notes. Um so we have an amazing leadership group who's all sitting together tonight. I
006wanted to highlight specifically our our presidents and really just talk a few minutes about some of the work that they've done. Um Paula is is our current PTO president and Tiffany as the co-president. Um and Paula is really the creative mastermind behind our raise craze fundraiser which raised a ridiculous amount of money. Um and and she just was behind the scenes doing the the um announcement scripts and decorating the cafeteria and getting things ready for kids um and holding a kindness night or afternoon where parents could drop their kids off and they could just come and do kind acts which was amazing. Um, she's also really close friends with Piney, our mascot. Um, and, uh, so we're so lucky to have you. Um, and Kelsey, who has been, um, a PTO member for many years,
007and she has made amazing displays and created things like no one else. We would come in the school and there would be just things hanging from the ceiling and everybody stopping and looking and in awe um, as what at what she's created. Bulletin boards, endless bulletin boards that are amazing. Um, banners. My favorite was a zigzag, the zigzagging banner through the courtyard with the book pages on it for our reading party. Um, so she is you did that, remember? Yep. Um, the creativity is amazing. So, last year she stepped away from the PTO, but lucky for us, she stepped into the office as our admin assistant, too. So, we're lucky to continue to have her as a part of the school. Um, and Erin, you stepped away this year as you were in it for
008two years or three or more. Okay. um and working together with you has been fantastic. And I think you know one of the things that I wanted to me mention was during your tenure all the different things that you were a part of bringing to Pinerove School. Um Boosterthon another amazing fundraiser that took a lot of effort to bring even though it was you know kind of put on by people. Um the the field trips that were provided for teachers because of the funds that were raised, the Gaga pit, the basketball hoops, um the extra swings at PGS. um you indulged me when I wanted to get bring a new song to Pine Grove and that and you kept saying it's my legacy but it's ours it's our legacy. Um you really helped to make
009that happen. So I'm really grateful for your partnership and for all of your partnerships and working with you alongside you to bring wonderful things to PGS. Um I'm grateful and thank you so much. Thank you. Well, good evening everyone. My name is Melissa Morgan Hostetler. I'm the principal at Thompson Brook. And um it's my privilege to stand here tonight and honor our incredible PTO and co-presidents Kristen Marshall and Mary Wallace. Kristen just walking in in the nick of time. She's always perfectly timed that school nurse of ours. Um I'm proud to say that their hard work has had such a positive impact on our students and our school. their generosity both of money and time um have have been just tremendous under Mary and Kristen's strong leadership. They just make things happen in a way
010that I have never quite experienced. In fact, I'll take it a step further. Um every viable idea that has come forward to Mary Kristen and the PTO doesn't just get checked off a list, but it gets done in a way that really um is like, you know, gives it a wow factor. Um, you know, we've had two amazing school dances, the Boo Bash and the Glow Party. Um, we've had popsicles with the principal. We've had a sixth grade step-up celebration. They create experiences that our students will just never forget. They organize fun prizes. They organize assemblies. They've even designed decals to boost school spirit and that sense of belonging for our students. And they also find wonderful ways to celebrate our staff. So, they've purchased a coffee maker, K cups. We've celebrated um National Rice
011Krispie Day, which you know maybe could be on the district calendar as a day off. Um they hosted an incredible Thanksgiving Day celebration, just to name a few, and of course went above and beyond for our staff appreciation week. I know I speak for the entire TBS faculty and staff when I say how grateful grateful we are for everything you do for us. But what truly sets Mary and Kristen and our PTO apart is their mindset. At the end of every single meeting and even in the time in between meetings, they're always asking, "Okay, Mel, what else? What's your vision? What else can we do for Thompson Brook?" Their partnership, their generosity, and sheer enthusiasm make all the difference. And I know that the Thompson Brook School community is stronger and brighter because of them.
012This honor is very welld deserved. Thank you for all you do and congratulations. Good evening everyone. Christina Wallace, principal at Okay, I'll let Thompson Brook continue to have their moment. Mary's with us now, too. Christina Wallace, principal at Avon Middle School. Thank you all for for coming tonight and joining us to recognize the incredible um individuals in the room that you've already heard some about and you'll hear more about. Um I did write some remarks which I think there are some shocked faces faces in the room. I do have a new niece so I'm experiencing auntie exhaustion. Now that's the laugh track, right? My sister would not not be amused right now. All right. So I want to take a moment and thank two extraordinary members of our Avon Middle School community. Our PTO presidents
013from last year, Rayanne Kost and Lauren Mel. Rayanne and Lauren pour their hearts, creativity, and countless hours into making Avon Middle School not just a place where students learn, but a place where our entire community feels connected and supported. Their leadership was defined by innovation and inclusion. Always asking, "How can we bring families, students, and staff together in meaningful ways?" Trying to find There you are, Lauren. Under their guidance, our PTO continued to create unique and community building opportunities for everyone. Although I'm not sad that stick it to the principal didn't make a resurgence. Uh spoiler alert, there wasn't enough duct tape. They reimagined what our eighth grade promotion ceremony could be, turning it into a celebration that truly honored students, our students journeys and the excitement of what comes next. They all spear they
014also spearheaded fundraising efforts that not only supported our programs, but did so in ways that brought people together, showing that community spirit is our greatest resource. And of course, we can't talk about Rayanne and Lauren without mentioning the beloved Bow onthe-go cart, the monthly goodie cart that somehow manages to brighten everyone's day. Whether it's a diet coke, my personal favorite, a protein bar, a sweet treat, or the ever popular, I'm going to screw this up, tyiconderoga pencils, uh that cart has become a symbol of appreciation and joy made possible through their organization and generosity that they inspire in our families. Ryanne and Lauren, thank you for your partnership, your energy, and your dedication. You've left a lasting mark on our school and continue to do so. and we are deeply grateful for the way you've
015helped Avon Middle School, a place where students and staff alike feel valued and celebrated. I also want to take a moment, there's so many familiar faces in here who have been part of Avon Middle School PTO endeavors, and I think that really speaks to the the work that you do collectively as a group to bring each other in to to to lift each other up and to continue to grow experiences for students, staff, and families pre-K12 and Avon. So, thank you all so much. Round of applause for Avon Middle School, Ray and Lauren. Thank you. I am Jamal Lee, the assistant principal here at the at Avon High School. Um, I just really really want to express my heartfelt gratitude for all of the opportunities that you really provide our students. Uh, from Project Graduation
016to fame to the couches that we see out there in the in the in the gallery. uh all that you do for our students uh is just absolutely amazing. One important thing that you do for our students is Falcon Day. Uh I'm in charge of organizing that and it is very stressful and so you know on the phone with Lauren asking hey you have any money I'm trying to pay my right but have any money? Uh and she's always there offering advice offering opportunities more opportunities for our students to help out with Falcon Day. Uh last year we brought in a guest speaker that was a rock star and we could not have done it without you all part of the PTO and so for that we thank you so much. We thank you again
017for the opportunities and the care that you do give to our our children. Appreciate it. Thank you. >> And thank you Mr. Lee. Dr. Lockheart is on a NEAS visit today. So, I will admit that um Jamal got put on the spot about 10 minutes before this meeting started. So, I appreciate that, Jamal. Um I just want to add in a couple of things for our high school PTO who obviously I've had to work closely with over the years. Also, um project grad, uh huge endeavor every year. The assistance with graduation that we've always gotten uh from the high school PTO, which has gotten even more important as we moved it to the Bushnull. um the last couple of years that we put in the uh what we call the graduation walk, taking the seniors
018back uh to Roingbrook or Pinerove. Um they have partnered with us to be able to do that. Um paying for the buses and and also just being involved in the planning and showing up. Um countless things that that you do and we appreciate all of them. Likewise, we have um fame our fame booster folks sitting somewhere out here. Um, and if you don't know what FAME is, it is the uh Fran Friends of Avon Music Education. And um, they do so much to support the arts and music in particular um, throughout the district, particularly here at the high school and at the middle school. Um, whether it's purchasing uh, instruments for individual students whose family may not be able to afford them and they partner with us to do that. um helping us to purchase
019some of the larger instruments uh the ancillary instruments I would say also that maybe students are not traveling back and forth with from home um scholarships for students um helping to plan the the trips um our our fame booster has been incredibly involved also um and I know we're going to recognize you Diana I at least saw you back there I'm not sure if anybody else is with you um and from the high school we also have our athletics booster and I think I've seen at least two of you sitting out there. Um we are lucky to at the high school have the booster organization that um helps to raise money for all of our sports teams, not just individual sports, but all of our athletics. Um and whether it is helping to purchase pink
020socks when it's pink out night on the soccer field or it's expensive uh add-ons like mats in the gymnasium. um they have been right beside us all along the way. And as much support as we get from the community as a whole and the um funding that we have in our budget, there's always something else that's even if it's either a nice to have or it's a suddenly we really need this and it was not in the budget, which every once in a while is what they're picking up. Also, um I can't thank you enough from uh the Booster Club for athletics at the high school for all that you do. And I know that our athletes feel the same way. Um I was at cheerleading practice not long ago, as I think some of
021some of you know, and um one of the students said, "Dr. C, if you won't put the um new cheerleading uniforms in the budget, can't we just go ask the booster club?" And I was like, "Well, no. That's really something we need to do. not that they need to do, but that tells you something because that was a ninth grader that came and asked me and they already know the level of support that we get from the booster club when we need it. So, thank you very much. So, I have the privilege of wanting we want to give you certificates. That's part of this deal. So, we want you to come up and we're going to shake your hand. I'm probably going to hug you and then we're going to take a big picture together.
022But prior to doing that, I do want to acknowledge that before serving on the board, I was amongst you as one of you um with the PTO's. When you have multiple children, you end up in the buildings for a very long time because you follow them all the way through. And it shows a lot of heart and commitment and dedication and institutional knowledge that we all lean into because you know what you're doing. And so when we're lucky enough to have new people join your efforts, you're just setting them up for success as they go all the way through to the high school. So I know how much time it takes. I know how much commitment it takes. I know the heart that you put into it. It is not overlooked at all. We appreciate
023you so much. I mean, I I was trying to think about it. probably every meeting we are acknowledging some type of donation that you have made um within our consent calendar and we always want to make a point to say how appreciative we are of your generosity. It does not go unnoticed. So please understand that we are paying attention. We are grateful Dr. Carnole and I also serve um together working with parent leadership um having everyone represented from each PTO on a regular basis. we get together. That's another morning of your time that you dedicate to come out and just connect and be in the same room together so that there is um recognition across the buildings. You're not only having your own meetings, you're all coming together in the same room. And the wantingness
024and the willingness amongst you to do things collaboratively is real and we witness that. So, thank you for your dedication. And now we will call you forward and we'll do the fun part where we get to shake your hand. So, >> can I add in one thing, Tim? >> Yes, please. I I just wanted to make sure I specifically referenced FAME and our athletic boosters because they're here and I couldn't expect Mr. Lee to do all of that 10 minutes before the meeting tonight, but I just wanted to speak a little bit about PTO's in general and Deb, you just said some of what I was going to say. So, thank you very much. I had asked the board to recognize all of you tonight because I had been thinking about it even last spring.
025There's been some turnover on our PTO boards and as Deb just mentioned, some of the folks that are sitting here right now have worked with us for years and years and some still are with us and some have tapped out, if you will, and and made the way for other folks to keep moving forward. But I first met many of the parents that I met in Avon when I started in March of 2018 as a result of the PTO leadership groups. Um, and them coming to meet with me to really be representatives of many of the parents out in the community. Um, and that's easy for you to do honestly because you are so involved. You're putting on plays. You're you're helping with dances. You're showing up at athletic events. So for the many many
026parents out there who cannot do all of those things, I am one of those parents. Um I know that a lot of people rely on you to to be that in between um who not only will help out with the events and and do the fundraising. Yes. But we'll also be the leadership from parents and in addition obviously to the board members who serve and are elected to do that. you all do that also to volunteer your time and I greatly appreciate that partnership with you and how much time and effort you have devoted to supporting all of us, me and all of us in the district and the students. So, thank you. Um I'm happy very happy to see some of you here tonight that I know I don't see all the time anymore.
