Berlin Board of Education Meeting - 5/12/25

001Good evening everyone. Welcome to the May 12th, 2025 Berlin Board of Education meeting. We're going to start this meeting at 6:06 p.m. Um, we'll start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nationice for all. All right. So, we apologize for our delayed beginning. We're having some technical difficulties with being in the high school and the internet to access our um materials, but we are going to start out this evening with the celebration of the arts for 2025. And we have a number of student awards. Um so I will turn it over to the superintendent if you want to say anything before we get up and call up our award recipients. I would like I would like to ask

002Mr. Tyler Bole, our K12 arts director, to come forward, please, and share a few words. Good evening everyone. Uh, welcome to all of our students and families. We are so excited to recognize you and your artistic achievements here this evening. Uh, before we begin with our visual arts, uh, program and their awards, I want to highlight two awards that recently came to our fine arts program over the course of the past week. Um, first, last Thursday, the Connecticut Arts Administrators Association recognized uh Mrs. Jennifer Jurgen as the 2025 arts advocate for Berlin Public Schools. Um, I nominated her for her tireless efforts in promoting the fine arts, specifically here at BHS. She was monumental in our production of The Wizard of Oz, helping out behind the scenes with uh getting a lot of community support

003and families involved. and I felt that uh she was a great person to recognize for that uh that honor. So congratulations to Mrs. Jurgen for that award. And uh just earlier this today, just earlier today, I received an email notification from the National Association of Music Merchants, the NAM Foundation, naming Berlin Public Schools a 2025 best community for music education in the United States. So, I'm really excited to share that with all of you here. So, congratulations to all of our music staff, our music families and students, and Mr. Durgen as well. And for the real reason we are here this evening, we are so excited to celebrate our administrator's choice awards recipients for our district art exhibition that was held just a few weeks ago at the New Britain Museum of American Art. Uh,

004this year was particularly exciting and particularly special because we were able to see our students artwork on the actual museum walls. So, as you entered the New Britain Museum, you walked through the their main gallery space and you were instantly hit with a beautiful visual display of color and inspiration from our Berlin students, which is really exciting and really special. Um, our art, our administrators uh had the opportunity to tour through the space and select their favorite pieces. And so, we are so excited to have all of our students here this evening. Before I invite our first administrator up and their student, I'm going to ask that we move along to the next slide. Just to provide some background information. Thank you. Just to provide a little background information for our K12 visual arts program.

005The our visual arts program is rooted in the national core arts standards and they uh have a goal of focusing art education on artistic literacy for all learners which we have also adopted here in Berlin. So this means our curriculum is rooted in the four artistic practices that you see at the bottom of create, present, respond and connect. So, our goals here for our visual arts students uh are students creating uh art, excuse me, by generating, organizing, and developing. They'll develop, analyze, and convey meaning. They'll perceive, interpret, and evaluate artistic work. And they will relate artistic ideas and works to personal, community, and cultural contexts. And so, the work that you're going to see on display tonight is exemplary because they do all of that and much more. If we'll move to the next slide.

006The last thing I'll mention before we have our students come on up. Over the course of the past year, the K12 art staff and I have really focused our time on developing our artist statement practices. So, when you go to an art gallery and you're looking at a beautiful display, there's often a placard next to it where the artist will provide a little insight into their inspiration, their techniques used. And we do the same thing here in Berlin in our arts classes. So our art teachers work with our students to allow them to or to guide them through rather their artist statement which provides them with the opportunity to identify the techniques they used in their art. It provides them the opportunity to reflect and also um provides them the opportunity to share with the

007audience their artistic intent. And this is our way here in the visual arts of teaching and reinforcing our Burland vision of a graduate standards. I'm not going to read all of the bullet points underneath, but you can see that right here in our visual arts programs, we are communicating, collaborating, learning continuously, thinking critically, innovating, and contributing to our school community. So without further ado, I'm going to ask that we move on to our next slide, which I believe is Griswald School. And I will ask Mr. Campbell to come up and join us with his art award recipient. Thank you, Mr. Bole. Uh, good evening. Emma is going to invite you up. And you are ready. Come on over here. How you doing? I promise you don't have to say anything. Um, so at the exhibition,

008I went and chose this art piece by Emma. She titled it Galaxy Planets. It was a glue and chalk pastel and immediately stuck out to me. one because I just love space and science and anything to do um with all that area that we don't know too much about and the colors just really resonated with me. I thought they were cleverly done and then the way she did the glue and the planets really highlighted that shooting star in there. I thought it was really really cool. It immediately stuck out to me. I tried finding something else to see if I liked it and I just couldn't. I kept coming back to this piece. Um so Emma, really amazing job. Well done. Thank you, Mr. Campbell. And next, I believe we should have Mr. Souza from

009Hubard School. Good evening everyone and congratulations to all of our award recipients tonight. Sawyer is right up here. Jump the gun. How about a round of applause for Mr. Sawyer [Applause] Budras. Now Sawyer has titled his piece snakes. And those of you that have known me over the years, I've selected a lot of different pieces and I got a lot of questions on so that was a pretty interesting piece for you. And so I'm sure when Sawyer titled this snakes, this is fifth grade 11 year old, but add on 40 years. And this is kind of was my interpretation. So I have to preface that. So looking at this piece here, I started thinking of um kind of like duality. I'm going to get a little bit deep for a minute, but this is why

010I chose this because I've thought more about this piece over the years than a lot of other pieces. Not to take away from them, but you look at the light and the dark and it's a mirror image and you say like one needs the other, you know, kind of to exist. And so then you start thinking about perspective. What are you drawn to? the light or the dark. And then you look, it's the same image just basically reversed. And you I started thinking like one one person's trash is another person's treasure. And so you can't have like ultimate joy without ultimate sorrow. So all these deep kind of things were going on in my head. So I found myself this is the piece that I have to go with. So Sawyer, I just want to

011say thank you for, you know, you just saw snakes and you made a wonderful piece, but it had me thinking about the last 40 years of duality, implicit and explicit in life. So I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Souza. My goodness. All right, Mr. Chevini, you got to follow that up. I I also want to add that some of our students here this evening might want to offer their own little words of wisdom on their artistic choices as well. So, if some of our students feel comfortable doing so, you're more than welcome to do so. All right, tough act to follow. Um, I'd like to invite Amelia Castellano up from [Applause] Williams. So, this this piece came to me actually at the perfect time. It was a time of the year

012that we were all, I think, really looking forward to spring. And so as I scanned the walls and looked for a piece that really spoke to me, this one jumped out because of its bright color, it made me immediately think about lounging in a hammock in the backyard. And the insects, we call them the bugs, right? We have a beautiful caterpillar on the bottom, a caterpillar which symbolizes metamorphosis and renewal and rebirth. And then we also have a ladybug in the picture. The ladybug itself symbolizes spiritual renewal and also in a way metamorphosis and renewal and spiritual protection. Um, in addition, we have dandelions and everybody can envision their yard that they're trying to stay on top of right now this spring that we have to continuously mow because there's so many uh dandelions there.

013Um, the sun is bright and if you look carefully and you look at the expressions and Ameilia and I discussed this today, the expressions of joy on these on the faces of the insects, they're having so much fun. They're enjoying themselves and they're lounging on leaves. So, this really spoke to me. I appreciate this. We have some wonderful artists here and congratulations to all the honores and congratulations to you, Amelia. Great job. All right. Mr. Sullivan from McGee and McGee's honore as well. Come on up. We have Miss Kaylee Pelatier. Congratulations. So, this piece titled Nwinstein Schllo. Did I do okay? Okay, I'll take that. Uh, Schllo translating to castle. Um, but this showed me two critical skills of any middle school student, which is attention to detail and perseverance. When you see that a

014piece like this could be made with a tool that was about 1 millimeter thick, it's absolutely amazing. Um, the other piece, this is located on the southern border of Germany between Germany and Austria. It's also an homage to her mother's heritage who is German. Um, as well as my interest in architecture and this uh combines three different styles, Roman, Gothic, and Byzantine. and it also is modeled after the Magic Kingdom um castle in Disney World. So, very interesting piece and congratulations. Yeah, come on up. Hi, my name is Kaylee Pelier and I represent uh McGee Middle School and I'm in seventh grade. My art class was learning about perspective drawing and I picked uh the castle noise found in Germany. The reason I drew this was because it's one of my f uh favorite landmarks

015in like the whole entire world and in Germany is also because I'm German and it reminds me of my family so much and it's just like a fantasy land where you can get lost into. Some fun facts about it is that King Lewig II of Barbaria, which of his um symbol of his romantic vision of the idea of medieval castle because the town was like a small country farm. So it kind of um made a big symbol to the town. Uh it also helped with Walt Disney to make Cinderella's castle. Um you're probably wondering how I drew it. was because of a lot of effort with directed study and also the perseverance of my friend. Uh when I was drawing this, I was making p uh using pencil and Sharpie. And for uh the textures,

016I use scumbling. For the bushes to make them really pop out and for the roof, I use hatching. And for the grass, I use dots. So, [Applause] All right, Mrs. Amenta. Hello. Good evening everyone. First of all, congratulations to all the students here tonight and a special recognition to our art teachers in the audience. I see mine here. Miss Galasso and Mrs. Miller in the back. So, thank you for all you do. So, Michaela Masawitz is here. And while my representation is not as deep as some of the other uh district principles, I'm just going to be honest, I love sweets and I love summer. So, I walked in with Mr. Bole actually to the museum that day and we did a loop and we did another loop and I found myself drawn to this

