001has been super slow at home is great at home but you know saying you're going to sit at your's house and get your is that what I'm here for on the road and I think Qui fast have to say 1 two 3 all right it's um 6:30 I'm going to call the uh meeting to order if you'd all please care to J me the pledge of allegiance to the flag United States of America naice second on the agenda is a public comment if there's anyone who would like to uh have a few minutes to comment from the public I'll take that is no so we'll we'll move ahead to item number three which is a student recognition for the Hillen PL School in Northville elementary school thank you so this evening um we have a
002lovely presentation by students from Hill and plan and Northville and so first I'm going to call up Mrs calbre and Mrs Gallagher to uh assist with our presentation and tonight's presentation focuses on student right in which is one of my favorite things to do and is really an important skill for students to be able to express themselves so I'll turn it over to you hi I'm Gwen Gallagher I'm the principal at Northville I'm Kathy calibri I'm the principal at Hill and plane so um when we started this last year um Mrs caval and I sat and talked about how are we going to choose out of you know three 400 students how do you choose just a few and we asked each of our teachers to give us one student in their class that really
003went by the ideas that our district lives by the heart collaboration um creativity and focus and so we also included that the Board of Ed uh student achievement goal to increase the achievement of every student through high quality curriculum instruction assessment and programming so taking all that into account and then northville's modotto and Helen plain's motto and so there were nominations that the classroom teacher made and then we took it one step further and we ask for the support staff and the specials teachers that see these students every week um for their input as well and then the assistant principles uh and Gwen and I then we chose our final students um that are here with us tonight and it's never an easy decision every student has a quality about them that's amazing um but
004we we did have to bring it down just like always and so we're excited to share with you our final our finalist so northville's going to go first we are starting we're going to begin with Evelyn Johnson and Evelyn can come forward come on up Evelyn Evelyn is in kindergarten she is an all-around great kid she is constantly supporting her classmates without being asked I have observed her helping others with academics asking how they're feeling when they've been out sick asking me if I need any help without looking for recognition Evelyn works well together in groups and is always Fair she works hard with her academics loves to participate and is not afraid to ask for help if needed Evelyn is enthus enthusiastic and comes in with a smile every day I am proud to
005nominate her for this recognition and that's from Mrs [Applause] Biz could be there behind Evelyn so they've all the kids have been practicing and she's going to nail it so she's going to read her book all about Northville I love norfield can you turn the slide yep thank you thank you I love playing with my friends show them the picture I love Miss gger and my teacher we did not prompt her to say that I love to read and [Applause] write we need one little picture Evelyn Evelyn you get this certificate for showing creativity Focus heart and collaboration please come in so hold this along with your book there you go on in about I just use my phone you ready Evelyn Evelyn you ready ready one two three G good job [Applause] y our
006next student that we will call up is Barbara de Almeida Reese she is in first grade [Applause] she is in Mrs mone's class in our first grade room we often talk about integrity being doing the right thing even when no one is looking that is Barbara her heart is genuine her heart is caring her heart is loving it just is it is all those things without without an adult reminding her of what it means to be a good friend or student her heart is creative as she's always sketching her thinking as she learns her heart is brave as she moves through life loving her family and her family loving her Barbara is a leader among her friends she doesn't wait to be asked to help she will see a friend struggle and in her very
007kind sweet barbar voice asked do you need anything her heart is generous Barbara's light always shines and we're all Lucky to receive it she makes herself her parents me and New Milford proud each and every day M's gonna come up you're going to be talking a lot about her in this book all right go ahead all about Norville written and illustrated by Barbara chapter one the building when you walk into North you will see the lost and found and some books then you see the office where the principal works the hallways are orange white green room 19 classroom has sounds on the wall and a lot of numbers and a lot of artwork Chapter two The printable wait wait D D D D what are they going to say chap two the principal her name
008is Miss Galer she does the announcements with two kids she works in there he does shout outs and she is [Music] kind chapter three Miss Minnie Miss Minnie is kind she is the best teacher she does a lot of artwork she does fun things her favorite color is green she likes cheese it's she is a great dancer 100% prompted great dancer sorry bar loses her remote lots of glasses four the kids the students at Northville they are really lovely they are really helpful they do the right thing they are good at [Applause] Art chapter five the best part the best part of Nora is Art and reason they they're the best because they are [Applause] fun all about the about the author Barbara lives in New Connecticut she lives with her mom and dad's sister
009and two brothers one is older one the other is the same age as her in her free time she likes to have she enjoys her four new friends she has a that lights up with rainbow dots on when she grows up she was art teacher and a teacher very [Applause] good you can hold that along with your book now we'll take a nice picture Mrs money I'm scaler one two three cheese got it thank you [Applause] Barbara next we have lucason champ lucason can come on [Applause] up L is in second grade and he is in Mrs pill's class so for Focus Luke is a dedicated and focused student who enjoys the learning process he makes meaningful connections throughout the day integrating new knowledge into his prior learning and personal experiences as an active and
010attentive listener Luke often experiences light bulb moments and he connects academic Concepts to his own life collaboration Luke is a collaborative team player in the classroom who works well with all of his peers he actively contributes to brainstorming sessions ideas turn in partnersh ships and fosters a positive Dynamic that brings out the best and those he works with heart Luke builds strong and positive relationships within our classroom Community connecting well with both teachers and peers he is consistently respectful and thoughtful valuing the diverse opinions skills and contributions of others Luke demonstrates understanding toward his classmates brings support to Friends in Need as a creative Problem Solver he helps Foster a caring and inclusive environment where everyone feels a sense of belonging Lucas [Applause] champ and Miss p is not feeling well she's at home but
011she is online [Music] FaceTiming so we're gonna keep her back there all right so he oh sorry I never really um so Barbara did all um All About or no she just wrote a story a um I'm sorry a narrative about school um uh Barbara did an all out and then um in second grade they were learning poetry so um send did a poem what kind of a poem did you do atic poem acrostic poem place to go is Old Friends R is right place to go T is taught by a great teacher H is Happy Times V is very cold mascot and I drew Nessie perfect I in the school are great kids L loving KS kids learn L loving people the excellent [Applause] Raiders God [Applause] you can pull that with your cross
012phone thank you you're welcome you ready lucason ready [Applause] and next we will honor students from Hill and pl school we will start with Parker Bailey [Applause] Parker is in Mrs McCoy's kindergarten class she's ready I'm GNA say a few words about Parker Parker is such an empathetic and compassionate girl she's always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone in need Parker is a strong reader and writer she loves sharing her reading with the class herker truly lives by our school's core values she is an absolute pleasure to have at Hill and pl [Applause] school I love school because it is fun I like to play on the slides my friends are kind I like my teacher a yes is great job and that was what she loved about Helen play all right Parker
013here's your official certificate we'll take your picture ready one two three Che thank you [Applause] congratulations next up next up we have our first grader from Miss ory's class and it's rain Elise urania [Applause] aise is a shining star in first grade she approaches learning with unwavering focus and boundless imagination her her creativity shines through her vibrant drawings and focused problem solving skills R Elise possesses a kind and compassionate heart always lending a helping hand to her classmates and celebrating their successes she works seamlessly with everyone fostering a warm and inclusive environment in the classroom Raina leise truly embodies a well-rounded student with a zest for [Applause] learning you can move up here if you want to get her a little closer there you go go do you know about school let me tell you