027So, thank you for for coming. As I just said at the last leadership meeting we had at the beginning of this school year, um I've I've grown up, if you will, with many of the parent leadership volunteers that are in the uh room with us tonight who they've they've served alongside some still um for that many years and that is real commitment to a volunteer piece of work. Thank you. >> Okay. Should we call them first? >> So, yes, there's so many. Maybe we should do school by school. Well, but we have so we we have two things. We wanted to recognize the individuals, some past leaders and some present. Um so that we were able to not leave anyone out honestly because this is the first time we've done something like this by recognizing
028PTO and not someone else from the school community. So, we have individual certificates for those of you who have been leadership. And then we have one great big one that I I don't know, maybe maybe you'll make a bulletin board or something out of out of, you know, the individual PTO um certificate, whoever wants to take that home and be in possession of it. But maybe we should call the individuals up first and then just hand out the >> Sure. group PTO certificates. >> All right. So let's do that. >> Okay. >> Robin Mclofflin, please come forward. >> You set the example for all of us. Yes, exactly. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Robin. >> If you don't mind, stand on this side so we can take a group picture. Diana Balin,
029come on forward. Please get to be on camera. I know. >> Thank you, Anna. Just go stand over that way. Leah Sha, >> I might have promised you guys we weren't going to have to do this, but you know, too bad. >> But Christine made them and we had >> Lauren Mel. coming up. >> Thanks, Lauren. >> I know. Bless you. >> Pam Shben. >> Trman. >> I don't think Pam could be here tonight. >> All right, we'll keep that to the side. We'll make sure she gets it. Rayanne Cost. Thanks, Marian. Didn't see you. Last time you hi, >> Kim Galott. Okay. I didn't see Kim. No. All right. Dana Winer. Isn't this fun? >> Sorry, >> Dana Mazorski. >> They've been our Dana squareds for a while. >> Yes, >> it's hard seeing
030that division now. >> Thank you, Dana. Mary Wallace who serves on three boards now. >> Thank you. >> Kelsey Nemerick. >> You had to come back to work. >> Yes. >> Look how cute. Thank you. And Paula Marino. >> Thank you, Paula. >> Thank you, Paul. >> Aaron Sullivan. >> Should we call for anybody else? >> Yes. I haven't seen you either. Hi. >> Thank you, Baron. And anyone else that is also here from the PTOS, please come up and join us. We'd love to have you in this photo. And we have the certificates for each individual school. So, come on over. And we'd like to take a big group photo. Mary just >> on the other side. You're the third. Here we go. One, two, three. One, two, three. Um, is mine on? I'm
031not sure. The light just turned on. >> Yeah. >> How do you turn it off? >> Do you want to go first? Like we'll go. Sure. >> Thank you so much. >> Thanks again. No, thanks again for taking the time out of your night and very happy to have reconnected with some of you and >> yes, >> everyone coming to support each other. Thank you. >> Very welld deserved and we recognize that it is a school night and will not hold it against you if you'd like to dismiss yourselves. Tell >> them. Yeah, I know. They're so polite though. So, thank you so much for taking the time. >> Okay, moving along. Approval of the minutes from the board of education regular monthly meeting from September 16th, 2025. Do I have a motion? So moved.
032>> Thank you, Sage. A second. >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Chris. All in favor? I passes unanimously with nine. Next is communication from the public. Do we have anyone signed up? Yes. Okay. So, um, unless you want to call them as they come forward, but first I'll read the instructions for how the communications work. >> Oh, okay. Do you mind borrowing Mattie's maybe? >> All right. So, this is the section of our meeting where Avon residents have the floor to share their thoughts andor 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. Miss Sardinskus will then call you in order. You must state your name and address for the record. Each speaker will
033have 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 or 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 Ardinskus will be our timekeeper tonight. If you should reach 2 and 1/2 minutes, she will alert you with a 30-second warning. At the 3minut mark, you will be
034alerted again to signal that your time is up. We welcome your engagement and participation. So, Christine, if you want to call the first person or sit down. >> It's on. It's on. >> Oh, it's on. Oh, okay. I don't get a mic usually, so um Stephanie Alani. Stephanie Alani, Avon, Connecticut, 740 Lovely Street. And I'm going to be really brief because of the three minute. And good evening everyone. Due to time constraints, I will speak directly and candidly. I feel morally obligated to inform our community, particularly the parents of our high school students, about serious concerns I encountered while working as a par educator at Avon High School. I served for full-time for two years. This academic year would have been my third. I'm cons my concerns um pertain specifically to the English department. While
035not universal, troubling patterns have emerged. Um my first year, I had a positive experience supporting an an English class for seniors. We studied Hamlet and engaged in thoughtful writing assignments. However, um starting with a study skills class, I first heard students express discomfort about assigned reading materials. One 11th grade student described The Glass Castle by Janette Walls as trauma dumping. We sp we spoke about the dangers of alcoholism and child neglect, topics that are undeniably heavy for young readers. Um my second year, I was assigned to a freshman class for the full academic year. The class was notably diverse, and I often engaged meaningful conversations with students, a few of which expressed frustration over classroom activities that failed to acknowledge non-Christian holidays, despite the teacher stated goal of promoting diverse voices through literature. This disconnect
036between curriculum intent and classroom practice was disheartening. As a mother of three biracial, multicultural children in the district, I have encountered similar issues where teachers preach diversity but don't practice inclusion. Diversity should not be reduced to book selections alone. It must be reflected in genuine engagement with the students. Please keep that in mind when they advocate for Eid holiday. Please. Um I became increasingly concerned with the thematic content of the books assigned. The house on Manga Street by Sandro Cisneros is presented as cultural exploration. However, I found its depiction of sexual abuse deeply troubling. One chapter, The Monkey Garden, includes the following passage. Sally, you lied. It wasn't what you said at all. What he did, where he touched me, I didn't want it. Sally, despite the disturbing nature of such content, the curriculum frames
037it as growth and development of the individual through loss of innocence. These are actual phrases from worksheets and syllabus, which I believe dangerously minimize the severity of the experiences described. This is not sexual abuse prevention. It is normalization. To date, I have submitted three formal requests for reconsideration. Form 6161 regarding The House on Mango Street, Speak, and The Catcher and the Rye. I urge parents and community members to read these books and consider how they are being taught not merely as literature, but as formative experiences for our youth. For instance, The Catcher and the Ry by JD Salinger is being taught under the theme finding one's place in society. Yet, the main character, Holden Caulfield, is a 16-year-old boy wandering New York City attempting to solicit sex from women in clubs and prostitutes. Is this
038truly the model of societal integration we wish to present to our students? On September 5th of this school year, I resigned from my position after being in an 11th grade class reading Speak by Lorie House Anderson, a novel that graphically recounts sexual assault, PTD, PTSD, and self harm. >> Thank you, Miss Eleny. Right. >> Rajie Ahmed. >> I don't know which way I should face. I I see a full house here tonight. So I'll also do a 3minut timer myself. Thank you. If you can remind me later. Uh my name is Rajiv Ahmed. I am a 12 year um Avon resident. I have 22 years of professional experience and I'm currently working as an executive with Amazon um in their cloud and professional services team. My wife has served as a full-time Avon public school
039staff member for the past four years. I'm here to request that our board add Eid as an official school holiday. My family is deeply invested in Ivon and we are raising two beautiful teenagers who started their kindergarten right here in Avon. Our daughter is currently in 8th grade and I forced her to come here tonight. He's not very happy about it. And our son right now is writing his supplemental essays for his college applications. As an Eagle Scout, he has contributed hundreds of service hours for the town of Avon. His Eagle project benefited Farmington Valley American Muslim Center, FBMC, which is just 5 minutes of the Weston Road. The FBMC regularly host school visits from Miss Potters and other schools during our Friday congregational prayers. We also do host the Avon high school students for
040their Abrahamic bus ride that is put together by HS UNICEF and aminesty clubs promoting religious tolerance. What many may not realize is that nearly 80 Muslim students across our district face a difficult choice during their two most sacred holidays. We represent about 250 families who are affiliated with FBMC and with our center running after school programs that serves 252 students from across the three neighboring towns and beyond. The AHS Muslim student association many of the kids are here and you'll hear from them. They are highly involved in the community services as well. Over 10 schools districts in Skctica have already successfully implemented this change with no logistical issues as Eid dates are known well in advance. Recognizing Eid holidays would eliminate absentism among the nearly 100 Muslim students and staff of APS. It will also
041help our high achieving students currently missing critical instruction time and not face the stress of makeup work. We are not asking as outsiders. We are asking as invested Avon residents who care deeply about our schools. >> 30 seconds. >> Thank you. On that point, I would like to extend my best wishes to all the board members who are on the ballot. Public service requires dedication and we saw how PTO has done it, right? And we appreciate all who step forward to serve our community. Quickly, although I am a proud US citizen, I was born and brought up in India, a nation known for its incredible diversity much like the US. Growing up we celebrated Diwali Christmas Guranja and Indian and Eid with equal enthusiasm and respect. And this taught me that honoring different faith doesn't
042divide communities. It strengthens them. And if I can take another 10 seconds quickly, right, with over 10 school districts already recognizing this holidays and Farmington potentially moving forward tonight as we speak, this is Avon's opportunity to lead with compassion. I trust this board will seize this opportunity to demonstrate that Avon leads with both its head and heart. I thank you all for providing me this opportunity to share my sincere thoughts and I thank you all for your time and service to our community. Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Ahmed. >> Ready Muhammad Javeed Javeed. >> All right. Hi, my name is Muhammad Javeed and I I'm proud to call Avon a home for the past about 11 to 12 years now. I kind of immigrated from England quite some time back call Avon home. I've
043been here for about as I said 11 years. Last year I went out to Canada to call it home but only to return 10 months afterwards. Couldn't survive there. The reason being A1 has such a diverse community that my kids couldn't settle down there, my wife couldn't settle down there and we came running back because this was home just because of the fact how people are over here, right? So, keeping that in mind, I kind of work for an entrance firm. It's called Chub. It's out of Simsbury. I'm the VP of engineering. Been with them for quite some time now. And I tried to give back to the community. So the past few years that I was here, I was with the A1 volunteer fire department as well as a firefighter. Just put my application
044in back to be a part of the fire police. Now keeping that aside, what I am here to say is I'd like to request the board of education to take an important step to include both Eid Eid holidays which are Eidel Feder and Eida as official school holidays. For Muslims, these two days, the festival of breaking the fast and the festival of sacrifice are moments of deep faith, gratitude, and joy. There are times when families gather, when children dress their best, attend the prayers, and celebrate with their loved ones. But when Eid falls on a school day, that is when children have to make a very painful decision. Do they go to school or do they celebrate with their family? Right? So no child should be at least in my opinion no child should ever
045need to make that choice whether do they profess their faith or do they go to school right this takes away the very concept of inclusion from our children there are about 80 Muslim sent students as brother Rajie just kind of told you about from 60 families across the board who go to our school district now a growing number of vibrant and bright children in our community I think in my opinion deserve to celebrate their faith as well, right? Recogni recognizing Eid would show these children that they matter, that their traditions are valued and their faith is respected just like any other. I want to sincerely thank the board for giving the kids the opportunity to literally pray in a secluded area. They've heard the messages for Ramadan coming up every now and then. Literally, their
046faces have been lit up. And most nearby towns, they have been able to kind of secure Eid as a holiday. What I'd request the board is to please give these guys a chance as well and be able to celebrate with their family as well. Right, that's all. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Mr. Javeed. >> Say hi, Javeed. Sah 75 Lexington Road Avon Connecticut. Assalamu allayikum everyone. This means peace be upon you. Thank you for letting me speak today. I want to talk about something very special. Making Eid a school holiday. Eid is an important celebration for us Muslims. We have two Eids every year. Eidal fitter and which comes before after Ramadan and Eidal Adha. For us Muslims, it is just like Christmas. It's a happy day where we play, visit family and
047friends, wear nice clothes, and share food and gifts. But sometimes when is school open on Eid, we have to miss class or can't enjoy our day with the our families. If our school gives a holiday on Eid, it will make us feel respected and included like our celebrations matter too. Thank you for listening and thinking for about this idea. >> Well done, Sahar. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, Michael Michael Vanhoff. Good evening. Uh, that was a tough act. This is going to be a tough act to follow. Um, I'm Mike Van Hoof. I live at 28 Fenwick Drive in Avon and I am here to address political neutrality in our schools in light of my daughter's recent US history AP assignment and which was tied to current events and when current events are are discussed