017beautiful painting. Um, I learned not too long after that, u, Miss Miller said, you know, it's really special that this was chosen because this was a piece that was completed at the end of last year's painting class. And not often students who take the semester 2 courses are recognized in the district art show because their pieces are completed afterwards. So, by chance, Michaela, this piece uh was speaking to me, and the contrast of the colors along with one of my favorite desserts, strawberry shortcake, I believe, uh will look so nice and tempt me every day while it's outside of my office uh as I enter each morning. So, congratulations. This is a beautiful piece. [Applause] She's good. Our next recipient, since we offer so many art classes at the high school, is Laya Father. So,

018come on up, Laya. [Applause] So, this piece titled Howell uh was one of our 3D selections. If you were able to attend the art museum and see the setup, we had all of the beautiful paintings and and portraits on the wall setup surrounding the space. But on the center tables, you saw some of our 3D images and and uh sculptures. This particular piece was done from our jewelry and metal smithing class. Um, it is exquisite and it spoke to me in a lot of ways because it reminded me of when I was growing up. I had often a fascination at the Berlin fair with the booths with all of the wolves and the in those images of the moon and things like that. So, I kept coming back to this piece as well. Um, coincidentally

019in speaking with Laya and her mom afterwards, they shared that Laya has also had a fascination and has uh been drawn to creations of wolves her whole life. So, I thought that was a special connection. So, excellent job. I know the steps involved in jewelry and metal smithing are not simple. It takes lots of time to perfect. So, if you take a look at that piece, some of the details takes weeks upon weeks just to curate and get that final product. So, outstanding job, Laya. [Applause] Congratulations. Next, we have our curriculum directors, Mrs. Watson and Miss Jurpin. So, anytime I go into a museum, I always look to see what pieces I connect with. So I just walk around as like Miss Amenta just said, you know, you just kind of do a loop around

020just to see and then you start walking a little bit more slowly and you see where you make those connections. And this was a piece that I really connected with. It was it was um as you look at it, you can see the dimension that the artist just pulled right in to the um drawing and it and it made me happy and I think at that point in time I really needed a little connection with that happiness in my life. So I think that actually um connected well with me. Grace, do you want to say anything? Hello, my name is Grace Alger and I would like to thank Mrs. Derpin for choosing my piece, A Day in the Garden. This piece was done in my painting one class for a class assignment. I chose to

021paint the pe the pink flowers for this piece because I like the contrast of the pink petals to the green leaves and the small white detailed flowers that were hidden inside of it. My favorite part of this artwork is the flower at the top of the painting because I feel there's a lot of emphasis on it as I tried my best to combine complimentary colors to create emphasis on the petal shadows. While creating this artwork, I learned many different skills. First, I learned how to use liquid frisket, which is a masking fluid that you can paint over and then easily peel off to protect your painting from the background. To add on, I learned how to use a graduated wash, which is a mix of water and paint to create a transparent background to have

022a smooth and even blue color throughout. Lastly, I learned how to use skills such as the rule of thirds and overlapping to add more composition and focal points to my piece. Finally, thank you again, Mrs. Durban, for choosing me to receive this award. [Applause] Vivian in here. All right. So Vivian created a piece called Sunrise Over the River. I will say as I've gotten older um kind of similar to Al really thinking more deeply about things when I look at the perspective and one thing I greatly appreciate again older in life is nature and the beauty of nature and I absolutely love the way in this watercolor that Vivian was able to capture the colors of the rainbow in such a beautiful way. So sunsets are just amazing and sunrises are amazing. And so looking

023at the beautiful red, yellow, and orange colors just made me smile. And then seeing the river and the grass nice and bold at the bottom of your painting was beautiful. The way the trees stood out in the beautiful flower buds also just reminded me of spring and the warmer weather. And just so you know, this is a painting that gets to stay in my office over at the board of education. And every time I come into my office and I have this hanging, it's going to make me smile. So, thank you so much for your creation and [Applause] congratulations. All right. So, before we have our last award winner, I do want to uh thank again all of our families and our students and congratulate you on your way out this evening. Many of our

024pieces that you've seen in large picture on our screen here are right in live and living color in the back of the auditorium. So you can pass by and see all of the fine detail and craftsmanship on your way out. Um and as Miss Watson said, all of these pieces will be hung in their respective buildings throughout the course of next year. So whenever you walk into one of our school buildings, you will see or our board of education office, you will see your piece hanging in our buildings. All right. And finally, Mr. before I uh announce the award winner that I selected, I just want to have if I could have all the art teachers stand up for a moment. We can thank them for their work. Obviously, the work of the students doesn't

025come without the hard work of the teachers. Thank you all for being here this evening. And a special thank you to Mr. Bole for coordinating everything. I think the art show is a great piece for the Berlin public schools. It's a great place to showcase our students work. this year was in a different location, but I think it worked out very well. Um, and as I was we all we all all the administrators go and view the artwork prior to the show. And I as I was there viewing the artwork, there were people touring the museum looking at the artwork. And some of the comments made, wow, I can't believe a fourth grader made that. That's pretty good for a seventh grader. And these are just people admiring, you know, these great works of art,

026but they took the time to see the work of the Berlin Public Schools. So, I thought it was a wonderful show. With that being said, thank you Roar for your piece of work artwork. Outside my office wall for the last I don't know how many years, 10 years or so, we selected artwork. And as I walk through the museum and look at the artwork, I step back and then I look and then I walk around and see what moves me. And there's there's years where I pick it's a it's an animal. There's years it's a landscape. There's years that it's a pile of fruit. But I as I kept walking back that day, I kept being drawn to this to your artwork, Aurora. And I think the part that really drew me was just how

027much fun you can have sitting there with a bunch of markers and pens and things and thinking about a student or myself even just have an opportunity just to pick up those markers and wanting to draw something. Um, the realism, the shadowing, those effects just made me d kept drawing me back to it. So, I want to thank you for the realism that you put into the artwork and it just happened to move me that day. So, thank you, Rora. [Applause] I just want to start off by saying thank you so much, Mr. Superintendent, for choosing my piece. It's a huge honor. I am so grateful. When I made Artist Chaos, I wasn't thinking about awards. I was thinking about finishing my Yukon drawing midterm exam. I was super stressed starting the piece and found

028myself rushing to finish in just 90 minutes, trying to do the best with what I had. But then Mrs. Miller suggested putting it on display at the art exhibit. I was hesitant, but I agreed. And now here I am to to my absolute shock. This whole experience has reminded me that art in all forms has a way of surprising the creator and the audience. You can create some of your best pieces during the most unexpected circumstances. Find inspiration out of the wildest places and the journey can lead down rabbit holes where you never thought to look. In its purest form, it's unpredictable, spontaneous, and almost has a life of its own. And that's really beautiful and reassuring to me. It's part of the reason why creativity and art have been my heart and soul for

029as long as I can remember. Furthermore, I am so grateful for all the support from my family, friends, and teachers that have driven that passion to greater heights. Because without them, I wouldn't have the courage to push through every time I struggled and thought, "What if it's not good enough?" or "What if it doesn't go as planned?" I guess art really is chaos in all the best ways. Thank you, [Applause] And while our district art show is a few weeks ago, we still have a few more upcoming art shows across the district. So, I do hope you'll join us here at BHS this week at Griswald, Hubard, and Willard over the course of the next several weeks as well as we wrap up this school year. Thank you again and congratulations to our [Applause] students

030so much. I love seeing the art and I like seeing it in the back as well. Um, so on your way out, make sure you look at that. Before we go on, I'm just gonna we're not going to have an official recess, but we're just going to wait a moment to move on to the next agenda item. If you guys would like to go home, by all means, don't don't feel like you have to stay. There are cookies on the table in the back um out in the lobby when you leave. So, help yourself to some cookies. And in about a minute or so, we'll continue on with our meeting. So, thank you. Are we good? Okay. All right. So, we're going to move on um to report of board members. Are there any board

031members that have anything that they would like to report since the last meeting? Anything that they've attended or went to or anything positive? So, I attended the teacher appreciation just helping set up a lunch very briefly. Um but what I wanted to report last week and totally forgot or the last meeting was that the um speaker mind challenge has been going around and my children saw the principal from Anna Reynolds get nominated. So they got the bright idea to nominate some staff over at Willard. Um Mrs. Selena was one, Mr. Shiverini, Mr. Chef, Mrs. Aose were all nominated. I think that's it. Um, so far, Mr. Chevrini took it like a champ. I think within 24 hours we got that. Mrs. Aose also, she did it. We're still waiting for Mrs. Selena and Mr. Chef,

032but I'm confident they will do it. So, that was really fun. I just wanted to add that. Thank you for your participation. We appreciate you. Thank you. Does anyone else have anything they would like to report? Okay, moving on to the report of student representatives. All right, so to begin, this past weekend, Berlin High senior class enjoyed their final high school prom at the Farmington Polo Club. Students enjoyed a magical night making some of their final high school memories. Thank you to the senior class officers, class advisers, and everyone else involved in making this night possible. After school on this coming Friday, BHS's senior student athletes who will be going on to play a sport in college can be recognized at the college athlete sendoff ceremony. Congratulations to every upcoming student athlete and a big

033thanks to the coaches as well. Next, on Sunday, May 18th, students and families are invited to participate in Chase's ride. This ride is in support of the Chase Anderson Memorial Scholarship. Whether riding or walking, this is a great opportunity for Berlin families to come together for not only a day of fun, but supporting the legacy of former BHS student Chase Anderson. On May 28th, BHS will be hosting an awards night for academic and scholastic achievements. BHS has a vibrant student body that has achieved great things and it is an honor for these students to receive awards for their excellence. For the past week along with along with for the next week, bells at Berlin High School will remain off. Why? Well, for AP testing, the B gym is filled with folding tables and chairs where

034students are taking a variety of AP tests. With Berlin High's wide assortment of AP classes, students will be busy for the next week of testing to receive national credit for their hard work. Good luck. On Thursday, May 15th, there will be a special breakfast held during school to celebrate the students who have earned their seal of biiteracy. This event recognizes their hard work and achievement in becoming proficient in two or more languages. Congratulations to all the recipients. And we have two additional um items on our list that we do not have on the slideshow, but on Thursday, May 15th, the BHS Unified Theater Group will be performing their student written production night in New York City in the BHS auditorium at 6 p.m. All are welcome to attend this event and admissions are free for

035everyone attending. And along with this, we are excited to announce that our second semester capstone seniors will be presenting on May 20th and they will be presenting their passions to Berlin families and the Berlin community. So, we're very proud of them. That is all we have for tonight. Thank you. Anyone have any questions for them? I told them that they could leave after their report because there's AP testing going on this week and among other things. So, I want to make sure they get home and go to bed nice and early. Um, okay. Moving on to committee reports. Um, did the curriculum committee meet since our last meeting a few weeks ago? Okay. And then Peter, would you like to share out on the FNO meeting? Yeah, the FNO committee met on uh May 7th.