014about my school [Applause] school is in new MILF Connecticut with 39 students it has three school to second grade home plane school has lot lots of teachers my kindergarten teacher was M belli my first grade teacher is Mr [Applause] lety the principal is this Cal the at they help us home play school I matter you matter School matters thank you for reading my book certificate you can hold that with your book and we'll take a nice picture ready one two three [Applause] and our second grader from Hill and plain we have Tony [Applause] Cruz Tony is a student in Mrs Nash's second grade he is one of the most hardworking diligent and kind students that I have ever had the pleasure of teaching he puts 100% effort into to everything he does whenever help is
015needed Tony is the first to jump up and offer assistance he is seen as a leader and is so well-liked by all of his peers Tony's a born reader who comes to school with a tote bag full of books each day he enjoys working both independently and as part of a collaborative group he is an amazing learner and a joy to have as part of our classroom family [Applause] all right so Tony's been working on poetry just like the second graders at Northville and so his poem is what kind of poem did you write hu hiu all right go Ahad take it away H playing School in High cool poems I just love to read back Kitty books and dog man alone or with with friends Ling word problem using charges each day map is
016fantastic [Applause] writing nonfiction poems and stories as well authors hard at work so many kind friends H I'm playing is a good place learning is good [Applause] here congratulations you ready two three cheese good job [Applause] so on the days where it might be sometimes we have hard days right and then then when we see this abolutely this is a reminder of why we do what we do so thank you especially to our families who came out to support our children and our teachers and our administrators of course um we loved having the students present to us and show us what their writing is about these days thank you for that so let's give them one more round of applause so the families and the children you can you don't have to stay for the
017whole time you're welcome to but you can go also if you'd like at this time out of your mind can you get any cuter than that I mean on a little marketing here would help wased it become interesting now it is I missed this so wa for was really great really great was just so amazing smiling ear to ear it's hard for I mean it's to get up and do this as we see so it's very difficult done [Applause] we start a meeting like that every time oh of course I know who you only when I'm only when you're here only when I'm filling in wow I some question I said she left that smile on no not at all AG hug it's right here my laptop for a change way yeah all right let's
018um move on then to the uh PTO report oh right there I think number four there's no uh invisible M after [Laughter] this I would say I would like yeah let's let the PT who wants to follow that so at our pre- creative five schools we are happy to celebrate literacy with Across America Day activities a huge thank you to our guest and our UPC at Northville they're busy fun events to including bik and truck event hosted their annual re and the winners will be celebrating their success with pancakes with the principles and their PJs the hill and book fair was a huge success and they were able to put $2,000 worth of books into the school library classrooms in the hands of kids who might not otherwise have been able to afford a book
019at the third grade and up levels spring has been very busy at saren Noble there are multiple assemblies and author visits planned PTO will also be sponsoring events including an ice cream social at the asro and pedometers for the fifth grade walking project grade level dances and year activities are in the works at scatico um there's also the second annual Battle of the Bands type competition which has been renamed the stage of dreams and Senior activities upcoming at the high school at the townwide level we are still fundraising for our annual senior scholarships we are currently collecting clothing and shoes in the Dropbox in front of John pen bone through the end of April and we will also be having a fundraiser for Yankee tickets on um so when you're doing your spring clean this
020spring please consider donating your clothes and shoes to the Dropbox in front of John Petty bone speaking of the senior scholarship we just wanted to remind all parents of seniors that in order for your student to be eligible the parent must be a current paid member of the PTO and applications are now available on Navan and the deadline to submit the application is April 4K thank you all right we'll go back to what I skipped which was the presentation of the new Solutions K12 special education opportunity review findings please are we doing I was just going to say I was wondering if we could do the student Representatives report that's okay is that okay I problem with that right thank you so Noble on Wednesday the 5th they had their annual one school one book
021day every class read the book salt in his shoes Michael Jordan in pursuit of a dream this highlights dedication growth mindset and perseverance our fourth grade students were able to travel through time and meet here and learn about women that made a difference finally uh yesterday for St Patrick's Day our students were treated to a parade by the bagpiper Mr Jonathan henen um and a Irish dancing assembly featuring The Throne Academy dancers that go to Saran Noble uh for Northville there was no input and at Hillen plane um they've had they've been on track uh for students working on grade level achievements supported by core values the month started with a whole school assembly learning about integrity and free books were given out to continue encouraging reading and books every student um scatter recently welcomed
022Ed to speak to all students and he also did a special workshop with their students for a change group several of their music groups went on a field trip to New Milford High School which included the strings in the eth grade chorus the from the band Orchestra and chorus attended the Northern Regional music festival in SD fa and mil High School their um theater is playing Legally Blonde and they're having show March 21st at 700 p.m. and March 22nd at 300 p.m. they also had a St baldrick's fundraiser which raised money for cancer um on the 10th in the engrave the shave events which was a huge success their ke Club is having a reinvented dress program where gently used prom dresses are available for students to shop and take home for free suits shoes
023and accessories are also available free of charge and SAT exams will take place Mar 19th and 20th thank you thank you thank you so used to clapping clapping for kids is what we do right for clapping thanks guys you guys as always right now the presentation yes let's do it very good okay so I will begin with a little bit of background um last beginning in July 2024 uh we embarked on a project called the uh special education opportunity review um we contracted with new Solutions K12 um and we conducted this work in corporation with uh new Solutions k12 and finally received the findings in December um and so our presentation tonight by Nathan levenson who you'll see up on the screen um will be an overview of the findings of our special education opportunity
024review um and he is the the executive director I don't want to use the wrong term of new solution K12 um he is um has been both a superintendent and board member so he understands both sides of that um part of public education uh he's an author a speaker he has consulted with over 250 school districts in more than 30 States as well as around the world he works with State Departments of Education foundations legislators and educational technology companies so that's a brief introduction of Nathan levenson and I'm going to turn it over to him to do a review of our special education findings thanks so much can hear me okay just fine yes yes perfect uh thank you Janet for that kind introduction You did leave out one part of my resume I also
025spent six years on a school board so I've thought about these issues from that perspective and as well uh very excited to be with you tonight to share uh what we learned about the school system uh celebrate a number of great things that are already taking place share a short list of uh opportunities for improvement I will do all that in about 10 to 12 minutes and then leave some time uh for any questions you have so with that let me uh share my screen um let's see if this is going to work um there you go great are you seeing it in presentation mode yes okay excellent so um hopefully you are seeing the slide that says project goals yes all righty so here's the three things we' set out to do AER the