048in schools they must be approached with extreme caution due the proximity of current politics. And so what would a politically neutral history assignment look like? For example, to what extent is Donald Trump a jonian? To what extent is Biden a Hamiltonian? A focus on broad political philosophy with vetted materials. These are relatively safe topics. This assignment is anything but that. It has two it has two parts. Here's one question. What would the founders think about President Trump comparing himself to a king? Are you kidding me? This just happens to be the subject of nationwide political protests sponsored by the Democrats and students were not allowed to argue that President Trump was joking. I wasn't aware our founding fathers lacked a sense of humor, but let's hear what the teacher had to say about that. He
049said, "Whenever any US president says anything in public, it matters." Now whether you agree with that or not that is an opinion. Why should it matter? Because it matters to him. Next topic. How close would the founders think our current federal government is to the founding principles on which they base our constitution? Students could only focus on the seven months of the Trump administration. No Biden, no Obama. And they can pick any two topics. open research as long as they use quote unquote credible media sources. More on that later. This is nothing more than an open-ended referendum on the Donald Trump administration with the thin veneer of the founding fathers wrapped around it. I'm not even a Donald Trump voter and I'm appalled by this and I have to ask myself the question, are these
050kinds of assignments given during Democratic administrations or are these only reserved for Republican administrations? Now, if this wasn't bad enough, it gets worse. Also slipped into this assignment is Donald Trump's executive order regarding K12 schools, something about radical indoctrin uh indoctrinization of students and so on. and is quoted. What does that have anything to do with either of the two topics presented for discussion? It it doesn't. So ask yourself, is it there for context or is this the teacher's way of saying, "Look, kids, look what Donald Trump has in store for your school and my profession." Student assignments shouldn't be vehicles for professors or teachers to to to uh uh uh indoctrinate students into whatever political issue that's important to them. And I expect the board to put a stop to this. Thank you. >>
051Thank you, Mr. Vanhoof. >> Jennifer Vanhoff. >> Yeah. Sorry. >> Sorry. Jennifer Vanhoff, 28 Finnwick Drive. I'm going to piggyback off my husband somewhat. Um, admin at the time told my husband that there would be more training in light of this incident. This is not enough in our opinion because these these assignments are not being screened. This is not an isolated event. This is not this has not even been the first time that something like this has happened in our family. Our children have come to us anxious and unc one of our children came to us anxious, uncomfortable with what a teacher had posted and talked about in class. Two years ago, it was an ELA teacher with using definitions from her colleagues PhD dissertation. Now, we're dealing with politics again. My daughter Abby came
052to us uneasy about this politically charged assignment. She discovered that even her friends that she talked with from the class were nervous, too. Abby was most concerned that this would be a soapbox for some to rant about the current administration. And she was right. A student went off topic about how they don't like Trump's policy on immigration, completely unrelated to the discussion. And please note, it was Abby, not the classroom teacher, that brought the class back to topic. Aby's efforts were not political, but many students may now feel, excuse me, may now make that conservative assumption about her. In today's political environment, this has implications outside the classroom. Another major problem we had with this assignment was the use of credible sources. What constitutes a credible news source and why is this up to the
053opinion of the teacher? students were only given the example of the free subscription to the left-leaning New York Times. If you were a student, would you feel comfortable using Fox News or another conservative source? And would you be graded down for using a conservative source? All this steers the classroom cons discussion in one political direction. I ask the board to ensure that this doesn't happen again. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Fenhoff. We Is there anyone else on the list, Christine? Okay, so we've exceeded the 15 minutes. I want to check with the board. Are you comfortable with continuing? How many more speakers do we have? Four. Everyone's comfortable with that. All right. So, we will extend the public comment. Our next person, okay, forgive me. Uh, I have to read the writing here. Rakima
054Tbasam. >> Good evening respected members of board and Ivan's school community here. I think brother Rajiv and brother Jawed along with cute little Sahar already covered our request. We are here first of all my name is Rakimatasum. I have been resident of Awan for almost 11 years now. My kid started Avon school from first grade. right now he's a junior. He's attending Awan High School. Uh I'm here as a proud parent and member of Awan's Muslim community. I want to begin by sincerely thanking you for the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion that you uphold. Values that make Awan not only an excellent district, but a compassionate one. Today I humbly ask the board to recognize two of our Eids, idul and Idul Adha, as official school holidays because Eid is a time of prayer,
055reflection, charity, and family. A day when we express gratitude and celebrate the blessings of faith and community. Every year, many Muslim families like ours wake up on Eid morning with mixed feelings. the joy of celebration but also the worry that our children might miss a test, fall behind an assessment or marked absent for simply honoring their faith. Imagine telling a child that the day have they have waited whole year, a day of prayer, a day of giving, a day of family and celebration must still begin with checking their schooly. In my honest opinion, no child should have to make that choice. Faith and education should not compete in their space uh in child's heart. Rather, they should walk hand in hand. Recognizing ETH is simply not about adding a day off. It's about belonging. It's
056about ensuring that every student sees their identity reflected and respected in the community they call home. Many districts across nations have already taken this step affirming that inclusion strengthens unity and enriches learning for everyone. By taking this step, we would join those districts in affirming that inclusion truly strengthens unity. On behalf of Muslim families in Awan, thank you for this time. Your openness and your continued commitment to inclusion. Recognizing ETH would be a meaningful symbol that in E1 A1 diversity is not just taught but it is practiced and it is celebrated. Thank you. >> Thank you Miss Tbasum. Next Kaha Var Vicardin. Sorry apologize. >> Sorry my mom put my father's name. She meant to put my name. >> Oh okay. Hello, I am Zan Vikaran. I'm a junior at Avon High School and um
057I'm here to talk for Muslims all over Avon public schools. So, we celebrate two Eids. One is called Eida and Eid Fther. These are like our Christmas and Thanksgiving combined. These are very important to us. We look forward to it every year. But um so every Eid we wake up, we dress in our best clothes, we congregate at the mosque for a a special prayer and after that we gather with neighbors, relatives and have food just as important as Thanksgiving dinner. However, this is very difficult when Eid falls on a weekday because there could be tests, there could be quizzes, there could be assignments or important lessons that if you miss it would make the class a lot more difficult. So, um I would like to ask the board to add Eid as a holiday.
058I believe that we can only embrace truly embrace inclusion and um diversity if we recognize all cultures and identities. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Mr. McCarten. Next, Ariana Khan. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Ariana Khan and I'm from 14 Weatherstone. First off, thank you for letting us use the school gym for ETH prayers and for supporting the FMC's fundraisers at our high school. That kind of partnership means more than people realize. It's one thing to say we value diversity and it's another thing to open your doors and actually live it. But that's why I'm here tonight because Avon has opened its doors but not yet its calendar. Right now, our district recognizes Christmas, Good Friday, Yamapour, Roshashana, and Dvali, which is amazing and reflects a variety of cultures in our
059community. But one of the biggest Muslim holidays is still missing. It means that while other kids count down to their holidays, Muslim kids start counting down their absences. It means Muslim kids grow up learning that their biggest holiday is a pop quiz. Who's staying home? Who's going to school? And who's brave enough to email the teacher for a makeup test. It means that while everyone else is getting sugar cookies for Christmas or Easter eggs for Good Friday, you're sitting there trying to explain to your teacher why your religious excuse isn't just a vacation. By high school, you've mastered the art of taking a chemistry test where a teacher is still going on about all the tests and stuff while your family is sending you pictures from their festivities. It's funny, but not really. That's how
060you learn early on that your holiday just doesn't make the calendar cut. And I know it's one day, but small things add up. Representation isn't measured in grand gestures. It's measured in the moments where you feel seen. And when we're talking about education, those moments shape who we become. It's a weird kind of contradiction, though, right? Our district says that we value all inclusions and that we remove barriers that cause disparities among different groups of students. But for Muslim students, that barrier is sitting right there written in invisible ink on our calendar. Every year, our local mosques like the FMC right here in Avon disprove the fact that ETH isn't just on a fixed date. But we must also realize that snow days don't have fixed dates either. Yet, we still find a way to
061account for those. These predictions are incredibly reliable and they're what our community follows. So, planning for it isn't actually complicated. Other districts like Stanford, Nor Rock, Trumble, Bridgeport, and Waterberry have already done it. If they can figure it out, so can we. Diversity isn't just a paragraph in the district handbook. It's a promise. And a promise means more when you can point to it on a school calendar. It's proof that the district's values actually show up in real life. Not as an act of generosity, but as a reflection of the community we already are. So on behalf of the students, families, and even the teachers at Avon who've told us that they love to see you take the step. And because we've seen how much impact the district has when it chooses inclusion, tonight I'm
062asking you to make a choice that shows every student in Avon that they belong. Please make EVO Fther a recognized school holiday. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Miss Khan. And one more. Correct. Abdul Muhammad. Um, good evening everyone. I, my name is Abdullah Muhammad and I am um I live in 26 Deepwood Drive, Avon, Connecticut. and I'm the current um co-president and co-founder of the Muslim Student Association at Avon High School and I'm also a senior. So um probably should be working on my applications, but this is important too. Um so I'm here to first of all I would like to thank Dr. Lockheart and the rest of Avon High School because I'm not going to lie, I've always felt included. I've always felt accepted. And even when I had track in
063sophomore year, I would go into the office, talk to Miss Ka, and I'd be like, "Um, is there a room I could pray in because I have practice and I can't miss this prayer." She'd always be like, "Yeah, there's probably a room here. Let me help you find it." And I would always have the opportunity to pray at school and I would always feel like I'm accepted and taken seriously. And and the fact of the matter is Avon as a district is very accepting. and to have Eid as a official holiday on the calendar will only further solidify the Avon's commitment to this acceptance and inclusion. That is all I had to say. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Muhammad. We appreciate it. And that's everyone. Correct, Miss Ardinskus. Thank you to everyone who took
064the time out of their lives to come and speak to us. We appreciate your comments. As spoken before, this isn't a time for dialogue, but we take it into consideration, and Dr. Carnival is always um very good at following up which is why we ask for your name and how to reach you. So thank you for doing that. Now we will move on to student representative reports from Maddie and Cyra. Hi everyone. This is Cyra. So I'm just here to share some facts um and ongoings about the different schools. So we heard a lot from our pres um from our principles earlier, but I'm just going to add a little more. um at Pine Grove um the central office colleagues um visited and they were uh very impressed with our school and um just how
065it's running. Um on September 26th, the first town meeting was held and um this one had a particular focus on citizenship and um particularly highlighting the idea of contribution to a community. Um and uh also we had the new social emotional learning program that's um called second step and they also tied this into this town meeting with um a growth mindset. Um something else that occurred was a trunk or treat on the 18th just another you know community event. Um and on Halloween there will be the Halloween parade which um even I remember um has been going on for some time um where the kindergarteners come to Avon High School. And as for Roaring Brook, um something that was noted in the podcast that they did this month, um attendance has been very high since
066beginning school. Um there was a PTO parent night. Again, um thankful to for the PTO. Um that, uh held 25 families, I believe. Um another activity that was that happened was tulip planting um at Roingbrook. something the morals that were shown were, you know, being good for opportunity, of being something of being part of something greater. Um, you know, really impacting the community even in a small way. Um, and you get to see the impacts of your work later in the spring. Um, a lot a good something good that happened was also um, you know, parents are staying informed about the types and frequency of safety drills. I think that's really important. Um, there was lots of good behavior during these drills. Everything went well. Um in terms of field trips, there was a second
067grade field trip to Mig's Point and um actually today um first grade attended a field trip to the Indian Rocks Nature Preserve. Um as for Thompson Brook, um something that's being uh implemented this month is Unity Month in October um which started on October 1st with a mix it up day. So at lunch they sat with new people got to kind of just experience how it is meeting new people talking to new peers. Um again at Thomson Brooks um second step was launched the SEAL program. Um sixth grade's first unit um discusses bullying and this also helps tie into unity month which is ongoing throughout October um with a spirit week. Um, as for information about supporting change in friendships was also shared, which I think is a good important um, factor in middle school.