036We uh had a preliminary discussion about uh further potential cuts as a result of the uh uh referendum results of the reduction in $50,000 to our budget. Um we're going to discuss uh more in detail later on in the meeting. So we'll just talk. Thank you. Okay. Correspondence to the board. No correspondence to the board this evening. Okay. Um moving on to audience of citizens. If there is a member of the community that would like to approach the board, you will have three minutes per resident. Just state your name and address and you'll see a timer up on behind me. Okay, nobody sounds good. Moving on to our next agenda item, personnel. We have a retirement um of a student management par professional at Berlin High School. Yes. Ed Keling. who has been um is

037the gentleman that you see in the front of the building. Um Ed was a former police officer in town, has worked at the high school. Um he is the the greeter or the security person at the front, but he also has done all the attendance um every day here at Berlin High School and will be retiring. So I want to thank Ed for all the years of work as a police officer, but also what he's done here at Berlin High School. He's been the first face that many see at Berlin High School every day. So thank you, Ed. Do we have a motion for consideration? accept the retirement of Edward Kemling, student manager and pair professional at Berlin High School effective June 16, 2025. Also to thank him for the 10 years of service he

038has provided to the youth of Berlin and wish him good health and happiness and retirement years. Do we have a second? I think I got Jess first. All right. Motion by Peter, second by Jess. Any discussion? All those in favor? I opposed vote is seven. Did Vanessa vote? Peter can check in and see if Vanessa voted there. Vanessa, I I heard you. All right. Is that Are you voting in favor? Is that I? Yes. Okay. Okay. The vote carries 8 Z. Okay. Moving on to our consent agenda. Do we have a motion for consideration? I move that the board approve the consent agenda as presented. Do we have a second? So, the motion by Melissa, second by Jen. Any discussion? Okay. Hearing none. All those in favor? I opposed. Did Vanessa vote? Okay. She should

039Vanessa, did you vote on that? I thank you, Vanessa. So, the vote carries 80. All right. Um, we are going to just swap two things under our new business. We're going to go to the K2 technology presentation first. Um, and then we'll do the Berlin High floor investigation report. Um, we have a lot of our K2 staff here this evening and they probably want to get home too. So, they probably don't want to be here all night. We want to be mindful of their side. So, I am going to um turn it over to the superintendent to talk a little bit more about this. Yes. I'm going to ask Lori Jerpin, one of our directors of curriculum, to come to the microphone and to introduce the group and share a little bit about the K2

040technology curriculum that goes on. So, we were asked by some members of the board of education to share about how technology is used in our classrooms. So, we um have three of our elementary tech integration specialists, Elijah Clap, Michelle Hannon, and Denise Duranti. And we also have three K2 teachers, Meg Soua, Alli Dunn, and Carly Coast. And so, they're here to um put this together. We also have Rachel Rice who's here and she's the supervisor of the library media and tech integration specialist. So they're going to talk about how technology is used and then we'll be able to ask question. You'll be a have the opportunity to ask questions when we finish watching a little video. So you want to either it's nine minutes so you can either turn around or go sit in a

041front chair. Welcome to iPad and technology use in grades K through two at Furland Elementary Schools. Berlin students in grades K 1 and two units of reading app called Lexia for individualized immediate feedback. Questions adapt based on student responses. During their time on Lexia, students are able to focus on various literacy skills such as funological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. While students are working on these individual skills, data is collected. Teachers use this information to create small groups, make personalized instruction, and create interventions for students. Teachers also utilize the iPads to administer the Dibbles testing, which is a statemandated assessment for students. The clips you are watching show what a typical reading block looks like for students in kindergarten. Those not working on Lexia work with a teacher or work at a different literacy

042station hands-on without an iPad. The math block looks similar with students working on Dreambox and those not working with teacher or at math groups. Students may also use their iPad to complete research using our database called Pebble Go, where students can look up non-fiction resources and complete whatever research they need. Steam education helps children develop a range of skills including critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and communication. It also fosters collaboration, innovation, and an understanding of how different disciplines like science, technology, engineering, art, and math connect. Robotics teaches children important STEM concepts like science, technology, engineering, and mathematics while also developing crucial skills like problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity. It also encourages teamwork and builds confidence. Coding teaches children valuable skills like problem solving, logical thinking, and creativity, helping them understand how technology works and

043potentially paving the way for future careers in that field. It also fosters perseverance, critical thinking, and communication skills. Osmos are used for hands-on reinforcement of math, spelling, coding, and other academic skills. Students learn about device safety, digital citizenship, basic application use, and manipulation of sound, video, and images. They utilize the app called Seessaw for sharing work with their teachers and families. Additionally, students in second grade begin keyboarding mid year. This helps them with proper home room and placement for efficient type which is an essential skill when taking the state mandated smarter balanced assessment in third grade and beyond on Chromebooks. So I like one more story like books um and it's fun so I can read longer words. I like the iPads because I like to deal with some of the reading apps and they

044get stronger at reading longer words and reading long chapter books. I like iPads because I like and I like learning new stuff and going to other levels. I like in technology the robots. How come? Because um you get to play you get to do all different kinds of stuff with them. I like I wish we could just watch TV on the Smartboard and just be lazy and play with the robots. I wish that we can watch more smart. I wish we could name our robots and we could um do Lexia for a longer time. I wish I could be Lexia because it helps me read, do and do like math and I love getting on different Students use the apps named My Story and Book Creator to create their own electronic books. They then share

045them with families through Seesaw. They learn how to record audio, add images, and make their own artwork in these books. The Beach by GMA. The Beach. One day, me and my family went to the beach. It took a long time and the beach was so so so so far away. The beach. Me and my family got to the beach. When I went to the water, the wave was so so so so big. My dad said, "Do not stay that close to the water. the beach. Me and my brother. Book Creator and similar publishing apps empower students with unique opportunities to document and share their learning in ways that might not otherwise be possible. With Book Creator, students can capture scientific observations and collect data using photos, audio recordings, and written notes, fostering deeper engagement and

046creativity. I have And [Music] I think and no one can count and no list is it's hard to see them, but they're all there. Some are some technology opens up new avenues for collaboration and sharing between students and teachers. After putting effort into writing a book, students can present their work to the entire class and even practice giving constructive, positive feedback to their peers. Owls can hear better than humans. Get ready to learn all about owls. Look like owls are raptors. Raptors are a bird of prey. Owls. Here is some teacher commentary regarding iPad and technology use in K through2. I wanted to share that we use iPads regularly for Lexia and Dreambox, which are two incredibly valuable research-based programs that support individualized learning in foundational literacy and math skills. Lexia is a literacy program

047that provides differentiated instruction in phonics, comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. It adapts in real time to student performance and gives us important data on where each child is thriving and where they may need support. It also allows students to work at their own pace and builds confidence as readers. Dreambox is an adaptive math program that adjusts in real time to students needs providing lessons tailored to their skill level. It helps build conceptual understanding and fluency through interactive engaging activities that align with Berlin's curriculum. Beyond Lexia and Dreambox, the iPads are also used for digital storytelling, research projects, interactive readaloud responses, creation of visual models and math, and so many other incredible learning tools that enhance student engagement and ownership of their learning. As a grade three teacher who has previously taught grades 1 and two, I

048wanted to share that if students did not have the experience of accessing applications, databases, and other technology prior to third grade, it would be a huge detriment to their success. It would be like putting a child on a bicycle without having the training wheels on first. They are engaging in different manners with immediate feedback and pictorial representations that a teacher cannot do in a whole class setting. Applications and technology allow for that personalization. So by looking at this um you could see that the primary iPad use and the primary grades is for Lexia which really helps them personalize where they are with their reading. So it helps them become stronger readers. Um dreambox or which is really what works on the whole math piece. And in grade two they also work students also work on

049typing club to to start building their keyboarding skills. Um in kindergarten students are on their iPads for 15 to 20 minutes a day. In grade one, they're on for about 20 minutes a day and in grade two, probably 30 minutes and that includes K keyboarding. Sometimes it includes more. So, as they're working on a project, so when they were working on the um butterfly project, that obviously would be more time that they'd be working on um their iPads during the day. But the entire team and classroom teachers are here to answer any questions that you might have about the use of technology in the primary grades. So since there is no like motion, we can just open it up to board discussion. Um does you guys can ask whatever questions and then Lori can call

050people up however you see fit. to help answer what questions do you guys have board members. Um, I'll start the conversation. Um, so I brought this up during the budget season which kind of got the wheels moving a little bit. Um, and then as you added some information about like the use the daily use of this technology. Um, We are all aware as we have technology right in front of us. We have our cell phones you know close to our sides. Um you know my concern is with the younger kids specifically like we're focusing you know K through um two um more so with the kindergarten as we I love the honesty of our students who said that they wish they could watch more TV and so on because this technology does have an addiction