026develop a deep understanding of current practices as they relate to both students with special needs and all students who are struggling because all districts have kids who struggle uh some with disabilities and some without second to compare and contrast your current practices uh to align with the best practices and thirdly to identify a very short list of opportunities that would both help raise achievement for students and also improve the work life balance for your teachers and staff with that being our goal um you you know enough about me so I will move past my bio and let's start with the good news good news never gets enough attention and certainly there are many things worthy of commendation uh the first is that the district has begun to embrace the science of reading at the elementary
027level uh both from a curriculum instruction point of view but also uh teachers really seem to be supporting it uh we saw it in practice and in action and this is an incredibly important uh Commendation particularly for kids who struggle academically uh multisensory reading classes which are at the elementary level in particular um providing excellent targeted extra time instruction taught by folks who are highly skilled in the teaching of reading uh this is a very powerful intervention and it was really great to see that it is uh um available to many students third thing we saw that we wanted to commend was that some special education teachers uh who had particular skills in a particular area or subject were allowed to specialize which is both great for the staff and great for the students we'll
028come back to this one a bit more uh we also wanted to uh commend that the district took a very integ ated approach to supporting kids mental health needs integrated both within the district across multiple disciplines and also uh between the integrated between the community and the school itself uh wanted to acknowledge what we heard from so many people who interviewed uh that the superintendent has brought a sense of stability and Trust to the district after a great deal of leadership turnover um so I think that is a an important commodation and a Bedrock for being able to move forward and what we saw everywhere we looked and everybody we met teachers in the district incredibly hardworking caring deeply about all of their students these six commendations really do um lay a very strong foundation
029for being able to move to the next step of how do you get even better yet um we come we have five opportunities I won't read them this moment we'll walk through each one of them uh one at a time so opportunity number one this is to increase general education future capacity and confidence to better meet the needs of all students who struggle including those with mild to moderate disabilities through expanded instructional coaching let me dissect this one for you because this is an important one if I'm a student with special needs general education core instruction is still the most important part of my education and the most important person in delivering highly effective core instruction is the general education classroom teacher so this sometimes surprises folks but the research is unambiguous if you want
030to raise achievement of kids with special needs uh as you improve general education core instruction that will raise achievement for kids with Mod moderate disabilities which is the vast majority of students with special needs what we saw however is there is a Reliance a significant Reliance on special Educators in the district as the primary teacher responsible for students with special needs this is not because general education teachers didn't care it's there is a general belief that special education students benefit most from being supported by special Educators obviously special Educators play an important role um but there is too much ownership being passed to special Educators not enough ownership coming from General Educators and we believe that is because too many General Educators do not feel they have the skills the capacity perhaps the confidence to
031be that primary teacher and to to put this in perspective very very few General Educators in this country get deep training in how to teach students with special needs it's not part of the typical college program so they're thinking there are other people Specialists who will know special Educators who know exactly what to do but the research has shown is that good teaching is good teaching and all of the special education best practices for teaching are also the general education best practices for teaching so we're not asking or expecting General Educators to learn both two ways to teach one for special ed and one for General Ed it is one way it is a way that will work for all students and what we are suggesting reer first we should suggest it is that instructional
032coaching is the most effective way of building capacity and confidence in general education teachers to play a bigger role in the education of kids with special needs so this first opportunity says hey we got to build the capacity and the comfort of general education teachers to play a bigger role for kids with disabilities and you're going to be able to do all that through instructional coaching so that is the first opportunity and one that we'll have before greatest impact on J's outcomes now Nate can I just interject one thing sorry that I forgot to say uh the intent of the findings and of your report is that it is cost neutral is that correct yes that is absolutely everything we have shared can be done in a cost neutral way we recognize your budget challenges
033so any place that we are suggested that you may need to add something there will be opportunities through attrition to reduce something so that at the end of the day all this is done in a cost neutral way um so the second opportunity says even if we have great core instruction students will need great core instruction plus effective intervention so opportunities two and three we're going to talk about intervention opportunity two expand the reach of best practice interventions at the elementary level to ensure all students who strong have access to extra time direct instruction from content strong teachers what this is saying is best practice intervention has extra time it has direct instruction the person providing the intervention really knows the material um I think this very simple graphic of core instruction plus extra time
034leading to Mastery really is um a very powerful visualization of the best practice what we saw thought at the elementary level is that you had um some very strong examples of the best practices because one of the really important elements of a best practice intervention is that the person delivering the instruction is deeply trained in the content we use the phrase a Content strong teacher so if you think about at the elementary level your MSR classes are taught by uh intervention teachers reading teachers or deeply trained in the science and the teaching of reading it's a perfect example of a best practice intervention uh so what we saw is that while you have great some examples of excellent best practice interventions at the elementary level we also saw that two students who struggled in the
035exact same way but one had a disability and one did not they would be served very differently so general education supports um on the left hand if you will on the top of the page special education supports are different at the bottom of the page what the research says is that two kids who have the same needs should get the same intervention and it is not necessary or desirable for them to be entirely different or parallel um so at the elementary level the recommendation is to take some of these best practices um and make sure all students have access to them the other piece about the the cost of these is the district has put a lot of emphasis on having small groups for intervention and the research says small groups are not that important
036the quality of the interventionist matters a lot and you have some very talented interventionists um grouping kids with similar needs is very important but so we think there's been an overemphasis on keeping the group small and that is limits the number of kids who can have access to some of your very very talented staff um so really trying to move past small is important and focus on the strength and ability of the teacher because that is far more important and then more kids can be helped without adding staff at the third opportunity is similar but really um addresses middle of high school and here we're recommending to implement those best practice interventions same like the elementary that they're extra time direct instruction contents from teachers but where at the elementary you did have a lot
037of examples of those best practices there were fewer examples currently of the best practices at the secondary level um again if you think about what we're saying extra time in intervention in the middle school or High School says hey if a student is struggling in math they need core instruct math the regular grade level math they're also going to need an extra course in math intervention catch me up in math and because they're going to need the extra time to learn the things they hadn't learned um in Prior years uh what we saw at the secondary level is far less of that extra time intervention but we saw is a number of strategies one is co- teing which means two teachers are in the room but just for one period so there's no extra time