068Um, as for another field trip, the TBS field trip was held to Winding Trails. As for standardized testing, the Ames Web um, both English and math were held. Um, and upcoming October 24th, there will be a band trip to the Coastgard Academy. And um again on that date um again thanks to the PTO will be the boo bash. Thank you. >> All right. And I'm going to be talking about um the high school and the middle school. So at the middle school there is a pillar focus this month for October and it's compassion. Um and for the portrait of the graduate the focus is culture cultural cultural competency. Um October 29th, the eighth graders are going to go on their field trip to Boston and there is a significant trade immerse activity going on in
069the eighth grade social studies classes which I thought was very interesting. Then for the high school, um last week we had our spirit week as well as homecoming which was a really big success. I know that the student government spent a lot of time trying to plan everything out thoughtfully. Um winter sports registration is open. Tomorrow is going to be the PSAT. So, while the underassmen are taking the test, seniors are invited to workshops such as like figuring out Common App, FASA, any questions they might have for counselors, stuff like that. The college fair was also a success. There was over 20 schools attending, exactly 29. Um, and then tonight, the class of 2027 is hosting a fundraiser at Puerto Verta to raise money for their prom and stuff like that. Also, for fall cleanup,
070the Avon crew team is offering like free cleanup November 5th through 9th. Um, and the signups are open. >> Thank you, ladies. Well done. All right. Now, Miss Russo for our business um financial report starting on page nine. >> Good evening, everyone. Um, as we discussed at the finance committee, we're a little behind in terms of overall unencumbered funds for the month ending September 30th, 2025. to be exact, were $313,000 less than last year or 77%. Um some of those variances are due to um our certified salaries and our teacher alliance. We had some additional degree changes come through. Uh that would be the last of them. You'll see a budget transfer 2026008 on the conset agenda that uh transfers those funds from our degree change line. We had some um variations in our custodian
071maintainers, pair educator, interventious and teaching assistant lines uh officials. You'll see on the same transfer uh we're just changing the budgetary line to better incorporate that expenditure. It's still within budget. Other expenses I wanted to point out on transfer 2026009. Uh the way our insurance company's billing us this year for our insurance covers for property li liability auto workers comp is a consolidated bill. We had previously had that in four different accounts. You'll see a large transfer on there. where we are not over budget by $200,000, but instead just consolidating lines. So, I want to point that out for the public as well. Um, one thing I did want to point out, and we are over budgeting, is our maintenance repairs, particularly, um, I listed out some of those major repairs we've had, which include,
072um, alarm system for the high school, uh, playground repairs. Uh, here at the high school, the West Wing HVAC control unit was over $25,000 to repair that. There's been it seems to be the um year of many many building repairs. Um and you'll see our capital improvement plan later on uh in tonight's agenda addresses some of those items. Uh in special education, we've had the majority of our incumbrances for our existing placements process. We're still working through some of the transportation pieces as um Dr. Fox's team works tirelessly to try to get ride shares for a lot of our students to make it more fiscally uh more fiscally help fiscally for us um to keep those costs down. Uh but we also did have to add a few monitors onto some rides um for some
073different medical items. You'll see that come through in October. Um for general expenditures, uh given everything I just highlighted, we continue to stay in a budget freeze or what I like to call pause in spending. And I foresee that continuing at least through the winter. Thank you, Susan. Any questions? All right. Thank you. All right. Moving along to our committee and liaison reports, curriculum, professional practices. Lynn, >> yes. Um, the committee met on October 7th. Our next meeting is not until January 27th. The items on tonight's agenda. We're we went we were presented with all the information we needed to move it forward to tonight regarding uh resources and courses and we're going to learn more about that in a few minutes. Thank you. Finance, that would be me. We held our last meeting on
074the 14th. Um we just heard our financial update from Miss Russo and we will have the presentation of the capital improvement projects. So look forward to that. Our next meeting is November 12th. Negotiation. Suzanne, >> there's nothing new to report and no meeting scheduled. >> Thank you. Policy Sage. >> Yes, Deb. We had a meeting on 101425 and the policy that we move forward at that committee meeting is here on the agenda tonight. Our next meeting is December 2nd. >> Thank you. And Capital Region Education Council liaison Chris. Yes, we just recently had the Craig Foundation golf tournament. Uh raised some great funds for scholarships and to help kids and families. Uh it was a great night. I do not golf. >> I was just going to ask you, did you play? Did you play?
075>> Um and then our next uh meeting is on the 19th of next month in Harvard. >> Thank you for representing us. We appreciate it. >> All right. Next is the board chair update. I will keep it brief. I am just um grateful to share that we had our NIAK visit. Uh it felt wonderful and successful on our part. Three of us from the board were able to um be interviewed by the committee and we felt that it went really well. So we're looking forward to hearing those results soon. Again, we appreciate the PTO for all that they do and we're grateful to finally recognize them this evening and we're grateful for everyone who is sitting with us tonight. It's nice to have faces in the audience. So, thank you for taking the time and
076I will pass it on to Superintendent Report. Thank you. Start with the hiring. Mr. Medic, >> good evening everyone. As you can see from this month's hiring report, we continue to fill vacancies in our non-certified positions. We've added two teaching assistants, three PAR educators, an interventionist, a nutrition service worker, and a long-term subpar educator who's covering a medical leave. In addition, I'd like to take this time and thank our departing employees for their service to the district. I also want to take a moment to recognize Miss Mary Beth Towig who worked for the district for 25 years. First as a substitute nurse and later as our part-time nurse here at Avon High School. Want to wish Mary Beth a well-deserved retirement. At this time, we are continuing to work uh working to fill several openings
077across the district. At Avon High School, we're seeking a part-time school nurse, a long-term substitute business teacher, a long-term substitute special education teacher, nutrition service worker, and three pair educators. We're also hiring several seasonal positions here at the high school, including boys freshman basketball, freshman baseball, and assistant boys lacrosse, as well as a lighting director for the fall play. At the middle school, we have an opening for a long-term substitute special education teacher, and we're also working to hire a long-term sub occupational therapist to cover an upcoming maternity leave. And finally, we continue to add to our substitute nurse and substitute custodian pool. Thank you. >> Thank you. U reminded me, Mr. medic. I wanted to uh let the board know that um unfortunately a couple of weeks ago I received a call that uh
078our long-term time nurse that had uh retired recently Pat Dasi passed. >> Uh so we were uh obviously saddened to hear that she had been a great part of our school district for a long time. had been um also the nurse supervisor for many years and um had had some time in retirement to enjoy herself. Um but we we're sad to see her go. Um moving on to the enrollment report, we are holding steady. Uh, as you saw, we put the um, I think I mentioned this last time also. We put the notification back out around preK. And Tiffany, actually, I meant to ask you this before we here tonight. I know I never finally once the one time I'm going to ask something. You were um, did we have any other students sign up
079yet for prek? >> Not yet. Um, so we put out, as you know, I mentioned at the last meeting, we had a few extra seats um, for non-disabled peers. So, we are still trying to recruit. There is a waiting list. So, we do expect to fill those, but sounds like we have not as of yet. Thank you, Tiffany. Earlier than I wanted to ask you that before we were here tonight. Um, wanted to start tonight with the AI guidelines. Uh, we did discuss those in our curriculum professional practices meeting. Thank you. Those are not at this time for board action, but we still thought it was important to bring them forward and to to discuss them so that you know and understand the work that's been going on in the district around them given how
080much um conversation there is related to AI and what it means for education. So, I know we have Elizabeth here with us tonight and Jess uh to update you on what you have in your packet, which is right now what we have is the draft of the artificial intelligence guidelines. >> Sure. I'll start. Um as Dr. Carmela mentioned, um these are really guidelines. we called them guard rails as well. Um to really just help our staff and students get on the same page in terms with this new technology that's kind of changing um by the moment it feels like. So we we go into this very much with version 1.0 um knowing that this is bound to change as AI changes by the day. Uh the guidelines promote responsible, ethical and purposeful use of AI
081uh with particular focus on uh protecting student data privacy, encouraging safe and responsible use and promoting academic integrity. Uh at the same time, they also recognize the opportunities AI presents. I'm not sure if any of you are using AI yet, but uh it can be an incredible tool when used appropriately. Uh we we certainly want to set our students up for future success um as they explore the use of AI. Uh we know that AI like I mentioned is ever evolving which is why um this again is the first generation. Um however we want to provide these um to provide some clarity and the number one thing our students have asked is how do I use this without getting in trouble. So we want to make sure that uh we can provide those uh guidelines
082for them as well. Uh this version that you see tonight is the most ready to go draft. Um thank you to the members of CPP uh the board subcommittee which provided some feedback at our last meeting. We made a few tweaks um prior to hearing from you and uh we think it's very much ready to roll out to all of our staff. >> Any questions about that? Yeah, I thought we might. Um, just a couple quick questions. Uh, knowing and I'm not so well verssed on it, but state law regarding student privacy and so forth. I know some districts have begun to identify certain AI tools that would be acceptable under the state law, others not. Are we identifying that for staff? Is that going to be the support document? Is this the policy? And
083then there's the regulations coming. >> Sure. Great question. I'm glad Elizabeth's here to she's ready to pop up because we might be saying about which Yes, >> the answer is yes. We have been doing that, but Elizabeth can make sure that's speak to which specifics. >> Yeah, that's on. Okay. Um, yes, Jeff. It's there are currently four studentf facing AI platforms that we are legally allowed to use in the state of Connecticut with our students. Magic School, School AI, Gemini, and KIGO, which is a Khan Academy AI facing tool. Um, we have only right now currently using school AI as a pilot for 800 students in the district. And then some some staff are using Magic School, the free version of it, but those are the only ones that have signed with the student data
084privacy laws in the state. We evaluated Magic School and School AI to go to decide between those two for which pilot we are going to run. We went with school AI just because of the back end of it of what the teachers are able to see that the students how they are interacting with the chatbot because they can see the entire transcript and it's actually a really amazing tool um to be able to watch. We're going to actually observe a teacher tomorrow utilizing it at the middle school and it allows the teachers to have conversations with the students after they've interacted with it and they can determine whether or not a student is comprehending the content that they are interacting with the chatbot in the tool itself. And in addition, our technology council, which is
085comprised of a teacher or a staff member in every building, they have actually created an AI spreadsheet or document that lists the different AI tools that are available for staff and for students to utilize in the district because we have, as I'm sure you're aware of in other programs and other school districts, almost every single software and program that we currently utilize has an AI component to it. and any and and I think we all see too whenever we go to any website you now see some type of AI component that pops up on the website itself. So we have provided some of our a lot our our teachers a whole list and some professional development within this last couple of years of the different tools and uh software programs that we have available. And
086one of the things just kind of um tag on to what Jess had said too is last year I met with a class a current events class and they wanted to create their own set of AI guidelines here at the high school and the students were very interested to talk about it with me and I kind of just said you know let's pretend your teacher is not here tell me what your usage of AI is and they all just kind of opened up we use it all the time this is it's amazing and and I kind of started to have a conversation with them of well how do you use it and as they were talking they said it came out more of a Google search engine that's how they were utilizing it. I said,
087"Oh, you guys." I said, "This is AI literacy. This is why the school district will help you understand how to use it because it's not going away and it's just going to continue to evolve and it's going to be in one of those content and curriculum integrations that we have to do to help our students succeed after they leave us." >> Thank you. >> Y did that answer your question? >> It did. Thank you. I appreciate it. >> You're welcome. >> Yeah. Any Go ahead, Romesh. It's not a question but a comment to Jess actually. So I think we discussed in the curriculum come to meeting right. So and thank you for including the family expectations there. >> I think the last two bullet points were pretty good. So thank you. >> Okay. >> Thank
088you. >> I I just think a lot of us don't know enough to even ask the right questions about this topic. But um >> by the time you figure it out, it'll have chang. >> It looks good. Thank you. >> I think Elizabeth hit the nail on the head, which is we're using it more than we know. Um and and what's our job always as educators to really equip our students to, you know, face this challenge of using AI appropriately, but also you'll notice it was important to us on the guidelines that it's not to replace their thinking. uh you know we want to make sure that they're able to use the tools appropriately in the right ways and the next generation I think we talked a little bit about uh with CPP is also
089providing different levels of guidance we're not quite there yet like what's a you know a low level of AI use to a very high level but how do we again still get at that critical thinking piece which we know is important to our um portrait of the graduate so >> I just have another question I'm not I think it's it's related ated, but how can teachers know if an assignment comes in and it's been downloaded from AI? >> Is there a way to There are uh there is some software that teachers can use all the >> um I you know where it pulls all this information from is the internet. So I think it was Elizabeth that was telling me about the was it the Declaration of Independence that it's came up that it was
090uh written by AI because again it's pulling from the internet and sources so that the tool is saying yeah you know this came from the internet. So >> you have to take it with a grain of salt. Um, which is why we're trying to empower them upfront to make good decisions. Um, and to know when we think about, again, going back to our portrait of the graduate, we're trying to give them these skills that we know employers are looking for down the road, right? Which is not just collaboration and communication, but that critical thinking piece, which if you let AI do all the work for you, um, it takes that component out of your hands. So, we're trying to set them up for success with these, and again, we'll continue to revise them as AI