051to it and they get excited like even in an art classroom and it's a brand new crayon box. You know, there's crayons that still color, but as soon as they see that box, they're like, "Oo, something shiny, something new." Um, and I feel like that is how this edteology is happening. I can see the obviously the benefits, you know, and the skills that helps the kids. It's obviously a great resource for um the teachers. I'm just like I said my concern would be the addiction and the dopamine the quick response that the kids have which is affecting their attention in the classroom. Um so I guess how that's being balanced or that's being addressed or if it even is coming. So we had we we spent a lot of time this year talking exactly about

052that. Many of us were part of a book club called Anxious Generation. Y and we really we read the book. I know the board had a copy of the book. The town was also involved in it. There were lots of different activities even for families to do at home to involve play instead of getting kids on devices. Um when we look at the time that kids are on devices, it's really not the time that I think some people think that they're on devices. I think that the time that they that the students are on devices is really to help with that personalization of student learning. So, for example, Mrs. Souza has these kids in her class. She has she's in kindergarten. She has readers and she has non-readers. And so Lexia allows her to address

053both of those um by by um quickly assessing kids and then being able to put them into um a program that will allow for them to learn. I don't know if anyone wants to talk further about that piece. Maybe Elijah because I know you were part of that as well. You want to come up? Um yeah, so we definitely are very concerned about how much time kids are on. At the same time, um the devices lend us the ability to do some things that we just can't do otherwise. Uh so for example in centers is their 15 minutes on Lexia as valuable as their 15 minutes in small group with Mrs. Souza? Absolutely not. But at the same time, um, we could give them a piece of paper and despite the lesson and everything, they

054could spend 15 minutes doing that paper completely wrong and we would only learn a at the end of that time when you get to look over it that that's where it was going on. Whereas something like Lexia can um have that back and forth with the kids allowing them to know in real time. for mathematics. Uh that is especially uh important. Um and they're not doing their learning on these programs as much as practicing what they've already done with the teacher in a way that can really um help them. Um some of the applications that we use uh to make it so that the kids can be more engaged have a sort of gamified aspect. So when you see the visualization um some of it can look fun but at the same time it really

055still is uh work for the kids. You know we often get asked like how come there's no Roblox on the iPads or you know can we do Minecraft or things like that and we have many conversations with the kids about that's not what these iPads are for. These are learning tools just like the scissors, you know, just like the books. They're there to really help Can I bring into the conversation we keep talking about more of like the one-on-one electronics? I mean, the other electronic very big in the classroom would also be the Smartboard that is on a lot just to be on. I mean, obviously, it has different purposes and uses. I mean, mine in Waterberry didn't work. It worked just like a screen saver. um now they're a little bit you know fancy

056interactive you know with um lessons involved and tied to that too. Um yes. So the in a way the the the smartboards while there is um some give and take with the students uh going up and using the smartboards particularly in the uh small math groups or excuse me in the mini lesson when they're talking about the number talks and things like that. Um, one thing that the Smartboards I found really do allow us to do is as a teacher you can prep everything that would go up on the board in advance. So when you're there with the kids, you're actually getting more time because you don't have to wipe the whole board. Now, write the new stuff off up while the kids are waiting. Um, during the day there are sometimes like um, you

057know, as a screen saver or something up there. I know a lot of our teachers like to play calming music with sort of a a very basic visual up there just to help set the mood, especially during independent reading. Um, but you know, as as you heard from the kids, they would love to just sit there and watch movies and sit on the carpet for a time, but again, that's that's not really what it's being used for in the room. The closest thing would be uh brain breaks, which happen every so often. uh especially with our younger kids just to get them up and moving um and it helps coordinate the whole piece to it. But I would say that's about it in terms of how the Smartboards are being used in that aspect. But

058as a from a teacher perspective in terms of being able to plan out and have everything ready to go, I mean in my career that was a huge game changer. So the smartboard impacts as like a cell phone or a tablet like as far as like the light goes and whatnot. Um, no. The smartboard would really go more towards like I mean if you want to think like for all of us adults in here old school more like television or video um as Mrs. Gibbons was saying like with the dopamine hits. Um that's one thing that you know we're concerned with about like social media and stuff is it's quick swipe swipe swipe. That's not what the kids are doing with the Smartboard. It's you you know it's the lesson or the model examples up

059there or for example um during centers. I know many teachers have up on the board just the schedule of who is where you know for each center and things like that. Um, and it just makes presenting all of that a lot easier. Um, but no, it it would not be the same effect as the um the iPads or iPhones where there's direct like interaction and engagement with the kids. So, correct me if I'm wrong. With Lexia, I don't think the kids get the same dopamine reaction or response as they would from a game on the iPad. Um, I know it's really rigorous. I I used it, you know, it was 10 years ago when I last taught K1, but it was really hard. The kids had, you know, but it was perfect for intervention. Um,

060some of the students almost kind of meet you with resistance when I would teach it first getting them started, but it really helps fill in the gap, especially with the dyslexic students who aren't yet identified. Um, and that was 10 years ago. So, I know that the Lexia program is it's expensive, but it's really high quality. And I don't think they're getting the same um you know, experience as if they were on like PBS Kids or YouTube Kids or whatever the other kid things are. Um but that was that's just I don't know. Is is that what you guys would think with Alexia? Yes, when they move up. Yeah. Yeah, I would do that too, but they have to work really hard for it. Yeah, I guess as far as technology goes, also um a

061lot of times when kids are either opted out of something or for whatever reason they're not doing something, a device is usually the go-to. Um I personally have requested that my children don't sit on a device because there's a lot of other things that they could do that are far more beneficial to their development than sitting on a device for however long. And I do have to say that Willard, Tim, and Danielle have been amazing with um taking care of that request and I'm I'm very happy about it and so are my children. So, thank you. Would anyone else like to add questions or comments or Gina that because you find it to be so successful, it's working so well for yourselves and the students, what would be the case that maybe the kids would

062spend more time on the devices because oh, you know, it's working well and maybe we can implement this and we can implement that. that that's what I get concerned about is when something is is good then, you know, we want more of it. We think it's let's let's create or let's invest in another program. So, I I don't know. I just see kids not utilizing the same skills that they once did. When the kids had the uh headsets on, how long would you say they're with the headsets and they're just by themselves in the computer? I mean, they're not they can't hear the other students. are just doing their own thing, right? Is that is that safe to say? Yeah. Well, first of all, they're certainly not noiseancelling headphones, so the kids are definitely aware

063of the other kids around them. They're not engaging with the other students. And I'm not saying that they don't engage. I know that you have time slots for each activity. Um, but I guess I just worry that this will be the norm instead of the the exception. I think what's exciting to is that it's not just reliant on technology, right? So, in that kindergarten class that was in there, you saw one group that was working on iPads and the rest were working on things that required paper, pencil, crayons, scissors, the whole bit. So, they it wasn't as though, okay, now we're going to take time out and everyone's going to do this. It was kind of shared. So, I don't think we ever lose that. And I think we recognize as professionals that we don't

064want kids only on technology, right? And I I know you guys are not that's something that we're very concerned about that we want to because every time you turn around there's something new that comes out and we very carefully vet each program. I mean, these are the people that really look at it and say, are they is this going to be something that's going to enhance student learning or is it not? And so, and and some of these these things have been around, you know, for a long time like Pebble Go to be able to listen to a story if you're not able to read yet, right? So, those types of things have been around for a while, but other things are relatively new to Berlin. So Lexia has been just in the past few

065years that we started doing that and it's really helped um with the phonics instruction that goes along with the whole group. So they still have whole group phonics instruction as Mr. clap I think it was said we're not we're not teaching using the computer we're practicing using the computer and so that's where that was how do you allocation at K1 and two students can you share a time allocation of how much time students are actually on a device at each grade level approximately daily so kindergarten is around 15 or 20 minutes a day um grade one is around 20 minutes and grade two is around And that includes the keyboarding practice that the students do. And then there's also if there are projects happening, it might be more of that during that 3 week period

066of time that kids are doing that. Um but it's not excessive. Um and if I could add one other thing, um Denise, Michelle, and I have really looked at how our positions have changed over the last couple years. And one thing that we have all collectively like moved towards is the time when we're in with the kids, we're doing a lot more lessons that don't touch the technology because we're seeing along with the classroom teachers the sort of loss of some of those skills that kids would have been doing at home in the past like crafts and cutting and using tape and scissors and things like that. So we do a lot more steam activities. um now than we did say five years ago um to help bring up those um skills with the kids

067a lot more. Um you know, so with uh kindergarten just last week, we were um building boats out of aluminum foil to and seeing how many pennies they could hold before they sank and then looking at what shapes were able to hold more pennies and why, you know. And the only time that um technology came into that lesson was we did a readaloud and I was able to put the book up on the Smartboard so that all of the kids could easily see the pictures rather than me just holding up the book. But so we do a lot more of those lessons out because we're finding that some of those skills that um a lot of families used to do at home, we're not seeing it. So we we are really trying to acknowledge the

068sort of changing landscape that technology how technology is affecting these kids and where we can support them. Absolutely. So that's super important. I love a whole lesson on what you know what do us and what's appropriate, what's not appropriate. So, I feel like those pieces are are covered really well. Um, like 15 minutes a day, it's not like some days we don't use it at all. days. So if we have something that day, we might use it short, but then otherwise it is interesting to ask a piece about how much That is a fascinating question about the dopamine release and large I don't think we all learned so much over the years. It takes so much extra time to really look at the research and understand it. Obviously, as a parent, the information is alarming