038they're definitely extra adults uh there's also some flavor of co- teing uh where instead of a teacher it's a power professional there are learning strategies classes which are an extra period but these learning strategy classes are not focused on Direct instruction they're very hard to teach a particular subject because the learning strategies class could have students from multiple grades from multiple courses um so it's really not a teach me a set of skills it's more help me with my homework and yet we did see some uh very good best practice interventions uh in the Midland High School but those were primarily reserved for kids without disabilities um and then there's a number of ad hoc and drop in support so it's interesting to us that you have a lot of options and a lot of
039ways in which you're trying to help kids who struggle academically uh but particularly at the middle and high school level not as many of them align to the best practices as we like to see um the fourth is uh to increase student access to highly skilled content teachers by shifting roles of power professionals um enabling higher pay for your power professionals while also maximizing the opportunity for students to learn from content experts what this is really saying is you do have a fair number of power professionals they're not paid particularly well uh they're asked to do a lot not necessarily aligned to their background and training and what we're suggesting is here to have through attrition slightly fewer power professionals which would allow you to pay them more which would allow you to both invest
040in and recruit folks with the skills you need um and I think you know there power professionals are deeply respected in the district uh folks really count on them for a lot but the compensation has made it hard to keep and retain them uh and the fifth opportunity is to review and develop to standardize the IEP process uh through what we call staff specialization if you think about a special educator they're asked to do a lot uh teach reading math science social studies write IEPs support behavior um the special Educators have an incredibly wide range of things they're asked to do some of your special Educators really really enjoy and are really really good at the IEP process and for other people it is the worst part of their job and what we're saying is
041if you allow people to specialize to what they're good at not only will they be good at it uh they will enjoy it their retention goes up and we also believe that having a smaller number of folks who are responsible for processing and managing the iev process would then give you an opportunity to streamline the IEP process as well because we did see a few areas in which uh the I the process could probably run a little more efficiently um and do it in a way that staff enjoy it and are good at it um I think this is just some quotes about how different uh different teachers are and what they want to specialize in we we see this all across the country this movement toward specialization so let me pause there stop sharing
042and happy to take any questions you have I think he could see you bud yeah I well I know I was asking for I know he can't see me I I see I am a special education teacher so maybe I didn't know that I'm kidding um I Brian Mall a board member but a lot of what you were saying speaks to me as a special ed teacher um in another district and you mentioned um you know you talked about something that I think about a lot which is the coast taught system because in high school the students have a lot of required classes they have to take and they don't have the opportunity for that extra support they need especially in like math and and for writing do you have any suggestions and how that
043process could be improved because and like you mentioned this extra study courses but honestly even those classes are going away because of graduation requirements well great great I'm glad one that it resonates with you as somebody who's on the front line so what we've seen and what the research says that co- teing when done well can be very powerful but it is very very hard to do well at scale and even when done well doesn't provide that extra time so imagine you know I'm a ninth or 10th grader you know there's there's Concepts from 2 three years ago that I haven't mastered MH that will haunt me as I go forward in my education and you can't go back two and three years during Algebra 1 during Algebra 2 you just can't spend enough time
044so we have worked with hundreds and hundreds of schools to find the time during the day to teach the skills at intervention class to teach the skills that kids are going to need to master this year's material and so it really is about looking at your schedule uh even with the graduation requirements um there still there's always room we've worked with a lot of systems in Connecticut um but the kids who are struggling are going to need that extra time to fill in the gaps from prior years you want to go next go ahead I have a quick question Round Table going early on you'd mentioned um something about H um how teachers the the the general teachers themselves are probably more equipped than they think they are to teach for special ed and um
045especially the the uh the best practices and then you went out to say that it's you know the methodology is not unique to special ed it's it's good for General teaching across the board for all students so I'm wondering if it is that way when why wouldn't this methodology just be beneficial uh if it's beneficial to both students um both special ed and just your education students and is it not currently being used and and if not why not sure yeah so a great question so this is really um a question that's answered by history if we go back when special ed started special ed was for kids with very very severe disabilities like one or two% of the school system had special needs and that made it perfectly logical that you would need very
046specialized teachers to serve them obviously over the decades it's not 2% of your kids it's 15 to 20% of your kids um the the face in nature of special education changed a lot but the the culture and the norm that special education is taught by special Educators was also reinforced by some of the funding rule unintentionally and just through the decades um higher ed very seldom teaches um courses to gen teachers on how to serve kids with disabilities and what became is just a normalized practice of divide and conquer um no bad people it was done across the country um but it hasn't served kids well and what we're seeing is just pretty broadly districts that have really closed achievement T have helped their general education teachers build the capacity and confidence that they are
047bringing those teaching best practices which are great for older kids in their room and it really is a matter of history that they got us to this place you got a A couple Pages you want to go I'm G to save it okay all right uh thank you thank you so much um I have a couple questions I I've heard you say and I see in in the finding something that has TR me for a long time on the board and it's something that is really hard to harness and it's time how we are giving our staff enough time to work on you know to kind of have the skills that that they need to and I've always been concerned about the collaboration and being prepared for some of the the um you know the
048the tasks that we put on our teachers and our parents and when you mentioned that there is most of this or all of this is cost neutral how does that figure in when time is a concern or do you think that it's just kind of moving around the the help me understand the time issue and the recommendation to to that because I I personally feel that time is a real Precious commodity to our staff and we don't have enough of it sure great question and I think you you touch on two related but slightly different aspects of what I shared so the first is um when we think about teachers time and the stress that puts on folks clearly everybody in special Educators in particular is a lot under plate so the two ways in
049which you can make managing the the day much more rewarding and much more cost effective and much more impactful is two things the first is allowing special Educators to specialize um we have done time studies across the country some special Educators can write an IEP four times faster than somebody else do you know who's faster at it the people who like to do it and are really good at doing it and you know who's slower at it the folks who don't like doing it um and the part of the day that's most stressful is the part of the day you're doing the things you don't love to do so one aspect of making special education life uh special special Educators life more sustainable is allowing folks to specialize uh the second thing that will free
050up time and help kids is rethinking group size so just imagine for a moment if I were helping 20 students two kids at a time that is 10 sessions to help them and if I helped 20 students four kids at a time um that's half as many sessions I am freeing up time some of that time can be used to help more kids some of that time can be used to get other things done so as a district you have put a lot of emphasis on having small groups which actually requires more time to serve the same number of kids um so I think it is a combination of managing the group size and allowing folks to spend special on is that would really both help kids and staff alike thank you I appreciate that