091changes. um by the day. >> Yeah. >> Sure. >> A lot of there are a lot of programs and tools out there that people try to sell saying it is an AI detection tool. There is nothing out there that will 100% be able to detect AI. So when we do professional development with our teachers, it's one of the very first things we tell them is you know your students, you know their voice and you are able to understand that. And then so when you see a piece that comes to you that is a third grader using 12th grade words, it's kind of a question. You go and question it. They we do have um a program called Turn It In that does detect plagiarism. It has an AI detection tool, but we are very forthcoming
092with the teachers saying there are no tools out there that will 100% be able to detect AI. And that's why we felt that these guidelines itself will help not just our staff but more our students to be able to understand when they do use it what they need to follow and be able to do for their education. >> Nicole first. >> Nicole. Thank you. I'm going to steal Lynn's comment of that I may not exactly know exactly what I'm asking. So just bear with me if it doesn't make sense in the technology world. Um, when we're talking about AI, I think there's a lot of different things that go in different people's heads wherever depending on your comfort level. Um, because my one of my questions is, is there like a scope and sequence of
093the ages that we're speaking to kids and is this going to be separate lessons or classes or embedded in activities organically as they happen? >> Thank you for asking that question. our in addition to my role as the director of educational technology, I also supervise our library media specialists in the district. And at the end of last school year, we spent some time writing the initial AI inte curriculum lessons that we are integrating into the library media courses that they have from preK to 7th grade because all of our pre-K to 7th graders actually have a weekly digital literacy course or library course that they have. And believe it or not, they can teach AI to preK students. They are not teaching them how to use AI in any way, shape, or form, but they're
094teaching them the vocabulary and the terms, what's fake, what's artificial, what's real, and then building up from there, the scope and sequence, exactly what you spoke of. But one of the things that we are actually going to work on as well is making sure that it's not just the responsibility of our library media specialist because every single teacher and every single content area will have this tool will face students using this tool. So they have to also work to integrate the lessons and the content and the vocabulary into their courses as well. >> Y and then >> no thank you go upstairs. I'm sorry. >> Y >> um I think it's great. I'm excited that we're kind of ahead trying to get ahead of this rolling ball. Um, one of the questions I had is
095as far as support for staff, teachers, you um, this is a big growing kind of thing to be able to harness and teach and and guide. So, I don't necessarily have a specific question, but just noting if there's something we can do as a board, something that we can support for the teachers, for the staff who are teaching this to all the students, please let us know because again, we're we're I think a lot of us sitting here saying great, but we don't know how to make sure it kind of keeps moving ahead. So, just wanted to put that out there. My second question was about the guidelines. How often will we revisit these? Have we thought about that? I don't know that we haven't set a date yet, but I would think it'd be
096something we'd look at annually like a lot of our guidelines that we put out to staff and again we've acknowledged openly as some of you have this evening that it's you know a lot there's u we don't know what we don't know sometimes with AI so as things change we can update these and >> um you know roll those changes back out to our staff and to answer your first question comment I guess comment idea um it's really that professional learning that we're trying to provide to staff on a regular basis as part of our district PD uh bringing in experts from the outside that really are knowledgeable about this field and and ways to um support teachers in their classrooms with using this platform. Romesh um mentioned the addition of some comments about families
097supporting this at home is because one of the things we know is when they're on our devices, we have a better level of control, but when they go home and they jump on their phones and computers, they're, you know, unless their parents tell them no, they're they're free to use AI. And so that's part of what this um is sets out to do, as well as the curriculum that Elizabeth referenced is really teach them again that appropriate use whatever device they're on. Thanks, Jeff. >> So, just maybe jumping ahead a little bit with this. These are guidelines. Are we looking at possibly, if it hasn't been added already, policy in terms of violations? Are we just talking about students being thrown under plagiarism if they use AI? Is there guidelines for teachers about when they
098cross that line from too much AI that it constitutes plagiarism versus it needs re-education on effective use? Are we headed that way at this point? Are we we have that currently? >> So, right now we've just referred to what we have in place about like our appropriate use of technology, which does refer to plagiarism because that's really how we're looking at this. Um, I mean, there's no other plans at this time, but that's what we've referred back to. >> Thank you. in our policy and I think we had this conversation at the policy committee meeting and maybe subsequently at the board when we did updated the >> uh academic uh honesty and plagiarism policy we talked about this and it is it's listed there but I think again it's hard as we move through it
099right now trying to at least develop the uses for it how to use it in classrooms how not to use it in classrooms and we're we're working with teachers on the same things we're working with students on and we're learning to use it ourselves. Um, it's it's hard to be in front of. I don't know that anyone's ever going to be in front of it. Um, but I I think one of the important things to I wanted to revisit was we're talking about using it as a tool. And one of the most important things that we have to do from the teaching and learning lens is to teach students how to speak about sources, how to evaluate sources critically. And AI is is really just another source to evaluate evaluate critically. Um, teaching them how
100to click through the links that you're given in most AI platforms that show you where the information was drawn from. And then it's it's multi-layered for us to be able to teach students how to effectively utilize it. Number one, I and number two, how not to plagiarize it. I think the the most important work right now is actually about teaching ourselves and students how to use it in a way that's beneficial and that has been vetted and you you don't end up with an answer. You know, we we always um use the example because I think it was utilized in professional development with us. You know, at one point they've obviously fixed it now, but if you typed in to Google how many rocks a day should a person eat, it gave you an answer
101on from generative AI. I don't remember what the answer was. It was three rocks. Three rocks a day. And so >> I if you were three or four years old and you typed that in, you might not know that, you know, that that wasn't the right answer to most people. You five >> just about it's five just about. That's an easy example. But when you're looking at something from a research perspective, the questions aren't going to be that easy for our students to pull apart and to decide what is reasonable, what's not, what might be biased, what might be completely inaccurate. And I think that's a lot of the work that we are doing right now. >> I had another question. I was just thinking, how are you planning on sharing family expectations with >>
102you? Go ahead. I think this would be something that we would send out probably through the schools initially. Um, you know, just to share that what probably accompanying this would be some message about what we're working on as a school and why we ask families to review this with their children at home. >> I think one of the important pieces too is that yes, they are all using it. We we do have prek3 and prek4. No, I'm nodding his head. they they are learning how to use it whether we teach them or not because they are on their parents' technology even if they don't have their own a lot of them and so it's it's impossible not to see and to utilize at this point >> this would probably be not probably this would be
103posted on our website as well too. >> Okay. Yeah. Thank you. >> All right. See moving along. Um, sorry, Jess. The next thing I had on the list, I think, um, we in the curriculum and professional practices meeting, I want to pause a second because I know we have so many students that are still out there and I >> I think that um, we're happy for you all to stay with us for the entirety of the night, but I think there's we also know there's college essays waiting to be written and so forth. So, >> don't feel as if you will be rude if you get up and and need to keep moving. We we know that. No worries. I I had a feeling you were all still sitting being polite. >> Thank you for
104saying that. >> And thank you for coming and for speaking. Did a great job. Thank you. >> Thank you. um in our curriculum and professional practices committee, we talked um about um bringing up reading the reading program implementation here at the board because we didn't have an agenda item to speak to it necessarily, but it does fall under our strategic plan update. So, um Jess, I don't know if you want to just sure speak to that a bit so that we can keep you in the loop. >> Sure. uh this was not developed by AI um but in partnership with our teaching and learning team to give you a brief update um about the implementation of my view. So uh want to begin with some gratitude. Thank you um to the board of education um
105and to our district leaders including Dr. Carnola, Susan Russo, Jodi Krzanski, uh, who have really worked tirelessly to make sure that our staff returned um, this August with everything they could possibly need to implement this program uh, with fidelity. So, thank you to all of you. We appreciate it. As we've spoke about a few times, this was a heavy lift for our K4 teachers on the heels of a new math program. uh and having everything they need to really do the program justice uh was important uh for us and for them. So we we thank you for that. Uh since August when our K4 teachers returned uh a day early actually um they received two full uh days of a program launch. Uh so SAVIS actually brought in trainers. Uh that's their primary role is
106to launch the program with teachers who are going to be implementing it in the new year. Um, our teachers have since had a blend of professional learning experiences provided by both our own staff. Uh, you may remember last spring honoring um, our curriculum specialists and Janessa Blasch uh, and Ally Morris uh, have been the leads from the literacy side of the work this year. Um, and so they've been doing an outstanding job supporting grade level teams on the daily with implementation of the program. Uh we also have an outside consultant uh Becca Pew who's come uh directly from SAVIS uh with two main objectives. Uh after the program launch in August, we tried to strategically set some professional learning dates after the teachers had some experience with the program and and then knew what questions
107to ask. As we were referring to with AI, sometimes you don't know what to ask until you've actually had some experience. Um and so the two focus areas have been really understanding the units and the weekly lesson structure. So that's been part of her training. Um and then the second part of that was guided exploration of all the resources that come with the SAVIS program. And there is quite a extensive library of materials for teachers to use and that's a lot to digest in a couple of days. So that's been the continued support from Savas. Those days um with Becca will continue throughout the school year. So we have them strategically pa uh you know kind of paced out if you will when we know they'll hit certain milestones with the program and be ready
108for that next level of learning. Um in addition to that Ally and Janessa are leading planning meetings. We've done this in the past when we roll out a new program. So, right before the new unit um in each uh for each grade level begins, the teachers from the grade level will come and spend a half a day with either Janessa or Ally, depending on who's working directly with their grade level to get set up and prepared for um the new unit. Uh we're actually just having those days right now. So, depending on the grade level and the calendar, teachers have been coming in K uh 4 at different intervals. Uh, and we're just about finishing up the first unit. So, each unit is six weeks, five weeks of instruction, and then a week of assessment.
109Uh, that also includes a performance task. And so, we're right about at that point. Um, right right about now. Um, over the next week or so, they'll be taking those first assessments. Um, and so that's our update. Uh, we're excited and it's off to a good start. Um, but like I said, I want to just mention it one more time. Our teachers and our support staff are working really um hard to get this off the ground this year. And thank you to our administrators who've been attending multiple workshops. I do still see you back there, Gnome and Liz and Amy and Jess. I think uh we we appreciate you. Uh they have really been partners with the teachers and helping to support them get this program off the ground. So, thank you. We know that's
110extra time on your plates, too, and we appreciate it. >> Thank you, Jeff. So I think my opinion of the situation that gave us this program is some well doumented public meetings. So I won't rant on that again. I want to thank the teachers for the heavy lifting of trying to implement this program. I fully understand what my question is knowing that this was a box set that we were forced to pay by state. Um what really has been the feedback from the teachers, right? They're the ones on the ground. They're the ones who, as much as I joke about avenizing our policy, our instruction, need to be curated to our students, to our our schools, and so forth. Are they able easily to make those adaptations now that they're actually implementing it? What has
111been their feedback on this program? >> Sure. Well, that's a great question, very timely. Um, so to go back to it, we have empowered our teachers and I think we talked about this when we were looking at the programs last year that what made us feel comfortable going to a, you know, quote unquote box program was all the training that our staff had received over the past several years in literacy. Um, and how they've really worked to become master teachers in the classroom for reading and writing for our students. Uh and actually this last session um one of the things we focused on is encouraging them to still utilize what they know as you know reading teachers and they still have access access to many of those resources that we've provided over the last several
112school years. Um and in our building visits that we do uh each month when we go out um we just actually saw that on display um at Pinerove and Roaring Brook. Our teachers utilizing the program but also integrating those um pieces of instruction and those materials that they know their students need on the spot to um really be successful. So >> thank you. >> Yep. That's an that's an important piece to it. And I I think sometimes when we get these box scenarios, it's everyone today's day one, page one. And it's frustrating because I have found in my in my own experience, sometimes students can get left behind in that scenario. >> So, I'm glad to hear that our teachers, we they're highly qualified. They know what they're doing. I'm glad to see that we're
113still entrusting them >> as the professionals. >> Yeah. Someone mentioned earlier, it's the little things that matter. Um, and we we always say that these are programmatic resources because our curriculum is our curriculum and so this is just one more tool in their toolkit to utilize. >> Thank you, >> Lynn. This is just a comment, but I wasn't aware that there are five weeks of instruction and one week of assessment. And I think that's brilliant to actually carve out that week so that teachers can focus on assessment and not try to weave it in, you know, when there's no time to do it. So, I think that's a really great attribute of this program. >> Mhm. >> Okay. I'm going to cut back on some pieces because it's we've uh capital improvement plan is is