069and scary. I know you about that technology. I think we're even more mindful today than we were five, six, seven, eight years ago. Does that make sense? [Music] Before it's really not over and definitely. But back to the back to the large because age of frust. I remember and it would take you know 45 minutes of Everything does visually sometimes go in a slide or part of it. One of the coolest things I circle in that confidence to stand up in front of their andually represent what she interact. purple supply. My children are happier to have gotten letter to write letters to people around their school and they were happy but they were proud to be done with paper and our gracious stand. We're doing stand up today and they are in it forever. So

070there are appropate very such an outlier that I was able things that she was able to access and successful and learned instruction. I want to say I think the one thing that you hit on is hitting them when they're young with responsible use of technology. I mean, my kids went through school at a time when I don't think we knew what we were working with. And I think that's not good for them. There's a whole generation that I think got put into that position. So, where technology, they've made a lot of mistakes. And it'll be curious to see what the next 10 to 15 years does if we do this responsibly. And I like hearing that they're not all I mean, the exception of the one young man there, which I get, you know, um

071I think it's a good thing. You've got to introduce it to them. It's part of life now whether we like it or not. And before too long, this too is going to be outdated. So, Can you just use a microphone so they can hear you on the recording? Yeah. Sorry. Keep going. Can you repeat everything? No, you just pick up where you left off. You're fine. So, when we were working on the ebook project, we did an all about the author page at the end and I was telling them to write, you know, their name, how old they were, and they stopped me and they said, "Miss Dunn, that's part of our private information. We shouldn't write that in our ebooks." And I was like, "Oh my god, you're totally right. Thank you for stopping

072me and telling me that." So, we chose, you know, I wrote about my topic because the things I like to do outside of school are, you know, x, y, and z. Um, so they've become very mindful about how to be safe with it, what to do with it. If, you know, something unexpected does happen, they close it, they bring it over to you. In second grade, nine times out of 10, it's not something that is inappropriate, just they're startled by it. But you know, so the tech team and their curriculum, they've done a really great job. Do you engage with the parents as well to help them reinforce responsible use of technology in any way? Yeah, it's always so much you can do. I understand parents and former parents probably know like I sense seesaw

073messages a lot of the times of like here are the things Mr. Clap is working on, here are the things we're doing in the classroom. Um all sorts of that stuff. So yeah, they see the stuff go home on Seesaw also. So presentation and the Q&A was very informative and well done. Um I don't personally have any qualms especially given the limited time in each grade level that the students are exposed to iPad use etc. Um I think that uh a lot of this technology use um you know parents also have to be advised of it and home use is a large part of it just like any other habit. I think moving forward the technology use is going to be more uh scrutinized and hopefully will be treated as a broader health issue for

074lack of a better word and the community and parents will be more involved in that uh moving forward. But I think that you know I I entrust all of you as professionals and you're using the uh tools appropriately. Uh so thank you. Um, one last point that um, Miss Petra brought up is I I guess in in regard to parents who may want to opt their children out of um, technology use such as, you know, when you go into breakout sessions or what have you. Um, do we have a policy on that? Is that a policy we should look into so it's standardized? You know, so on and so forth. Ryan, do you want to speak to that? We don't we don't currently have a policy as such. But can you just be a little

075clear about what you're ask about the breakout? What I'm asking is well I mean you could probably speak on it better, you know, but but what I'm asking is like if they're like for instance I have friends who live in upstate New York and they did not want their kids using iPads in schools. They did not have a policy on it, right? The superintendent and district and so on and so forth. Well, my point is is if this if the parent does not want the child using um participating in, you know, iPad or technology use, when I refer to the breakout sessions, I'm saying is that when the students break out, they're working in a small group with the teacher or they're on the iPad using Lexia. Um the parent may want may say, you

076know, I don't want my child using this this iPad in that way or what have you. I don't know if this will be a rising issue that keeps cropping up or if we should prepare ourselves for how to mitigate that. I know there are some things that you can't um really avoid. I mean, you're going to want the the student to use Lexia for an initial assessment. You have your standardized testing in third grade and so on and so forth. I'm just asking if it's something that we should potentially investigate moving forward. At this time, our policy, the only two opt outs that parents have is u dissection and and sex education. So those are the only two that parents have a legal right to opt out of everything else in the curriculum. It's really

077up to the school district to determine to allow a student to opt out or not. But I think Jess's point is what we don't want is a student that's opting out. They're saying, "Here's your iPad. Here's two hours on the iPad. Just go work out." So whether need a policy or regulation or a practice that we don't do that, I don't think that's done all the time. Um but there may be a time if a student is opting out for 40 minutes or 30 minutes that there's there's some activity on the iPad. So I think that there's you know I sure encourage most administrators to work with a parent to say we're not going to have you on this iPad. Don't you know we're not going to do that with students just to give them

078the iPad as as the only tool they're working with or or the Chromebook or you know of that nature. But and I can see in the other vein that students, as you saw in the video, are excited about Lexia to say that they have extra time to move up different levels. They may want to be on the iPad for an extended time because I I can get two more levels if I have 25 minutes for a half hour on the iPad. So, I think there's a fine balance between, you know, what students want as you know, not just to watch a video either, and what what what's also building their skills. So, um we could look at a policy. I can look to see if other districts have something like that. Um but I think

079more or less you know if we believe that that gem becomes a practice that we're not we're not just giving students a tool to work for an extended period of time. So we have um a bottom line technology document that talks about and we renamed it but we have a bottom line um technology document and we talked about putting time limit in there to kind of of what the expectation is because we don't want them to go over because you're a brand new teacher. You want to make sure that you are staying within that time and not thinking that more is better, right? Because you don't have the experience as aud. Who else? Yeah, go ahead. you shedding light on it. It sounds like you are on the same page in the sense that you

080you understand the dangers of too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, especially for young minds who aren't fully developed. Um, and I appreciate that you are aware of the time limits um for the kids. I didn't know how it was set up in terms of how long you allowed them to be on it because it is such a convenient tool and it works well. it sounds like it gives you better assessment. It sounds like the kids enjoy it. So that was my concern that oh how great this is. Let's, you know, let's just continue to implement more programs and and see if these kids can just take off. Um which they probably would if you allowed them to. Um but it sounds like you you want to make sure that there's

081a balance of as you said a time and place for where the technology fits in and hopefully that will continue. Um I just Yeah, you all sound like you you care about the kids enough to not just let them sit there and be on. Thank you for hearing that because that truly is what we try to do. I know and I and I know that you have good intention. It's just scary because it is scary, right? When you think about using all of the time and my kids putting in and that's all they're going to use. So, we totally get that. Like I said, anxious generation was all over everything we were doing at the beginning of this school year. You just don't want to lose them. Totally understand. We also appreciate that you're hearing

082that. We really do try to strike it. We definitely hear that. Appreciate it. So, thank you. Thank you, Gina. I just have I guess at this point I just want to hear from the board members just to see if you guys think we should just continue this conversation and look at sample policies and continue discussing it or you've received all the information like you're kind of go with it, move on. Just so you know, I think this is probably a good time to segue, you know, wrap this up, segue into our next topic. So, if everyone's just fine telling me it's not an official vote, I'm just trying to gather information of are we putting this on the next agenda? Is everyone satisfied or do we need more discussion? And I'm okay to do either.

083I just want to hear from you guys. So, Jen, I've been sold on the need for technology in schools at all ages for a long time. So I won't um be in the way of anything with that and the policies around it. I think everybody is doing a great job based on this presentation and the discussion um that they are making sure it's responsible use um and that it complements what is already being taught in the classroom. So thank you Jen. Gina I know you kind of said it but do you want to revisit this pretty much what I just said? I appreciate that you are, you know, obviously aware of the time constraints that you need to implement so that it doesn't become just a free-for-all on the computer. And that's not what I

084thought you were doing, but I just didn't know if that was going to be something down the road that would require more time on the computer. Go ahead. Thank you. So there's times instruction. So like there's a framework to a lesson, right? So like oh sorry when you're doing when you're introducing like I'll take you I'll give you a quick typical day and I don't have time but phmic awareness zero technology phonics um wy blevens it's whole class blending lines direct instruction zero technology. Um, if you call the Smartboard technology, like we would have to, you don't even include that because that's we're using document camera for that. There is a digital component to WY Levens where you could put on the digital form of the blending lines. Um, and then with reading, it's like

085a teach point and then they're off. If there's a center, that's only when the technology is used. It's in for small group or centers. But some days, like I said, that's not even in the plans for the day. So it depends on where you are in the unit and what sequence and what day you're on. Does that make sense? And that's and like literacy is 90 minutes and then you know move to the afternoon or whatever it is in your schedule. Math same thing depending on the content we use illustrative math. I am there's number corner that's a whole kindergarten thing zero technology in a math lesson you start whole class it's direct instruction whether it's a new concept or skill modeling's involved and then the only time where we use Dreambox again as if

086they're doing a small center does that make sense so I just want to like just like look at a whole day um and I know this is one of those things like we know technology is part of life but it is very alarming as a parent and educator because we all know the detriment. I think we've seen it and like we just said, kindergarten orientation and we're always trying to educate families like we talked about fine motor and executive functioning skills. That's something we're already talking about putting in open house to educate parents on these are skills that are missing. Here's the gap and we really need to rewind and teach them these basic and fundamental executive functioning skills because every year it's we have seen the detriment of that the loss of those skills.