051Tammy yes um thank you so much for coming and speaking with us today I really appreciate it um you made a a a a comment that I absolutely agree with that you know PA professionals are not paid very well and and it's not just true in our district it's true across a majority of districts I would say um you had said to reduce the number of par professionals so that you can pay those that you keep more money how would that effectively um help the students that relied on those pair of professionals like how would that how would reducing the the capacity um maintain the work workload sure it's a great question and so I have worked now in more than 300 school systems across the country so I we have studied literally thousands of
052programs for kids with significant special needs and in your District the very large majority of uh Power professionals are supporting kids with pretty significant needs um we've also studied when you go to the the what are referred to as a of District placements the schools that when the kids needs are too great that you can't serve them in District these highly specialized schools out of districts so when we look at these specialized programs and these specialized tools what's really fascinating is how different the strategies can be for how do you support the kids with these significant needs so one strategy says hey we're going to have a lot of adults maybe even one adult for every student now because we don't pay the folks a lot they're not specialized we don't invest a lot in
053their training uh we're not comfortable able perhaps investing in their training because we're not sure they're going to stay so in many of your programs you have roughly one adult to every student and that one adult being a power not particularly well paid um if you look at other programs very high quality programs programs even for kids with even greater needs than the kids are serving they will typically see anywhere from one par to every two students are one power to every three students but their power is one they're paid much better two they are paid for training on a weekly basis often um so it is a strategy of fewer higher skilled better paid better supported folks and both seem to work except meaning I've seen good programs with both those strategies but I
054think given the job market is today uh the strategy that says we'll have a lot of folks but we won't pay them a lot is becoming harder and harder to maintain um so I think you know what you're doing isn't Crazy by any means but there are other ways in which people have approached it that I think are probably better aligned uh to what the labor market is these days thank you looks like that's uh any more questions um I just had a couple clarifications is that okay thank you so much I just on the material that was the the draft that was sent to us I just have a question on the actual um if I may so I understand this correctly um I'm looking on page 12 of the students scoring um and
055am I reading this correctly of the percentages of students with disabilities of third grade ELA 133% where we are on our scoring yes uh let me check let me confir than one in grade S three students are performing at grade level um let me confirm what you're looking at sure it's page 12 y first of all thank you for all of this the board has been anxious for this for quite some time and I I personally am very appreciative of everybody that you know came together to participate in this because we can't do better unless we know what some of the recommendations are and we all want to do better so I appreciate that very very much but I had a question about the actual scoring on page 12 so we can go check this
056is the data that we got from the district oh yeah that I would say that I can confirm it but I would say that that's accurate yes okay okay I'll hold my questions thank you thanks sir well if no one else has any more questions I think that uh we probably move on thank you very much for your time thank you very much have a great night everybody can I just have a followup just a followup Mrs great do we have this is a helpful um do we have a when we listen opportunities do do we have a um a method of prioritizing where we're going from here do you know what I mean sure I me a road map is great but having a real road map you know is helpful so when I
057look at this and and this would be for a conversation that you would come to the board afterwards you know where we go from here and and when we have do not have a budgetary impact and you can move the deck chairs please come to a board meeting we'd love to have you CU I'd like to hear it line by line you know because it's always great we can move things around and not have an impact to to our district financially yes I'm a little concerned over that statement quite frankly but I'm optimistic that if that's the if that's the statement that we can move some things around without having to have a budgetary impact then great I agree can I ask a question ER I'm sorry I I I didn't I didn't realize that
058this was the end of the presentation is is this just first part of more to come question okay or or is this it because I agree with Wendy it's great to hear these things but then we need to to come up with a plan um and and reevaluate and and and my other question is how much parental input did you gather and how were the parents selected to give that input I don't know if Nate's going to answer or me well I I can answer that we we definitely interviewed some parents it's a small number and the parents were selected uh by the district and they were divided into uh parents of students with significant needs uh moderate needs and Mild needs I believe I think that was the two grps yes but it wasn't
059just it was looking at the need of the child in the parents that were selected okay and so to answer both Wendy's comment and your question so part of the work around this opportunity review was to create a guiding Coalition and So within that guiding Coalition now we're going to begin to unpack this and prioritize and figure out what's what's kind of the First Avenue the next Avenue the next Avenue and and chart it out that way I appreciate that I think it's pretty fair to say that you could have 10 people read this and probably have 10 different opinions you know and and and and um and that's important you know because it it has to be a team effort but I think there's a lot to do here so um to answer your
060question yes we'll come back with information for the board about next steps and showing the action steps that we're going to take based upon what is contained within the these findings okay yes thank you anything else for Nate thank thank you thank you so much thank you thank you you're good night good night let me see report okay yes so let's um move on to the uh next topic it which will be approval of uh minutes um I need a motion to approve the following board education uh meeting minutes one for the regular meeting minutes dated February 18th 2025 are we taking these sep yeah there's two per because one is budgetary I would imagine they're down are you doing it for one motion well and that's how it's written yeah the chair sure um
061and then the second one yeah that's written for one the second one would be a budget hearing minutes uh January 14th 15 21st and 22nd of 2025 the motion please second second any uh discussion [Applause] here great okay all those in favor it's a unanimous opposed definitely unanimous [Applause] okay and moving on time for the superintendent report thank you so March in the state of Connecticut is Board of Education appreciation and recognition month so we are extremely fortunate in New Milford Public Schools to have such a hardworking and supportive Board of Education and I have the great pleasure of working with all of them throughout the year um it's very important for everyone to know that these are volunteer positions um and they require hours of dedicated service and so some of the examples are
062as we are this evening at a full board meeting we have four subcommittees there are there are ad hoc committees that sometimes happen there are contract negotiations and there are hearings that occur board members also attend school and community events in support of our students and staff and on behalf of all of us in New Milford Public Schools I offer my very deepest gratitude to each member of the board of education for their care their diligence and interest in the success of our district so thank you very much to everyone thank you I just have two other items uh regarding the budget so on April 2nd there will be a public hearing at the Town Hall regarding the budget um for the town and the Board of Ed um and then on April 9th will
063be the board of finances deliberation about the budgets so those are just important reminders of some dates thank you thanks for your five words you're welcome moving on a board chairperson's report I have nothing to add let's move on to the sub commmittee reports first policy yep so tonight we have uh two policies on the agenda for first review uh one for certified and non and the other for certified and non-certified staff we have 14 policies on the agenda for second review and recommended for board adoption 12 bylaws that are not required but the board may wish to retain them after review for compliance however these are recommended for approval one bylaw for second review and approval and 12 administrative regulations of course those are not voted upon for items of information thank you have