114a heavy lift tonight and um let me think about what's most important to finish up with. Um election day, as you know, school is closed. We have a full day of professional development. Um we are looking forward to that. The plans are still in the works. Uh one of the things we'll be doing as we've discussed previously is um youth mental health first aid which we've partnered for uh faculty and staff which we've partnered with Farmington Valley uh health department health district excuse me for. Um they have been here doing it with us already. They've been doing it out in the community. Um but our hope is that by doing what we're doing on election day we'll have the vast majority of people that work in the district trained. Um, number one, that's great practice
115because we're able to all be in a place where we can recognize the signs of uh mental health, distress, um how to help students work through um stressors, anxieties, and also when to seek help. Um that is a given in going through this kind of training. Um, and it's additional training. I really should say that to what we all have already as educators, but more focused and with a um, curriculum and programming materials that are vetted uh, throughout the United States. This is an approved program has to be taught the way it has to be taught. I know we've talked about that before. Um, we're excited about it for those reasons to be able to bring it to Avon. It is at no cost to us. Um, and the trainers have been great, particularly Justine
116Ginsburg, who's worked very closely with us and our parents out in the community for those uh, parental trainings. Um, in addition, by having as many faculty and staff trained as we will, we will be able to take the training and the implementation to the next level, and I know we talked about this before also, um, we'll be able to train students in a studentbased piece of the same. We'll talk more about that. We have Justine coming, as I told you before, to an upcoming curriculum professional practices committee so the board can see more of what that looks like. Um, but we're excited to be able to get to a place where we can do that. >> Um, as some there are a couple of other districts in our area who have already been able to
117do the same. Um, go ahead. >> Did you say on 114 then all staff would be up caught up to speed at that point? We we >> we're getting close. Um, so we do still have some, um, my view training for our K4 teachers. >> There are some that can't do it that day. >> We've got some staff who need annual refreshers and some requirement for trainings for them. We have some staff who are going to be out of district that day because um, if you're not familiar with it, uh, election day provides probably the greatest opportunity statewide to bring staff together from like smaller groups. So our UA teachers, world language teachers, there's lots offered. So, we want to honor that, too. But we're getting very close to having all staff trained. Yep. >>
118And Justine is working with us to do other sessions, smaller sessions to pick up the folks that are not able to be there. Nicole, >> um, you know, you know, we've spoken about this in the past and, you know, mental health is, you know, such so important be trained and to know what to look out for. um with the training and how it's utilized in classrooms and then with students what is the transparency with parents and families so they can see what's happening at school where you know what what they need to to know like just you know how is what's the communication going to be >> so that what I was referencing when I was saying we spoke about this before I think here um we've asked Justine to come to be able to
119uh bring the materials and show you as the board first what that is. We've working through things. This is training for staff regardless to be able This is not the student end of it. It's for faculty and staff to be able to work more effectively with students before we get into the student piece of it. Um Justine will be at a curriculum and professional practices committee to show the board the materials and I believe she's even going to be able to join us at an upcoming board meeting. um we asked her about possibility to do that because we thought we should take it through you as the board first before we're doing anything else with it um with students and out in the community and then we'll decide what that looks like and putting it
120out there. Um some of it are curriculum pieces that are already inherent in our wellness curriculum for example. Um some will be updated as a result I think of that training because we have been going through revising our wellness curriculum for example. um we aren't talking about um usurping class time uh at large for talking about mental health for example. It's just more about the strategies for the teachers and for students to be able to recognize when their um friends or peers might have issues that they should report to someone. A lot of it is is just looking for the signs and the signals and how to manage that and help kids move forward. But to answer your question, we will decide what it looks like in communicating it after we take it a little
121bit further down the pike. We've talked about a number of things. Podcasts, that seems to be the way everyone wants to do everything now. Um, newsletters, uh, things on the website. Um, we'll see how it goes. Um, NAS Dev already spoke to the visit did go very well. Um the committee had great things to say about uh the high school, the district at large, and we're waiting on the report. We will share it when it arrives, and then we will discuss it at an upcoming meeting. Um just a couple of other updates. Um you heard this evening in public comment that uh there um has been a uh complaint submitted uh well three actually in accordance with uh one of our policies 6160 uh consideration of educational materials and um in accordance with the guidelines
122and regulations that go with that policy um a committee has been formed um to review each of those uh three novels that are utilized here at the high school. Um to refresh your memory because it was said earlier it is um speak house on mango street and catcher in the rye. So um they will be looking at committees will be looking at each of those individually. Um they will render a decision about the educational value of the book in accordance with those regulations and then a written response will be provided by that committee um to the individual who submitted the request for reconsideration. Um if the individual is not um satisfied with that response detailed in the regulations is an appeal process. That appeal process comes to um superintendent or designate. Usually this design in
123this case would be the teaching and learning office who then does the same thing and issues a written decision. And if the individual is not satisfied with that written decision, the um appeal comes to the board of ed. And so when and if that would be the case, obviously we would be sending it to you in advance. Um what does that look like? I can't tell you right this moment because um I just started year 8 and this is the first time that we've gone through this process. So we are putting it into play for the first time and we'll move forward and determine what it looks like when it comes to the board. >> Nicole two questions. um you don't have who makes up the committee I guess like um you know what positions
124and what is is there a time frame or time limits between each stage of the process. >> So um the regulations in the policy um and I'll forward it to you they're online but again it's part of our policies but we haven't had to use it in a while. So um it is made up of uh teachers uh mental health professional administrators um that's everyone right I'm missing someone. We and we tried to do a blend of not just all humanities teachers as well that teachers who you know perhaps work in the STEM >> different schools people from other schools. So >> um there are people that work with it here at the high school. Yes, that would be um English teachers and the department coordinator for English, but there are other individuals both from
125the high school and I think we have two from middle school that we have. >> One right now. Yep. So because of and what the policy not the policy the regulations um state is that we usually render a decision within 3 weeks um given the fact that these three were submitted in succession um we are not sub doing that in a 3-week period for all three of them because we need to form committees for each of the three um novels um give people time to read them and to go through the process and the committee may not be the same for each of them either. So we have to work through that uh three times because people are volunteering their time by doing it also. So having them do all of that within 3 weeks
126wouldn't be reasonable of us. Um however the individual who um spoke about it and uh turned in the request for reconsideration is aware of that too. Um she and I just spoke again a couple of days ago about the same. I don't think there's a >> and it's not a policy. This is a this is a guideline that we're following to try to get >> the work accomplished in a reasonable amount of time. And we we did set some dates I believe by the beginning of December, right? We'll have the third one done. >> Yep. Yeah. We've uh you know asked for a little bit of leeway with a couple additional weeks, you know, again because it twofold reading the book. It'll take some time. Um and >> there are people on the committee to
127be clear that have not read it correct because they're not in the position of teaching it. >> Yep. And then we're also looking at the curriculum and any kind of documents that go along with the activity because we know that context is really important in you know when considering any novel >> oh sorry Jeff first I apologize ahead you were to my right um >> Nicole did take really the first part of my question I was curious what was the makeup of the committee so I just want to be clear they are all employees of Vavon public schools though. >> Yes. >> Okay. The second question I have related to that is are the reports public record when they're they come out? Will public have access to what the decision was at each level or
128do we have to wait for a final decision or is it like not allowed to be public or are we in a whole different realm because it's regulation and not policy? Um I think well first of all anything that's written um and as regards to the school district like this would be public information if people wanted to see it. So if someone asked to see it yes they would be a anyone would be able to see it. Um what will we do with it I think is the is the other question. I don't know the answer to that yet because that's not a part of the procedural guidelines and I think we'd have to determine it based on what it looks like when we actually enact this process now first and then Romesh >> I
129was just wondering if there the guidance or the guidelines for the committee is the same for all three books are you looking at similar >> so there's a set of questions set value um >> nature of the concerns >> and that could be subjective. So what what like when we say educational value what are we looking for? So >> second I think you don't want to get too far down the path >> because if it comes to the board for appeal I think we need to have the conversation >> okay >> then >> Romesh >> I think part of the question was answered from the right so but uh I just wanted to step back right like um rather than being reactive right how proactively we ensure going forward right of course the committee will
130take care of these three complaints right and and we'll move forward with that. But what are we doing to ensure that whatever we are introducing right whether it's a novel or they're not causing any similar concerns or or any other because we also introducing AI right so obviously as you mentioned right context is important but how are we ensuring that everything is being weighed on before we introduce and and just to add there right like so typically ally we introduce pilots right if it's a big course or something like that right so in this case uh I mean if you're introducing too many things right do we need to consider pilots first so that we don't take too far >> uh with all these things into into the larger students itself >> um probably multiaceted
131answer I guess to that question but I think we would start with the um the policy and the procedures associated with how um curricular materials are approved through the first through the curriculum and professional development council in district the CPDC then through the board's curriculum and professional practices committee and then ultimately through the board of ed um so those materials are reviewed at those stages to answer some of the same questions um one of these books I believe went through that process at one point. Um I believe Hubs on Mango Street went through that process for approval. The other two um Speak and Catcher in the Rye are both um novels that have been in use for so long at the high school that that process had not been developed yet. So any of the
132the materials that were utilized prior to that starting were part of a um a grandfathering if you will of um novels. So there are a lot of them that that are like that here. One of them is Catcher in the Rye. Another for example would be um the Odyssey. We have um Romeo and Juliet. We have so classics but we also have some what were newer youth uh books at whatever time. Speak is an example of that. I think speak is 20 or 21 years old something like that. Y >> so um whether or not we want to consider going through every um novel that's currently on the approved list would be another conversation I think because as I said they've only gone through the process that we're talking about from I maybe it's 2014
133or so on somewhere around that time prior prior to my time when this procedure was put into Yeah. So I think uh I think my question was little different right? So I think >> you're not asking about >> I understand the process right I understand the process I think obviously every novel cannot go through the process right with all the committees and and going my question was like what are we ensuring that these are these concerns are addressed in a long-term interest right like basically what are the additional things we need to put in place so that these are not coming up as a public concern or whatever it is, right? And uh I don't know how to put it this way, right? So, so what what the A1 school district is doing basically and
134what the board what help you need from the board perspective, right? To make sure this is not being repeated uh because these concerns are like different concerns, right? And this has a variable impact. So I just want to make sure right it's when we are reviewing at every stage gate what additional things we need to put in place. >> I guess I'm either misunderstanding your question or let me let me just give a stab at it again. Um the process that's in place I think is designed to be proactive against that. Um, but if we need, that's why I was saying if we think we might need to make a change and go back through every um thing that has been grandfathered on that list or there there will be there are a lot of
135novels that had been used for a long time in the school district. That would be one way to um guard against it for the future, if you will. Um, to completely guard against it, I'm not sure how we might do that. I think it might be more conversation, right? One of the thing is we can introduce as a pilot to see how it works and then probably spread it across like to different grades like >> uh but again I'm just curious like because uh I'm just saying the one one of a s but but I think you guys can weigh on and bring it on and whatever help you you need from the board perspective. One one thing I could add, our um ELA department did do some work a couple years back to bring
136all the novels through two clearing houses that um they utilize which give much like a movie rating um a rating for the book um and it's vetted through various sources and it gives like an age common sense media and Jody helped me out with the other one. >> What's the other's name? >> Kirus. Thank you. Um, and so both of those sources give like an age appropriate what parents say, what students say. Um, and to to the proactive piece, when we did that work, we did move a couple of books around. Um, so they made some decisions at the time that some books were better served um in the upper grades and some books were better just not used. Um, and they they did that a couple years back. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Thank you.