087So, I do think that it's a conversation that should be continued and should be just kind of open conversation to be monitored. There's a like you said, if you're looking at responsible use and safety, I think those guidelines are in place. Um, but it is a part of, you know, different lessons of what we do. So, I think that's if that to clarify, I just want to give you a snapshot of like a whole day where we're thinking like they're on, you know what I mean? Not that you were thinking that, but that is enhancing what you're doing and not the the whole picture. You know, that that would concern me if it was just going to be about let's get on our Chromebooks now and let's start the day at five years old. I'd

088be I'd be very concerned, but it's not the case. Could you pass that mic back to He's Yeah, you just got to talk into the microphone. Is that if if the conversation is going to be continued, there's going to be discussion around policies and stuff. And again, this is no judgment on either side, but there's there's a lot of discussion on what the school is doing, introducing with technology, and kind of what teachers are doing. The other side to remember is we have students walking into the classroom with certain learning profiles that impact how they learn, the need for immediate gratification, their attention span, their behavior that teachers are trying to be responsive to and deliver the curriculum. So that constantly faced in little and big ways, I have this type of learner in front

089of me. My job is to educate them in these core competencies or literacy. I know by leveraging maybe some pieces of technology, I can maximize that with the learning profile of the learner in front of me. Balanced with that is we the sensible use, right? We can't use it too much. We can't use it. So there's the conversations I've had with staff and you can kind of hear this a little bit. It's not so much that we need to do more of technology. It's how can we leverage it effectively and minimize the detrimental nature of it when probably for many kids even if they're coming in a classroom at 5 probably from 2, three, four, that technology has been a core piece of their life for every minute outside of school. So they come into

090school now we have this environment then they leave school. So staff is not just trying to introduce the new tech, it's how to leverage it in a smart way and kids the right habits while delivering the curriculum that they need to deliver in an effective way. So, thank you. So, to the board members, just let me know. Um, so I'm guessing Jen and Gina, you guys are okay not to revisit it. It's okay if you guys want to. I just want to make sure we get it on the agenda. Expertise that's been displayed here. Melissa, do you want to revisit it and look at sample policy and continue the conversation? I mean, I think I want to thank all the time that was put into the presentation and like I said, great insight to have

091these conversations and just a better understanding. Um, I think my direction just with new information even got given tonight, you know, with it using as a supportive tool. Um, I'm just looking it more as a budget issue. um as we have people faces um you know that are in discussion of not having positions and I would take a person over technology. So, if it was a support thing, maybe it's not that each individual class has the one-on-one. Going back to rolling in a cart, maybe not ideal. Um, but it is pretty tough with the budget. So, that's just kind of where I am at the moment. We can revisit it if that's fine. But, yeah, I think that's valid. Jess, um, I kind of agree with Melissa, especially with the one-on-one. Um, but I do

092want to thank you guys for being mindful of the detriment that the technology causes. Um, we appreciate you. Thank you, Peter. Do you think we are like if we revisit it, what what should we bring to the table or did you get the information you needed? I'm good. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I have all the info I need, so I'm good. But uh we will revisit it um you know just to continue the conversation since people saw things tonight. Um so more to come but thank you everyone the teachers for being here um Lori for presenting board members for contributing. Uh we appreciate that. So um you guys can all go home. You don't have to say unless you want to hear about the the next thing floor investigation report. Oh, you're welcome. Thank

093you. Thanks. Is there a way they can turn the heat up in here? I'm like uncomfortably cold. My fingers are turning blue. Trying to do right now. So, um we are moving on to the next part. I you know I just want to thank the people who have been waiting um for an hour and a half to move to this portion of the meeting. I know it's been been long, but I'm going to turn it over to the superintendent. We have a member of the PBC, the mayor here, as well as representatives from the firm to u from WJE and a hygienist here. As you received in your update, there was a report that the PBC looked at on May 1st. The report was released released on April 28th. And the thought was um speaking

094to the mayor and speaking with Julia that if the board has any questions about what's revealed in the report, which is actually about the flooring here at the high school, um what the what the report states, but also what the remediation process might look like. Um, we wanted to give them an opportunity to share that with you. Not to go over the report explicitly with you, but to give the board an opportunity to ask any questions about what the issue is here at the high school and what the plan and timeline is to fix and remediate the issue. And are there any are there any initial concerns that need to be met immediately? Um, obviously this report is public now and parents and staff have uh access to it. Uh, the BA president's access to

095it. So, we thought that it was best to have it at a board meeting and have the discussion recorded so if people have issues, they can hear it. Um, I just want to say about five minutes ago, Brian and I received an email from someone who is trying to stream this on YouTube and they said they cannot hear us. Um, so I'm not sure for you guys filming it if something is off. They said it was extremely difficult. So, okay. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, sure. Absolutely. If the representatives could come on down to the front as well as the mayor, do you want to introduce who we have here this evening? What's that? Do you want to introduce who we have with us this evening? I'm going to have them go ahead and I'll just

096have the consultants uh give give you a brief uh background on on the report and and their qualifications and we have uh Tom Reed from uh public building as well. Um and we'll just you know then we'll ask qu you could ask questions on the report. It was a lengthy report but we needed to get all the information out and I'm glad we got to this point where we could start uh with the remediation plan which would be in the summer and we'll see how much we can get done. So with that, I'll let our consultants, the experts tell you what's going on. Thank you. Just think it's important to know immediate concerns so that the parents here and the staff immediate concerns based on the report, what the, you know, the mediation is, how

097it's going to take place and any problems that part and then allow the board to ask questions about what's in the report and the plan. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Um, I'm John Koko with uh with Jane Elner Associates. Um, I'm an engineer that was hired by the town to take a look at some of the issues with the flooring here at the school. Um, the main issues are the discoloring of the tie of the VCT tiles at the ground floor level. Um, we uh conducted an investigation to look at the look at the issue. Um, we took a bunch of five different locations, took samples of the tiles, sent them off to a uh lab to have them tested uh to determine what the cause of the discoloration was. Um we also sent the samples to

098our own lab to do some micro microscopy on them to um figure out what was going on. Um after we sent the um samples to the lab, uh it confirmed that what we were seeing was mold. Um uh should be noted that the mold is underneath a heavy layer of wax that's on top of the um on top of the tiles. But just to take full precautions, um we hired a certified industrial hygienist to come out. Um we took air samples in the school. There's no issues with airborne um mold or anything to be concerned with with the mold. It's trapped underneath the the wax and it's not fryable. Um, the cause of the mold is likely a combination of the fact that the tiles are a plant-based tile that was used to get some

099funding, some lead credits, if you're familiar with that process. Um, uh, so they're a plant-based tile. The mold that we're seeing is a plant-based mold. And there's a issue with moisture that's coming up through the slab. Um the existing ground level utilized the original slab from the building. Um and there's not a vapor barrier underneath it. So moisture from the ground is is seeping up through the slab. And then you have these plant-based tiles and there's a issue with mold. Um again, non-fryable trapped under the wax. No airborne issues with it. Um, as far as remediating it, there's like a two-step remediation process that we lay out in the report. Um, the first step is at areas where we're already seeing um, discolored tiles. Um, those will be removed, cleaned, and then new tiles will

100be put down in a temporary fashion. And then the longer term solution is to actually replace the VCT flooring in the areas where it's over the existing slab. And by removing the um the tiles, you're able to put a surface vapor barrier down so it'll lock the moisture down in the slab so it can't come back up and a new um new flooring will be put down. And in the report we talk about doing that in a phased manner where you know classrooms with problems can be done first, hallways with problems could be done first and just kind of figure out a way to address the the areas So with that I can take any questions that anyone may have. Is are there any concerns about when um that is when that becomes airborne from

101taking it out? So I'm Olivia. I'm with TRC. I'm a certified industrial hygienist. I've been doing this kind of stuff for since 2007. So um in this situation um I've written a work plan on how to properly remediate to make sure there is no release of any spores of or any type. Um so basically if they follow the work plan where there's a a poly barrier containment with uh negative air machines running to scrub the air uh overall it should mitigate the situation through the removal process and the cleaning process. And after all of that is done then we recommend um post air sampling to confirm before the space is reoccupied. My name is Tom Reed. I'm with the Public Building Commission. I just want to add one thing. The firms that we're going to

102hire to do this are certified in this type of removal. So, we're not just getting contractors off the street. These are people who do this for a living. So, it's a it's a relatively common problem throughout the country. Uh so, there's a vast number of people who are prepared to do this professionally. So, Any other questions? So, uh obviously we are making this a number one priority uh to get this done. We would be able to do it just during the summer. We obviously can't finish the whole school during the summer. Um the upper deck, I guess, right from what I'm told is not really an issue because it's not on the slab. It's upstairs. So, we will probably end up replacing those tiles as well at some point, but that can be pushed off

103a little bit because that that glue is not um the glue that unfortunately that was chosen as was mentioned was a a green glue for a lack of a better term and the uh the manner of the the the material used attracts the moisture which is why on the slab it's it's becoming uh it's growing mold and uh unfortunately the company that made the glue is out of business which should tell you something about the product I But so we're looking at, you know, fairly expensive project. I mean, we're rough rough estimate probably half a million to a million dollars, which we'll have to come up with. Um, but again, it's our priority to get this done, but again, there's no concern environmentally to anyone in the school, to staff or students, and we'll get

104it done as uh, you know, expeditiously as we can. So, that's where we're at. Questions? Any other questions, folks? miss anything, Brian? What do you think? No, I I think you covered it. I just want to make sure the board's aware. It is already approved through the PBC through the town. This is definitely moving forward. Yes. And I think as I know your name, the industrial hygienist said because of what has to take place, this is not something you would be offer to answer your question, Jen, while school is in session. We would not be remediating this by school. It' be a summer project only with air quality testing after to ensure that there's no mold that's airborne. Am I correct in that? Correct. Just so parents, I just want to clarify that as parents