064a question I follow up on that okay on the on the not required bylaws Tammy is that the recommendation that we're going to eventually um approve them or how are we doing that that's a good question because in the past if something wasn't really mandated we were trying to if it's discretionary we try andas amend however it it seems that some of these we feel are important in our daily operations of our district and should be maintained I would urge the bylaws are what run the board that's what runs the board's education members in the way of their internal protocol so that's why I'm asking you that question is the thought that uh we're going to retain them if you don't hear any you know correct and and and the other question I have is
065people may want another chance to review these because once you wipe them you know it's it's hard to get get them back and so you know some of them could be turned into regulation which we've been doing others can just go away altogether but there are some on here and and there were questions about a couple of them about whether or not that they should be uh retained so I don't want to gloss over this I want us to be mindful when we're looking at these so you're going to put these back on policy the bylaws it's up to the board whether or not that we would like to talk about them a little bit tonight and and if everybody wants more time to review them so through the chair this so the intent of
066what is on the agenda is that these would be the ones that would be kept yes these are not to be deleted right that's my question yes and so that's why you're not bringing these back to policy because we're keeping them as they are correct that is correct that is the intent of of how this appears on the agenda my recommendation would be is sometimes when you look at policies if you notice at the very bottom of policy it'll say last viewed at the board 2003 well that's not really the case technically we are looking at them correct we're not making changes to them so we may if the board so chooses to keep those policies as is and the bylaws make a notation on the bottom of each policy that they that board members
067had an opportunity to weigh in in March of 2025 because otherwise it reverts back to the last time that we had that full conversation and some of those go back eight or nine years at least yeah and I agree just a point of clarification thank you welcome OV on oh learning no no no not yet not yet okay the committee on learning oh I apologize we did not have a meeting this month so that we could attend the joint Town Council Finance facilities actually I I have nothing uh to report this month other than to point out later in the evening under the informational portion of the agenda Mr Cunningham will speak to uh some of the projects that uh he's working on um and you can find that list on page 275 of our
068agenda which is three pages before and so when we get to Mr Cunningham we're almost done for the thank you can I say something no pressure there at all just because I kind of you didn't have a meeting so you have the hook may I just say something just for the record um share of facilities still want to keep that on the table that we want to keep the conversations going eventually what we may do in about central office thank you I'm sorry yes I don't forget so you know I ask thank you for that reminder we absolutely need to put that back on the agend thank you thank you very good then uh operations we had a really short meeting and there weren't any questions because you know there weren't any I have a
069couple for this evening so it's the budget reports that's where we're at and there was you know I'm sure that Anthony can cover any overview during the reports that's it great okay and let's uh move on to items for discussion and possible action we have uh from the uh monthly Reports look like it's all under one motion also we have a budget position dated February 28th 2025 a purchase resolution d792 and a request for Budget transfers so I need a motion to approve the board to approve the budget positions dated February 28th 2025 purchase resolution d792 and request for Budget transfers so moved thank you any uh discussion could I just have a couple follow-ups unless anybody else does I don't want to take the call okay um couple things so on the purchase resolution
070we have the uh materials from the um insurance money correct Dr parto yes so um I know you covered this at budget you did mention I went back and looked at our budget meeting minutes and you did um go uh in our budget and let the board know that that was something that you would be considering you know to to capture with those funds so we are aware of it but I'm curious about the details of those books um because I spent some time today looking it up and got lost into a whole tunnel of lot of information so could you give us a little bit of information because there wasn't a memo about the background of that those instructional supplies and you know what they entail so I I I think that you're talking
071about geod bookworms yes yes so those so as you know two years ago the uh State Legislature passed um legislation called the right to read legislation and part of the right to read legislation was each School District in our state must select among these six or seven programs and so while we had revised our curriculum uh to include Mor phonics instruction and we already had some programs in house we had a program called hegr which assisted with phonics and we also um integrated what's called ufly into our instruction we didn't have that core literacy material um that was required as part of the right to read legislation and so um I had included it originally in the superintendent's proposed when it was still in draft form and then thought well we do have that money
072that's still in the insurance line that we can utilize to purchase these materials that are required you know it's a a pretty fine example of an unfunded mandate for sure because the state will not approve your application unless it includes one of those seven programs for literacy and so that these are those materials using the insurance funds from this year because I didn't want to include it in the superintendant proposed and add another $350,000 to what I would have proposed you and can I follow up on a couple questions so um do how many are these consumables or what they are it's a mix of so Holly can describe them much better than I can but sure I H them up all of them today and I think I found what I I I think
073I found what we're purchasing but I I would just like to we can send the link We that's as a followup we'll send all the links out too yeah boy that would have saved some time but I'm sorry no go ahead no no no I'm sorry well well I'm happy to help in anyway the um the bookworms we already purchased uh the K2 and um want to round out to gr three so it's a a a k to three legislation and um excuse me so that's that cost and we do have the materials for K2 which I'd be happy to to share and we're already starting the training for that the geodes are the decodable texts they're not consumable they are texts that students will be able to then apply what they learn um you
074know through the various you know the phonic program and the comprehension so it's decodable Tech sets so it might be a book about cats yeah and I appreciate that that my rationale for the questioning is number one these funds came through a little bit of a different Manner and I think that it's transparent to all of us to explain to the community what we're what they're getting for their money you know of this instructional support and also if we had consumables my concern is okay the money's here for this what happens the next time around we're not the ones I'm sorry purching are not okay yeah there are work they may be loved and lost any good book but you see what I'm saying no no these aren like workbook pages then we would have
075to have that big cost the next year these are um sets for the classroom libraries if you will and and this is K3 correct yes okay so where are we in the instructional uh materials that we may need after this does this is this okay I just see where I'm going right yes this is it CH Eric yes oh I'm sorry yes okay um one line says it's student based healthare uh Health Center secretarial support um 5879 and 71 cents is that a that's an adjustment to an existing number that was already there correct or what what exactly does that number represent an adjustment or are you looking at budget I don't know what page you're on I'm sorry it's it's the purchase resolution d792 just down below the books if you get down after
076Ed Advance the highlighted one the one after it says student based Health Center secretarial support excuse me uh 58 7971 I'm just curious is that number an adjustment to an existing budgetary number or what exactly does that represent Anthony will answer that that is not an adjustment to a prior invoice that is a new invoice for the ongoing uh support for the student-based health centers it is not a new invoice it is I'm sorry it is a new invoice it is a new invoice yeah cuz they bill it in a it's not monthly that's what I was going to ask is it quarterly that's what I was I think that's what you're asking yeah was already bu this covers a um I have the total number of hours here that was built and The Fringe