137Thank you Nicole. Um, just not not off topic, but just your comment about we may have to look at the the supplemental resources and the lesson plans and the assignments, things like that. >> Makes me think of conversations you and I have had I've had with other parents. We've heard tonight the process of assigning assignments, supplemental materials that may not be on the website because it's not an anchor text. Um these are h we're having a lot hearing a lot of conversations around town about that. Um whether it's you know biased, whether it's political, whether um people um disagree with age appropriateness. So, while I think it's very important that we're looking at you the curriculum and the anchor text, we also need to be looking at the assignments, the grading, the lesson planning, the
138supplemental materials. And obviously, that's not something we're going to solve tonight, but I think it's a conversation that really needs to be had on a higher level. >> Thank you. I I >> you're not I I know that you're not asking a question. So, um I think part of that is yes, it's we've we've done a lot of work with making um the curriculum transparent. It is all of it is now on the website. As you know, it took that took a lot of lot of time, a lot of years to make sure all of it was written. sometimes some of it was written more than once >> um to at least have stage one on um >> 90% of the school districts in the state still don't have that done even though it was
139the law as of July 1st. So thank goodness we were ahead of the game in doing that. Um many school districts don't approve the materials in the way that we do either with this sort of a committee um and it coming through the board. The law recently changed that also um so that everyone is supposed to have some type of district committee to do it. Again, luckily we we already had that here. Um, I think where we come down to a different conversation is talking about as as you're saying in part um not just the lesson plans but also what a teacher decides to use in the moment in a class or because they think you supplementary materials that don't go through this process. In other words, um the assignment that was um mentioned tonight,
140for example, that wouldn't be something that would go through would have gone through our curricular approval process. It's a it's a more current topic that we have to again stop and think about how those are presented, how they're woven in with the content and so forth. In other words, I'm not sure there's a definitive answer to being proactive about every one of those kinds of situations because we have to ensure that teachers have the ability to utilize what they think is going to work with a class. I'm not talking specifically about an assignment or or the like, but in a material sense. you know, if we're look in current events and we're reading what's in the newspaper, for example, um more than one newspaper, more than one source, um I think we need to have
141more conversations about it. What I'm saying, I could think right now, Nicole, is I don't think any of us know the answers to how to or whether we should approve every thing that a teacher may have in their hand and the feasibility of that. Um but in a bigger picture sense, curriculum, lesson plans, assessments, um and assignments are a different manner. And excuse me, Nicole, I'm assuming Nicole, you're referring to having the board um ex approve all of these assignments, whereas I'm thinking, you know, that would not be the board's role. No, I not us as a No, this >> No, I mean we're not >> No, as a district whether it is and again we have >> you know I have faith in our administrators here um that you will come up or continue
142to evolve a way to make sure that all of our students feel safe and comfortable that all of the parents feel heard, all of our students feel heard. I'm not saying that I personally should be going with a red marker saying I'm reading this and I disagree with that, but there needs to be a maybe a tighter process of assignments being vetted by the proper channels, not necessarily just being done in in isolation. Um, you know, I don't want to go into, you know, specific things, but you we've heard I've heard this happened frequently of of questions of things that may have been biased or may people may feel that it was inappropriate and that there may be a better system of looking ahead of time. And I'm not saying that we're not letting teachers
143teach, but teachers do lesson plan. So there is a process. Lesson plans are are viewed by administrators, by department chairs. So while parents see the anchor texts, and I'm not saying that they should see every single teacher's lesson plans, but I think there are things that come home and parents are like, "Oh, I didn't know that this book was read or this article." And it's something that happens like way after the fact where if we're tightening up processes and having these conversations now, we can prevent some of this. >> I don't want to go too far down the hole because it's not on the agenda. Um, so I'm trying to think about how much further to have the conversation as I I'm about to ask Jess to say one more thing. um just maybe speak
144to the the three we have three stages of curriculum, right? And and >> that's what we go through versus lesson planning. I think that's kind of an important part too. Maybe at least leave it tonight so that we're a little more clear on because what I don't want to happen is whoever's watching tonight, you know, who can't sleep 3 weeks from now or who is still sitting here with us to think that someone is sleeping at the wheel not doing their job looking over what teachers are putting out because that's not how it works right now. the way the way that the processes we do have don't include pieces that you're talking about right now. >> So yeah, just a a brief recap that what is brought to you directly is stage one which you
145know is the core curriculum tied to the standards um has the enduring understandings and essential questions that teachers are grappling with with their students over the course of a unit. Uh and then teachers are uh working with school leaders and our teaching and learning team to develop stage two which is the assessments and then stage three which are the daily lesson plans. And I think um what Dr. Carnival is referring to is while we certainly want to give our teachers the autonomy to be developing their lessons on a daily basis. I mean, there certainly is um partnership in that work to look at what's put into stage three, what the lessons look like. Um I know our administrators uh in the back could tell you they're in classrooms on a daily basis, observing instruction, connecting
146and partnering with teachers on the assignments that are being given. Um and so you know I'd go back to that piece about um training and you know Romesh when you ask about the proactive piece that is something that you know on a regular basis we're talking to our teachers about trying to ensure that the content that they're putting out there is appropriate and meets the needs of all students including making sure that all students are comfortable in the classroom to share their you know um their take and their their opinions on the work that we are um making our way through every day. It's not perfect. Um I think that's, you know, part of it is that it's it's a it's a human process as well. And so that's where a lot of those conversations
147on a regular basis have to happen. And sometimes we do have to take a particular piece or assignment and unpack it and really get into it and talk about how it could be perceived from different angles. I think that's something educators have done for a very long time. um even before curriculum approval processes uh existed. >> Jeff, >> so I don't want to confuse districts, right? Because I have my own policies I work with I quote regularly. Um we have a policy in place regarding I have two parts to this question. Policies in place teaching controversial topics though. >> Okay, good. So do I. recorded it today. My own students um the so is there the additional complication that when we talk about these supplemental materials that we could be run into an HR issue
148that a teacher may have possibly not followed that policy and then the complication comes because of labor laws, privacy rights and so forth, we can't necessarily address the resolution. Right? So if a an assignment comes home that is clearly in violation of our policies, that's a decision that be made by administration, right? And then could be dealt with administratively but doesn't necessarily can't be shared out publicly. Right. >> Right. I So I think that may also make this process a little more complicated because it sounds like we're talking about individual teacher constructed assignments that comes back down to that individual teacher choice and not necessarily mandated as curriculum and I think that's where it may get more complicated correct in trying addressing just that issue because the nature of what the assignment is and then
149>> you may not be able to give the nine of us here a satisfactory answer because of labor laws >> or the parent or the public or the parent or >> the student or whomever brought the complaint. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Okay. This is a good conversation. It's not necess she just said you do you two need to go? We're here we're here late tonight. If you if you need to go that's okay also. for Pete's sake. Get out of here. Go on. >> Go, go, go. >> Please. >> Yeah, you don't have to, but you certainly can. >> Thank you. >> So, yes, thank you um Jeff for asking that question, putting that perspective. I'm I think as we have a conversation tonight, um one, I just wanted
150to make sure you were updated because it may end up with you. um and without that was about the materials and it's hard to separate materials from issues from instruction, right? And so I think that's why we're this far down this path having this conversation in addition to um some of the concerns that were raised in public comment tonight. It's it's it's difficult to have pieces of this conversation um first of all with not on the agenda. That's more about the actual policy pieces of it. Um and and secondly, when it comes down to exactly what Jeff just said, we and why I had Jeff Jess not Jeff Jess go back through what is approved and what is not. We are not policing nor could we ever possibly really what is happening in every person's
151classroom every day. And that's even as much as we are all out there and I say we myself included we are all out there working together. And I I don't think that we have people that are that would blatantly work to do something that could be perceived as biased um or might actually be biased, you know, depending on what the situation is. Um I think we have well-meaning people for the most part that are that are trying to work within the >> confines and and sometimes it doesn't it doesn't land that way and it does not appear that way is is what I would say and I think back to us working with people on those types of issues. So proactive, reactive, it's a it's a combination of the two. I think we have good
152processes in place. And that's why I keep, you know, I know that people could sit out there and say, you cares what the other districts are doing. Why did she have to mention that, you know, they we're great because we have this done because because it's it's true. because we are that much more proactive about um going through curriculum um spending a lot of time writing it, rewriting it, purposely picking materials and so forth. Does that mean we are going to do everything right all the time? No. And I think that no one is. And I think that over time people's expectations and people change one and two people's perceptions of things change, perceptions of of novels change, right? something that we might use right now they would have never used 50 years ago and
153something we're using right now they might not use five years from now. Um, and that's why I think back to the question you're asking, it has to be a cyclical process of >> yes, things are looked at, they're approved, they're put into place, they're utilized, and then a concern might be brought up that might not be something anyone ever even thought about in terms of using that. I can't say what's what's going to come out of reviewing these three books, for example. >> Those will be conversations that I I think are are valuable to have. Okay. Um, happy happy news. I have a couple of happy updates. Uh, we had besides NASK, um, we have, uh, you heard about it from our student reps. Also, we've been, um, starting our year off with our site
154visits at schools, working through, um, pieces of our strategic plan from the school lens, um, in connection with the district's goals. That's been really great. our um building admin and our faculty members have been working really really hard and really closely together and with us on um our goals for the year related to implementation of new math programs, reading programs, um instructional strategies, continuing to implement Portrait of the Graduate. Um and that that work has been going really well. Um we've been getting out into classrooms a lot and partnering a lot with our teachers that It's been great. Happy to be able to say that. >> Um I think we have a couple more coming up this week, as a matter of fact. >> Um but they're scheduled throughout the year. It's again another cyclical
155process. >> Um and just in a in a smaller way, we had and I I don't think either of them mentioned this. We had a fantastic pep rally here at the high school to kick off uh um fall and winter sports last week. >> A lot of other things I could have shared, but it is the time that it is and let's just keep moving. Okay, thank you. Moving on to the consent calendar. Barring anyone wanting to remove something, do I have a motion to approve it as is? >> Some moved. >> All right. Thank you, Jeff. With second. >> Thank you, Suzanne. All in favor? >> I passes with nine. Just want to acknowledge the donations um to the maker space and the jazz band at the middle school as well as the teacher
156stipend from the PTO to RBS that goes above and beyond what the district can provide. So, we're always grateful for that additional fundraising that they do. Moving no old business, moving on to new business. We have Mr. Ultimus joining us to provide a presentation and possible approval of the capital improvement plan. Keeping in mind that we are slated to be on the November 6th agenda at the town council meeting for this. So our goal is to approve um these pieces to move forward to that process. >> And it is a fast process as you can tell. Um and number one and number two just again for the for the benefit of of the public um we have a very in-depth conversation about the same thing at our last finance committee meeting. Okay. So, while some
157of it might feel like um more of an overview tonight, it's it's because we picked it apart in finance and hopefully you've had a chance to be able to review all of it in the meantime again and and in the minutes. And Mr. Ultimus, I appreciate you coming and hanging in there tonight to to do this um later than you probably expected. And uh Miles will join us again on the 6th at the town council meeting also. Thank you, Miles. >> Good evening. Uh, as stated, here to present the recommended capital improvement plan and next slide, please. Just a update on what was approved last year. Uh, the partial the roof replacement on the high school is finally completed. It's been about a three-year process. Uh, the middle school door entrance system we're still working
158on. The funds came a little bit too late for us to get anything going last year, but we should be able to start that project this summer. Uh there'll be more on that coming up. The notification system, it's putting in changing the fire alarm system at the middle school so we can do lock down drills and the such. We replace the panel and some other devices. We'll be uh going back in this summer do some more work. We talked about that electrical upgrades in middle school. We finished grounding the panels as well as the main switch. Um, but we have and we have replaced some of the uh outdated panels as well and we'll be continuing that work and I'll be talking about that later. Security upgrades. We put in the speed bumps which you've
159probably noticed at many of the schools now and uh done some norm other things, some cameras, some uh window film and the like. Next slide please. These are our proposal. There are two slides to this. the are in our recommended uh priority order and be covering those in more detail as usual. Next slide. And also as usual, the numbers there are the best guesses we can make on the numbers based on what contractors have told us, what we've spent in the past. We do get a chance in about the end of January to update the figures with the town before they go into their budget uh retreat. And and I'll add on Miles, these have already changed as last week's meeting. So they'll continue to evolve as as we go forward. And Miles has that
160down on on there. >> Decreasing, right? Decreased from last week. >> Um, no. >> And I'll tell we're hoping one of them will change as they get more update before the town council meeting because that's an old there's an old figure in there. That one hopefully will decrease. Uh, okay. Next slide, please. Just an idea of what we're looking at for the next five years. I think you all have this in the in your packets. Won't dwell on it. Next slide. And um just the central office. It's a community room. That's what we're going to want to do with the uh remaining space that we own in the central office. That's just what that is, a community room to have meetings and the town can have meetings and the like. Uh next slide. Okay. The
161door entrance system. Those you have been with us, this is probably the third time you've seen this. Uh next slide. just to show you where it is. We did get a chance to uh repair the doors as a as sort of a temporary fix on it. Uh the rest of it is coming. We have all all the uh documents and sign engineer drawings and all that fun stuff. Next slide. That sure shows you just where some of the gaps are in the glass. Again, you've all probably seen this. Next slide. Uh just let you know that's that's a little bit worse than it looks. The foundation has been determined to be sound. So, we're just replacing the steel decking, which is safe right now with that cross beam. I mean, structural engineers have looked at
162it, so it is safe. We just want to make it permanently safe, as it were. Uh, notification system. Again, we replaced the panel, installed some interior strobes. What we got to do remaining is replacing the horn strobes in the classrooms and adding exterior speaker strobes. Slide, please. That's the horn strobe. What that does is there are no speakers in the classroom. that's not according to code. And so what it means is when there's a lock down, there's no noise going on in the classroom and they have to hear the announcements from the hallway, which we've turned up as about as loud as we can. Other than that, the if the stroke, if the speaker, excuse me, if the horn does come on, they're sitting in the classroom with that horn blar down for the whole
163time, which as you can imagine is not very pleasant. Uh we're beginning the roof on Thompson Brook School. We broke that into three phases. We are beginning to get leaks that we cannot repair. Uh slide please. What you're looking at there at the top of the slide is the entrance. That's the parking lot. To the right is the playground. Just orient yourself on it. We are going to start with A which is basically the cafeteria area and the gallery. And it includes the three skylights in the gallery plus the skylights in section B which is the library. Uh also Thomas book that the uh HVAC system is original to the building. So that also is 24 years old and beginning to we pushed that about as far as we could. The other systems were a
164little bit more critical in the other schools. It's TBS's turn first starting with some of the programming control modules which are the computer boards that control the RTUs which cause which is our heat. So that's why we put that as the first priority. Um and again they don't make them anymore so we want to get them before they fail and they're they could fail any time basically is what they're telling us. uh they upgrade the electrical system and uh the main the middle school will continue with the electrical panels including the main switch gear which I'll show you a picture of a minute. The high school we found an issue there. We're still exploring some issues but the uh when they put the roof on they cut the electrical conduit in a number of places.