105and and Mr. Reed, as you said, you know, all these people are licensed. This is what they do. I I have to tell you, sir, that being in the town for a number of years, we've hired many licensed people to do work and projects and had major issues. So, to me, as a superintendent, as someone who sat as an administrator building, that that that is not always enough. But to know that the PBC's behind it, the mayor's behind it, and who's going to work here, and we already hired industrial hygienist puts my mind at ease based on issues and alarms that we've had with students being evacuated, teachers being evacuated when we've have we've had licensed people working, and I know Mark, you're well aware of that, too. Well, we had licensed people in installing

106the glue, and here's the result of that. But exactly, you know, obviously the ironic part about it, but uh um yeah, no, I mean it's we're going to, you know, with public building on board, they have public building, our public building commission, if you don't know, I mean, anytime there's an issue like this, the council goes right to them and Tom and his uh his crew there on the public building commission have years and years of experience in construction and and many other uh disciplines that are very very helpful to the town. It's great that they they volunteer. We appreciate it and certainly our experts that we've hired will, you know, make sure that the environment is safe. So, that's the most important thing. And and then we'll have to figure out a a new

107flooring. I don't know if it's we we've discussed at a public building the other night, last week about putting tiles back down again. May not be the best thing to do. So, we'll might be able to do polish concrete or something after everything is eradicated. So, we'll we can have that discussion going forward. There'll be some temporary replacement of the of the green tiles that are the worst. Um, we'll start with those first and we'll put some temporary tile down and then we'll we'll we'll go from there and what we're going to do permanently, whatever. Superintendent discussion with the board though about I know the buildings are the PVC just being through a number of projects. Would that be a discussion about whether it's going to be polished concrete or replacement tile? Would the board

108have input on that or is that Oh, absolutely. Yeah. No, no, no. We'll work together and figure out what what's the what's the best thing to do with the public building with commission with our obviously with our experts and the council and the board of ed whatever we think is the the best way to go forward. I just don't want to uh you know although we will make sure the slab is sealed. I think there are some parts if I remember some of the report there was some parts when he uh you know our expert was doing uh the testing on it that were not sealed as they should have been during construction. as far as I remember. So, we will make sure that that that is done before we put the right the temporary

109tiles back down. Is that is that right? Yeah. So, but to leave the tiles again, I I I don't know if that's the smartest thing based upon uh what we just ran into, but we can cross that bridge when we come to it. So, anything did I miss anything? I don't think so. Okay. All right. Great. So, thank you. Anything else, folks? We're good. Questions? We're good. Any other questions? All right, we'll be moving forward as fast as we can. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for coming out. Thank you for waiting this long to get up there. Um, okay. So, moving on to our facilities update. Ashley Dorsy will provide a facilities update. Ashley Dorsy is at a cop. Brian Bing is gonna provide the update here. So, I apologize. Oops. HBAC

110update. The bid package for construction management firms for the HBAC projects at Griswald and Hover Elementary Schools uh was posted on April 29th and will close on May 13th. The bid packages for unit ventilators, replacement and HBAC upgrades were posted on May 1st, will close on May 29th. A walkthrough for potential bidders was held at each building on May 9th. The fence installation for YMCA play at Hubard. This fenced area has to be moved that's currently there because that's where the chillers are going to go is tenatively scheduled for May 19th. The BHS flooring, you just heard an update on the BHA flooring. So, you have that even more current than what Ashley left me. BHS preK. Ashley will be attending a town council meeting on May 20th to request the use of a one

111call vendor list to make necessary site changes for a full day prek program, which means it wouldn't go through the bid list. at Berlin High School. The town and the BOE staff are working together to schedule the project for this summer. This grant is fully funded. And last, McGee Science Labs. The bids for architectural and design services for McGee Science Labs closed on Monday, March 27th. Three bid firms are on the project. The bids were sent to the public building commission for review on March 31st. As of 5825 bids for McGee Science Labs, still none have been reviewed by the commission for recommendation. And that's an update of currently on all projects. Anyone have any questions? I I just want to say there's there's quite a bit of moving parts here. We have two schools

112which HVAC projects like Willard was involved with for over a year. We have the flooring issue. BHS preK is probably the um the smallest of the projects which is really fencing in a playground area. And then the McGee Science Labs is a very very large project to update the science labs. So, um, we'll be working closely with the PBC for all these. So, any questions or comments before we move on? Okay, thank you for that update. Moving on to the next agenda item, the ESY program. So, Linda Holan and Michelle Linda and Michelle. Good evening everyone. Um we're here to just give you a brief what we know so far what ESY is going to look like this year. So ESY stands for extended school year and it's basically the summer school program with for

113students who receive special education services. Um currently we have about 462 students that are receiving special education services. How we make that determination? We usually start around March having these discussions when students annual meetings come up about should we be recommending summer school for students. Um and what we look at is do our students after long weekends, after the Christmas break, after the April break, are they losing skills and it's taking them a number of weeks to catch up where they were when they left for those breaks? So those are typically the students that we're looking at to say that summer school is necessary. Even though we recommend summer school, sometimes our families may decide not to send them. Some kids just say, "You know what? I need my my student to go to summer

114camp and get those social emotional skills and be with friends." Um, but we usually do have a good turnout. And I'll let Michelle dis uh discuss the different programs. So we have two programs. Um our we have our blast program at the Willard and at McGee that are attends for five weeks. So they start at the on June 30th, go right through the whole month of July, end on August 1st. And then um our other special education students come for four weeks um three days a week and that starts July 1st and goes to July 24th. Um overall our numbers um are pretty con similar to last year's numbers. Um coincidentally secondary number came out to the exact same. So um that doesn't usually happen. Um but overall our numbers are the same. We sent

115out a couple notices to families already just to gather interest to see um who will be attending. So we're just waiting for that to come in to have our final numbers. Uh staff has not been hired yet. I wait until we have better numbers to determine who who we need to work. So, that'll happen hopefully by the end of this month. ESS Oh, sorry about that. ESS um also comes in and works with um students over the summer and there's approximately 37 students who currently in the program who are also recommended to come in um and work with our the clinicians there. So um again we don't know who will be attending but we have that in place for those students as well. Any questions? Thank you. Yeah, I just think it's important to know

116in previous years we've said we've discussed other programs that we've run in the district for students beyond the ESY program. Unfortunately for funding, we just don't have the grant funds and the funds available to run other programs beyond the required ESY program. So I just think it wanted all of you to know that. Any questions or comments? Thank you for presenting that. And I think handout was helpful as well. Um, okay, moving on to the next agenda item. So, I'm going to share out the board goals and then the community engagement committee goal and then I will have um Brian and Peter share out the goals for the committees who share. Um, so the board goals, the Berlin Board of Education will maintain broad, rigorous performance standards in all areas of curriculum that facilitate independent

117critical thinking and strategic problem solving among students. Engage our community through effective communication utilizing a multitude of means that reach all stakeholders and develop and adopt a fis a responsible fiscal annual budget. develop and maintain a 10-year capital plan encompassing both facility maintenance and technology equipment to ensure that the everchanging education needs of students are met and provide feedback and oversight to fiscal decisions. Um, and these will be revisited at our next retreat obviously, but these are goals. We haven't yet achieved all of them. We still have, you know, areas where we can continue working on, but those are the overall board goals. Uh, for the community engagement committee, continue to explore different ways to reach and engage the greater Berling community. Um, and that has come up, you know, in our meetings and we've

118discussed that and we will continue to do so. Um, so I will now turn it over to Brian Dude to share the goals for the curriculum committee. Thank you. Yeah, the goals of the curriculum committee remain unchanged in that it's to commit to building an organization that focuses on the learning of all members resulting in the optimal growth of each student. And again, that's really with an lens towards making sure every student feels part of the school system, feels included, feels like that they too have a uh an opportunity to maximize their learning. Uh the second is integrate the vision of the graduate competencies into daily learning experiences outlined in the district curriculum. And again, that's just, you know, really that that more academic rigor and making sure that they have the uh daily learning

119experiences that at the end of their their school experience will all come together for future success. And then last but not least, support the development of the social emotional well-being of all members of the school community. And again, this is one that I truly support in that if people aren't feeling safe andor comfortable at school, then there's not a good learning environment and that's not good for anybody. So I think these are still three very appropriate and worthwhile objectives for the curriculum committee. Thank you Peter. Uh our goals also remain unchanged from last year. uh first is to review current budget process including ongoing discussion with stakeholders and make recommendations for changes and improvements as necessary, coordinate with the town on capital building and site budgeting to support effective long-range planning and review the financial

120impact of the district's plan development and strategies for recruiting and retaining high-quality educators and staff. So, are there any um comments or questions regarding the committee objectives for 2025 2026? Okay, moving on to the second reading and adoption um of five policies and then we have the first reading of student dress because I believe that that was left out of the last one. Okay, so just to clarify um last meeting one of the policies just wasn't included. It was by by accident. So that is now the first reading. So before we get into discussing um the policies or any questions or comments because we went over it all in our last meeting in depth, do we have a motion for consideration? I'll move that the board adopt the recommended revisions to policies 1160 and 1250

121as presented. Repeal current policy number 5131.911 and adopt the new statemandated policy number 5131.911 as presented and adopt new policy number 5131.93 as presented. Do we have a second? So the motion made by Peter, the second made by Jen. Just so you guys are aware, policy 1160 is school security and safety. Policy 1250 is visitors and observations in the schools. Policy 5131.911 is the old bullying prevention and intervention. That's the repeal policy 5131.911. That's the new Connecticut school climate policy that's statemandated. and another new policy 5131.93 restorative practices uh response policy. So um any questions, comments, discussion? Okay, we can move to a vote. All those in favor? I oppose. Okay, 8 Z. Thank you. Moving on to the next one is the policy review revision first reading for policy 5132 student dress. So we