077piece um the dat fres but it's by month you know even if it's an if there's a if there's an annual budgetary number and we even had a percent next to it would it represented then we would know what you know what we're going by I think the rough amount per year was 30 to 36,000 maybe it is we'll get that we'll get that for you another question oh sorry sorry the choices that you had for reading materials yes you came up with those the six from the Connecticut State Department of Education yeah oh yes yes but we um actually I we in being again thoughtful and collaborative because the teachers had Hagerty and the teachers had youly and they felt very strongly because they felt comfortable with it um our the the the um
078choices were narrowed and so we really only had two they called the compendium so it was um I can't even remember what the other choice was books and or something else I can't remember I apologize because they aligned the ones the two that we had aligned with youly Integrity correct and so that was done in with teachers um input um along the way just so I think that yeah I think Mrs herring's question is is where did the six or seven who approves them who proves them no where did they come from in the first place and so of after the legislation was passed then the State Department of Education said here are your choices and then districts then did their due diligence and and investigated what those were to see what aligned with their
079existing programming and so that's we did the same thing and so what did the districts do that didn't have these kind of funds yeah they're they had to put it in their budget to increase their budget correct yeah correct that's that's one of the reasons why I wanted to have this conversation you know that that it is important I just have two more line item questions I'll open up to anybody else anybody okay um Anthony I don't I see here as of um February the um end year balance why do we expect that to be deposited um I have not heard from the town yet I'm going process it's usually done by the middle of March so maybe we could I know it'll happen I'm not inating it won't but I would I would assume
080that maybe by next month's report we'll have that and that um Capital reflect all of that um on that uh I had another question and this this question really came up on the precipice of another question help me understand how we do legal retainer did we have legal retainer that was left over in the end of a fiscal year that carried over to another or when we do an encumbrance under the legal line and let's say I went back to the actuals the four-year budgets some of them list the actuals and some of them list just the um the estimated uh expenditure when we encumber our retainer right out of the gate how do we pay off that retainer so what's happened in the last few years is we remit that total amount to home
081who's our current legal provider and they provide invoicing to the superintendent's office for the hours that they um then um approve so did you clear when we receive our retainer from Pullman are you saying that we pay it in full immediately yeah the retainer the retainer has been remitted to P right out of the gate during the first on the first purchase resolution of every year um 2024 was the first year where we actually had a carryover amount that was unused if you go back to 2122 and three years prior we were actually over inlegal the end of the year I did so I guess my follow-up question on that is are you saying that we had a retainer that was prepaid that wasn't that was not drawn down from invoicing in other words if
082we encumber our retainer and it's $250,000 and we send Pullman $250,000 and we spend less than that during the course of the year because legal is a fluctuating by hour initial it kind of an invoice are you saying at the end of the year we carry over funds to another year at the end of 2223 there was uh money on Pullman's books uh that we have paid for so the answer is yes or yep so at the end of 2223 there was money on book from eal services to work 2425 I guess their definition I'm sorry the definition of retainer I guess is a little different than what my normal understanding would be no I I I I I'm just for for me my whole purpose was understanding we're going into budget and and when
083I saw that there was some that line has always fluctuated to be clear 100% that is a very difficult line to nail down whether it be hearings whether it be expulsions whether would be negotiations covid you know the the fire at the high school and all of that it's a very difficult line so I'm not saying it isn't I was just unaware that we encumbered the retainer and zipped out the retainer meaning we paid for it when those monthly expenditures are drawn against the retainer I I guess my question would be why would we pay it in full if we don't know that we owe it in full do you know what I'm saying yes exactly and it defeat I'm sorry it defeats the purpose of the fact a retainer is typically a portion of
084the amount so if for example it was a $200,000 budgetary item you'd probably put 75 to 100,000 of a retainer and then as you get closer to that number you replenish it I would never want to put the whole but I'm not I hear you I'm not saying there's a right or wrong I was just surprised that we had some money in that line when we did a transfer for $75,000 that's what I'm struggling with we were over in that line item and had to do a transfer for 75,000 we had a ShakeOut at the end of that year that now it was you know approximately less than that and yet we I mean it's a good thing when we don't spend all of our retainer I want to be very clear on that that's
085a i' like to say something about the maybe the skill level of the central office sure that you came so that's exactly what I'm saying I'm not saying it isn't a skill level Dr par what I'm saying is that I didn't realize that we prepaid a retainer and could have it follow into another fiscal year there nothing nothing to do with the caliber of our staff I want to make that very very clear I'm asking how the funds were carried over sure well are you are you asking about the transfer in 23 24 do we have funds left over from the last fiscal year into this budget we did up until March 1st yeah yes that would be great for the public to know that so so because it looks like there's a two a
086very it looks over inflated is what it looks like to to to the public when you see it on a budget number it looks like an overinflate it looks I look at it differently I don't look at it I I I respectfully disagree I don't look at it over inflated I personally like to know from year to year flow to flow where where things go that's just me everybody else has their their Niche here and so I was surprised I was surprised that we could carry over funds from a retainer that's all I'm saying I didn't know it not I know it um you know there's there was money in that line item and I'm glad that we didn't spend it all that's great but I I I I think that coming into this fiscal
087year knowing that that line was there I I I personally would have liked to know are you um concerned that with that being that this year we might have even more to carry over if we have another good year and then it's not even so much carry over I think that we need to look at all our line items and we do I think we do a good job here where does that money go just for transparency I don't where does the money go and in other words if we I had and I i' listen I I I I could be wrong I've been wrong many times I was unaware of times where we carried over a retainer so it was a surprise so I wanted to verify but it wasn't held in our books
088it was held in theirs right it was it was like you have some leftover money here to use that you're going to be able to use the following year I can they that's correct how does that work if I could please so the retainer hasn't been handled any way any differently under me than under my predecessor and how many years is that um it goes back to at least March of 2016 okay but when you say handle differently I'm not are you saying that if there was a if there was money left over at the end of the year it stayed within with the with the with the firm no let me qualify my statement the retainer and how it is remitted out of the gate at the beginning of the year has not been
089handled any differently under me as under my predecessor what has changed is for many years we were over the amount of legal services and that's how we ended the year in 2324 was the I'm sorry 2223 was the first time we actually had a surplus at the end of the year associated with legal services but in 23 we had to do a transfer for 75,000 in 23 3 24 we did a transfer for 20 for 75,000 in which of the 75 we didn't need all of it because it was a shake out at the end of the year correct yeah there's a memo about that that I'll look for yeah have it so so so it so to be clear if we have retainer with legal and we run under which is a good thing
090I want to I I absolutely can't stress that enough that money stays and we we we put we use that towards the line of the next fiscal year is that what you're saying that's the way it has occurred for this fiscal year and this could open up an opportunity when we do the shake out through the end of the year for a possible reduction for next year's budget to meet the uh reduced amount that's exactly why I'm asking the question it's a potential I can't I can't guarantee there's an area that can shave going into 256 that's why I'm asking the question this is not a finger pointing session and and I but what I'm at The Quon why I'm asking the question is because if you're going into budget and we're being asked to