165Slide please. I'll show you picture of that one. That's the main switch gear at the middle school. You can see it is a whole lot of conduits, a whole lot of wires, a whole lot of power going into that. That's the main controls there. So, we want to replace that. Yeah, you can slow down a little bit. Uh yeah. Uh and just they don't make the breakers for that anymore. That's why we want to get that switched out. Um next slide. Okay. Now, that shows what you're seeing there on the left hand side with is the uh that's a conduit, the metal pipe there with electrical wires running through it. The red is the roof screws. That's a near miss. We had it actually penetrate about 10 different locations on electrical conduits and one fire
166alarm conduit. That's not according to code anymore. So on the on the right you can see where we lowered it a little bit to get it away from that just to do that work was $20,000. That's just an idea for cost. The roofer is the town is pursuing the roofer to pay for that cost. But that gives you an idea that this is not a cheap process to do and we're exploring some other things that uh that in the high school as well with the electrical system. So now we've combined that into a district-wide uh project. Next slide, please. Security upgrades. The only thing new thing we really added to this is the external is our electronic locks. You know, the old fobs. They were put in about 7 years ago. They're beginning to fail
167and like everything else, they don't make the parts for them anymore. So, we have to get new ones. Uh, and then all the normal stuff there, as well as whatever the APD and coordination with Mr. Connley discovered throughout the year, we will add to the list. Uh, next slide, please. Equipment replacement. We have a large lawn mower. Uh, it's over 25 years old, and DPW's mechanics have done wonders with it, magic, with bailing wire and chewing gum and duct tape, and they have given up. So, next time it fails, it's gone. >> Not the chewing gum. The rest of >> Yeah. Uh the parts are no longer available for this type of mower. I have pictures of the actual mower to replace in kind is actually about 110,000. We did find one that's a little
168bit smaller with some new technology that works for us that we can get for 70,000. So next slide. That's what a $110,000 lawn mower looks like. You go see the decks. That's a better P. That's ours. The next one's a little bit better picture because next one. Okay, now you can go. Thank you. Uh the decks on the side rise up and down. It's a complex pulley system as well as holes in it. Next slide, please. Just to give you an idea what the issue is. That black sticker on there shows the complex pulleys that raise and lower the decks as it the wings that go through. And that glob of um silver on the right hand side, that is duct tape holding it together. Okay. Uh next slide, please. uh building management upgrade. That's
169the automation system for the uh HVAC. We used ARPA money for the three schools. Uh we still would like to do Roaring Brook and Middle School and bring those up to speed with the other with the other buildings. Next slide, please. Course replacement. We've been uh this one's been on the list for a while. This is the tennis court at Roenbrook. Uh we did phase one was the basketball court but phase two is the tennis courts and next slide and that's why we would like to replace the tennis courts at Roaring Brook. Once we do that then the middle school is the following year. Uh next slide please. And the final one up there is this the turf field escrow. In a couple years we'll be we'll be needing to replace that. It's just normal
170replacement. The carpet that's the green stuff on top. Um, estimated cost is about $1 million and they recommend we put money or put money in escrow to help that. So, so we don't get sticker shock at the when it comes due. And that's that one there. And the next slide's just the summary of what we went through. And the next slide and pending any questions, that concludes my presentation. >> Thank you, Miles. We appreciate you always putting them in the correct order of emergence and we appreciate your ingenuity and trying to solve these issues until we can replace pictures tell the story. So we always value seeing evidence of why it's so necessary. Does anybody have any questions for miles? >> I asked mining committee. >> Yes, we had a good conversation in our committee.
171So, barring none, do I have a motion to uh Actually, I'll make the motion since it was in the finance committee um to present this to the town council as Miles has presented it. Do I have a second? >> Thank you, Lynn. All in favor? >> I passes unanimously. Thank you, Miles. You are off the hook. >> Thank you. >> All right, moving along. Now, we move into items that were discussed in our curriculum professional practices committee. Again um very good conversations were held there. Um the first item is a discussion and possible approval of primary instructional material college ply and vertle Latin text with facing vocabulary and commentary. Um we are we already opened the 30-day >> um period at the committee meeting which took place on October 8th. >> Um is there anything
172more you want to share with the full board? >> Uh no, not at this time. >> Okay. Any questions? Okay. So, do you need us to take action on it or just know that that started? >> Just know the motion was posted the next morning to start that 30-day period. So, just based on timing, when we have our next board meeting in November, we should bring it back for your approval. And it is on display, so to speak to um the process we referenced earlier. Um it it's available at our uh new uh BOE offices on Fiser Drive. If anyone in the community would like to stop in and read the Latin text uh and give feedback, there's a slip and form there to do it. >> There's a wait list for that. >> Well,
173no, but you know, thank you. I meant to say this earlier, Romesh. Thank you. because you were referring to it as a pilot, but this is in part what I think you're you're asking about that that >> 30 days we put the books on display, we we send it out, and I I think that's an important part of the process for people to be able to review them. >> Yes. And we've had a laugh about the Latin book, of course, but there there are legitimately many times where members of the community, parents come in to read the text, read the books, write questions. Sometimes if we happen to be there, we might even speak with them right on the uh spot. >> Okay. Thank you. So this will move forward to old business at our
174next meeting. Um next item, discussion and possible approval of course recommendations for AP business. >> Sure. So if this might help um with our timing this evening, the next four courses are all proposals to write the curriculum. So, our teachers uh visited our curriculum and professional uh development um council uh back in September and then a few weeks ago when we met as a CPP subcommittee of the board, our teachers came and presented these four courses. Um you'll see uh that the first three are AP courses. So, those are proposals for um really some additional pathways for students in some non-traditional um AP offerings. So, um I know we've got to go through each one to approve it, but I just thought it might be helpful to give you that overview that what you're approving
175this evening is permission for the teachers to write the staff uh write the curriculum. We bring it to you first um so they don't spend the time and effort to go through that rigorous process which really takes at least a year. Um, so it's about a two-year process. So this curriculum won't be back for a while as they do that work. Um, part of that is in that same vein of um, you know, fully preparing this and and having it ready to go fully um to be in our course of studies. Uh, and so I can go through each course if you like, but we did we did go through them at CPP. There's um three AP classes. Um, AP business, AP cyber security, AP Spanish literature and culture. Again, all being offered by our
176staff to um have some additional pathways into AP courses. And the last one um is an ECE level course, composition and reading for heritage speakers. So, these are students who have learned Spanish at home. Um that's the difference between a heritage speaker and a native speaker who grew up um not only learning the language but learning the uh syntax knowledge and the structure in school where a heritage learner has the language but still lacks that structure and that's what this course is designed to target. Excellent. So in order to make sure we touch every item I will go item by item. Does anybody have questions about the AP business course that's being suggested? If not, Lynn, do you mind if I help you move through, please? Okay. So, Lynn, would you like to make the
177motion to push forward the course recommendation for AP business? Thank you. Do I have a second? >> Thank you, Romesh. All in favor? I passes with nine. Any questions about AP cyber security as a course? All right. Lynn, would you like to make the motion to push this one forward for um development? I is that correct? Thank you. >> Yes. Okay. Do I have a second? >> Second. Second by Sarah. All in favor? Passes with nine. Thank you. Next. AP Spanish. Any questions about the development of AP Spanish literature and culture. All right. Lynn, would you like to make the motion to move this forward? Thank you. Do I have a second? >> Thank you, Chris. All in favor? >> I passes with nine. Chris, sorry. >> Yes, Chris was the second. Thank you. Next
178is the course recommendation for the ECE course that u Mr. Gene just explained. Any questions about that? All right, Lynn, would you like to make that motion? >> Yes. >> Thank you. Do I have a second? >> A second. >> Thank you, Suzanne. All in favor? I. That passes as well with nine. Next, discussion and possible approval of the new policy 5169 individualized education evaluation, IE found on page 45. Again, this was discussed in the committee as well, but we'll give a brief summation. Thank you. Um as we talked about in our committee meeting uh this and this was the only policy we had in this committee meeting. Um this has been what we have followed for years already in the district. Um it has been the procedure the regulations if you will um related
179to independent educational evaluations. um they are based primarily on federal and state uh regulations, guidelines, and the ID IDEIDA law. Um so there's there's nothing um to set anyone's hair on fire, so to speak, in this policy. It's really just to be able to be transparent about the way um parents may request independent uh educational evaluations and under what circumstances and what the procedures look like once they do. There is one piece that we uh wanted to make a change to. Um Miss Catz brought something up and my I just got this out of order. Hold on a second. >> I am looking for 45 and somehow I Yes, thank you. >> Um we were talking about the um very first line of this and even though yes, this Jeff is the current model policy
180for Shipman and Goodwin. Um I do believe they are going to be looking at this again themselves soon which sometimes you know happens after we start asking some questions um about small language changes. Um it should read we have decided according to state and federal special education laws parents guardians have the right to request an independent evalu educational evaluation. It's a seemingly small change, but it really sets the stage for the entire rest of it as we spoke about in the policy meeting because the entire thing is about why you might make a request, how you make a request, and what happens once you do because you it is a request for one. It's it is not automatic as the first sentence makes it sound. Now, if you read the entire rest of the policy,
181you know that and you'll you'll figure that out eventually if you read the entire thing. But it should be setting the stage a little bit better right in the beginning that it's it's a request. So it what we are asking for is um approval with that change have the right to request an >> okay Jeeoff >> is that what the law says that the parent has a right to request >> well it depends it first of all because it's regulations. Okay. >> Um it's written a little bit differently depending on where you look. >> Okay. But it but yes, it does say have the right to request in uh the state regulations that we follow. Um it there's just another place for example if you look on uh Connecticut's website where it will say it
182more like this still not exactly the same but won't have the right to request but it is in line with not only the procedure with the legal guidelines and the Connecticut regulations that are tied back to IDEIDA. Does the district have the right to refuse the request? >> Yes. >> And because that's in there. I saw that in there. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Then there's a procedure that might be followed. >> Follow but to appeal it. I saw that. Okay. Correct. So >> which is why it's a request. It's not it's not an automatic. >> Okay. So the request is in regul in line with the state regulation. Yes. >> There is no actual law. I love these actual law that sort of establishes this though. There is a law in Connecticut that references
183IDA and the regulations. Yes. And it does some pieces of this are there in a very abbreviated form. >> Is there any because we've had this conversation before in the last year with change in administration. We've seen changes in regulations from federal department of education. Have there been changes from in federal regulations that may impact this policy? >> No. Okay. >> Should say though, you know, I like to make sure you know there's always yes and um no and um this is the kind of policy that may change over time depending on court cases for example. um when a process looks like this one and there are possibilities for appeal and people go through that process whether it's in the state of Connecticut that might most directly impact us or federally the regulations might be
184updated this policy will then end up outdated which is why when we started I said I think we might see some updates to this again soon >> I hate regulations I like laws they're straightforward >> so I mean I'm on the policy committee. So I'm just I'm confused. We already followed this policy >> because we did not have it as a policy. >> It actually was never written before. >> It was regulations that we it was procedures that we use guidelines for it. Um the recommendation however is to have it be actual policy which is not not very often that this happens but because it has become more and more of an issue uh state and nationwide the recommendation is to have it be a policy so that it is easy to find. It is
185with all the rest of the policies. It it's also in handbooks. It's it's documentation that Dr. Fox and Miss Arnold and the um entire student services team would give out as a part of this process. But this codifies it as a board policy in line with those first of all yes the law and secondly both state and federal regulations. Romesh >> I think uh uh maybe I need to read it fully before I can ask the question but one of the question immediately popped up here is like I think you clearly mentioned the resolution time right like 20 days to 30 days based on the request has been placed by the parent. Now the question is I think I also heard from you raise the district has authority to refuse that request. So my question
186is when you when the district refuses is it obligated to provide the refusal comments and refusal reasons and everything in detail to the to the requesttor? >> Yes, we have to let the parents know why we are refusing it. >> Okay. Okay. Yep. Thank you. >> Okay. Any other questions? All right. Theage, would you like to make the appro the motion to approve new policy 5169 guidelines for independent educational evaluations? >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you. Do I have a second? >> Second by Sarah. All in favor? >> I. Passes unanimously with nine. Thank you. Page 54 in the packet is the budget timeline. Believe it or not, we are already doing this. Um, my recommendation is to look through this. I always try to put it into my personal calendar and set alerts
187for myself to ensure that I know when they're coming up. Does anybody have any questions regarding it? It isn't anything for us to approve. It's more for you to put into your personal calendar to be prepared for these meetings. It's always good to have as many of us as possible attend. >> November 6th meeting. November 6th is just a town council meeting that has um capital improvement plan um presentations and board of ed is one of those. They have two meetings that cover the whole town's um request. >> So you can attend. >> You're welcome to attend that. Yes, that doesn't have to do necessarily with the budget um as you know when we get closer to May those um tri board meetings and presentations and things. These are things to put on your calendar
188now so you can prepare accordingly and hopefully we have good present um representation of the board. If there are no questions about that, we can move on to the second um communication from the public. Has anyone else signed up to Okay, communication from Avon board of education members? Anyone? Go ahead, Chris. >> I just wanted to say that. So, I get the privilege of going to um crack meetings and I get to speak to many other board members across the state from Windsor to Weathersfield and Glastonbury, all of the alike. And as much as I I know that we have a great thing here and a great school district, um I am constantly reminded um I'll use the word blessed. we are uh we are not perfect. Um there are there are things I'm quite
189sure we can do better at and in times um but man when I when I talk to different people and they say well you have this problem right like no I don't well when you go to your meetings you hear this no and I also appreciate that when even if there is one student that has an issue Dr. See, she will reach out, talk, call, email, text. Everyone in the world has her phone number. They may not use it. Um, but it is a different thing to go to these spaces with a multitude of different people and say, "Wow." So, I thank all of the teachers and faculty. I know it is a hard job. My sister whom I talk to every day is a principal in Philly. And when I tell her a thing,
190she's like, "Man, I wish." So, thank you. That's it. >> Thank you, Chris. Anyone else? Would you like to make a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> And do I have a second? >> Second. I will take Romesh for this one. And all in favor? >> All right. Passes at 9:37. Thank you, everyone.