122discussed this at our last meeting and it was presented before the ad hoc committee. Um we don't need to take action on this this evening but I'll turn it over to Brian to talk a little bit more about it. And if you guys have any discussion questions or comments uh now is appropriate time. So, the middle school, the practice has always been not to have backpacks between classes. The high school up until this year, it they were allowed to take their backpacks between classes. Um, this year was the first year we implemented no backpacks between classes. And it really is was a safety issue. One is overcrowding in the classroom, but also is what's in the backpacks and not knowing between classes. So, students are allowed to bring them into school. Once they get into

123school, they are to put them in their locker and then they go to classes. And there is an adjustment and um principal meant and I have had many discussions about students adjusting to lockers that weren't ever used for many years getting them to work again students monitoring their time to get between you know what books do they need when can they get their locker or not but overall I think it's a safety concern so our policy just has to um represent what's our practices right now and our practice is not allowing backpacks so the policy is just catching up to the practice if that makes sense. Any questions or comments discussion? I know we had we kind of addressed this in our last meeting but if there is anything by you know feel free. Is

124there any opportunity for clear backpacks for kids who are struggling maybe with the time management or too many supplies to carry? We've not we've not looked into clear backpacks. If a student had an IEP or a 504 and needed something, we would make that accommodation. We would do that. Any questions or comments? Okay. So, we will take action at our next meeting. Um, moving on to discussion regarding the 2025 2026 budget. So, I'll turn it over to Superintendent. Peter, you want me to start? So, um, after the, um, the board of finance met and remained the budget at 4% plus the $215,000 for our new reading program went wisdom. That's being added to the budget outside of the operational budget. Um, that then went to the town council. Town council voted to reduce the budget

125by $50,000. Um, based on that, the FNO committee met um from the board as well as other board members that attended and looked to what our reductions would be for that $50,000. And um to reduce that $50,000 brings us from 4.0 to a 3.9% increase. In conversations with the mayor that the board chair and I had with a second referendum, if the number of voters come out and vote that the budget is too low, he has assured us multiple times that he would put $50,000 back into the budget or increase the budget as he said. So the the hope is that we get the $50,000 back um into the budget based on the second referendum. If that does not take place, we we're planning on implementing a parking fee at the high school. There's roughly

126200 students that park at the high school. We're estimating that it's around 200. It would be $100 for the year to park at the high school. And the rationale behind it is um all students are provided either a bus that can take them to school. So looking at through a lens of parking is a privilege. It's not a necessity. Um we know that students would rather drive their cars, but it's a $100 fee. It's very much aligned to many of the districts around us. Um and the other the other uh $30,000 would come from reductions in outplacement uh fund. would reduce that even further and as well as hopefully transportation would come under and that would hopefully shure up to $30,000. So that's how we're playing to balance the budget if that $50,000 stays in

127place and that reduction there. Peter, I don't know if I missed anything, you pretty much covered it. Yeah. There any questions or comments from the board? Peter, you don't have anything else to add? That's fine. You don't have to. No, I I don't have that much to add. I'll just add that, you know, the the uh pay for parking is is just a a minor decision and it's kind of uh we elected to move in that direction. One to generate some revenue to close that gap, but additionally as a as a bit of a segue into addressing uh our transportation costs and um bus usage as we had discussed at length in the prior meeting. Um, additionally, I'll just reiterate what Mr. Benignney said. I hope that people uh come out to vote. Um, the

128turnout this year was pretty poor. I think it was about 4ish%. Um, so we will see. Thank you. Anyone from the board before we move on? I'm happy to see that direct services aren't being cut. I mean, I I I see the logic, but that it's just unfortunate. We're at this point with less than 5% of the public voting. And and to that end, I do have to ask at some point, where are we held accountable to make sure that the public knows what it is that we're thinking so that they can make an informed choice when they go to the referendum or be encouraged to go to the referendum. I would say I think at some point we we do have an obligation to sort of we're we're not allowed to by law. We

129can't we can't communicate what's being caught. There's very very strict um laws in place in Connecticut about what we can and cannot communicate and how we can. That's why could that be communicated so that we don't get tasked or or or charged with being silent? So we haven't voted or taken action. So until the budget is set like th this board has not voted on those items. Any of it can change. Um, Brian, do you want to answer more? So, what happens is once the referendum is set, no public funds can be used to communicate with the public. So, there was a year, one year when I just sent out a reminder to parents, I could have been held personally liable because I used the email system that tax dollars paid for. So what can

130happen, Brian, is if personal emails, parent group, PTO, boosters, things that were not generated, they were self-generated, those can go out and things can be sent out. We can draft the list, but we can't send it. It has to go out through other means. So if even if you were to use school funds, let's say, not that we have the citizen, let's say the Herald to put it in the Herald even, we couldn't do that because we're using taxpayer dollars to to put something out. Even it's just as much as a reminder about the referendum. We can't say but each we've brought our attorneys in and I know last year we discussed this too as a board but even as individual board members we have to be very intentional on how we are. Um that's

131why I don't post it on my personal Facebook page. I could say as a member of Berlin XYZ but it's still you know our lawyers take the more conservative approach and say like that's too risky. Um so you know after hearing from them and you know learning about this more over the years you know we've always had parent groups that you know PTO's other groups that have gotten the word out but it is not the job of the board. We we could be personally liable before the town council and the board of finance vote. We can put anything out we want which we did once they set the referendum but we'd have to be that ahead of the number. So if you think about the second referendum, it was one day and then the next

132day. So it was board of finance, then town council. There was such a small window, it was set again. Does that make sense? You don't give us an opport there's not much opportunity to get the word out. And and we've spoken to our attorneys multiple times. You know, my predecessor and myself about what we could do. And um the biggest advocate has been the parent group because it's they're not it's not taxpayer dollars that send out the messages. So, okay. But even parent groups, they could also get fined and be held liable if they're considered a pack. So, a political action committee. So, so there's just a lot of parameters around it. Um, so I I don't disagree about getting the word out. I but I think that we are all very limited in how

133we can do it. And that's why, you know, even when I first got on the board, there was a parent group and they were meeting up at Central Pizza um to, you know, get the word out and and it was really effective. So, I think I think the community, you know, comes together and finds different ways, but we sitting here at the table currently like can't say anything. Um, and we also need to be mindful in how we are putting it on social media, so on and so forth. Any other questions about that? The board itself cannot advocate for a referendum one way or the other due to uh state uh Connecticut state enforce election enforcement law. But as individuals, the individual can advocate. If an individual board member wishes to go to their neighbor

134and say X or Y, they're more than welcome to do that and to advocate in their own way. um as long as you're not using taxpayer funded equipment, i.e. sending from your school email. Um I think that the the description comes over uh a little bit too restrictive and punitive and leaves the message that we can't say anything. Board members can certainly go out into the community and advocate for a certain thing and with the with the note that they are speaking as an individual board member, not for on behalf of the entirety of the board. Um, you know, we don't we as individuals, we are not required by law to sit in silence for a referenda. Same with council per uh council persons or the mayor. They have the same right to do that

135so long as it's not over to taxpayer funded equipment. No, I I agree. I I believe I said that. I just stated personally I don't do certain things because of our law firm, but as a board collectively, we we cannot, but as individuals, we you guys can. It just has to be prefaced that way. So, and as a superintendent, as a paid employee, going to PTO means, going to parent groups, I'm allowed to do it at all. So, I just can't use any taxpayer dollars to put put information out. Even if it's just a general, like I said, even just to say remind reminder, you know, referendum on the state and don't even say what you know, how to vote. That's not allowed. I think as a board we should be showcasing some of the

136really great things that we do not just at this meeting but outwardly more um because that in at the end of the day that is what's going to be what people look at when they go out and vote. If people saw the art that second graders and first graders are are doing that shows that we have really great teachers. We don't want to lose those teachers. Um, so let's let's do what we can to promote our schools and then people will come out and vote. I also think the um award that we won that Tyler was just saying that we won out of the entire United States. I think that also shows a lot. Well, I think there was like a thousand districts in the US that received the same award, but that's still No,

137I think it's still important. I just think that it's how it's communicated. Um, so Jen, to your point with our winter report that we put out um, twice a year, we we put that out at the start of the budget to try and get ahead of it and showcase and let, you know, get ahead of the budget process, so on and so forth. Um, I don't know if Brian has any suggestions on getting anything else out at this point. We we're going to have a spring report that I would think should come out within the next two weeks which can showcase the art show, showcase some of the award winners, showcase um we have a list of um schools that students are attending, you know, the various awards award ceremonies that are going on and

138so on. So there's already a list of what that last report will look like to kind of showcase Bland Public Schools. So if any board members have other things that they think should be showcased, please don't be afraid to reach out to me as obviously the communication committee reviews that report and is able to add to it. Last time we went through and kind of highlighted what what should be in the report and then um and then it was created. So anyone at the table have any other comments? Like I'm I'm open to suggestions, but you know I think Jen, do you have any other suggestions like other than what Brian had just said? I mean, I I could give you some. Not at the spur of the moment, but I think No, that's fine.

139I just wanted to make sure that like you had the opportunity. I spent a year on the community engagement and and I all we had was a, you know, twice a year newsletter. No, it's so I'd like to see more. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Well, do you have anything else you want to add? You can certainly add. This is our time to talk about it. I want the board to have their opportunity. So, okay. All right. Moving on to um executive session. So, we are going to be entering into executive session and inviting the superintendent and Denise Parsons. Yes. Do we have a motion for consideration? We go to executive session and invite Brian and De. Do we have a second? Second by who? All those in favor? Thank you, everyone. Did Vanessa vote? Did

140you guys at the end vote to go into executive? We're voting to go into executive session discussing the contract. I go over the room. Okay. 8. You're entering it at 8:13 p.m.