091find reductions okay Yep this is a plausible explanation where the reduction is maybe I'm not making my point clearly um so that's why when I look at retainer I'm not saying this done differently I'm saying this is a bit of an anomaly that we had money left over like that because we haven't been in that situation before for a while is that correct that's correct we have not been in a situation where we had a carry over retain container with Pullman in the positive okay because the actual the our budgets for the last four years some of them have actuals for Legal and some of them has proposed and then actuals so I tried to go as as clear as I could on that so that that was my question that was it it was
092no big mystery because in in a few months we're going to be asked to really go deep and I can assure you that everybody sitting here at this board is going to be looking at things like uh how do we protect the core of instruction you're going to be looking at line items like legal like that so this is not a a reflection on any practice I just I was not aware that we could carry over retainer so so basically long story short we've identified a place where there might be some extra money for the cut cool all right let's move on then but in the future in the future I am hoping that at the end of the year at the end year I know when you have roll out you have your hands
093full over the summer I know you you have to wrap up one fiscal year you're beginning of fiscal year maybe there might be a report to operations in the board where if we did have to transfer that we didn't end up having to transfer you know what I mean if the board makes a transfer we do it in good faith because we know that line item has been I identified that we have a a concern and it's your job to alert us of the concern and you do that and I appreciate that but at the end of the year if we don't need the money in that line item I think it should be brought back to the board that guess what we didn't need it there because it sets you up for the next
094budget cycle of knowing what line item to look at rather than in 200 pages of actuarials I'm done if I may to follow back on another item on the student based Health Centers um I originally said that amount was um of $30,000 the amount in the 2425 budget is $60,000 allocated to that secretarial support piece I thought it was that much yeah that's a monthly number probably yep yeah I didn't know if they build it over 10 months or 12 months all right great thank you we need a motion thank you thanks very patient all right so um so we have the motion we just need to vote no no I have to State it first I we already stated it now we need to we've had our discussion so all those in favor against
095it's unanimous we're good thanks all right uh next item uh policy for revisions recommended for first read there's no motion associated with this um I just wanted to point out one thing I I appreciate the highlighting and the crossing out especially when we got hundreds of pages to read that really yes so that's um the work of Dr Patty foot uh policy consultant extraordinaire yes all right and now that we're not doing rewrites anymore and we're just doing like uh changes it's so much easier to identify what's being changed so so it is much easier it really is so Eric yes can I could I just ask one other thing I I know we've made this revision this is wonderful would it be possible because we have different like I'm on page one of eight
096right now like you can see that this is not actually a pages so is it possible to just number the pages so that we know we're one of 275 or one of 170 can we do that because I know we're incorporating a lot of documents computer it'll tell you what page you're on but I think they get this information from various different spots I understand yes the only way we'd be able to do that is to print one out number it by hand and then scan it in for every no number got a PDF reader okay no thank you I don't want to waste that money all right enough of that uh now let's move on to policies for second review and approval I'm not going to read them all you can read that a
097motion to approve the following policies no I'll read them uh 2500 retention and disposition of records and information 4231 social media 5,112 policy regarding admission to the public schools at or before Age 5 58.1 homeless children and youth 5125 confidentiality and access to education records uh 51 31.9 student use of the district's computer system and Internet safety 5141 point5 Suicide Prevention and intervention 5158 policy to improve the completion rates of the free application for federal financial aid F St I forgot what that acor moves for 1330 policy regarding use of school facilities 3160 board budget procedures and light item transfers 3260 disposal of obsolete or Surplus equipment material 3280 policy regarding gifts grants and requests reest bequests is that a type I'm notest is a yes like a gift sometimes after death yes to the
098district uh 3,300 purchasing and 3453 school activity funds so we need a motion to approve them second okay we have Tom and was that de all right cool uh this we're now open to discussion okay I don't see any hands coming up so uh it's uh all those in favor against passes uh unanimously next item we talking about this earlier bylaws not required but the board may wish to retain them after to review for compliance so we need a uh a motion needed to retain the following bylaws I'll read them uh 905 which is the role of the board and its members parentheses Integrity uh 9115 annual organization meeting of the board 9125 attorney 9132 standing committees 9150 board Consultants 9160 students students involvement in decisionmaking 9230 orientation of new board members 9240 board member
099development 9271 code of ethics 93 25.2 order of business 9400 monitoring products and processes uh parentheses self-evaluation 9410 public announcements and accomplishments and 9420 recognition of accomplishments by citizens students staff members or the board so we need a uh motion second oh Randy and uh open for some discussion right now if I may just really quickly these while they are not mandated do show in the 9,000 Series how we run our business and so I do think it's important to retain them any more discussion here okay great all those in favor against opposed I should say it's unanimous passes all right now bylaws for second review and approval I need a motion to approve the following bylaw 905 official duties the assistant secretary I moved thank you Brian Dam Brian any discussion again not mandated
100but it's a position that we have here and there should be a job description so to speak right know that they have an actual petition very good then any any more okay all those in favor opposed it's unanimous again and finally at the end here just items of information we're not going to be doing any uh motions or anything for this but uh there all written out PR to review some everyone's already checked it out before the meeting then we have a the employment report for March of 2025 uh yes so you can see on the employment report I like to point out that in may we do our retire recognition sorry just like to note that um on this employment report you can see uh the certified staff retirements 22 years 26 years in
10129 years in the district are just you know significant contributions to the school district so and we love to to acknowledge those people in our May meeting and we will that's that for that very nice it's on the page gets good okay enrollment report which is uh just below the employment report uh yes you can see the um if you look at the bottom left hand box you can see uh that enrollment is is relatively stable um and also very close to the enrollment projections uh that took place in 2021 very good uh ongoing facilities projects so for ongoing projects we have a RFP has been posted for the gutter seam repairs in New Milford High School uh we also have an RP has been posted for the canopy roof repairs at Hill and plain
102school both of those bids will be open on April 4th for we had site visits at both locations this past Saturday and several contractors showed up uh we also have Wesson and Samson is currently developing the scope for the eventual replacement of the underground storage NI at scat Coke once the work is complete then we will post an RFP in the actual construction phase of that project and that bid should go out here in April great thank you field trip report P thank you you can see our Winter Garden our winter cussion going out um including to Dayton Ohio uh you can see some of the hill and plane and Northville trips to cin Noy when they do their uh transition visits um so people are going out in the world and I like to
103see that yeah traveling there all right uh gifts and donations there none right there are no gifts and donations no and the fundraising is uh um you can see a lot of the high school clubs fundraising um and the PTO is of course um at all the schools it's okay motion to a j second all those in favor need to ask 809 8:09 p.m. right at me all right good job Eric Eric crushed it Eric you did you failed it nobody this is nice here me too here